#collecting pre-end of world technology

[paterday]

I had a fallout themed nightmare. I’ve never even played fallout. Also there were dinosaurs cuz of course there were.

[reasonsforhope]

It’s an open secret in fashion. Unsold inventory goes to the incinerator; excess handbags are slashed so they can’t be resold; perfectly usable products are sent to the landfill to avoid discounts and flash sales. The European Union wants to put an end to these unsustainable practices. On Monday, [December 4, 2023], it banned the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear.

“It is time to end the model of ‘take, make, dispose’ that is so harmful to our planet, our health and our economy,” MEP Alessandra Moretti said in a statement. “Banning the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear will contribute to a shift in the way fast fashion manufacturers produce their goods.”

This comes as part of a broader push to tighten sustainable fashion legislation, with new policies around ecodesign, greenwashing and textile waste phasing in over the next few years. The ban on destroying unsold goods will be among the longer lead times: large businesses have two years to comply, and SMEs have been granted up to six years. It’s not yet clear on whether the ban applies to companies headquartered in the EU, or any that operate there, as well as how this ban might impact regions outside of Europe.

For many, this is a welcome decision that indirectly tackles the controversial topics of overproduction and degrowth. Policymakers may not be directly telling brands to produce less, or placing limits on how many units they can make each year, but they are penalising those overproducing, which is a step in the right direction, says Eco-Age sustainability consultant Philippa Grogan. “This has been a dirty secret of the fashion industry for so long. The ban won’t end overproduction on its own, but hopefully it will compel brands to be better organised, more responsible and less greedy.”

Clarifications to come

There are some kinks to iron out, says Scott Lipinski, CEO of Fashion Council Germany and the European Fashion Alliance (EFA). The EFA is calling on the EU to clarify what it means by both “unsold goods” and “destruction”. Unsold goods, to the EFA, mean they are fit for consumption or sale (excluding counterfeits, samples or prototypes)...

The question of what happens to these unsold goods if they are not destroyed is yet to be answered. “Will they be shipped around the world? Will they be reused as deadstock or shredded and downcycled? Will outlet stores have an abundance of stock to sell?” asks Grogan.

Large companies will also have to disclose how many unsold consumer products they discard each year and why, a rule the EU is hoping will curb overproduction and destruction...

Could this shift supply chains?

For Dio Kurazawa, founder of sustainable fashion consultancy The Bear Scouts, this is an opportunity for brands to increase supply chain agility and wean themselves off the wholesale model so many rely on. “This is the time to get behind innovations like pre-order and on-demand manufacturing,” he says. “It’s a chance for brands to play with AI to understand the future of forecasting. Technology can help brands be more intentional with what they make, so they have less unsold goods in the first place.”

Grogan is equally optimistic about what this could mean for sustainable fashion in general. “It’s great to see that this is more ambitious than the EU’s original proposal and that it specifically calls out textiles. It demonstrates a willingness from policymakers to create a more robust system,” she says. “Banning the destruction of unsold goods might make brands rethink their production models and possibly better forecast their collections.”

One of the outstanding questions is over enforcement. Time and again, brands have used the lack of supply chain transparency in fashion as an excuse for bad behaviour. Part of the challenge with the EU’s new ban will be proving that brands are destroying unsold goods, not to mention how they’re doing it and to what extent, says Kurazawa. “Someone obviously knows what is happening and where, but will the EU?”"

-via British Vogue, December 7, 2023

[rilakeila]

exchange of roses, teaser (jujutsu academy)

host club! jjk x fem!reader x ohshc

gojo satoru is the head of jujutsu academy's elite high school host club with his friends: geto suguru, nanami kento, itadori sukuna, shoko ieiri, haibara yu, and of course, their princess manager. what happens when they go up against another elite host club on an exchange event with different schools? let's find out!

a/n: haven't planned out if it's a series or collection of one shots, might do both; an au within an au would be fun. let me know if you have any ideas

international jujutsu technology and science academy is one of the world's largest elite private schools, having many campuses around the world. their founding campus is in tokyo, japan. their primary educational directions focuses on the development of technology and sciences. they cater from pre-k to high school (+ college prep). one of the most popular clubs is the high school's host club, where they get to entertain students with too much time on their hands

gojo satoru.

the founder of the said club is gojo satoru, head of the gojo clan who oversees gojo co, one of the oldest construction companies in the world. they focus on architecture specifically traditional japanese architecture. due to the modernizing of the world, they focused on implementing modern taste to the architecture to also maintain competitive in the industry. one of their main projects is upkeeping of the tokyo campus.

geto suguru.

the spokesman/vice president, geto suguru. he is part of the brains of the host club along with kento. the heir of the geto corporations that started their organization due to biochemistry long ago. earlier generations of his family had a massive breakthrough with their research which allowed them to catapult to the top. suguru is currently leading and overseeing the company's subgroup, uzumaki, which is helping the advancement of merging bioengineering within the company.

nanami kento.

the actual brains of the host club, nanami kento. he runs the numbers and makes sure that everything is running well with their princess manager. kento's family mainly function in the banking industry within the financial services but dabble in the investment industry. he still questions as to why he spends his free time (and exerting a lot of effort) with the host club.

itadori sukuna.

just a member/bodyguard of the host club (because he's a giant so he's intimidating), itadori sukuna. the last entering member (satoru was really just curious about sukuna and invited him with the group, ended up being wowed by his host skills). his family is a line of top chefs, selling cookware and cookbooks, and also runs the culinary department of jujutsu academy. (pretty popular probably because his little brother, yuuji, shows up every so often).

shoko ieiri.

here for the shits and giggles, shoko ieiri. her family consists of doctors and engineers which would lead into medical technology. she decided to go down the doctor route but will eventually need to replace her mother's position soon as she (her mother) would be retiring. ieiri joined the host club, just to accompany satoru and suguru, but has not minded the club activities since joining.

haibara yu.

here for the shits and giggles pt. 2, haibara yu (actually, kento asked him to take part of the host club with him). his family is one of the oldest toy manufacturers in japan, as well as branching out to confectioneryand theme parks (which have been successful endeavors). he also supplies all of the treats and tea imports for the host clubs, cutting down the expenses severely due to a large discount (but they do get new recipes sampled for free, just have to pay if they choose to keep it in their lineup)

(y/n) (l/n).

the dear princess manager of the host club. she works behind the scenes with the help of mostly kento but as well as suguru. her family is just old money rich, starting as medics way back during history. due to housing multiple patients and lost people, the business went from medical to hospitality. they moved around, dropping seeds down as they go. it eventually bloomed heavily, leaving a fortune. there's no rightful heir as her and her siblings must work together to figure it out (however, she seems to be the commander of it all)

[thewitchoftheweed]

i’m a lifelong UFO weirdo so here’s some highlights of the House Oversight Committee’s public hearing on UAPs/UFOs:

- There’s no chance these craft are from secret US government testing programs because they have specific testing fields that assets in development cannot leave without significant notice and military approval.

- Other world governments also know about this phenomenon. A declassified treaty included parameters for joint international de-escalation in the event of a “malevolent UAP event.”

- All of the craft defy our current understanding of physics. They also look real weird. Descriptions given include a floating metal sphere with no visible propulsion and a black cube encased in a clear sphere.

- Nonhuman biologics have been recovered with crashes. Documentation of this exists.

- Nonhumans are no more infallible than us and also experience “mission failures,” which result in occasional manned and unmanned crashes.

- The first documented UFO incidents by the US military predate most of our advanced programs (1940s).

- UAPs have retaliated against humans, but the how’s and why’s were not given.

- There is a section of government that has been aggressively covering up the existence of UAPs/nonhuman remains, and they have used violence/the threat of violence to silence witnesses.

- There is a list of witnesses, which will be provided to the committee in a closed door session, that have firsthand knowledge/interaction with these craft. There is also a list of US defense contractors in possession of UAPs that is also being given to Congress in the closed door session.

- UAPs are difficult to document, even with our current technology, because they can shut down information collection systems in our most advanced planes. One photo of a UAP shot down recently had to be taken manually by the pilot.

- UAP encounters are now so common that they’re included as part of military pilots’ pre-flight briefings.

- “Has the US government contacted or communicated with nonhumans?” (long pause) “That is not a question I’m allowed to answer publicly.”

- At the end of the hearing: “We’ve made history here today.”

- Congress intends to follow up on this matter, and will invoke specific laws to bypass security classifications if necessary.

[duckprintspress]

Get to Know AETHER BEYOND THE BINARY

We are only ONE WEEK away from the launch of the Kickstarter campaign for Duck Prints Press’s sixth anthology, AETHER BEYOND THE BINARY.

What would the Earth look like if the very atoms that compose the planet were suffused with magical aether? How would our lives in the modern world be different if this aether was discovered last year, or last decade, or last century, or last millennia? How might the people who inhabit this very different but still modern Earth explore their gender identities? These are the questions we posed to the 17 authors chosen to contribute to Duck Prints Press’s newest anthology Aether Beyond the Binary. Their diverse answers are bound together in this must-not-miss collection of stories about magical worlds, adventures and mysteries, new chances and well-earned endings, and characters as gender-diverse as the worlds they inhabit. 

What is aetherpunk? Imagine a world where there’s technology not unlike what we have in the modern world, except that instead of that technology operating using the principles that we, now, would call “science,” that technology operates using magic! That’s aetherpunk—the awesome union of technology and complex magical systems in magic-filled worlds to produce unique settings that resemble modern-day Earth but are also very, very different. With aetherpunk stories, the impossible becomes possible, and new solutions to the world’s problems become available! You can learn more about the history of aetherpunk and what aetherpunk is in this blog post!

What is a character outside the gender binary? The gender binary consists of the two most common genders: male and female. Most people, whether they are cisgender or transgender, fall within this binary. Nonetheless, gender is a spectrum, and there are many gender identities that are outside, between, among, or combinations of cis and trans, male and female. One umbrella term for these identities is non-binary, and specific identities include agender (like our lead editor!), genderfluid, bigender, demigender, pangender, and x gender. Every story in Aether Beyond the Binary features at least one non-binary main character, and many stories utilize neopronouns.

The core concept of Aether Beyond the Binary is simple and compelling: create intriguing main characters outside the gender binary and set them loose to explore the modern world twisted or unchanged, enhanced or destroyed by magical aether.

We have been working on this project for over a year, and are so excited to finally be bringing it to y’all. We launch on December 26th, with a funding goal of $14,250.

Follow our Kickstarter pre-launch page TODAY and make sure you’re among the first to get notified when this super-cool, innovative anthology becomes available!

Love what we do? Want to get an awesome, exclusive bonus merch item when you back this campaign? Become a backer on our Patreon, support Duck Prints Press year-round, and get awesome stuff!

[slocumjoe]

Love your work, really encapsulates the various companions.

Love to see how the companions should react to a companion who either collects a bunch of prewar stuff or just gives them a bunch of little goofy gifts all the time.

Romanced or not, either is fine I think this works well for all of the companions.

(because some of us show effection like crows and give our friends and loved ones little stupid things that make us think of them.)

This was one of the first requests I got, which means it's been a while, so thank you for your patience 💕

Anyway more of my X6-88 is a grumpy, prickly little asshole propaganda

Companions and an Old World antiques collector/magpie person

Cait; always owned only what she could have on her person, so someone who just...has shit, seemingly because they found it shiny, is alien. Even more so once they start trying to share. That's when she freaked out. People don't give Cait shit unless they're looking for something in exchange. If ever convinced that no, this is a present with no strings attached, Cait is even more weirded out. Over time, will come to understand that this, like, a peace offering thing. Oh, alright, it's like cats bringing you mice. Got it. Might start returning the favor, so long as they're okay with small-scale stuff she can easily find.

Codsworth; Panic. Feels an obligation to take very good care of whatever they give him. Will make meticulous spaces for the gifts. Ends up basically playing Barbie with it all. Puts it on pillows, always dusts them, carefully arranges them in ways that he thinks would make the items happiest. Gets nervous if other people even look at their trinkets, or the gifts they've given him. It doesn't help that everything is an antique.

Curie; One of the companions who's doing the same thing. She's curious, she wants to see all there is of the world. Sometimes that means hoarding little baubles. Loves round and shiny things. Their collecting doesn't faze her, nor does the gifting; it's how many things they find. Curie has trinkets, but they...they have a treasure trove. Where are they finding this stuff? Legally, she hopes?

Danse; Doesn't mean to, but ends up treating them as, like...a bloodhound for historical items. Go, boy, go find a pre-historic flipphone from the 2000s! Danse himself is a tip-tappy puppy when bygone technology is involved. Getting presents though...different story. Unless it's tech, something for him to use, he's uncomfortable. Not extremely, like in any other situation where someone expresses affection towards him, but enough he recoils and blinks the first time.

Deacon; Whatever they give him is now a prop for the one-man comedy show that is Deacon Railroadagent. A magnifying glass, and he becomes Nick for awhile. A newspaper, he's complaining about election results and how the taxes are gonna go up. A stuffed animal—Oi, 'e's jus'a l'i'le stree' urch'n, mista, spar'a gohl' coin fah suppah? How could you enable him like this. How could you.

Gage; If you're not pawning it, why bother? Gage thinks like Cait, less is better, easier, not a waste of time and space. Sure, sometimes they scrap shit for parts, but not always. Sometimes they just put it around, decor or whatever. If given anything, 98% chance he is turning around and selling it. If he likes them, will slip it into their bag or personal living space. If very close, he'll keep the damn thing, just...don't ask where it is. Somewhere? Wherever it is, he didn't make caps off it. That's good enough, right...?

Hancock; Will keep precise inventory of their collections and point out if they do or don't have something, when they stumble on a potential new item. Has a surprisingly good idea for authenticity, the goods, as it were. You will never get swindled, buying an antique with Hancock. Sixth sense. It's weird. Why do you know what this one baseball pitcher's favored pen for autographs was? Keeps every present he's ever been given, will make a separate pile for the stuff they give him.

MacCready; Soul. Mates. Always trading shit. Always going off on their own for a certain item they know the other would love, only to run into each other at the exact same item. If they share a home, the only thing keeping it from being a thriftstore is the stickers. Mac is a magpie. He's a collector. He likes having things. Used to satisfy this interest with Hancock as a bro's night, but now. It's like watching penguins throw the same shiny rock at each other over and over.

Nick; doesn't mean to, but flirts hard-core. Got a thing for antiques, huh? You know vintage finery when you see it, don't you? Those hands of yours really know how to handle Old World treasures, don't they? Nick. Nick. Please. He doesn't notice. Will need to be told, hey, you sound really horny. Horrified. He's made those jokes to every mechanic that gave him a tune-up. People who had their hands inside him. This includes Danse.

Piper; Just let her read the newspapers they find, and she's a happy camper. Also not a collector kind of person, but a present is a present. Honestly, though, also on the side of "just sell it." Unless it's historically important, especially sentimental, or useful, the extra caps would be more practical. She's never going to say that, hell no, and she'll find them little trinkets to add to their collection, but internally, wonders if it's a coping mechanism or something.

Preston; Is uncapable of having things after Quincy, always paranoid about needing to be on the move again. Feels lingering dread around magpie types, now, privately considers them Chekov's Gun. Now, Preston understands this mostly irrational and pushes it down whenever he gets a little twitchy about it. Will even enjoy talking about their collection, especially if there's historical shit. But there's always a tiny little goblin voice whispering "this poor bastard"

X6-88; Why are you hoarding garbage? Are you making your own scrap yard? Wait, this is all to keep? All of it? Oh. So, why are you hoarding garbage? Just to have? So it is a scrap yard. It's a neverending cascade of increasingly judgemental questioning. Like when children get curious and are unintentionally Satan's Water Torture. Will try to aid them in their collection by giving them things he thinks they'd like, but is...literal garbage. Gets magnificently indignant if they decline. TRASH IS TRASH. WHATS WRONG WITH THIS TRASH?!

This situation would have even the most incompassionate Institute scientists consider that synths could be people with free will. Because they sure as shit didn't make him like this.

[talenlee]

April 2024 Wrapup

The way this month has ended has coloured most of everything else happening within the month, none of which is stuff I consider meaningful content for the blog in general. Suffice to say this is a month in which I was trying to save money and do my best and by the end of the month I am extremely frazzled and uncertain as to how I’m doing what I’m doing. But you didn’t come here for that, you came here for posts! Posts about Spiderman!

Alright let’s dive on into this. What are the Game Pile articles this month?

Examining Gender and Capitalism in Braid. This video got me a comment I liked a lot where a commenter noted that being good at making puzzles doesn’t make you any good at criticising humans’ reactions to puzzles.

Sheriff of Nottingham, a dramatic tension and bluffing game, where players have to construct a language, then lie in it, all with a dash of political manipulation in the form of bribes. A great game in the ‘Anxiety Engine’ model that I like but never am likely to own.

Planetfall and Bioshock Infinite, a long form essay video where I both recapped the basic experience of Bioshock Infinite and brought into contrast the idea that videogames’ ability to affect their audience is directly in contrast to different aesthetic forms.

Gazillionaire, a truly awful looking game that, hilariously, just after I wrote this article I finally played to a victory. Know what happens when you beat the game? The game keeps going and just moves the goal post further.

And then the Story Pile articles?

Hazbin Hotel, a series you should steal about a particularly pre-modern Christian vision of Hell expressed through gnostic mysterio and also the story of a bunch of shockingly hot endearing monster weirdoes.

You Were Never Really Here, which is part of an ongoing series of Positronic Collection movies. This was chosen specifically to mesh with the theme of me, as a person, and it’s kinda eerie how good a job it does at that.

16 Bit Sensation: Another Layer, which is an anime that you might think of as ‘fun’ and ‘good’ and which made me so mad I specifically set aside the time to kick it in the teeth into my April articles.

Oshi no Ko, a series I like just enough to complain about it a bunch. I mean I really like it, and really like complaining about it.

Lords and Ladies, one of the many books I consider one of the best Discworld books. This one’s about elves!

But there’s more! I wrote about a brilliant idiot, in the form of the transformer Wheeljack, and I wrote about my demon boy OC big brother figure, Bael. I wrote about a Magic: The Gathering deck I like and technology in the game I dislike that we’re getting even though I dislike it. I also spent some time reflecting on my current WIP game designs, which I found a lot of fun and want to do more of.

I talk to you a little bit. I talked to you in terms of what I think of you as an audience, I talk to you about creating tension in your writing, and I talked about the way I treat you, and how your time is a gift. I reflected on what it means to be a part of my audience, and whether or not there are things about you I can control. I also encouraged you to make things and show them to me, as a present to me.

There was some world-building talk; I talked about the way planes can be seen and treated as distinct parts of the world, with Planar Lenses, and I also explained a setting element in Cobrin’Seil, a favourite place where the wizards and sorcerers train together but also learn how to swing a hammer. That place, The Laewaes Dramaturgist, also served to talk about the ways that people in universe, in general, discuss the idea of types of spellcasters. While I was on the D&D thread and organisational systems, I dug into the 3rd edition magic item system. While talking about my personal fascinations in D&D, then, I also talked about the druid, and Why Is Druid?

This turning of the years in April, again, does make me think about things I was told about how my life would go. One of the most miserable considerations there was the way I was told that my sex life was going to go, and what that meant and what I should be expecting, all told while we should definitely, definitely not have opinions or expectations for sex. This was told through a metaphor of a jellybean jar.

I noticed that the logo for Hazbin Hotel, the key, looks a bit like the Sonic the Hedgehog winged ring logo and that’s what gave rise to this. Behold! A drawing of two characters with one looking happily at her idiot. You can get it as a sticker, or coasters, or a t-shirt. For example.

I don’t like how much work I got done this month. Obviously, I fear that if I go back and look at all the other posts I made this past year that may be the case. But in the PhD, last month featured a dedicated chunk of work on my literature review, and this month should be the completion of the draft of the methodology. We’re now at the point of getting things onto the page, and as I write this – on the 27th – my birthday has proven to be an impediment for that. Like, turns out that people want to see you on your birthday.

At the late point in the month I devised a new idea for something cool and complicated (and more about that on the Patreon). I have a want to do something cool with a few different systems – a new game mechanical idea, and a push for a kind of video that’s a little easier to make than most.

May has five Fridays in it, and they’re set up so there are going to be three main videos in it, so look forward to that!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[sciencelings-writes]

My tLoZ and LU Masterlist

UPDATED 11/19/2023

Of Dubious Sophistication: 6/? posted chapters, Wild meets the chain on a day when he has to act like an important person and decides to fuck with their initial misconceptions of him. Mostly formatted to give each of the Links to come to their own conclusions about Wild, a Compilation of oneshots with a vague overarching plot.

Another Second Chance: 2/? classic Wild gets pulled into the AOC timeline and is tasked to help prevent the calamity. But he looks different enough from his counterpart that he doesn’t reveal his true identity. He accidentally parallels Astor in the whole mysterious sorcerer/ seer vibes as he both knows the future and popped out of nowhere in a dramatic cape and ancient technology. Lots of interaction between Wild and the champions and there is both angst and hijinks. There’s also stuff about the new champions as most of it follows the plot of AOC. Also Wolfie is there because I thought it would be funny for him to bop around the baby egg guardian.

The Silence of the Knight: BOTW pre-calamity fic that’s mostly an introspective fic about why Link went silent and how everyone around him reacts to his lack of outward emotions. I just saw the concept of people seeing him as not quite human because of his refusal to show any emotions and wanting to catch a glimpse of how/ if he reacts when tragedy strikes, just to see if he has the ability to feel anything at all.

Heavy in Your Arms: Wild hated getting his memories back. They could be triggered by seemingly anything, they forced the entire group to stop or have someone stay with him until he got over it, which mostly ended up being Twilight, and he tended to end up feeling terrible. Even the good ones were bittersweet, when he saw glimpses of a family that was long gone or a fleeting moment when his life wasn’t destined to be a nightmare, only to open his eyes a century later having lost everything.He knew it was starting to become a hindrance on their quest and the last thing he wanted to be was a burden. (part of a series focused on the Wolf Trio)

I’ve Seen Hell (But This is a Bit More My Style): BOTW Fem!Link fic focused on how being the first female incarnation of the Heroes Spirit would be treated with a little bit of Zelink as a forbidden relationship. Link is angry and all of her past lives are just as pissed as she is. She’s seen as a harbinger of the calamity rather than the hero sent to stop it. And she’s seen as a mistake of the goddess and proof that the 10,000 years of peace was now at an end. General woman problems you know? (Sequel incorporating LU in progress) also please mind the tags.

Swordcrossed Lovers: Fluffy oneshot of the above au, Link and Zelda go to Gerudo Town and flirt while sword fighting. Zelink Week 2022 prompt: Sparring. 

Champions Possessing Wild Oneshot Collection: The champions possess Wild sometimes, it leads to some shenanigans 

The Unironic Magical Properties of True Love: totk role swap, Zelda find where Link has been hiding since being stuck in the past.

*NEW* Forever Changed: post totk zelink, where they both come back a little differently and have to deal with the immediate aftermath of... everything.

Requests/ short oneshots:

The Idiots of the Wind: Wind makes friends with the spirit of Revali and they team up to mess with Wild, mildly traumatizing him in the process. 

A Waste of Pretty Faces: Wild and Warriors bond over something they didn’t expect (mind the warnings and tags)

To Kill What’s Already Dead: Set after sunset pt.7, Wild deals with not being allowed to see Twilight and with the very real possibility that his mentor is dying.

A Mosaic of Broken Glass: Link has a lot of scars, they don’t like them very much. Zelda is determined to help them work on loving themself. Non-Binary BOTW Link and I accidentally made Zelda asexual.

On Top Of The World: Day 1 prompt for Zelink week 2022- One Last Look, Link and Zelda reunite after the final battle with the calamity. Idk what to say it’s just pure fluff. 

Frightful & Delightful: Wintery LU fic that is Hyrule-centric for a secret santa. Hurt/comfort, but mostly fluff. 

3 Sentence Fics: Lots of short fics in one place, including LU, botw Zelink, and my own AUs!

The Many Duties of the Princesses Appointed Knight: Fluffy pre-calamity zelink hair braiding, not me basing a whole fic off of a vague idea... 

The Caretaker of Holy Things: OC fic made for a zelda creators collab, the Priestess of the Temple of Time remains at the great plateau while the calamity rages around her, unfortunately, she’s due to have visitors. 

Whumptober 2022:

Prompt 2: Nowhere to Run: Aryll from my priestesses AU meets the Fierce Deity for the first time.

Prompt 5: Hypothermia: Link and Zelda from my Golden Priestesses AU journey up to the Temple of Nayru to the spring of wisdom.

Prompt 9: Caught in the Storm: Zelda spends one hundred years fighting the calamity, even though he’s slumbering in the shrine of resurrection, Link still finds a way to help her keep her head above water.

Prompt 10: Whipping: Wild from my Fem!Wild AU has to reveal some things about her past after having a panic attack post-battle. Kind of a rewrite of part of the comic where Wild throws himself in front of Wind during a fight, you know the one. 

Prompt 15: Emotional Damage/ New Scars: Wild visits the forgotten temple after the events of LU, he mourns. 

Zelink Week 2023: 

Day 1: Yearning: All In Good Time: Fem! Zelink AU during the events of LU, Wild misses her Princess. 

Day 2: Forbidden: The Ballad of Frost and Flames: Fem!Zelink AU, pre-calamity while Link is still in hiding, they meet at a masquerade ball. 

Day 4: Hand in Hand: The Fable of the Dragon and the Phoenix: MAJOR TOTK SPOILERS, Zelda makes and eternal choice and Link learns to rise from the ashes.

[m1lkyw4yw1sh3z]

Rotating that elevator in our brain <3 We have SO many worldbuilding thoughts sldkfjsf Anyway here's a collection of various general hcs that apply both to our AU and our interpretation of Regretevator in general :)

First off imo it seems like most of the different floors are entirely separate dimensions?? The various NPCs are all so drastically different from each other, not to mention some floors are references to/locations from other games entirely. It'd just make the most sense to us if the elevator was an interdimensional entity.

On the surface it seems like there's no rhyme or reason to who gets access to the elevator, or what worlds it travels to, but in our interpretation it tends to go after people who fall under two categories: 1. they have some abnormal/otherworldly quality that makes them stand out compared to the rest of their own dimension, and 2. they're holding onto some regrets (ha because regretevator)

Once someone fits those criteria, they receive an anonymous invitation in the mail containing the number corresponding to their floor, and the elevator starts appearing somewhere near them. Perhaps a new door appears in their house, or the entire elevator itself just materializes in a remote area, it's a coin toss.

Some people never decide to investigate, which is why many floors have no elevator NPCs associated with them. However, curiosity often gets the best of them anyway...

More below this post is getting long sldkfj

Some floors are just different locations in the same world, and as time passes this becomes more common of an occurrence due to the elevator causing otherworldly vibes :tm: to spread. For example: Two Stud Camp, 3008, and Infected Apartment were originally just normal locations all on Earth.

Unfortunately the elevator's dimension-warping energy/technology is very unstable (hence its frequent malfunctions, inability to properly assess whether it is at capacity or not, the tendency for NPCs like Mozelle or Jaoba to enter in-between floors etc.) so it tends to contaminate worlds it accesses very easily.

Due to this, some floors also exist as "pocket dimensions" hidden within other worlds, like the Gumball Machine in the Hotel Floor. A lot of the liminal space floors in this AU are examples of these pocket dimensions! You take a wrong turn, open the wrong door, and end up wandering in a slightly Off version of the building you were originally in....

Also, time doesn't pass normally within the elevator, meaning it can still serve as instantaneous travel from place to place despite the fact that all of the buttons are broken and rarely take you directly where you want to go. The time distortion sometimes bugs out, which can cause travelers to see strange things, like echoes of their own previous trips to the elevator....

In this AU, the INTERNET ITSELF is also an otherworldly creation like the elevator, able to span across dimensions if you know where to look. Several characters from different worlds met each other online before they ever gained access to the elevator to be able to meet in person. Ex: our headcanon that Infected met PartyNoob and Split online pre-elevator.

The reason why we assume Infected Apartment and similar floors to be on Earth is because iirc the devs said that Infected is based on old roblox roleplay games, which tended to simulate normal everyday things in society. Like living in a city, having a job, etc. Robloxian "humans" from Earth are distinct from beings like PartyNoob or Pest.

That being said, most "humans" who manage to gain access to the elevator are uh. No longer human by the time they do....

[roseliejack123]

From 'Write Once, Run Anywhere' to Strong Security: The Java Advantage

Java, a programming language and technology ecosystem, has solidified its place in the digital world as a versatile and powerful tool. With its "Write Once, Run Anywhere" capability and an extensive array of features, Java has been instrumental in diverse domains, from mobile app development to building enterprise-level systems. This blog explores the strengths of Java, including its portability, robustness, vast ecosystem, and the thriving community that supports it. We will also discuss the value of structured training and the role of ACTE Technologies in nurturing your Java skills. By the end of this journey, you'll have a deep appreciation for the enduring excellence of Java and its role in the ever-evolving tech industry.

The Power and Versatility of Java:

1. Portability and Cross-Platform Compatibility:

Java's claim to fame, "Write Once, Run Anywhere," is not just a marketing slogan. It's a fundamental principle of Java that sets it apart. This feature is made possible by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which allows Java code to run on any platform that has a compatible JVM. This portability has been a game-changer, especially in a world where a diverse range of devices and operating systems coexist. Whether it's Windows, macOS, or Linux, Java applications run seamlessly, eliminating compatibility issues and reducing development time and effort.

2. Robust and Secure:

Java's architecture prioritizes robustness and security. It employs strong type checking, automatic memory management (garbage collection), and comprehensive exception handling. These features make Java code less prone to common programming errors and vulnerabilities. For businesses and organizations where system reliability and data security are critical, Java's robustness and built-in security mechanisms make it a go-to choice. Critical systems, such as banking applications, rely on Java to ensure the highest level of protection against errors and threats.

3. Vast Ecosystem:

The Java ecosystem is vast and varied. It includes an extensive library of classes, frameworks, and tools that cater to a wide range of application development needs. Some of the notable components of this ecosystem include:

Java Standard Library: Java's standard library provides a wealth of pre-built classes and utilities for common programming tasks, simplifying development.

Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB): For enterprise-level applications, EJB offers a framework for building scalable, distributed, and transactional components.

JavaServer Pages (JSP) and Servlets: These technologies enable the development of dynamic web applications, making Java a popular choice for web development.

Spring Framework: Spring is a comprehensive framework for building enterprise-level applications, offering features like dependency injection, aspect-oriented programming, and more.

Android Development: Java serves as the primary language for developing Android mobile applications, further expanding its reach.

4. Community and Support:

Java's success is not only due to its technical prowess but also its thriving community of developers, enthusiasts, and experts. This community-driven approach ensures that Java remains relevant, up-to-date, and aligned with industry best practices. Developers can find a wealth of resources, forums, and collaborative environments where they can learn, share knowledge, and solve challenges. The community's collective wisdom and problem-solving spirit have contributed to the continuous evolution of Java.

Java's enduring excellence is a testament to its portability, robustness, vast ecosystem, and strong community support. If you're looking to harness the potential of Java and embark on a journey of learning and mastery, consider exploring the Java training programs offered by ACTE Technologies. With dedication and the right resources, you can leverage Java's capabilities and contribute to the ever-evolving tech landscape.

Java has stood the test of time, offering unparalleled portability, robustness, a rich ecosystem, and a vibrant community. Whether you're building enterprise-level applications or dynamic web services, Java remains a reliable choice. ACTE Technologies' structured training can help you unlock the full potential of Java, enabling you to thrive in the dynamic tech industry.

[kichimiangra]

Was chatting with my brother the other day about vpets while I continue to try not to pre-order the Virus Busters Pen Color (my will crumbles by the day) and I brought up a semi recent YouTube video by Humulos, near the end he mentioned that we might get a lull in New Digimon vpet releases because with the Pendulum Color releases done, where do you go from there aside from remaking the anime Digivice toys?

So me and my brother chatted about what we thought would be cool to see as the next step in digimon virtual pets and we came up with something kinda fun in theory!

So most people have agreed that Bandai is phasing out the Vital Bracelet considering there hasn't been any new announcements for it and I honestly have to say I really LIKED buying dim cards to add more digimon to my collection. I love the standard Keychain re-released but it would be cool if someone the idea could be reused.

It was when my brother said "What would be cool is with the Digimon TCG doing well is if they released a bunch of Amiibo card style cards that you can amiibo scan with your Vpet toy to unlock eggs that weren't on the vpet toy, so you can have dlc in the form of cards from the tcg booster packs likr "If you scan this Leafmon card it puts a wormmon egg in your vpet, or even item cards like "if you scan this clockmon card it knocks 6 hours off your vpets wait time to evolve"!

If you can't tell my brother, tho not a huge digimon fan, likes vpets and LOVED the card scanning concept from the tamers anime. "The best part is that if designed correctly even if Bandai decided to phase out the card game or the theoretical vpet in the future the card game and vpet still completely function separately from eachother unlike if your vital bracelets app is shut down."

This got me thinking about how D-coms/A-coms exist and how they have been used in the past to allow Vpets to communicate via computer of be used to play a fan made digimon mmo; "W0rld" and threw in that if Bandai also made a game, wether an mmo or just a single/multi-player experience with an official D-Com release that has an additional scanner for the cards game cards and how that too would be an interesting multimedia branch to the next step in vpets, provided that it's designed around functioning perfectly well as it's own game while the vpet and cards just add to the experience.

So we basically agreed that "It'd be cool to go play with your Lillymon deck at tcg night at a comic book store, then on the way home tend your Lillymon vpet that you hatched from an egg scanned g rom your Lillymon card, then plug your vpet in and play throughout file island in your digimon computer game with your Lillymon."

The Vital bracelets sprites looked great and those assets could be flipped for the vpet itself, giving a modern look to the classic vpet formula in the way Tamagotchis have evolved, and Cyberslueth/Hackers Memory/World: Next 0rder have a huge library of Digimon models and animations that would work fine in a game, and as long as the TCG cards are designed to function like a normal card within the tcg bubble, it would basically have a head start from an asset flipping standpoint to get started.

Dunno it the technology is completely there, but Bandai doesn't seem super confident in Digimons ability to sell outside of the tcg and repackaging the older vpet toys for nostalgic adults so the motivation on a project like that might not be there, but this is just a cool idea and if advertised and packaged correctly might attract a new Gen of Digimon fans to one of the 3 branches of that project and maybe convince them to try out one of the other two branches? Who knows. I just know that the English release of the Vital Bracelet had the least fun packaging I had ever seen in my life for a monster collector/raising game that slapping batman on it was probably the best idea Bandai could have had for it.

Anyway now I go back to my June 11th morning and trying not to burry my sadness on vpet purchases.

Ps. Alsi if it could be designed around replaceable shells because the throwback tamagotchis keep releasing these cool shells and the only thing that keeps me from buying these is that I already HAVE Tamas with that hardware. The ONLY reason I didn't buy the Kenji Watanabe Grafiti design Metal Greymon and Numemon Digimon 20th's is because I already HAD version 20th's with that hardware. But cut the price in half and just sell me the shells and I would be a very poor person!

[reasonsforhope]

"Lead is a neurotoxin; it causes premature deaths and lifelong negative effects. It’s said “there is no safe level of lead exposure” — as far as we know, any lead causes damage, and it just gets worse the more exposure there is.

After a 20-year, worldwide campaign, in 2021 Algeria became the final country to end leaded gasoline in cars — something the US phased out in 1996. That should make a huge difference to environmental lead levels. But lots of sources remain, from car batteries to ceramics...

Bangladesh phased out leaded gasoline in the 1990s. But high blood lead levels have remained. Why? When researchers Stephen Luby and Jenny Forsyth, doing work in rural Bangladesh, tried to isolate the source, it turned out to be a surprising one: lead-adulterated turmeric.

Turmeric, a spice in common use for cooking in South Asia and beyond, is yellow, and adding a pigment made of lead chromate makes for bright, vibrant colors — and better sales. Buyers of the adulterated turmeric were slowly being poisoned...

But there’s also good news: A recent paper studying lead in turmeric in Bangladesh found that researchers and the Bangladeshi government appear to have driven lead out of the turmeric business in Bangladesh.

How Bangladesh got serious about lead poisoning

The researchers who’d isolated turmeric as the primary cause of high blood lead levels —working for the nonprofit International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh — went to meet with government officials. They collected samples nationwide and published a 2019 follow-up paper on the extent of the problem. Bangladesh’s Food Safety Authority got involved.

They settled on a two-part approach, starting with an education campaign to warn people about the dangers of lead. Once people had been warned that lead adulteration was illegal, they followed up with raids to analyze turmeric and fine sellers who were selling adulterated products.

They posted tens of thousands of fliers informing people about the risks of lead. They got coverage in the news. And then they swept through the markets with X-ray fluorescence analyzers, which detect lead. They seized contaminated products and fined sellers.

According to the study released earlier this month, this worked spectacularly well. “The proportion of market turmeric samples containing detectable lead decreased from 47 percent pre-intervention in 2019 to 0 percent in 2021,” the study found. And the vanishing of lead from turmeric had an immediate and dramatic effect on blood lead levels in the affected populations, too: “Blood lead levels dropped a median of 30 percent.”

The researchers who helped make that result happen are gearing up for similar campaigns in other areas where spices are adulterated.

The power of problem-solving

...When the Food Safety Authority showed up at the market and started issuing fines for lead adulteration, it stopped being a savvy business move to add lead. Purchasers who were accustomed to unnatural lead-colored turmeric learned how to recognize non-adulterated turmeric. And so lead went from ubiquitous to nearly nonexistent in the space of just a few years.

That’s a better world for everyone, from turmeric wholesalers to vulnerable kids — all purchased at a shockingly low price. The paper published this month concludes, “with credible information, appropriate technology, and good enough governance, the adulteration of spices can be stopped.”

There’s still a lot more to be done. India, like Bangladesh, has widespread adulteration of turmeric. And safety testing will have to remain vigilant to prevent lead in Bangladesh from creeping back into the spice supply.

But for all those caveats, it’s rare to see such fast, decisive action on a major health problem — and impressive to see it immediately rewarded with such a dramatic improvement in blood lead levels and health outcomes. It’s a reminder that things can change, and can change very quickly, as long as people care, and as long as they act."

-via Vox, September 20, 2023

[night-dark-woods]

just finished blindsight by peter watts. reviewing this one is... complicated. bc the book is good *if* you can read it critically i think (& if you enjoy highly technical first contact stories) but i would keep 14yo white boys away from this book at all fucking costs. i think honestly the summary on the back should give u an idea about how the author looks at the world:

"Two months since the stars fell...

Two months of silence, while a world held its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist―an informational topologist with half his mind gone―as an interface between here and there.

Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find."

concept: 5/5 first contact with truly alien life & convincing hard scifi worldbuilding. there are VAMPIRES brought back from going extinct in pre-history, which are a human subspecies who hibernate for long periods of time so as not to drive their prey extinct, whose patternmatching abilities ("omnisavantism") are so intense that they have seizures when presented with collections of angles not found in nature (e.g. crosses) & must take "anti-Euclidians" to prevent this from happening. just an absolutely incredible original and fully thought out delight of speculative biology. all the other technology and biology is treated with just as much thought and detail, if with overwhelming distaste for humankind.

context: -5/5 uh. bad. this man has bad reactionary opinions about nearly everything and is absolutely an asshole reddit atheist who plays devils advocate about anything and everything in that very special way that highly educated absolutely misanthropic men devoid of compassion or care do. at least this book has the novelty of Every character being treated with absolute disdain, not just the women (though the main char's ex is uh. not treated well narratively).

prime example is the point inside the book where one neural personality core of the linguist derides the concept of DID; in the end notes, Watts says, "Sascha's ironic denigration of TwenCen psychiatry hails from a pair of papers that strip the mystique from cases of so-called multiple personality disorder." the papers in question are two "literature reviews" published in the canadian journal of psychiatry by two psychiatrists who are on the board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, a non-profit (extant 1992-2019) which "described its purpose as the examination of the concept of false memory syndrome and recovered memory therapy and advocacy on behalf of individuals believed to be falsely accused of child sexual abuse with a focus on preventing future incidents, helping individuals and reconciling families affected by FMS, publicizing information about FMS, sponsoring research on it and discovering methods to distinguish true and false memories of abuse" (wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Memory_Syndrome_Foundation).

here is a link to one of the papers mentioned & then two short rebuttals to it in the next issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry- i didn't feel the need to look up more (the fact that the authors are board members of that NGO gave me enough info lol) but there are more replies and rebuttals available in the sidebar, all free access, at the links below.

part 1: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/070674370404900904

part 2: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/070674370404901005

rebuttals: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/070674370505001217

there's other wildly ableist stuff as well, though oddly in a different way than usual because Watts sees all of humankind as terrible, and so it is not the characters disabilities that make them pitiable/deridable, but their humanity. the message is less "if your body or mind is different you aren't human" and more "regardless of how you mutilate (authors tone, not mine) your body or mind for the sake of transcending humanity you’re still a sack of shit human and deserve to die from an evolutionary perspective because all humans do."

execution: 4/5 great writing if he wasn't the aforementioned kind of dude who overuses the word rape to describe things that aren't and also just seems to hate humanity so so so much.

enjoyment: 3/5 the parts that weren't ideologically morally bankrupt were very good, and i enjoyed the worldbuilding.

the conclusion of the novel is also that human sentience is a waste of resources, and consciousness is an evolutionary mistake. the novel title, Blindsight, refers to "the ability of people who are cortically blind to respond to visual stimuli that they do not consciously see due to lesions in the primary visual cortex" (wikipedia). this conclusion is all based on the logical fallacy that is the appeal-to-nature ("natural" things are inherently morally superior: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature), and Watts seems to spend the whole novel arguing that it is natural and thus morally Better to be intelligent but not sentient, that biological automata without self-awareness are the be-all end-all of evolution more broadly. just. misanthropic evo-bio borderline fascism. uninteresting, unoriginal, and ultimately tedious.

[fettesans]

I wrote a text to accompany the announcement of Felix Deiters' exhibition The Questionnaire which opens Friday, 13 October 2023, 6–9 PM at SOX. If you are in Berlin, please join us.

--

🎶How does the disappearance of time influence your mood, mental health and bodily experience? Help us find out by signing up for, and sharing, our new pre-registered survey! These surveys will track your mood, your experience of the (time) crisis, and your interoceptive experiences on that day. You can stop at anytime, and should do so if you feel any distress whatsoever from completing the surveys. 🎶

The first time she had her tarot cards read, she was told to keep her question quiet, to herself. And in this crowded bar she took a breath of relief and with sedulous silence, she uttered nothing. Oh, how good this felt to be offered both the question and the answers, she had thought.

Considering how much biometric data she had shed into the world, it was astonishing how much more diffuse she was with information. She told herself this spoke of a desire to inhabit other identities, of voraciously collecting stories, of wanting to remain odd-angled, hazy-like, being based nowhere-in-particular but here, and of always preferring another scene altogether, like a second opinion to her own thoughts. Anything but a straight answer, and never settling on a favorite color. Not that she didn’t have one, she simply preferred to complicate impressions made of her.

But a questionnaire isn’t a manifesto, I told her.

In 1617, an interrogatory comprising eighty-four items guided the commissioners of Eichstätt in Bavaria in their investigation of suspects. Some of the questions were grouped under topics, such as “Diabolical lust” or “shapeshifting.” Under the latter, one of the questions asked was “Whether she did not change into other forms; why, how, when, and by what means did it happen (no. 75).”

In a world where death came often and unannounced, I imagined how such questions required precise answers when the only guides were shaped by dictated prayers and confession-by-fire.

A questionnaire would have to be cast like a spell, she said. And the answers would bear the contours of a knife found in the crease of a striped couch. Words thrown like insults to exercise one’s conjured slang—the bastard tongue lovingly excoriating the mother. Or Panacea fucking Epione, I said over her laugh.

She wanted to know if there was this one lie I kept, and would always reach for when trying to give a satisfying answer to a stranger felt like watching my doppelgänger reach into my organs with a grin. I realized that I didn’t possess such a handy tune to sprinkle. I already killed the louche fucker, I probably answered instead.

I take that you have one to recite, I asked. Yes.

She had always loved taking and trying on things from her friends’ closets, or from a lover’s bedroom floor, a shirt worn the night before preferably, and when they would say you look good, she would always believe it. She thought how such gestures were templates to her own advice column, or towards an entire self-help book for casting foolish yet sensual responses when each question is a riddle. After all, advice—whether unsolicited, unwarranted, or desperately sought—appeared in ancient philosophical treatises, and medieval medical manuals, before it became the golden smear of Facebook’s actually infinite News Feed.

It was the hospital regime that produced the first sets of standardized protocols for the collection of information forms to be filled in by doctors. Volker Hess and Andrew Mendelsohn have written about “the technology of paper pre-scribing,” namely, blank sheets ruled in columns to obtain particular data. By the end of the 18th century, hospitals in Berlin and Vienna used these to record patient admission, diet, and discharge (or death). More detailed diagnoses and treatments for each patient came to be added, or recorded, on separately configured sheets or in journals. In long-practiced disciplines, such as medicine, the categories or topics written at the top of the columns – symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, cure, etc. – functioned as implied questions.

I told her how much I loved to look at my multiple reflections formed by opposing mirrors in the entrance halls of the old Charlottenburg apartment buildings. Like a relentless acquisitor of circumstances, you seem to extend into the infinite when in reality you get progressively darker and fade into invisibility, long before you even get to the end. I remember how she looked at me as if I had just hurled an occult formula she could deviate into a questionnaire. It’s in the way mirrors reaffirm body consciousness by gesturing deceptively towards our inherent failure of communication—how my reflected body would be saying no when I wanted yes. Is that what being in the world means to you? she finally asked me. Maybe.

The push and shove of wanting, immersed in such an unstable, expansive present. How does one sequence self disagreements? I responded.

Eventually, I told her that the questions I’ve answered best were always the ones conferred like orders by a lover, questions without interrogation points, permissions really. As if possessing a strange talent like drawing blood simply with their fingers touching my skin. Conjuring veins for a laugh, or a fuck, and never expecting words. She would attempt a dispute, insisting that a questionnaire is always like an armor to the one who asks. The one who asks doesn’t have to endure any of the arrows yielded in return, she yelled at me. I remember how I stroked her hair, consoling her fantasy of opting out by saying that she needed to commit more dramatically to the source of the conflict by spending even more time on Quora. Finally, she kissed me with a smile. I remember having said something like how in his genius, Bob Flanagan had gotten rid of the power of decision-making by stealing all of the arrows. Turning his curse into something better than any audience when he had raised this army of Saint Sebastien longing for his embrace.

Perhaps questionnaires are the ultimate aporia between words and meaning, they suggest the most imperceptible forces, from moon tides to the incomprehension of decay. They force a collaboration like a hieratic plot, so deceptively arbitrary yet often bearing a scheming motive, that when a question eventually satisfies the curiosity, it induces the rattled wish to have had an entirely different one asked.

Did I only give you love when you were in pain? I don’t know. I was in pain so much of the time.

Excerpts from Daniel Midena & Richard Yeo (2022) Towards a history of the questionnaire, Intellectual History Review, 32:3, 503-529, DOI: 10.1080/17496977.2022.2097576

[nitrosodiumofficialuses]

Spitballing About Open-World Resource Collection Mechanics

Yeah, TWL is finished, but that doesn't mean I can't use this account for rambling about other game-related stuff. The FPS account is for Overdeath, this is just anything game-y.

At some point I want to make an open world survival crafting type game. Now, MandaloreGaming has called the mixing of these genres "Cursed Runes", due to the fact that they start off greenlit on Steam Early Access, before never delivering on their original concept. Being an aspiring game dev wracked by hubris and naivety, I want to make one! So far, it's going to be like Hydroneer (more realistic crafting and resource extraction plus basic mechanical stuff) with the survival mechanics of Minecraft. The main thing that separates my game (the working title is AG) from Hydroneer is two things: how the game starts and how it ends. Because Hydroneer uses fancy voxel terrain, everything has to start off as dirt, which you then panhandle away until you have minerals and gems. It's not like Minecraft or other games where you tunnel into the ground to find materials, you've gotta refine the dirt if you want to get anything. For AG, I want there to be a bit more than that, perhaps finding pockets of different soil types (podzols, loamy, chalk etc.) which have different chances of having ores. Secondly, Hydroneer level progression. In AG, my plan is for you to be the only human on the continent, shaping it to your whims. In Hydroneer though, your job is a miner and that plays into the economy. The gameplay loop is "panhandle for loot, sell loot, buy machines to panhandle even more efficiently, sell even more loot", rinse repeat until you've bought every plot of land. I don't find that too engaging; I did when I was younger, in fact I plugged many hours into the various Farming Simulator games. But I prefer a drive for exploration and actual progression towards something new, not just being able to afford the new gizmo at the local store.

Next is a continuation of the resource collection problem. I want the world interactivity of Minecraft, but that's not really feasible. Minecraft runs on its own engine that can properly render all those blocks at once, using chunks and render distances and other tricks. Unreal Engine will see each block as its own actor, resulting in a spray of molten metal and plastic that was once my CPU erupting out of the side of my laptop, while a torrent of dead pixels consumes my thirty-seconds-per-frame gaming experience. So, we could do what Ark does, and have boulders, trees, shrubbery etc. destructible for materials. Or the Subnautica thing, where outcrops will randomly spawn on surfaces, keeping a random type of mineral inside. What I could do is a happy compromise of "harvesting nodes" spawning in a pre-made map, which can then be mined. This means mining can only be done in specific locations, which is more realistic than finding ores anywhere.

Imagine, you collect a sizeable amount of clay from a riverbank. You return to your camp, fashioning a kiln and a crucible. Next, you go to to the swamp downstream, looking for withered grass on reddish soil. You dig through the peat to harvest nodules of bog iron, fueling your kiln with some sticks you collected and smelting the bog iron down in your crucible. After several in-game hours, it's molten, so you pour it into a blade mould also made out of clay. Now, you have an iron sword. The idea is for your character to go through natural stages of civilization and primitive technology like this. Eh, it's just an idea.

[kckramer]

Current Work In Progress- Dieselpunk Space Opera

So, this is a project I started for NaNoWriMo a few years ago but didn’t get very far. It ended up stalling out at 12k words or so because I wasn’t sure what would happen. The novel, which I titled The Pilgrim’s War, will probably stick around for a while, although I’ve taken to calling the umbrella project Iron Horizons.

Essentially, it’s a space opera in the same sort of vein as Mass Effect or Foundation, but based on an alternate history that diverged around 1910ish- utilizing a continuation of 30s/40s aesthetics and alternate history. The Pilgrim’s War was set in the gear 2400ish, so approximately 450 years of alternate history to spread humanity into the neighboring sectors of the Milky Way. Hence- dieselpunk in aesthetic, technological base, and ideology (specifically: anti fascist, skeptical of technology, anti colonialist). But genre wise and scope, it’s space opera with centuries of alternate history, a galactic history currently developing in the aeons, and centuries more of future history.

A lot of these ideas were inspired by Tumblr- so it deals a lot with the posts about space mythology, star shanties, and the idea of humans as space orcs. I’ve always been a huge fan of maritime fiction books like Horatio Hornblower and the Aubrey/Maturin books, so I’ve based a lot of the spacefaring culture on continuing that sort of nautical tradition, but focusing more on the merchant spacers, privateers, and other civilians, especially space monks (inspired by the article on Tor).

So, like, the stories so far center mostly around a semi-retired privateer captain and a young monk on his initial pilgrimage before taking his final vows, but like, it's an entire alternate history based on the idea of pre-WW2 space flight and colonization. And in this case, it specifically means colonization in the European context since WW2 was sort of the start of the end of most of the European empires, if things had gone differently and there were empty moons and planetoids full of resources, would they have really abandoned colonialism? Personally, I suspect not.

A lot of this ended up being similar to, and retroactively inspired by, C.J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union series. It meshes well with the maritime influences- like why wouldn't the Earth governments outsource colonization to private organizations they can profit from, with little risk? I mean, look at the current space race- it's mostly billionaires already. I guess, in this case, it makes the old saying about how science-fiction is a futuristic story talking about the present very applicable.

I'll be honest- this is not a very optimistic setting, despite the wonders and beauty of space exploration. It's grim and hard and will eventually wipe itself out with an over-reliance on fossil fuels, but I guess that reflects the present. Add in the fact that space nazis are the main overarching villain for most of the alternate history, and it feels uncomfortably familiar. do i change that? keep it? I haven't decided quite yet, because it will mean this story is irreversibly tangled in modern-day politics.