#imagine if bridge-building was still trial and error half the time

[tanadrin]

on reflection, i think there's a symmetry to, say, doctors who are willing to refer patients to osteopaths or other ""holistic"" healthcare providers and the susceptibility of engineers to certain kinds of crankdom (of the "i-disproved-relativity-in-my-garage" type). both are forms of scientific training of a sort, but they're heavily outcome-focused and not theoretically focused. in large part, this is good! you do not as a doctor need to have a robust theoretical defense of every treatment you provide to patients, and it would be impossible to do so, because medicine is a huge and complicated subject. you do not, as an engineer, need to have a subtle grasp of theoretical physics to build a bridge; you just need to know what the latest developments in bridge-building are.

but it means in both cases you can have people who are skilled in their field, or who even excel, but who don't understand very well why certain techniques work. and in the case of alt medicine, where there has been considerable work to try to obfuscate or deceive people on how shaky the theoretical basis for their techniques are (stuff that literally if you remember your high-school physics and biology at all will make you go, "wait, there is no plausible mechanism for this, that's not how any of this works"), doctors who do not have time to read studies on RCT trials of every type of medicine they have ever heard of will blithely recommend stuff to patients that's actually complete horseshit, especially if the culture around them has been normalizing that woo as part of "holistic" therapy for the last hundred years, spurred on by alternative medicine practitioners and a public with a fear of needles and ~chemicals~ that medical practitioners have not done enough to allay.

it does not help that medicine only emerged very recently from being about 99% bullshit. like maybe at the end of the 19th century at best medicine was starting to be put on a broad-based empirical and theoretical footing--before that it's truly insane the stuff that wasn't just considered perfectly normal medical practice, but was considered serious Science. i mean, this is why we developed double-blind studies in the first place--because theoretical explanations of medical treatments are still necessarily often secondary to the process of finding ones that actually work, so we need really robust mechanisms to avoid confirmation bias or outright charlatanry. and while mainstream medicine is far from perfect in this respect, "alternative medicine" is all far, far worse.

[ravenlesslangblr]

9 points about language learning and how I’m learning 20+ of them

I’ve had a few requests to write about how I learn my languages. To different degrees, there’s currently 20+ of them and I don’t see myself stopping yet. The thing is, learning languages comes really easily to me and I want to share, maybe it will be helpful to somebody else.

First, I’d like to have a look at first versus second language acquisition. I’m a linguist and I’m super interested in Child Language Acquisition. That however, has a critical age of 14 (or so I was always told) and is then no longer possible and any language learned after that age will never progress as quickly or can’t be learned perfectly. Well. I disagree. The simple difference is - first language acquisition is how you acquired your first language(s) as a child. By imitating, finding patterns, etc. Second language acquisition is what you know from language courses. Vocabulary, irregular verb tables, endless exercises. Now that we got some of the terminology off the table, let me see how I actually learn languages: 1) I utilise elements of the first language acquisition rather than second language I’ve only studied vocab a couple times at school, when I put them into Quizlet or when someone forced me to. I’ll get back to it in another point. I don’t learn patterns. I know there is one and I let the input do its magic of slithering into my head. Again, more on that in point 2. You always get told you’ll learn a language better when you’re thrown into the country where they speak it.  And it’s so true because of the processes behind it. Because input and immersion are the keys and that’s how children learn, too.

2) I don’t cram languages. I process them.

Around langblrs, I keep seeing all the ‘crying over verb tables’, ‘trying to learn a 1000 words this week’ and the like. That may work for you, sure. But I’ve never done that. I did learn a few irregular verb patterns for German in class, but while I could recite them, it wasn’t helpful. In Irish, I sometimes still wonder which verb ‘An ndeachaigh tú?’ comes from. The thing is, you’re able to process language. You know this word is probably irregular. If you come across it and don’t know what the irregular form is, look it up. After you’ve looked it up for the tenth time, you’ll probably remember by then. Same with anything else. Don’t try to learn things by heart when it comes to languages. 3) Vocab?? Same rule applies here. I’ve only learned vocab at school and then a handful of times when I wasn’t too lazy to put it into Quizlet (which is fun and I learn something, but it’s more of a useful pastime than anything). When you read, just skip the words you don’t know and only really look them up if you can’t tell by context. NEVER translate vocabulary. I mean, sure, look up what it means, but don’t connect it to the word itself. Connect it to the meaning. Pictures work better. As for abstract words, imagine the concept. Just try not to bridge the meaning of the word with your native language. Languages in your brain are meant to be two separate units. Unless you’re working on a translation piece, they shouldn’t be ‘touching’. 4) I use example sentences for everything.

Grammar guides are useful but rather than learning all the rules at once, take it one step at a time and remember some example sentences and let them guide you through the grammar rule you need.

5) Input is everything. Output is hard, but you’re basically imitating input and utilizing patterns you know (or think you know). Let me give you an example. Let’s say I’m writing a piece on my daily routine, for example. I make use of the example sentences and try to tailor them to my own needs. Trial and error, if I make a mistake, it’s okay, if somebody points it out, I probably won’t make it next time. As I progress, I will gradually remove the mistake. Same goes to new words and new verbs. Use the input you’ve got. Does this verb sound like some other verb you’ve heard before? It’s might have a similar conjugation pattern. You can check it, you don’t have to.

6) Learning languages should NOT be stressful! I never stressed over learning a language. Sure, I’m frustrated that after a year and a half of learning Irish, I’m not 100% fluent, but I’ve never stressed over it. I’ve never cried over it. I’ve never cried over a language (I only cried after a French oral exam which I thought I failed). Don’t be hard on yourself and try learning through a method that’s not stressful. Watch videos for children. Read books for children. Write down cool things in your target language(s). 7) You’ve learned a language before. Why wouldn’t you be able to learn it now in a very similar way? This is basically me saying that I have little belief in the efficiency of pure second language acquisition. Maybe a few individuals can reach fluency by cramming a language, the thing is, I think that if we concentrate on processing instead of remembering, just like we did when we were children, we can reach better results in a shorter amount of time. Also, if this is your third or fourth language, compare to languages you already know. 8) I don’t start with basics. I start ‘somewhere’.

Delve into the language the second you’ve started. Are you overwhelmed? That’s fine! You’ll find your way around it. Start with word meanings, finding out what kind of sentences those are and then build your way around it. Don’t start saying ‘hello’ and ‘I’m from’. Those are cool, but usually, they are used in a different way when you actually go out and speak. You’ll get them along the way.

9) Don’t rely on instructions (only). Rely on yourself.

This is just my two cents. I’ve pieced this together trying to remember how I’ve learned what I’ve learned and comparing it to how others around me learned. Please, let me know if it makes any sense. I may edit this and post this again later if I have any more ideas. Feel free to contribute or to bombard me with questions. I’m happy to answer.

[carrollstreetstation]

WW2GI and the saving private ryan TC for duke nukem 3D: a level-by-level breakdown

EPISODE 1: D-DAY

the first half of the game starts off with a bang as you're dropped right into it with the omaha beach landings; from there you'll go on through the hedgerows and villages of normandy, killing nazis left and right and dying... again... and again... and again. according to the credits, we can thank tuoma "tuco" korva and lado "icebreaker" crnologar for the level design, but i've no way of telling you who did which.

E1L1: d-day what's more iconic in united states military history during WW2 than omaha beach? this recreation of the bloody battle might not be as lethal as the real thing, but it sure is nearly as nightmarish. the game throws you in deep real fast and you're forced to learn, through trial and error, the basics of the game, all the while random explosions and bullets out of nowhere will cut your gameplay short. you'd think they'd at least give us some basic training... even medal of honor frontline was more forgiving.

E1L2: atlantic wall omaha beach, part 2. you're alone for this one, you and several dozen enemy troops as you work your way through a complex of shattered bunkers and rail lines. not much sense to the layout on this one, though cool carnage as a row of parked trucks are annihilated in an artillery explosion -- along with all the nazi goons hiding behind them.

E1L3: defend you meet up with some friendlies just in time for a panicked radio message -- a squad is pinned down under enemy fire and need help. working your way through a flooded village and a forest infested with nazis, you eventually come upon the squad, hiding in some foxholes as a couple dozen enemy mysteriously teleport in by a hedgerow on the far end of the field. aside from some extra ammo, you also get access to an artillery strike via radio and a mortar launcher. hold out long enough and a gate will open with reinforcements behind, and the exit beyond.

E1L4: hunt for the 88s jesus christ. if you managed to get through the d-day map without getting too frustrated you may wind up throwing in the towel on this one, an extremely dark night mission in the woods where the enemy can see you but you can't see them, and they always have insanely good aim. the one thing it has going for it is a pretty cool scripted sequence where you and a squad of guys traverse a bit of forest, exchanging some bad banter -- very cool for the build engine! and then they all die in an ambush, leaving you to play audie murphy -- again.

E1L5: finding private mccurkee first of all, lol. second of all, this mission is actually almost fun. a ruined little town teeming with enemy, you'll have an opportunity to use a rifle to pop enemies from a distance, which will be useful as there's plenty of snipers. a mortar team will make your life hell near the end. it's fun working your way through the ruined buildings and finding ways to climb up into otherwise inaccessible rooms.

E1L6: saving private mccurkee did you like e1l5? how would you like to do it again, only this time in reverse, in the dark, and with an NPC in tow that you have to babysit -- assuming he doesn't get his dumb ass stuck in the foxhole right at the beginning of the level and then you don't notice he's done it so you save your game like a dumbass and now you have to noclip through the gate at the end because the idiot doesn't know how to climb?

yeah. i didn't like e1l6.

E1L7: mop up the final mission of the d-day episode is a mercifully daytime shootout across a semi-detatched military complex in which you shoot a bunch of nazis, blow up some tanks, dodge some artillery fire and, in the end, lay waste to a small, fenced-in compound guarded by SS, who distinguish themselves from regular grunts by their distinctive black uniforms and red nazi armbands. just hanging around them lowers your morale; ignoring the fact that the morale system makes no sense, this does amusingly give rise to the idea that the SS are so evil that they can sap you on a psychic level.

i mean, that's true of nazis today.

final thoughts: not a good first half. maybe three or four of the levels are salvageable; the rest are unmitigated shit, especially e1l4. while this is very likely the first-ever WW2 FPS to feature the omaha beach landings and the normandy invasion at large, it's a novelty at best, an exercise in frustration that shows the limits both of the engine and the designers' talents.

EPISODE 2: FRANCE

not sure what exactly distinguishes this episode from the previous, except that it's perhaps a continuation of the battle of normandy? who knows. regardless, it's another 7 levels of this shit, because they couldn't see what they did in episode 1 and think "we've done enough damage."

E2L1: hell from above a much more sensible first level, this is essentially a sweep-and-clear mission as you work your way (alone, of course) through a cute little village along a river. lots of wide open space means little cover for you, but it also makes combat a bit of a turkey shoot (especially with auto-aim on.) oddly you get tons of MP40 ammo -- even maxing it out -- before you ever actually get the MP40.

E2L2: seaside sweep a quick jaunt through a seaport. lots of nazis, and lots of BAR ammo to perforate them with. would actually be a decent level if not for an issue i ran into -- i don't know if it's endemic to the game or if it's a bug introduced by eduke32 -- that placed two very large wall texture sprites in the map that blocked my view of the final building, forcing me to god mode just to be able to approach the place.

E2L3: under fire similar to "defend" from the first episode, the first half of this mission involves you facing off against endlessly respawning waves of germans until such time that you're called to retreat through the village, which is swarming with germans. clear your way through it and you're treated to a grisly scene of SS troops forming a firing squad to execute captured allied prisoners. definitely feels like a precursor to the early call of duty levels. it's not *too* bad a level i guess.

E2L4: paperwork it's time to attack an SS-occupied chateau in this quick little mission. it starts off surprisingly easy with a short, linear path that takes you through some countryside. a heavily fortified bridge serves as the main defense of the chateau and every window bristles with guns. get inside the chateau walls and it's wall-to-wall SS, draining your morale with every burst of their MP40s and having the infuriating tendency to have your shots (especially your BAR) go right through them.

E2L5: railroad typhoon you've been tasked with rescuing a bunch of captured allied troops who've been put on a train, which means storming a trainyard. it's mostly wide open spaces here, though there is a cool part in a connecting tunnel where you're checking train cars. the trainyard itself is comparatively vast, and enemy fire comes from all directions. relatively fun map.

E2L6: a game of bridge like the name suggests, the key feature of this level is a bridge, currently occupied by a tank and a large contingent of nazis. to get there you'll have to fight your way through the town; across the river are rows of windows from which the enemy shoots at you (a common feature in this episode that i'm starting to suspect may be a favorite feature of one of the mappers.)

E2L7: urban rush the finale of WW2GI involves fighting your way through a massive urban area to rescue a captured general. this is probably the largest level in the episode; with an enemy around every corner. while it's otherwise an interesting, intense level (a small legion of semi-invincible SS notwithstanding) there's a frustrating bit where you must go through a no-man's-land of sorts that's constantly being bombarded by artillery.

final thoughts: a significantly better second half, but the problem is, that's not saying much. it still suffers from issues endemic to the game, like the insane reaction times of the enemy, the massive damage they do to you, and so on. however, the gameplay is much more straightforward for the most part, with no NPCs to babysit, no weird trial-and-error "wtf do i do next" issues, just pure nazi slaughter. now if only the game didn't suck.

PLATOON LEADER

platoon leader is a free expansion for WW2GI that adds three more levels to the game and several additional features. two of these, inexplicably, are set during the vietnam war, a throwback to TNT team's earlier outing NAM (which itself was a sequel to their earlier free mod for duke nukem 3D 'platoon,' based on the movie of the same name.) the remaining level, however, is set in the pacific theater of world war 2. the result is that the armory is a mix of WW2 and vietnam war-era weaponry, with the level design such that you won't receive weapons that don't belong in the era you're playing. speaking of level design, no clue who did this one, but i want to punch them.

PLT_E1L1: hill 41 eeeuuugh. you start at the base of a hill. while you have a radio that can call in both a tank assault as well as an air strike, your main strategy is going to be charging up a hill swarming with IJA troops. while the hill is actually rather realistically constructed, with varying slopes and flat planes, this is about the only interesting facet of the level design as the entire hill is covered in invisible land mines and enemy shooting at you. making matters worse is that the game seemingly arbitrarily will declare the mission a failure and cover the screen with a failure notice, forcing you to restart. i even god-moded my way up to the top, killed everything i could, blew up the tunnel entrance, and still failed. this level sucks.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN TC* FOR DUKE NUKEM 3D

"saving private ryan" is a landmark war film that changed how war movies were made and inflamed the imaginations of game designers everywhere. imagine storming omaha beach from the comfort of your own home; imagine fighting through the hedgerows. while the commercial game "WW2GI" was the very first world war II-themed FPS that wasn't wolfenstein with its abstract mazes and mad science, "saving private ryan TC," released a few months after WW2GI (and using some stolen assets from it), was an attempt by a small group of duke 3d fans to recreate their favorite war movie. in this mod for duke nukem 3D are five levels, each one representing a key scene from the film. an archived version of the mod's website lists two people as level designers: jeff (using the name eXtreme-Rush) and jody (using the name kissle.) i couldn't tell you who did which maps, not that it terribly matters.

* note: TC stands for total conversion, an older term for what we'd now simply call a mod

SPRL1: ohmaha beach yes, that's how it's spelled. basically a worse version of ww2gi's d-day map, it can be done in a matter of seconds. once you blow the shingle and get up onto the ridge it's just nazi city in the trenches beyond, and ammo is scarce -- you're better off just running towards the crater with the movie poster in it.

SPRL2: vierville very short little jaunt through a war-torn village, with a squad of useless soldiers following you. the ruined applecart from the movie is here, as is the half-blown out house; a lone enemy up in a tower is easily dispatched, but figuring out how to get past the invisible wall blocking your further progress is tougher.

SPRL3: bunker another short level, a charge up a hill with the enemy already firing at you. the bunker itself with the radar is cool-looking, at least.

SPRL4: the fields basically "bunker" but with tall, semi-transparent grass sprites everywhere. kill all the nazis and then go talk to the US soldiers hiding near the burning halftrack, and you're on to the finale.

SPRL5: last battle probably the closest this thing gets to a real level, and it sucks ass. you'll not hurt for ammo, and health items actually show up here, but the place is teeming with enemy and cover is light. get across the bridge and you're done.

final thoughts: whoof. while it's true they recreated the setpieces, it comes at the expense of gameplay. the levels are, in a word, ugly and simple, with little in the way of anything distinctive. the whole thing can be gotten through in about 10-15 minutes; wouldn't it have been more fun to simply mix the movie's story beats into a broader game that more closely resembles WW2GI? sometimes i wonder what happened to the mod team; it's clear they were young when they made this (weren't we all, back then...) i guess in the end i admire what they were trying to do, and i appreciate that they were young and didn't really think this through. but it just doesn't work.

[sunmisgirl]

Rose-Colored Boy

For 🍇 anon: may i also request the full scenario of the exo reaction to fighting with their s/o, but with baekhyun?! :)

Couple: Baekhyun x female reader

Genre: Angst (don’t worry; this one has a happy ending)

Length: 2k

Warning: brief mention of drinking

Nina’s Note: This scenario developed from an EXO reaction I wrote previously. Thanks to Seohyun who gave me an idea for the storyline and helped proofread it.

The expression “opposites attract” applies perfectly to your relationship with Baekhyun. Others describe him as a very playful and energetic person whereas you’re more introverted and selective with who you speak to. 

You met Baekhyun through mutual friends and went on a few dates not expecting much in the beginning. However, his charm, humor, and carefree personality sealed the deal. 

You’ve been dating for approximately two years but live in separate places refusing to succumb to friends’ pressures about moving in together. He respects your space and acknowledges that you value privacy and it takes time for you to open up about things. Usually you gravitate to each other like magnets despite your differences, but things are a bit tense lately.

You tend to take things very seriously meanwhile he has an easygoing approach towards life, always acting carefree and being the life of the party. Whenever you try to explain things from your perspective, he tells you to liven up and not take life so seriously before carrying on in his own little world. 

Some days you become so frustrated and wonder if Baekhyun is the right person for you. He fails to act serious in the relationship and brushes everything off with no cares whatsoever. 

Relationships consist of trial and errors and it seems you reached the ultimate test. A mutual friend invites you to a small gathering that ends up becoming a full blown house party. These gatherings usually aren't your scene but you attend them because of Baekhyun. He changes the atmosphere of any party the second he walks through the door.

People naturally gravitate to his energy and he welcomes everyone that speaks to him. After a few hours you grow restless and tap Baekhyun on the shoulder but he's completely immersed in a story Chanyeol is passionately reenacting in the living room.

“Baek, let's call it a night,” you suggest but the music drowns out your voice. He furrows his eyebrows and leans closer to hear you better. “I'm feeling a bit tired. Can we go home now?”

He begins responding but gets dragged by Sehun to play a round of beer pong. He calls out, “Five more minutes!” before following the small crowd to the other end of the house.

Those requested 'five more minutes' quickly changes into an hour and you're stuck sitting on the couch with a can of soda watching Baekhyun land another ball into the overflowing cups. The crowd cheers loudly while Sehun sulks about losing another round.

Yixing passes by noticing the evident frustration on your face. “Are you not pleased with the party? Where's Baek?” he jokes lightly and nudges your shoulder. “He's having the time of his life. Just another day in paradise,” you remark bitterly glaring at Baekhyun across the floor. 

His eyes meet yours and he grimaces immediately remembering the promise he made an hour ago. He bids everyone farewell and rushes over to you apologizing for the wait. Yixing briefly greets Baekhyun and waves to you before mingling with a few other partygoers.

You exit the house with a sour expression etched on your face and Baekhyun follows behind with a slight stumble. He is somewhat inebriated which automatically designates you the driver for the night. 

It’s frustrating that he completely ignores you while spending time with friends and then rambles during the car ride barely giving you time to speak what’s on your mind. This night is one of many reasons why you argue with each other.

Baekhyun thinks everything is about him and only him. The fact you feel ignored and unable to speak to him encourages you to bottle up your emotions. 

You become more reluctant to share any good news with him and he catches onto this rather quickly. He easily notices the disinterest in your eyes whenever he rambles about his day or shares stories. 

Whenever he cracks jokes you only respond with a tight-lipped smile or half-hearted laugh. He feels like he’s losing you day by day. His best friend. 

Baekhyun assumes you’re acting cold towards him because he hasn’t spent much time with you. Therefore, he sends a text one day instructing you to get dressed by 7 pm for a night out. Curiosity about his intentions outweigh the hesitation in your mind as you rummage the closet for something to wear that evening. 

Once he picks you up in his Audi, he remains silent the entire drive refusing to reveal the surprise regardless of your constant pleas. Your questions are answered once he arrives at the restaurant where you had your first date.

Baekhyun happily escorts you into the restaurant and pulls out the chair waiting for you to sit at the reserved table. It's completely unexpected and such a sweet gesture. Conversation flows easily between you two and you smile for the first time in weeks. It seems like everything is finally starting to go back to normal.

However, he eventually falls back into the same pattern of making everything about him. You take a deep breath and try to hide the disappointment on your face during the meal. 

Baekhyun instantly notices your cold behavior that evening when you reply curtly and tries persuading you to share what’s on your mind. No matter how many questions he asks during dinner, you stay solid as a rock and pretend to have a headache to end the night faster.

He tries prying a response out of you one last time before dropping you off at your place. “It’s my job as your boyfriend to make sure you never frown. Come on, what’s troubling you?” he asks sincerely, briefly looking over at you on the passenger side. 

“Can’t we just enjoy a silent ride? You’re always trying to psychoanalyze me. Maybe I need some peace and quiet instead of your voice droning on the whole night,” you retort and shift your body to rest against the interior of the car door. Deep breathing nor a simple meditation technique can relax you right now. The one person you thought you can’t live without is causing so much strife. 

“You’re such a pain in the ass sometimes,” he mumbles to himself and parks in your neighborhood. “Get out of the car.” You blink a few times shocked by his sudden change of mood and peek out the window, noticing your apartment building is further down the road. 

“Why are you kicking me out?” you question and unbuckle the seat belt. He pinches the bridge of his nose before continuing, “I don’t have time for this right now. I try everything to make you happy and all you do is push me further away.” 

You scoff in frustration and reply, “Hate to break it to you but the world doesn’t revolve around you, Baekhyun. A relationship is about two people, not one. Lately you ignore me and never take anything seriously. You see everything through rose-colored glasses. Not all of us can be happy-go-lucky!”  

“I already told you to get out!” he yells and hits the steering wheel in frustration. You exit the vehicle rolling your eyes and exclaim, “Do what you always do, Baek. Run from confrontation. That’s what you’re best at anyways!” 

He drives off the second you slam the passenger door and doesn’t look in the rear-view mirror to find you still standing on the curb. You watch Baekhyun zoom down the street until his car lights fade into the night. 

Tears form in your eyes as you walk to the apartment building down the street clearly embarrassed by the turn of events. You never imagined the relationship would reach this point. After turning off your phone for the night, you take a quick shower and change into comfortable pajamas before dozing off still upset.  

Baekhyun tries to erase the last 20 minutes from his memory by increasing the music’s volume on his car radio. His hands unconsciously grip the steering wheel clearly agitated about the state of your relationship. 

When did everything change between us? 

Once he reaches his place, he swipes to your contact on his phone ready to call you but realizes you probably want nothing to do with him tonight. Baekhyun tries to sleep but can’t get you off his mind so he gets dressed and drives to your place. He makes sure not to startle you when he enters the apartment with a spare key and settles on the couch in your living room to sleep for a few hours. 

You expect to forget everything that happened last night by the morning. However, Baekhyun’s words still resonate as you emerge from bed and shuffle to the kitchen to brew some coffee. 

You notice a slumped figure lying on the couch and quickly realize it’s the last person you want to see right now. You consider hurling a pillow directly at his sleepy face but decide to be the bigger person and wake him gently. Baekhyun stirs from his slumber and rubs his eyes before peering up at you. 

“When did you get in here?” you inquire looking at him dressed in last night’s attire. “A bit past two a.m. I have a spare key, remember?” He rises from the couch and runs a hand through his messy hair.

“Did you come back for round two?” you huff and turn to enter the kitchen busying yourself with making breakfast. He silently follows you and casts his eyes to the floor. 

“I want to apologize for last night and the past few weeks. It kills me that I left you alone like that last night. You deserve so much love and recognition. I admit I’ve been emotionally absent in the relationship but I’ll work on it. You’re such an important part of my life; I can’t bear to lose you now.”

He stays quiet awaiting your answer but you continue ignoring him and rummage the drawer for utensils. Baekhyun idles by the kitchen counter wondering if this is how the relationship will end. You completely shutting down and walking out of his life forever. 

He sighs looking around the apartment one last time before fishing out the spare key from his pocket and placing it on the coffee table. He then approaches the front door and turns the knob but you stop him from leaving. 

“Wait.”

He faces you with a crestfallen expression but hope still gleams in his eyes. You slowly move closer to Baekhyun and utter, “I must apologize too. I’m not exactly innocent either. I should try opening up more in general instead of shunning you. Since the start of this relationship, you’ve always supported my decisions and respected my space. You’re not psychic; you can’t possibly know everything that’s going on in my mind.”

You anxiously play with the hem of your pajama shirt waiting for him to say something. Anything. He nods upon hearing your words and meets you halfway before wrapping his arms around you. 

“The universe can try breaking us apart but I’ll just hold on tighter,” Baekhyun says aloud. You hum in agreement becoming slightly emotional at the thought of losing him. Losing two years worth of memories. 

“Maybe we should listen to our friends and move in together,” he whispers in your ear and holds you tighter. “Baby steps, Byun. Many, many baby steps,” you respond while pulling away from the embrace.

“Go brush your teeth. You have morning breath,” he teases while scrunching his nose and releasing his grip on your waist. You lightly shove him out the way with a smile and walk to the bathroom relieved that the relationship survived the ultimate test.

Life is difficult as it is. If we all take a step back and see things from each other’s perspective, amazing things can and will happen.

[queenraibix-blog]

Blue moon (Now I'm no Longer Alone) - part one

Title: Blue moon (Now I'm no Longer Alone)

Chapter: Ranger Station Charlie

Series: South Park, Fallout

Pairing: Creek (slow burn)

Plot: Craig had enough to deal with while searching for the man that shot him in the head without having to babysit some twitchy boy with a distinct lack of volume control. But here he was, gun in hand and ready to get this kid to New Vegas.

The canteen reached his lips and Craig swallowed the last bit of water that was contained within. Soon he’d need to find a water source, or at least put out some caps in the next town to replenish his reserves. He was half-way out of Nipton, but with the town having been void of most human life thanks to the Legion he hadn’t been able to restock any of his supplies. Thankfully Novac was only a few hours away on foot and there was a ranger station between the two towns. Maybe he could sneak in and get some supplies without being noticed. It was a gamble, but with his recent bout of luck (surviving a gunshot to the head was definitely luck in his book) he felt that he’d at least be able to find a bottle of water or two. Maybe even a gecko steak if he really pushed his luck.

The trek along the remains of deserted highway wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the damned sun that was beating down on his back. He’d already removed the flannel he’d been wearing, hoping that would make him feel better, but as the sun continued to rise that morning the heat just continued to climb. He could understand why so many of the NCR soldiers he’d met were wishing for a nuclear winter. Wandering in hundred degree weather would do that to anyone, he’d imagined.

Pulling up the map on his Pip-boy, Craig tried to see how close he was to Ranger Station Charlie. If he continued the pace he was going, it would likely only be another thirty minutes before he reached the halfway point to Novac. Even as he felt some relief, Craig remained stoic and didn’t let his feelings surface. If there’s one thing he knew about the desert, it was that at any time someone could be watching you, preparing for a moment where you seemed off-guard to strike. He’d seen it happen too many times to allow it to happen to himself.

As the minutes ticked away, Craig tried to hurry his pace a bit. He was dying for some water, his sip from earlier having not been nearly enough to satiate his thirst. Soon the ranger station was in site and Craig’s mind was made up. As he approached the walls that surrounding the remains of the old trailer park, Craig crouched down and pulled the bag off his back and began to rummage around. He knew he still had a Stealth Boy in there somewhere, and now was the perfect time to use it. After a few minutes of sifting through his belongings, Craig found the device. Unlatching the hooks on it, he was quick to secure it to his wrist before flipping the switch. Instantly he vanished from sight. With only a few minutes of invisibility allotted to him, Craig quickly made his way inside the ranger station. The main building had to be the first place he checked, as it would have likely held their best supplies. When he reached the door he was happy to find it unlocked. Turning the handle, he opened the door only a crack before looking inside. No one was in the main room, so he slipped inside with ease. The first thing he spotted were the first aid kits sitting on the floor by the desk. Opening the first one, he found two stimpacks and a bottle of water. It was exactly what he needed.

Craig threw the items into his pack and went to open the next box. This time, however, he found the box to be locked. Reaching into his pocket, Craig pulled out a bobby pin and got to work on opening the first aid kit. It took a minute, one which he really did not have to spare, and found some med-x and a stimpack inside. While the stimpack was useful, Craig tried not to use chems as much as possible. He’d seen people become addicted to them too quickly, and he’d seen how bad the withdrawal could be for most people. He had too much shit to do to get drugs involved.

Closing the first aid kit, Craig looked at the timer on his Stealth Boy and cursed. He had sixty seconds until it deactivated. Not to mention, he could hear voices from the other room now. It was time to get out and fast. Heaving his pack back onto his shoulders, Craig stood and made for the exit. He needed to get at least a little bit of distance between him and the ranger station before he could take a sip of the delicious water he’d snatched. Thirty seconds left, Craig sprinted out of the ranger station and down the road, keeping his breathing steady all the while. Being a courier for seven years had really helped with his endurance and kept him in shape. Afterall, most people wouldn’t be able to traverse the wasteland on the daily like he could. It took endurance and it took more than a little bit of survival tactics. It wasn’t enough to be able to just make up some healing powder and go on your merry way. You had to be your own butcher and chef, you had to know what random plants would cure a stomach ache and what would cause internal bleeding.

Needless to say certain aspects of his survival skills had been trial and error, but Craig didn’t like to think about that.

With his pack a little fuller, Craig took a sip of his water before starting back on the highway to get to Novac. If he picked up his pace he could make it there before the sunset, and he might just have enough caps to rent a room for the night. The idea of being able to settle into a real bed, instead of sleeping on the cold, hard ground, even if only for one night was too enticing to pass up.

With that thought in mind, Craig pulled out his laser rifle and readied it at his side. He was ready to fight anyone or anything that crossed his path if it meant a peaceful night’s sleep.

What he hadn’t expected a few hours into his journey, however, was a line of mines going across the road, effectively blocking his path.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Looking around him, he noted that he could go around, it would just be a pain in the ass and set him back on the good time he was making. Alternatively, he could find something to set off the mines from a safe distance away, but he knew it would alert any of the local wildlife (and possibly raiders) to his location. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Craig decided to start looking for a rock big enough to set off one of the mines. Turning around to start his search, Craig’s eyes widened at what he saw. Behind him stood a young man, his eyes wide and wild as he held out a rusted machete in Craig’s direction. At least he had an advantage on the blonde boy before him; while a dull machete could do some damage, Craig had his laser pistol at the ready, giving him the edge with the distance between them. As he raised the gun, he watched as the other boy twitched and eyed the weapon.

He didn’t seem to be deterred though, keeping his machete up, even though his hands were shaking.

“I-I saw you. At the ranger station.” The boy’s eye twitched again and his body shivered. “You went all invisible though! You’re with the Legion, aren’t you?! You went in there t-to kill them, didn’t you?! I’ve seen their troops hiding in the hills, did they send you in to do their work quick and -gah- quietly?!”

Craig stared blankly at the boy, trying to follow his thought process but not understanding where he could make a leap to assuming he was with the Legion. Looking down at his clothing and then to the weapon in his hand, Craig looked back to the boy and raised an eyebrow.

“Do I look like Legion to you? I’m not dressed in their stupid uniform and I’m not the one waving a god damn machete around.” That seemed to surprise the boy, who averted his eyes to the ground momentarily before lowering his machete a bit.

“I-It was the only weapon I could find, I’m not Legion…” The boy brought one hand to his arm and started to scratch at it nervously. “But I mean, if you’re not Legion then who are you? No one has been through here other than Legion in a few days!”

With the machete having been lowered, Craig did the same with his pistol, but still kept his finger on the trigger just to be safe. The boy seemed a bit erratic, so Craig still couldn’t guarantee that a fight wouldn’t break out eventually.

“I’m just a courier. I needed supplies, so I made a stop. The NCR should have enough to spare, they probably won’t even notice their stuff is missing.” Craig shrugged his shoulder, still not letting a little bit of theft weigh down his conscious.

“O-Oh, okay then. J-Just a courier, huh?” Craig thought the boy must have been pretty naive, taking him at his word. He watched as the boy sheathed his machete before turning back to look up at Craig. “In that case, do you mind maybe, uhh, making a delivery for me?”

Craig raised an eyebrow at the request. Looking at the boy, he didn’t seem to have many belongings on him; the makeshift pack he had with him looked like it barely carried anything, so what could he have possibly needed a courier service for? Not to mention, Craig really didn’t have time to go out of his way to make deliveries right now. He needed to find the son of a bitch that shot him in the head. But who knew where that would take him, so maybe if the delivery was on his way it would be a good chance to make some extra caps…

“Okay, I’ll bite. What do you need delivered and how much can you pay me?” Craig watched the boy’s eyes brighten at his response. Those eyes were too open, too trusting, and it made something tighten in Craig’s chest. How had this kid survived in the wasteland if he didn’t hide his emotions better than this?

“Well uh, I-I need you to deliver…” The boy wrung his hands together nervously, now averting his eyes as if he were embarrassed to answer Craig’s question. His eye twitched before he continued on, “Me, okay?! I need you to deliver me to the strip! I’ve heard it’s safe there, b-because Mr. House keeps the Legion out!”

Keeping his expression blank, Craig ran through the request in his mind. On one hand, it would be annoying to keep the jittery boy with him all the way to New Vegas, what with his constant twitching and the fact that it looked like he might vibrate out of his own skin, not to mention they’d need to have a conversation about volume control (Craig liked to avoid confrontation as much as possible, so sneaking was a necessity at times). But there was one thing that could sell him on this: the right amount of caps.

“What can you give me in return if I take you there?” Craig holstered his weapon and put his hands into his pockets– he’d found it was best to negotiate business when you weren’t ready to shoot someone in cold blood.

“A-All I have is some Legion Denarius, but I have about 100! I’ve taken them from the Legionaries that I’ve fought a-and I think they have some value!” Reaching into his pocket, the boy took out a small pouch and held it up for Craig to see. Running through the math in his head, Craig figured he’d be able to trade them in for about four hundred caps on the Strip. It wasn’t the best rate he could get for a job like that (considering he was a courier and not a fucking mercenary), but he figured at the very least the boy could be of some use. He had a machete to fight with, so he might be able to hold his own, and obviously with the number of mines he’d put down he’d be able to keep them well guarded. Closing the gap between them, which made the shorter boy yelp, Craig swiped the coin purse and pocketed it.

“Deal. I’ll get you to New Vegas, kid.” Holding his hand out for the other to shake on their deal, he followed with, “I’m Craig. Who are you?”

“I-I’m Tweek.” The boy’s hand twitched in his own as they shook on their business deal. Craig nodded at him before pulling his hand back and looking to the road behind him, specifically to the line of mines still blocking their path. Tweek noticed what he was looking at and jumped, having apparently forgotten his own trap in all the commotion. “S-Sorry, I’ll get them cleaned up right away! Give me a second!”

Getting right to work, Tweek jumped from mine to mine, deactivating all of them and throwing them back into his pack. With the road cleared, Tweek turned to Craig with a nervous smile.

“I-I guess we can get going now. Where are we headed?”

“Novac. I have a man to settle something with.” And with that, Craig walked on past Tweek, listening as the boy yelped and ran to catch up with him. Surveying the quiet desert before him and the open road, Craig allowed himself a moment of internal peace before mentally preparing himself for the fight that might be awaiting him in Novac.

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Take Care (5/5)

Well, that only took two years to complete... Please enjoy this conclusion.

Summary: When Rush goes missing for slightly too long and the crew become even more suspicious than they already are, the search for him is cut short by reports from Greer that there is an intruder on the ship. He’s not entirely wrong, but when Chloe recognises their mysterious visitor as Gloria, one person who could definitely, absolutely not ever be on Destiny, things take a turn for the interesting. Is this Destiny testing them again, or is this a cry for help?

Gloria/Rush, with a side of Gloria/Chloe/Rush bromance, sort of…

Set between Trial and Error and The Greater Good, and diverges from there.

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [AO3]

Chapter 5

Chloe sits by Rush’s bed in the infirmary. TJ has given him the all clear, they just have to wait for him to wake up and get some fluids into him. He looks a lot less like he’s at death’s door now that he’s not covered in blood. It’s obvious that he needs the sleep, so they’re not too worried about waking him up prematurely. Well, the only person who particularly wants to wake him up prematurely is Young, and that’s probably only because he wants to be angry at him. Scratch that, Young is angry at Rush, furiously and incandescently so, because now that the science team have got inside the bridge and started going over its controls with a fine toothed comb, it’s clear that Rush has had control for a while now, and the colonel wonders just how much of what has happened in recent weeks could have been prevented if he had decided to share that information with them rather than keeping it to himself. 

Whilst Rush is unconscious, however, there’s not a lot that Young can do in terms of shouting at him, so he’s taking his frustrations out by pacing up and down the infirmary and occasionally talking to TJ in a harsh whisper that Chloe knows he doesn’t mean for her to hear. He’s not at all happy at her being out of confinement and it seems like he’s even less happy that she’s in here with Rush. From what he’s been saying, he now suspects some kind of a conspiracy between the two of them, and Chloe just rolls her eyes.

Thankfully, whilst TJ wants to smack Rush for keeping the bridge a secret just as much as the rest of them do, she does have Chloe’s back in these arguments, calmly explaining everything that points to Chloe being just as unaware as the rest of them. Young accepts this begrudgingly and resumes his pacing, giving Rush’s comatose body black looks every now and then.

“Colonel, he’s not going to wake up any quicker with you staring at him all the time,” TJ says. “I think that you might be better served elsewhere. I’m sure that the science team will have something to report on the bridge by now. I know you want to yell at him the moment he wakes up, we all do, but with respect, sir, I don’t think there’s a lot to be gained from waiting for that to happen. I’ll call you as soon as he’s awake.”

Young seems to accept this and leaves the infirmary, and the tension in the air immediately lessens to slightly more bearable levels. Chloe looks over at Rush again.

“You’re in so much trouble,” she says conversationally. She wonders if there is something that she ought to be doing, rather than just sitting here. It’s not like she has any duties to perform around the ship that she would be doing instead; she’d just be swapping sitting in the infirmary under military guard to sitting in her room under military guard, so it’s a change of scenery if nothing else. “I think people are going to start lining up to try and kill you soon. You’re lucky I’m here, really.” She doesn’t necessarily want to kill him, but she does want to ask him what the hell he thought he was playing at in keeping them all in the dark for so long.

It’s strange. Chloe’s hand hovers over Rush’s, unsure whether to take it or not. That this strange sequence of events has connected them is irrefutable. They’d had some kind of connection at the hands of their Nakai nightmares before, but the very fact that Destiny itself seems to think that they’re connected has resonance somewhere in the back of Chloe’s mind. The ship wants them to stick together and help each other, and something in her head really wants to listen to it. She knows she’s thinking like Rush now, that the ship is so much older and bigger than the both of them and it does things for a reason, so they probably ought to respect it. She thinks back to what TJ said, about the ship actually caring about them. Maybe it’s caring about her too, giving her excuses and ways to get out and about during her solitary confinement.

She closes her hand over Rush’s. It’s the kind of thing that people do in medical dramas when their terribly ill or injured loved ones are in a critical condition and it’s touch and go for them. It’s not touch and go for Rush, so much. She just knows that there’s no-one else who would do it for him. It’s like Gloria said when she first appeared in her quarters.

No-one else is going to take care of him. Least of all himself.

Whatever strange thing binds them together, whatever link that Destiny has sensed between them, whether as a result of Chloe’s transformation or their shared trauma or something deeper and less definable, it’s there to stay. They are never going to see eye to eye about everything, in fact they’re probably not going to see eye to eye about practically anything, but no matter how much Chloe might want to yell at him, she knows that they understand each other, and perhaps they’re the only people on the ship who share that peculiar level of understanding.

“Thank you.”

Chloe looks up and startles when she sees Gloria standing there. She glances over at TJ, but Gloria shakes her head.

“No, she can’t see me.” There’s a pause. “Eli is running diagnostics on the simulation program from the bridge. I don’t know how long I have. Young wants him to shut it off to prevent any more incidents.”

Well, considering that the simulation program nearly caused Young to have a breakdown when it started testing his leadership skills, Chloe can understand his reluctance to have it running in the background and possibly causing mass hallucinations in his crew. All the same, it makes Chloe wonder.

“So what happens if Rush works himself half to death again?”

Gloria shrugs, perching on the edge of the bed beside her husband. “He’ll just have to accept that he can’t rely on Destiny taking care of him anymore, and he’ll maybe have to take some responsibility for his own wellbeing.”

Her tone is almost motherly, and knowing that she is the ship’s mouthpiece who has taken this view, it makes Chloe laugh. Even Destiny is exasperated by Rush’s workaholic tendencies.

“I did keep telling him to go to sleep,” Gloria continues. “You can imagine how he took that advice. Most of our interactions consisted of me telling him to stop working and him telling me to be quiet.”

Chloe gives a huff of laughter, and she knows what this is building up to. If Destiny can’t take care of Rush, for whatever reason, then this task is going to fall to her. She finds she doesn’t mind. Everyone needs someone to have their back, even Rush, and maybe if he realises that he has a friend and someone looking out for him all the time, then he won’t feel the need to be so damn secretive and manipulative all the time, if he has someone he knows he can trust.

“What if we need you again?” she asks. “I mean, if you’re a manifestation of Destiny itself, then you might be useful to have around.”

Gloria shakes her head. “Not like this. Not this particular form, this shape. I’m too shaped by Rush. But Franklin’s still here too. He’s more likely to provide practical assistance.”

“Franklin?” So that’s where he went when he vanished in the chair. He was uploaded into Destiny’s mainframe.

“Yes. According to Nicholas he’s far more useful than I am.”

They fall into silence for a while, and Chloe takes a few minutes to study the pair of them, Rush’s memories of Gloria watching over him faithfully. It makes her think, just how much Gloria’s death must have affected him, for her to be such a large part of his subconscious now. She remembers the conversation that led to her first realising that Gloria even existed.

“He loves you,” she says. Even though it’s not Gloria and she’s just a construct taking this form for expediency’s sake, it feels important to say it.

Gloria smiles. “I know.”

They fall into silence again. Gloria’s presence seems to be fading, as if it’s taking more and more energy for her to stay here in this form. Whatever Eli’s doing to the simulation program, it’s obviously taking its toll.

“Thank you for rescuing him,” she says presently. “Please keep him safe for me whilst I can’t.”

“I can’t decide whether to hug him or kick his ass,” Chloe mutters. Gloria laughs.

“Don’t worry, that’s a sentiment I can well understand. He’s always been like that.”

Chloe snorts. “Well, at least you admitting it means that he admits it himself. I think.”

Gloria smiles. “Something like that.”

She leans over and kisses Rush gently on the forehead, but Chloe can’t tell if she actually makes contact or not.

“You know where I am if you need me,” she whispers to him, and then she’s gone, and Chloe knows that she won’t be coming back, not unless someone does something to activate the simulation program again. From what Gloria said earlier, back in her room when she was decoding the bridge door, that doesn’t seem likely.

Beside her, Rush twitches as he comes to.

“Glo?” he mumbles.

Chloe shakes her head. “Close, but no cigar. Chloe.”

“Gloria?”

“No. Just me. Sorry.”

He opens bloodshot, weary eyes and looks up at her.

“Gloria was here,” he says. “I heard her.”

“Yeah, she was. She’s gone now, though. I think Eli’s quarantined the program.” Chloe glances over at TJ on the other side of the infirmary; she must have twigged that Rush is awake again but she’s being very good at pretending obliviousness and giving him some time to come round fully before she sics Young on him. Rush nods, and Chloe wonders if he’ll miss her, the simulation who wasn’t really his wife, created from his own memories, his own guilt.

“You were there,” he says. “I heard you. When…”

He doesn’t finish the sentence, but Chloe can fill in the gaps for him. Suddenly, he’s much more alert, looking around himself, as if he’s just realised that he’s not where he was when he passed out.

“Where am I?”

“Infirmary.”

“How did I get here?”

“Kino sled. TJ and I didn’t feel like carrying you all the way here.”

Even looking like death warmed over, he can still give a pretty good ‘don’t be an idiot’ glare, but Chloe just laughs.

“I cracked the code to get into the bridge and came to rescue you from yourself. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Thank you.” There’s a long pause as reality dawns, and Rush grimaces. “Ah.”

“Yeah, I think ‘ah’ is putting it mildly,” Chloe says. “Young’s about ready to throw you out of an airlock and the rest of us aren’t that far behind. I take it you’ve got some kind of explanation?”

“I do, but my head hurts too much to go into detail right now.”

“Here.” TJ comes over with a cup of water and Rush manages to lever himself into a sitting position and drink. “Not only are you ridiculously exhausted, you’re also even more dehydrated than the rest of us. Now, I promised I’d call Young as soon as you woke up, but I figure I’ll give you a while to make sure you’re fully compos mentis and have all your excuses and explanations lined up before he comes down here.”

Rush nods his appreciation, a little cowed. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, you haven’t seen him.”

TJ leaves them alone again then.

“How did you get into the bridge?” Rush asks.

“Gloria helped me. She gave me all the calculations that you’d already done and I was able to work out the rest of it.”

He nods, slowly.

“You know, part of me is really quite worried about how connected you are to this ship,” she points out. “The fact that it can tell when you’re about to keel over and takes it upon itself to get a rescue party together is remarkable.” She raises an eyebrow. “You know, I really think Destiny likes you.”

Rush scoffs, but his expression is thoughtful, and he doesn’t speak for a while. When he does, his words are not at all what Chloe expects.

“You spoke to Gloria.”

“Yes. Well, whatever the strange simulation-come-AI hologram, manifestation of Destiny’s sentience all tied up a bow of your borrowed memories type thing that Gloria is. I find it easier just to call her Gloria.”

“I see.” He pauses again, still lost in thought. “I wonder why she chose you.”

It’s a rhetorical question, and whilst Chloe could see it as an insult, she doesn’t think it is.

“Alien brain to the rescue,” she says. “Super blue knowledge needed to crack open doors.”

They both know that it’s not that, not really, but at the moment, they lack the same depth of understanding of each other that Destiny has of them both. The tentative friendship that they have formed over the past few months has solidified into something now. The past few hours have seen to that, and Chloe feels that she owes it to Gloria - not just the simulation she interacted with but the memory of the woman herself, a person she never met and only knows through another person’s memories - to honour these changing circumstances and take care of Rush in the same roundabout, Rush-like way that he keeps an eye out for her.

“Chloe.” TJ is coming back. “I think it would be best if you went back to your room now.”

Chloe has to agree, because as much as she wants to stick by Rush, she can’t do that if she doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, and being here when Young comes in is probably just going to get the both of them in trouble. Rush nods.

“I can handle Young,” he says, and Chloe just raises an eyebrow.

“Of course you can.”

“If I’m still able to walk after the friendly chat that we’re no doubt about to have, I’ll come and see you,” he says. There’s still a lot for them to talk about, the things that they share that no-one else could even come close to understanding. First their abduction and escape, then the nightmares that continued to link them, and now this final attempt by Destiny to bring them together in an alliance. It’s not something that can be ignored.

“Oh no you won’t,” TJ mutters. “You’re staying where I can keep an eye on you. I don’t want to find you collapsed in a corridor in a couple of hours because you’re too stubborn to admit you’re human.”

Rush huffs, and Chloe laughs, and TJ gives a long-suffering sigh before radioing Dunning to come and escort Chloe back to her quarters and Young to say Rush is ready for the third degree. As she leaves the infirmary, Chloe thinks she gets the briefest glimpse of Gloria out of the corner of her eye, but when she turns, the image is gone.

As worrying a thought as the ship keeping tabs on them is, it is nice to know that it’s taking care of them, and making sure that they take care of each other.

[yjbaemajor]

7 in 7

For the next seven days, create one project a day. Each project must be conceptualized, produced and documented in a single day. This is the only rule of the project, and it

should not

be bent or broken.

The projects may be all in the same medium, or utilize different media.

The more experimental in nature, the better.

There is no “wrong” way to do this project (other than break the one-day rule).

Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve been realizing the importance of staying fit and maintaining good health. Especially with a full online semester, I find myself sitting in front of my computer all day. I feel back pain and my eyes are always extremely tired. When I’m taking a break from academic-related work, I’m on my phone or watch TV. It’s been hard to move away from staring at screens and engage in more physically active activities. 

Therefore, I’ll take this as an opportunity to break out of the digital-related habits I have adapted since the pandemic. 

For the next seven days I will:

go for a walk/run everyday without a set time duration and use the Nike Run app to track my path

begin the app when I leave my house and not look at my phone until I’m back home to stop the app

try to draw a pair of glasses with my path, only relying on my knowledge of the neighborhood (glasses because I’ve never worn them more than I’ve ever done before and this is a big change for me)

not investigate my path in detail on the app to make specific improvements of the drawing

create a graphic visual with my path after the run, inspired by my experience or impressions of the run

These will guide me to a new process to create graphical content (hopefully) !

Thursday Day 1

This was my first actual run since I came back home in March. It was extremely challenging and I realized that it was difficult to envision the path in my head without looking at the screen in real time. However, the distance and time somewhat provides clues on the boundaries of the drawing. Right now it looks like a small pair of glasses within a larger pair. I think moving forward I would avoid making smaller forms within the big picture. I think this was a good start and I feel great!

It had been a while since I visited this area of the neighborhood, so I was mostly focused on trying to remember the geographical details during the run. I also tried picture the path I would be drawing in my head so I could intentionally shape the path. This inspired me to create a pattern with the track that resembles a city planning map. Friday Day 2

I felt extremely sore all day and if it wasn’t for this assignment I would have never made it this evening. Today I tried to follow the same path as yesterday but make some changes so that I could eliminate the part where there was the smaller pair of glasses. I think I managed to figure out the outline of the two lenses and the bridge, but I think the biggest challenge would be figuring out where the two legs would be.

Because I had some information from the previous day, I kept drawing a map of the sketch in my mind over and over again to the extent that real memories and imaginations overlapped each other. I had a hard time trying to determine if something was a real memory or if it was an imaginary environment that I was making up in my head. I thought this disorder and disconnection was interesting and portrayed it digitally.  Saturday Day 3

I’m not quite sure what happened but my path wasn’t tracked and instead gave me this interesting radiation. Today I felt like a I have a clear grasp of where certain big buildings are and where those points might be on the drawing. My sense of environment and location is improving. I also began to look at the scenery leisurely and I saw a bunch of withered sunflowers cut and piled on one corner of a park. Withered sunflowers looked deadly and haunting which was a huge contrast to the bright, energetic sunflowers that I envision. 

Reminded by the shocking image of withered sunflowers this evening, I re-imagined them in their afterlives. Taking inspiration from the film Coco, I wanted to make the sunflowers look colorful and festive. They almost look like a bunch of fireworks celebrating the bright energy when they bloom. It is interesting how my path wasn’t tracked properly this evening but it resembled a strong impression I had today. Sunday Day 4

Half way into this project and I’ve finally realized which direction I need to take in order to draw the left leg of the glasses. I always thought it was a dead end in that particular direction but it turned out not to be. With more information and details accumulating over time, I feel more aware of my environment and I think I’ve learned more about my neighborhood in the past few days. This experience begins to feel more like a prototype process as I’m learning from trials and errors. I’m currently prototyping the legs of the glasses!

As I was walking past berry trees, some had fallen to the ground and had been stepped on. I tried to capture this moment because its subtle variations of violet, purple, scarlet and crimson red were intriguing. The patterns of soles from different shoes created interesting patterns as paths crossed over each time. Some areas were vibrant while other areas looked as if the color was diluted as it intermingled with the dirt on the ground.  Monday Day 5

Another leg prototype phase! I tried to figure out the right leg of the glasses but it’s more challenging than it seems. The path to draw the lenses of of the glasses require a lot of ups and downs of stairs and hills, so there are more obstacles than it seems. Sometimes I feel like I’m near the corner of the lens and I need to move straight out to draw the leg, but I’m covered by walls so I can’t do that. I think I’ll need to investigate more but for today’s progress I still managed to create the beginnings of an entire pair of glasses. Now in day 5 I feel like I know enough about the neighborhood that I pre-determine the outcome of directions that I’ve never been to :S.

I tried to portray my inner conflict of not knowing when I should draw the line to stop relying on my knowledge. With daily visits, my understanding of the neighborhood has expanded to the extent that I think I can pin point when to make a turn. But this has almost made me less willing to take new approaches because I know that I’m so close to finishing. I wanted to demonstrate this confusion through vibrant and bold color choices and tight graphic organization.  Tuesday Day 6

Day 6! Today I found a passageway that went underground and it turned out to be an extremely long path that ran through the center of the two lenses. There were two entrances to the passage and I think the other one should have lead the way to the end of the lenses where I could then take a turn to make the other right leg. However, because the trip begins and ends at home, everything eventually is connected into one loop. I think it’s better I think of it in a backwards process for tomorrow while I’m progressing forward so I’m not overly concerned of making one right leg but rather an entire picture.  

This evening light blue fairy lights were installed on the trees so that they illuminated the leaves with a mystical cyan and blue mixture. I tried creating a floral pattern with the path from my inspirations of today’s trip. I wanted to keep the red and green dots from the path because they reminded me of the berries that were on the trees.  Wednesday Day 7 !

Last day! Today, as I decided yesterday, began the route backwards. I usually went counter-clockwise but today I began to walk towards the right side. I wish I came up with this idea a bit early on and broke away from my devotion to starting on the left side. By starting on the right leg of the glasses, I had more control over where I ended up. I could begin completing the leg of the glasses before I got entangled into the lenses area. Even though the route was new to me, it was straight forward that it didn’t require much experience to figure out where I was going. Afterwards I could find my way back to the trees so draw the other parts of the drawing. All in all, here is my finally completed drawing of a pair of glasses!

As a wrap up of this week journey, I felt like each experience built up onto other experiences. First they built up onto each other and then they soaked in together that it was difficult to determine which experience came from what day. It was one whole web where each aspect affected another.  Reflections

(To clarify, not investigating my path in detail to make specific improvements meant the tracks illustrated in map form as the image above. Instead I only relied on the icons with the blacked out backgrounds)

After seven days of iterating the same process with controlled variables, I think I experienced how anything could be a prototyping process. I only had created prototypes under design context, specifically physical objects that were tested for function and design. However, this seven day journey itself was a prototype where I was going through various trials and errors in hopes of improving the outcome. The aspects that were discussed in class about creative process also applied here where it was important to learn to let go of certain decisions and yet make sure to have a clear direction. The image above is a combination of all seven track paths to capture the emotions and realizations I experienced throughout the week.  While this location based drawing itself was a prototyping process, the graphic creations were also a prototyping process. It required to capture intangible experiences or emotions into visual form from an abstract form. I enjoyed creating from abstract seeming forms and transforming them into graphic elements on a screen. It’s ironic that I’m having to wear my glasses doing this, but nevertheless I think there is a learning curve from this iterative process. 

[cecillewhite]

Measurement Matters: 3 Data Analytics Lessons to Remember

Although I’ve spent my entire career in marketing and communications, measurement has never been far away. I’m not a natural-born statistics nerd. But these days, it’s hard for any of us to avoid analytics, no matter what we do for a living.

Since the start of the digital age, we’ve all been swimming in business data. Yet many of us still don’t take the time to use it in meaningful ways. Some of us avoid data analytics because it involves so many moving parts:

Valid and reliable methods

Robust tools

High-quality data

Appropriate benchmarks

And of course, relevant underlying logic.

It’s true, these elements aren’t always easy to align. But would you really rather fly blind? Imagine how much more you could achieve by investing some time and effort to put metrics on your side.

Even before data-based measurement became widespread, I saw its value at work in dozens of different business scenarios. Here are three of the most memorable examples:

Lesson 1: Find Your “North Star” Metric

Great data analytics tools are plentiful today. All those interesting apps and widgets may tempt you to spread your measurement efforts too thin. But just because you can track many metrics doesn’t mean you should.

It reminds me of the 1990s dude ranch comedy film “City Slickers,” when Billy Crystal’s middle-aged character, Mitch, shares a serious moment with a grizzled cowboy named Curly, played by Jack Palance:

CURLY: “Do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. Just one thing… MITCH: “Great. But what is the one thing? CURLY: “That’s what you’ve got to figure out.”

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Curly’s little nugget of wisdom is as useful in analytics as it is in life. Every organization has its own special sauce. If you know what sets you apart, you can quantify it. Isolating the one metric that matters most to your organization may not be easy. But it can make all the difference – not just for near-term performance, but for long-term success.

I learned this while working my way through college as a waitress at an upscale restaurant in Seattle. The place was so popular that people would wait an hour or more for a table. By the time most customers were seated, they were beyond hungry. That meant delivering a superior dining experience was essential. But how do you quantify quality?

The owners decided to keep customers coming back for more by uniting employees around one deceptively simple objective – hot food. In other words, success meant cooking every meal to perfection and serving it piping hot. Each of us worked toward performance metrics tied to that central objective.

As a waitress, my goal was to serve at least 90% of meals within 2 minutes of plating. Others had similar goals. With heightened awareness of the company’s mission, all employees became obsessed with hot food. Our behavior rapidly changed, and the culture soon followed.

Hot food may seem like an obvious success factor for any restaurant. But the right choice wasn’t as easy as it seems. In this case, the “north star” metric emerged only after a series of long and intense brainstorming sessions with customers, employees and business partners. It also required trial and error. But It was worth the effort.

Eventually, that metric became a beacon for every employee, and the organization became one of the Pacific Northwest’s most successful and storied fine dining establishments.

Lesson 2:  Measurement is a Nonstop Endeavor

Not so long ago, the road to business intelligence was tedious and expensive. Analysts measured performance by comparing static “before and after” snapshots on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Data was compiled in batches that often took days to process before reports could be developed and distributed. The complexity and cost of real-time reporting put it far out-of-reach for all but the largest and wealthiest organizations.

I’ve faced this challenge several times in my career – even as recently as 10 years ago on the data analytics team at one of the world’s leading web services companies. With big-ticket advertising budgets on the line, we knew that faster insights could dramatically improve campaign results for the brands we served.

Of course, other digital economy players recognized the same opportunity. They, too, inched their way forward, compressing reporting turnaround times as quickly as their budgets and capabilities would allow. Suddenly, speed had become a driving force, as companies everywhere sought a competitive advantage by accelerating time-to-insight.

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No more. Now data is dynamic, plentiful and relatively cheap. It has become the fuel that drives remarkably sophisticated, easy-to-use online reporting tools that are also relatively cheap. (Free Google Analytics, anyone?) In fact, with nearly instant data so widely available at such a low cost, it seems that yesterday’s time-to-insight advantage has nearly evaporated.

So, where should you look to find a competitive advantage now? Ask anyone who treats analytics like breathing. Today, value comes from managing measurement as a continuous improvement process. The smartest companies proactively test, analyze, discover, improve and optimize. And that requires more than insights, alone. Which leads to my next lesson…

Lesson 3:  Analysis Without Action Is Pointless

Developing relevant KPIs (key performance indicators) is one thing. Putting them into practice is another. Data-based insights are useful only if you’re willing to act on what you uncover.

With so many analytics tools available today, organizations can become so focused on gathering data, perfecting metrics and generating reports that they lose sight of why they wanted the information in the first place. Developing a dashboard is relatively easy. Letting a dashboard guide your business decisions and behavior is much harder – especially when data tells a story you don’t want to hear.

I learned this the hard way a few years ago, while generating monthly marketing performance reports for a learning solutions provider. By combining data from multiple sources, we defined a handful of meaningful metrics. For each metric, we established benchmarks based on 12-month rolling averages for the previous year.

This became the foundation for a simple KPI dashboard that was timely, relevant and easy to digest. It was exactly what executives had requested. But I didn’t stop there. Each month, I wrote a companion analysis that interpreted the latest findings, explored the implications of those findings and suggested a course of action.

How did business leaders respond? Crickets. Their silence was deafening.

The problem wasn’t data overload. It wasn’t about analysis paralysis. It wasn’t even a “set-it-and-forget-it” mindset. It was something that data alone couldn’t fix. Leaders thought they wanted to track marketing program impact. But when results were difficult to digest, they chose to ignore troubling indicators instead of finding ways to improve.

Perhaps executives expected only “feel good” results. Or maybe middle managers sanitized negative data points and trend lines, so executives wouldn’t kill the messenger. But selective truth doesn’t change reality. And in this case, it didn’t lead to better business outcomes.

So perhaps the most important lesson of all is the hardest lesson to accept. Insight is only half of the measurement battle. Unless your organization is willing to face tough facts, you will never be able to move the meter in the right direction. You may not be doomed. But if you choose to do nothing, you are likely to keep stumbling through the wilderness.

Closing Notes

Business data can tell deeply powerful stories through analytics. Sometimes data will shout right out loud. Other times, it speaks only through a quiet whisper, a fleeting pause or a subtle shift in direction. But even in those tiny signals, data can speak volumes.

So tell me, what are you doing to give your data a useful voice? How closely are you listening to its message about your organization’s performance? And how do you respond?

If you have an analytics lesson to share, feel free to tell me about it at kkruse@talentedlearning.com.

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[arceneades]

A wreck

I finished Chapter 11 of my fic “Catran” (episode by episode rewrite of SPOP from the pov of a non-binary AMAB Catra and yes, Adora is still GAF, I’m not a monster) last night. It was a tough chapter. I’ve been working on it for a while.

I am an emotional wreck this morning. Like, listening to Phoebe Bridgers and half crying wreck. I don’t know if it’s relief or what.

I guess the thing about writing is that, even if you aren’t a great writer, you still have to try to imagine all the emotions and situations. I have to go through it in my head, even if I can’t get it across.

I’m a programmer by trade. There’s a tool we use called “containerization”. The very short version is that you run virtual computers on your own computer, so that you can build models of networks and stuff like that. It’s neat. You boot up this piece of software that pretends to be a computer and you can log into the fake computers and watch how they behaves.

Characters are a little like that. I boot up models of people in my head, and I can look inside them and see what they are feeling. I get to run my situations on the models and then try to get the feedback on how they feel, what they see.

But sometimes containers leak. The state of the virtual computer can affect the real computer. And my character building software, the stuff in my head, isn’t some brilliant open source project written by hundreds of people over years, all dedicated to making it as safe to run as possible. It’s some hacked together ad hoc system that I built myself by trial and error. It isn’t running on a computer, which is a system that the builders understand. It’s running in my brain, which no one understands.

So characters leak. I get pieces of their memories, parts of their feelings. I’ll spend hours walking through a situation that ends up taking me a paragraph or two to describe and I’m just so fucking hungover today from all the hormones.

I don’t know how someone writes some of the fics I read, I really don’t.

But I appreciate the work.

Also, there’s a teaser from the chapter below the fold. It’s about 700 words.

Somehow, they're in the simulation now. He's not just watching himself bring Adora to Octavia, he's there, next to her, feeling what he felt then, seeing what he saw. He sees Adora call Octavia a dumb face, and Octavia chases them, and he feels all the triumph of stupid six year old Catran. It's true though. He did protect Adora. 

When he returns to himself, they're holding hands. Like they did when they were little. Like they haven't in a long time. No one has. He misses that touch so much, but he snatches his hand back like it's being burned. She's already hurt him. Why give her more?

They keep walking, throught the weird multicolored corridors. They reach a room with a huge chasm in the middle and a stone pillar collapsed conveniently across it as a perfect bridge. It looks a little too convenient, really, so they're probably still in a hologram. Predictably, Adora is focused on exactly the wrong thing, she's focused on herself, not on the situation, not on the danger they are clearly still in, and not on getting out of here.

"Why did you let me escape after Shadow Weaver captured us?"

"Not this again."

He heads across the bridge, hoping that the fear of a painful death will stop her from talking. It doesn't.

"It's the one thing I can't figure out. You didn't have to do that. You could have gotten caught."

Yeah. He could have. And she didn't see that at the time, didn't care enough to ask him to go with her. Not in front of her precious Sparkles.

Adora hops off the bridge too close to the edge. It crumbles under her foot and for a terrifying second Catran is afraid he won't reach her fast enough. He grabs the bridge with one hand and catches her flailing arm in the other. He could sob with relief.

"Did you really think I would let Shadow Weaver erase your memory like that?" He asks. 

"I don't know. Probably."

He can't believe she can look at him and say that, while he's holding her a hairsbreadth from almost certainly simultated death. Why would she think that? Does she remember anything? Did she ever even see him at all, or believe they were friends? 

Was everything she ever said to him a lie?

"Yeah, well, you never did have too much faith in me."

"Can you blame me?"

Yeah. He can. Unquestionably, he can blame her. After everything he did to protect her, he can definitely blame her.

Catran can't remember a single time he has ever intentionally hurt Adora. Training matches, maybe, but not outside. He's never attacked her. He's joked with her and teased her but that's always been mutual. They've shared a bed, shared food, shared dreams. And she thinks he'd sell her out to Shadow Weaver.

It's infuriating. He manages a weak chuckle and a "Not really" before turning away. He can't let it go, though. It's like having a chip in a claw, he just has to keep worrying at it until it smooths out or splits.

"It wasn't all bad growing up in the Fright Zone, was it? I mean, you still have some good memories, right?"

"Of course I do! But... it doesn't change the fact that The Horde is evil!"

Her eyes are wide with fervor. She's just so stupidly sincere that he can't stay mad at her. She's always been the one reliable way to get past all his defenses.

"I had no choice," she continues. "I couldn't go back."

He can't face her. Of course she had a choice. She could have come back. She could have asked him to come with her when it mattered, when it wasn't charity. 

She nudges him. "Hey. I miss you too."

This is familiar ground and again he falls into their dynamic so easily. He protests, pushes her back, they circle, play fighting, like they've done all their lives. It's one of his favorite things. 

So naturally, the stupid holograms start up again. 

Well. That's interesting.

[ciathyzareposts]

Planet’s Edge: One Line in Three Dimensions

One of several stitched-together mini-quests that I encountered this session.

          Planet’s Edge is not shaping up to be what I thought it was going to be, which was a New World take on Starflight. I think that the developers perhaps started with an intention to imitate Starflight; certain similarities between the games are too stark to be coincidences. But they removed one of Starflight‘s most attractive traits–the joy of exploration in an open universe–and replaced it with something that I’m not convinced is better. Specifically, there’s a lot more emphasis on axonometric exploration of the planets’ surfaces, which could have been done well, but so far is a bit silly and trite.

When we left off, I was headed for Sector Algieba, as I had a couple of hints that it would be the best place to start. The sector consists of seven star systems–Subra, Talitha, Regulus, Algieba, Alphard, Koo-She, and Miaplacidus–any of which would also serve as the next Nissan model. Talitha was the closest to where I was coming in, so I explored it first. The system had six planets. As with all the systems with multiple planets, it’s hard to keep track of which ones you’ve already visited since they don’t stop whipping around their suns, fast enough that a year might pass while you take a sip from a soda bottle.             

The stars of Sector Algieba.

           In Starflight and Star Control, there was a certain joy to exploring even random planets because you might find useful and valuable elements. That’s sort-of true in Planet’s Edge except that it’s very rare to find a planet that has them, you can mine them near-instantly when you do, and at the beginning of the game you can only carry 5 units of any cargo at a time. If you get rid of all your weapons, you can carry 8. So clearly element recovery isn’t going to be a big thing until I can build a ship with more room. I’m not 100% sure if I could do that now or if I need to find some plans.

Each planet has a nice textual description (when you “scan”) regardless of whether it has any utility. I was enjoying these a lot for a while, but then they started repeating. Ultimately, it turns out there are only about 9 common descriptions:           

A molten, superheated surface giving off toxic fumes.

Lots of organic life but no intelligent life, “a nice place to have a picnic.”

A small rock with a thick layer of gases.

Incredibly hot, unstable, with constant volcanic activity. 

A “jelly world” with large crystal formations. 

A surface only recently cooling down from volcanic activity, no vegetation or atmosphere.

              One of the “generic” planet descriptions.

            A desert planet.

A planet of grasses and plains with no intelligent life.

A snow and ice planet.

               All but one of Talitha’s planets were one of these. On Talitha II, however, my scan revealed a castle, “the seat of Avian government.” Oddly, the scan screen was titled “If Love Be True,” which made no sense at the time but later turned out to be related to the mini-quest that I found on the planet. Thus, it seems that if you scan a planet that has such a quest, you know it immediately because you get a title.            

I’m not sure that the game needed to be so explicit about each quest.

          We found ourselves in an Earthlike castle with guards stationed at just about every intersection. The game repeatedly referred to them as “avian,” so I guess they were bird-like. We never got a close-up portrait. Most ignored us, but a guard at a section of the castle that was clearly an arena told us that the queen had canceled all spectator sports for a few weeks. We would later meet the queen, and her two princess daughters, but let’s pause for a moment to note that these aliens are the first non-human sentient life forms that my characters–perhaps humanity as a whole–have ever encountered in-person. They apparently look like birds and live in castles and have the same type of social structure as a past Earth society. And we’re able to speak their language I guess because of information from the crashed Centauri Device? In any event, my characters managed to jump right in to palace intrigue while in real life they probably would have still be staring open-mouthed at the alien guards. For their part, the aliens didn’t react to us at all despite presumably never having seen humans before.                

Exploring the castle.

        From dialogue with NPCs, it transpired that Princes Jhenna was being forced to marry a reptilian alien from another sector. She naturally didn’t want to do this and was hoping to escape Talitha II to find her true love, a former palace servant who came from the planet Henresia, also known as Subra II. Meanwhile, some faction was planning a coup and had placed a bomb in a fountain near the wedding site, intending to kill both the queen and the princess.     We agreed to help the princess. I don’t think this was a role-playing choice so much as something that you have to do to as part of the main plot. She said that she could escape through a hidden door if we could move a heavy piece of furniture. This required us to find a “levitator,” which was on the other side of a navigation puzzle so annoying that whoever designed it should be hunted down 30 years later and forced to make it through a real-life version.             

The princess’s sister, who I guess is also a princess, explains the situation.

           The puzzle required the party to wend our way through a roughly 6 x 10 matrix of bushes, only some of which could be walked upon, and some of them had mines planted within them that would damage the party members for about half their health if they were within the one-square explosion radius. Unless I missed something, there was no way to tell which bushes had bombs without setting them off.

You can S)earch for them, which is the subject of its own annoyance. The reference card that comes with the game doesn’t mention “search” as a function when exploring on land; it only mentions “look.” (It does mention “search” later in a master list of commands, but not in the list specifically within the ground movement section.) For most of this session, I didn’t even realize that “search” existed, which means that I missed a lot of loot in various chests and barrels in the palace and probably on the Centauri outpost, too. But even when I reloaded and checked, “search” just caused the bombs to go off.

Thus, through trial and error, I had to make a map of the safe route through the bushes (this reminded me unfavorably of a level in Wizardry IV), only to discover that it still wasn’t safe. You only really control the movement of your lead character. The others do their best to follow, but they often go blundering off in their own directions, get trapped behind closed doors, get lost in mazes, and so forth. Even when I had the right path mapped, I couldn’t necessarily stop my trailing characters from wandering off it. I eventually just had to accept the damage and move on.             

My moron party members set off a bomb despite my best efforts.

          In due course, we found the levitation device, used it on the bureau, and hustled the princess through the secret door. The passage led to a courtyard where one of her friends waited with a spaceship. As she rushed aboard, she tossed something at us and told us to take it to “He Who Speaks” on Henresia, presumably her lover. The item was a “trinket.”            

Man, this would have come in handy in the Bolingbroke household over the last month.

          I tried to explore more, but the palace guards all turned hostile at this point, and without any experience gain or any place to sell looted equipment, you’re basically fighting for no reason. We ultimately beamed back to the Ulysses and moved on.            

The crew has a Star Trek-like transporter chamber for beaming up and down.

         The closest next star was Subra, presumably home of the Subra II that we had to visit to find “He Who Speaks.” We warped to the system and scouted a few planets before we were contacted by a ship. It had the same thuggish-looking alien who’d defeated us in combat before, demanding 3 “units of cargo.” I hadn’t saved in a while and wasn’t confident in my ability to win in combat anyway, so I offloaded 3 units of heavy metals we’d brought from Earth.               

Transferring cargo.

        The transfer screen above comes up at the warehouse on Earth, while you’re in orbit around planets, and when you’re trading with aliens. You hit + or – to add or subtract cargo from your ship. It’s not quite as fun as taking a lander down to the surface and looking for signs of ore deposits.              

The next quest begins.

           On Subra II, we hit the next quest, titled “Gift of the Magin.” The planet was far more imaginative and alien than Tanitha, covered with swamps, ferns, mushrooms, tall trees with sprawling root systems, and biting insects. We were attacked several times by some kind of bear-looking beast which left meat behind when we killed it.            

Firing at, and killing, a beast.

         The intelligent species was a fungus-based biped with no eyes or mouth. To communicate with them, we had to first find a writing tool called an “imastyl” which the aliens could use to write messages in the muck. One of them wanted the meat we’d collected from a beast to allow us to cross a bridge.             

The party approaches the Magin on the weird planet of Subra II.

           Living in the hollow of a dead tree, we found a woman named “She Whose Steps Are Wise,” otherwise called “The Magin.” She asked us to kill a mutant named “He Who Speaks” who lives on the other side of the river and apparently sets traps for his fellow Subraites. We fell victim to more than one of them.

We found “He Who Speaks” in a cave. He was so-named because of a genetic mutation that allows him to talk with a mouth, and he claimed that the deformity left him persecuted by his people. We declined to kill him (again, I don’t know if we had any other real option). He thanked us and asked us to go rescue Princess Jhenna. When we gave him the trinket instead, he thanked us and suggested that if we took the Magin the Talking Stick that he previously stole, she’d prize it more than his death. Jhenna hadn’t arrived yet, but he seemed confident she’d be along. I’m not sure how an anthropomorphic bird mates with a talking mushroom, but I guess that’s for them to figure out.               

I guess maybe this is a real choice, and I could have killed him to solve the quest.

         We found the Talking Stick in a cavern nearby. There was some creature called the Bladderclaw–an underground beast whose bladed tentacles came bursting out of holes and attacked us. We tried to fight it for a while, died, reloaded, then remembered we had no reason to keep fighting once we had the stick. (Perhaps there was a cache of better weapons and armor past him or something.) We left Bladderclaw in the cavern and returned the Talking Stick to the Magin. She said that since she had it back, she would be “too busy to deal with the Algiebian issue” and thus appointed us as her envoys to . . . something.

The crew wastes time trying to fight a monster.

              The next star was Koo-She. It had only one planet, Koo-She Prime, where a scan promised a quest called “Solitaire.” We beamed down into some structure beneath the surface of the planet. That’s as far as we got. We were blocked at the first door with a message that “only envoys of the President are allowed in the facility.” I guess the Magin isn’t the president because that didn’t do us any good.            

I swear to you, Sy Sterling sent us!

            The Miaplacidus system also only had one planet, and it was guarded by two ships and an orbital platform. When we communicated with them, they turned out to be staffed by the same species of goon who had previously extorted us for cargo. Here, he just demanded that we leave on pain of death. I decided I was sick of being pushed around and chose to attack.

Space combat in the game is disappointing. Basically, you just maneuver around the enemy, point your nose at him, and shoot. You can even turn on automatic firing if you want the game to shoot for you, which makes it almost just like Starflight. I assume that once I have a ship with cannons and missiles on the wings and such, I’ll have more things to shoot, but nothing really will change. Numbers show the status of your shields and your opponents. I honestly found it easiest to stay in one place and just rotate to face the foes. In the first combat, I destroyed both alien ships but then got killed by the orbital platform. I figured that was close enough to try again, and I achieved victory on my second attempt. My ship was repaired automatically afterwards, requiring no inventory of elements to do so.            

Destroying the alien ship. I have no idea why the GIF is so slow in the beginning. I have issues with GIFs.

             Miaplacidus Prime turned out to be uninhabited, but the planet had 27 units of “alien metals” to mine. Of course, after jettisoning the heavy metals we’d brought from Earth, we could still only take 5.

The Alphard system had mostly generic planets. One of them, Alphard Six, had 107 units of inert gases available.            

Those gases do not look inert.

              That left the Algiebian system. It had several generic planets and something called Ishtro Station. As we approached we were contacted by an alien who said that the world is “under the Great Protection Treaty signed by affiliates of the Galactic Enclave,” and that I would have to pay a fee of 6 cargo units before being allowed to contact the world. I tried giving him just 5, but he wouldn’t take it.           

What would you say he look like? A horse?

            Random notes:              

One denizen of Talitha II did recognize us as “humans” and said that he hadn’t seen any of us “since the Concierge locked up the Izor system.” This suggests that humans live in the Izor system and perhaps that its ruler even is one.

There is no consideration of fuel in this game, nor does there seem to be any kind of timer.

The inability to move diagonally is really annoying.

I didn’t talk much about ground combat, but it has so few options that the game might as well have offered autocombat. 

I got stuck in He Who Speaks’s cave for a while because although there was an obvious ladder, apparently the command needed to climb it was “search.” The game has a lot of weird interface quirks like that.

             Since my ship is only capable of carrying 5 units of cargo, I leave you heading back to Earth to either build a new space ship or remove my only weapon from my current one to make more space.

My suspicion is that I’ll find some quest that leads me to the first artifact and that the other seven systems will have other batches of extremely linear, named, interrelated quests. But with no open exploration and no good RPG mechanics (there’s no character development and combat tactics are minimal), everything is going to hinge on the quality of the stories that make up those quests, and I find their quality mixed so far.

Time so far: 8 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/planets-edge-one-line-in-three-dimensions/

[kidslovetoys]

2019 Christmas Gift Guide: Toddlers

You'll often hear us say that babies don't need any toys at all. Some human company and a handful of household objects to investigate is plenty. At the risk of completely destroying the 100 Toys business model, the advice for toddlers isn't much different. Life for a toddler is about investigation. The way they learn hasn't changed for thousands of years and there were no iPads in the stone age.

Of course, toys can help - and that's why 100 Toys exists and hasn't gone to live in a cave in rural France and painted its face blue. They're great for breaking down skill-acquisition into more manageable chunks. Yes, you can learn all about stacking by piling one stone on top of another, but having neatly-cut, stable wooden blocks that fit perfectly in the hand means you can create much more elaborate structures. Your learning is extended.

That's not to say that toys are the answer to every problem. You can have too much of a good thing. In the 100 Toys house we have a lot of blocks because it's really annoying to run out half-way through a construction. But an unlimited supply creates dependence and dampens creativity. If you never have to worry about running out, you never learn to look around you for something that will stand in for the object you lack. 

Toys are good. Just don't have too many of them. Buy mostly open-ended toys and rotate them often to keep things fresh. And remember to leave your toddler alone. Playing alongside your child has enormous value but the majority of the time should be spent in independent play.

And so to Christmas, that famous pre-historic festival of educational toy gift-giving, invented by our palaeolithic ancestors because they had a surfeit of trees and nothing to put under them...

Ball tracks

If you've ever watched a toddler play, you'll know that they like to do things more than once. These repetitive actions are a feature of schema play, and ball tracks are a great way to see it in action. Marbles are a choke hazard for the under 3s and their small size makes them fiddly to handle. Ball tracks, on the other hand, are perfect.

This one, by HABA, seems too simple at first glance. No spirals or drops, no zig-zags or bells. It's so plain you can't believe it will still be in use a week later, but it is. Soon your child understands that the track can be broken up, recombined, mixed with blocks and extended in all kinds of ways. Bridges and tunnels are built and obstacles put in the way. Crashes and bumps are deliberately engineered. There are very few toys that elicit yelps of excitement but this is definitely one of them.

Over time it can be combined with other ball tracks, such as the chatter pack with bumps and bells or the musical sounds set. If your child develops a real passion for this kind of play, the next step is a more complicated marble run by HABA (whose pieces can be used interchangeably with the toddler ball tracks) or these brilliant alternatives by Kaden.

Water play

For a toddler, being in the bath is to be surrounded by possibility. So much to learn! Floating, sinking, displacement, pouring, splashing and bubble-making. This simple sailing boat by Plan Toys ticks all the boxes for a great bath toy. Sail and swoosh it across the waves, fill it with water and tip it over your brother, fill it with other toys and sail off into the sunset. Choose from a range of excellent navigators including a penguin, seal and polar bear.

You can also enjoy water play outside the bath. Best of all is to get outside but for those days when you're stuck indoors, why not try keeping a small play set like this in the kitchen? When I needed to keep a roaming toddler busy and within my sight I'd often bring the tuff spot inside and fill it with water. It was too big, and too tempting to climb into, so the results were mixed at best, but this Plan Toys tray is perfect. It fits on the table and you can fill it with just a jugful of water, helping to keep the post-play clean-up to a minimum.

Baskets and trolleys

Olli Ella Piki basket and Luggy, Moulin Roty puppets and Maileg bunny.

Olli Ella Piki basket filled with contents of Oskar & Ellen Farmers' Market Basket

Toddlers like to make use of their new-found mobility and most parents will spend many hours chasing a gleeful toddler around the house, up and down the stairs and in and out of every cupboard. A stroller or trolley can be a godsend as it brings a new dimension to the motion and independence your toddler enjoys so much. Toddlers also love to feel useful and important, so loading up a trolley with some blocks or a baby (a toy one!) and delivering it to you is a great way to help them explore their transporting schema and to make them feel like they are being very helpful indeed. Olli Ella has harnessed this toddler impulse brilliantly with their range of wicker trolleys and strollers. The rattan Strolley switches from pram to shopping trolley in one easy move and, thanks to its quality construction and materials, is likely to be a part of their play for many years to come. 

Dolls

Your baby may have enjoyed the reassuring presence of a soft toy or comforter but as they enter this new phase they start to use play figures and dolls as a way of understanding the world around them. You may notice them re-enacting real life situations like a trip to the doctors or imagining stories, often with themes of good vs evil or triumph over disaster. In this way your toddler is trying to understand the complexities of human behaviour. Olli Ella Holdie folk are a great bridge between the soft toys they have as babies and the more rigid wooden or plastic toys they come to later on. These little people have soft bodies and childlike features and clothes, and come in a range of skin tones that reflect the diversity in our children's everyday lives. 

  Alternatively, you can escape the confines of race and gender by offering animal soft toys. A bear can be a little girl one day and a grandfather the next. Moulin Roty's beautiful dolls come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Vehicles

Grimm's slimline car

Vroom! Vroom! Beep! Beep! Nee-naw! Nee-naw

Vehicle play can seem pretty one-dimensional at first glance. But look more closely and you'll see a world every bit as rich and subtle as the doll's house.

Language, science, co-operation. Vehicle play has got it all.

Heuristic play, also known as discovery play, is central to how young children learn about the forces that shape our world. It's the trial-and-error process that they go through as they attempt to understand the laws of physics. Vehicles allow children to test their hypotheses about many of these concepts.

Watching a two- or three-year-old with a toy car is a study in how to investigate gravity and trajectory, friction and acceleration. See how they build ramps for rolling down and launching upwards, marvel at the myriad ways they find to crash a car or derail a train.

And don't forget the language benefits of vehicle play. We usually associate role play and small world play with language development but even a single car offers many ways to improve thinking and speech. Over, under, through, behind, between. These prepositions get a regular workout. And how about ideas like stop and go, fast and slow, up and down, left and right? Then there are the stories children narrate as they play.

Take another look at vehicle play. It's every bit as educational as some seemingly worthier activities - and great fun!

Peg people

Grimm's Friends with Cocoletes natural blocks

Peg people are one of our essentials, a toy we recommend from six months and up. Easy to hold, and with a wide base for greater stability, these figures are brilliant for babies and toddlers. One of a young toddler's great occupations is learning to pick up objects and put them down again. Over and over they practise, placing, plonking, bashing and posting. There are so many ways to 'put'. A peg person's head is just the right size to grasp and the variety of pleasing colours extend the educational value of this kind of play even further.

Finally, if you're after something Christmassy...

Once again, Maileg have come up with some wonderful pixies and Christmas mice.

  from One Hundred Toys - The Blog https://ift.tt/2L7Rvl2