#scratch programming language for kids

[small-basic-programming]

Programming Languages For Youths And Adults ...

Programming Languages:

The best ways to learn programming are Snap!, Small Basic, Python, Small Visual Basic, Scratch and TigerJython.

Java

Ruby

C#

PHP

C++

Snap!

Small Basic

Python

Perl

TigerJython

Go

Scratch

C

JavaScript

Visual Basic

Post #234: Programming Languages For Youths And Adults, 2024.

[mediumgayitalian]

prev

———

Whenever they drive into town, arguing over who sits where and spilling buckets of strawberries all over the floor, the music blasts so loudly on the horrible, tinny speakers that it vibrates the entire van, and still the group of them is so loud that the songs get drowned out anyway. It is especially worse if, Nico will admit, he and Chiara are in the front seats together, whatever argument they delight in having raising New York’s noise pollution levels by four percent at least. If there is enough fruit to warrant two vans, and all sixteen of them will go, they will race down the highway, drowning each other out with the pure force of their shrieking voices. People stare. Cars slow to a stop. Cars follow them, even, mouths open, wondering at these grinning, hollering fools, dressed in neon and crawling all over each other.

It has been a long time since Nico has driven in silence.

Even as a child there was noise. No radios in cars, yet, they’d hardly been invented, but he and Bianca would scarcely be within miles of each other without bickering. Crowded in the backseat of Nonno’s Alfa Romeo, shouting for Mama in between even every poked shoulder and shoved face, there was noise. In the backseat of Alecto’s SUV, too, muffled as it was, and in every car he raced at the Lotus. Even up front with Jules-Albert, there has always been something. Grumbling, usually, live Grand-Prix reporting if the season is right. Music if he is in a good mood and Nico can convince him.

The silence that rings from the coast of Long Island to the bridge over the Savannah River is unbearable. Even the van is unbelievably quiet, rusted shocks creakless and ancient engine quiet as a grave. As if it too is straining to hear the words Will is murmuring, over and over again, nonstop for hours; hunched over with his hands clasped and pressed to the bridge of his nose.

Nico knows the Lord’s prayer in five languages. He hasn’t spoken it in years, but it’s stuck in his brain the same way as the alphabet; he knows the rhythm, the place of every breath, the rise and fall of the words as they crest towards the heavens. Prayers go unanswered at the best of times, trickling down the soil and bedrock and gathering in the currents of the Styx, but Will prays like he is programmed to do it. Like it is all he has left to do. They leave in the grey peak of the afternoon and drive through the night, and the kids sleep in the back, and Will prays across the freeways, over the bridges, through the gas stations, straight through traffic. His voice scratches and fades and he does not stop, the tears roll down his cheeks and bubble into his mouth and he does not stop, the twisted-in hymns glow along every peek of sunlight, burning his throat and his hands, and he does not stop. He prays like the dying in line to be judged, like the weeping shades along the stone walkways of Asphodel, like the desolate on the bank of the River. He prays like he knows it is already over, and he is desperate for the strength to move forward.

When they pull into the parking lot it is late morning, and Nico has been driving for fifteen hours, and the sun is cowering behind black dirt stormclouds, and the heat is as oppressively constant as the Pit. Nico feels like he is standing at the mouth of something cavernous. Staring down sharp teeth and a maw the size of an island. He feels like he is teetering, balancing, tipping; like the single point on the ground moments before lightning strikes it. Close your eyes and hold out your hands. What is coming next is inescapable.

“Do we go in?”

Kayla’s voice is timid. It is never timid, and it jolts his obliques and abdominis into action, into stretching. She holds hands with her brother, and they are pressed shoulder to shoulder, eyes wide, mouths set brave and trembling,

and they are pressed shoulder to shoulder

eyes wide

mouths set brave and trembling

his ankle is twisted around hers

her skull ring knicks the flesh of his ring finger

her hands are cool

her voice is steady

her body shakes.

Where are you taking us? We would like to go home, please. Can we call our mother?

“Let’s go find Mama,” Nico hears himself say. Sees Will’s hands twitch. Watches Kayla flinch in the rearview. Feels Austin’s leg bounce the van.

His mouth feels like sand, like worn denim. Dry, desert sand, desert sand; Nevada air through the open window.

“Mama,” Will echoes. He chokes. His whole body shudders, shudders, compresses; shrinks down, mouth still moving. Knuckles white. “Mama.”

Nico swallows.

“Kayla,” says his mouth, “take your brother to go pay parking.” Take your brother inside. Wait for me; I’ll be back soon. Don’t leave the hotel. “Here.”

He hands her his father’s card, and she takes it, untangling from Austin but keeping their hands joined when he grabs for her. The van door wrenches open because the tracks are rusty and Nico jumps with it, exhaling past Kayla’s muttered apologies, waiting for the two of them to climb out and hurry across the asphalt. Huddle at the parking meter, poking at the button.

Nico opens his door and climbs out, shutting it carefully, walking calmly around the front of the van. He opens Will’s door and it doesn’t move, locked, so it waits, and when Will makes no move to pull the little lever he reaches around the door Kayla left open, pulling it himself. The door swings widely open, bouncing slightly on its hinges, and Will doesn’t so much as flinch, doesn’t so much as glance towards it.

Nico reaches out, slowly, and takes his clenched hands.

They’re wet.

He peels back his clenched fingers, one by one, and they are stiff, formed to shape. He takes a moment to straighten them, carefully, slowly, until his palms rest upwards again, fingers limp. When he presses their palms together Will’s fingers twitch, ever so slightly, around his, and he drags their hands up to his mouth and presses his knuckles to his lips, tasting the salt, tasting the iron of his cracked chapped skin. Will’s hand twitches, again, and his face matches; contorting and crumpling and breaking, for a second.

“Will,” he murmurs, salt like the coast, like Nonna’s villa, like the water slide, “Will, look at me.”

He does. He looks to him like he’s dragging himself like he is clawing his own way upright.

“I can’t again,” he croaks, “I —” and he stops, or rather he is cut off, by the sob that fights it’s way out of his throat. It is sharp like skull fragments. Some part of Nico bleeds.

“You won’t.” He drops Will’s hand and clasps instead both sides of his face, pulling him down until their foreheads press tightly together, until their breathing shares the same space, until he can feel every shudder against his skull. “We will save her.”

As he says it Nico knows he will make it so. Kayla and Austin run back to the van, ticket clenched in both of their hands, Will squeezes his eyes shut and nods, once, before sitting straighter than he has in hours, and Nico knows that he will not let Will lose.

Not again.

———

next

[queen-simia]

now that ep 4 is live to the public, I can finally post what I've been sitting (and spinning) on for like a week, wheeee!

Major Monkey Wrench spoilers abound, so putting below a cut if you haven't yet seen the latest episode. And if you haven't seen it (or the rest of the series), you can do so here:

now ON TO THE INFODUMP

Shrike's status

so, since the beginning, I've been putting all my money on Shrike being an artificial being. Not in the sense of robotics/cyborgs and the like, but in the sense of a one-of-a-kind bioengineered creature. Since he was confirmed as an endling (as opposed to just hinted at in past episodes), I'm choosing to take that as a bit of reinforcement; his species is still marked as "unknown" by LAW, and if no one knows what you are and you're the only one they've ever seen, it's safe to assume they assume you're the last of whatever you are.

now, in a leap on my part, I'm further going to postulate that Shrike is actually an engineered squid. As in an honest-to-god Earth cephalopod, albeit in the same sense you can call a human a monkey. I think that maybe our boy Shrike is the end result of years-long genetic modification and breeding programs to create something closer to human shape and intelligence, but with whatever attributes his human creators wanted from squid...

...maybe attributes like producing ink.

"that's stupid, what makes you think that?" Glad you asked, Strawman! Here's what I'm drawing from:

Scratch's nicknames for Shrike

As much as these can be considered throwaways, Zeurel and Ash have been very good about sneaking in foreshadowing in dialogue. I don't fully think Scratch is calling Shrike "squidhead" just to be antagonistic (though in-universe, he certainly is; I doubt the character himself in canon has that kind of insight); I'm choosing to believe it may be a bit of a Chekhov's gun.

Shrike's design inspiration

In Tumblr ask replies, Zeurel's confirmed Shrike's design is based heavily on Humboldt squid, and he finds cephalopods and deep-sea life in general interesting. It's going into meta rather than narrative precedent, but I think for these reasons, having Shrike actually be an ascended squid wouldn't be that far out of the blue.

Shrike's terran connections

It's been established that Earth no longer exists, and what humans remain are persona non grata in LAW space. They're the reason behind the Cataclysm/the creation of Secondary Green, and what artifacts remain are traded on the black market (as implied by Scratch and Jaw Bone dealing in them, neither of whom are exactly upstanding citizens).

Yet somehow, Shrike speaks primarily in a canonically dead Earth language—Latin Spanish—and thinks highly of terrans/terran culture. He apparently is the only being in LAW space who does both. One could argue he picked up Spanish through exposure to contraband as a LAW officer, but even his translated speech is Spanish-accented. That to me is a clue it's his native language, as opposed to one picked up later in life. Maybe he doesn't speak it all that well, but it's what he learned as he grew up.

I believe that Shrike's interest in terran artifacts isn't so much fannish as it is nostalgic, though he doesn't realize it (yet). Remember, we don't know his true age—he's only estimated to be in his mid- to late 20s. He could very well be several decades or even 800+ years old, and for reasons yet unknown he isn't aware of it. Hell, he knows what VHS tapes are and how to watch them, something present-day kids are unfamiliar with right now. Even if he was treated as only a scientific specimen in his youth, something about Earth/its people may have been warm and familiar enough to endear terran mementos to him. But it's now too far gone in the past for him to remember why exactly he loves them so much.

Shrike got no dick

(originally posted to Twitter before the Shittening)

Canonically, the boy is Ken-doll smooth both front and back. Even though he has a gender (Questionably Masc™), he has no sex. Maybe his species could reproduce asexually, but it's pretty unusual for complex bipedal critters to do that. Plus, there's the fact that no peehole and no butthole also mean no bodily waste excretion, which is pretty much a death sentence for most life forms that run on metabolic processes. Therefore, I'm taking all these as artifacts of Shrike's artificial creation (and not just so it's more difficult to make show-accurate porn of him).

The Primaries, LAW, and Secondary Green

So there are three godlike beings that ostensibly also serve as the basis for government, referred to as the Primaries. Only one has been directly referenced as active in LAW government—Primary Red—but given the colors of the three LAW divisions, one can safely assume there must be a Primary Yellow and Primary Blue (whether they also govern, are off doing something else, or are AWOL is a mystery for now). It also just so happens that interstellar travel takes place in subspace pathways in the same colors as the Primaries (with varying speed depending on color), and spacecraft is fueled by "ink" in those corresponding primary colors.

It's also revealed in a news chyron in ep 4 that an intergalactic-capable drive had been in development (and had been stalled by bureaucracy) for at least 20 years, and is now ready to deploy. It's referred to as a Trinity drive, and required Primary Red's approval before it could officially launch. I think it's pretty safe to assume it's a form of propulsion that combines all 3 colors, however the in-universe physics work in that case. At the moment, it's been shown that using the wrong type of ink in a color drive will cause an explosion and a tear in space at best (at worst, we don't know yet), so whatever science went into developing a drive that combines colors must have been fairly dangerous (or potentially threatens to weaken whatever power the Primaries hold over LAW citizens).

Secondary Green

Background details are vital lore sources in Monkey Wrench. If you paid close attention near the beginning of ep 1 (and can easily read backwards text), you already know what's in the box the boys pick up in ep 2: something called "Secondary Green." It was evidently once in Chester's possession, but by the time Kara caught up to him, he'd already sent it on its way to LAW.

The second and third episodes refer to the Cataclysm being caused by terrans. The third episode explains the green corruption's effect on life forms, and LAW subsequently quarantining it to prevent its spread. It also shows Secondary Green corrupting the bit of Them that gets too close into the horrific black-green monster that overtakes the Bucket. The fourth ep has Jaw Bone directly refer to the terrans' "false idol" in reference to the Cataclysm.

While I was typing later paragraphs, I hit upon a possibility I hadn't even considered for what Secondary Green could be. So now, I've got 2 potential reads:

1. Secondary Green was the humans' attempt at recreating the Primaries' power for themselves. Whether this was to undermine LAW or to try to join the galactic stage at the Primaries' level has yet to be seen, but either way, it ended up biting humanity in the ass. Secondary Green and/or a byproduct of it/its creation ended up destroying Earth and a good chunk of its neighboring Milky Way space, and landed whatever humans remain squarely on LAW's shit list.

Now, those of you who remember me from pre-2018 Tumblr also know I'm pretty heavily into Mass Effect. That universe's version of the Milky Way also was governed by an alien-run coalition: the Citadel, which tightly controlled the means to interstellar travel (although the Citadel species did not create these means, they just found and activated them first). Thus, the similarities to the idea of a three-pronged alien government holding the keys to interstellar travel and commerce and forcing you to play nice if you want in have been resonating in the back of my mind whenever I watch Monkey Wrench.

The similarities end in that MW's answer to the Protheans are still very much alive and active, and are directly overseeing galactic travel, commerce, and government. There aren't established mass relays, but every ship contains its own "relay" in the form of ink drives. These can open portals into respective colors of subspace to get from one side of the galaxy to another faster than conventional propulsion (so far, red is the fastest, and blue seems to be the median speed everyday schmoes like our boys can access). And, most importantly, the means of this travel are less an external technological development and more appear to be tied to the nature of the Primaries themselves; these beings are not just obeyed, but worshiped (see Scratch's oaths in ep 3 and the red officer greeting Shrike and Armstrong exchange in ep 4).

However, there are still two very important similarities between these two settings that I think should be kept in mind:

i. Trouble started when humans started sticking their fingers into the galactic government's pie. In Mass Effect, it was shoehorning Shepard into the Spectre program and wriggling humanity's way into the Citadel Council. In Monkey Wrench, it was messing with fundamental forces it didn't yet understand and (maybe) creating human-made Great Value primaries, which resulted in at least one: Secondary Green.

ii. Control over interstellar travel—specifically, access to subspace—is a cornerstone of power. In Mass Effect, you need a specific form of reactor in order to engage the mass relays and "cheat" your way to FTL travel. These relays are heavily guarded and regulated by the Citadel; humanity famously learned this when it activated Relay 314 near Pluto and got a knock-knock from the police in the form of a turian armada. In Monkey Wrench, you need to equip specific color drives and fuel up at ink stations, which presumably are subject to LAW regulation and pricing.

In both settings, Earth appears to have taken a look at the galaxy already being run by someone else and immediately thought, "but how do I get around this?"

Engineering Secondary Green was MW Earth's answer to this question. Unfortunately, it backfired and drove humanity to (functional) extinction and criminal status.

2. Secondary Green is an unintended fusion of Primaries Yellow and Blue. This would explain their current-day absence (provided they don't directly appear in later episodes), and the subsequent fall of LAW enforcement into disorder that Armstrong alludes to in ep 4. Humanity was up to something that attracted the Primaries' attention—perhaps tapping into pocket dimensions, like the one embedded in Shrike's head?—and maybe things went awry. One way or another, Primaries Yellow and Blue's intervention ended in them fusing into a new anti-entity, Secondary Green. Instead of fostering life, their combined and imbalanced power corrupted it.

Left to their own devices (and likely hawkish methods, given Red oversees enforcement), Primary Red sealed off Earth's part of the galaxy and declared humanity LAW's enemy. The quarantine for justifiable safety/life preservation reasons, the outlawing likely to create the narrative that humanity was entirely to blame and not at all any fault of Primary interference (and maybe some vengeance for losing their comrades).

Or maybe, Red is covering their tracks.

LAW and Order

So the League of Aligned Worlds (LAW—yes, it's an acronym) is the current empire ruling civilized space in the Milky Way galaxy, under direct command of the Primaries (or at least Primary Red). There are three established branches: enforcement/military (red, which Shrike was once and has since defected from), science (yellow, which Dr. Agness impersonated), and commerce (blue, as represented by Killix and Sixty-Two, who appear to be led by an as-yet unseen Commander Tezzoree).

Being a centralized civilization, LAW has certain cultural and legal standards it expects its citizens to observe. Commerce and community are enabled by way of implanted universal translators á là Star Trek, but with one specific caveat: swearing is not allowed. It's so not allowed that it's physically punishable through painful translator auditory feedback—interestingly, people in earshot get punished this way as well just for hearing it.

Maybe it's a form of socialization, in that LAW hopes you're nice enough not to want to hurt your fellow citizens by swearing? Or that your fellow citizens, having had pain inflicted on them, will browbeat you into compliance? Either way, it's a window into current LAW space being severely authoritarian in both the moral and legal senses.

This extreme authoritarian approach doesn't prevent corruption, however. Corporate lobbyists exist, as demonstrated by Chester in ep 1, and LAW officials patronizing vice industries like sex work (see the end of ep 3) is not unusual. And current LAW is disorganized to the point of each division being largely ignorant of what's going on in the others: Neither Killix nor Sixty-Two were aware Shrike is a defector, nor do they bat an eye at him admitting as such. Armstrong is able to impersonate a red officer with either stolen or purchased equipment, and even he's astonished that LAW keeps such loose tabs on itself that they still have Shrike registered as an active officer. Dr. Agness is able to get away with impersonating a LAW scientist, and the LAW representatives who collect her don't appear especially ruffled by it.

It's possible that this rigid adherence to authority and subsequent breakdown in the ability to enforce it is due to Primary Red being the only Primary left. The harder you clench your fist, the more sand slips through your fingers, and all that. However it happened, Red is at the moment the only one at the wheel, and they don't seem to be able to keep it together on their own.

aight, so where's this leave us

so for now, I think these are where we may be headed:

a: Shrike was genetically engineered to be in the running as a peer to/defense against the Primaries, but aligned with Earth. He has a means to access a pocket dimension/subspace, could possibly be a source of ink (either as secretion or in the form of his blood), is an exceptional marksman, and possesses anthropomorphic form and (allegedly) intellect. The problem is, he turned out anti-authoritarian, impulsive, and kinda stupid. He was disposed of at some point and now wanders space as the only one of his kind.

b: The same program that produced Shrike also created Secondary Green. Unfortunately, something happened—whether through accident or external manipulation—that turned it into a rampaging force of destruction. We have yet to see whether humans really did just monumentally fuck up, or if LAW is rewriting history.

c: LAW is on its way to collapse through Primary Red's mismanagement. Whether said mismanagement is through the other Primaries going missing on their own, or through a power grab on Red's part is the main mystery.

hooray done for now oh god

[submalevolentgrace]

for pretty much my entire life we have been locking up refugees in UN-certified human-rights-violating "offshore detention" camps for the heinous crime of daring to try and flee from death and worse, often from wars-on-terror we've helped wage, and have very much done highly decorated war crimes in. we hold them in conditions so bad that war-fleeing refugees have sown their mouths shut, tried to starve themselves, even children trying to kill themselves to escape what we're doing to them. WE are doing. because in my boots on the ground activism days i tried to fight the government on this, and the fact is, the australian public on the whole doesn't give a shit about us torturing refugee kids, half the country is in support of it, so the government gets a free pass no matter which side is in power. from howard to rudd to gillard to rudd to abbott to turnbull to morison to albanese, we lock up and torture refugees. the UN anti-torture inspectors aren't allowed to visit. the camps are run by a private USA prison contractor now.

and it's not like we can't organise a protest! we'll barricade MP's offices because of something an ally-in-law country is doing that we condemn, but when the blood is on our hands we don't wanna know, don't wanna fight, don't wanna admit. and albanese gets up there and says those barricades have "crossed a line", "there's no place for violence like this in our democracy", he says. you know where there is an implicit place for violence, apparently? cops beating indigenous kids to death on camera, the australian people are fine with that apparently. happens all the time. better have a curfew so those kids don't get too rowdy about it!

oh and the CIA agents and US soldiers we welcomed here to supposedly defend us, they rape a bunch of women and children, mostly also indigenous? better get ASIO and the AFP to monitor the population for anti-american sentiment, local cops do it plenty too and we can't stand up to the USA, we're about to go to war with our biggest economic trading partner on their behalf, the troop buildup locations have already been announced! sweep it under the rug little aussies, scrub it from your memory, who cares about raped children anyway? not worth protesting, apparently.

we are right in the middle of the asia-pacific, with loosely speaking about a 5th of the population ethnically or culturally asian, and they are absolutely terrified of speaking out about how many hate crimes they suffer constantly, because the other 80% of the population is more culturally invested in american politics than the fact that labor considers pauline hanson an ally. i don't blame the 20% getting hatecrimed for being scared to speak up, i sure as fuck blame the rest of us for not protecting them, and for doing those hate crimes. "wE'rE a MuLtIcUlTuRaL sOcIeTy!! nO rAcIsM hErE!!", but we'll organise citywide marches in the middle of a pandemic if a black american kid gets killed over there, and then tell blak people they're spelling it wrong.

then we flood the region with our white-bleached propaganda and "culture", to control smaller governments and and lure the people of the region here for our economic benefit; the wealthy as fodder to fund the education complex, and the poor to work below-minimum-wage-slavery "jobs programs" on our great proud aussie battler family run farms.

it's all out in the open. the torture, the murder, the rape, the hate crimes, the technically-it's-legally-distinct-from-slavery, it's all known, all reported regularly on the news, endlessly, cyclically, every few months or years, for my whole life. fuck knows what else we're doing and i don't know about because pine gap prevents it from reaching english language news.

i know the internet zeitgeist really only cares about the single latest trending topic to happen, so you're wondering what that is to make me react enraged and ashamed; but it's everything. i haven't even scratched the surface, just ranting off the top of my head.

every day i carry the shame of what a disgusting violent colony nation this is; to the people who consider themselves australian, to the people here before the nation and their descendants, to the people surrounding us now. i carry the guilt of failure to stop it, and casual complicity of having given up the fight because i couldn't handle it. i think that's what most activists do here, give up in shame, because activists aren't fighting the government - we have one of the most free and open democracies in the world, and the spineless cowards in charge absolutely will do what the populace whims of them - activists here are fighting the cruel and apathetic average australian, who either don't care, or active condone it all. we have the blood of this country on our hands.

so.

what has australia done now?

it's fucken wednesday, mates. nothing new.

[doggygutz]

hello!! you can call me Viscera, this is my blog dedicated to being a weird freak on the internet. it won't be exclusively nsfw/sexual, just Weird and Freaky in a variety of ways. it will feature taboo kinks and fantasies, and dead dove content, though. it'll probably mostly be reblogs but who knows, maybe i'll post my own stuff too

i'm 18 (born 05/21/2006), i use she/it/he pronouns (neos are cool too, especially nature, dog, or rabbit themed ones, just no they/them), and i'm good with all kinds of gendered language. i'm also autistic, schizospec, mentally ill, and physically disabled, some of which may come up occasionally

i'm a rabbit & dog therian, and a vampire & fallen angel otherkin, please refer to me as such!!

my interests are listed below the cut :3

sfw interests:

marvel has been a big special interest of mine since i was a kid, and i've recently gotten into the x-men movies as well!! i've watched every marvel movie, and most marvel shows

other movies i like include: all of the star wars movies, studio ghibli movies, and horror and thriller films

other shows i like include: the mandalorian, house md, hannibal, invincible, the boys, michael shur shows, breaking bad, and succession

music; my favourite bands and artists are depeche mode, cocteau twins, the smiths, the clash, the cure, harley poe, and bo burnham! i'm also learning to use computer programs to make my own music

visual art; i enjoy photography, and paint, draw, and make jewelry, and i sometimes sculpt. i also plan on learning embroidery and improving my sewing

spirituality -- i've identified as pagan since i was 13, and i'm still exploring some more parts of spirituality and religion, and i just generally find it an interesting topic

alternative subcultures (i'm goth myself, and almost all of my friends are some flavour of alternative as well)

video games (mainly stardew valley, acnh, minecraft, legend of zelda botw & totk, spiritfarer, and hollow knight)

ARGs and unfiction

animals & nature (some of my favourite animals are crows, sharks, rabbits, and wolfdogs)

nsfw interests:

bondage (especially shibari)

collars & leashes, muzzles, harnesses, and other similar gear

body worship & examination

ageplay & petplay (mainly puppy play)

primal play & scent/sweat

teratophilia (monsterfucking!!)

cnc, free use, intox (mainly weed), and somno

age gap & power imbalance

overstim & edging

sadomasochism (especially spanking, slapping, and caning) & blood, and general violence ig??

marking (bruises, scratches, bite marks, hickeys, sometimes branding)

kidnapping & imprisonment

both degradation & praise

dumbification & objectification

religious themes (imagery, costumes/uniforms, roleplay scenarios) & corruption

exhibitionism

fauxcest

piss play

wax play

i am a switch and a verse (with a domtop lean tbh), and that applies to everything i’m into

this post will probably be updated pretty often as i learn about more stuff i’m into

i’m also a big fan of cannibalism, but it's hard for me to categorize it as either sfw or nsfw because it sort of toes the line between the two

[gilearstimboards]

Caregiver!Gorgug Thistlespring

I do not think he is a full time caregiver as of course - he is a child. However, he is definitely a babysitter type caregiver/older sibling.

A very soft and empathetic caregiver, however I do think he does have some anger issues sometimes. But most of the time though he can help his regressors through their own anger issues with his as experience.

He'll also play with his regressors like he's a big barbarian in a rage and will play-fight (always letting them win).

Loves to work on his tech and loves helping his regressors learn how to code. He gets kids coding programs (like Scratch) and shows them how to code, helping them make little games.

He likes to let regressors to sit and watch him whilst he's working on his projects.

Would call his regressors "bud" (adopting the same language as his parents).

Very tolerant of accidents or any breakages etc. He is very good at working in a crisis - he gets it and he doesn't judge.

I feel like his favourite game to play with his regressors is Hide and Seek? Or Duck Duck Goose? Don't ask me why, I just think it is.

Not really a hands on caregiver, just there in case they need him, and will help out when a more permanent caregiver can't.

Sings little songs to help calm down when regressor's emotions become too much. Will teach the little songs too.

Takes his regressors out for trips in the van (always with their seatbelts on - safety first).

Stimboard here.

[hylianengineer]

I had a sudden realization. I always thought the universal translators in Star Trek were terribly unrealistic - they claim to decode languages based only on structural similarities, but I always thought, surely that's not actually doable? But then last semester I took a class about how language works in human brains, and it just occurred to me - that might fit into the theory behind the UT in interesting ways.

Because: detecting patterns, like the UT claims to do, is how humans learn languages. Including our first languages - which is very different from how we learn others after about puberty or so. You know how they say it's easier for kids to learn a language? It's way weirder than you've ever imagined if you've never taken a linguistics class but we don't have time to get into that just now. Point is, patterns.

There's a theory in linguistics that humans are born with this inherent ability to know how human languages work. That we're pre-programmed with certain behind-the-scenes rules that all of them follow - and not the rules you were taught in English class. These rules are very generalized, like 'languages have nouns and verbs and adjectives.' Then when babies start to be exposed to a specific language (or a few of them), they learn the rules specific to that language and fit them within the existing framework. i.e. 'in English, adverbs end in -ly. You can make one by adding -ly to an adjective.' Then you don't need to learn every adverb from scratch - you just take the adjectives you know and add -ly. Boom, adverbs!

So it seems like what the universal translator does is learn languages the way human brains do in early childhood - only faster. It can do in minutes what takes a human years. But the underlying process could be similar.

There's a lot of reasons our current machine translators can't do that, and they generally revolve around the fact that what human brains do when we know, understand, and or a language is so fucking complicated! Example: you know how when you hear someone speak a language you don't know, it sounds like they're talking really fast? Even like the words are blending together without gaps in between them? Fun fact, that's what you sound like to people who don't speak your language. You really do talk like that - it's just that to speakers of your language, it sounds like it has pauses because their brains know how that language works and where the pauses should go.

The pauses aren't real. Your brain's just going around inserting them where it thinks they go, because it knows how a given language forms words. Really - if you look at one of those little audio graph thingies (what the hell is that called?), there's no pause. The pause is in your brain, and the brain of everyone else who understands the language you're speaking. Crazy, right?

Computers don't know where the pauses go, so it can be really hard for them to tell where one word stops and another one starts. Remember, the pause is not real. The pause is in our brains - how do you make a computer program that knows where the pauses go? It's really hard.

[red-viscountess-emika]

a Tridaily Dose of Emika

(because of exams)

programming languages I use

I do programming, sometimes. I will list the languages I know, chronologically.

Scratch (when I was 10 or something)

Processing/weird combination of a Java library and a very shitty integrated code environment that comes with it, or whatever that word is. (when I was 14, maybe??)

Python (I dunno, used it for the first time at 16, I would guess)

C (when I was either 20 or 19)

HTML, CSS, Javascript (when I was 20??)

Haskell (when I was 20 (I am still 20))

So Scratch is just adorable, right??

Processing?? I dunno, it helped me learn the concepts????? It was really weird looking back at it. I feel like I was very shitty, but it had a library to make visual stuff easy, so it worked. I wouldn't know how to use actual Java, though, because classes were an advanced concept for me back then, and I forgot it since, and I don't ever use classes with the other languages I use.

Python sucks so bad, I hate it, but school coerces me into using it sometimes.....

C is my favourite, and the one I'm the best at. It's just very satisfying, I guess. I've been building a datastructure library lately.

HTML and CSS are kinda funny, Javascript sucks, but you need it I guess

Haskell is so cute, I love it, but I suck at it as of now. I had a month orso of using it and then went back to C, but I do plan to learn more of it later on :3 now, I will tell you more about these languages

Scratch is just some little kid who is throwing paint around (they are fine??? like they're a kid.... you can't judge them)

Processing is some friendly old white dude (he is fine)

Python is some 30-year old in lower upper management of some multinational who thinks very highly of himself and stuff (we hate him)

C is a 25-year old non-binary cool person (we like them)

HTML is not a person

CSS is not a person either

Javascript, we don't know enough to tell, and with we, we mean I

Haskell is a 16 or 17 year old alt girl (we like her)

[python-programming-language]

Post #56: Umfrage - Was ist deine bevorzugte Programmiersprache im Bildungssektor, 2023.

[femmescripter]

Magnum Opus of Maxley Headcanons

It's been a while since I've made a list of headcanons for Maxley, and in light of my recent story for Maxley Week I felt that it's time to make a new set. So here we go!

Max's birth mother was a standard poodle named Vanessa and is originally from Provence, France. Vanessa met Goofy during an exchange student program when they were both in high school. And after stopping Goofy from making one of his famous falls into a stack of books - the two became fast friends. Before long they started dating, becoming a steady couple for many years. By their early 20's they got married and Vanessa had Max. Regrettably the poodle lady was struck by a tumor and the doctors couldn't do anything to save her. Despite this Vanessa still maintained an otherwise positive outlook on life. She passed away when Max was three years old, and transported back to her native France to be buried there after the funeral was held in Spoonerville. Max and Goofy visit her grave in Provence every Christmas. Before she married Goofy her surname was Bellamy, which in French means "beautiful friend". Bradley's grandmother Abigail Uppercrust is the late wife of Grandfather Lee. During the time in which she was alive Abigail was a champion gardener whose skills at cultivation were rivaled by none. Her gardens and flower bushes won many awards - and she was even featured in several magazines. Which is how she and Grandfather Lee met, as Uppercrust Shipping was sponsoring a flower contest she had entered. From there a whirlwind romance began and they started their family. Abigail is also the one whom Bradley attributes his love of gardening to. She sadly passed away from pneumonia during when Bradley was twelve years-old and Mercy was five. Grandmum Uppercrust is now buried in Sussex, England - and Bradley and his family always go to visit her grave every New Year's Day. When Max properly introduced Bradley to his cat Waffles, he was wary as got badly scratched by a cat as a kid. But to his shock Waffles had actually warmed up to Bradley quite quickly. Even offering him her favorite squeaky mouse to play with her. Since then, Bradley spoils the gray tabby just about as much as he spoils Max. From homemade cat friendly feasts to the latest and greatest scratching-post; Waffles definitely reaps a lot of benefits from Max's new boyfriend. Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are Max's godfathers, being the two best friends of Goofy. As such Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie are basically Max's cousins by extent. So when the Duck Brothers come to visit him at Welig he happily introduced them to Bradley. Louie and Dewey were a bit wary of their cousin's boyfriend, but Huey and the Gamma King found they had a lot in common. Before long Huey was made an honorary Junior Gamma. And after a heart to heart to reassure the other two Duck Brothers that he would take care of Max and was on the straight and narrow himself, Louie and Dewey likewise came to accept Bradley. Max's birthday is September 5th(based on his official debut in the Goof Troop show). Bradley's birthday is rather special as it occurred on a Leap Day, February 29th(based on his official debut when An Extremely Goofy movie was initially released). So when it's not a Leap Day in February he and Max will instead celebrate on February 28th with all of their friends in a big group party. And of course, the two have their own "private party" afterwards. As he is half-French, Max learned to speak and read the language thanks to teaching from Vanessa's family members.

Before skateboarding, Bradley was into martial arts. He has a black belt in ju-jitsu.

Headcanons Related to The Gammas

Tank and Boris(second shortest guy with the toothpick) are bulldogs, Kevin(Fonzie haircut and crooked long snout) is a greyhound, Shades(the one with the sunglasses) is a bull terrier, Slouch is an orangutan and Federico(the one with the prescription glasses, goatee and Italian accent) is a Brussels Griffon.

Bradley and Tank met at the same gym they used to train at back in their high school years. Upon learning that they both share the same competitive spirit they became friends. Tank and Bradley got into Welig University together, and upon starting their freshman year they assembled the rest of the group overtime with Kevin, Shades, Federico and Slouch.

[leaves-of-laurelin]

Thank you to @hgejfmw-hgejhsf and @kiwiana-writes for the tag! Below is a snippet from the next chapter of Binary Light.

“What was Amy asking you about earlier?” Henry asks tentatively. “The Spanish language thing?”

“Oh, um,” Alex scratches at the back of his neck. “The youth center has an arts program, including theater. The kids get to put on plays and musicals, it’s really great. And, I don’t know, I just had this idea of doing a version of it but with a Spanish language play and I’d, like, help them.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Henry says brightly, and Alex wonders if he knows how much that smile of his hurts. “What prevented it from happening? That doesn’t seem like something they would reject.”

No pressure tags: @cha-melodius @littlemisskittentoes @happiness-of-the-pursuit @affectionatelyrs @daisymae-12 @inexplicablymine @cricketnationrise @rmd-writes @clottedcreamfudge @firenati0n @suseagull04 and whoever else wants to join.

[darkwingdukat]

I've been working at an autism center for just about 6 months now, and for that time I've been so proud of the work I'm doing and the overall goal this center strives towards that I forgot ABA therapy is still very much considered an enemy and torture for autistic people.

I don't know if my center is an anomaly in the world of ABA or if the tumblr users i saw commenting on a post about ABA aren't aware of some fundamental shifts takkng place, but the descriptions they used were so incongruous to the work i perform that I had to look up to make sure we are talking about the same therapy.

This blog has almost zero reach and I know I'm shouting into the void, but I guess my point in making this post is just. When i worked in a public school, i *wish* i had half the tools i have now. My job focuses on bridging the gap of communication between our learners and the world around them, whatever that gap may be. We get our learners school-ready, but what that means isnt "dont flap your arms" or "dont be so noisy." It means "hitting your teacher when you want something isnt okay but here is an acceptable way for you to communicate and reach an understanding." "Biting will not get you what you want, but pointing will." "Throwing yourself on the floor because you cant eat 5 cupcakes for lunch wont get us to change our minds about nutrition but hey if you take a bite of this apple you can have a bite of a treat afterwards."

(That being said, our non-preferred food programs are, in my opinion, not very necessary, but no one is forcing the foods down the kids throats. If they dont eat it, then they dont get the preferred food item. That's all. Access to other neutral foods is still perfectly acceptable.)

We dont use punishments, those are unethical. We use positive and negative reinforcement. Mostly positive. Tons of praise for socially acceptable behavior (again, im not talking about stims. We dont care about stims. Kids can flap, spin, clench, use chewelry to their hearts content. I'm talking socially appropriate as in not hitting or scratching someone. Using signs, AAC devices, or appropriate language for communication. Peeing or pooping in the potty (because yeah im working with 4, 5, 6 year old kids who arent potty trained yet)). Each kid has their own reinforcement schedule based on a variety of factors, and they have access to so many different toys, activities, and sensory objects. We let the kids tell us what they're motivated for, and from there we work on the things that will allow that child to safely and successfully integrate into a school setting. Oh, and all of our kids get 1:1 support so that the therapy is very much centered on them and them alone.

I know ABA has a sordid past. I know there are people out there today who use it reprehensibly still. I just hope that people are aware how the field is changing for the better. The company i work for has centers all throughout the midwest. What we do is not ideal for every autistic child -- we're actually trying to convince a kid's parents that we are no longer a suitable environment for them because at first they progressed wonderfully but then they became bored and their maladaptive behaviors increased instead of decreased. But for the kids who our programming is a helpful thing? Their parents cry in relief telling us how their kid isn't screaming/scratching/biting anymore. How they can take their kid to the grocery store without them running away or throwing themself on the floor. How their kid can now share toys and play with their siblings.

ABA is no longer the blanket enemy it used to be. So i guess dont just write something off immediately because "oh they use ABA? They're EVIL then!" And the UHC policy to limit access to ABA treatment can actually hurt families who desperately need help with maladaptive behaviors that are harmful to the kids, their peers, and the family itself.

[formula-fun]

ohhhh my gosh I have so many thoughtssss

why is charles an enigma??👀👀👀

and charles doesn't start piloting along with max???

(charles in a lab,,, charles in a labcoat,,, charles in lab glasses,,, mmmmm,, very concept)

ohh my goddd the languages and the neural link from that experimental drifty thing with mattiaaaaa

jsjdhsjsj the daniel thing lmaooo I can only imagine the vibes,, just charles bewildered face and daniel being rlly forward and overly friendly despite not actually knowing him

and the kids seeing charles and max being dumbasses lollll

pls don't feel like you have to answer if you don't want to give out spoilers,,, I've just not come across a pacrim au that's scratched so many itches before <3

charles in a lab coat and glasses.....secretly buff nerd charles leclerc with an office job and a tension headache. you understand the vision

charles was one of the posterboys of the jaeger program when he first became a ranger because he was so YOUNG and CHARISMATIC and he was one of the first academy graduates to actually get a jaeger of his own! he did so many press tours and appearances and everyone loved him!! and then one day he just disappeared due to Reasons and nobody knew where he went, and then a month later he showed up in some secret lab and the boss of the lab announced he would be helping run things because he knows a ton about secret lab things. the whole situation is very mysterious to the lab techs let alone the cadets who are just there to test out the robot parts. i cant even think of a metaphor for this. it would be like showing up to your first day of work in the CIA and learning your supervisors are Daft Punk or something. like its just fuckin weird

Charles and max don't start out as partners! they're actually stationed pretty far apart for most of the early years and dont see each other much. max becomes a ranger before charles does, so charles gets to angrily watch him do interviews and game shows and shit like that while he and everyone else are still stuck at the academy

the vibe with daniel is kind of insane. i wont get into it but theres a lot going on there. like he's fascinated by charles but he's also really protective of max so it's....intense