I have no idea what I did.
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Gave cheese to a lactose intolerant volcano perhaps?
Xizoh, that is wonderful imagery.
Sorry for not posting everyone - I had both a crush of work and also just felt in general s$~%ty.
Books! Erm, I agree with many of the above for recent sereseses. When I was younger I read a lot of the 'classic' science fiction - Heinlein, Asimov, Pullman, etc. The conceptual ideas and writing are quite good, but the sexism is not. I still recommend most of them as things that are good to read but not to emulate.
The Patrick O'Brian books are excellent if you want dry writing about men on boats in the late 18th century.
I read too much fanfiction. Its a disease, and the only solution is to write my own. (The virus has multiplied so many times inside of me that it has lysed my cell wall and exploded forth, ready to infect another cell.)
Recently I've been binging DS9 and NCIS. I've never been into procedurals before, but its surprisingly good. Also netflix means I don't have to leave my protective casing of blankets that keeps the world at bay.
Sorry for not posting everyone - I had both a crush of work and also just felt in general s!%$ty.
I know what will cheer you up.
sereseses
Inside joke?
The conceptual ideas and writing are quite good, but the sexism is not.
Yeah, I remember when I tried reading the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, and I was like, okay cool setting, but I have a finite number of days in my life and I don't really want to spend another one reading glorification of women getting treated like useless sexualized meatsuits. (Though she had another sequel series in the same universe about overcoming sexism that was a lot better.)
The Patrick O'Brian books are excellent if you want dry writing about men on boats in the late 18th century.
And sentences that go on for like, whole pages. (I do like the Master and Commander series very much.)
I read too much fanfiction. Its a disease, and the only solution is to write my own. (The virus has multiplied so many times inside of me that it has lysed my cell wall and exploded forth, ready to infect another cell.)
You make it sound so appealing....
(I have what is probably a similar love of webcomics.)Recently I've been binging DS9 and NCIS. I've never been into procedurals before, but its surprisingly good. Also netflix means I don't have to leave my protective casing of blankets that keeps the world at bay.
Dulae would also bring every Jackie Chan movie and Down Periscope.
I would also bring the 1999 version of the Mummy, and Babylon 5.
Xizoh, that is wonderful imagery.
I read too much fanfiction. Its a disease, and the only solution is to write my own. (The virus has multiplied so many times inside of me that it has lysed my cell wall and exploded forth, ready to infect another cell.)
Thank you, but that credit belong to another, not I (cultural osmosis is such a weird thing.)
Fanfiction, at least the 10% or so that is good, I've found tends to be extraordinary. I like writing, but it's often a flight of fancy for me.
Dang, Xizoh and Dulae (the players) would get along very well IRL.
A common theme of past Tuesday tips has been encouragement to speak up and stand against expressed bias. Liberal ideology creates some cognitive dissonance here: it welcomes all, except for those who do not agree all should be welcome. It encourages diversity of ideas and people, except those that would hinder diversity and equal rights/opportunity.
Something I heard on the radio while I was in Baton Rouge: why bother having free speech at all if you can’t actually say literally anything? Supporters of the republican administration expressed fears they’d be fired or shunned by their friends if they said something “liberals wouldn’t like”. They felt they were being discriminated against because they spoke out in support of the travel ban or regulation of people’s bathroom use. They are right of course, by the face-value definition of discrimination: taking action based on some distinguishing characteristic, in this case support of bigotry. (The irony of protesting discrimination in this context does not escape me.)
Free speech is essential for democracy, to a point. Not all speech is protected. We strike a balance between being allowed to do/say whatever we want and not actively harming our fellow citizens. Shouting “Fire!” falsely in a crowded theater is illegal and I don’t think anyone would argue with that. Thousands have died in crowd stampedes over the years. Hate speech and libel are also illegal for similar reasons; they are harmful. Expressing support for a policy rooted in bias isn't illegal, but it is harmful, and aside from government at the local level, social pushback is our only recourse.
I’ve heard “political correctness” treated like it’s some arbitrary list of un-allowed phrases people have to memorize. They fail to equate painting black people as unqualified with condemning them to limited job access or portraying them as dangerous with innocent lives lost. They don’t connect claiming Muslim refugees foster terrorism with thousands of families dead or living in fear. Or that painting poor people as lazy means more poverty when instead of investing in them we increase their burdens.
The normalization of bigotry has resulted in communities under attack; trans kids, immigrants, Muslims, Jews, people of color, and others. Speaking out at any level is helpful, and probably the hardest and most helpful is pushback when a friend of family member makes a causal comment in conversation.
45 supporters claim “You all can defeat Trump next time, but not if you keep mocking us, refusing to listen to us, and cutting us out” (again, with the screaming irony that this community tends to strongly prefer to ignore the black and brown body count as well as racially-based incarceration and unequal access to education, jobs, and housing). I’m afraid they are right. (Mockery certainly isn't helping anything, cathartic as it may be.)
The question then becomes: in order to minimize suffering over the longer term, is it the right choice to appease those who would put their own economic and cultural interests ahead of the hatred and violence directed at their neighbors? To invest in the emotional support and reassurance of 45 voters in the hope they too will be future allies instead of taking the firmest possible stand against discrimination?
It’s something I’m still struggling with.
Check out these super awesome libraries that exist in the world, full of books that need reading.
I'm not sure if I would bring every Jackie Chan movie. I got the three rush hour movies in one of those 2 dollar dvd box set things in the checkout area of a supermarket... I had forgotten just how much the two main characters attempt to out racist each other.
I am in search of more top grade fanfiction. I'm not reading any right now because I can't find anything better than 'meh'.
Fair enough. First becoming aware of race/gender/other stereotypes in media was like seeing the matrix. I'll never think of a large fraction of my favorite childhood movies the same way again.
You and Xizoh should trade notes.
The Computer Gods have finally shown me favor. My machine is back up and running. Still need to reinstall some things, but it's back up and running!
Huzzah! Very glad to hear it.
No machine can match a properly motivated wizard!
Mikkel has a point Dulae. Worm isn't a bad read, although it is quite dark. I'd be more than happy to share the other stories I've found that didn't make me want to break out my inner grammar nazi and start class.
==== GM travel advisory ====
At our current post rate I don't expect it to bother us too much, but I'm headed to the east coast tomorrow and back to LA on Monday. Expect at least one post a day, probably in the evening eastern time. Thursday, Saturday, and Monday are travel days when you're least likely to hear from me.
(See you soon, Dulae.)
I'm a bit limited on time myself starting today. Emerald City Comic-Con starts!
mutters something about emerald city and sadness
I hope ya have a good time :D
Have a good time, Cel! Be sure to tell us about it.
Apologies for being so late with that autobot - for some reason I was very sure Dulae had posted pretty recently. (Y'all should feel free to holler when I am remiss in my duties.)
I'll give Alaina/Dara the full 48 hours (help is welcome - I'm down to pretty much 'Alaina is mischievous, Dara is salty')
In other news, this old plane has wifi, Fantastic Beasts playing, and an amazing view of the Grand Canyon. Today is a good day.
I've read some of Worm previously, but found the main character not to my liking. Granted its been a while since I read it, but the contrast of how ludicrously inventive and bold she is when trying out her identity vs how ludicrously idiotic and cowardly she is in her normal life was too much for me. I suppose that if I made it through the story and in the end the 'twist' was 'there are no superpowers, the protagonist is just mentally ill' it would make sense.
Hrmm, that was harsher than I intended... sorry about that! I know lots of other people like it, and the technical quality of the part that I read was good.
I don't usually read much Star Wars fanfic, but Empire's Son by blank101 is quite good. The sequel is being actively updated.
Dulae and I played Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu tonight and it was amazing. (Made us think of you, Henri.)
I read a bit of Worm after Xizoh posted it - I really liked the writing style. I'm not that far into it (I haven't seen her as a superhero yet), but what Dulae describes seems pretty realistic to me; in high school everything you've ever done (in school) has followed you up until that point (unless you've moved) and it seems like life will be that way forever. I can see that being paralyzing, particularly in the moment in the face of bullying by a former friend. (Also, did you know there's a study that shows girls perform significantly better on standardized tests when the results are not attached to their name? They take more risks, which pays off. I'm trying to find it... anyway, seems like the author's getting at a similar effect from what you say.)
I tried to edit the campaign map from my phone today for the first time in a long time - the Google Drive app prompted me to download a different app (Slides?) That's a pretty high bar, so here's a standing open invitation to anyone away from a computer to ask me to move markers for you while you're on the move.
Anyone know of a more phone-friendly alternative for PbP maps?
Whew, Jen and I just watched For the Love of Spock. The documentary Directed by Adam Nimoy. A real heavy Critical Hit right to the Feels.
Oh yeah, I heard about that. Any chance it's on Netflix? (Jen is your wife, I'm guessing? Hi Jen!)
That's wear we watched it.
Cool, I'll check it out sometime.
Cheers to anyone who's participating in or supporting tomorrow’s strike in any fashion, including in spirit.
Women’s role in the workplace is a conversation we still need to have as a society, based on statistics like the number of female CEOs or the number of female world leaders.
In raising awareness of the value of women’s work, it’s worth noting that women not only tend to make less money, but they also tend to do more than their male counterparts, for less credit. Women are implicitly expected to do service labor like mentoring and “office housework” like cleaning up after meetings essentially for free, while when men do this type of work it tends to be noticed and counted toward potential advancement. (I’ve noticed this seems to be ubiquitously true in male-dominated science fields like physics.)
So way to be a bunch of badasses, ladies of the world. Now let's see what we can do about that wage gap (while also considering race and other identities that impact socioeconomic status in an intersectional way).
Also, life goals.
March 8th certainly made me realize how little red I actually own.
Yeah, I looked over my closet yesterday like, welp, that's a whole lot of black, gray, and blue. (I ended up wearing a red shirt that is technically Dulae's (thanks bro)). I saw almost as many guys wearing red as ladies here (hundreds, at least). That was awesome. Go team human.
You have an article of clothing of mine that you took across the country?
...
...
You guys you guys! I've finally gotten a smartphone. Not that it calls yet. I switched to my old phone sometime around May of 2007 (I know because it was during finals), so I've had the same flip-phone for almost ten years.
I think it deserves a good funeral. I'm thinking of a viking longship just big enough for the phone and say.... 10 pounds of thermite. And a magnesium fuse. Perhaps a few sodium pellets so that when it sinks it explodes even more.
(This is not a thing I'm actually going to do.)
Given that it's been like 4 years and you haven't noticed, it's pretty much mine now.
Welcome to the future Dulae! We also have cars that you start by pushing a button. (We not including me - I first saw this on a rental car when I was last in Louisiana and I announced loudly to my passengers WE LIVE IN THE FUTURE!)
Also, you clearly missed your calling on Mythbusters.
I had the same problem Mikkel, every article of clothing I own was those same colors.
Welcome to the future Dulae. Everything is chrome and selfies. You need to give such a worthy device a proper burial. My battered road scarred shuffle is going to meet it's end soon, rest in peace.
Also, I apologize for my tardiness. Track has started again, and between my surge in eating and constant hatred for running time seems to keep on slipping. Oh sweet merciful Buddha the running :-:
I will support the viking funneral only if you make a video!
I'm trying to imagine Dulae taking a selfie.... does not compute.
Xizoh, I'm not sure if that means you run for reasons other than a love of running, or you're more of a shot/disc kind of fellow.
Either way, no worries, I've been quite happy with our pace the last few days, and I'll be begging your patience next week when I become Mikkel Madsen: time traveler.
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So shiny, so chrome... now I have to find some aluminum and iron oxide...
Also, time travel? This has to do gravity waves doesn't it? ;)
Game: Hostage situation! Anyone remember to pack a social skill that doesn't scare people?
What a lovely day.
I'm traveling 11.5 hours into the future on Friday. (India apparently has non-integer time-zones - that's going to trip me up.)
And I see that egregious affront to science, Dulae. I'm sorry to have to do this to a friend, but you brought this on yourself.
Rule number 1 of a hostage situation - if the person kills the hostage, they are dead, 100%. They have no other leverage.
What I'm trying to say here is that they came up with the term "acceptable losses" for a reason.
Henri's probably not the type to value an academic's contributions to Altiendel, but Henri remembers this conversation like it was the day before yesterday, and Alaina remembers this conversation like it was yesterday.
With Henri's background she'd also have a sense of how much Altiendel values Silo. She'd very likely figure if the party saves him, they will get paid more. (And if they don't, they'll still get paid, but not as much.)
Running is a necessary evil in order to pole vault, and is pretty effective at whipping one into shape.
Hmm, my mind may have an idea. Give me some time to properly sleep and formulate this. Besides Mikkel, I'm Ze Doktor! I work best keeping people from dying, so no biggie if a little blood gets spilt ;)
Harumph. Why does no one ever let me kill hostages?
Pole vaulting! Awesome. (Clearly the best track and field event.)
Hah. Memory intact, Henri is free to do as she likes. I'll make the popcorn.
Unrelated RL status inquiries:
Cel, how goes the healing process? (Can you catch graham crackers yet?)
Alaina, is your computer fully restored?
Yes it is. Been playing XCom 2.
Is it any good? I heard that there were some incredibly frustrating bugs (aliens ignoring line of sight blocking cover, mainly).
@Henri
No one lets you kill the hostages because we won't get hired as hostage negotiators again if you do. The supreme leader would be upset at our lack of income.
I like it. Although RNGesus seems to hate me from time to time. I really like the mods I have for it.
Glad to hear it Alaina. (You've have some really remarkable RNG variance in the gameplay thread.)
Dulae, I feel like I'm missing a reference or two there (I think I may have made it to Snoke, but then I lost the trail).
Doing much better now! Almost full return of range of motion and started working on strength training now. Thanks for asking!
Great! I'm going to interpret that as CatchGrahamCracker=True;
We can test this the next time I'm in Seattle. (50% chance that will be June.)
Cool! If I ever have a computer that can play it on I'll make sure to check it out.
I will let you have fun with the reference, Mikkel.
In other news, I'm in new Orleans! For a conference and not break, but still.
Hey Mikkel, would you allow an unseen servant a trip maneuver?
XCOM 2 is definitely recommended, it's a lot of fun to kill ayys and it's even more fun to die to them in horrible, completely unpreventable ways.
... Are you trolling me, Dulae? (If so, it worked. Well played.) Have fun and eats lots of cajun food, it's f+*+ing delicious.
@Xizoh: an unseen servant is not allowed any kind of attack roll (including a trip), but it could certainly poke, prod, or otherwise antagonize/distract.
@Henri: You must have a lot of fun playing Arkham Horror.
The three times I have tricked FOOLISH MORTAL SOULS into playing it with me, I have loved it xD
Sorry all for the delay - long 12 hour conference day, and one of my friends found out he's been awarded three more years of funding to do super cool scientific coding in the UK, so we took him out to celebrate.
Awesome news item #1: the institution I'm at runs a prestigious summer physics research program for undergrad students. This year, for the first year _ever_, we have a distribution of selected attendees that reflects the US population (over 50% women and proportional representation of ethnic and racial groups). All hyper-qualified. This summer is going to be great.
Awesome news item #2: our conference is offering preferred gender pronoun stickers for name badges and encouraging everyone to wear them. (Dulae, I hear your conference has them too.) I've heard from some of my colleagues who have transitioned or are not gender binary that this makes a big difference for them, and it's such a small/easy thing to do.
T-shirt news: check out this T-shirt, which still has some design problems science-wise (and I'm sure even more graphic-design-wise), and sends the message girls have to choose between femininity and science (boo). But. Waaaaay better.
Go team human.
@Henri - I once nearly had the opportunity to play by candlelit through a power outage during a thunderstorm. I regret missing out on that. (I've never actually played the original version.)
==== GM conference advisory ====
I've been keeping up with the 24 hr post schedule (barely), but tomorrow (Wednesday) will be tricky - I have meetings starting at 08:00 that are scheduled to run until 22:00 and will in all likelihood probably go until 01:00 Thursday. I'll do my best, but there's a non-zero chance you won't hear from me until Thursday.
==== GM travel advisory ====
Speaking of not hearing from me, I'm headed to India on Friday afternoon. A rough expected posting schedule:
Late 3/17-3/18 - No posts (unless there is wifi on the plane)
3/19-3/23 - Posts at least once per day, evening IST (early morning Pacific)
3/24-3/26 - Limited/unknown rate of posting (no idea if I'll have internet. Or power.)
3/27-3/28 - No posts (headed back to LA)
3/29 - Resume regularly scheduled posting ('til the next trip, 4 days later)
==== Question for the group ====
I'd like to continue this game with the current set of players. I have a rough sketch of the framework for a next arc (hopefully with significantly better pacing for PbP) but it'll take some time to iron out, make maps, etc. Spending close to two days total on a plane in the next couple weeks could be a good opportunity to work on that.
Based on what I have in mind at the moment, which I'd plan on building on with input from the group, I'd estimate it'd take another 9-12 months or so from when we finish this arc (should be within a month) to play out the next. If we have a quorum to carry on (I'm thinking 3/5) that'd be a very worthwhile investment of plane time for me.
Who is interested in playing arc II?
(Purpose: information gathering. No pressure intended. Questions welcome.)