sustain minor

September 18, 2017

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship; we're all in this together, people. 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory Giveaway52 - Be My Squirrel"Jon (@ferociousj), Besha (@besha), and special guest Yoz (@yoz) workshop some ideas for stories, discover a horrifying weapon, and ask a pertinent question about fanfic."At around the 12-minute mark, we work out a kind of nega-copyrighting or auto-kinkshaming system that someone should consider implementing.You can subscribe using:Apple PodcastsRSSStitcherGoogle Play MusicYou can also just go to the website to play or download episodes:https://ideafactorygiveaway.simplecast.fm/ 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.In this week's episode of the podcast, we reference a D&D spell I made up long ago while in the throes of madness (AKA a time some years ago when I had the wherewithal to write and DM some one-shot D&D adventures), which I now reproduce here in its entirety:RACIST TATTOOS"You got a problem or somethin'?"Encounter, ArcaneRange 10, single targetWisdom vs ReflexHit: Racist tattoos appear all over the target's skin in dense, offensive patterns. If a creature (including the target's allies) comes within melee range of the target, target must roll a saving throw against the creature's Perception skill check. If the target fails to save, the creature notices the target's racist tattoos and makes a double basic melee attack against the target. Target takes a -5 penalty to all employment-related rolls for the duration of the spell.Sustain minor.I'll be honest with you. My favorite one was as follows:WINDOWS GENUINE ADVANTAGEThis action has been prematurely canceled for your own safety and enjoyment!Daily, ArcaneRange 10, single targetDexterity vs FortitudeHit: A powerful enchantment prevents the target from taking any move, minor, or standard action without first making a saving throw. On save, the target is permitted to take their desired action. If the target fails to save, the action cannot be performed, and is used up for the round. The enchantment lasts until the end of the encounter.The target can choose to attempt to shake off the enchantment by making three saving throws in a row instead of taking any actions of any kind whatsoever. If any of the three saving throws fails, the enchantment persists. These were written for D&D 4th Edition, but I imagine it'd be easy to update for 5th; please send me approximately 80 hours of free time in which to truly learn the system, rewrite my custom spells and adventures, and play with my friends. Thanks in advance. 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.How old were you when you were exposed to your favorite TV show? I mean one that's stuck with you through to adulthood, or that you still have profoundly fond memories of? Movies also count; if you're a Star Wars kid, how old were you when you first saw it?Before anyone asks: Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in September 1987, but I'm not sure I jumped onboard immediately with the pilot. I definitely did at some point during its first season: I remember being disturbed by "Conspiracy" (despite the fact that Aliens is probably a top-three movie for me to the point where I'm pretty sure I've memorized it, I'm generally not a body horror kind of guy), which was fairly late therein, so let's just say I started TNG in '88, which would've made me 9. I vividly remember the "Best of Both Worlds" cliffhanger; what a way to start a summer.Anyway, I'm curious about your primary fandom and when it started for you. Because of a reason. I promise I'm not trying to make a little mini-me out of Lemon (irrespective of Lemon's chromosomal makeup, sex-wise, lest some of you take this as A Clue), but I'm also not not trying to at least see if we can have one shared interest. 

Fascination Corner

I read a lot of newsletters; here are some links that caught my eye. 

  • I have to tell you I was hoping for something a little more elaborate in this story about an underwater "city" built and inhabited by octopuses, especially given how intelligent we think they are these days.

  • The RAND Corporation did a study on "What if we as a nation just started school at 830a?" and the numbers they give on the economic benefit of this idea are quite frankly staggering. You can read the whole thing if you want; I haven't yet, but I probably will.

  • Probably nobody who reads this newsletter needs this incredibly brief explainer on how and why the press normalizes Trump, but it's something you might want to arm yourself with anyway whenever the time comes to confront someone who doesn't get it yet.

  • Though I didn't read this in detail because it gets quite technical, this paper on making what appear to be self-assembling robotic nervous systems from at least quasi-self-aware smaller units seems like the first step on the path of eventually making a T-1000. Or am I crazy?

  • This story from someone who found themselves volunteering to be a dispatcher for the Cajun Navy (which I admit I was kind of surprised to discover was a real thing that happened and not just a funny caption for a picture on Facebook) during Harvey is amazing and raw as hell (you've been warned). It's also an intriguing look at what technology has made possible vis-a-vis the distribution of intake and parallel processing for what I have to call for lack of a better term human suffering. This is an important beginning, but of what exactly I'm not sure; I can only see the outlines of it from where I'm standing.

  • Actual experienced parents I know have serious doubts about these concept clothes that grow with your baby, but all I have to say at this point is that I don't know if I'm ready to raise my offspring as Romulans; I feel like that's something they'll have to decide for themselves when they're older.

  • I'm actually super fine with it if it turns out fish meat is easier to lab culture than cow meat. Honestly, it'd explain a lot about all the poké places I've been seeing pop up (where. the fuck. are they getting their tuna?). Have you noticed this? Why are there so many, so suddenly? Two more poké joints opened while you were reading that last sentence. That cannot be sustainable. Right???

  • I'm serious when I say I'm through with sympathetic pieces about Trump voters, especially after this study that shows people who support Trump get mad about social and civic issues if you just show them a picture of a black person. On the one hand, we fucking don't need scientific studies to know why these people voted Trump. On the other, hard data's harder for them to refute.

  • You were probably linked to this lightsaber-sharp Atlantic piece on Trump's white supremacist presidency by Ta-Nehisi Coates by now. Save it for later if you're already having a day.

  • This is an interesting longread on Unilever and its attempts to make "doing good in the world" and "capitalism" not be mutually exclusive concepts.

  • Possible liquid water on the TRAPPIST-1 system's planets, people.

  • Reid Hoffman shouldn't be the only guy who funds/organizes the Resistance, right? I also genuinely want to know what would happen if he or some other billionaire who Trump might perceive as flexing on his level just straight up challenged Trump to a boxing match.

  • Speaking of organizing, when Barrett Brown says it's time to consider alternate forms of governance, it makes sense to at least read the outline, especially if it's goddamn fascinating.

  • Is it just me or is nobody taking space junk seriously enough as a potential progress-wrecking problem? And has anybody attempted to simulate what'd happen if we just floated a big blob of oobleck out there? I'm serious. 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A dubious folk duo and their albumAckle & Jackle, Oh How the Day Itself Doth Sing 

Thanks

If you've read this far, I thank you. Feel free to forward this to someone you like, or inflict upon someone you don't.