Writer with a lifelong love of learning, backlog of sporadically updated projects, and eclectic taste in music. Longer Posts: https://www.pillowfort.social/Arkylie Consider buying me a Ko-fi! https://ko-fi.com/arkylie
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@tailsteak.bsky.social Rereading your commentary on this page: www.leftoversoup.com/archive.php?... ...and reminded of the example I bring up to differentiate TTRPGs from other games: We decided not to go through the obvious traps and instead chainsawed our way in through the back wall π
One of my favorite Freefall moments is when the robots get so unsettled that they commit random acts of construction. And at some point they discuss how robots deeply want to help humans but there just aren't enough humans around to help. Humans as a scarce resource was an unexpected issue.
In case you're wondering, you're currently next to: 1. Selkie 2. El Goonish Shive 3. xkcd as the comics I keep up on rather than binge. Did I ever share with you the only full-fledged webcomics page I ever got posted? It's the 2015 Christmas guest comic for Selkie: selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie...
I appreciate your realism, and evident prescience (given current events... sigh - though I was training myself to fight off memetic tearjerkers back when I was still on FB). I appreciate Freefall's optimism and heart. Also both comics' view of AI having fundamentally different views from humans.
@tailsteak.bsky.social Finally got caught up on Forward again (dunno why it slipped out of my reading schedule - I only follow like four webcomics at a time). The reaction to Lee's declaration gives a strong compare-and-contrast to Freefall's depiction of the start of robot rights. Intriguing.
Looking into it, that appears to be an urban legend or at least an exaggeration that grows in the telling: www.latimes.com/business/sto... The general harassment she faced from Hollywood is a huge problem, of course, but it appears that attempted physical assault from a major star was just made up.
After months of work from incredibly talented creators, Enchantment zine is yours! Flip open the tome and peer through the pages at the magic that has entwined the Hero and Princess from days of Hyrule's conception. Download below π enchantmentzine.carrd.co#zine #loz #zelink #enchantmentzine
I don't recall which site -- vaguely think it was a social media site I never used -- but there is something deeply disturbing about not being able to say "hey, this has nothing to do with me, stop using my contact info" without effectively hacking my way into an account I want nothing to do with π
Google: Hey, someone set up your email as their recovery email, would you like to allow this or unlink it? Level: Easy Other Site: Hey, someone's using your email for their account, so we'll keep spamming you with notifications until you log into an account you don't have to unlink-- Level: WTF
I mean it's one thing if it can't extrapolate that a search for "XYZ" includes "XYZ123" (a dumb limitation, but fine) but when I specifically look for e.g. "Psilence" and it gives me every time I've ever discussed silence, overriding my spelling in favor of "I'm sure you meant this common word"...
Me: Hey GMail, could you find that name with the extra numbers I always forget? GMail: I can't work from imprecise spelling. Me: Hey, could you look up this distinctive author name? GMail: You mean words that are LIKE that name, yes? Here's every possible variation on common words. Me: π
Wouldn't have thought twice about signing the updated EULA for #7DaysToDie if it weren't phrased as though there's an OPTION to do otherwise. It won't let me play unless I accept the EULA. That's not "certain game features," that's THE WHOLE FUCKING GAME. Which features are exempt, the menus??? π‘
"Full transparency that a bot isnβt a human and doesnβt have human feelings is also essential." Y'know, in #ForwardComic by @tailsteak.bsky.social they train kids to recognize and not empathize with AI and legally AI can't look too human that future is nigh #AI #therapy time.com/7291048/ai-c...
I have to go gather random rare drops from a dozen locations. Stuff like golden leaves and random INSECTS. And not just a few of each, but 150 of this beetle, 150 of that centipede... In other words, ignore the quest entirely and go about my game for weeks until I notice I've acquired the goods π
#FarmRPG is a master class in Gameplay and Story Segregation. I get done exploring a weird castle run by a robot, and go to leave with a Major Item, but the defense system says it'll Kill Me if I don't immediately give it equivalent value. How do I solve this imminent threat?
...I don't know much about the earlier games, but FFIV was my first love for any video games with stories and for JRPGs in particular so if you get that far I'm gonna be all πππ My friend bought me two remakes and I've played one enough to realize they really tightened up the writing and locations.
I presume Tedd's theory about Layers of Reality is about to make another appearance, and perhaps get some feedback from someone who actually knows some of the mystical "quantum mechanics" of this worldbuild.
Was looking stuff up and found a site that covered half the vertical landscape with a title bar (horrible site design), and then gave this gem, revealing that its contents are AI-generated with no editing pass. Nice to know I can ignore that site in search results.
On somewhat of an up side, I'm still amused by the idea of an AI trying to make sense of the patterns in the way *I* write. ChatGPT refuses to write anything more salacious or less consensual than literally a tickle fight, and when I asked for vampires it gave me a lecture on cultural sensitivity.
I'm not *terribly* troubled by the theft of my fics -- though they did also get my Original Fiction which is part of a larger I'm hoping to someday market, which makes me a bit anxious π° But it does reveal some issues, the fact that they got my *locked from the get-go* fics. They got EVERYTHING.
I recall a wait from some ages ago, but I think in the era of AI Plagiarism they might just be trying to reduce the chances of bots being able to sneak through the defenses. Apparently all of my fics, including the locked ones and the one I wore for tailsteak's birthday one year, got nabbed π
No seriously This is #FarmRPG This is, at its core, a FARMING SIM Why the HELLFIRE is the FIRST AND ONLY DISH YOU CAN MAKE something that DOESN'T EVEN TAKE THE VEGGIES YOU CAN GROW??!!! "Here, farmer, we can't trust you with carrots or potatoes yet; go boil those bones you found in the cave."
One pot takes 25 Emberstone Quick check: drop rate is just over 28 Explores/Drop (calculator time) I'd need to explore some 700 times to get enough for ONE -- DISPOSABLE -- Cooking Pot (And I had other plans for Emberstone) This is Utter Nonsense I'm shocked I've stuck with this game so long
So not only do I have to craft an Entirely New Cooking Pot for every single dish I make but do you make cooking pots out of normal ingredients? no sir you make them out of Emberstones and Moonstones You have to go fetch them from the mountain because apparently people can't cook without them
I finally reached the level where I can get a Kitchen It's actually quite late in the game Spent the better part of this week saving up silver to reach 500,000,000 to buy the Kitchen There's only ONE DISH I can make Bone Broth ...from random bones I found in a cave ...and it DESTROYS THE POT
Past few weeks, I've been playing #FarmRPG part Abnegation (turn brain off) part a study of bad game design (can't look away from this bizarre train wreck) to be fair, it's apparently made by one person, so I'll cut them some slack but just look at this latest affront to good game design:
Like, suppose you set up these tasks: 1. Take your meds (2/day) 2. Write (20 min/day) 3. Take a Walk (every other day) Six months later, are you gonna "catch up" by taking 360 servings of pills, going on 90 walks, and writing for 60 hours???
Default should be: "You planned to write daily for 128 days. You wrote for three days and then fell off the planet for six months. You have written Today, that's good, now your next goal is to write Tomorrow." That's basic. That's the reality we live in. Habits can't be fixed in the Past.
Default behavior should not be "you missed six months of Plans, let's have you catch up by checking off every one of those Planned Tasks before we can move forward to *new* Plans" I ALREADY feel like I can never catch up to whatever I "should" be doing, no matter how I Plan for it
And like, even after I push "yeah I did that (at some point in the past year)" The Default Behavior is "okay, you completed the one that was due six months ago; now complete the one that was due the day after that" I have to take steps, *per task*, to tell it to stop building up Failure Piles π
An app is only ADHD-friendly if it accounts for the fact that you might forget it exists for over a year What I need is one that goes "oh hey, you're back, it's been a while, let's reset expectations" not one that starts a new run with the burden of Failure That's the opposite of motivational
So there's this #ProductivityApp called "Do It Now" Out of all such apps I've tried, it's the only one I ever paid money for, and I think it was worth it It's a useful app But I don't use it anymore Because every time I remember that it exists, and open it anew, I get hit with THIS bullshit:
Don't mind @discord.com having these random promotions but I don't appreciate them being ANIMATED. I have enough calling my attention; I don't need the corner of my screen to be flashing all the time because I'm ignoring the latest game I have no intention of playing π
I suppose it's a matter of how much of the concept you need to be capable of using before we can call it "math" ...because bees can absolutely tell the concept of "more/less" apparently quite easily: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6hG...
So... video footage shows guy briefly interact with fellow shopper then go on his way; woman calmly interacts with other shopper; guy eventually briefly interacts with her again, she gives him thumbs-up ...and later accuses him of trying to snatch her baby???? www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYTJ...
I get that certain principles are related, but not HOW they are related, or how to reliably use incomplete data to divine the rest of the pattern. Where are the #KhanAcademy -style rundowns of each step in the process?? Feels like reading the homework assignments for a textbook I've never seen π
I am not here to learn which specific dots to click for each specific level. I am here to learn how these principles fit together to produce answers, so that I can make use of these ideas in later levels or real life. Just showing me the solution just lets me pass a game level -- it's POINTLESS.
Been enjoying a geometry game called #Pythagorea. Quite intuitive in the early levels. What's frustrating is that when I get stuck and look up the solution, I find... the solution. JUST the solution. Pics showing me which dots to click. Nothing teaching me WHY, or how to apply the principle π
Watched a gory movie called "Machete". Interesting Suspenseful Over-the-top This film came out 15 years ago with a bizarre plot about evil politicians making immigrants the scapegoat using a False Flag assassination attempt and wantonly murdering minorities ...WHICH IS NO LONGER PARODY, WTF
Wish I could tell my word processors (e.g. Scrivener) to stop marking British spelling as "wrong" so that it doesn't give me those eyetwitch-inducing red lines on comments I've copied from various sources. Having two spellings of e.g. "rumo(u)r" is not a big deal unless I'm writing for publication.
I've contacted my representatives repeatedly regarding legislation unfairly impacting minorities. I've even received a reply once (albeit likely a form letter). But the attacks just keep rolling in. Not just hurting individuals in the short-term, but targeting whole groups in the long-term.
Let's compare two groups: 1. People who'll find it significantly harder to vote under Trump's "voter protection" act 2. People adversely impacted by Trump's policies thus far Overlap: a. Trans people b. [married] Women c. Minorities d. the Disabled e. the Homeless f. Low-Income people in general
I mean, taken individually, the sounds aren't terrible. L is beautiful, R *can* be beautiful, OO's are beautiful K can be in beautiful words, T and D can, P can it's just the combination and the order it feels cluttered and the ending sucks and just UGH anyway Pet Peeve π
I have Opinions about certain words. "zevuv" is one of my favorite "this totally sounds like what it refers to" words ("fly" -- listen to the word (zeh-VOOV) and tell me you can't hear a fly zipping through the air) "pulchritude" is like tossing together random ugly sounds it's like the opposite
Sounds great, and I thank you for the rec. I expect to listen to this a few times (have already done so once). Looked through the lyrics and hit a Pet Peeve. It might be enough to throw me off the language entirely π "Pulchritude" is the word LEAST LIKE beauty and I have hated it for eons π
The United States Government showing up in groups, MASKED, to kidnap people seemingly at random. This is not law enforcement. This is not due process. The United States government has BECOME the #terrorists. #RumeysaOzturk #kidnapping #wtf #worsttimeline www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyyp...
At least when Loki captures you, he doesn't do it secretly and hiding his face. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyyp...
That's perfectly readable; I'd accept it as a substitute. Not sure I'd cheerfully use it myself without seeing it more in the wild, though π€ though it does seem like it'd fit in fine eventually. ...then again, that might be just because I've grown accustomed to the J=Y switch through my studies.
This is the one I'm working on, albeit slowly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXtD... klingon.wiki/En/MyHeartWi...
(I can sing in over twenty languages. My Esperanto is limited to the two songs that came with the educational software I used. I would definitely like to expand a bit in terms of the conlang songs I can sing. Currently working on "My Heart Will Go On" in Klingon.) www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
I appreciate the invitation, but unfortunately I'm spread too thin to be able to join yet another social group. I'm gratified that you think I'd fit in, though ^_^ I'll have to add Interlingua to my list of languages to work on at some point. Got any songs to recommend?
Further evidence of "Worst Timeline": The United States government randomly kidnapping people -- and treating them worse than LOKI did. Hell, they've killed more prisoners than MCU *canonical* Loki did (even if you take Natasha's words at face value). xkcd.com/3081 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detenti...
βIn Lokiβs care, you will not be subject to any threat of death, harm, torture, humiliation, deprivation, or mind control, nor is there to be any violence in this tower.β Wrote this in a fic a few years ago. Loki won the war, took captives, and is abiding by [most of] the Geneva Convention.
Recent new keyboard has some programmable keys. At first I thought they'd be useless, but then I thought of a use case: letting me type common alt-codes letters like Γ±, Γ€, ΓΆ, for whichever language I was working on at the time! ...it won't do "paste in this letter", only "press these keys" π
I think my sole exception is Γ± -- jalapeΓ±o vs. habanero is still a useful distinction, piΓ±ata looks like a different word without it, and Γ± is the one non-vowel letter I've memorized the keycode for. It frustrates me that trying to type alt-codes into the browser can trigger other unwanted codes π
Albeit, the ability to type someone naturally does come into play. Notably, if I'm typing English, I don't use diacritics. Words like naive, Noel, Zoe are known; words with cedillas might break our basic C test but if they're rare enough to not be well known I simply don't use them.
Yeah, that's why I retracted slightly, that if your aim is to mimic an existing language, sticking to their spelling patterns makes sense. My beef with the four odd letters is almost exclusive to fantasy conlangs, and centered on "you had so many other options, but got stuck on existing patterns."
But mostly I'm trying to pin down the Most Useful order of kana introduction to get to phrases and sentences FAST So far: γγ γγ γγ γγ Leading to γγ γγ γγγ γγ γγ γ γγγγ Which is a sequence I'm *mostly* happy with, but still retooling. You actually get a lot of useful vocabulary early via this set.
The #Anki deck has been interesting, if frustrating One of those "jigsaw puzzle" problems where my brain gets convinced there's a More Perfect Solution and then frustrated that there's too many variables But it's coming along well so far ...relearning CSS has also been Useful Frustration πππ
Sounds like useful fun. I'm currently working on making an #Anki deck to teach Japanese from the ground up, plus a bit of Spanish (reading #TheWarOfArt in Spanish and seeing how much I can grasp) and ASL with occasional Finnish and some songs in island languages. My brain spreads thin π
Albeit, most people haven't invested a lifetime in dipping into every language that catches their eye, so maybe "it's easy for someone who can already parse all the basic Romance languages" isn't such a low barrier to entry π
Was the post above in Interlingua? I thought it was Italian, but it's been a while since I was immersed in Italian. I was able to grasp most of it without needing to go look anything up. I suppose that speaks well for the language conceptually -- don't think I could do the same with Esperanto.
Check out the answers on Quora for: A. Why the deceptive, manipulative ads do better, psychologically B. How outsourcing for cheap ads has led to this mess C. How Evony started it all -- following the logic of "sex sells even if unrelated to game" www.quora.com/Why-are-ther...
I rarely go on ex-Twitter anymore; mostly it's for feedback to companies who likely won't listen. Today it's raging against #clickbait game ads and how the GooglePlay store has become utterly useless. I can't find games worth playing and can't narrow search results to exclude the nonsense π‘
Clarity: Group One: Aces of all genders Group Two: Women, whether ace or not Statistics were of a specific country, not women as a whole, but then again the survey of aces was of aces with access to the Internet, so both groups have selection bias. Still, it feels like a decent broad metric π€·π½ββοΈ
Asexual people face sexual violence at a rate over *three times as much* as women -- that's my takeaway from this video's rundown of the statistics. And a certain bigot has the nerve to call their oppression "fake" -- while adding to it and emboldening their attackers π‘ youtu.be/F8h8I7Jzl-Q?...
Should I get around to conlanging again (if I go for a more "natural" language with some actual cruft) I'll consider which combos show up more frequently in my words, and create letters for those combos. E.g. a fancy way to write an S as a plosive modifier. pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-20...
Actually, X just feels like a missed opportunity. One summer I dabbled in hacking SNES ROMs, and I learned that old games had dictionaries to save space. Common digraphs like ST, EA, and LE were single "letters" in the text. Having shortcuts increased efficiency and reduced the text length.
For X, it's "okay, you clearly realize that one letter can represent more sounds, but... why this one in particular? and why not a small set of them?" (The answer is often "I'm restricted to the English alphabet", which... fair.) In English, I'm still annoyed at CH/J and not having a ZH anywhere π
For Q, the first quibble is "why do you feel the need to have an alternate K in the first place?" Then it's "why the U, then? why is KW (or even CW) not good enough for you?" (also "is the U silent sometimes?") Then "how often do you use this combo, that it actually developed its own orthography?"
For C, I have no idea how to pronounce it when encountering it in a conlang that isn't obviously English-based. Is it a strict K sound? C, like Russian? K/S like English? K/CH like Italian? Maybe TS? Something weirder? WHY IS IT EVEN THERE However, if it's there ONLY as CH, utility rules.
Or perhaps I should say: If a language is meant to be close to English, fine. If it's meant to be a Fantasy conlang, why the heck is it using our screwy English orthography? π Especially when so many better options exist. It just screams "I'm not experienced enough to know why this is a bad idea."
I have my own sight preferences as well, but I believe that's primarily a matter of familiarity. (I think I peeked at Interlingua once and never studied it.) My main issue is redundance (for Q) and ambiguity (for C); Q is much less annoying than C, of course, but still feels out of place.
Good call about the wiggle room / false dichotomy here. You've reminded me of how much I hate the "turn all negatives into positives" writing advice. (There's a distinction between "she wasn't uncomfortable" and "she was comfortable" or "the car wasn't expensive" and "the car was cheap".)
I do understand "X is chosen the most" differently from "most people choose X". That's interesting. "Most people choose to attend college" feels like 80%+ "Out of college, trade schools, and work experience, most people choose college" feels like it could be near 60%.
Granted. Though I do think it's perfectly reasonable to say "Hey, this aspect of natural language sucks, and we can't do anything about it being in German, but we can Do Better in a conlang, especially an auxlang." I hate seeing any conlang with a C or Q in it (exception: CH).
No, I get that. It just seems unlikely that that sort of attitude would be commonplace among those who've gotten to the point of studying Esperanto. I can definitely see a few people feeling that way, and I certainly wish natural languages could be a bit more consistent and all.
That's where I'd be teaching Register. "When a character says 'taller than I', it puts them in the register of educated, wordy, and a bit removed from social encounters, perhaps also a bit rigid." heh But yeah, that makes sense.
Interesting point. Makes me wonder if the Prescriptivist / Descriptivist angle is fundamentally different for conlangs, as opposed to natural languages. Or whether it's fundamentally different for conlangs without an authoritative source, or where the authority is a generation removed or the like.
Related Pet Peeve: Use of "a majority" when only one majority is in play. If people vote on food, "a majority wants burgers, and a majority would be okay with burritos" is fine. If people vote on a binary matter, "a majority is in favor of X" implies there's a different majority that isn't⦠huh??
Regarding "most", I think it's a case of equivocation, much like "a fraction". When we say "he only gave me a fraction of the loot," we don't mean 4/5ths, 1/2, or even 1/3 -- it's implied to be a SMALL fraction. When we say "most people would prefer X" we can be saying 51%, 80%, or 95%, depending.
I would find it weird to use "most" in that case. "More people want pizza than either Chinese or burgers," sure, but not "Most people want pizza" if 60% don't.
Had reason to listen to this song today, and having heard Susan's comment in the latest page I think she's right on board with this viewpoint (at least, key portions of the words/concepts here, especially the opening lines): www.youtube.com/watch?v=5goB...
Well yeah. There's never going to be a full overlap between any two languages unless they are nearly the same to begin with, so the idea that any conlang could encapsulate more than one language's distinctions in full is just a fundamentally flawed conception to begin with.
I do think it would be amusing if we got to the point where D becomes DH after "eh" versions of EA. Hedh, bredh, tredh, alredhy I redh a book yesterday and will read it again tomorrow. I lead a group discussion of ledh poisoning. Yeah, I could totally see that shift, and it seems unique enough.
Esperanto makes it easier to learn other languages. I think it would be weird to find people who learn Esperanto and just give up on other languages, and honestly I don't think the numbers would bear that out. You don't study Esperanto unless you're already, in some sense, a language lover.
A Prescriptivist language learner would probably get annoyed/distressed upon realizing that native speakers don't follow the rules given in the classroom. A Descriptivist understands that we're just trying to make a systematic overview of how the language is used in the wild, and expects deviation.
The introduction of "quiz" was deliberate some of the neopronouns introduction of medical jargon but until the group starts using them they're not really part of the language. Albeit, memetics is a FASCINATING study. We're in a "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" era π
But like, the ideas being expressed with "my" are... a lot, and quite vague. My business (that I own, control, benefit from) is distinct from my workplace (that others own, that controls me, that pays me) My child and my parent are distinct usages. My car and "my" living creature are distinct.
The word "own" being used in multiple senses π€ 1. Have power over, that affects other users 2. Have an internalized connection to, that affects self In my conlangs I like splitting ownership pronouns, like: a. my car b. my cat c. my child d. my parent e. my boss f. my opinion Categories vary π€·ββοΈ
Of course, that was about craft skill, like writing, rather than language specifically, but it seems to still hold. There's a peculiar pleasure to the work produced by people who haven't yet learned Rules and therefore don't know what's "not done" but also benefit to internalizing Best Practices.
I've put it this way: You start out not realizing there *are* rules (Doodle Stage) then don't *know* the rules (Amateur) then get hung up about the rules (Sophomore) then realize "rules" are "guidelines" and break them for effect (Pro) then get so good you don't even think about "rules" (Master)
...also, seeing a pile-up of Notifications terrifies me (triggers anxiety). I tend to ostrich (stick my head in the sand, often for months). I did notice that the pile-ups tend to be not as Bad as my brain thinks they'll be, once I open them, so I've been trying to just steel myself and open them.
Oh, no worries. Years ago I came to a point where I had No More Spoons for social media (was impacting my mental health), so although I definitely like Bluesky here more than ex-Twitter, I mostly drop by for little blitzes and then run off back to my life and forget that it exists until next time π
I wouldn't be quite so annoyed by Discord's lack of responsive design except for the fact that my website actually DOES respond to screen size better than Discord does. My personal website, made with my hobbyist CSS skills. Why is my website more functional than an official site made by a team??
Discord: Hey we made a new compact version! Me: Have you made it so I can minimize the damn sidebar so that I can have the actual text fill the screen? Discord: Fuck no, it's just *slightly* more compact print. Me: You guys have no grasp of utilizing screen space, do you? Discord: π€·ββοΈ @discord.com
Benefits: Same yet now unmistakable pronunciation Doesn't break significant English spelling rules (benefit without detriment) Still the same length Nearly the same visual profile (less friction in the shift) The only downside I can see is just people thinking that variant spelling is low-class.
Reminds me of how I want to see some minor yet useful shifts to English spelling like -ead to -edd when it uses the vowel of "bed" "I redd that bredd recipe last night, and I'll read it again tomorrow." "We need some blue thredd instedd." "New tredd for my tires." ledd weight heddboard etc.
Ah, I think I gotcha. Yeah, that just brings us back to Chesterton's Fence: Understand a thing before you try to change/improve it. Albeit, I don't think *full* understanding is necessary ("only masters get to play with it"). And I think the attempt at improvement is a way of learning, too.
...I'm gonna go with a. that's interesting but I have no time for another Research Rabbit Hole b. π€ would full-fledged languages have happened without multiple people discussing things? c. the language use WE are discussing is primarily for communication, or we wouldn't care about it being Weird