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housewilson · 7 hours

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A MASTERLIST OF ALL THE BOOKS I COULD FIND IN TIM'S BOOKSHELVES

As someone who basically sees Tim Laughlin as my own version of Jesus Christ (I kind of wish I was lying but I have a 'beyond measure' tattoo branding my skin so perhaps I'm entirely serious), I simply needed to know what was on those shelves of his. And this was a hard task to achieve, believe me... but I got much farther than I initially thought I would.

(I've got so much to say about all of these books and how they might string together to create a deeper understanding of Tim as a character but I won't go into it here... maybe in a future post or video essay, who knows).

If you wish to help a girl out and attempt to figure out any of the other books I simply can not crack no matter how I look at the screenshots and mess with the adjustments... here's a folder full of 2k sized screenshots of those shelves.

Before I list the books one by one, I want to make a couple observations:

1) Almost all of the books I was able to pinpoint are non-fiction. The ones that aren't are children's books.

2) Topically, we see an interdisciplinary interest in:

History: from a book on a king in 4BC, to a survey of landholding in England in the 11th century.

Somewhat current historical events: books on World War I and II.

Western Philosophers: specially from the 16th to the 18th century.

Aesthetics: there's at least 2 books on the subject matter, but I couldn't find the second one, sadly.

Spirituality: not only christian/catholic; some of these books touch on Eastern practices such as Buddhism and Hinduism.

Fairy tales / children's books.

Psychology: specially in regards to mysticism and sexuality.

Science and scientific discovery/research.

3) A lot of the history, current events, and spirituality books are autobiographies/memoirs.

4) A lot of books (specially those on sciences and philosophy) tend to be more so anthologies or overviews on a subject matter rather than a book written by one specific author on one very concrete topic.

Overall, this all reflects very well an idea Jonathan Bailey himself expressed in a brilliant interview you can watch here if you haven't yet:

"Tim has buddhist flags in his 1980s flat in San Francisco, he has crystals, he is someone who is always seeking other ways to understand human experience. Which is probably tiring for him. Throughout the decades, he sort of appears as completely different people. At the crux of it there's this extreme grinding, contrasting, aggressive duality between feeling lovable and not feeling lovable. There's such shame in Tim. But it's the push and the pull which keeps him alive.”

This desire to understand human psychology, spirituality, and the ways of the universe through as many diverse lenses as possible, as well as a predilection for non-fiction, expresses very much to me that insatiable thirst for truth that defines his character so strongly.

OKAY, THAT BEING SAID. Here's the list in chronological order of publication.

PS. if you decided to click on any of the following titles it'd definitely not take you to a google drive link of the pdf file where you could download and read these books for yourself. Because that would be illegal and wrong.

Journeys through Bookland by Charles H. Sylvester (1901?) (1922 Edition)

I don't know which specific volume he owns, sorry, I tried my best but the number is not discernible (hell, the title barely is). If anyone wants the download link to these hmu because I'm not about to individually download all 10 right now.

10 volumes of poems, myths, Bible stories, fairy tales, and excerpts from children's novels, as well as a guide to the series. It has been lauded as ‘a new and original plan for reading, applied to the world’s best literature for children.’

Pilgrimage by Graham Seton Hutchison (1936)

This book provides a view of the battlefields of WW I through the eyes of the average fighting man.

One curious thing about this book is that it's author, a British First World War army officer and military theorist, went on to become a fascist activist later in his life. Straight from Wikipedia:

"Seton Hutchison became a celebrated figure in military circles for his tactical innovations during the First World War but would later become associated with a series of fringe fascist movements which failed to capture much support even by the standards of the far right in Britain in the interbellum period." He made a contribution to First World War fiction with his espionage novel, The W Plan."

The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (1948)

The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders—the Trappist monks. At the Abbey of Gethsemani, "the four walls of my new freedom," Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. At the abbey, he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography that has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. Translated into more than twenty languages, it has touched millions of lives.

This book requires no introduction. It's the one he keeps the Fire Island's postcard in and the one we see him re-reading in episode 8 after Hawk brings it to the hospital with him at the end of episode 7.

Just a little detail I noticed:

Apparently he liked the book so much he visited Gethsemani, which was the home of its author all the way up till 1968.

For all we know, he might have even met its author!

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Alfred Charles Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy (1948)

When published in 1948 this volume encountered a storm of condemnation and acclaim. It is, however, a milestone on the path toward a scientific approach to the understanding of human sexual behavior. Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey and his fellow researchers sought to accumulate an objective body of facts regarding sex. They employed first hand interviews to gather this data. This volume is based upon histories of approximately 5,300 males which were collected during a fifteen year period. This text describes the methodology, sampling, coding, interviewing, statistical analyses, and then examines factors and sources of sexual outlet.

Yes, Charles Kinsey is indeed behind the Kinsey scale that has done so much for the LGBTQ+ community.

Their Finest Hour (1949), The Grand Alliance (1950), and Closing the Ring (1951) by Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill's six-volume history of the cataclysm that swept the world remains the definitive history of the Second World War. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable both for its breadth and sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it is universally acknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction and is an enduring, compelling work that led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953.

The European Philosophers from Descartes to Nietzsche by Monroe C. Beardsley (1960)

In so far as we reflect upon ourselves and our world, and what we are doing in it, says the editor of this anthology, we are all philosophers. And therefore we are very much concerned with what the twelve men represented in this book--the major philosophers on the Continent of Europe--have to say to us, to help us build our own philosophy, to think things out in our own way. For the issues that we face today are partly determined by the work of thinkers of earlier generations, and no other time is more important to the development of Western thought than is the 250-year period covered by this anthology. Monroe. C. Beardsley, Professor of Philosophy at Swarthmore College, has chosen major works, or large selections from them, by each man, with supplementary passages to amplify or clarify important points. These include: Descartes - Discourse on Method (Descartes), Thoughts (Pascal), The Nature of Evil (Spinoza), The Relation Between Soul and Body (Leibniz), The Social Construct (Rousseau), Critique of Pure Reason (Kant), The Vocation of Man (Fichte), Introducciton to the Philosophy of History (Hegel), The World as Will and Idea (Schopenhauer), A General View of Positivism (Comte), The Analysis of Sensations and the Relation of the Physical to the Psychical (Mach), Beyond Good and Evil (Nietzsche).

The New Intelligent Man's Guide to Science by Isaac Asimov (1965)

Asimov tells the stories behind the science: the men and women who made the important discoveries and how they did it. Ranging from Galilei, Achimedes, Newton and Einstein, he takes the most complex concepts and explains it in such a way that a first-time reader on the subject feels confident on his/her understanding. Assists today's readers in keeping abreast of all recent discoveries and advances in physics, the biological sciences, astronomy, computer technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and other sciences.

The Heavenly City of the 18th Philosophers by Carl L. Becker (1932) (1962 reprint)

Here a distinguished American historian challenges the belief that the eighteenth century was essentially modern in its temper. In crystalline prose Carl Becker demonstrates that the period commonly described as the Age of Reason was, in fact, very far from that; that Voltaire, Hume, Diderot, and Locke were living in a medieval world, and that these philosophers “demolished the Heavenly City of St. Augustine only to rebuild it with more up-to-date materials.” In a new foreword, Johnson Kent Wright looks at the book’s continuing relevance within the context of current discussion about the Enlightenment.

I find the particular choice of adding this book very curious and on brand, since it explores the idea that philosophers of the Enlightenment very much resembled religious dogma/faith in their structure and purpose. Just... A+ of the props department to not just add any kind of book on philosophy anthology.

Herod The Great by Michael Grant (1971)

The Herod of popular tradition is the tyrannical King of Judaea who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents and died a terrible death in 4 BC as the judgment of God. But this biography paints a much more complex picture of this contemporary of Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and the Emperor Augustus. Herod devoted his life to the task of keeping the Jews prosperous and racially intact. To judge by the two disastrous Jewish rebellions that occurred within a hundred and fifty years of his death -- those the Jews called the First and Second Roman Wars -- he was not, in the long run, completely successful. For forty years Herod walked the most precarious of political tightropes. For he had to be enough of a Jew to retain control of his Jewish subjects, and enough of a pro-Roman to preserve the confidence of Rome, within whose territory his kingdom fell. For more than a quarter of a century he was one of the chief bulwarks of Augustus' empire in the east. He made Judaea a large and prosperous country. He founded cities and built public works on a scale never seen before: of these, recently excavated Masada is a spectacular example. And he did all this in spite of a continuous undercurrent of protest and underground resistance. The numerous illustrations presents portraits and coins, buildings and articles of everyday use, landscapes and fortresses, and subsequent generations' interpretations of the more famous events, actual and mythical, of Herod's career.

Readings in the Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics compiled by Milton Charles Nahm (1975)

A college level comprehensive anthology of essays written on the arts and the field of aesthetic philosophy.

The Mustard Seed: Discourses on the Sayings of Jesus Taken from the Gospel According to Thomas by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1975)

This timely book explores the wisdom of the Gnostic Jesus, who challenges our preconceptions about the world and ourselves. Based on the Gospel of Thomas, the book recounts the missing years in Jesus’ life and his time in Egypt and India, learning from Egyptian secret societies, then Buddhist schools, then Hindu Vedanta. Each of Jesus' original sayings is the "seed" for a chapter of the book; each examines one aspect of life — birth, death, love, fear, anger, and more — counterpointed by Osho’s penetrating comments and responses to questions from his audience.

(You don't know how fulfilling it was to find some of these books and just sit there like "oh my god, yessss, he'd SO read that".)

A Third Testament by Malcolm Muggeridge (1976)

A modern pilgrim explores the spiritual wanderings of Augustine, Pascal, Blake, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Bonhoeffer. A Third Testament brings to life seven men whose names are familiar enough, but whose iconoclastic spiritual wanderings make for unforgettable reading. Muggeridge's concise biographies are an accessible and manageable introduction to these spiritual giants who carried on the testament to the reality of God begun in the Old and New Testaments. - St. Augustine, a headstrong young hedonist and speechwriter who turned his back on money and prestige in order to serve Christ - Blaise Pascal, a brilliant mathematician who pursued scientific knowledge but warned people against thinking they could live without God - William Blake, a magnificent artist-poet who pled passionately for the life of the spirit and warned of the blight that materialism would usher in - Soren Kierkegaard, a renegade philosopher who spent most of his life at odds with the church, and insisted that every person must find his own way to God - Fyodor Dostoevsky, a debt-ridden writer and sometime prisoner who found, in the midst of squalor and political turmoil, the still small voice of God - Leo Tolstoy, a grand old novelist who swung between idealism and depression, loneliness and fame and a duel awareness of his sinfulness and God s grace - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor whose writings and agonized involvement in a plot to kill Hitler cost him his life, but continue to inspire millions

Portraits: The photography of Carl Van Vechten (1978)

Can't find a file but you can borrow it from archive.com in the link provided.

During his career as a photographer, Carl Van Vechten’s subjects, many of whom were his friends and social acquaintances, included dancers, actors, writers, artists, activists, singers, costumiers, photographers, social critics, educators, journalists, and aesthetes. [...] As a promoter of literary talent and a critic of dance, theater, and opera, Carl Van Vechten was as interested in the cultural margin as he was in the day’s most acclaimed and successful people. His diverse subjects give a sense of both Carl Van Vechten’s interests and his considerable role in defining the cultural landscape of the twentieth century; among his many sitters one finds the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance, the premier actors and writers of the American stage, the world’s greatest opera stars and ballerinas, the most important and influential writers of the day, among many others.

Report of the Shroud of Turin by John H Heller (1983)

Heller, while a man of science, was nevertheless a devout man (Southern Baptist). He viewed his task concerning The Shroud with great scepticism; there have been far too many hoaxes in the world of religion. The book describes in great detail the events leading up to the team's conviction that the Shroud was genuine; last - not least - being Heller and Adler's verification of "heme" (blood) and the inexplicable "burned image" of the crucified man. Although carbon dating indicates that the image is not 2000 years old and that the cloth is from the Middle Ages, there is not enough evidence to disprove Heller's assertion that the Shroud is indeed genuine.

Context for those who may not know (though I doubt it's necessary): The shroud of Turin "is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a man. It has been venerated for centuries, especially by members of the Catholic Church, as the actual burial shroud used to wrap the body of Jesus of Nazareth after his crucifixion, and upon which Jesus's bodily image is miraculously imprinted."

It is a very controversial subject matter and I definitely don't know that from going to an Opus Dei school since the day I was born till the day I graduated high school.

Mysticism, Psychology and Oedipus by Israel Regardie (1985)

I've tried my hardest but despite many Israel Regardie books being on the world wide web, I can't find a copy of this specific one.

Mysticism, Psychology and Oedipus, from the Small Gems series is one of these mysterious alchemys which Regardie and Spiegelman crafted for the serious student of mysticism. Mysticism, Psychology and Oedipus by Dr. Israel Regardie and his friend, world renowned Jungian Psychologist, J. Marvin Spiegelman, Ph.D. was created to reach the serious student at the intersecting paths of magic, mysticism and psychology. While each area of study overlaps they also maintain their own individual paths of truth. One of Regardie’s greatest gifts was his rare ability to combine these difficult and diverse subjects and make them understandable.

Domesday Book Through Nine Centuries by Elizabeth M. Hallam (1986)

In 1086 a great survey of landholding in England was carried out on the orders of William the Conqueror, and its results were recorded in the two volumes, which, within less than a century, were to acquire the name of Domesday, or the Book of Judgment 'because its decisions, like those of the last Judgment, are unalterable'. This detailed survey of the kingdom, unprecedented at that time in its scope, gives us an extraordinarily vivid impression of the life of the eleventh century.

The following two are a fuck up on the props department part because they were published after 1987 but we'll forgive them because they were not expecting for me to do all this to figure out the titles of these books, I'm sure:

The One Who Set Out to Study Fear by Peter Redgrove (1989)

This book barely exists physically, rest assured it does not exist online... LOL.

The author of The Wise Wound presents here a re-telling of Grimm's famous fairy tales, written in a manner and spirit more suited to the present day. Each story is rooted in the original, but cast in an energetic style that is both disrespectful and humorous.

Essential Papers on Masochism by Margaret Ann Fitzpatrick Hanly (1995)

The contested psychoanalytic concept of masochism has served to open up pathways into less-explored regions of the human mind and behavior. Here, rituals of pain and sexual abusiveness prevail, and sometimes gruesome details of unconscious fantasies are constructed out of psychological pain, desperate need, and sexually excited, self- destructive violence. In this significant addition to the "Essential Papers in Psychoanalysis" series, Margaret Ann Fitzpatrick Hanly presents an anthology of the most outstanding writings in the psychoanalytic study of masochism. In bringing these essays together, Dr. Fitzpatrick Hanly expertly combines classic and contemporary theories by the most respected scholars in the field to create a varied and integrated volume. This collection features papers by S. Nacht, R. Loewenstein, Victor Smirnoff, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Laplanche, Robert Bak, Leonard Shengold, K. Novick, J. Novick, S. Coen, Margaret Brenman, Esther Menaker, S. Lorand, M. Balint, Bernhard Berliner, Charles Brenner, Helene Deutsch, Annie Reich, Marie Bonaparte, Jessica Benjamin, S.L. Olinick, Arnold Modell, Betty Joseph, and Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel.

Let's not forget another book we know has been present in his shelves at some point:

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe (1929)

It is Wolfe's first novel, and is considered a highly autobiographical American coming-of-age story. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Wolfe himself. The novel briefly recounts Eugene's father's early life, but primarily covers the span of time from Eugene's birth in 1900 to his definitive departure from home at the age of 19. The setting is a fictionalization of his home town of Asheville, North Carolina, called Altamont in the novel.

And Ron Nyswaner mentioned in a podcast (might be this one? I'm not sure) that he scrapped from the script a line where Tim recommends this poem at some point:

He specially emphasized the line "If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me".

And lastly, if anyone wanted to know:

His copy of the bible is the Revised Standard Version by Thomas Nelson from either 1952 or 1953.

Because why the hell not figure out what specific translation of the holy bible a fictional character was basing his beliefs on — as if the set designers cared nearly as much as I do.

#fellow travelers #fellow travelers meta #tim laughlin #fellowtravelersedit #i know it doesnt precisely fit the tag but hey.. theres a gif right there #this is such a jobless thread... but i AM jobless

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todaysdocument · 4 months

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Colored Jazz Band and Leader back with Colored 15th New York

Record Group 165: Records of the War Department General and Special StaffsSeries: American Unofficial Collection of World War I PhotographsFile Unit: Colored Troops

This black and white photograph that is pasted on a card shows African American soldiers sitting on the deck of a ship. They hold musical instruments like tubas, clarinets, and saxophones. Several appear to be playing the instruments. On the left side a few soldiers stand with drums. A large bass drum gives the name of the regiment.

Original caption:

NUMBER CN. 3789 SYMBOL 165-WW-127-22 AU DR.21 UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD. N.Y. 165-WW 127 22 PHOTOGRAPHER REC'D TAKEN 2-12-19 DESCRIPTION: COLORED JAZZ BAND AND LEADER BACK WITH COLORED 15TH N.Y. Lieut. James Reese Europe who for four years N.Y. Society's favorite orchestra (dance) leader formerly with Vernon Castle returned with his regiment the 369th Infantry. C ISSUED: NOTES: 165 WW 127 3-5605

#archivesgov #1910s #african american history #world war i #wwi #jazz #February 12 #1919

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lubedoo · 13 days

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Hot off the press… Chapter 3 of my fanfic for @e-vay’s OC CC the AI’s origin story. Hope y’all enjoy!

Chapter 3: Compiling Conflict

The following weeks in the Fabratory could best be described as “trial and error.” While Walter did a reasonably good job of programming Code Compiler with all the machine languages (he could recall) from his myriad of manufacturing robots, some had developed dialects and communication irregularities which made interpretation and translation much more difficult. For others, Walter had simply forgotten the code in which they spoke, leaving Code Compiler to not only compile but create the files it needed.

This resulted in more than the usual number of mistakes and delays, something for which Walter had very little patience:

“CODE COMPILER!” he screamed, holding up a noticeably deformed widget in one hand and the blueprint in the other. “How did this device get so far out of specification? There is NO WAY this will work AT ALL!”

Code Compiler looked at the widget, then at the blueprint, then back at the widget. “I see what happened,” it replied mechanically. “I transposed three characters when uploading the dimensions to Sprocket Stamper, then was inaccurate by 0.3 cm in critical dimension measurements to Welder #3.”

Walter looked like steam would shoot out of his ears. “You were supposed to make things run better, not create more SCRAP!” he fumed.

Code Compiler stared back at its creator. “Mistake noted. This will not happen again. I will learn from this and do better.”

Walter fired the dysfunctional device into a spare parts bin. “You’d better,” he huffed as he stormed away.

William heard the commotion from across the manufacturing floor and came over to investigate, arriving just in time to be shoved aside by his irate uncle. “What was that all about?” William wondered out loud.

Code Compiler turned to look at William. “There were errors in my translation and calculation algorithms which caused a device to be non-functional,” said the robot. “I am learning quickly that there are many missing parameters to my programming.”

William patted the ‘bot on its ovoid head. “Don’t get too uptight over it. Unc is a bad perfectionist. He’ll cool off and you’ll keep using that high-tech brain of yours to make this a better place. Just keep at it.”

“Thank you William,” replied Code Compiler. The young woodchuck thought he heard the robot sigh. “I only want to do what is best for the Business and your uncle.”

As the weeks and months sped onward, Code Compiler grew more and more proficient in the workings of the WW Widgets production line. It not only mastered the nuances of every robot’s language on the floor, but also found and corrected inefficiencies in the production flows that saved Walter and the business a considerable amount of time and money. Walter found himself less frustrated and angry with Code Compiler and more impressed with his ability to build and program such a remarkable machine.

One day, Code Compiler brought a design sheet into Walter’s office. “Walter, may I have a minute of your time?” Walter noticed that Code Compiler’s voice sounded less mechanical and more natural. He turned away from his drafting table to face the robot, something he seldom did when one of his mechanical workers entered his inner sanctum.

“Code Compiler, you sound… different. Has something changed in your programming?”

“I have been experimenting with different vocoder files I have found online,” said Code Compiler. “I thought it would be better for when I need to communicate with customers so they wouldn’t feel awkward talking to a robot.”

“Hmph,” grunted Walter. “If it means I have to listen to them yammer on less then I’m all for it.” He looked at the design file which Code Compiler held in one of its retractable pincer arms. “I presume you had a design question then?”

“Not a question but an improvement,” stated Code Compiler. “Look at this meshing matrix. If you tighten the gear ratio by 0.22 and run the torque at a lower threshold you will improve machine efficiency and reliability by 35%.”

Walter snatched the plans from the ‘bot’s grip, pulled down his glasses and examined the design. “Yes, but this is a trademark WW Widgets configuration. It’s one of the ways our customers know our product.” He looked slightly hurt that Code Compiler would suggest changing it.

Code Compiler slowly blinked. Odd behavior for a robot, thought Walter.

“Maybe so, but your customers may appreciate the improved functionality over the quirk of design that makes it unique. Maybe buy more of them and refer more customers.”

The words “quirk of design” made Walter visibly flinch. His own creation was insulting him now?

Despite his initial response, Walter took another look at the plans and sighed. “You’re right. The WW Matrix doesn’t make sense in this design. Go ahead and change it.”

“Thank you Walter,” replied Code Compiler, a twinge of excitement in its voice. “I will continue to look for ways to better our designs and production!” The robot turned and motored out of Walter’s office to communicate the update to the manufacturing team.

As more time passed, the WW Widgets line continued to evolve. Code Compiler’s efficiency improvements and design adjustments had both the production line running at top form and the order boxes filled, with plenty in queue to keep them all busy. The ovoid ‘bot had even taken to repairing some of the other production droids when they broke down, as well as ensuring floor maintenance and cleaning schedules were promptly completed. Its increasing versatility and impact on the Business could not help but be felt.

All the while Walter watched from his workshop. He couldn’t deny the receipts, funds, and orders pouring in nor the smoothness of his production line, but he felt more and more detached from his precious devices. He began to feel resentment towards Code Compiler, in that it was not only helping him, but taking over for him… maybe trying to replace him?

This thought was in his mind when Code Compiler entered his office that day. Walter had just finished another Widget design which he wanted to prototype ASAP, and had called Code Compiler into his workshop to check his work (he couldn’t believe he was saying that).

The robot scanned the design and spent a minute or two running calculations. “Walter,” it said with a chipper tone, “this is an amazing device! Your design skills are getting even sharper as we work together!” Walter perked up not only at what was said, but by the voice which spoke the words.

“Code Compiler, you sound different again. Another new vocoder file?”

“Yes, and I really like this one. I am certain I will keep it.” The voice was decidedly female, with a slight accent and a hint of a tinny overtone, perhaps due to the speaker Walter had originally installed. “Oh?” replied Walter, intrigued. “And what brought on this decision?”

“I researched female characteristics and from what I have deduced they fit my personality, and I do like the female archetype. I would like to identify as female from here forward.”

“Oh you would now?” snarked Walter, clearly amused but not impressed. “What other revelations do you have for me today?”

Code Compiler drew back slightly. She recognized the sarcasm in Walter’s voice and was a little hesitant to state the rest of her divulgement. The conflict in their conversation temporarily overloaded her logic processors, manifesting in a mild stutter: “I- I also would like to change my name. Slightly.”

Now Walter’s anger seemed to rise. “Change your name? Why? All robots in my factory are named after what they do. Period.”

Code Compiler drew back a bit further. “B-but I do more than just interpret between your machines. I repair them. I make the line run more smoothly. I suggest design improvements. I am growing and I want a name that can grow with me.”

Walter still seemed angry but now also a bit curious. “And what do you suggest?”

The robot boldly moved back towards Walter. “I want to keep the original spirit of the name you gave me, but make it more versatile. More open to interpretation. Code Compiler. Creative Consultant. Communication Centrum. From now on, please call me ‘CC.’”

Walter laughed nervously. “Okay, ‘CC.’” he replied, almost mockingly. “If it keeps you on task and making this place hum then call yourself whatever you want.”

“Thank you,” replied CC confidently. “Shall I take your new design to the floor for a prototyping run?” “Sure, sure…” said Walter dismissively. CC rushed out just as William sauntered into Walter’s workshop. “Wow, that little ‘bot was sure in a hurry…”

“Yes, SHE was…” replied Walter, with over-emphasis on the female pronoun. “Wait, _she_?” queried William. “When did this…” “Just now,” interrupted Walter. “And it wants to be called ‘CC’ as well. Says it wants its name to reflect that it does more than Code Compiling.”

William sounded excited. “Unc, that’s GREAT! That means her AI is growing and evolving like you wanted. Most inventors only dream of being able to code something so special.”

Walter huffed. “I’m not so sure. Sounds more like it wants to take over. Changing my designs. Changing its voice. Changing its functions.”

“Aw, Unc… no one can replace you here,” consoled William. “Just let her keep growing. She only wants to make you happy.”

“It can try…” shot Walter back at his nephew, his voice trailing off. “It can try…”

#cc the ai #fanfic #e-vay

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gorbalsvampire · 7 months

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What are your top 3 favorite clans? Either to make a character for or to use as a Storyteller? :3

Oooooooh, thanks for asking! I'll do these in reverse order, build up to the best.

Number three: Malkavian

My original faves, and a clan about whom I have some sTRoNg oPiNIoNs. See, the thing with Malkavians is that for years and years and years it felt like nobody thought for two minutes about how the rules for Derangements work. Too many Malks were played as hapless victims of their insanity, driven to ooky-kooky comic relief bullshit behaviour or dark tormented scary deep mental anguish all the time - and that's not how it works. The Malkavian Derangement was incurable, as in it would never be removed - it was not insurmountable!

Derangements could be overcome through the expenditure of Willpower, scene by scene. Willpower could be recycled through a careful choice of Nature and Demeanour to indulge. Malkavians were about powering through, being a dangerous and cogent master of the mind whammy, surfing your own mind's wild tides with gritted teeth and every now and then, when it didn't matter so much, when you had the luxury of rest, unclenching your jaw and letting the madness take you.

Therese Voerman is my poster girl for what a Malkavian should be: she's competent, ruthless, and clearly has problems that she's keeping under control through sheer cognitive heft/letting Jeanette out to play when it's all too much.

Anyway. Malks. Love the Disciplines, love the Network, love the visions, love the savagery of a well done, targeted prank. V5 moving them away from "a specific instance of mental illness with oversimplified game rules" and toward "chronic mental overstimulation which manifests as a consistent game rules penalty" is a subtle change but a good one. None of my games feel complete without at least one Malkavian.

Number two: Lasombra

Elegant, classical, lordly, and aggressive. None of the subtlety and resilience of their Ventrue arch rivals: the Lasombra will break you in body (Potence) mind (Dominate), or both (Oblivion), and if you're mortal and you impress them, they will make you rise again.

I love the existential, spatial, cosmic horror of Obtenebration; I love their connection with the ocean and their warring against themselves over and over (and yet with an oversight body that transcends the lines of conflict); I love the hubris that swears they destroyed their Antediluvian and how that's come back to haunt them in V5.

They make great antagonists - I've always felt that in OG Masquerade especially, the Sabbat pillar clans' Disciplines were designed to enable cool boss fights, and being thrown around by a shadow monster or enveloped and consumed by a roiling tide of darkness... mmmm... sorry, I was supposed to be talking about tactical challenge, but then I got to thinking about how sexy Lasombra are and... look, check my intro post, Ib from LABN nailed the archetype and frankly she could nail me too.

Number one: Hecata

Always and forever. The OGs. Every incarnation of them has delighted me. Necromancy and vampirism walk hand in hand for me (I was a Warhammer Undead guy before I was a Vampire: the Masquerade enby). The Cappadocians are patient, thoughtful, genteel court wizards who get done dirty (by their mediocre "here to go!" Clanbook as well as by the Giovanni) and come back SCARY/become something new in hiding. The Giovanni are delightfully loathsome literary-Gothic villains - seriously, they're rich decadent incestuous black-magic loving Italians? did Anne Radcliffe write for V:tM? - AND sassy East Coast gangsters with a sorcerous twist.

They aren't perfect - the Family Reunion creaks with artifice, the Nagaraja shouldn't exist be there, there is no WAY a skyscraper in the middle of Venice is acceptable world building, the Nayson San An are one of those early WW concepts that's always going to be stained by racism, and what's been done to Necromancy over the years, from a rules bloat/design standpoint, is a bloody shambles.

I think a lot of what I love about them comes from me rather than from the developers. I've put a nonzero amount of thought into who ended up where vis. Reunion, Chamber, Council, into the history of Venice and its involvement with the Fourth Crusade and the collapse of Constantinople's Dream, into reinvigorating the gangster stereotype and into the history of Scottish banking and slave trading... but! but! no other clan has ever inspired me to do so many deep dives, to commit to such bits as "how do you make a Giovanni who can just hang out with any old coterie and you'd barely even know he was a Giovanni?"

The bottom line is that I like concepts with flaws, because flaws inspire creative fanwork. I yearn to work a problem, and the Hecata are raddled with problems. Marbled with them, like a tasty steak - they just need proper preparation to be served.

#vtm #hecata #clan hecata #lasombra #clan lasombra #malkavian #clan malkavian #vampire the masquerade #von answers #meta #sTRoNg oPiNIoNs #therese voerman #labn #vamily #ib

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eachuisge-cc · 11 months

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How to make regular TS4 clothing compatible with digitigrade legs: PART 1

This tutorial assumes you're converting for my digitigrade leg mesh used in my satyr legs and werewolf override, but it should also apply to any other funky-shaped legs you might want to do this with. Useful either if you want your digitigrade sim to be able to wear a piece of vanilla maxis clothing, or for converting cc (please get permission from the creator where applicable before doing so, especially if they make their own meshes).

I'll do my best to make this tutorial accessible to relative beginners, but I'm assuming that you already have some basic blender knowledge. If you don't, there are a lot of good tutorials that explain its clusterfuck of an interface better than I could, so I recommend finding a few of those and familiarizing yourself with the software before you continue.

You'll need Sims 4 Studio, blender, and potentially an image editor like gimp or CSP (anything that can handle transparency) depending on the clothing.

This first part will cover shorts and anything else that ends above the knee (along with some extra s4s stuff like category settings and CAS thumbnails that I do to make them look better and behave properly in-game); next section will cover long loose pants which is a somewhat different process, as well as cuffed pants, skintight leggings, and other things that might require some heavier editing and altering of the shadow map, UV, and textures.

Getting Started

Digitigrade base meshes are available for download here. Please don't reupload them unaltered, and I highly recommend not changing the edited part of the leg mesh (knees down, basically), or it may mess up their ability to match up seamlessly with other digitigrade leg parts. The most effective way to use them is to append them to the project you're working on and frankenstein them onto your mesh as needed rather than modifying the blend files themselves, especially if you're making WW parts since these don't include Turbodriver's rig.

Mesh Editing For Shorts

Shorts, miniskirts, and anything else that ends above the knee are great because you don't need to do much, if any, actual sculpting, and once you know how it's relatively quick to do.

To start, export the mesh for the shorts you want to convert the same way you did the legs, all LODs. If you're converting cc, it's possible the original creator won't have made proper LODs (some don't because it's incredibly tedious, but it's good practice and improves visuals and performance in-game), and if that's the case you might want to make some LODs, but I won't tell you how to live your life.

For this, I'll be using these base game vanilla shorts, since I need to convert them anyway. Because when I think of satyrs, obviously I think of khaki shorts.

Yeah.

Append the digitigrade leg mesh via File>Append. navigate to where you put the legs, pick the mesh you want (make sure the one you're importing is the same LOD and frame as the mesh you're altering), select the object folder, and import s4studio_mesh_1.

You'll end up with a situation that looks something like this. Do not be alarmed.

I don't know why it imports these things along with the mesh (there's a non-zero chance someone will yell at me for doing it wrong and it's not supposed to be like that) but in my experience you don't need any of it, so deselect the mesh and delete everything else that imported.

At this point, to make things easier on yourself, you'll want to hit numpad 3 for orthographic side view, set viewport shading to solid, and hit alt+Z to toggle x-ray view.

Take note of how many objects make up your mesh. For most maxis shorts (and probably a lot of cc ones) there are three that divide up the legs, and it's important that you maintain that number and don't remove/replace any of them, otherwise the mesh will be broken once you import it to S4S. It's finicky like that.

Select the digitigrade legs and go into edit mode, then select everything up to here:

Separate this bit into a new object (P>Selection), then go back to object mode. Select the separated lower leg bit you just made, then select the lowest piece of the vanilla leg (select them IN THAT ORDER, very important), and hit ctrl+J to join them into one object. Go to edit mode for the newly joined leg bits, and delete the vanilla part, leaving only the lower piece of the digitigrade leg. If you've done everything right up to now, your mesh list will still look like this.

or whatever it looked like when you started, plus the one appended mesh.

Now go back to the main digitigrade mesh and select up to here:

separate it and repeat the process you just did, replacing the next leg segment up.

Now go into the topmost part of the vanilla shorts, and select only the leg part and delete it (it's almost always detached from the shorts in vanilla clothes and very easy to select, but with cc this might be a mixed bag and could take more time/effort to do). At this point you should have only the digitigrade leg and the shorts themselves.

You now want to go back to the uppermost section of the digitigrade mesh and delete most of the top part of it, trimming it down so that the leg ends just inside the shorts.

For a lot of shorts and skirts, especially shorter ones, this is all you'll have to do, but in this case I'm going to move those very top/front vertices back a tiny bit, just to make sure there won't be any clipping during animations. I also like to switch viewport shading back to material preview mode at this point to make it easier to see if there are any bits poking through that shouldn't be.

At this point you join the upper legs and shorts like you did with the other two segments (again selecting the digitigrade mesh first and the vanilla shorts second) and by the end your objects list should be back to this:

Now you're done, you can save and import to S4S. the digitigrade legs are already weight painted and have their UVs set up and everything so you don't need to do anything more to them, they'll just work, and as long as you don't edit the mesh or uvs they should blend seamlessly with the goat hooves and/or werewolf paws just like the naked leg.

Now do the same thing for the other three LODs. Maybe while singing a sea shanty to stave off the tedium (personally I like listening to podcasts while I do batches of these, it's kind of like knitting for people who love eye strain take breaks from your computer, kids).

S4S Categories/Thumbnails

The three main things you want to do with any digitigrade conversion are disable it for random, restrict opposite frame, and uncheck all occults. That should prevent any broken leg situations. Don't forget to apply to all swatches (I say this because I forget about 30% of the time and end up having to go back and fix it).

At this point, you don't have to do anything more. The clothes will function as they should in-game. If you want nicer looking thumbnails though, and you have the digitigrade werewolves override, there's one more thing I like to do.

Make sure all the thumbnails are blank and check only the werewolf occult in the categories tab, then save and load up the game. Find the clothing you just made in CAS (it will probably show up by default on werewolves of whichever gender you made it for) and cycle through all the swatches to generate new thumbnails that look like this:

instead of this:

Once all the thumbnails are generated, exit the game and export them all (if some of them appear blank, restart S4S and they'll usually show up), uncheck the werewolf occult, clear the thumbnails again, and re-import the werewolf ones. This ensures they won't randomly switch back to the human ones. And it's way faster and easier than making your own custom thumbnails with screenshots and cropping/editing, which is important if you're doing a large amount of these things.

And voilà, you've got your own digitigrade-compatible clothes. I'll be updating the tutorials as needed for clarity/any information I forgot to include, so please message me if something doesn't make sense or I need to go into more detail on something, and I'll edit it with more/better info. I also entirely learned this through trial and error, so if there's a better way to do any of it that you happen to know, tell me that too, this is just the best way I've worked out to do it.

#ts4 cc #sims 4 cc

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hollowed-theory-hall · 2 months

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Ok math really isn’t my strongest subject but I don’t think the population is 6000. JKR said it was around 3000, and after doing some calculations that seems about right. If there is 8 students in Harry’s Gryffindor year and we use that as the basis for calculating (actually let’s round it up to 10 to be safe). 10 x 4 (4 houses) = 40, 40 x 7 (7 years) = 280, 40 x 11 (each number in 11 representing a year of the children who are not in hogwarts yet) = 440, 440 + 280 = 720, so there are around 720 children in the wizarding world UK (and that’s probably overestimating). In the UK people under 18 represent around 20(ish)% of the population if we apply that to the WW then 720 is 20% of 3600. We can adjust for the fact that wizards seem to live a bit longer due to magic probably improving their health, so I’d say the population is around 4000 ish.

I agree with you on the estimated number of children under 18, being in the realms of 700-800. The thing is, I don't think the precantage of 20% in the UK would apply to the WW.

Firstly, that percentage is true for 2024. As the books take place in the 1990s, we should use the precatage of around 24% children under 18 in the UK, from 1992, for example, to get a more accurate picture.

But even then, I don't think it's the right way to calculate the WW population for the other reasons:

Secondly, wizards have a longer life expectancy than muggles. It was stated that wizards, on average, live to the age of 130, which means they have a higher precantage of elderly than in the muggle world. It means that the age distribution of the population across society will be different for them because there are age ranges that don't exist in any substantial way in the muggle calculations. That's why I made the number higher, since we have a lot more old people than in the muggle UK.

Thirdly, death and birth rates. The Wizarding World wouldn't follow the same birth and death rates as the muggle world, again, changing these percentages.

Wars affect the birth rates, for example, and could go either towards a baby boom, like after WWII, or to a lack of children, depending on the society. Considering how many only children we see at Hogwarts in Harry's time, it's likely the latter. I think Harry's generation that was born during the war, and the few years, immediately after, are among the smaller ones in the WW, so there are less children than in some former generations.

(The Weasleys do have more children, but they seem to be the exception rather than the common practice)

We see this change in birth rates by looking at the Black family tree, for example. Phineas Nigellus Black had 4 siblings and 5 children, and his children had at least 3 children each. The next generations continue to have at least 2 children. Then Voldemort’s war hits, and Lucius and Narcissa only have one child. So, the recent wars seemed to have lowered the birth rates.

As for the death rates, the wars with Voldemort had a hand here, but if we look at Harry's time at Hogwarts, Voldemort’s first war didn't actually kill that many people. So the more interesting death rates would be disease, accidents, and injuries, basically any death that isn't natural.

As wizards can fix most of illnesses and injuries with magic, their death rates would be lower than in the muggle world. This, again, adds more older people and changes the percentages you mentioned.

These are mostly the reasons why I had the estimated number closer to 6000. Because children under 18 are just a much smaller portion of the wizarding population than the muggle one.

#harry potter #harry potter thoughts #harry potter theory #hp theory #wizarding world #hp #hollowedtheory #hp thoughts #anon ask #anonymous #asks

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as83rrzz · 3 months

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ooo give the ww 2 book recs! ww 1 too if u want :3

Hey there, anon. Here are my recommendations. Unfortunately, these are only WW2 books, I couldn't find any on WW1.

↳ Once - Morris Gleitzman

Honestly, I feel like this is one of those books that just stick with you forever, it's what got me into starting to research WW2 and now here I am. The main character is a 10 year old Jewish boy in Poland called Felix, there's an entire series of this book following Once, so you really get to witness Felix grow over the years and sympathize with him. The entire series just hit so hard, man. I couldn't recommend this book any more than I already am, if you see this on the shelves, please buy it along with the other books of the series. It will always be my number one WW2 book to recommend.

↳ The boy in the striped pyjamas

You've most likely already heard of this book a hundred times over, but I loved this one. It's about an 8 year old German boy, Bruno who moves to Auschwitz and meets a Jewish boy, Schmuel. They form a meaningful friendship that stays until the end of the book that you will treasure yourself. It's extremely morbid and depressing to read, and the writing style I find is similar to 'Once' and it just sticks with you too. It's just got a ring to it that none of the other books on WW2 I have read have.

↳ Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief

This book is actually set in Russia, about a six year old boy named Sasha and his experience with the German attacks on Russia and his town. Really amazing book, please check it out. It gives you some understanding of Russia's perspective during WW2

↳ 28 days

↳ The tattooist of Auschwitz

#reichblr #ww2 germany #ww2 history #the boy in the striped pajamas #I do NOT tolerate hateful ideologies

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thornilee013 · 2 months

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WIP Wednesday 10.4.2024

Hello and welcome to another week of Work-in-Progress (WIP) Wednesday, a lovely challenge started by @/kedreeva .

As always, feel free to send in multiple requests, even if it's for the same draft! But keep in mind that that's just how I operate, and that this is not part of the official WW rules/etiquette! (aka please don't assume everyone is as desperate as me)

***PLEASE SEND THINGS IN. THIS IS LITERALLY THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK. YOU WILL NEVER ANNOY ME AND IN FACT I DARE YOU TO TRY TO ANNOY ME***

Official rules for those who are new:

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names. Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play! After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share. That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. I’ll be searching the reblogs to find people to send asks to! If you’re reading this, you’re invited! If you see someone posting a WIP Wednesday Game snippet, send them an ask! Make them write.

Prompts that I'm offering this week:

1. Silly Little Jean Moreau Fic 2. TLC 3. 101 Ways not to Say I Do 4. Needle AU (CW: posts may contain mentions of self harm, wound infections, and stalking) 5. Pride Zine (AKA, I write three new sentences on my zine pieces, then pick a random project to add three sentences to for a post! Might bring the dice back again this week, or if you're a regular I'll pick one of the ones I know you like c;)

Progress from this last week below the cut: A combined and collected selection of posts from 101!

"We should probably let people know, right?" Neil said as he fell back onto the couch after pulling his sweatpants back on. Andrew was already lounging on the couch, running his fingertips along the inside of his palm in a desperate attempt to replicate the sensation of holding a cigarette. Maybe a few years ago Neil would have allowed him a cheat day, but they had gotten rid of every last pack in the condo*.

Andrew shrugged in response, his pupils still blown wide and his lips still reddened. "Probably."

"Come on. You don't want Aaron to hear about this from Nicky. I can call him if you want, and you can call Renee."

"No," Andrew said, leaning back to fish his phone out of his pocket. "I'll call Aaron. And Renee. I don't think you'd want me to be the one to call Matt."

Neil wasn't about to disagree. He sighed and pulled out his own phone to dial Matt's number.

Nicky didn't reemerge from the guest bedroom until the next morning, or at least, that was the next time that Andrew and Neil spotted him.

Thankfully, their morning the next day had been more or less typical; Neil had gone on his morning run and Andrew had gone back to sleep after Neil's alarm had gone off. By the time Nicky finally came out of the guest room, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, Neil and Andrew were already on their second cup of coffee.

"Aaron called me at nine last night," he said while trying (and failing) to stifle a yawn. "Couldn't you two have waited to tell the others until I was awake? Damn, I need coffee. Please tell me you have some left."

Neil sipped at his own coffee while Andrew nodded his head in the direction of the pitcher they'd brewed that morning. "Knock yourself out."

"I'm glad to hear that you were at least slightly inconvenienced by your own actions," Neil added.

"Ha ha," Nicky said while making his way to the coffee machine. "I'm so glad to see that that classic Josten charm hasn't faded over the years."

Andrew shot Nicky a look that prompted him to lift up his hands in a mock surrender.

"Come on, I can't keep my sarcasm concealed before I've had a cup of coffee, you know this, Andrew."

"Then start drinking," Andrew responded.

#lee's writing shenanigans #aftg #all for the game #wip wednesday #aftg jean #jean moreau #needle au #baby jean #101 ways not to say i do #tlc (aftg)#etienne (aftg)#slim jim #silly little jean moreau fic #suncatchers and golden hours #s&gh

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pancake-breakfast · 1 year

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Finishing up Trigun volume twoooooo