#kind of a redo of an old piece but not quite. i should properly redo that one

[christabelq]

Even before I decided to take the pictures I've been sharing recently where I recreated one of Brett Parsons' most famous Tank Girl pictures, I'd had the idea of making some new guns for my Tank Girl arsenal. I liked the ones I'd done before, but didn't think they quite captured the spirit of the character. She's a big personality, so she needs BIG guns.

I browsed through some comics and it was then that I came across the bazooka/rocket launcher artwork. I knew on the spot that I was going to have a go at copying the weapon, and not only that, but that I would try to display it in exactly the way it appeared in the picture. It was a long journey, but as you may have seen, I did get there.

The first stage was coming up with a plan. I knew I wasn't going to be able to come up with a perfect replica, so I designed a kind of mashup between the Parsons gun and a more traditional bazooka. The next step was collecting materials, mainly from Poundland and thrift stores (my go to places for these kinds of projects). This is what I ended up using...

1) A piece of plastic pipe for the main body.

2) Some smaller pieces of pipe for a scope.

3) A couple of toy guns for the trigger and other parts.

4) A plunger button from a bottle of moisturizer (actually I used 2 of these if I'm being precise, as I broke the mechanism cutting the first one down to size and had to replace it).

5) A clockwork shark to mount on the front.

6) A juggling baton for a rocket.

7) A vacuum cleaner extension tube to hold the juggling baton.

8) Some straps and clips.

9) One of my old cuddly toys.

10) A crocheted eyeball.

11) A metal dog tag.

12) Some pieces of ribbon.

13) A wide checked shoelace.

Once I had all this, I painted the main parts with matt black spray, so they would match. This took a few days, as I had to do one side at a time and redo some bits that weren't covered properly.

Next up was fitting everything together. I'm not a big fan of glue, as it usually comes off over time, so I used screws and bolts wherever I could. One tricky piece was the plunger button. It didn't sit very well on the top, so I mounted it on a wooden block. The baton I was using as a rocket was too small for the pipe, so I came up with the idea of mounting it inside a vacuum cleaner part.

I added another coat of black paint to fix the damage I'd done making bolt holes, etc, then gave the gun a distressed look with a dusting of acrylic silver paint (this needed to be applied very lightly, so the black would show through).

Then it was time for the decorative pictures. I cheated and used stickers for some of these, as I kind of suck at precision painting and didn't want to mess everything up, though as it happened, the stuff I did paint turned out pretty good. I only knew what one side of the original gun looked like (often a problem when making props based on pictures in comics), so I freestyled the other side.

I sprayed some fixative over the top to protect it, and added the shoelace and other trinkets, and that's pretty much it. It's not a full tutorial, as I think part of the fun of doing this stuff is figuring out the details and a lot is going to depend on what materials you are using, but it should be a good starting point.

#tankgirl #tank girl #tankgirlcomic #cosplaygirl #cosplayers #ukcosplayer #cosplaygirls #comicbooks #follow for follow #follow back #followback #followforfollow #like for like #likeforlike #costume design #prop design #cosplay tutorial #bazooka #rocket launcher #brett parson

[plays-the-thing]

The Mandalorian S2: Style Over Substance – A Companion Piece

This is a companion piece to this video where I examine the strengths and weaknesses of the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. It’s a collection of ideas and evidence that were cut for time or focus reasons from the main video. I’ve included both timestamps and quotes of what section of the video each idea refers to. Under a cut for length.

[1:48] Akira Kurosawa, whose movies would be very important in the western genre was very big on complete and realistic sets and effects because it helps the quality of an actors’ performance.

“The quality of the set influences the quality of the actors' performances. If the plan of a house and the design of the rooms are done properly, the actors can move about in them naturally. If I have to tell an actor, 'Don't think about where this room is in relation to the rest of the house,' that natural ease cannot be achieved. For this reason, I have the sets made exactly like the real thing. It restricts the shooting but encourages that feeling of authenticity." – Akira Kurosawa, Something Like an Autobiography

 [2:27] Like the original trilogy, The Mandalorian has its fair share of humor. The sequel trilogy also had a lot of humor, and was criticized for it, but it wasn’t the humor itself that I think people had a problem with, it was how the humor was done. See, in the original trilogy humor never changed or undercut the overall tone of a scene. If a scene is tense humor might lighten or even break the tension but never undercut it. The original trilogy would never, ever, make fun of the plot, character, or scenes in its own movie. The Mandalorian follows this mold of lightening or breaking tension without undercutting the scene itself which also helps it feel like the OT.

Just Writes video on Bathos is a good expansion on this idea. Personally, I find that particular brand of humor, popularized by the Marvel movies, extremely off-putting because it just screams at me to not take the story seriously and that makes it pretty hard for me to stay immersed in it. My three favorite marvel movies are Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, and Thor Ragnarok because Black Panther doesn’t really do that kind of humor and Guardians and Ragnarok manage to make it seem natural by genuinely being comedies.

 [7:18] This brings us to Episode 4. Last time I criticized this episode, but I wasn’t very specific, I just mentioned that we were starting to get away from showing and towards telling. Let’s take a closer look.

The first part of this scene, where the kid was being a nuisance, was actually really good. It kind of seemed like it was going to lead into some genuine frustration with him being a nuisance and therefore maybe some drama in their relationship. 

[9:51] Cowboy Bebop is another space western with a strong style and a mix of vignettes and episodes which advance a characters story. But every single episode builds up the themes of the overall story even if the plot has nothing to do with it.

To be fair, not every episode builds up *Spike’s* story and themes, but Cowboy Bebop has four main characters and every episode works towards at least one of the characters’ stories, characterization, or relationships.

[12:20] Mando’s mistrust of IG, when they really have quite a lot in common, speaks to something about his character.

What does it speak to exactly? Well, everyone might have their own opinion about that but here’s mine:

 IG-11 used to be a hunter, but now Queel has reprogrammed him. Mando still sees the droid as the hunter and is adamant that it can’t be trusted no matter how much Queel insists that Mando must trust his work reprogramming the droid as an extension of trusting Queel himself.

Now, why does Mando hate droids so much, and particularly this droid? Well, that’s an open question, but I have my theories. Part of it is the trauma he experienced when he was young, but I think it runs deeper than that. You know how sometimes the traits that really bother you the most in other people are the things that you don’t like about yourself? The IG-11 that Mando met is a lot like the part of Mando that I’ve been calling “The Professional.” IG is efficient and ruthless, just like Mando on a job. They are deaf to moral and personal appeals in the face of a contract. This is also the part of Mando that took the kid to the Imperials in the first place, the part that he conquered and redeemed by the end of the third episode.

But IG has been reprogrammed. Just like Mando, he has changed and now cares for the child over himself. IG even develops a personality, and at one point attempts to tell a joke. But because IG reminds Mando so much of that part of him he had to defeat, he can’t bring himself to trust him. The tension between them persists pretty much up until IG fully demonstrates to Mando that he is there both to care for the child, and for Mando. In this moment Mando begins to really see how similar they are.

This connection makes it hard for him to let IG make his sacrifice, and he even appeals to this by telling IG that he thought his old core functionality was gone. But by reactivating his old functionality as a part of his new core function, IG is also giving Mando a template to incorporate his Professional self into his new self. He shows Mando that those two halves of his self that came into conflict back in the beginning can be synthesized into one new whole. He doesn’t need to reject any part of his identity.

Then the newly synthesized Mando dons his jetpack, fulfilling his only stated desire in the entire season, and defeats a scenery chewing villain to win the day.

But that’s just my interpretation, and I’m willing to haggle over what exact interpretation the evidence best supports.

[15:29] Speaking of Luke, let’s talk about fanservice. Now to be clear, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with fanservice, what matters is what always matters: how you use it.

This also applies to the other two “Trademarked Star Wars Problems” I mentioned in the last video: repetitiveness and hamfisted merchandizing. These things are not necessarily bad. For example:

I would bet Baby Yoda is the most successfully merchandized product since the OT, but there’s nothing wrong with that because they’re part of the story being told. Baby Yoda doesn’t distract from the story, they are part of the story. On the other hand you have Ewoks, which were originally going to be Wookies. I would bet they went with Ewoks at least in part to sell more cute toys…but at least they still sort of work with the story. In TLJ the penguin things are there for no other reason than to be cute and sell toys. Same with the crystal dog. They have literally no purpose in the story, and their obvious and prominent inclusion only to sell toys distracts from my immersion.

Obviously repetition is part of stories. That’s why we have tropes, and the Hero’s journey, as tools for a writer to communicate information quickly. Just from his outfit we know a lot about Han before he ever opens his mouth, same with Obi-Wan. In RotJ, the heroes need to blow up the Death Star again. It’s kind of annoying that we’re literally doing the same thing we did two movies ago, but at least it’s a little different. In TFA Han Solo reassures us that the Starkiller Base isn’t that big of a deal by saying “don’t worry, there’s always a way to blow it up.” This is an example of a character reaching out from the script and telling the writer to change their story because the repetition is getting ridiculous.

[18:32] So…why is it here? Yeah, I know who Thrawn is. I don’t know why Ahsoka does, or why she cares, or why I should care. If the writer had cared about that they would have made her talk to Mando about it so she could give some sort of story or character-based explanation for why she cares, instead of just dramatically saying his name.

I mean I know the most likely reason it was here: to build hype for her solo show, but they could have done that without punching my immersion in the kidney.

[20:20] So it was no surprise that in the end the Expanded Universe’s greatest hit of all piloted his X-Wing into the show. But, I didn’t mind this. They had been seeding that a Jedi would be coming to collect Groghu for a while now, and if you had been running through the timeline in your head you were probably at least half expecting this. It’s foreshadowed well, it’s part of the story, and it triggers our emotional climax.

The reveal is quite well done too. First it’s an X-Wing, then we see a Jedi dressed in Luke’s RoTJ gear but it’s over the security cameras so there’s no color, then we see it’s a green lightsaber, then they clearly show that it’s Luke’s lightsaber hilt, then they finally have him peel his hood back. Each small reveal builds up the suspicion in your mind that it’s Luke until it’s confirmed.

That being said I would totally understand if someone thought it was obnoxious and hamfisted to shove Luke into another story, even though it did work for me.

[29:12] Parts of it even connect back to Mando’s story and character, though not in a new way because it’s mostly a redo of Mando’s relationship with IG last season.

I understand that Mando breaks his rules a little bit more here, but it’s still a riff on the same theme of: Mando has a conflict with a character, the he sees the similarities between between them, and then circumstances force Mando to take his helmet off in front of the character.

However if his arc with the other Mandalorians was functioning properly than this could work as a synthesis of a change in ideology and a reassertion of his willingness to bend the rules, but instead it just comes across as another redo of stuff in the last season. It’s still halfway functional because by this point it’s easy to forget that Mando had a character arc last season and it reminds us of that right before they pull the trigger on his and Groghu’s separation…but redoing the development from last season doesn’t count as a real character arc.

[31:08] There is so much more I could say about all of the bad writing, plotting, and characterization in this season. There are so many things that just don’t make sense, waste our time, or just plain don’t work.

I’m still confused over what the writer was trying to do with the snow planet. Like they crash land there and Mando decides to go to sleep inside his hull-breached freezing ship and the fish chick is like “Mando this is dumb you should fix your ship” and then he just fixes it. What was even the point of handing Mando the Idiot Ball there? Why not just have him fix the ship without trying to commit suicide by hypothermia first? Like…what?

[31:27] Why are you just listing off a bunch of names that mean nothing to us like she’s a video game character telling us where we need to go next?

I want to point out that even though I’m using this footage of Delphine as a reference she’s actually managing to tell you something about Malborn and why he is trustworthy, so it’s actually better than what Bo is doing. Though to be fair the tidbit about “the forest planet” is cute since it will be a deforested planet when we show up, that line needed some character connection to not sound so weird.

[33:13] That’s what the point of Show Don’t Tell *really* is, it’s not about how much dialogue you use or whether a character is explaining something. It’s about using exposition to tell us something about a character at the same time. It’s about putting the camera in a place that shows us something about the character or the action, not just what’s happening. It’s about packing as much of the story as possible into every choice you make.

In Avatar, the way that Zhao tells us about Zuko’s banishment tells us a lot about both Zhao and Zuko. The camera angle here emphasizes Katara standing encouragingly over Aang’s back as he stares dejectedly at the ground (contrasted with Toph’s angry stare) and tells us about the nature of Katara’s relationship to Aang as his teacher and friend as opposed to Toph’s. In the opening shot of A New Hope, the low angle of the camera implies dominance and the length of the Star Destroyer shows us the long reach of the Empire. Every single time Zuko is on screen it is worth paying attention to which side of his face is dominating the shot: scarred or unscarred. Exactly what each side represents is up for debate: I tend to think of it not as good Zuko vs. bad Zuko but more as Zuko’s feelings of obligation to his family and people and Zuko’s obligations to his own sense of what he believes is right and what he needs to self-actualize.

Show Don’t Tell is just a saying. It’s a saying to encourage writers, particularly new or inexperienced ones, to focus on the *art* of telling the story instead of focusing solely on the plot and facts. I am using it somewhat liberally here to say it’s about “using exposition to tell us something about a character at the same time” but since that is about the art of telling stories, and not just a recitation of facts, it does technically count.

[34:32] With television shows and the way they can go on forever, and with how much money there is in going on forever, it seems like they always become a sagging mess at some point. Some of them manage to bring the quality back, but some of them don’t. So to a certain extent, these problems with the Mandalorian are kind of normal for television shows.

I can’t remember exactly where I stopped watching How I Met Your Mother, the last thing I remember is Ted dating some crazy girl and swearing off relationships. I abandoned The Expanse midway through season 2 earlier this year…maybe I’ll go back but boy was I bored. I made it all the way through the Wire. Season 2 had its problems but eventually got back on the right foot midway through or so, but the problems came roaring back in season 5 which it took me almost a year to finish because it was so agonizing.

Avatar is probably the most controversial choice here of a show in which the quality slipped but I firmly believe that if they cut out the second half of season 2 and the first half of season 3 the show would have been much, much better. Most everything in Ba Sing Se is tonally weird and the whole idea of a city with too many rules and bureaucracy is way too complex an idea for this show to tackle. Avatar does tackle incredibly complicated and adult themes for a kids show but in my view this was one step too far. They get Zuko to a place where he’s ready to join the Aang Gang but then have him backslide temporarily. There’s this whole idea of an invasion on the Day of the Black Sun but it would be such a story cheat to allow Aang to beat the Firelord without actually mastering the four elements and so obviously isn’t going to work. All of these things together just make it feel like wheel spinning where the story and characters aren’t actually growing or developing but just being padded out.

Except for “The Tales of Ba Sing Se” and “Appa’s Lost Days” obviously, those are great.

It’s actually pretty funny because the episode before Aang is supposed to fight the Firelord the first time (the Black Sun time) he’s a nervous wreck and everyone is trying out different psychological techniques to try and make him feel better which is…I guess sort of valuable for kids to see that nervousness is normal. But when you compare it to the second time he’s going to fight the Firelord, for real, it’s *so obviously* for real this time because Aang is having a *character* based crisis about the conflict between his pacifism and his duty to stop the Firelord. The comparison of the two is telling in terms of what was going on in the story of each.

[35:03] Now they are spinning it out into not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different shows all based on the Mandalorian. It’s almost gross how hard they are milking this.

Okay apparently they fired Gina Carano so I guess it’s not four anymore. Or maybe it is who knows. Listen, the point is they *intended* to make four shows okay.

[35:06] Thanks for watching all the way through to the end. These videos take a ton of time and effort so that means a lot. Even though I’ve reset my subscriber count to zero now that I’ve criticized the Mandalorian, I will continue to work on the channel as much as I can, so subscribe if you want to see more videos like this.

I promise to always give you my honest opinion.

Also I know I was shooting for one video a month and, well, I still am but these videos are really time-consuming. I want to make sure I maintain a really high level of quality and so sometimes I get halfway through a video, realize it’s no good and have to start over with something else. Sometimes it takes months of rewrites to get it to a place where I’m happy with it. This one came out pretty quickly, it was about 6 weeks from when I started the script to when I uploaded. Hopefully I’ll only get better and more efficient at it as I get more practice.

#star wars #the mandalorian #plays the thing #video companions

[sadiesdolls]

Working more on the M9 today. I cut down some of Nott’s limbs the other day, just the vinyl parts really, and I want to finish her body mods ASAP.

It looks like a good day for spraying sealant, so I’d like to get some painting done too, especially Fjord. I’m leaving some of his factory face like Beau and Yasha but I’m going to add his gradient and his scars, redo his lips, and sculpt and paint out his hair. Since this is such a big project and I want to get them all fully presentable while the campaign is still running, I’m taking some shortcuts, and I can go back and improve them later if I want. In the cosplay world we say “it’s never finished, it’s just wearable.”

I’m not completely happy with Beau’s face. Her chunky playline eyelashes show through her “day old makeup” and the eye shape doesn’t feel like Beau, too playline barbie face, too innocent and guileless. I might try to refine her eyes with a little acrylic so I don’t have to spray her face again. Really I wish I’d used a different head, something a little less babyfaced, but a part of the challenge of these dolls is that they’re largely made from stock dolls and parts I had on hand because I wanted to use as much of my backlog of custom fodder as possible. (Oh and she needs her abs blushed on, they’re an important character trait.)

I’ll mostly do the sewing for this once the dolls themselves are done. I need to convince myself to make workable patterns as I go so that I could theoretically make them available for anyone else who wants to make M9 dolls. That’s the thing that slows down my sewing the most. I can use my knowledge of how sewing works to cut out a shape that’ll make the sleeve shape I want for example, and if it’s not quite right I can adjust it, but I can’t STAND muslining the whole thing and feeling that accomplishment of getting it perfect just to have to start all over again, and in doll scale taking the finished product apart to make a working pattern and putting it back together again can ruin it—and doing either one feels like three times the work for no reason if I’m only making one of something. But I also know I SHOULD do that, so I put off sewing when I don’t feel like doing it. My workaround is basically tracing each piece as I cut/adjust it and saving the ones that work? But I feel like that creates extra work too, and sometimes you end up making adjustments to something partway through assembly so you can only kind of record it properly?

Anyway, I’m realizing lately that a lot of what slows down my customizing is just lack of self discipline? Aside from the occasional reroot commission, I do this for fun, so I don’t want to make myself do the parts of customizing that I find tedious or that make me anxious, so I put off parts of a project and start new projects to distract myself and then I end up with a drawerful of WIPs I’ve lost interest in. But I want to change that now, because a lot of the things I used to have to practice self-discipline to do properly I’m not doing anymore. So I sort of feel like I need to do that with my art now. It took ages to get a functional workspace with all my materials set up and unpacked after this move/reno situation, so I feel like I’ve been saying this forever, but I’ve been trying to finish old projects and focus more on a single project at a time. I mean of course the M9 is a massive new project that’s really 7 projects in one so I’m not actually doing a great job of that right now but I’ve got the spirit.

[writingonjorvik]

Ideas w/ Amelia

I haven’t really been up to a full-fledged Can We Discuss lately, but I didn’t want to just vanish for a while with my move coming up without posting anything. So, here’s a smattering of ideas I think would be cool for SSO.

Change the transport system for Jorvik’s overworld to work like Jorvik’s city, clicking on locations on the map to go to instead of scrolling through the list.

Fix the prices between the Friends app and the website so that they’re the same on both. Also reduce the price of Star Coins so they make sense with other pricing in the game and in the industry.

Co-op wagon races where one person maintains the horses and the other controls the wagon.

Make a permanent version of the Cloud Kingdom with a Mario Kart style race with pickups and other items for more interesting multiplayer racing, then bringing the system down to a select number of regular races, like the Big 7 (the seven races that are always for birthday races and the most iconic).

Switch to an expansion based model instead of weekly updates to reduce major burnout and turnaround on the dev team, since the weekly update model is regarded to be extremely demanding by the industry as a whole. Or instead of expansions, have quarterly updates that add a large amount of quests and content, with weekly patches being for events and bug fixes.

Make a forum or a subReddit to host more AMA style events, particularly since it seems the devs are now responding to all kinds of feedback, positive and negative, and I really appreciate this and want to be able to engage more with them outside their emailing system. Having a forum for ideas would also reduce the influx of emails they have to respond to and simplify the reporting system.

Have an ingame reporting system for players with a prompt and drop down dialogue before reporting to reduce spamming, but also overall simplify the process. Also, as illustrated by the photo mode, being able to screenshot from inside the game is totally an option now.

Allow players to change their emails without contacting support.

Update all horse models that have two to just having the new one. This will help simplify the image of the game and also open up space in a lot of cluttered stables. It also will reduce the feeling of SSO just making new horses to sell more horses, which considering that they cost $30 USD apiece, feels grimy. It also reduces the amount of modeling the devs have to do when coding for all the old models as well as new ones. Long term benefits.

For “luxury”/expensive models, have more breed specific races. If you’re spending $30+ USD on a horse, you ought to get some other content. That’s as much as some game’s expansion packs.

Now that jumping is free, leading should be too. I said this before, and I’ll say it again, being able to use leading in content is an outstanding option and it shouldn’t continue to be locked behind a pay wall.

Now that jump is free, expand the free to pay area to include all of Silverglade. Don’t expand the quest list, but expand the area. Considering SSO’s two main features are its story and exploration, being able to explore all of Silverglade, make friends, look around, and meet NPCs feels like more of an incentive to buy membership than having such a restricted region. If there’s no increase to quests or dailies, being a free member is still less exciting than having membership, and they won’t have access to other areas like the Harvest Counties or South Hoof. But being able to see the areas they could unlock feels like more of an incentive to buy than the area that they have now.

Add an experience multiplier based on player level to horse experience. This gives players more of a reason to level, and it also helps balance out experience gain for higher level players who tend to have lots of horses. It also reduces the need for the devs to balance out experience gain. Also this tech is already in the game as shown by the old system where the starter horse received more experience in races than any other type of horse.

Give the player the option to have multiple character slots. This provides the game with so much replay-ability with out the price tag of additional membership.

Allow players to make up their own character name, and change it. There would need to be a new team dedicated to approving names, and players could have temporary names in the SSO system in the meantime, but it would allow players to personalize their characters more, and for players who joined before a wide range of names were an option, allow them to pick names they would actually want.

Update races with set pieces, like the Baroness Race Track. SSO adds new set pieces all the time for races, having two versions of the Baroness Race Track shouldn’t be that hard. If parts of the map can be reworked to have temporary obstacles for championships and races that only affect the racers, then this should be possible for this race too, and other old races.

Bring back the Scarecrow Hill Race. Again.

Update the Social tab.

Update the Help tab.

Capes, cloaks, and hoodies that take up shirt and hat spot, with the option to remove the hood.

Full body dresses and robes that take up the shirt and pants slot.

More mane hair styles. This one has been promised for a while.

Have official social media correspondents on Twitter and Tumblr. It’s almost 2019 and your Twitter is dead. It’s marketing 101 to have correspondents on all major platforms, and you don’t. This is your best access to community and marketing, why aren’t you doing this?

Stop with the “Girls > Boys” mentality. All genders are equal, and what you’re actually doing isn’t helping the feminist cause and it’s pandering. Take one from Shannon Hale on this. Boys can enjoy feminine things, and pressing this divide only hurts the argument. It also drives away potential customers.

Take the time to release new areas properly. South Hoof and Mistfall are aesthetically beautiful, but are barren gameplay wise, and we’re now going to have to wait years to see them finished.

Stop adding factions if players can’t 100% them.

Rebalance poorly balanced factions like the Sunfields and the Goldspurs.

Allow players to make their own orienteering races with friends using the waypoint tech.

Update inaccessible locations on the map list of locations. Some of these locations have been inaccessible for over four years now, like the “Not all that glitters is gold” location in Dino.

The player almost never takes damage. There’s no need for two health bars.

Make the library at the Winery useful and let us reread lore books to help remember story info between when that story info was used last and when it’s being brought back into the story.

A thrift store that lets you buy back items from quests, using the tech from the Lifetime store.

Have increased option control for players with good gaming rigs, like allowing for an increased render distance or being able to decide how many players are rendered at once and to what detail. SSO already has a loading period for adding detail to players, so for players with less advanced hardware, being able to lower down this detail rendering would make it easier to visit higher population areas. And for players with better rigs, it makes the game prettier.

If the devs want to promote less populated servers, then host events on those servers.

Redo Nic’s camp to use the Rescue Ranch system. Generally add more Rescue Ranch style quests in other areas.

Let the player jump while on foot. It adds almost nothing to gameplay, but it makes them feel like clunky. It also would help community classics like foot races.

Add left saddlebags.

Stylists should be able to mirror mane styles, so that the mane can fall on either side.

Players should either have to read quest dialogue after level 9 to know what they have to do or they shouldn’t. Quit waffling.

Achievements should have rewards, like titles, unique clothes, or access to hidden quests.

Bring back hidden quests.

If there are going to be cold resistant horses, then there should be other horses with abilities like that. Heat resistant horses, horses good at climbing with pass that only they can climb at full speed, horses that can cross bodies of water without a meter. If you’re going to make a system like that, then you gotta flesh it out.

And now I’ve been working on this list for over two hours, so I’m gonna leave it there so I still have something to talk about in Can We Discuss. Cool. Bye.

#woj writing #woj analysis #sso #star stable #starstable #star stable online #starstableonline

[awkwarddystopianwarlord]

The Murder Building: Part II

So came the day when I moved in. Because the stairwell only has a one way door that doesn’t let you back up, we had to claim one of the elevators as our own to move all my junk to the seventh floor. With the help of my mother and one of my friends, we hauled boxes in trips, stuffed the elevator, carried them to my suite, and went back down to do it all over. I can’t quite remember how long it took. It wasn’t terrible once we got the hang of things but it was still time consuming. Especially given the fact that we had been up since the early morning to get to the island which consists of taking two ferries and driving across Vancouver. By the time my absurd amount of belongings were all accounted for in my new home, we were bushed.

Eventually my mother helped me set up my futon-bunk bed situation so we would actually have a place to sleep. The next day she had a friend that lived somewhat nearby, and his date-mate help set up my IKEA-cubby thing so with that, my bed, and a desk I also had, that was all my furniture. After a small adventure to Value Village, I now had a nice chair. It was the only official sitting item that I owned.

My mother had stayed over the weekend, but after that, I was left to my own devices. I had to wait for my internet modem to come in which was supposed to take a couple days, which really gave me nothing else to do but unpack. She had helped me, before she left, to find a reasonably priced, obscure internet provider that would send a human over to plug in the modem. During the few days I was waiting for that, my house-room was coming together to an extent. I had all my furniture where I wanted it, my clothes were organized into my cubbies and the closet, and my hoard of mugs now dwelled in the kitchen rather than a box I had in my old garage-man-cave. We had brought over a succulent plant from home and my mum’s friend gifted me a pothos plant, so the two of those brought some homey feels.

The day finally came for me to have an internet connection. A fellow came by and had to sit awkwardly under my desk which happened to be right in front of the plug in. He tinkered for a bit before telling me some unexpected news. The wire that went from my suite, up in the wall, to the satellite dish on the roof of the building, was broken. It had either been cut or caught somewhere within the wall and he couldn’t reach it to connect the modem. In other words, I had spent eighty-seven dollars for nothing. It also turned out that Shaw was the provider for the building so I, who used Telus, couldn’t get any sort of assistance given that they didn’t support the building in any way. To say the least, I was fecked. I already had to pay for extra data on my phone twice as I was using it as a hotspot for my laptop and ipad. I figured that I was damned to having to use a nearby Starbucks as my sole source of internet. I had spent the week figuring out what the hell to do for that, setting up my house, and rewatching the entirety of Game of Thrones for the third time on my DVD boxed set. It should not have only taken a week to get through that, but it did. I have a wee DVD player for my laptop and just sat on my bed in utter defeat watching my favorite characters die..again. I felt so constricted without the ability to connect to the rest of the world properly and I was incredibly pleased to find that Telus offered this little data hub. It worked as a source of internet connection for those that lived in rural places. It was a blessing from the universe and the feeling of suffocating isolation lifted. The first hurdle I faced, now defeated.

The second hurdle I faced was when it was decided that our bathrooms would be made over, which is all well and good to an extent. What perturbed me was that I had just finished unpacking and sorting my belongings out, bathroom included and now I had to take everything out. The construction lads would come in around eight-thirty in the morning and work until about four every day. As someone who sleeps in till about ten-thirty, this really sucked. I was also not allowed to use the shower the entirety of them fixing up the bathroom. The office ladies, however, gave keys to unused suites for us tenants, which I will say, comes in handy when most of the building is empty. So for a week, I would go up to the nineteenth floor and shower. We were allowed to leave our toiletries up there since each person had their own suite, which was nice. The whole thing though became so inconvenient.

I was also in the market for a job at the time and I had to wake up much earlier in the morning just to get ready and dressed before a horde of men entered my room-house. I’m also intensely awkward and shy so having to move around them everytime I left gave me a sense of dread. I couldn’t go about my day normally and I was so relieved when they said they were done. Of course, before one of them left, he told me that the whole floor had asbestos beneath it and that if ever the tiles became cracked, exposure could be deadly. He also said that if they had to redo the flooring, I’d have to completely move out to avoid breathing the stuff in. That was a fun thing I panicked about for a few days, thinking that they would renovate this place soon or that I would just slowly get poisoned to death from my floor. Despite whichever happened though, the second hurdle was also defeated.

I moved on July fourth. I was still in need of doing a second trip back to my mum’s to gather the rest of my belongings, kitchen things, and the TV. She was moving at the end of August so this would be the last hoorah of getting rid of anything she didn’t want and bringing it to me. Thus, I was living without any tables, TV, couch, and extra kitchen stuff like pots and pans. We had picked up a blender, microwave, and toaster though so I was fine for the time being. I also found a small pot left behind deep in a cabinet. It was a good day though when I finally got the TV. A few more days were spent reorganizing and then I invited company over. Not having anything to sit on besides my bed which failed to morph into a futon for some reason, and a chair, hosting more people than just me was kind of a hassle. So we went on a hunt.

I can’t remember when the street couch was found. But it was wonderful. After an epic saga of getting it into the building, through the elevator, down the hall, and into my house, we had a place to sit. The couch really was a whole situation as we could only fit something thirty inches wide because nothing else would fit through my door frame. A couple weeks later my friends surprised me with a lovely,wooden coffee table, also from the side of the road. With these two key pieces of furniture inhabiting my living space, the house was complete. It went from a cold, white-cream colored square to a cozy, cabin inspired den. It was our new downtown hub and I was significantly more excited about living in my murder building. It felt so much more like a home and despite where it was, it was many steps up from my garage-man-cave.

I have moved some furniture around since and it’s much more open now. Honestly, it felt so refreshing to just move around a couch and coffee table to face a different direction. It was so simple yet made such an impact. As it stands a year later, it feels whole, comfortable, and somewhere I can be for a long time. This journey started off with many doubts, bumps, and frustrations, but it has come to a neat and satisfying conclusion. I am as happy as I can be here and wouldn’t trade it for anything but my future land and cabin, which is saying something.

#storytime #weeklyblog #writing #friday posts

[typetwofun]

Adventures in Learning with A Vintage Motorcycle

this post should take ~9 minutes to read

My first ride on a motorcycle on a public road was terrifying. After obtaining my license via a weekend class that took place entirely in a high school parking lot, I had purchased a Honda CB250 Nighthawk on Craigslist. Get License - check, purchase motorcycle - check. Next item on the list is to take this thing on the road...

During my maiden voyage I came face-to-face with the reality that these 2,000 pound death machines some people refer to as cars were trying to kill me at every turn. This was unsettling at first but after a couple miles I gained confidence and felt more comfortable maneuvering around my adversaries who seemed to have every intention of ending my life. I also started to have a lot of fun and understand the allure of the two-wheeler. Although I mainly purchased a motorcycle as an affordable way to get around Atlanta, I was beginning to get the idea that riding a motorcycle was going to now be a part of my life.

“When you let a motorcycle into your life you're changed forever.  The letters "MC" are stamped on your driver's license right next to your sex and height as if "motorcycle" was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition.”

"Season of the Bike" by Dave Karlotski

Fast Forward two years and I’m living in Brooklyn. I sold my Knighthawk before I moved and I was kicking around the idea of buying another motorcycle to allow myself some more freedom to explore NYC. In the year of learning how to ride in Atlanta I became attracted to vintage bikes. Every time I saw an old touring bike from the 60’s or 70’s I was envious and I had decided my next bike would be something from that era. After another period of scouring Craigslist and  a couple friends persistently coaxing me to get a bike, I became the owner of a burnt orange 1977 BMW R75/7.

I thought I was purchasing a classic motorcycle that would take me to the farthest reaches of the NYC metro area and beyond. I would get plenty of looks speeding around the city on this museum piece as old guys nodded their heads in approval. But what I actually purchased was more like a new puppy that constantly needed my attention. Purchasing this BMW began a two year crash course on the fundamentals of the /7 (pronounced “slash seven”) and the proper care and maintenance required to keep it on the road.

The reason I share this long back story is because I never intended to do significant work on my motorcycle. I might have romanced the thought of changing the oil and doing little projects here or there but I grossly underestimated the time investment becoming a useful mechanic requires. These series of fortunate or unfortunate events, depending on how you look at it, led me to buying a bike that was going to need a lot of work. I started off small projects like replacing the fuel lines and adjusted the timing which gave me the confidence to begin working on larger and larger projects. Eventually I was tearing the bike down to the engine block and more importantly putting it all back together correctly. As someone who lacks significant experience working on engines, this kind of undertaking required a great deal of effort and if I have gained anything while refurbishing this classic motorcycle, it is how to learn a new skill.

When Was The Last Time I Learned A New Skill?

Learning any new skill is especially difficult when you are quite literally getting your hands (and clothes) dirty and spending long hours of your precious weekend in the garage with nothing to show for it except frustration, fatigue, and an unquenchable thirst for cocktails. As time goes on you have fewer and fewer days filled with frustration and eventually have enough knowledge that you might be so bold to consider yourself “useful” which is a rather satisfying feeling.

When I sat back and thought about it I haven’t learned a completely new skill in a meaningful way since I graduated from college. Sure I have learned little things like how to shoot a rifle, brine a turkey and how to catch a wave on a surfboard. But learning how to tear apart an old engine and put it back together correctly is a rather large undertaking and seemed intimidating to an inexperienced mechanic.

Why Learn a New Skill, Anyways?

As I expressed earlier, my intention was never to learn how to rebuild old engines. When you leave the part of life where you quit asking “will this be on the test?” there does not seem to be a great incentive to learn new things other than to make more money or for leisure activities and enjoyment. This may be the prevailing wisdom, but through this process I have discovered there is quite a bit to be gained by doing my own motorcycle maintenance beyond having a bike that works (most of the time).

Confidence to Solve Other Problems - Demystifying the /7 has helped me gain confidence that I can most likely find a solution when confronted with other technical problems. Armed with an internet connection we are able to find an answer to many of the technical challenges life throws at us. Almost everything we encounter in our world is part of a system or is a product of some kind of process that we can figure out. Whether it’s how to play a Beatles song on a guitar or play a Beatles song from your phone in a rental car via the touch screen display while driving, the answer is out there and you can probably find it.

The Pleasure of Figuring Things Out - Nothing quite beats the dopamine hit after having a breakthrough on a problem you have been working on for hours or maybe even weeks. There have been times where I thought to myself that I need to sell my bike and get something more modern and reliable. Every time a problem made itself evident I hunkered down and attempted to fix it and up to this point I have been successful and finding the solution (knock on wood).

Oh, one more thing, the beer at the end of the day always tastes better after finding a solution to the day’s problem.

It’s Good to Be Uncomfortable - there were many times when I got to a point in a repair job and I became nearly paralyzed with doubt. What if I break this piece? What if when I’m done I realize I need to go back in and redo it? What if I do permanent damage to the bike? What if I get in over my head and I need to burden a friend with helping me or pay a mechanic? And on and on it goes.

I learned somewhere along the way that this unsettling feeling is actually where the magic happens. You are experiencing the fear of the unknown and the only way to rectify that is to figure it out. We have many great resources like YouTube, User Manuals and experts that we can reference but sometimes the only way out is through.

The more I experienced this sensation the more familiar I became with it and the less intimidating the fear of the unknown became. Every other time I was at a supposed dead end I found a way out. Especially with a low stakes hobbyist project, it’s not scary, it’s just part of the process.

Use Your Brain In A Different Way - Like most of you, I spend my work days in front of a computer. Computers are incredible and allow us to get many things done in a short amount of time, but after a long day in front of the screen, my brain also feels like a giant pile of mush. When I spend an afternoon in the garage I may be physically tired at the end of the day but my brain does not feel like it needs to shut down and watch TV for an hour or two before bed. The tangibility of your progress and the ability to physically deconstruct and later reconstruct something is quite rewarding.

Enjoying the Fruits of Your Labor - There is an indiescribale feeling when you begin the day with a machine that is not functioning properly or sometimes at all and ending the day riding that very machine with an understanding of what is happening beneath you to make you go. Similar feelings are closing your first sale in a business you started or presenting a dish you learned how to prepare at a dinner party.

How I learned

I was a lousy student when I was in school. For me, the studying techniques of rote memorization or sitting through lectures don’t usually deliver the desired results of truly understanding new information that I have been presented. I have found that I absorb information much better by watching someone demonstrate the proper way to do something and then I attempt to to try to replicate it. This style of learning lends itself much better to the hard sciences than for other disciplines such as history or sociology.

YouTube - It’s hard for me to imagine what it was like to fix motorcycles or an issue with any appliance before YouTube. The catalogue of high definition videos on any given topic never ceases to amaze me and some even provide enormous entertainment value (exhibit A and Exhibit B). Access to this information is perhaps humanity's greatest achievement (sorry wheel and alcohol). I have gained a new appreciation for YouTube’s utility throughout the rebuild of my bike and its applications which are seemingly limitless. There is no greater resource for learning how something should be done than having a more experienced human walk you through the process on demand for almost no cost.

Mentorship - YouTube and internet forums are great for what they are, but when you’re really stuck there is still nothing that replaces a more experienced human to help you get unstuck. I have had the good fortune of making friends with several hobbyist mechanics who are far more experienced and knowledgeable than I am. Sometimes you can get yourself 90% of the way there, but it takes a “teacher” to uncover what you’re missing or to think of it in a different way.

The money you can invest in mentorship or lessons will return enormous dividends whether you’re learning how to fix a machine, downhill ski, or get that handicap into single digits. Especially for those of us who work 40+ hours a week your free time is invaluable and paying for access to an expert is almost always worth it.

Long Form Articles - Before I dive into a new project I like to read an overview that somebody else has written to give myself an idea of what kind of fun surprises I may be in for. Youtube videos are great as are forums surrounding a specific question. But in order to fully wrap my head around certain concepts nothing beats a well written long form article by an expert.

For instance, I wish I read this article before purchasing my Airhead.

Trial and Error - Despite all the tools, resources and knowledge we are surrounding with there are some questions the internet does not have answered in a 12 minute HD video. There are also days when nobody picks up the phone or your buddies aren’t able to help you. And for such occasions you have no choice but to figure it out.

There are several episodes in my mind's eye where I was floundering with bleeding my brakes, reassembling the throttle grip drive, or adjusting the points gap and on try number 50 something clicked and it worked and I now magically know how to do these things for the next time around.

Wrapping Up

Learning how to rebuild this motorcycle has provided me with satisfaction and enjoyment that have added an enormous amount of joy to my life. Undertaking the rebuild was never my primary intention and more or less a fortuitous accident. As Dan Gilbert outlines in his book “Stumbling on Happiness” humans are usually pretty bad at forecasting and we are particularly bad at predicting what will make us happy. I guess it should be to no one's surprise that my love of fixing motorcycles was serendipitous.  

If there was one thing I would tell my 20 year old self what I should do differently it would be to try new things and learn more new skills. Preferably something you can really get lost in like cooking or woodworking. It makes your brain work in different ways and think about the world through a new perspective. You will meet interesting people whom you wouldn’t normally cross paths with and you will also have a lot of fun doing it.

I hope you find my experience interesting enough to go out and stumble upon your own project or hobby that will make your Saturday afternoons that much more incredible. 

Trust me, it makes the beer taste better at the end of the day.

A view of the piston after the cylinder has been removed

Carburators, valves, valve covers, push rods, and nuts and bolts in a somewhat organized manner after removal

After several hours of soaking, scrubbing, and scraping she looks good as new!

First big ride of the summer after a long winter in the garage.

#motorycle #learning

[ciathyzareposts]

Island of Dr. Brain – Won!

Written by Reiko

Easy if you can read a treble clef.

In the far corner of the room, I find a piano, which launches the music puzzle. This has three stages. “Lesson 1” is Sight Reading: clicking the correct note on the piano that matches each note on the staff. Lesson 2 is Placing Notes: clicking the correct place on the staff that matches each note played on the piano, which is just the inverse of sight reading.

The given melody.

Lesson 3 is Memorize the Tune, which is a bit harder than the first two. A melody is played while it appears on the staff, then it disappears, and I have to recreate the notes on the staff by memory, either ear or visual memory. But I can do a few notes at a time and then replay the melody as needed, so it’s not really all that difficult, just a bit tedious. I could have even used the above screenshot, but I didn’t look at it until after I’d already cleared the puzzle.

I should probably clarify that I do have some musical training but I’m not particularly skilled at either reading or playing music: I just sing in choir. As long as you can read a treble clef, understand note lengths and what sharps and flats are for, you can do this puzzle. It’s a precursor to the rather more difficult music puzzle in Lost Mind of Dr. Brain, which at higher levels requires the player to be able to read music well enough to be able to assemble a selection from measures that may have been transposed or flipped horizontally or vertically.

Once the puzzle is complete, which of course gives the Music Theory plaque, the game offers a free play option where you can plink around on the keyboard or put notes on the staff and have the game play the constructed melody. That’s a neat option. I don’t think any of the other puzzles have offered a free play option outside of redoing the actual puzzle.

This whole island has an engine??

The final room shakes when I enter it (every time even, if I go back and re-enter the room). Dr. Brain congratulates me on getting to the battery. But we’re not quite done yet. This room seems to be the control center of the island. I can’t do anything with the consoles right away, but there’s a large button on one wall with an obvious label: “Press Button”. Well, okay then. That pops open one console, which looks like it isn’t working properly.

I also notice another panel that displays a map of the island, including what looks like some kind of engine attached to the back. Wow, what a convoluted place. You can see representations of the various rooms we’ve traveled through to get to the control center at the bottom.

The squares are supposed to represent some kind of computer chip or board, I guess.

So next I have to repair the Navigation Computer by filling in gaps in the patterns of various kinds of computer components. One time I was given squares with various diagonal lines; another time they looked more like resistors with colored bands. Completing the four rows solves the puzzle and gives me the Visual Series plaque.

Then the game (not Dr. Brain’s voice, just a game message) instructs me to “Throw the lever forward.” Now that the computer is fixed, I can do that, but now I’m in danger because the volcano pressure has increased too much. When I push the lever forward, I’ve set the throttle to full (does this whole island move?), but the “Volcano Stack Computer” is broken. Something flies out of it, and an alarm goes off.

Leave it to Dr. Brain to mess with volcanoes.

I click on it, and I’m given a schematic of the computer with one component damaged and sparking. I click on that to remove it, and then I have to put it into the reprogrammer by solving the “Transistor Logic” puzzle. I have to test the old chip to determine its logic pattern and then program a new chip to replace it.

Testing the damaged chip.

The program is constructed using classic logic gates: AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, etc. I have to construct a gate combination that will give a specified output pattern using up to four inputs. This can get kind of complex, actually, especially if I have to use three gates.

Instructions for the circuit programmer.

My winning circuit pattern.

In the particular pattern I get, I notice that only two of the inputs actually have any effect on the output. If D is 0, then then output is the inverse of B, but if D is 1, then the output is 1 (or D). Since AND has the effect of outputting 0 if both inputs are 0, and 1 otherwise, I can simply construct the gate combination that can be represented as “D AND NOT B”. A and C make no difference. This gives me the “Logic Gates” plaque and also allows me to win the game.

Before I describe the ending, I’m going to go back through the game from the beginning and revisit each of the puzzles to see what the differences are on the easier difficulty levels. You can always go back and redo earlier puzzles, which gives you more hint calls if you need them, and doing the puzzles again on multiple difficulty levels also adds bonus points.

Microscope puzzle on Standard: just lines.

Polyominoes: Doesn’t appear to be any different on different difficulty levels. It’s always a 6×8 rectangle with about a dozen pieces that must be fit inside. It’s possible that “easier” configurations are selected on the easier difficulties, but having completed the puzzle at least once at each level, I didn’t notice much difference.

Microscope: Decidedly easier. On Novice, the equations are both just perpendicular straight lines, one for the y-coordinate and one for the x-coordinate, which is trivial to solve. On Standard, both equations are linear with slope and offset factors. And, of course, on Expert, one of the equations was a parabola.

Sarcophagus Lock: Also easier. On Novice, there are only three very simple numerical sequences, and on Standard, there are four mostly simple sequences. On Expert there were six, and some sequences involved squares or varying patterns.

Towers of Hanoi: Requires moving four rings on Novice (which is just barely harder than three, really), five rings on Standard, and seven rings on Expert. So the Expert solution takes more than eight times as long as the Novice solution, and four times as long as on Standard.

That last twisty gray area is just one puzzle piece on Novice.

Jigsaw: The Novice level breaks the puzzle up into much larger pieces, so there are far fewer of them and the puzzle is far quicker to solve. I think it took me not much more than two minutes. On the Standard level, the pieces are the same size as on Expert, but the whole outside border is already done. This cut the solving time down by about a quarter for me, so I solved it in about fifteen minutes compared to twenty for the full puzzle.

Blinking Flamingoes: Made trivial on Novice by only having to set one flamingo, and while Standard requires two, it’s still a lot simpler than Expert’s three.

Word Search: Generated exactly the same way each time, with twenty foreign words hidden in the grid, but on Standard, only fifteen of the twenty need to be found, and on Novice, only ten. All twenty can still be found after completing the required number, but nothing extra happens if you do.

Cipher Bridge: Noticeably simpler on Standard: the quotes are shorter, and the scrambles are easier. Both word and sentence anagrams are used. On Novice, it gets even easier: no word anagrams are used, only scrambled sentences and misplaced spaces.

Botanical Garden: Same background image on each level, but only 12 animals need to be found on Standard, and only 8 on Novice. Honestly, the Novice level puzzle I played ended up being harder than the Standard because there were three tiny ant lions, two very close to each other. I don’t think there’s any reason why there should be even two of the same animal in any given puzzle, even on Expert, but especially on Novice. In the several times I played it, I saw at least twenty-five different animals. It’s really not that hard to make an algorithm that doesn’t repeat items from a list.

Novice level tells you outright what the element is.

Element Analysis: You may remember that on Expert, this involved analyzing objects that were comprised of three elements (plus trace elements). Well, on Standard, the objects only have two major elements, like a brass knob (copper + tin), and on Novice, the objects only have one element, and it’s usually named in the description of the object, like a silver earring. You just have to know the abbreviation, or you have to click the elements until you find it, that’s all.

Numeric Planning: Expert and Standard levels both use a 4×4 grid, so I’m not really sure how the Standard one was easier, but it was. The Novice level uses only a 3×3 grid, so it’s much quicker to guess and check options.

Spectrum Analyzer: The Expert level pattern involves six elements; on Standard it’s five; and on Novice it’s only three. I approach it the same way no matter how many there are, though: I test each individually and then combine the ones that match.

Antonym Anthill: Always asks two sets of three quotes, but on Novice, each quote has just one word that needs replacing. Standard has two words, and Expert has three. The lower levels also indicate when a particular quote has all words correct; I don’t think Expert did that.

Synonyms and Homonyms: Similar (ha), with two words per sentence on Novice and three words on Standard. On the synonym puzzle, the Novice level is particularly simple because only the rhyming words at the end need to be replaced.

Standard level matching

Novice level matching

Object Matching: On Expert, the objects were rather detailed masks with a lot of different but similar features. Standard has silhouettes of creatures that still have several different features, but not as many as on Expert. Novice just uses geometric shapes, which are a lot easier to match, of course. Each level still requires five sets.

Bookshelf: Standard asks the player to sort books, four per shelf, about various geographical features into categories like mountains and rivers. The Novice puzzle asks the player to sort books, three per shelf, about various instruments into categories like woodwinds and percussion.

Counterweight: Even on Standard, I found this to be the hardest puzzle in the game. Maybe I just need better mental math? Novice separated the liquids into different divisions of the bucket, and it also automatically determined which division of the bucket to pour into, but you still have to do the math to figure out how many of each size container will add up to the given total.

Elevator: Even on Expert this puzzle was sometimes trivial if the ratio was a whole number, so this puzzle didn’t differ much.

Robot Programming: As far as I can tell, it’s pretty much the same on all levels. The three cartridges themselves have three levels of difficulty, but you have to use all three anyway.

Genetics: On Standard, the combinations are simpler: I think all of the grandparents start with pure sets (AA or aa) of all the genes, rather than possible mixes. On Novice, there’s only one generation: the player must simply cross two creatures to get the right final mix among the children.

Art Concentration: Standard only requires identifying two of the three rows of paintings, so there are more examples already identified for comparison, and Novice only requires identifying one row of paintings.

Music: Fairly similar on all levels, but the selections of music are a bit shorter on the easier levels. Plus on Novice, the game chooses the correct length of note for you.

Visual Series: Novice and Standard generally offer more obvious series, such as a sequence of bands that rotates one place each square, but otherwise the puzzle is exactly the same. I played a couple different times, and one time on Standard I got a puzzle with colored dots that was inscrutable to me. It’s easy to shift back and forth between difficulties and generate a new puzzle, though.

Logic Gates: Only uses three inputs on Standard, compared to four on Expert. Only two on Novice, which is more or less trivial because the test area at the bottom will display the truth table for any single gate. Still, for anyone that doesn’t understand logic gates at all, Novice is a good place to start.

Island Ship of Dr. Brain

After I finish the logic gates puzzle, that fixes the computer at the heart of the island. The view cuts away to a side view of the island, which shows a huge engine attached to one end. The engine starts running, which pushes the whole island. It’s turned into a ship! The anchor is raised, and a flag emerges from one of the hills. Then the view zooms way out to the map from the very beginning with the copy-protection “puzzle,” where we see the island-ship moving around until it arrives at Dr. Brain’s castle in one corner.

Dr. Brain’s latest invention: The Lazy Scientist 2000 (my name)

There I see Dr. Brain lounging in his latest invention: a comfy lounge chair complete with fancy drink-holder, foot massagers, a fan, a book holder, and other amenities. He sent me off to get a battery to run this thing?? I guess it must use a lot of power to run all the automatic gadgets attached.

Full score for completing the game after doing each puzzle once with no hints.

Dr. Brain congratulates me on my score (calling it “unbelievable” since I scored full points). The maximum total score is 1000 points, but only 390 of those come from completing the game: the rest come from replaying the puzzles on multiple difficulties and from not using hints.

Then the credits roll, complete with little animated heads and comments from the staff. Actually, these aren’t real credits since they don’t give full names, just whatever name is given in the comment, which is usually just first name. After the credits finish, the game gives the option to go back and keep playing puzzles, replay the credits, or quit.

Brett is probably Brett Miller, for instance.

And that’s Island of Dr. Brain! Puzzly fun for the whole family! Next time we’ll take a look at how it stacks up.

Session Time: 4 hours 30 minutes Total Time: 12 hours 0 minutes

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/island-of-dr-brain-won/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

[armorroofing]

Wow! Armor Roofing - Blue Springs MO Roofing Contractors

The article Wow! Armor Roofing - Blue Springs MO Roofing Contractors originally appeared on Armor Roofing Kansas City.

Optimal roofing maintenance is important. For lots of people, a homely house represents their most significant long-term investment. You may well spend an enormous amount of time in your own home with your family. It is thereby all-important to ensure that it could well satiate every member of your family group. Do not spoil this environment by making it possible for an impaired rooftop to develop into mold damage to your collectibles. It is certainly hence vital to obtain expert roofing examinations to ensure harm to your property or home does not go unnoticed.

Your roof is arguably the most significant section of the home, as, without a healthy roof structure, the interior of your home could be exposed to the elements which make having a property or home worthless. If you are living in Blue Springs and you suspect that you quite possibly have roofing problems, for a detailed examination of your roof now would be an incredibly good occasion to e-mail us.

At our company, user total satisfaction is just our most significant operating metric. We are happy to boast an excellent report with the Better Business Bureau as an example of to our devotion to the best customer service. Most of the time, roof repair services are generally covered by home insurance, and we also can help you navigate through the red tape to help get your claim approved. We furnish a bare minimum a five-year extended warranty on for every roofing replacement undertaking we execute, and your satisfaction is definite.

Don't make it possible for a slight roof structure tear spin out of control into a thorough home disaster. You have pretty much nothing to lose by getting in touch with us free roof inspection without delay. Contact the number on the button just below or send us a communication by using the Contact Us page.

Call Us Today!Call Us Today! [phone]

People young and old quite often fail to notice the rooftop if engaging in very simple house maintenance. This can be an overwhelming problem, especially if you are in a locale near Blue Springs which usually brings strong rainfall. A full new roof replacement can come to be extremely steep in price, nonetheless not getting it addressed in a timely manner is not wise. You are not ever going to be able to preserve cash by way of not making sure it is addressed. As the wear and tear get more severe, it definitely will cost you more than previously, and I am definitely sure that nobody would want that to manifest. Remaining subject to the weather continuously, the tiles will in due course need to get fixed, it is simply an issue with regards to when.

They're two meaningful items to understand. A rooftop spot repair is a little more regular than a complex replacement, which is just a necessity immediately after a significantly windy weather event or a roofing is very out of date. Then, in the instance that you have to have a rather pricey new roof installation, your mortgage insurance company will cover the cost as long as the job is done in the correct manner. This is certainly good reasons why it is worthwhile to employ the services of the right roofing expert for the repair, alternatively you could be stranded with the cost since the chore is unfinished or the roofing company you tapped the services of did not perform the roof work well initially.

Just How Do I Come across A Roof covering Problem?

In order to really determine the rooftop's well being, you will discover several concerns you should to solve dependent on the variety of rooftop you now have:

So Why Would An Individual Select A Full Replacement?

Are you experiencing wood decay around your wooden element roof covering? Wood decomposition is normally unfavorable luck for residence owners. The minute it is acknowledged, it simply needs to be corrected. As remarked upon in this article, whatever deferment in having this achieved would become unfavorable for your household.

Do you ever recognize a lot of rotted underlayment? The underlayment of a roof is just the covering underneath the roof structure which typically gives backing, heat insulation, and an excellent water barrier. A rotting underlayment layer will likely end in water leaks, especially among steel and tile roof top types which actually really rely upon the additional water leak protection. Unquestionably, you will have to e-mail a licensed roofing professional to visit your home and analyze the amount of the harm to preserve your property worth.

Are loads of rooftop tiles ruined? Swapping out the tiles is certainly to the agent. A 100 % installation might be necessary if it turns out very many tiles happen to be run down.

After uncovering any kind of trouble, you would be wise to set out to decide on how most efficiently to answer the issue. Most individuals ought to need to utilize a local roofing company that has appreciable experience previous to trying to decide whether a roof structure restoration or replacement can often be desirable. Observe that there is certainly no obligation to try to examine the roof yourself to see recognize property damage. Some reliable roof contractors will furnish roof inspections pro bono, consequently, you shouldn't have to go up directly to a roof structure to check for problems.

Contact us by calling [phone] to obtain a cost-free roofing material inspection. There is no risk!

Call Us Today!Call Us Today! [phone]

Why would you leave your roof to chance? Ask for Armor Roofing LLC at the moment at [phone] and our team can investigate the roofing materials totally free. Subsequently, after an accurate examination, a local roofing company is able to give you with practical assuredness what your restoration choices happen to be and specifically how much each will cost. An entire replacement definitely will always be a possibility, especially in the case you will want to go forward and modernize the rooftop to any life time roof material that would add to your structure's resale estimate and then postpone long term maintenance. If or when the wear is grim enough it might actually even be necessary.

Just What Precisely Are Several Good Aspects To New Roof Top Installations?

The very important feature of a full new roof installation, definitely, is that your rooftop will be reset! This re-roof includes you procuring a modern, robust, and magnificent roof topping the residence, and simply you do not have to be anxious about it for quite a while. For that matter, moving up to the most recent life-time asphalt roofing options ought to be a top reason for the resolution. Any time you genuinely do not want to remove and redo the full roof covering, the licensed roofer ought to offer the important refurbishment and your roof will be set for the next few years.

Amongst the most commonly encountered rationale for adding a brand-new rooftop is usually that you are deciding on placing your family house on the market place within the next few years. Investment experts perceive the fact that a recently installed rooftop is a house feature that can significantly strengthen the market value of the residential house in the opinion of a shopper.

Worthy Considerations Arguing To Dodge A Brand Spanking New Roofing Construction in Blue Springs

You are actually pointed to an extra complex work when talking about a refurbishment. It truly involves a bit longer and then entails whole lot more organizing in order to commence effortlessly. You mustn't have to worry about this too much in the event that you choose the properly licensed roofing professional who actually has the job mastered. The costs are the explanation for why most shy away from An all-encompassing cool new roofing design and installation. 7-thousand and eight-thousand dollars, which is the regular fee free a re-roof, is just a heap of income for home investors. If it turns out it is basically a negligible job, then the amount will be not as much, and then in cases where you enjoy a sizable home with a costly roofing material, it can easily run you 15 thousand dollars. You cannot find any ground to be anxious over this price under most circumstances. If your house hold is genuinely compromised, consequently you have the ability to file a case with your insurance firm. Merely be certain that you utilize the proper roofing service to go about doing the piece of work accordingly from the beginning. We have been doing business in Blue Springs for over two decades and are used to most of the native underwriters and the criteria demanded to make sure your request is taken care of.

So long as you are needing the best-licensed roofing professional in the proximity of Blue Springs, we are in a position to help you when you decide that you happen to be willing. Read up on a great many 5 star comments on customer review platforms assuming you wish to get what just about all of our reviewer's experience of our devotion to excellent quality. There's no need take any chances with the roof covering. Reach Armor Roofing LLC straight away at [phone]!

Call Us Today!Call Us Today! [phone]

  The post Wow! Armor Roofing - Blue Springs MO Roofing Contractors appeared first on Armor Roofing Kansas City.

[eggshapedchapstick]

50Q Meme

I (MorbidDelusions) got a bit creative and tired of there being no new BJD meme/questionnaires out there so here, 50 questions for you to have fun with!

-Thank you, I shall.

—-

1. Have your tastes changed in sculpts over the years?

Yes, but not much, as I still like many of my “old” dolls. I did start to like 1/8 dolls more and for 1/4 I prefer realistic adult mini’s.

2. Do you have pre-made characters for the dolls that you get home which must fit a certain description, or, do you get them home and let inspiration hit?

A little bit of both. I see a doll I like, create a character and when they get home they alter that or change it completely.

3. What do you do when you get hooked on a particular sculpt and want it home right here, right now but can’t as you have to save or some other reason?

A) Save up and see if I can sell anything. B) Be sad. C) Hope I will get a second chance.

4. How many dolls are too many to you personally? That number keeps rising xD

5. What are your thoughts on dolls with already pre-existing characters from movies/books/cartoons/etc.?

If that is your thing, go for it. I can incorporate elements of pre-existing characters, but I don’t like to make an exact minime of them. Except for my dog. I got a mini human version of my dog.

6. Acrylic, glass or urethane? And why?

All of them, depending on what your doll needs and your personal budget, but I do prefer glass over acrylic and urethane over glass. Urethane has more life to them, they are more vibrant and available in more options. What my doll wears depends on what I planned for them, also.

7. How much does yellowing bother you? What is acceptable before you want something done to liven up that old yellow resin skin?

I am always a little disappointed when I notice mellowing, but I know it is inevitable. I would hate it if my doll would turn into a completely different color than when I bought them, and not into a color I like. Like some Bambicrony’s have, going from light cyan to yellow-green. So far, my dolls are okay. I would take action when the mellowing would really bother me. If possible, liven it up, or otherwise sell it.

8. What are your thoughts on anthro BJDs vs actual animal BJDs?

I love anthro’s. I blame the cartoons from my childhood. 

9. How small is too small? How tall is too tall? Or does height even matter to you?

Everything over 50 is too tall. Everything under 10 is too small, unless it is an animal bjd. I’m more likely to go smaller than go bigger. Big dolls take in a lot of space and I find them scary (yes weird, I know).

10. Do you talk with your resin buddies while painting them, dressing them, just because?

Usually only in my head, but during one shoot, I was telling my doll she had been “a good girl” out loud. When I realised that, I was glad nobody heard me, lol.

11. Do you have a doll you love but will probably never have because finances or impossible to get?  

Yes, an Angelheim Jin. I didn’t order him when I had the chance. He was a limited and the company is gone. I haven’t seen him on the MP like ever.

12. Do you have a favourite clothing company where you go and buy clothing and/or shoes from?  

Yes. I love Mimiwoo for shoes. I also shop at Etsy a lot. Amai Fantasy, Raouken and many more.

13. Your favourite pair of shoes you ever got home? Picture please!  

The one she’s wearing. Click.

14. Favourite accessory and, again, picture!

Her wand. It’s awesome. Click.

15. How many times have you had to redo a face-up in a day?  

3, and it still looked like crap (I was a newbie back then). I send my head to a face-up artist soon after. I have since painted faces to my satisfaction, usually in the course of several days.

16. Ever sat screaming and cursing at your sewing machine? Or even if you’ve sown something by hand? Tell us a bit about one of those silly outbursts!  

Oh yes. I’m afraid of the sewing machine. The cursed beast keeps eating my fabric and quite frankly, I don’t know how to use it properly. So, I have sewn by hand and have had things fallen apart or not fit right etc. I have stabbed myself with a needle (on accident) and welp, sewing is not really my forte.

17. In the past year have you had to find homes for some of your resin buddies?  

Not in the past year, but I’m trying to sell a body at the moment and have sold other dolls before.

18. Have you ever made any miniature furniture of any kind or do you prefer to buy it?  

Yes, I made a miniature witch cabinet (okay filled with bought items), pencil, books, jewellery, miniature scratchpole, attempted to make stuffed animals + tables + beds, broom, mop, head accessoiries.

19. What would you do if one of your dolls went green or banana yellow? Would you try and salvage the damage somehow by mods and the like, or would you reinvent their character?  

I’d try to salvage them if I didn’t like the color.

20. Ever got two dolls or more home in a year?  

Yes.

21. Are there a certain theme going style/face-up/accessory/other wise? Or are they all fairly different from one another?  

All of my dragons are painted by Puppit Productions and have a stone reference of sorts. Also references to fairytales, alternative fashion and a majority of long haired cuties.

22. How much is too much to pay for a doll/how little is too little? And why?  

No price is too low. I don’t buy recasts and expect legit companies to ask a reasonable price. I quess 800 is my max.

23. Do you do mods? Show us some of your work! Would you do them on rare/limited sculpts?

Yes, but I shouldn’t. No thank you. No, not LE’s.

24. Do you prefer getting dolls home blank so that you can do your own face-up, or, do you prefer to have the company paint them for you?  

Depends on what I want for that doll.

25. Do you keep up with the various companies releases, events and the like?  

I have. Now, not so much.

26. Ever hated having to cover up a body with clothing because the sculpting was absolutely divine and you’d rather just be able to watch all that naked glory for all time?  

Not really. I can imagine it though. I would keep that doll naked then.

27. What is your favourite wig brand?  

It used to be Leekeworld, but now, I don’t know. Everything seems to be hit or miss.

28. How many pairs of shoes do you own for your dolls?

Some of them have multiple pairs. Lets just keep it at that.

29. How many wigs do you have for your dolls?  

Too many! xD It takes time to find the right kind of wig and you are bound to buy ones that are pretty, but not suitable for that specific doll, but it might be a good fit for a future doll, so that is how I ended up with many wigs.

30. Do you have a favourite set of clothing? Do you own it? And if, picture please!  

Multiple sets actually. I don’t own all of them. I love my Souldoll Nova’s full set.

31. Do you have a favourite outfit you’ve made yourself?  

Yes, but it fell apart eventually. Click.

32. Ever commissioned someone? And what for?  

Yes, for face-ups, clothes, eyes, accessoiries and wigs.

33. How many pair of eyes do you have, spare and in use combined?  

A lot. Not as many as I have wigs, but quite a few.

34. Ever called in sick because of an incoming package?  

Nope.

35. What have been you longest wait? And the shortest?  

3 months - a year.

36. Do you prefer shooting single shots or group pictures?  

Single! Multiple dolls are cute but there is a high risk of dolly domino.

37. Do you prefer male or female dolls?  

Female.

38. Ever had that one piece of accessory you could never quite find and are still searching for years later?  

Yes, a yosd sized bong, because I have dreamy eyed dolls and I think that would be a hoot.

39. Ever had trouble settling for a sculpt for a given character and had to buy multiple sculpts home before finding that perfect one?  

No.

40. Do you keep a journal in where you write all of your doll related ideas and plans even if they wont always come to fruition?  

Yes.

41. Ever shot some naughty naked/nude pictures? If not, why?  

No. Except for one to show bodyblushing I had done.

42. What are the longest time you’ve had a layaway running? If you’ve never done one, why are you refraining from making use of this service?

I think three months?

43. Do you mind not being able finding a whole lot of pictures of a given sculpt you want home or do you like it’s exclusivity?  

I have bought dolls that don’t have many owner pictures / didn’t had any at the time. I like owner pictures, they can help. However, sometimes you just have to take a chance.

44. Are you more of a share all the pictures type of person or more of a keeping them all to yourself and only share a select few?  

I don’t share all of them, but probably more than I should strictly speaking.

45. How good are you at sticking to your plans if, say, you told yourself you only were to bring home one more this year and then go on a break?

We shall see. I’m not allowed to buy more without selling one. I hope I can stick to this plan.

46. What doll body is your favourite?

Souldoll NL body. Poses like crap, but it is very pretty.

47. Who in your resin crew has gone through the biggest transformation since arrival?  

My Aileendoll Pico Baby Ashes. He has part of his belly removed. Click.

48. Do you pamper some more than others?

Yes. The ones who don’t have a “uniform” of sorts. Some rock one outfit every day, others have multiple outfits. It also takes some a while to find the right look, so they have had multiple wigs, clothes, shoes etc.

49. Ever bought something (dolls, clothing, accessories)  that looked amazing in the pictures but turned out to be nothing like it upon arrival? 

Yes, a mohair wig. When it came, it had a obvious bald spots that could not be hidden with styling. Also, I bought a Dollzone Maca head with face up that was disappointing.

50. What are your continued plans for this year?

To not buy a doll, without selling another.

- By MorbidDelusions