Nefarious Purposes(tm)

Up to no good...

[orbo-gifs]

[sinvraal]

Found a blueprint, blew it up to lifesize and printed it as a guide. I also picked up some foamcore to work with as a base structural element. A lot of builds I’ve seen use MDF, which is appealing for strength and heft… but I just don’t have decent tools for that yet, like a scrollsaw. And hand-sawing stuff like that stock (and all the holes in it) seems like a nightmare. But I also have the ABS sheets I ordered recently, so the current plan is foamcore base with ABS cladding, heat-forming the ABS for smooth but rigid corners. Next is figuring out what putty-type filler would work best…

[castaliath]

I honestly love watching your makes. They’re very informative and a joy to watch things  unfolding.

[castaliath]

A couple of times I’ve mentioned this book. I wrote it a couple of years ago, before chemo took over my brain and made it melt. It actually moved me to tears when she handed it to me. She redid the cover and the innards. I thought I would show it off here and mention the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Netherforge-J-M-Frith-ebook/dp/B00EVVCLVK/ for anyone who feels like a bit of scifi this christmas.

[wiwaxia]

Geology field shenanigans

All true. All witnessed. No regrets.

Respected professor shakes fist at mountain and dares it to erupt

17 inappropriate ways to wear a hi-vis vest

Everything is 20% muscovite

The double-backwards hammer flip

Putting a fawn in a backpack and carrying it round all day

Food tastes of dirt because too much actual dirt in mouth

Spontaneous outdoors group nudity with sheep skulls to protect modesty

Reversing sheep out of canyons

Doing makeup in the mirror on your compass

Bandaging an arterial bleed with a handkerchief

If I can take it up a 4wd track, then it must be a 4wd!

Puppies ate my rockhammer and the house-cow ate my bra

Where’s [phd student]? *everyone just silently points up*

Killing a stoat with a rockhammer in front of fifteen second years and scarring them for life

Transit van mosh pits

“Why are you yelling? I burned my pubes, isn’t that punishment enough?”

The underwater naked strike and dip

Tent flooding ending in six people sharing one double bed

Dessert sandwiches

Unexpected bulls in unexpected places

Spontaneous a capella outbreak of “Wonderwall” followed by “… *tiny voice* but I hate that song?”

Butt-shuffling down hills that are too steep

Being the *second* person across the wasp-infested log

Back-rub circles

Handlens unscrewing and falling apart in the middle of a river

Field selfies #geology4lyfe

Fault gouge smeared over face

“That’s not yoga, THIS is yoga!” *falls on face*

Accidentally mapping river gravels for two hours and getting lost

*rock falls out of cliff* *twenty people silently take one step left in unison*

I AM THE GOD OF STRATIGRAPHY!

Duct-taping your boots back together every morning

Not enough coloured pencils

Sharing water bottles

If I throw my rockhammer at this, will it stick?

“I swear, I can SEE Milankovitch cycles!” “Okay I’m cutting you off.”

Cross-sections: kink or busk?

“You know when you’ve got to The Knob because you don’t see any action for three hours.“ 

[wiwaxia]

katie this is importantwhen you say fawn … like a deer? really? COOL

Yes, a deer. A three-day-old baby deer. It was a terrible idea. When the students rocked back up to the field station with it, we told them off for stock rustling, took it to the farmer who was like, what the fuck am I going with that, I’ll have to cut its throat and use it for dog meat, and we were like, uh, no, so we took it to the SPCA, who were DELIGHTED. 

[pasiphile]

I THOUGHT A “FAWN” WAS SOME KIND OF OBSCURE GEOLOGICAL TERM I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND

YOU PUT A BABY DEER IN A BACKPACK

[rj-abacura]

More geology field shenanigans!

Respected professor claims our hydrochloric acid solution is less acidic than coca cola. We dare him to drink it. HE DOES.

Hiking up a mountain on crutches. “YOLO!”

Painting Cambrian-age trilobite fossils with nail polish.

Creepy abandoned fishing villages. So many creepy abandoned fishing villages.

Student finds brachiopod fossils in an outcrop behind said creepy abandoned fishing village. Respected professor gasps and squeaks “Brachiopods??!?” and goes tearing off up a hill to find them.

Students collect so many rock samples that we can no longer see the floor of the 15 passenger van. The van floor begins to develop its own stratigraphy.

Racing the roadside moose in the 15 passenger van.

Respected professor takes both hands off of the wheel of the moving van to get a picture of the moose. Panic ensues.

Mapping an island with nothing but a Brunton compass, a field notebook, and the largest bottle of fireball whiskey money can buy.

Respected Professor singing along to “Man-Eating Trilobite”

Entire class goes to local bar and won’t stop singing local drinking song for about a week.

That one vegan student that survives off of french fries for a month.

Stealing rock samples from National Parks

Straddling the moho

Licking the moho

Peeing on mantle peridotite just to see if it fizzes

Using the same pocket knife for everything. Eating. Scratching rocks. Removing splinters. Seriously, it’s gross.

Hiking down a river only to discover the water level is MUCH HIGHER than anticipated

Nearly drowning in said river but damn it you kept your electronics DRY

“It’s not safe to drink the water. So everyone gets 2 beers per meal”.

Fitting the entire class into a single hot tub

Every lobster is named Jack Daniels. It is known.

That one “Chinese Canadian Fusion” restaurant

[naamahdarling]

*DID* IT FIZZ?

[elodieunderglass]

my husband was once Responsible Adult on a geology field course and the highlight was when I was calling him and it was like

Dr Glass: Oh, an undergrad’s just thrown his compass into the sea.

Me: is that… part of the exercise?

Dr Glass: *nonjudgmentally* well…

(an unearthly, animal roar is heard over the phone)

Dr Glass: Ah, now he’s going into the sea.

Me: …To get the compass?

Dr Glass: I think he just wants the sea to take him.

(a peaceable, nonjudgmental silence follows, with distant splashing)

Dr Glass: Well, I think I’ll go get him now.

[castaliath]

Well, I’m deeply sorry that I chose computing over geology when it came time to pick my undergrad degree. Although I’m pretty sure that peeing on computer components *would* make them fizz if plugged in.

[castaliath]

This is from the gilding class I did last saturday, following up from a class I did earlier this year. Moar stuffs on instagram (where I am thenerdlet). I’m glad I caught the gold here. It’s been burnished so it’s extra shiny, though hard to show in photographs.

[castaliath]

The final piece I made for my silversmithing course. The angle’s terrible, but that’s a labradorite stone (that I unfortunately cracked, and, since it was the last lesson of the course, I couldn’t fix) and has a lovely blue shimmer from the right angle. Most of the course was working with copper, but I forked out for the silver because I wanted to walk away with something properly silver.

I’ll try and do a proper photoshoot of the pieces at some point. But I’ve loved doing this class so much I’m so very tempted to get the tools I need to do smithing at home. 

[sinvraal]

Andromeda, save me from my cynicism.

[castaliath]

I admit, I’m kinda hoping that I live long enough to play Andromeda. With my disease, I don’t know time frames, and don’t want to, and this ‘spring 2017′ nonsense is a tad annoying. I would like to put ME3 out of my head and replace it with more of what I originally loved about the Mass Effect series before I kick the bucket.

[thekytchensynk]

Important question of the moment

OK guys - games, books or TV series where the ending is simultaneously uplifting and sad?

[sekritjay]

[musanocturnis]

Weeeeeeell I kind of knew this would happen ^-^

[sinvraal]

It doesn’t really work for me when it comes to the first ME trilogy.

The end of ME1 was uplifting with a side order of Shit, we gotta prepare.

The end of ME2 comes closest – it’s not really uplifting per se, it’s mostly dominated by a sense of relief that you’ve (hopefully) gotten most of your loved ones out alive, and you’ve delayed your impending doom by a scant few months. 

The end of ME3 is not uplifting, it’s simply nonsensical. You don’t win, you push a color-coded button. It’s sad, yes, but the sadness is the cold, out-of-game realisation that professionals ostensibly paid good money could botch an ending to such a colossally stupid disaster that catastrophically derails not just hundreds of hours of player emotional investment but every theme the previous games tried to hold forth. The sadness is being wrenched out of the game itself in the last minutes – the moment that should be the emotional crescendo – to sit back on your couch and yell … WHAAAAT?

[byrneing]

worst cooks in america is genuinely one of my favorite shows 

[castaliath]

I looked this show up on YouTube and what I saw chilled me to my very core.

[castaliath]

A copper cuff “Phases of the Moon” bracelet I made in my silversmithing class (even though it’s in copper, I know). Let’s say it’s in honour of the supermoon, because why not. I’m actually very pleased with this piece. First one I kinda went at with a full idea in my head as to what I wanted it to look like.

[loreleywrites]

“@_SEV8 Its a dice bag!”

We get our first look at Kaladesh’s Gremlins with this fancy plush dice bag!

[castaliath]

Daww

[wizardsmagic]

From The Vault: Lore

From The Vault: Lore is coming soon. Do you know the stories behind the cards?

Here’s your first look at what to expect in From the Vault: Lore!

[castaliath]

Be still my heart. You couldn't appeal more to my little vorthos soul if you tried.

[pokemongomemes]

[castaliath]

It's making my in patient stay very boring.

[memewhore]

[winterbramble]

oh my god I’m crying with laughter. My idiot sons

[gifbro]

[wizardsmagic]

This year’s San Diego Comic-Con exclusive is a set of zombified Gatewatch cards by artist Eric Deschamps! It will be available at the Hasbro booth and later on HasbroToyShop.com.

[castaliath]

Whaddya mean it’s medically impossible for me to get to comic con? Boooo.

Why do conventions get all the best stuff.