MidNightWriter24

I do a lot of writing, and I read a lot too! I'm mostly using this site for a laugh, and to have some fun! Occasionally a question will pop up, that I would love an answer to.

[maculategiraffe]

it is very instructive to play both silent hill and resident evil videogames because they are very similar except for how silent hill is good and resident evil is stupid. it helps you figure out what is stupid in a video game and what is good

for example, in silent hill games, you are confronted with many weird baroque puzzles you have to solve to proceed, because that is the dark and creepy and confrontational nature of the world you are in. in resident evil games, you are confronted with weird baroque puzzles you have to solve because apparently, separate from and unrelated to the ongoing zombie apocalypse, the raccoon city designers designed the subway station map so that if you insert a red jewel into the correct diamond shaped recess, a drawer opens that contains a live hand grenade

[theimaginatrix27]

There is a not-insignificant part of me that wants to grab the AO3 source code and set up a website for original web serials one can monitise.

Specifically because I want to post my original work online where someone can easily access it, like my mutual @derinthescarletpescatarian does. Which means I must not post it on AO3 because that goes against their TOS for good fandom-protecting reasons.

But I love the layout of AO3. I love making long detailed author's notes at the end of each chapter of my fics to explain why I made certain decisions I made, because I can't shut up about my own work once you get me started. I love the scene breaks, and the way you can add chapter summaries, and organise things into series, and tag stuff so people can find it if that kind of story is what they're after.

And I can't do that in blog posts. Not the way AO3 does.

But I have no money to keep a server running and making such a site just for my work seems frivolous...

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Royal Road is a site for this, but I have no idea whether it's good on screen readers or not.

[biological-mechanical]

royal road is decent on screen readers unless you’re using a strange font or formatting. I often listen to royal road stories thru the built in screen reader on browser

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Fantastic

[draconym]

i would rather see the information for an event handwritten in sharpie on a paper towel than see another AI generated flyer

[aj-living-life]

Saving this post to show my boss who I told the AI flier makes us look lazy and ignorant, and offered to hand draw one. She still printed tons of ai fliers and I'm tempted to make a better one just because it annoys me so much.

[aj-living-life]

Fun update: event was canceled because literally nobody rsvp'd to the AI flier.

[zaifonart]

Knight Waitress for Looters. (2020)

[etirabys]

can anyone find me that mesopotamian clay tablet telling you to marry a party girl because she'll bring you joy

[mentalwires]

It's from the "Maxims of Ptahhotep", purportedly written by a 96-year-old vizier to pass on his wisdom to his son:

If you marry a good-time girl

A joyful woman known to her town,

If she is wayward,

and revels in the moment,

do not reject her, but instead let her enjoy;

joyfulness is what marks calm water.

[etirabys]

yay ty. Between the above and the links in the mentions we have 3 translations total

[fatsexybitch]

Happy Wife Happy Life is 4.5k years old

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Birthday! Anything SIAT

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

There is screaming and then fire and the things is they'd only stopped in this town for a drink and nothing more.

"We better help," Godric says, six drinks deep and sword hand still steady as always.

"We don't even know what we're getting involved in," Salazar points out. They were also forced to travel overnight after the magistrate accused Godric of cheating and Helga had gotten so offended on his behalf that she'd challenged the magistrate to a duel herself. Which would have been fine, she has little talent for swordplay but her wand skills more than make up for that. Except then the magistrate had cheated and Godric, Helga, and Rowena had been incensed to the point threatening to have him overthrown and obviously they couldn't stay at the inn they'd already paid for after that.

Salazar understood ideologically, but Helga had still won. Couldn't they have just taken their victory and gotten a decent night's sleep? And now this?

Rowena hooks her elbow with his and drags him along. He doesn't put up much resistance. "We'll figure out what the problem is when we get there."

The problem ends up being a serpent that's approximately six inches long.

"Hello, darling," he hisses, using wandless and soundless magic to smother the flames around them.

"Zar," Helga says sharply, "that's-"

"I know," he answers as he crouches down and holds out his hand. She licks the air in front of his fingers and then tentatively slithers onto his hand, curling up in the center of his palm.

"This is your fault," Rowena says to Godric, who just laughs.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

The online draft link for ttou 2 directs to ttou 1, is the antarctica conspiracy not available besides purchase?

The antarctica conspiracy is the second half of TTOU. The javelin project is the first half. It was written as one story but the printer I use won't print 1400 page books so I have to release it as two books.

[vinfluorine]

Have you tried printing it in A4

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

New mission to just fuck up everyone's bookshelves by selling them books that absolutely will not fit

[theeternalnewb]

The books already barely fit. Clearly blatantly not fitting at all might almost be an improvement, as libraries would be forced to sit it out on a table instead of putting it on a shelf. Then everyone walking by would be all "my god what is that thing" and then, because they are the type of person who goes to the library, take it home with them.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I should print them in scroll form. Just one huge fuckoff scroll.

[aughtpunk]

Okay I know we all love "Rocky swears non-stop all the time" but have any of us considered that after four years of being shipmates with Grace and probably Grace somehow implementing a swear jar Rocky now only shouts grade school teacher level non-curses when pissed off.

Like he's working on a project with other Eridians and accidentally breaks something and shouts HORSEFEATHERS and now all of the other Eridians are losing their shit

[avoid-avoidance]

Ooh, what if over the course of the trip to Erid, Rocky and Grace develop an entire competitive game around swearing or the lack thereof? There’s a whole convoluted system for awarding and docking points based on the usage frequency of any spoken curse words (either minced or ‘real’), creativity in inventing new ones, etc.

Rocky is intrigued at the human-language ability to convey - solely with tone and context - that a completely-unrelated-to-swearing word is currently being used as a swear word; it’s one of the very very very few areas where he will concede that Earth spoken language can do something that spoken Eridian does not typically do.

Grace and Rocky work together to glean enough computer knowledge from the Internet backup that they can program Mary to track which swear words they each use in a given period of time from an established list. Generally, points get deducted for repeating specific swears that either of them have already used, unless those swears are being combined in an innovative string of cursing where the repetitiveness penalty is outweighed by the combo bonus.

In the end, the game is mostly just an excuse for Rocky and Grace to cheerfully bicker about a lighthearted and non-stressful subject.

[aughtpunk]

Okay I love this and will fully accept it into my headcanons

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I've been watching this guy who just watches funny animal videos and I love his voice so much

[ferrousferrule]

He does a lot more than funny animal videos, but the funny animal videos are how he gets ya.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I just watched this farm tour and I'm dying

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I've been watching this guy who just watches funny animal videos and I love his voice so much

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

There's a couple where he goes to react to a video that starts like "how to deal with an aggressive rooster" or "this is why your chickens see you as a threat" and then instead of reacting to the video he just inserts a clip of him separating a raw chicken to answer the question.

[chiropteracupola]

The Maple Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts That Can Defeat Any Evil.

the original version of this recipe is from unpeeled journal, but I'm writing this out on my blog my way bc it's the season of the brussels sprout. take my hand let's go to brussels sprout world.

for the sprouts:

2 lbs brussels sprouts

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

24 turns of freshly cracked black pepper

for the vinaigrette:

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp cider vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp whole-grain mustard

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

3 tbsp pomegranate seeds (measure with your heart)

preheat the oven to 420°F. halve all your sprouts and remove any stumps or outer leaves that don't look particularly edible. (if eating-quality leaves fall off, you can just roast them along with the rest for extra crunch.) toss them with the olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread them on a half sheet pan, and roast for 20-25 minutes without stirring or turning. I like to do a quite hot oven and a quick roast for an extra crisp sprout, but ymmv.

meanwhile, chuck everything else but the parsley and pomegranate seeds in a bowl and whisk them together. if you do this towards the beginning of the roast, make sure to whisk again later because it'll start to separate quite quickly.

chop up your parsley into fine confetti. my favorite trick for this is to put the parsley in a cup and snip it violently with kitchen scissors a few leaves at a time, since this helps it stay light and fluffy.

sprouts should be done now, so transfer those over to a serving bowl, pour the vinaigrette over top, and toss with the parsley and pomegranate. eat right away, but in the event of leftovers, these are still really good fridge-cold.

if all goes well, you should now feel ready to defeat any evil, or at least feel full of brussels sprouts, which is an important step on the way to defeating the majority of evils.

[teaboot]

“Why are you scared of dating” I’m not scared of dating, I just haven’t found anyone’s company to be more enjoyable than my own. And also I don’t care

[justlightmeonfire]

I just don't want anyone to steal my very cursed amulet

[teaboot]

Also the amulet

[whimsicalmayhem]

Is that you talking? Or the amulet? Are you SURE a new hand doesn't want to touch the beacon?

[teaboot]

The amulet and I are not currently looking for a third

[madeofklay]

I saw this perfectly in my head and had to recreate it

[teaboot]

Holy Shit

[margueritedaisies]

Writers knew theyd have too much swag if they linked up thats why they had to slime Jet before making them meet

Wah wdym, Jet survived ok? He faked his death and decided to be fugitives with Azula and travel across Earth Kingdom silk road

Posted these on my twitter

Nobody gaf there😭

[depsidase]

[jarl-deathwolf]

If anyone would like to read a thorough take down of Sparta as a state not worth emulating, then ive got just the series of articles for you!

[heroineimages]

Reblogging because pissing on Sparta is one of my hobbies. And yes, totally check out the link above. Brett has a lot of great discussion and scholarship on why Sparta was proto-fascist garbage, and he presents it with both snark and accessibility.

[fierceawakening]

Holy shit. That’s… that’s worse than I thought it would be. Yikes.

[doctorjanedee]

Reblogging because more people should read the ACOUP Sparta takedown and fewer people should get their concept of history from fucking 300.

[fierceawakening]

No one should get their concept of history from 300, and I say that as someone who enjoyed 300. 300 is a comicbookification of a legend, and legends are already exaggerations.

[disorganisedautodidact]

A Great Divorce has also done an audio version of the ACOUP Spart takedown if audio is easier for you!

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

I see your “Rocky swears like a sailor but only in pitches humans can’t hear/refuses to teach Grace what those words mean” and raise you “Rocky swears like a sailor and now has to explain to Grace that ‘bad bad bad’ isn’t actually a sequence you play on your Eridian speech piano in polite company.”

Grace is both horrified and amused to realise that a more accurate translation for what Rocky’s been saying is “shit shit shit”.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

Eridian government representative: Greetings Rocky, Saviour of Erid, and Grace, Saviour from Beyond the Stars. We are pleased to welcome you home.

Grace, haltingly on the keyboard Rocky built for him: Wassup bitches. Fucking jazzed to—

Rocky: GRACE STOP TALKING NOW NOW NOW I EXPLAIN LATER

[homunculus-argument]

A grand fantasy city-state that has developed a consistent, uniform system of "best by"-dates, not just for food safety reasons and to reduce food waste, but to also significantly reduce crime and conflict between residents. The matter at hand is goblins.

Goblin residents of the city are legal citizens with equal rights just the same as everyone else, but their natural lifestyle differs dramatically from the rest of the peoples living in the city. They are scavengers by nature, having no problems with eating carrion, overripe fruits and plants, and building everything they own from things that other races throw away as junk and trash. As the city produces plenty of waste that goblins would love to take and the city is glad to be rid of, any well-organised city is not just a paradise for goblins, but welcomes them with open arms. They save the city a fortune in waste disposal costs.

Problems mainly arise by differing ideas of what counts as "discarded". Goblins are unfairly labelled as thieves, when they are merely opportunistic and optimistic by nature, and will interpret any unclear situation to their own benefit, and will argue "how was I supposed to know that you still wanted it?" over things that looked lovely and were left unattended. And while yoinked items of clothing and other tools are easily returned or financially reimbursed (paying for what they already took is the only use that goblins have for money, which they do not steal), but foodstuff is gone faster than you can blink.

So, the city needed to determine laws for how to define and clearly label when consumable goods are no longer fit to most peoples' consumption, both to help people keep track on how old their groceries are, and also to mark them for goblins. So even though the food that's past the date on it can still be good to eat, it might also be gone by the next time you reach for it.

[homunculus-argument]

Ok yeah I admit. This is just how me and my boyfriend live.

[pansyfemme]

it really is crazy how there are so many influencers with millions of followers i have never heard of in my life

[pansyfemme]

every day someone is like ‘have you heard about the situation with johnny youtube?’ and i go. pardon. who the hell is that

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

When I first learned about Mr Beast it was in the context of a random guy who ran a line of ghost kitchens.