#rubberland

[rewordfully]

rubberland

how does PIE break that unversal though? It's been reconstructed to have both a plural and a dual

true, but there’s a problem with neuters which have been reconstructed to (potentially) have a collective, not a distributive plural. so if neuter nouns have dual, but not distributive plural, then that is opposite to what the universal says (that if dual, then plural)

[paulfanblog]

(unofficial) Paul merch.

RubberLand Toys: The Space Traveler. The Grey MJ13.

(photo source)

"The Rubber Land company released a Gray Alien under the name 'Space Traveler'. The figure is 26 cm tall. This might be a bit too big to fit 1/6 scale exactly. Regardless, it's a nice classic Gray Alien as we know it from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and last seen in Paul. This film was probably the inspiration for the design of the character." (source)

Originally selling for around 50 to 100 US dollars (additional sources needed), the toy is now rare since its release in 2013. Unfortunately many resellers view the toy as a high end collectable and attempts at resale are close to 500 to 800 USD, but no evidence exists at a successful sale at such a a price. Two versions are believed to exist but only in clothing style. Reviews for the toy aren't usually on the positive side. Most collectors note the lack of range in movement and simple preposed hands.

rubberlandtoys(dot)com is now defunct, as is their facebook, as well as fengshen toys. Not much else is known about the manufacturer unfortunately.

Its been dubbed unofficial Paul merch in resale listings due to the likeness.

[dedalvs]

Hi, I've been looking at the LCS Conlang Jobs Board but there hasn't been a job since May. Looking back to other years, there used to be some jobs in summer, so, is people just not sending in requests or do I have to log in in some special way that I don't really know about?

You will have to be a member now to get news of new jobs in the first ten days. That’s brand new as of this month. If an LCS member doesn’t take the job, then it will get posted live. As for the time you were talking about, there just weren’t any jobs. :(

[ahnungslosig-keit]

OTP MEME — I was tagged by @currywurst-mit-senf !

Rules: Five different OTPs from five different fandoms. Tag five people to carry it on!

Clexa (Clarke Griffin and Commander Lexa, The 100) - Not everyone. Not you. Also The Bow™ and The Vow™. Their dynamic is so great; a love story between the girl who fell from the sky to meet the girl who ruled the earth. Still can’t believe JR threw that away for the ALIE plotline~

Pynch (Adam Parrish and Ronan Lynch, The Raven Cycle) - The Graywaren and the Magician. I mean, come on. Ronan’s second secret was Adam Parrish. And not forgetting Maybe I dreamt you.

Malec (Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood, The Mortal Instruments the show version) - They’re so much more developed in thirteen episodes than they were in six entire books.

Todd and Viola (Chaos Walking) - The end of Monsters Of Men had me sobbing.

Percabeth (Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, The Heroes of Olympus) - Not enough words.

I tag: @rubberland @englishloveaffairgivesmehope @miles-largent @ave-atqe-vale @city-of-fallen-castiels

[ahnungslosig-keit]

Tagged by @languageenthusiasttristan , thanks!! Rules: List ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t think too hard. They don’t have to be great works, just ones that have touched you. Tag ten friends (including me, so I will see your list).

1. The Raven Cycle (especially The Dream Thieves) 2. Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe 3. Simon Vs. The Homosapiens Agenda 4. Harry Potter (especially The Order of the Phoenix) 5. Othello 6. Noughts And Crosses 7. The Great Gatsby 8. Will Grayson, Will Grayson 9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 10. Looking For Alaska

I tag: @rubberland @englishloveaffairgivesmehope @miles-largent @artesactes @city-of-fallen-castiels @ave-atqe-vale @kickikey @vkngchief-odin @whosyourheda @dropkick-bitch

[rubberland]

Selfie tag! (tagged by @ethuil) (it’s blurry because i am pretty much on top of the worst photographers in the world list. but hey)

I tag @catnuscanunot @iapetvs @pavelstairs @viktor-risjak

[christophoronomicon]

Hi! I've conlanging for some years now and I would like to take my hobby to a more professional level, but I don't know how to show my work to non-linguists so that they can see my ideas. Any tips on how to create a conlang portfolio of some sort? :)

Mmm… Great question, and one I don’t have an easy answer to.

The main issue with a conlang portfolio is that so much of what conlanging is is either invisible or at least not easy to show to non-linguists in an attractive fashion. I mean, it’s all well and good to show someone a beautifully calligraphed page in an invented script. But doing so, you’ve only shown that you have calligraphy skills. All that is visible is the work you’ve done to create that particular page, to put ink on that particular piece of paper. The work that went into creating the contents you’ve put on this piece of paper, from your ingenious script to the beautiful words it encodes to the exquisite grammatical structure that holds these words together, all this is pretty much invisible to the non-initiate.

And what if you don’t have calligraphy skills? What if you are focussing on oral languages only, or have created a constructed sign language? Should you be punished because you cannot hang your work on a wall? And how do you give evidence of a skill to someone who does not even know such a skill exists?

In my opinion, that is the one big hurdle that is preventing conlanging from being accepted as more than a niche occupation with limited application (except as props for other media): the main part of our art, the centre of it all, the construction of grammar, of linguistic structures, is something that is very difficult to show off except in dry language descriptions. And while we conlangers often actually enjoy reading language descriptions, it must be said that this is rather unique, and a trait only linguists actually share with us. People in general will usually find that rather boring.

And even if you manage to write a language description that is somehow attractive (as a text) to non-linguists, you’ve, once again, only showed that you have good writing skills. The non-linguist may have read your text, but have they managed to understand the reasons for your choice of verbal morphology? Have they managed to get the aesthetics of your case system? Without any linguistic training, I doubt they will really get it.

So, what can you do? In my humble opinion, what the above means is that you cannot just create a generic portfolio that you can show to anyone to try and get a conlanging job. Instead, what you need to do is to tailor the information you share to the specific job you are applying for. If a would-be employer is interested in a specific look, show them some scripts you’ve created, in short texts. If they have a specific sound in mind, share with them some audio extracts (via Soundcloud for instance). If they want a language that reminds them of an existing language, share with them some simple information about similar languages you’ve already created.

Of course, you should also have a website, where you share as much as you want of the work you have done, in whatever format you see fit. This could be seen as a conlang portfolio. But don’t simply link to it in your sollicitation email, unless the potential employer mentions that they already have the skills to understand and appreciate a conlang described in this way. Send them relevant information first, with a link to your website as a way for them to find more in-depth information about your work if they wish to look into it.

Finally, don’t forget that up until a few years ago, conlanging as a professional endeavour was all but unthinkable. So we’re still learning how this works, and this includes how the whole solicitation process should be like. Maybe in a few years we will have a good idea of how a conlanger can best showcase their work. But for now, everybody is making it up as they go along. If you’re getting in professional conlanging now, you’re basically a pioneer! What do you think about that?!

P.S.: Although you probably know about it already, allow me to use this occasion to advertise our LCS Jobs Board once more :). Do keep an eye on it. Job adverts go up there regularly, and it’s much easier to apply to an existing job offer than it is to go around trying to sell one’s skills unsolicited.

[crystal-gems]

I sometimes think "What if Rose lost her child and transformed into Steven because everyone was expecting him with enthusiasm?", but then I think "It's a kids show" and I rest relieved.

Polite notice to try and keep down the sad thoughts have all but failed with you people it seems.

ALL BUT FAILED.

I know I can’t control what you guys send (I CAN IGNORE YOU THOUGH :D TAKE THAT), but seriously I’m not entirely kidding here- can we go on like...a Peter Pan happy thoughts day? I really think I need one of those days after so many late night upsetting visual asks lately.