From a 1916 guide to writing in library hand, a must in the age of the handwritten catalog card. https://curiouscatalog.tumblr.com/post/769053727776702464/let-us-practice-the-ancient-skills-of-our
The Yule candle - a large candle that could be 18 inches tall - was once a feature of Christmas in parts of the UK. Sometimes decorated with evergreens, they were given a place of honour in the family home and were the focus of several superstitions. They had to be kept burning all night on Christmas Eve, otherwise there would be a death in the family. A piece, however, must be saved and kept till Christmas next year for luck. It was considered bad luck if the candle would not light easily or if it was moved when alight. Under no circumstances, should the candle be snuffed out. Most descriptions of the Yule candle come from Yorkshire in the 19th and early 20th centuries. #folklore #Christmas #Yule #weird #candle #history
when i was a kid, you could build a simple game or application by dragging and dropping a few UI controls, and gluing them together with a few dozen lines of BASIC or Pascal. it might take 15 minutes, at most, to get your little character walking around on the screen. this is how we ended up with a lot of hilariously good and cheap shareware you could share on BBSes in the 90s.
for the past year i've been quietly working on building a software thingie that doesn't exist anymore. i've been building a software toolkit that's kinda like Visual Basic and Borland Delphi, designed for making tile-based 2d games.
i've been using it to build my own little goofy games, and improving on the drag'n'drop IDE as i figuring things out. it's not done yet, and has a long ways to go before it's ready for other people to start making their own little applications and games. think PICO-8 or ZZT if they had grown up on a steady diet of Windows 3.1 and GeoWorks Ensemble instead.
i'm really, really bad about polishing turds to infinity and never releasing them. to break that habit, i've built a mini-website for the IDE/Shareware Creation Kit. it's called Exigy, named like a bad 80s metal hair band or richard garriott game.
i'll be posting weekly blog/devlog updates there, so i don't irritate anyone with them on this account. there is an rss feed button at the top right if you hate my demonic php and css.
So, apparently targeted advertsing may be coming to #bluesky...
This is not a surprise at all, and has been predicted for a while. Despite the protestations from Bluesky enthusiasts saying that selling domain names was going to do it, the BS business plan never made any sense.
And now they are paying for server costs for 20+ million users and watching their $15M investment from Blockchain Capital dwindle.
Reality bites, and it bites hard.
Hey makers/artisans/crafter community: the lace folks have recently been finding AI slop "beginner" books that have great cover photos to lure newbies--but are actual crap.
I've got a journalist interested in the idea. But we'd like more examples if you've found them.
The video linked in this post by @yarnplayer set me off. It harms new people and designers too.
https://yarnplayertats.blogspot.com/2024/11/my-original-free-patterns-are-not-ai.html
#AIslop #crafting #maker #tatting #bobbinlace #embroidery #sewing
How to Cheat on a Virginity Test https://www.medievalists.net/2023/12/cheat-virginity-test/ #History
Gundam GQuuuuuux Designer Talks About How Much Evangelion's Hideaki Anno Is Involved
ITT: Please post any zine creation resources you know of, anything even adjacent. If you think “this might help someone make a zine” then post it here. And please boost.
I’ll start with The Zine Arranger by @nash
Convert a multi-page PDF into a zine!
Tameka reached down into her jacket pocket for the key to the mausoleum's heavy lock. It was Saturday and she'd come visiting, like always.
Once past the iron gate and heavy inner door, Tameka got to work. Fresh cut flowers in a vase first, replacing last week's. Then everything in her heavy bag-
"Here are the books you wanted," she said. "Three weeks on them."
She swapped the stack for the ones waiting, and picked up the scrawled list of new requests.
She left a fresh notebook and pens along with a letter.
It was a nice visit, like always.
"This is a first," Yvette said as she wandered through the vast caves and did her best to mentally inventory the seemingly endless collection of things and stuff. "I've never heard of a dragon downsizing."
Beside her, the dragon whose name was closest pronounced 'Fridianne' rumbled gently.
"It is time for a change," Fridianne explained. "I would now like to hoard experiences, beginning with the experience of having less and not more. It will be new!"
Yvette nodded. As long as she got her five percent-
-and also that colorful glass lamp!
Fair warning heads-up: January brings the Character Creation Challenge once again! One character a day for 31 days! I'll be going in again this year, for good or ill, my third year running.
https://tardiscaptain.com/2024/11/26/2025-character-creation-challenge/
Hello! | こんにちは! FE/FF/SaGa/GBF. I'm here for mobage/video games, general geekery, writing, and whatnot.