Emily writes, “64oz Games is working once again to improve Braille accessibility in popular board games, this time in tabletop RPGs. This kickstarter will allow them to purchase a high resolution 3d printer to produce a polyhedral die set (D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20 & Percentile) with Braille as well as print numbers. This will also allow them to continue to produce high quality Braille teaching materials that improve Braille literacy world wide.”
There’s more to this than just putting Braille glyphs on the dice – they have to remain balanced! $10 gets you one die, $50 gets you a whole set. The rewards are danged cool, too, including Braille dice earrings!
This is the world’s largest flying Engine of Murder marveling at the fact that it can actually have its tummy rubbed.
I feel like this is the next step up on “loose your fingers” roulette from petting a kittie’s tummy, but just below belly rubs for say a lion.
Can someone who knows birds better than I do tell me whether this eagle is as happy as it looks? Because I want it to be happy. It looks so happy. Bewildered by having a friend, but so happy.
Just popping on this thread to confirm: yes, the eagle is happy about the belly rubs. Golden eagles make this sound when receiving allopreening and similar affectionate and soothing treatment from their parents and mates. It’s the “I am safe and well fed, and somebody familiar is taking good care of me” sound. Angry raptors and wounded raptors make some pretty dramatic hisses and shrieks; frightened raptors go dead silent and try to hide if they can, or fluff up big and get loud and in-your-face if hiding isn’t an option. They can easily sever a finger or break the bones of a human hand or wrist, and even with a very thick leather falconer’s gauntlet, I’ve known falconers to leave a mews (hawk house) with graphic punctures THROUGH the gauntlet into the meat of their hands and arms, just from buteos and kestrels way smaller than this eagle. A pissed off hawk will make damn sure you don’t try twice whatever you pulled that pissed her off, even if she’s been human-imprinted.
If you’re ever unsure about an animal’s level of okayness with something that’s happening, there are three spot-check questions you can ask, to common-sense your way through it:
1. Is the animal capable of defending itself or making a threatening or fearful display, or otherwise giving protest, and if so, is it using this ability? (e.g. dog snarling or biting, swan hissing, horse kicking or biting)
2. Does the animal experience an incentive-based relationship with the human? (i.e. does the animal have a reason, in the animal’s frame of reference, for being near this human? e.g. dog sharing companionship / food / shelter, hawk receiving good quality abundant food and shelter and medical care from a falconer)
3. Is the animal a domesticated species, with at least a full century of consistent species cohabitation with humans? (Domesticated animals frequently are conditioned from birth or by selective breeding to be unbothered by human actions that upset their feral nearest relatives.)
In this situation, YES the eagle can self-defend, YES the eagle has incentive to cooperate with and trust the human handler, and NO the eagle is not a domesticated species, meaning we can expect a high level of reactivity to distress, compared to domestic animals: if the eagle was distressed, it would be pretty visible and apparent to the viewer. These aren’t a universally applicable metric, but they’re a good start for mammal and bird interactions.
Pair that with the knowledge that eagles reserve those chirps for calm environments, and you can be pretty secure and comfy in the knowledge that the big honkin’ birb is happy and cozy.
Also, to anybody wondering, falconers are almost single-handedly responsible for the recovery from near-extinction of several raptor species, including and especially peregrine falcons. Most hawks only live with the falconer for a year, and most of that year is spent getting the bird in ideal condition for survival and success as a wild breeding adult. Falconers are extensively trained and dedicated wildlife conservationists, pretty much by definition, especially in the continental USA, and they make up an unspeakably important part of the overall conservation of predatory bird species. Predatory birds are an important part of every ecosystem they inhabit. Just like apiarists and their bees, the relationship between falconer and hawk is one of great benefit to the animal and the ecosystem, in exchange for a huge amount of time, effort, expense, and education on the part of the human, for very little personal benefit to that one human. It’s definitely not exploitation of the bird, and most hawks working with falconers are hawks who absolutely would not have reached adulthood without human help: the sick, the injured, and the “runts” of the nest who don’t receive adequate resources from their own parents. These are, by and large, wonderful people who are in love with the natural world and putting a lifetime of knowledge and sheer exhausting work into conserving it and its winged wonders.
reblogged for excellent info, I’m so glad that big gorgeous birb really is as happy as it looks!
Today’s bit of positive activism: A reminder that, although the world may contain many bad and awful things, it also contains an enormous winged predator clucking happily as a human gives it a belly rub.
If you’re unsure how to pet a cat (i.e., maybe you didn’t have cats around growing up), it can be helpful to bear in mind that petting is a grooming activity. Grooming each other is how cats bond. Of course, each cat will have individual preferences, but the fact that it’s a grooming thing gives you two basic places to start:
Scratch areas that the cat has difficulty reaching, like the chin and upper throat, behind the ears, or the the very top of the head. (Watch the body language here – you’ll know if you pick the wrong spot right away.)
Work your fingers deeply into areas of thick fur where tangles are likely to form, like around the shoulderblades or the ruff of the neck. (You may come away with a handful of loose fur; this means you’re doing it right.)
Also, if you’re unsure of how to approach, try extending your hand with the palm up and the fingers relaxed for the cat to sniff. It’s the cat equivalent of a handshake – cats sniff each other to see where they’ve been, and for humans, it’s the hands that carry our scent history, since we touch everything constantly.
It’s kind of amazing watching all the folks who didn’t know that petting is a grooming behaviour come to the realisation that cats lick you because they want to pet you back.
Another thing you can do with skittish cats is offer your *closed fist*.
A cat that is shy of an open hand that can grab may approach a closed hand that they don’t perceive as trying to grab them. (Needless to say, don’t actually grab them, please.)
They bonk against your hands (and your head, if they are at head level) the same way they bonk against one another’s heads. It’s a friendly greeting that often ends in friendly cats turning and licking each others shoulders, necks, and ears a few times.
They scent mark by rubbing their faces on things. Their cheek glands produce a pleasant-smelling (to them, we can’t smell it) pheromone that projects friendship and reassurance. When they scent mark you like this, it is a friendly gesture.
So with this in mind, try letting the cat bump your fist, then gently rub the fist past the side of their face as they rub their face against your fist. Think of your fist like a cat’s head, and you are scent marking them back. You are sharing a friendly gesture.
A worried cat may warm up after a few passes of this, and you may be able to pet the neck and back of the head. The under-chin/throat area can be a little dicey. They don’t casually kiss each other there.very often and it can make them feel vulnerable.
Rolling over to show the tummy does not always mean the same thing it means for dogs. Unless you know the cat, be very careful touching the tummy. It might not be an invitation. It might be a readiness posture.
Digression: cats don’t show submission by rolling. Rolling is a defensive maneuver that prepares them for possible combat with other cats by putting their most powerful weapons – their teeth and back claws – into play simultaneously. They fight other cats by hugging with the front legs, biting anything they can reach, and kicking with the incredibly strong hind legs. It is an advantageous position for fighting/play fighting, lets them see all around them AND above, where humans usually approach them from, and it keeps them from getting pinned on their bellies, unable to retaliate. If they need to, they can flip and run away easily because cats are FAST.
So yeah, some cats love tummy stuff. Some hate it and just want you to admire from afar. A gentle hand placed on their tummy should tell you whether they want actual pets there or not. If they stretch or open up their body language, that’s good. If they tense or “sit up” to look at your hand, that’s not good. Stop petting and go back to the head.
Obviously if they grab your hand and rabbit-kick and bite, then you should not pet them there.
Some cats have a hair trigger. Sorry about that.
You can also pet them without moving your hand, just hold it out and let them rub against it. This will give you a good idea of where they like to be touched and how hard and for how long.
Very shy cats, once they realize you are willing to pet them without grabbing, may really come to enjoy approaching you.
We have a cat like this. If you let him see you respect him by not over-petting, he will rub against your hands and legs for a long time.
The moral is that cats are not inconsistent jerks, it’s just that we misinterpret their body language.
It’s also that we do not respect their boundaries when they present them, because we, as humans, want to be allowed to pet all soft things, and, somewhat spoiled by dogs, who love it nearly unconditionally, we unreasonably expect it of cats, a very very different animal.
If you want a cat to come back for more, don’t push yourself on them. They will remember you are a Cool Human and will come back for more.
(Also, speak softly. Cats usually really hate loud people.)
Two other things to consider with all of this: blinking and body position. If you offer your finger or hand, the cat will look up into your face as they sniff. Blink, slowly, and do not stare. This communicates a lack of aggressive intent. It also helps if you break your body plane backward; that is, lean back a little. If you are leaning backwards and not staring, you’re not about to pounce. I spend the first five minutes of an exam leaning against the wall and looking bored. It helps.
People who are excited to see a cat tend to lean forward, make eye contact and (as noted above) raise their voices, and then the cat thinks they’re in trouble. This is why cats are attracted to the people in the room who “don’t like cats;” they’re the ones communicating the least possibility of conflict.
don’t invite me into your d&d group because at some point i will send you a message like “do elves have baking soda?”
don’t ask me for advice because after half an hour of researching the history of leavening i will send you a message that just says “you can only get baking soda from HELL”
I feel like they could conceivably have baking soda. Sodium bicarbonate or baking soda is a fairly common mineral found in natural hot springs. So they probably wouldn’t have it by name specifically but they probably have recipes that specify to use hot spring water in baking and that regular boiled water just doesn’t have the same effect.
for use as baking soda, sodium bicarbonate has to be specifically created using a chemical reaction – the natural form is actually nahcolite
however my DM and i did discover that prior to the availability of baking soda, older recipes called for salt of hartshorn, which could be made from the antlers of deer. the emergence of hartshorn on the scene is still several centuries too late for your average d&d setting, but it would appear not to be due to the lack of technology, just the time people realized it could be used for baking. deer are like, totally associated with traditional fantasy elves, so while it could only have been used for baking small things, like cookies, elves could absolutely still have a similar agent to baking soda for use in their cooking
Don’t buy them if you plan on reading them on a PC or Mac! Or, like, probably at all.
Though this isn’t mentioned anywhere public on B&N’s website, they killed their desktop app and their read-in-browser function a while back, and no longer permit any form of downloading of ebooks off of mobile apps or Nook devices.
Also, “nook” is a dirty word now, so there’s that.
And since they’re in their death spiral, this also means that the app might disappear and take your books with you when they go under. So if you’ve bought books from them in the past and don’t have access in another format, now might be the time to think about how you’re gonna read those books when B&N suddenly closes the way Borders did.
It would be terribly wrong for me to advise B&N/Nook users to do a search on how to extract those files from your phone or ereader and convert them to an open format so you can continue to use them, since by the terms of your agreement with B&N you don’t own those files, you’re just temporarily licensed to use them. I’ll leave you to ponder the potential legal consequences of that, and the likelihood that anyone would enforce them.
(side note: aren’t they the ones who did a s&r in all their ebook files, converting the word “kindle” to “nook”? with very strange consequences for novels in which people started fires? which is fucking ridiculous but still not as bad as the times Amazon repossessed people’s copies of 1984 when there turned out to be a licensing problem with them, and also censored LGBT content on their website?)
And here is the reason why, ladies gents and everyone inbetween, why I still prefer physical books over ebooks.
Under no circumstances should you use a program like, say, Calibre to manage your ereader’s content, including downloading to and from the reader and converting between standard formats. That would be wrong.
I’m so glad we have all of these well-informed people letting us know how to avoid doing the wrong thing about this issue. Thanks!
You sure have seenthis post. It has spread like wildfire over the past few days so I doubt there is any artist out there who hasn’t seen it. But even if you didn’t, you should read on because I’m about to tell you a handy little thing that can help you to protect your art from such assholes as the anon who submitted this bullcrap, as well as art thieves in general.
The magic word is Metadata.
Metadata is like an invisible signature that is embeded into a file. It can contain all kinds of information, like Title, date, keywords for online seach engines, and copyright information. And the best thing is, since this information is “hidden” in the code of your picture, it’s hard to remove it.
There is a nice basic tutorial on how to add Metadata, or “additional file information” to your images in photoshop. It’s really, really easy so check it out!
I’m not sure if you can do the same with any other art program. If you know how to do this in other programs / can confirm that it works the same way there, please tell me so I can add the information to this post.
Adding the Metadata will not stop idiots from taking and reposting your art. It also won’t make them stop editing out your signature. It WILL however, help you prove that you are the original artist whenever you have to. Always remember my friends. You, the artist, are protected by law. No one has the right to take your intellectual property and hard work and repost, use or edit it without your permission. Ever.
art thief: well how can you prove its yours??
me: /opens metadata
I spread the word as it is important to all artist who ever suffered from art thieving or so.
You guys, metadata is super important, you guys. In an everday and legal sense. People legitimately look at and rely on metadata to know the basic, but important bits of information about a digital product (paintings, photographs, exe files, etc.), ESPECIALLY the source.
Don’t underestimate it!
Welp I only saw this just now, hope I ain’t too late ʕ⚆ ᴥ ⚆;;;ʔ I hope it can be done on GIMP somehow.
For GIMP users, here’s a li’l tutorial ʕ❀ゝᴥ・ʔ
1. Launch GIMP, then open or create an image.
2. Click “Image” near the top of the GIMP window and select “Image Properties” from the drop-down menu to open the Image Properties window. You can also press “Alt-Enter.”
3. Click the “Comment” tab near the top of the Image Properties window to switch to it.
4. Click once in the text box to start adding a comment. I strongly recommend you type it
5. Type or paste the comment in the text box, then press “Close” to save it and close the Image Properties window.
6. Click “File” near the top of the GIMP window and select “Save As” from the menu to open the Save Image window. (Depending on which version of GIMP you use, you might have to select “Export As” to accomplish step 9)
7. Type a name for your file in the Name box, then select a folder where to save it in the Save In Folder box.
8. Click the small “+” sign in front of the Select File Type option to see all available file types.
9. Select “JPEG image” from the list and click “Save.” The Save As JPEG window pops up.
10. Use the Quality slider to adjust the quality of your image.
11. Click the “Save” button to save the image. The comment is now embedded in the image.
As for the copyright notice, try not to mess around too much. Here is what you really need to put in it:
I feel like the line between “fluffy uwu self care” and “get your shit together self care” is thinner than people seem to think. Like, sitting in a quiet space with a book and maybe some twinkly fairy lights gives me the spoons to go call my damn doctor like I’ve been meaning to. Bath bombs or shower steamers make me feel content and/or sparkly, which gives me confidence to go out in public. (Plus, I bathed.) I dye my hair funky colors so if I feel like people are staring at me I can say it’s at that instead of whatever my anxiety wants it to be.
The two are not mutually exclusive, is what I’m getting at, and I never see that mentioned, just either “self care is being nice to yourself” or “self care is kicking yourself in the ass to function for a few hours”. Kick yourself in the ass with niceness.
Gotta get your emotion-focused coping before you do your problem-focused coping.
You can regrow scallions by leaving an inch attached to the roots and place them in a small glass with a little water in a well-lit room.
Garlic
When garlic begins to sprout, you can put them in a glass with a little water and grow garlic sprouts. The sprouts have a mild flavor than garlic and can be added to salads, pasta and other dishes.
Bok Choy
Bok choy can be regrown by placing the root end in water in a well-lit area. In 1-2 weeks , you can transplant it to a pot with soil and grow a full new head.
Carrots
Put carrot tops in a dish with a little water. Set the dish in a well-lit room or a window sill. You’ll have carrot tops to use in salads.
Basil
Put clippings from basil with 3 to 4-inch stems in a glass of water and place it in direct sunlight. When the roots are about 2 inches long, plant them in pots to and in time it will grow a full basil plant.
Celery
Cut off the base of the celery and place it in a saucer or shallow bowl of warm water in the sun. Leaves will begin to thicken and grow in the middle of the base, then transfer the celery to soil.
Romaine Lettuce
Put romaine lettuce stumps in a ½ inch of water. Re-water to keep water level at ½ inch. After a few days, roots and new leaves will appear and you can transplant it into soil.
Cilantro
The stems of cilantro will grown when placed in a glass of water. Once the roots are long enough, plant them in a pot in a well-lit room. You will have a full plant in a few months.
Get your infinite food exploit out of here you cheater. People like you ruin the survival horror experience.
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