Do you think anyone back in the day ever spoofed a pigeon?
Okay, so the way sending messages via pigeon works is that each pigeon is “homed” to a particular roost, typically some sort of tower. If you want to send messages to someone, you get them to send you a wagon full of caged pigeons from their roost; later, when you attach messages to those pigeons and release them, they’ll find their way back home.
So picture this: you’re a nefarious sort who wants to intercept messages between roosts A and B, but for whatever reason you don’t have on-site access to either roost – too much security, or lack of personnel, perhaps. So what you do is establish your own roost C, raise a bunch of pigeons, then waylay the regular shipments of caged birds between A and B, steal their pigeons, and replace them with your own pigeons. And here’s the important bit: you keep the stolen pigeons.
Now, whenever someone tries to send a message from A to B, or vice versa, they’ll unwittingly be using a pigeon that’s homed to your roost C instead. The message comes to you, you read it, then you re-attach it to a stolen pigeon homed to the message’s actual destination and send it on its way.
Pigeon spoofing.
…..@hellenhighwater?
Tag: reference
concept: an austen-inspired tabletop rpg where there are five classes
- single man in possession of a large fortune who is in want of a wife
- young woman with low connections who must marry so that she can secure her future
- cad whose main goal is to convince someone to elope with him
- wealthy, scheming woman whose goal is to ruin the happiness of the aforementioned young woman
- tiresome & vulgar elderly busybody (can be either a man or a woman)
I’m gonna split this out a little farther, because I feel like we’re blurring the lines between classes and stats. First you should pick your Austen class:
- Bachelor/Bachelorette
- Cad / Floozy
- Husband/Wife
- Matriarch/Patriarch
- Busybody
Then you roll for your stats across the 6 basic Abilities:
- Money
- Intelligence
- Connections
- Manners
- Looks
- Snark
10/10 would kickstart
I’ve written this up as a quick-play version! You need a d6, a d20 and 3+ friends who are as into Jane Austen as you are, or at least willing to have a go.
Working title, Sense & Snark-ability.
I’ll make it up into a proper printable with illustrations if I get a chance next week, but in the meantime if anyone wants to playtest it I’d love to know how it goes!
PSA: Stuff You Maybe Didn’t Realize You Can Back Up To AO3, And How To Tag it
Tumblr seems to be in potential death throes or at least, incredibly volatile and unreliable lately, but we’ve done some pretty good and informative work on canon analysis and reference guides so I was looking for ways to back it up without losing it…and the solution became obvious to me:
Archive of Our Own, aka AO3.
“What?” you might ask if you are less familiar with their TOS. “Isn’t that just a fanfic archive??”
No! It’s a fanWORK archive. It is an archive for fanworks in general! “Fanwork” is a broad term that encompasses a lot of things, but it doesn’t just include fanfic and fanart, vids etc; it also includes “fannish” essays and articles that fall under what’s often called “meta” (from the word for “beyond” or “above”, referencing that it goes beyond the original exact text)! The defining factor of whether Archive of Our Own is the appropriate place to post it is not whether or not it’s a fictional expansion of canon (fanfic), though that is definitely included – no, it’s literally just “is this a work by a ‘fan’ intended for other ‘fannish’ folks/of ‘fannish’ interest?”
The articles we’ve written as a handy reference to the period-appropriate Japanese clothing worn by Inuyasha characters? The analyses of characters? The delineations of concrete canon (the original work) vs common “fanon” (common misconceptions within the fandom)? Even the discussion of broader cultural, historical, and geographic context that applies to the series and many potential fanworks?All of those are fannish nonfiction!
Which means they absolutely can (and will) have a home on AO3, and I encourage anybody who is wanting to back up similar works of “fannish interest” – ranging from research they’ve done for a fic, to character analyses and headcanons – to use AO3 for it, because it’s a stable, smooth-running platform that is ad-free and unlike tumblr, is run by a nonprofit (The OTW) that itself is run by and for the benefit of, fellow fans.
Of course, that begs the question of how to tag your work if you do cross-post it, eh? So on that note, here’s a quick run-down of tags we’re finding useful and applicable, which I’ve figured out through a combination of trial and error and actually asking a tag wrangler (shoutout to @wrangletangle for their invaluable help!):
First, the Very Broad:
– “ Nonfiction ”. This helps separate it from fanfic on the archive, so people who aren’t looking for anything but fanfic are less likely to have to skim past it, whereas people looking for exactly that content are more likely to find it.
– while “Meta” and “Essay” and even “Information” are all sometimes used for the kinds of nonfiction and analytical works we post, I’ve been told “ Meta Essay ” is the advisable specific tag for such works. This would apply to character analyses, reference guides to canon, and even reference guides to real-world things that are reflected in the canon (such as our articles on Japanese clothing as worn by the characters). The other three tags are usable, and I’ve been using them as well to cover my bases, but they’ll also tend to bring up content such as “essay format” fanfic or fanfic with titles with those words in them – something that does not happen with “Meta Essay”.
– I’ve also found by poking around in suggested tags, that “ Fanwork Research & Reference Guides ” is consistently used (even by casual users) for: nonfiction fannish works relating to analyses of canon materials; analyses of and meta on fandom-specific or fanwork-specific tropes; information on or guides to writing real-world stuff that applies to or is reflected in specific fandoms’ media (e.g. articles on period-appropriate culture-specific costuming and how to describe it); and expanded background materials for specific fans’ fanworks (such as how a given AU’s worldbuilding is supposed to be set up) that didn’t fit within the narrative proper and is separated out as a reference for interested readers.
Basically, if it’s an original fan-made reference for something specific to one or more fanworks, or a research aid for writing certain things applicable to fanworks or fannish interests in general, then it can fall under that latter tag.
– You should also mark it with any appropriate fandom(s) in the “Fandom” field. Just like you would for a fanfic, because of course, the work is specifically relevant to fans of X canon, right?
If it discusses sensitive topics, or particular characters, etc., you should probably tag for those. E.g. “death” or “mental illness”, “Kagome Higurashi”, etc.
Additionally, if you are backing it up from a Tumblr you may wish to add:
– “ Archived From Tumblr “ and/or “ Cross-Posted From Tumblr ” to reference the original place of publication, for works originally posted to tumblr. (I advise this if only because someday, there might not be “tumblr” as we know it, and someone might be specifically looking for content that was originally on it, you never know)
– “ Archived From [blog name] Blog ”; this marks it as an archived work from a specific blog. And yes, I recommend adding the word “blog” in there for clarity- Wrangletangle was actually delighted that I bothered to tag our first archived work with “Archived From Inu-Fiction Blog” because being EXTREMLY specific about things like that is super helpful to the tag wranglers on AO3, who have to decide how to categorize/”syn” (synonym) various new tags from alphabetized lists without context of the original posting right in front of them. In other words, including the name AND the word “blog” in it, helps them categorize the tag on the back end without having to spend extra time googling what the heck “[Insert Name Here]” was originally.
Overall, you should be as specific and clear as possible, but those tags/tag formats should prove useful in tagging it correctly should you choose to put fannish essays and articles up on AO3 🙂
Oh, and protip sidebar for those posting, especially works that are more than plain text: you can make archiving things quicker and easier for yourself, but remember to plan ahead for tumblr’s potential demise/disabling/service interruptions.
The good news: You can literally copy and paste the ENTIRE text of a tumblr post from say, an “edit” window, on tumblr, straight into AO3′s Rich Text Format editor, and it will preserve pretty much all or almost all of the formatting – such as bold, italics, embedded links, etc!But the bad news: keep in mind that while AO3 allows for embedded images and it WILL transfer those embedded images with a quick copy-paste like that, AO3 itself doesn’t host the images for embedding; those are still external images. This means that whether or not they continue to load/display for users, depends entirely on whether the file is still on the original external server! As I quickly discovered, in the case of posts copied from the Edit window of a tumblr post, the images will still point to the copies of the images ON tumblr’s servers.
What this means is that you should back up (save copies elsewhere of) any embedded images that you consider vital to such posts, in case you need to upload them elsewhere and fiddle with where the external image is being pulled from, later.Personally, I’m doing that AND adding image descriptions underneath them, just to be on the safe side (and in fairness, this makes it more accessible to people who cannot view the images anyway, such as sight-impaired people who use screen readers or people who have images set to not automatically display on their browser, so it’s win-win)
Thanks for this helpful guide! I haven’t used some of these tags so far for the fandom stats work I’ve cross-posted to AO3, but that’s because I didn’t know about them. Great ideas! 🙂
I keep meaning to mass archive my Toastystats work to AO3, but I am always stymied by image hosting when trying to overcome inertia and do so. It takes time to repost all the images to external hosting (like imgur). So thus far I’ve only done it for a few major analyses, and even in some of those cases, the images are hosted on Tumblr. But I should finally get around to it. At least I’ve exported my Toastystats side blog recently, so most of my stuff should be preserved if anything should happen. But maybe this holiday break I’ll finally make more progress.
I second all of this!
I’ve also found that AO3 is the best way for me to distribute my vids. I do have to host them elsewhere, but AO3 gives me a consistent URL and a way to have useful headers with fandom/ship/etc. even if I switch hosting a hundred times.
tips for people making identity flags: whether it looks pretty should be THE LAST thing on your list of priorities if you want it to be taken seriously as a flag
the first thing on your list should be: could I make an actual flag out of this, as in, physically sewing together strips of fabric? and if I can, would it be difficult or prohibitively expensive to do so and still have it be identifiable?
some things that will make it harder to do this:
- multiple shades of the same color. the trans flag works because there are only three colors and they are all distinct from each other (pink, light blue, and white). I could conceivably go out and buy any shade of pink and light blue to make a physical trans flag and still have it be identifiable as a trans flag.
- if instead I had to buy seven shades of blue, that would mean not only having to be sure that each shade was separate and distinct (I couldn’t just get any old blue), but also having to buy seven yards of fabric or seven skeins of yarn or seven skeins of embroidery thread. even if this were possible (for example, at most yarn stores it’s hard to find even two different shades of blue yarn in the same brand and size, let alone seven), it’s stupidly expensive.
- also, side note: different shades of the same color are also not great for people who are colorblind.
- colors that are uncommon. the hot pink stripe was removed from the original pride flag because it was hard to find hot pink fabric. colors that are easy to obtain are better for flags because they are more available. it would be hard to find yarn that DOESN’T come in the asexual pride flag colors (black, grey, white, and purple). colors like lilac, mauve, chartreuse, or peach are far more uncommon and likely would have to be specially dyed or ordered.
- rule of thumb: the larger the box of crayola crayons needed to draw your flag, the less likely it is that someone will be able to physically make your flag. 8-count box? awesome. 72-count? not great.
- too many unique colors. the rainbow flag gets a pass on this because they were specifically going for a rainbow, and nowadays it is common to get fabric, yarn, or thread specifically in pre-made rainbow colors. none of the rest of you get a pass. the more unique colors you have, the more skeins of yarn I’m going to need to buy.
- notice that I’m not saying you can’t have more than a couple of stripes. the trans flag has five stripes; however, it has only three unique colors. most other flags have no more than four stripes if each stripe is a unique color (the ace flag, the nonbinary flag, and the proposed new lesbian flag, among others).
like, please, by all means, go out and make new flags. but please be aware of what flags are for. they’re not meant to stay only on the internet – they’re meant to be seen and used by a lot of different people, and that means making them accessible. please take this into account in your designs.
reblog per il sociale
OH MY GOD. ACTUALLY USEFUL LIFEHACKS. I HAVE MISSED YOU.
Recognizing emotionally mature people
Taken from Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, Psy.D. A summary of the tips the book hands you on how to recognize emotionally healthy people.
They’re realistic and reliable
They work with reality rather than fighting it. They see problems and try to fix them, instead of overreacting with a fixation on how things should be.
They can feel and think at the same time. The ability to think even when upset makes an emotionally mature person someone you can reason with. They don’t lose their ability to see another perspective just because they aren’t getting what they want.
Their consistency makes them reliable. Because they have an integrated sense of self, they usually won’t surprise you with unexpected inconsistencies.
They don’t take everything personally. They can laugh at themselves and their foibles. They’re realistic enough to not feel unloved just because you made a mistake.
They’re respectful and reciprocal
They respect your boundaries. They’re looking for connection and closeness, not intrusion, control or enmeshment. They respect your individuality and that others have the final say on what their motivations are. They may tell you how they feel about what you did, but they don’t pretend to know you better than you know yourself.
They give back. They don’t like taking advantage of people, nor do they like the feeling of being used.
They are flexible and compromise well. Because collaborative, mature people don’t have an agenda to win at all costs, you won’t feel like you’re being taken advantage of. Compromise doesn’t mean mutual sacrifice; it means a mutual balancing of desires. They care about how you feel and don’t want to leave you feeling unsatisfied.
They’re even-tempered. They don’t sulk or pout for long periods of time or make you walk on eggshells.
When angered, they will usually tell you what’s wrong and ask you to do things differently. They’re willing to take the initiative to bring conflict to a close.They are willing to be influenced. They don’t feel threatened when other people see things differently, nor are they afraid of seeming weak if they don’t know something. They may not agree, but they’ll try to understand your point of view.
They’re truthful. They understand why you’re upset if they lie or give you a false impression.
They apologize and make amends. They want to be responsible for their own behavior and are willing to apologize when needed.
They’re responsive
Their empathy makes you feel safe. Along with self-awareness, empathy is the soul of emotional intelligence.
They make you feel seen and understood. Their behavior reflects their desire to really get to know you, rather than looking for you to mirror them. They aren’t afraid of your emotions and don’t tell you that you should be feeling some other way.
They like to comfort and be comforted. They are sympathetic and know how crucial friendly support can be.
They reflect on their actions and try to change. They clearly understand how people affect each other emotionally. They take you seriously if you tell them about a behavior of theirs that makes you uncomfortable. They’ll remain aware of the issue and demonstrate follow-through in their attempts to change.
They can laugh and be playful. Laughter is a form of egalitarian play between people and reflects an ability to relinquish control and follow someone else’s lead.
They’re enjoyable to be around. They aren’t always happy, but for the most part they seem able to generate their own good feelings and enjoy life.
– ©
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Lindsay C. Gibson, Psy.D.some of this seems like something to aspire to, rather than a baseline definition of maturity, but yeah, that’s what you’re aiming for.
How do you make the flowers for the flower crown? like specifically what material is it? Its super cool and I want to make one I just don’t know what I need.
Hmm, I just reblogged it from another site, but I think I can help you in terms of what to buy and how to do it. If you click the link, it’ll take you to the complete photo post that shows you what you need. In any event, here’s the list:
- Nail polish
- Floral wire, a thin bendable wire is ideal. 26 Gauge is fine.
- Floral Tape
- Wire cutters/scissors
- a pencil or cylindrical object to wrap the petals around
- Ribbon (optional)
DIRECTIONS
- First, you’re gonna need to make the crown. You can do this by using the wire you already have or you can use an old headband or anything that you like that resembles a headpiece. Thicker wire is also fine for this step.
As you can see, OP twisted two pieces of wire together and left loops at the end (to attach the ribbon). Then they covered it in brown floral tape.
- The second step is to make the flowers. Using your pencil/cylindrical object, twist the wire around it to create a ‘petal’. Repeat this until you have at least a couple of petals. 3-6 is usually fine, it’s really your call.
- SLIGHTLY bend the petals back to create a natural looking petal.
- After you are satisfied with the shape of your petals, cut out your flower, leaving some wire left to attach it to your crown.
- Repeat the first few steps and make the rest of your flowers.
- Take one of your flowers and CAREFULLY apply nail polish to it, one petal at a time. Think of it like making bubbles. It may be easier to pour the nail polish in a flat plate and dip it, or dip the entire flower into the polish.
Repeat this for all your remaining flowers.
- Twist the two ends of your flowers together to form a ‘stem’.
- Wrap the stems with floral tape, preferably with the same color you used in the base of the crown.
Repeat this for all your remaining flowers.
- The third step will be attaching the flowers to your crown. You can do this a few ways. One way is to wrap the stems around the crown. Another way is to just wrap the stems with floral tape as you go along, like the OP did.
Do this until all your flowers have been attached to your crown.
- At this point, you can tie the ribbons to the loops like OP did, or decorate it any other way you like. 🙂
Enjoy your new floral crown!
TIPS
- You can purchase most of the items in Walmart, Michael’s or any craft or flower store. You can also order it online. 🙂
- REMEMBER, this tutorial is just a guide. If you don’t want to use brown floral tape or if you prefer using the green floral wire, don’t be afraid to change it up. You can use any color or material your heart desires.
I’ll refer you to an ask where I gave a few tips. ASK by starry-ponds
And here are some completed flower crowns from some lovely tumblr users. 🙂 Alyssa & Rebekka
And here is the original link to the post. It’s in Russian.
I also happened across a video that someone linked to in one of the reblogs of my post. It involves using glue as a base that helps make the process easier (and more durable).
Sorry for replying late. I hope this helps you with making your own crown. 🙂
How to create the creepy mirror effect using a panorama. By lililwanjun10
This is so frickin cool
Doing this
Warming
if you are able and willing, please do this. a lot of babies w/o parents suffer their entire lives because of the lack of human contact from ages 0-3. it helps to hold them, rock them, and sing to them (even if badly). it’s vital.
I HAVE FOUND MY CALLING
YOU CAN WHAT
Site Title 