calufrax

My last post was about a comment on my latest story that sounded sarcastic, or at least insincere, and I postulated that it was written by AI.

Well, I was on the AO3 sub last night and people were talking about a new trend where someone leaves a comment on your fic and then when you engage with them by replying with a thank-you, they follow up with "I really want to do some art of your fic. Contact me on Discord so we can hash out the details." In other words, a new type of art spammer. People are especially outraged by this new thing, because they get the excitement of receiving positive feedback and then find out it was a lie, and that the commenter is just trying to manipulate them.

No idea if this is what this was, as I'm not going to reply to them, but I wouldn't be surprised, especially since they left the "omg this is wonderful" comment but weren't impressed enough to leave a kudo.

shivver

So that story I just posted yesterday. It was okay, right? I mean, nothing amazing, nothing groundbreaking, not even anything moving. Just a couple thousand words connecting the real-life colorful belt from the Byzantine era to the Doctor's scarf.

Well, I got this comment on it:

( Read more... )

And I have to ask, to anyone who cares to voice an opinion: Is this sarcasm? Are they saying it really was rubbish without making it look like a bash?

Because it's so excessive -- especially for such an average, vanilla story -- that I can't take it at face value. I mean, really, who gets emotional about a description of a city being loud and colorful? Not to mention, I didn't even describe the city at all. I just had Victoria say it was noisy and the Doctor point at the church.

And they want "the next update immediately"? This is so obviously a one-shot. Sorry about your hands and knees.

I feel like the person fed ChatGPT my story and asked it to write the most over-the-top emotional comment it could come up with.

I'm torn between answering nicely and deleting it entirely, but I'm starting to lean towards the delete.

adafrog

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shivver

Title: "Threads and Memories"
Fandom(s): Doctor Who
Characters: Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield, Third Doctor
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word Count: 1809

Summary: The Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria visit Constantinople in the early part of the Byzantine Empire.

Read it on AO3.

Author's Notes: This was inspired by the post shown in the ending notes, from Archaeology & Art on Twitter, which

romanajo123 sent to me a couple of days ago. As she said, "there's so many possibilities here", which of course, is exactly the kind of thing I like to write, so how could I resist?

I mean, as Paul Cornell said in response to the question, "Where do you get your ideas?"

The answer is that everyone has ideas. The difference is that writers write them down and work on them.

I got a few ideas from the image, and another few ideas from my husband (who loves to come up with ideas), and this is the one I selected and worked on. Two days later (one day writing, one day rewriting), and here it is. And the most fun I've had writing in a while, because this wasn't induced by my monthly posting deadline (though it still counts for that). \o/

adafrog

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kaffy_r

Yep, I Tested Positive

I thought I was coming down with the same bad cold that Bob was slowly recovering from. I don't get colds all that often, and I'd thought this one would pass me by, but nope, it appeared eager to settle in my head. Well, dang ... I headed for bed, hoping it wouldn't be too bad in the morning.

Around 3 a.m. Saturday I woke up with aches that signaled a potential temperature. And indeed I had one; 100.7, significantly higher than the 97.9 I usually run. I knew that colds don't feature fevers so I tested myself for COVID.

I didn't even have to wait the requisite 15 minutes, both lines were there in bright red within 30 seconds.

Welp.

I've felt like I've been hit by a truck ever since. I keep telling myself it's a smaller truck than it might have been, thanks to the booster shot I got last year (of course, I can't recall exactly when I got it, but I think it was in mid-summer.) but it's still a truck. I ran a lower temp on Sunday, and Monday and Tuesday, today, I haven't had a temperature since then and today I retook a test. At first, the only reaction was the control line. Huzzah! I was certain I'd gotten the first of the two negative tests I'd need to declare myself COVID free. As I said, Huzzah--

--except at the end of the 15 minute wait time, there it was, a faint but definite second line.

Welp. Again.

And it's still like being hit by a small truck.

Ah well, I'm getting some work done on my NTBP* novel, escaping a corner I'd painted myself into. And I'm also making some bread. That always comforts me.

And here, have something I wrote about cold decades ago. Since we're still in single digit temperatures with subzero windchills, it feels the same to me, although this was written after a relatively rare ice storm during a cold snap.

.

Glass City

The city is glass and I am cold.

When cold aches out of bone

into fingertips,

and back again;

into the back of my throat and under the sleeves of my coat

and back again;

why then I can't see the glass.

My own breath blocks my sight. Painfully.

Cold holds my body for ransom.

It slaps my face and makes my toes snap,

it steps on my feet and punches the small of my back.

Traitor body, to let it in.

Did it really start in the bone?

I am so tired of my bones doing that.

All about me, the glass trees rustle.

Splinters of blue light and silver at the top,

in the middle a puzzle and madness of glitter in the bright, faded sky.

Winter sun does that.

It's almost worth

the cold.

March, 1995

* not to be published

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: the kitchen
Current Music: Jackson Wang "Blow"

adafrog

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ffutures

This is an offer of material from multiple publishers compatible with the RPG Shadowdark, a modernized "old school" game of dungeons, monsters, etc.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ShadowCompat

This doesn't include the Shadowdark rules, but you can get a free Shadowdark Quickstart Set from Drivethru RPG.

I'm not really into dungeon-bashing games any more, but Shadowdark is apparently state of the art for the genre, and this bundle adds a lot of adventures at a reasonable price. If you're into the system it's probably worth a look.

scripsi

Esaias Tegnér (1782 – 1846) was a Swedish bishop and writer. He wrote this poem in 1810 as a reaction to Napelon. And 216 years later I find it still has relevance.

The eternal

The strong one shapes his world with the sword,
His reputation soars like the eagles;
But one day the wandering sword will break,
And the eagles will fall in their flight.
What force will create is both fleeting and short,
like storms in the desert it soon comes to nought.

But truth will live on. Amidst axes and blades
her calm, gleaming brow she uncovers.
She guides through the nocturnal world’s shady glades,
and constantly points to some other.
What’s true is eternal: round heaven and earth
its words will re-echo from birth to new birth.

What’s right is eternal: its lily though crushed
can ne’er be completely uprooted.
Should evil prevail and the world end as dust,
what’s right can be willed unrefuted.
Though round you with cunning and force it’s oppressed,
it still has a refuge concealed in your breast.

And will which in flaming breast refuge did seek
takes mandom like God, becomes action.
What’s right now gains arms, what’s true now can speak,
and all see a world that’s re-fashioned.
Each hazard you faced and each sacrifice made
like stars rise from Lethe and never will fade.

And poetry lasts, unlike flowers’ passing scent,
or rainbows in clouds someone glances.
The beauty you fashion as dust will not end,
its countenance old age enhances.
For beauty’s eternal: with mind keen and brave
we fish up its gold-sand from time’s mighty wave.

So grasp all that’s true, so dare all that’s right,
the beautiful fashion with pleasure!
The three will for ever be mankind’s delight
and from time do we plead for such treasure.
What time gave you once you must give back as well,
the eternal alone in your heart may still dwell.

Det eviga

Väl formar den starke med svärdet sin värld,
Väl flyga som örnar hans rykten;
Men någon gång brytes det vandrande svärd
Och örnarna fällas i flykten.
Vad våldet må skapa är vanskligt och kort,
Det dör som en stormvind i öknen bort.

Men sanningen lever. Bland bilor och svärd
Lugn står hon med strålande pannan.
Hon leder igenom den nattliga värld
Och pekar alltjämt till en annan.
Det sanna är evigt: Kring himmel och jord
Genljuda från släkte till släkte dess ord.

Det rätta är evigt: Ej rotas där ut
Från jorden dess trampade lilja.
Erövrar det onda all världen till slut,
Så kan du det rätta dock vilja.
Förföljs det utom dig med list och våld,
Sin fristad det har i ditt bröst fördold.

Och viljan, som stängdes i lågande bröst,
Tar mandom, lik Gud, och blir handling.
Det rätta får armar, det sanna får röst,
Och folken stå upp till förvandling.
De offer du bragte, de faror du lopp,
De stiga som stjärnor ur Lethe opp.

Och dikten är icke som blommornas doft,
Som färgade bågen i skyar.
Det sköna, du bildar, är mera än stoft,
Och åldern dess anlet förnyar.
Det sköna är evigt: Med fiken håg
Vi fiska dess guldsand ur tidens våg.

Så fatta all sanning, så våga all rätt,
Och bilda det sköna med glädje!
De tre dö ej ut bland människors ätt,
Och till dem från tiden vi vädje.
Vad tiden dig gav må du ge igen,
Blott det eviga bor i ditt hjärta än.

adafrog

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kaffy_r

Having Fun Yet?

Not really. Not with the latest murder in Minneapolis, a city I have connections with and memories of. I flinched when I heard the gun shots that killed Alex Pretti yesterday. So very loud.

Only a couple of weeks earlier, again in Minneapolis, Renee Nicole Good, was killed by ICE. Her last words were "I'm not mad at you guys." After - after - she was shot, one of the ICE agents called her a "fucking bitch." Professional attitude there, buddy.

But let's not forget others who were shot, either killed or injured, across the country.

Last September, undocumented immigrant Silverio Villegas González, a 20-year resident of Franklin Park, was killed by ICE thugs in that Chicago suburb, after dropping off his children at school. The narrative from ICE was one we're very familiar with now: he "severely injured" an ICE agent, and dragged the agent with his car.

That agent told his buddies at the scene of González' murder that his own injury was "nothing major." Oops.

American citizen Marimar Martinez was shot five times by CBP agent Charles Exum, who later boasted about it in texts to friends. She survived, and charges against her were dropped. It turns out that she didn't ram any agent's car. Someone rammed her car. Quel surprise.

There have been at least eight other shootings by ICE or CBP agents across the country since last September, of U.S. citizens,and non-citizens. They were lucky enough not to be killed, but some of them are still in ICE custody.

They were all domestic terrorists who used their vehicles to ruthlessly hunt down blameless ICE and CPB agents. At least, that's the message that ICE Barbie and her Trumpian buddies like Greg Bovino have repeatedly given out at press conferences. Not only are they lying, they're not even creatively lying.

Can we have the midterms next week, please, before That Man and his criminal team figure out how to shut elections down?

No?

Well then, we'd best be on our guard.

Current Mood: enraged
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Cortis "Joyride"

romanajo123

Let's see if I can do all this... :P

Thanks, @thisbluespirit !

By the fireside	Snow	In the library
"I'll help you"	WILD CARD	Happy ending
Under a spell	Dressing up	Dancing

Current Mood: blank

adafrog

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ffutures

This is a crossover between the Harry Potter books, the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series, and the film Bedazzled (1967, not the 2000 remake), with some other crossovers and Easter eggs, so far including Dogma (1999) and Time Bandits (1981). All characters belong to their respective creators / owners / megacorporations of doom and not to me, please don't sue...

( VII - Out of Time )

Comments please before I post to archives. Previous chapters are posted on these sites:

On Twisting the Hellmouth - https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-34251/MarcusRowland+Harry+Potter+Undazzled.htm
On Fanfiction.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14336114/1/Harry-Potter-Undazzled
On Archive of Our Own - https://archiveofourown.org/works/54407350

thisbluespirit

Some things that I have had stashed away for a little while:

1.

sovay very kindly sent me a copy of Exit Through the Fireplace by Kate Dunn, which was waiting for me at the new house when I got here. It is about repertory theatre with lots of accounts on every aspect from actors and others involved, including a lot of people I have watched in old telly, so I enjoyed it a lot.

But having only recently before tried to make a post explaining what I loved about Terence Rattigan's plays, including floundering about trying to say how effective his dialogue is, I was v pleased to find this quote:

John Moffatt: (On being in rep, and the difficulty of remembering the lines, doing a new play every week): "You got to know who the good writers were. With Rattigan you barely had to learn it at all, even after just blocking it you almost knew it because it is so beautifully written. The only way to reply to something that has just been said is what he's written."

2. Talking of people being kind,

swordznsorcery wrote me a lovely Sapphire & Steel story with a new Element and a stealth crossover very RTMI here, and if you also like S&S, I recommend taking a look, as it's great! <3

3. The book I was reading introduced me to the utterly untrue but very S&S like urban myth/ghost story of the Zanetti Train. Sounds like an Assignment to me, or a film I would watch, anyway. (It seems to have been taken from a Ukrainian work of fiction, most likely - certainly not one detail of it has any truth in it).

4. Making personalised bingo cards proved to be exactly in my wheelhouse right now, so I had fun with that. If anyone missed it the other day and would like one, feel free to still ask! (Here or there, whatever).

5. Random AO3 tag found while wrangling that is currently amusing me: It is literally just Twelfth Night but with Moomins.

Otherwise still slowly progressing and all that etc etc etc.

purplecat

Colourised image from The War Games. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe face a WWI soldier. Jamie is wearing a pointed helmet.

purplecat

Blue sky with fluffy clouds above a geen field. In the field are two small standing stones and a third lying flat.

Also the stones of Stenness, but not the large ones.

brithistorian

In preparation for the big strike against ICE's invasion of Minnesota tomorrow, I saw a post on threat saying that Dream Museum 1 and Second-Tier Museum 10 were closing tomorrow in solidarity.[^1] So I checked all the rest. Dream Museums 1 and 2 are closed tomorrow in solidarity. Second-Tier Museums 1-4 and 6-10 are closed tomorrow in solidarity. Second-Tier Museum 5 is closed from the 21st to the 24th for exhibit installation, while they are closed tomorrow, it's not necessarily in solidarity. It's also not necessarily not in solidarity, so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt (for now), while also keeping my eye on them.

[^1] For those of you where are new here: I made the list of Dream Museums 1 and 2 and Second-Tier Museums 1-10 so I can talk about my ongoing job search without actually identifying any of the museums I'm applying to work at.

adafrog

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ffutures

This is a bundle of material for Dead Air, a zombie apocalypse RPG from Italian designers The World Anvil Publishing - all books are English language.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/DeadAir

It's inspired by material such as the recent series The Last of Us, and it's fairly clear from the outset that a campaign in this setting will probably not have a happy ending. The aim seems to be to make the best of things before the inevitable doom. Not really my preferred style of play, but if you like things apocalyptic it's a cheap bundle and nicely presented.

reccity-rec-rec

calufrax is sleeping in your mind. One day, it may be brought back in front of your eyes.

April 2018

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29	30

A rec comm for A Teaspoon And An Open Mind

Member Posts

Maybe this is what it's about

No idea what this is about

Choir Day

"Threads and Memories"

Half Day

Dept. of Cold and COVID

Monday

Another fantasy bundle - Shadowdark Compatible

The Eternal

Evening all.

Dept. of Catching Up

bingo

Saturday

Fanfic - Harry Potter / Buffy / Bedazzled - Harry Potter: Undazzled - VII

(no subject)

Random Doctor Who Picture

Random Neolithic Stones on a Friday

ICE OUT of museums!

Snowpocalypse.

Another Horror Bundle - Dead Air

reccity-rec-rec

Links

April 2018

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