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HeavyMetalSunshineSister

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Blog Entries posted by HeavyMetalSunshineSister

  1. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    In an effort to get some more productive work done than wandering and dying in search of a mesa biome, I elected to hunker down by my river and fish.
     
    This was, on the whole, an excellent idea, considering the fishing rod I dredged up - Unbreaking III, Lure II, Luck of the Sea II.
     
    Clearly, great Cthulhu would like a favor in return for his generosity. Perhaps a temple is in order.
  2. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So, I found the most adorably stupid Daily Mail article today - yes, I know, that's a tautology, but bear with me.
     
    The article, you see, was about the Greenland Shark, a large, cold-water shark most closely related to dogfish, that looks like this;

     
    Now, most of what the article said in describing this "fearsome creature" isn't factually incorrect - they have indeed been found with the remains of polar bears, reindeer, and seals in their stomachs.
     
    The article just failed to mention one thing - the top speed of the Greenland shark is about 1.6 miles per hour - somewhat slower than a live polar bear, but considerably faster than a dead one. In keeping with the tendency for these sharks to be mostly or completely blind (due to a parasitic copepod that feeds on their corneal fluid), and their goofy, mostly-harmless appearance, the Greenland shark is believed to primarily be a scavenger.
     
    As the delightful Wikipedia article on this shark put it;
     
    Fearsome creature, indeed.
  3. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    More Technic fun.
     
    I went tromping off through the Nether Portal I set up in a Siege Castle I captured a while ago, taking only weapons and food, with the intention of acquiring a few Blaze Rods so I could craft an Ender Chest or two... well, exactly two. Thaumcraft plans.
     
    Knowing that a Nether Fortress would be the best thing to find, I set about the task of wandering aimlessly until I found one - finding, instead, this cheeky little pigman in a funky robe who immediately started setting me on fire, making me nauseous (a nasty little effect that makes your vision swim about) and spawning pigmen (not even zombie pigmen, just pigs on two legs) to rush forward and... I don't know, hug me? They weren't very good in battle, and judging by his swift death, neither was the Great Wizard Chuckles.
     
    So more wandering ensued, followed shortly by falling in lava, dragging myself out, and burning to death. This resulted in a knee-##### expedition to find the site of my death, which resulted in abject failure, and the creation of a new escape Portal... which dumped me in a cave, under the ocean, more than three kilometers away from my house.
     
    ...Yeah.
  4. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So, yesterday, everyone's favourite guitar-playing undead penguin released a new album - his third, if you don't count the EP released under his metal side project, the name of which I can't even type right because Windows refuses to believe that you can put an Ümläüt over a t. You can follow the link above to the album's Bandcamp page, where you can pick up this shiny new album for a very reasonable seven bucks - not bad for 45:18 of instrumental rock. The cover art might be a bit sketchy, and there are no actual grenade launchers included with the album, but that doesn't change the quality of the music within.
     
    I could take the time to review the album in detail, but that would be time you're not spending checking it out yourselves - so go have a listen, buy the album, and pay special attention to the tracks Underwater, The Snake Charmer, and Hitchhiker.
  6. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    This is it.
     
    The thing absolutely none of you were waiting for. The thing even I wasn't waiting for.
     
    Because I had no idea it was happening until literally five minutes ago.
     
    Also because I'm a little slow up top.
     
    But yeah.
     

    The First Ever Madman-With-A-Box Drawing Contest,



    to be held from this point onward at no specific time interval.


     

    Basic Idea: Combine two animals that should never be combined, in a way that makes it clear that yes, they totally should be combined. For example, a turtle that is also an osprey. Don't use that one, that would be cheating.


     

    Entry Period: Until the end of the year. Seriously, go nuts. I'm in college and you're lazy, so I'm giving you plenty of time.


     

    Entry Limit: One per person, and each person has to have a unique idea - I would suggest that you announce your idea in the comments for this before you actually submit it, so no-one steals your idea.


     

    Rules:



    -All entries must be your own work.



    -All entries must combine two (2) animals that either really exist, really used to exist, or is part of an established mythos. This means that, if you truly feel like it, you could combine, say, a creature from H. P. Lovecraft's works and something from Doctor Who.



    -Entries may be drawn, and, in fact, probably should be drawn, but if you think you're slick, I guess you can try to Photoshop - just know that a sloppy job won't win. You have to convince me that this thing really is a turtle-osprey or whatever.



    -Concepts should be announced in the comments for this. It's not my fault if you get a great idea, never announce it, and then somebody else takes the idea.



    -All entries should be awesome.


  7. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Every month, I've decided, I'm going to put a shiny little spotlight on a specific musician, generally one who also composes (or composed, I've nothing against dead guys), give a brief description of them, and recommend a small sampling of their work for curious listeners to get started on.
     
    This month, it's the father of ragtime, Scott Joplin.

     
    Scott Joplin is widely considered to be one of the most important composers of ragtime, and, indeed, the innovator that basically created ragtime. Ragtime, in case you don't know, is generally piano-based music characterized by a playful use of syncopation, and, in the hands of a creative composer, can have pretty awesome applications in contemporary music.
     
    There's really quite a lot of Joplin's work out there - you can even buy little books full of his sheet music so you can have the satisfaction of having the most fun with a piano since Beethoven got evicted from his apartment for rocking too hard.
     
    If you want to get started, here's three pieces to look up:
    -The Entertainer Yes, yes, I know. To those all too familiar with ice cream trucks, this song just sounds like diabetes. Gotta forget the ice-cream-truck connection and just listen to the song itself.
    -Maple Leaf Rag This one's just cool.
    -Gladiolas This is an awesome title, and a very good example of what ragtime should sound like.
     
    Use those three as a jumping-off point for jamming with Scott Joplin, and tune in next month for another Musician Spotlight!
  8. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    My luck in Minecraft has an interesting flavour to it lately - I set out from my home on a savanna plateau, hoping to find a mesa from which to get hardened clay for use in the construction of my house.
     
    I did not find a mesa biome.
     
    Instead, I found three villages and five desert temples, leading to quite the collection of enchanted books, horse armor, diamonds and other goodies... and a rather low food supply by the time I turn back - or think that is what I am doing.
     
    This results in me getting desperate enough for food to drop some planks and craft a fishing rod.
     
    This results, not in food for the first few casts, but a Punch II, Power IV bow, 4 puffer fish, and a few random useless trinkets. After getting enough salmon and unnamed fish to stop starving to death, I continue south, confident that I will see my hilltop tower any second now...
     
    ...Except I'm now two kilometers south of the origin point, and did not walk that far in setting up my base.
     
    Good thing I found a horse right after making this realization, really. Diamond horse armor and a convenient saddle undoubtedly saved my life tonight.
  11. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    This is one of those times when the fact that I am incompetent to install a moderator for Minecraft, much less make one, really frustrates me.
     
    See, I had what I consider to be an awesome idea for a moderator to use in Survival mode. Basically, the idea is that Creepers would be modified to no longer take fire, explosion, or fall damage, so they explode, then just go ahead and do it again. And again. And so on until you manage to kill them. Increasing their base health to around what Endermen have would also be good for this idea. Giving 1 Creeper in every 10 the ability to teleport like an Enderman would, of course, be overkill, so if I was making this moderator I'd do it.
     
    Sadly, I am, as stated above, incompetent to make or even install a moderator for Minecraft. So this isn't going to happen.
     
    So I guess I'm just venting frustration/giving you a glimpse of the horrorterrors I'm unleashing on an alternate Minecraft-playing universe.
  12. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    The blogs have become an uncomfortable place lately, and, due to some disagreements on the way a few things have been handled, I have found myself at odds with people I would rather count as friends. I don't see an end to this situation coming as soon as I would like it to, so there is something I would like to make clear before things go too far.
     
    I do not want a fight.
     
    I have never logged onto BZP with that desire in my mind. I have enough people to argue with elsewhere, were I the sort of person who revels in confrontation - but I'm not. When I log onto BZP, I want to relax, laugh with my friends, and maybe debate minor matters of philosophy. No matter what is said in the rather more serious debates happening now, and those still to come, no matter what my errors of communication or careless, accidental, hurting words, I am here to talk, relax, and have fun. Not to make enemies.
     
    If the time ever comes that I do not respect you, I will not fight you. I will not argue with someone for whom I have no respect, whose views, desires, and feelings hold no value for me. I will ignore them. I will give such a person up as a lost cause, and happily avoid the irritation they brought me.
     
    So unless the time comes that I never reply to anything you say, never visit your blog, and never argue with you, know that I respect you. I may not be your friend, I may not agree with you on anything, you may not even like me, but I would rather have you as a friend than an enemy, and if, by some chance, all the people who are so much better at being human and nice and comforting than I am have disappeared, know that, if you need it, I will try to have something good to say. I will try, in the small ways available to me, to make your day better.
  13. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Yes, yes, I know. I'm a lazy sod and should be shot on sight for so terribly neglecting the Spotlight for this month. I know.
     
    On the plus side, I have great (if stupidly delayed news) for you all.
     
    On April 2nd (3rd in the States, aka where I'm at), Ian Anderson, frontman for Jethro Tull (you might recognize them as the legendary band behind albums like Aqualung, Thick As A Brick, and Stormwatch) released a sequel to Thick As A Brick, forty years after the release of the original. Owing to, from what I've heard from a couple ill-remembered sources*, a certain disinterest on the part of guitarist Martin Barre (who is doing his own solo tour and album, so fret not about him!), this album was released as an Ian Anderson solo album, but, with a full cast of other musicians assisting him, including a couple of full-time Tull members, Ian has managed to produce an album that is every bit as powerful as the original, if a little bit less nostalgic.
     
    Unlike the original Brick, TAAB2 is split into multiple tracks, each one outlining a different possible past for Gerald Bostock, whom you might remember as the fictional boy credited, on the mock-newspaper album sleeve of the original, with writing the lyrics to Thick As A Brick. The premise of this sequel album is, essentially, a musing on what might have become of the 10-year old boy, forty years later. It's an interesting question, and one that is answered in four different ways - he either ended up homeless, a corrupt banker, a preacher, a soldier wounded in action, or a shopkeeper with a fondness for model trains.
     
    If you enjoy progressive rock, or just liked the original Brick, I suggest you buy this album, as its feel is much more like classic Jethro Tull than Ian Anderson's solo albums in recent decades.
  14. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    ...and Star Trek Colon Into Darkness becomes a much better movie. Why?
     
    1.
    That's the Captain speaking, right there.
     
    2.
    "Khan" was basically the hero anyway - he exposed a corrupt, war-mongering admiral, went toe-to-toe with the Federation to save his friends, and got shot in the back by Kirk and Scotty. Keep Burgerking Custardbath in the role, and it's just Sherlock Goes to Space with thirty minutes of desperately scrambling to make him the villain at the end.
     
    Swap Mal in, and it's just another day at the office.
     
    3.

    [All glory to the greatest webcomic on Earth. Fan poster by offsite artist deino-erd.]
  16. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Decided to try my luck at finding a mesa in another world, just for giggles.
     
    Given the known incident with the 'indianajones' seed (spawned the player in a jungle, I thought maybe, just maybe, blackmesa would spawn me in, you know, a mesa.
     
    Nope, zombie dungeon.
     

  17. HeavyMetalSunshineSister

    Clue

    By HeavyMetalSunshineSister,

    Rather a big fan of the movie Clue, but I've got strong opinions on the endings shown. Now, I understand it's meant to be truly ambiguous and, really, impossible to discern which is really the ending (the bit where it says one of them really is the real ending can be safely placed in the same category as communism, they're all equally right and wrong), but the third one, while entertaining, didn't convince me. For one thing, "Mr. Body"s motive for bringing them all there if he really is Mr. Body and not, in fact, Wadsworth, is suspect. Were he truly Mr. Body, and wishing to eliminate his spies, he would be more likely to take the option least likely to put himself at risk - not, as we see in the third ending, the one most likely to put himself at risk. Furthermore, what motive would "Mr. Body" if he really is the butler and not Mr. Body as he was shown to be in the unambiguous portions of the film, have to pretend to be Mr. Body, considering he was in a room full of people with perfect motive to kill him? No amount of money from his employer could be enough for that kind of suicide.
     
    Also, I firmly believe that only the true blackmailer could be that much of a sleazeball. He simply didn't have the personality for a butler - not deferential in the least, not polite, certainly not formal in any way. He did, however, have the personality of someone used to pulling the strings.
     
    I will reserve statement on whether I believe the first or second to be more likely. My goal here is simply to state that I believe the third ending to be the least probable (oh, and also to make sure my blog still works).
  18. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Turns out - and I am ashamed for not figuring this out earlier - narrow hallways are the perfect place to fight Wither Skeletons. You just string three blocks along at their head height, stand back, and hit them until they die. The only way it could be simpler is if someone had already placed the blocks for me.
  19. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    For a personal project, I find myself needing to know what ships of the medieval Chola Navy looked like - my particular interest rests with the Thirisadai and Vajara classes. My own searches on the topic have come up empty, for the most part. Accordingly, I am asking you to assist in this search, in the hopes that you might have better luck finding good sources than I have.
     
    To be useful, pictures of these ships should show them from the side, front, back or top. A view of the ship from beneath is unlikely but would be nice. Colour images are preferred, but black and white is acceptable as long as there is enough detail. Photographs are probably more than we could hope for, but don't ignore the possibility.
     
    If you choose to help with this, thank you. If you do not, it is not your project and you had no obligation to do so.
  20. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Alright, alright, I know how to take a hint. No response on something generally means it's been weighed, measured, and found wanting. Really wanting. Thus, the other thing has been discontinued.
     
    That being said, I'm still doing goofy things in Minecraft. Finally returned to the home continent, and ended up starting on a fortress that relies oh-so-much on projectile-based defenses. Currently working at a testing range I dug into the permafrost to ensure I've got the splash potions that will be fired from rapid-pulsed dispensers done correctly. This primarily involves putting sheep in a hole and shooting potions into the hole, then checking for dead sheep.
  21. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So I was showing off my grand sand-trap to a friend today - hmm. Before I say what happened, I should probably go over what was supposed to happen.
     
    In a subterranean complex, I built a large domed room with the floor open to the Void. I then went around the perimeter of the room, placing pistons on one long circuit, with Repeaters used as the only direct redstone contact for each and every piston, and occasionally using a Repeater-and-wire loop on the outside of the circuit to extend the energy flow. At the beginning of the circuit, near the switch, is a piston-based door that's closed when the circuit is on, and open when it isn't.
     
    On each of the perimeter pistons, I placed a block of stone and a torch, and then proceeded to build a sand-dome held up by the torches. The plan was for the dome to collapse when the switch was flipped to open the door, barring the way to incautious adventurers.
     
    Instead, precisely nothing happened. The input stopped mattering, because the circuit stayed on even when it was off.
     
    Advice for how to fix this circuitry error would be much appreciated.
     
    UPDATE: Problem fixed via good-old double-inverters, and basically switching things around to get my circuit to bear less resemblance to a waffle. I still am not sure whether the monstrosity I originally created was a true Illogic Circuit or merely an astronomically slow Clock Circuit.
  22. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    My new flute arrived in the mail today. I'm already decently good with the penny whistle, so the most difficult thing for me is going to be getting a consistent sound out of that little embouchure. I'll be spending the next week working solely on that, after which I will allow myself to begin working on actually getting a tune out of the thing.
     
    I'll be keeping a record of my progress on this blog, both for the really bored people who, for some reason, actually care about the "progress" some loonie is making on moulding himself into a pale imitation of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, and for the obscenely bored person who will one day be looking back to fondly(?) remember his earliest experience with the Irish flute.
  23. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So
     
    It's been a while. Things have gotten... kind of weird, since the last time I made a blog entry.
     
    I haven't composed a new piece of music in more than a year, thanks to my computer's speakers and headphone jack breaking - followed, back in May, by the computer itself. About to go ahead and install a couple of programs for that on this borrowed computer, once I can verify that the owner is cool with that.
     
    In less aggravating (but probably more important) news, some of you might have noticed I've flipped the gender marker on my profile. Not joking about that one, in case you were wondering. To be honest, I should have figured it out a bit before I did, but hey, I was busy.
     
    Lastly, to leave things on a light note, finally bought and played through The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Ghirahim's a pushover, Demise is a filthy cheater, the game itself honestly talks too much, and the whole thing leaves me yearning for Skyrim's world design - not heavily-modded Skyrim, either. Pure vanilla, with all of its failings and, as I judged it at the time, emptiness.
  24. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    'Ello. This is where I'll be dumping all of my stuff for the COTRPG Starscape, which presently promises to bloom into a massive war with everyone annihilating everybody.
     
    In the interim, I'll kick things off with the information this entry is for.
     
    Main Species Profile
    Species Name: Diemawr
    Description:
    -Physical: The Diemawr are a physically powerful race, and their somewhat brutish appearance can be off-putting to some. Despite this, they are a very dexterous race, with their hands bearing four fingers and two thumbs each. The Diemawr are, like many sapient races, bipedal, with the opposable toes on their five-toed feet giving away their arboreal ancestry. Their tails, at five feet in length, are fully prehensile, with tiny barb-like scales along their length to aid in gripping. The head of a Diemawr is somewhat frightening to those who are not accustomed to the sight - so much so that Diemawr warriors often elect to not wear helmets in ground combat, to aid in psychological warfare. The head is very boxy in shape, with a broad, squarish snout. The nostrils are bony and rather large, with the nose connecting directly to a fleshy air-sac above the snout. Behind the air-sac is a bony plate that covers the top of the cranium, with two blunt horns protruding near the back of the plate. The large eyes of the Diemawr are located just at the front of the cranium, with cat-like pupils. Behind the plate, an array of protofeather-like quills jut out from the head, and the grooming of these quills is a matter of great pride for Diemawr. The torso of the Diemawr is rather broad and stocky, with strong, thick bones and heavy musculature. Overall, a Diemawr is only four feet tall at the most, which puts these clever reptiles just a little below the average height for spacefaring species.
    -Psychological: Many a careless sociologist has dismissed the Diemawr as a simple, brutish "warrior race", when, in fact, their culture is much more interesting than that. The Diemawr place great emphasis on personal pride and accomplishments, and are taught from an early age that the success of an individual helps push the species as a whole forward, while a careless or lazy member of the race drags them all down. As a result, any Diemawr that does not wish to be made a pariah strives to achieve as much as possible in their chosen field, which leads to fierce competition for work in all fields - the sciences, the arts, politics, even service jobs see heated competition between potential workers. As a result, any accomplishment made by another race can be expected to be seen as a direct challenge to the Diemawr, and will certainly be met with an attempt at something bigger and better.
    -Government: The Diemawr are led by a Lord President and a 150-member Conclave. Members of the Conclave are elected directly by the people every five years, while a new Lord President is elected upon the death of the reigning Lord President. The Lord President handles external policy, appointing military leaders and deciding on both diplomacy and warfare. The Conclave gives their advice to the Lord President on these matters, but their real responsibility is internal affairs. Political parties are absent, with all candidates standing alone and on their own personal qualifications. All politicians are career politicians, and study history, philosophy, and military tactics for years before they run for major office. Local conclaves exist for any community large enough to be named, and, as would be expected, these conclaves only decide on local matters too small for the Conclave to preside over.
    History: The Diemawr started civilization as a tribal race that had just decided to give life outside of the trees a try. By lucky coincidence, they evolved on a planet with a single large continent, limiting the possibilities for internecine warfare. Less then 5,000 years into their history, the Diemawr had unified into a single federated system, roughly identical to the one still in use today. While large-scale disputes continued to occur - any species without them is most likely extinct - the Diemawr used the two-thousand year period between unification and the present day to refine the artistic and scientific aspects of their culture. By the time a manned probe had visited the very bottom of their homeworld's great global ocean, they knew there was only one place left to go - space.
    Homeworld Name: Diemwnt-Cwn The name is the same as the name given to the vast forest that served as the original home for the Diemawr, in the language that became the dominant business/diplomatic tongue for the Diemawr. Any resemblance between this language and Welsh is purely spot-on, these are seriously Welsh-speaking aliens, and any resemblance between this planet's name and the name of a David Bowie album (in Welsh) is purely awesome.
    Homeworld Location: Sector 2, System 12. If it's not too much bother, I'd like take the 2 colonial systems option, and snag 11 and 13 as a result.
     
    Ship Classes
     
    Class Name: Brawd-dur
    Class Size: Medium
    Class Function And Description: The Brawd-dur is specialised for the task of eliminating large targets that would present too great a threat to other units. Because of its singular weapon system, the Brawd-dur has to carry extra armor, and, to make it somewhat defensible on its own, reinforced turret-rotation equipment to provide the ship with a 32,400-degree firing arc. (360 lateral, 90 vertical)
    Class Weapons: Solet heavy armor (2), Reinforced Turret (1), Dur-Llaw Duw (1)
     
    Starbase Classes
     
    Class Name: Carreg-dur
    Class Size: Starbase
    Class Function And Description: Robust orbital-defense station, meant to hold off an invasion with minimal support from mobile forces. The Carreg-dur is an automated military satellite locked in geostationary orbit. It receives its orders from command-stations located on the planet below, and each Carreg-dur starbase serves both to detect an approaching threat and as the most reliable means of dealing with it.
    Class Weapons: Solet heavy armor (3), Dant-a-Grafanc (5), Gwaed-a-Dur (1), Fighter Bay (1)
     
    Weaponry and Equipment
     
    Bah, I'll get to this bit later.
  25. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So, I liked X-Men Apocalypse. Haven't had more than a few hours for it to sink in yet, but, you know, so far so good.
     
    I like how the main villain's early actions make it understandable how someone could choose to follow him without personally desiring the end of the world. I mean... nuclear disarmament? Good start, buddy!
     
    But
     
    What if
     
    What if there were a story where some mighty immortal, trapped under rocks for literally thousands of years, woke up, got to see the world
     
    And had an overall positive reaction at first? Like,
     
    They saw cars, and were impressed with the speed at which a machine, unaided by any beasts of burden, could move
     
    And they saw trains, and got excited about trains, because trains are exciting
     
    And then planes. Wow, planes. Planes! If I were that old, and had been asleep that long, planes would blow my mind.
     
    And then someone tells them that smallpox isn't a thing anymore, and oh my good golly gumdrops, smallpox isn't a thing anymore! Again, coming from that far back in history, I'd be blown away.
     
    So they're impressed by that, and by the scale on which people live now (because Cairo ca. 1984 is much, much bigger than Cairo back when there were still working out the issues in pyramid-building), and at first this mighty, immortal ruler, this ancient world-ruler, is just walking around, taking in the sights, and they're thinking, y'know, this is good. I like what you've done with the place. A+ work, kids.
     
    And where they go from there kind of depends on the tone you want to set. Do they remain impressed? Do they decide that humanity, while it has progressed, still needs them at the helm for some reason? Do they see something, some darker side to this advancement, that convinces them that they need to do something big to change things?
     
    Can't really get into that last one without discussing what it is that would convince them that the world needs re-making, and I'm not in the mood to make it something ridiculous like Adam Sandler movies (though, to be fair, "burn the world" is a perfectly understandable reaction to Adam Sandler's financial success), so... yeah. Fun thing to think about.
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