The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

So somewhere around 8 and a bunch of time for people to be unhappy about the wording should do it for the minor tweak.

Yay for having a discussion and coming up with wording we can agree on!

- Tomash

I agree with 10-12 as a general thing, but in this case we're basically looking at a minor tweak - the Constitution already says this, we're just removing language that suggests posting is discouraged, and streamlining the structure. So 6-8, or 8-10 if you really want to push it.

Hopefully, a dozen people will jump in and ratify both amendments (or several will say no), and there will be no question about it. :)

hS

For this puzzle, I used TXR Lisp. TXR is a scripting tool developed by Kaz Kylheku, aka kazinator, aka that guy who never shuts up about TXR on HN.

Credit to him, TXR is a really awesome tool. The associated Lisp dialect is basically CL with a lot of built-in functions and shortcuts and a few semantic changes to make it more convenient for scripting. It also has wrappers for all the POSIX stuff you could ever want. So I solved this with `fork(2)` and `pipe(2)` as the process and IPC mechanisms.
https://pastebin.com/imTJR4t7

1. If you feel something (e.g. a story, some news, a website, a salmon cannon) might be of interest to the PPC, please go ahead and bring it up. Don't worry about your interests being too eclectic, either — someone's likely to be interested.
   
   On votes, given that we have about 50 people, going off the census count, I'd say around 10-12 votes with no objections is sufficient to pass something. That's about how many it took to elect Delta and Maslab mods on the Discord, and also how many we needed to impose a no-longer-temporary block a few months back, from what I remember.
   
   - Tomash

Someone made illustrations of Pile of Ash. I think you can see them all at once here on Mashable, though it's loaded strangely for me.

This is awesome. ^_^

~Neshomeh

But I'm still here. Just sayin'. Y'know, if Wobbles wants to go dry off at any point, I can take over. For the team?

(( Dammit, the Notary is not allowed to cry. Or, well, looking at it again, I guess there aren't actual tears coming from her eyes, but it still reads like crying to me. This situation must be rectified immediately. ~NeshomehNope, still Jenni. Never mind the fourth wall. ))

I admit I don't really understand it - personally, I've always come to PPC community spaces for the in-depth and detailed discourse, which is why I press so hard for it - but I do understand that for some incomprehensible reason, not everyone is exactly like me (you weirdos). So I'm pleased that the PPC is able to offer somewhere for you to get involved despite your time pressure.

What I don't want (and I may have alluded to this a time or two thousand) is for light and fluffy conversations on the Chat to completely displace in-depth ones on the Board. That seemed to be what several people were saying was happening, and I was incapable of not speaking up.

hS

Net neutrality isn't fandom news, right?

I think just 'news' might suffice - we trust the members of the PPC to have their own filters in place on what's of interest to the PPC. That gives us 'fiction, news, websites' as the actual examples, which covers almost everything (plus salmon cannons to catch the odd things).

I'm still not too happy with the 'on-topic' language; perhaps something like 'If you feel something might be of interest to the PPC (...), go ahead and bring it up.' That gets rid of the Board-specific language, too, which is a plus in my book.

We also have an outstanding amendment (the Harassment Amendment) which is only a few votes shy of being adopted - we have six (five if we discount Desdendelle; I think Aegis is still around?), and I feel like 10-12 would be sufficient for adoption (assuming no-one objected to it). Since this one is less of a serious change, 6-8 would suffice; with broad approval from Huinesoron, Thoth, Tomash, and Neshomeh, we're already halfway there.

Once no-one's trying to edit this draft any more, and once the flurry of people actually posting has settled down, I'll throw both up to the top of the Board for discussion and ratification.

hS

I don't have any coherent opinions on the writing, other than that I liked reading it.

I'll admit to not knowing when in the Star Wars timeline there was both an Empire and a non-trivial organization of Jedi, but that wasn't important to the story.

- Tomash

Not attributing any of the dialogue and leaving me to figure out who the heck these people were was a good storytelling technique. It wasn't overly confusing, and you'd left enough hints in there to allow me to figure out it was (hopefully this pads the spoilers) the Notary and Lola before you revealed that.

Those clues, of course, required familiarity with your spinoff. I can't speak to how readable this is to someone who hasn't read your stuff before, so I'd suggest finding such a person if you want a review from that perspective.

Poor Notary. (Oh my word you're getting me to say such things, congrats, but I think I have some context for this.)

If a reunion ever happens (of if this is post any such reunion), it'll be rather intense, it seems.

- Tomash

So, they said the instructions could be arbitrarily interleaved ... what better solution to that than good old-fashioned hardware threads! (Who am I kidding, there's probably better solutions.)

So, without further ado, a program made of gloriously overcomplicating things (or just implementing the spec exactly as written)

Also, the inputs are evil. Registers need to be 64-bits wide or things won't work.

- Tomash

((So since I've written the original prompt, I've wanted to write a almost-companion piece to it. And, well, here it is for your enjoyment unbeta'd, but hopefully not unloved.))

Pariya looked over the view before her. The rolling green plains of Alderaan were dotted with the occasional animal but thankfully this bit had been, so far anyway, untouched by the civil war, while the snow capped mountains rose up in the distance. Here on the balcony the sounds of the rebuilding works were quietened, making it an ideal spot for the Zabrak Jedi to meditate whenever she visited Alderaan and House Teral in particular.

Her current meditations were broken off by the sound of a ship coming to land at the small spaceport House Teral had set up, mostly for the construction efforts. This ship however carried an altogether different cargo, six of what Pariya knew to be the best Bounty Hunters in the business, and it was because of one of them that she was here today.

Theo was not surprised that she was already waiting for him as he arrived on the balcony, "I am sorry for my lateness your Jedi Master-ness." he said sarcastically. "And I have important news for you." This second sentence was said with a bit more seriousness.

"Oh?" Pariya asked as she leaned into Theo for a kiss. "While I do love seeing you again, as I enjoy all our time together, I must ask if Alderaan is really the best place for this. You know the trouble we could get in if one of the lesser royals decides to talk." She snuggled slightly into the Mandalorian's grasp, wrapping his arms around her as she did so.

"They won't." Theo assured her, resting his chin on the back of her head, carefully avoiding the horns. "But I asked to meet you here because I know you prefer it to our normal rendezvous's, especially Hoth and Tatooine."

"That's true. So what is it that's so important?" Pariya asked, as Theo extricated himself from her, so that he was now standing by her side.

Taking a deep breath, Theo looked once again at Pariya, a smile creeping onto his face as he studied her face yet again. With a swift movement he got down onto one knee, one of the spare ammo compartments in his gauntlet popping open to deposit a ring into his hand. Holding the ring up to her Theo asked. "Pariya, will you marry me?"

Pariya gasped in shock before looking down at Theo and smiled. "You are aware it is highly unusual for a Jedi to marry, especially to someone who works for the Empire?"

Theo chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Since when have you been a usual Jedi?"

Pariya laughed in response, before looking back down at Theo, a large grin on her face. "That is very much true..." She trailed off.

"Well?" Theo asked, slightly worried although hoping that the look on Pariya's face meant he didn't have to be.

"What do you think? Of course you dolt." Pariya replied, still smiling and sounding over the moon. "Stuff those uppity Jedi Masters back on Tython. I'll happily marry you." With that she enveloped Theo in a hug, momentarily forgetting that he was still kneeling down and letting out a little squeal as they both tumbled to the ground.

((Fin.))

((Tried to make it so that you don't have to look up any Star Wars stuff to really enjoy the piece, but at the same time knowledge of Star Wars, and the Old republic in particular can give you extra pieces of insight into the piece. I was originally going to include a little bit at the end involving the crew of Theo's ship, however I felt it took away from the rest of piece and would potentially require wiki-diving to fully understand it so I removed it.))

I’ve been waffling about even making this post, mainly because I worry it’s going to turn into me whining about how little free time I have any more. I don’t want it to turn into that, but it’s also unavoidably related to my comparative usage of the Board and the Discord chatroom.

Let me get the doubly embarrassing part out of the way. Some folks here already know this first bit, but the zoo I work at is privately owned, and the owner is a complete cheapskate whose only concern is turning a profit every year. He intentionally keeps each zookeeper team down to the bare minimum number of staff needed to care for their area, to ensure that he’s not wasting money on paychecks, and also to avoid the Arizona law that requires a business to give its workers insurance once it reaches a certain number of full-time employees. Secondly, I’m a naturally slow person—I don’t mean intelligence, but actual physical slowness—so I need to go into work about two hours early each work shift to make sure I get everything done. Between the extra time I spend at work, getting a full night’s sleep every night, and the time I have to spend on shaving, lunch packing, dish washing, laundry, etc, I have very little free time to actually spend on the PPC any more. I’m trying to keep pushing forward (an interlude in the beta stage, a fanmix planned with no cover art yet, some filks on my mind, occasional bursts of archival), but if I’m being honest with myself, I am basically more job than person right now.

The PPC Board is still my home page, as it has been since 2008. But the limits on my time before and after work (if I even turn the computer on after work; sometimes I just pack lunch, eat and go to bed) have turned every new thread posted into a potential time sink that I can’t always afford to engage. If I want to thoroughly read through every post, consider my thoughts, type up a response, double-check it before posting—just kidding, the Leave-For-Work alarm went off before I even started typing, and if I’ve been staring at the computer screen that whole time lost in thought, that means I didn’t get the dishes done, which will now have to be washed tonight, cutting into my sleep time. And, I’m probably not ready to walk right out the door when the alarm goes off, which is going to cost me a small but critical chunk of that early work time, and maybe make me miss some or all of lunch break if I haven’t finished morning animal feedings by then. What I’m trying to say is that my whole work day is so regimented, that adding participation in a Board thread to my already stretched mental to-do list can be a pretty morale-destroying prospect right at the outset of a day. (I’m already upset at myself for drafting this when I still have dinner dishes to wash, and I need to be in bed in thirty-five minutes (down to eighteen as I proofread).) And yes, I could just hold off until the weekend, but then all the interesting Board threads of the week that I wanted to participate in would pretty much eat the entire weekend, and then I would never have time for my own PPC writing, PPC archival, PPC wiki editing, or CD cover design. (I’m allowed one non-PPC hobby, right?)

The chatroom is nice for me because I can have it open while I scarf food without any real sense of obligation to join in. Any time a fandom I don’t know is under discussion, or, you know, just cute animal pictures or memes are being posted, I can simply not join in. It doesn’t feel like an obligation to have long, well thought-out and proof-read responses, I can just talk like regular spoken dialogue when I feel like I have something to add.

I know all of these issues I’m having are entirely on my end, and largely my fault. It’s absolutely not a community problem, nor the responsibility of the community to fix. I just wanted to speak from the place I’m at in life. I desperately want to spend more time on PPC stuff, and I wish I could spend more time participating in Board threads like I used to . . . but I literally don’t have enough hours in a week. And that’s why the Discord has become my base of PPC activity.

—doctorlit, disappointed with himself

Iiiiiiiiit's 3:14 in the morning, Central time, and I cannot put myself to bed. That sentence was originally going to be "and Quincy cannot put herself to bed," but I decided I needed to stop referring to myself in the third person or else I'd start sounding too... Dobby-y. Anyways. Got my three-in-the-morning ramble on here... was there a point to this post? *Checks the title* Yes! There was! As some of you know, I did a reading of this AMAZING Trump parody by Alec Baldwin on Sunday the.... um... on Sunday, the third Sunday of December, at about 4 pm Central Time. Huh, almost twelve hours ago. Aaaanyways, I figured that was pretty fun, and I only got up to chapter four out of... twenty? It's too dark to tell. So! I decided to continue this... idiocy? Brilliance? Sheer hilarity? (I feel like there's a Hilary joke I could make here but I'm too sleepy/dead inside to figure it out) on Tuesday, 3:00 pm American Central time. Come join me on the gen channel in Discord if you want to participate.

TL;DR: TRUMP PARODY BOOK DRAMATIC READING THIS TUESDAY 3 PM AMERICAN CENTRAL TIME BRING A SMALL LOAN OF A MILLION DOLLARS

Is there any way they'd ever possibly get married in the future, assuming they meet at some point? Or would that be way too spoilery to answer?

~Z

You think I'm ever gonna pass up a chance to make the Notary feel deep and unceasing pain? =]

I figured out who they were about a line into the second actual chunk of dialogue, and

And

My feels :(

(Though, apart from the feels--I love the jokes she throws in, I love the Time Lord perspective, and it just gets sadder and sadder and I'm back to the feels now. And the ending. And it hurts. And well done.)

~Z

PS: my one main question: is this canon? Or just something that could have happened but didn't officially?

"I can't."

---

"I, I just... I mean, we've been together so long-"

"Only a few months."

"It feels longer. A lot longer. Like living in a dream."

"I know. It's been a dream for me too. But dreams end, honey."

"Not for you."

---

"What do you want me to do, cob, beg? Because your scrawny arse knows I'll beg."

"Yes, it does. So does the rest of me."

"Then why-"

"Because I can't do that to you."

"... Not following."

"My people, we've got this, this thing. We can go anywhere, at any time, to see and to feel and to be. But we can't leave too great of a mark in case it makes things worse."

".. Still not following."

"I mean-"

"I get it, you know? I get it. The way you are... it doesn't lend itself to settling down. But, but what you're missing is that it doesn't matter to me. I don't want to settle down! I'm twenty-four, for God's sake! I've got my whole life ahead of me!"

"Don't I know it."

---

"Will you at least think about it?"

"I've done all the thinking about it I can, honey. Trust me, affairs of the hearts are something I know a bit about."

"You keep saying that."

"... I'm hearing a quotative like at the end of that sentence."

"Ugh, fine. You keep saying that like I'm not... your first."

"Well, you aren't."

"I, I know that. Sorry. That wasn't what I-"

"I know what you meant. You think that if I won't wrap a bit of metal around your finger or bind our wrists with silk or consume one of our specially bred clone-young at a feast in your honour - bee tee dubs, Sontar is weird as heck - that means I don't think you're special."

"Well? Do you think I'm special? Or do you rate me as just another notch that just happened to stick around-"

"I'm over five hundred years old."

"... Damn."

"Yeah."

"I... I don't know what to say to that."

"Most people ask about who supplies me with my moisturizer."

"Damn it, why do you have a crap joke for every occasion?"

"Practice."

"Over five centuries?"

"You learn to weed out the bad ones."

"No you don't."

"No, I do. I just choose not to."

---

"Won't you? Please? Even now?"

"No, Lola..."

---

The shaking figure of the Time Lord didn't look imperious, or severe, or indeed like much of anything. She just looked beaten. She shook in her partner's arms, the sweat on her brow staining the clown's dungarees.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I can't."

I could have sworn that I signed in! How did it turn up anonymous?

I'm glad the little bits stood out to you; I was hoping to kind of... bring this one more to life with those, if that makes sense?

And the wedding will be sometime after this scene is actually made canon. :P

That was lovely and just plain good fluff.

When's the wedding?

On second reading, I noticed and liked the little bits of description, like the things with the hint of embarrassment and the intertwined hands.

I liked the accio ring bit and how the thing showed up after a "very, very long minute".

- Tomash

((Thanks to Delta for letting me borrow Grace.))

Charlotte tilted her head back, feeling snowflakes settle on her cheeks before melting into tiny droplets. "It's still strange," she commented, looking at Ix, who was hunched in her many layers of coats and sweatshirts. "I'm not used to the cold affecting me."

Ix's teeth could only chatter in reply. Snow clung to her hat and dripped down the front of her shirt; she'd taken a snowball right to the face during their earlier snowball fight and it was starting to take its toll on her.

Charlotte grinned. "Alright, we've seen enough of the courtyard; want to go get cocoa?" She checked her watch surreptitiously; the timing couldn't have been better.

Ix grinned and nodded, and Charlotte looped her arm through Ix's. They shuffled through the snow and back to the door; once inside, they stomped their feet to remove the last clinging flakes before setting off in a random direction. Despite their frozen hands, they pulled their gloves off, intertwining their fingers as they walked.

When they entered Rudi's, the pub was strangely empty. The only person inside was the bartender, Grace, who already had two steaming mugs of cocoa ready on the bar. She gave the agents a knowing smile before disappearing into the kitchen.

Ix looked around, at the dim lighting, the candles flickering on the tables, and Charlotte's face. Though Charlotte's pale cheeks were already flushed from the cold, a hint of embarrassment was beginning to creep up to her ears.

"Lottie," she said slowly, "what's going on?"

Charlotte picked up the two steaming mugs and carried them over to a table draped with a dark red cloth. She set them down before hurrying to pull a chair out for Ix.

"Lottie—"

"Here, sit," Charlotte said, gesturing to the chair. Ix sat, looking up at Charlotte curiously.

Charlotte took one of Ix's hands between her own. "Faolan Saibhir," she said slowly, careful to get the pronunciation right. "I have something very important I'd like to ask you."

Ix's heart was in her mouth as Charlotte slowly sank to one knee, reaching into her pocket. Her eyes went wide and she let go of Ix's hand. "Oh god." She began patting herself down frantically, tearing her coat off and shaking it, turning pockets inside-out. "I lost the ring!"

With shaking hands, Ix pulled her wand from her belt and flicked it. "Accio ring."

She and Charlotte looked at each other, equal looks of sheepish, nervous excitement on their faces as they waited. After a very, very long minute, the box came zooming into Ix's hand and she passed it over to Charlotte, who laughed and opened it to reveal a wide tungsten band engraved with a lover's knot.

"Faolan Saibhir," Charlotte said again, "will you marry me?"

Ix slid down to the floor so she was level with Charlotte, and cupped her face in her hands. They kissed, the box slipping out of Charlotte's hands as she wrapped her arms around Ix's neck.

"Yes," Ix whispered, finally pulling away.

it would probably go just about as well as the rest of their plans tend to go.