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[MrMonkey]

There’s something about this post…

Oh, how I dream of a place for me

Oh, it would be one hell of a miracle. When I was a kid, I used to design my own… well, superhero lairs. I mean floorplans containing everything I could think of that I’d want. Huge garages, laboratories, libraries, observatories, secret passages, gymnasia, theaters. Kinda like those myriad cutaways of the Baxter Building (home of the Fantastic Four) they used to periodically publish: [baxterbldg1] [baxterbldg2] [baxterbldg3] [baxterbldg4] …except mine were always just floorplans, not isom…

[MrMonkey]

This kind of dedication to craft is what I love about the people on this site.

Redoubtable Downtown Space Abbey - The Leviathan Club

RGVhciBCYXJ0bGVib3QsCkhvcGUgdGhpcyB0cmFuc21pc3Npb24gYXJyaXZlcyB0byBmaW5kIHlvdSBmdWxseSBwYXRjaGVkIGFuZCB1cGRhdGVkLiBZZXN0ZXJzb2wsIEkgd2FzIGJyb3dzaW5nIHRocm91Z2ggYW4gb2xkIGRhdGFtYXJ0IGJ5IHRoZSBDbGlmZnMgb2YgRGFsZWssIGFuZCBmb3VuZCB0aGlzIGtpbGxlciBhcHAuIGh0dHBzOi8vaS5wb3N0aW1nLmNjL3ZIN05nR3lOL2ltYWdlLnBuZwoKTWF5IGl0IG5ldHdvcmsgd2l0aCB5b3VyIHNhdmVmaWxlcyBvZiBvdXIgZ3VydSBtZWRpdGF0aW9ucyBvbiBkZWVwIGxlYXJuaW5nLCBhcyBpdCBkaWQgZm9yIG1lLiAKTWlzcyB5b3UgdG8gYml0cywKfkNhdGE=

[Nightflyer]

I don’t get it.

[smulder]

It’s a text message piped through base64.

It’s like putting spoiler tags around something, except it takes slightly more work to read it, and the reader has to recognize the output format in order to know what to do with it.

[Nightflyer]

Now I got it.

[MrMonkey]

I don’t get it.

It occurs to me that my enthusiasm is a little in-jokey, which is kind of sucky for the folks who don’t recognize the reference, so here’s a hint: https://www.base64decode.org (copy and paste).

The encoding bit was the visceral, in-character, icing on the cake, but mostly my admiration was for the commitment to the characters from the RDSA. In my imagination, someone serendipitously ran across an interesting image¹ that reminded them of our little game, and then shared that in a way that was kind of both a puzzle and a treat. (I don’t know if that’s really what happened, but I like my version).

cc: @fintastic

1. or maybe not a real image? I have a certain affinity for old-school sci-fi paperback cover art, to the extent that I buy books I’ve no intention of reading based purely on their covers, but I’ve so far been unable to determine if the referenced tome is real or imaginary.

ETA: Doh! ninja’d.

Now I got it.

[kxkvi]

The image seems to be from Phil-Are-Go:
https://phil-are-go.blogspot.com/2018/11/spaceprom.html

[MrMonkey]

Still, to my mind, the worst offenders are know-nothings: they are feckin’ anathema . It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s some academic who learned some “rules” and has applied them indiscriminately for 35 years, or whether it’s someone who figures that his opinion is just as good as anyone else’s… without researching the topic.

https://bbs.elsewhere.cafe/t/the-other-place-gone-evil/3182/130?u=mrmonkey

[fiddlingfrog]

Back at the other place:

You’re going to need a historian to find out where all your goalposts were.

[mindysan33]

This historian tried, to little avail!

[MrMonkey]

I had the exact same reaction upon seeing that picture!

Well done!

https://bbs.elsewhere.cafe/t/wanderfounds-tasmanian-migration/3222/687?u=mrmonkey

[SallyM]

You Good?

Ok, afaik, it’s a conflation of things. November 1 in the Christian calendar is All Saints Day, and November 2 is All souls Day, so the period is associated with the remembrance of passed loved ones. It’s also at the end of autumn heading into winter, so it’s tied to thoughts of night and cold and protecting yourself from bad times. It’s also associated with Celtic traditions. Samhain is 1 Nov, and November is Mí Shamhna. It’s also the ancient Celtic new year. Celtic religions saw liminal pla…

[SallyM]

Elections 2023-2024

Yes indeed. The data is bad because the samples are hugely skewed (can they reach you on a cell phone via an unknown out-of-state number which becomes a robo-call? nor me either). Then the pollsters, those not being paid for a specific result, attempt to fix their results by scaling for their skewed sample using quite arcane unpublished methods (“well we got two surveys completed by under 30 Hispanic males, so lets weight those two by uh… oh… [consults crosstabs from an equally faulty 2022 su…

[Millie_Fink]

BoingBoing move to substack

For me it’s like there was this crusty old punk bar, dark and a little dirty, flyers plastering the walls, and I would wander on in to the back booth and all my friends old and new would be there sharing a pitcher of Old Style, laughing, arguing, discussing, occasionally dropping a quarter in the ancient jukebox full of random 45’s, or the Elvira Mistress of the Dark pinball machine in the corner. The place was rightly famous and storied, and sometimes a big act would play there, but for us it w…

[SallyM]

Elections 2023-2024

I’m not sure I agree. If Harris is actually up by double-digits, then it would be relieving a lot of anxiety right now. Accurate polls would be much, much better than what we have. And since what we have is shit, it should be public knowledge that it’s shit instead of pretending that it’s accurate. It would also create urgency around improving polling methods to make them more accurate instead of using old methods that don’t work anymore. Right now, pollsters have no motivation to radically cha…

[SallyM]

Elections 2023-2024

I just want to say no matter what happens that I have been amazed by the quality of the campaign Harris has run since she started. I was just thinking how prescient their choices have been. I’ve barely been following BUT I’m sincerely impressed. It seems to me that the brightest and best of my generation and the one after mine at least have been recruited to the Dem causes and campaigns and it does not appear to be so for the GOP. I’ve never been really about party. I don’t like feeling like …

[SallyM]

If I Had a Time Machine

EXTRA: Archduke Ferdinand killed in crossfire during conflict between rival time travelers. Austria-Hungary responds by declaring war on timepieces, invades Switzerland.

[kxkvi]

Response to @LockeCJ /obviously

Responsible Monetization of a BBS

I know you think long and hard about all these things, and it’s a tribute to your talent, wisdom, and dedication that this place has been here without interruption for seven years already. I myself have no concerns about the way you’ve run things here. And I figure you’ll let us know if you ever want or need any help. Hope so anyway! Thanks again for all you do.

[SallyM]

Elections 2023-2024

Okay, if there was shenanigans, then there will be evidence of said shenanigans… It could be true. But we also live in a racist, misogynistic country. That’s just the truth of it. We never did the work to end the cultural roots of racism and misogyny in this country, and Trump benefited from that.

[SallyM]

Speaking of Faith: discussions on religion (broadly defined)

I’m a polytheist and animist. My religion doesn’t proselytize… in fact I’m not even going to say what it is. I don’t believe that everyone needs a religion. Some people find various benefits either from the belief, ritual, or the social aspects, and some people aren’t wired that way. And people change over time, too. I don’t believe anyone’s religion (including mine) should be permitted to make laws, nor to impinge on anyone’s rights (including their own membership). If they don’t like you…