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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   3629 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 30, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm still on Herzog's Citizen Knowledge. I can't say I care much for the discussions of actual events, but there are a lot of interesting references, and its position is very clearly written.

I'm also reading papers found in New Directions in the Ethics and Politics of Speech, edited by J.P. Messina (also open access). Currently, Cohen and Cohen's The Possibility and Defensibility of Nonstate "Censorship." This collection at least seems much more self-aware of censorship issues raised in recent times.

I'm at the 2100s in Reverend Insanity, that's chapters, not pages. I honestly have no clue how long it actually is, since I heard that it's technically unfinished, I've been stridently resisting the urge to peek and see how many remain. One of the many advantages of ebooks over dead tree books, which always make me feel a sense of dread when a new novel comes to an end.

And as per usual, I've been working on my own Cultivation novel The Dao of Simulation, which is significantly easier to write than my other unfinished work, which had me sticking to the very high standards of rationalist fiction as best as I could.

In Xianxia, both the reader and the author can usually switch off their brain and the former write whatever the fuck they want, knowing that the latter will read anything that's grammatically coherent (and not even necessarily that, given old machine translations).

My work is a mixture of deeply stupid humor, in-jokes, and occasional poignancy. Spoilers below, but you can look forward to charming excerpts like:

Bruh I say again, these are spoilers

He wisely avoided pointing the laser at the village itself, instead aiming for a nearby tree, which promptly caught fire. Not like the whole thing going up in flames, just a few leaves. He quickly dialed it down, and decided to try using it to signal one of the flyers.

At this point, he quickly learned why the app came with an FAQ explaining why it wasn't FCC or FAA approved, because even reduced in intensity as it was, the beam blinded the rider, and in his pain and panic, he fell off his mount and plummeted several hundred feet into the ground.

Or

"State your name for the Imperial record." The envoy ordered.

"Isaac Kai"

"Kai, of the Isaac clan?"

"Oh, no, it's the Anglicized form, not the Chinese way."

">What's a Chinese?" The envoy asked suspiciously.

"Umm, you're Chinese. I'm like a quarter Chinese myself." Isaac explained.

I'm sure @2rafa will appreciate the deep-cut RSP reference if nobody else does

I'm tired of using spoiler tags

Then:

Hello Adventurer Null Null

Welcome to the Realms of Magic

Please choose a class:

  1. Knight
  2. Wizard
  3. Mage
  4. Nuclear Physicist
  5. Chiropractor
  6. Alchemist
  7. F1 driver
  8. Chimpanzee
  9. Thief
  10. Archer (50 lb draw weight and below)
  11. Lord of Destruction (1/1 available, player only)
  12. Knight (left-handed)

||Isaac was smarter than me, because while I was checking the skill tree for Chimpanzee, my eyes boggling at frankly OP banana peeling skill, he decisively chose "Lord of Destruction".

This crashed the entire Simulation. For a few nanoseconds. I quickly managed to fix the issue, something to do with a collection of lootboxes that had been banned for corrupting the youth.

Congratulations on your first Legendary Class!

Lord of Destruction comes with a complimentary assortment of premium cosmetics, but we're sure you're most interested in the unique skill tree and summonable items!

You'll have to put your skills to the test, as your class is marked as PvPvE. But you'll certainly look sick doing it!

Isaac grinned from ear to ear as a sense of unchecked power rushed through his system, he felt himself float a few millimeters off the ground, which while not particularly impressive, still felt pretty good.

The Village Chief fell onto his knees, sobbing with pride, "Ah, if I had known this day would come, I wouldn't have felt so depressed about picking F1 driver."||

Can one forget? :

But what Isaac did find useful was some kind of charging pad, likely what was used to top up their remaining two laser weapons. Documentation was non-existent on why the hell it worked with an iPhone, but I think it's just because the previous dev thought the idea of "Qi" wireless charging being a thing in a Cultivation setting was super funny.

Or my personal favorite:

The Wizard's Tower shimmered in the light, its ethereal appearance half-suggested it would blink out of existence. Under the curious gaze of some Inner Disciples, Isaac was escorted inside, where a revolving staircase led all the way up to the rooms at the top.

There, he met a Cultivator who could have passed as an extra in the Lord of the Rings, wearing a sparkling wizard's robe and a pointy hat with a frog snoozing on top. An ornate plate on his desk announced him as High Chancellor Short Aotian (PhD, CIS, LMFAO), Spirit Master of the Spirit Realm. He was standing in front of a window, gently pondering an orb that spun with arcane flames. In the background, another knock-off albatross patrolled as its operator sprayed a tank of Qi over the neighborhood, reducing the strain on the local Cultivators.

"Sit, Isaac isn't it?" Short Aotian said.

Isaac bowed again, before taking a seat. "Yes Lord Aotian, I am honored to be in your presence."

"We can skip the pleasantries! Your arrival is a great boon, here I was thinking we'd have to shut down the Otherworldly Demon research program, we've got one poor Daoist going on 70 and yet unable to submit a dissertation for his PhD without a research subject. By the way, in your world, do they have wizards?" He asked earnestly.

"Uh.. I suppose you could say that." Isaac admitted.

"Really? What did they wear?" Short Aotian brought out a magical scroll and began scribbling furiously.

"I think it was white robes and pointy white hats for the most part."

"Ah! And can you tell me about any relevant roles and ranks?" The "Wizard" adjusted his reading glasses in anticipation.

"I don't remember all the details, but I'm pretty sure that the higher ups had something called a Grand Dragon!" Isaac said glibly.

"A perfectly cromulent name for such an enlightened people. Can you tell me what kind of magic they used?"

"Mostly lighting people on fire I guess."

"Perfect! Here, have some tea, you come from a very interesting world indeed."

How much time do you spend on writing vs editing? I'm in a love-hate relationship with editing (hate to do it, love the result), and it seems like these endless web serials are just an excuse to do as little editing as possible.

At least a 10:1 ratio. I correct obvious errors as I'm writing, and then do a final edit pass in RR.

I would think that I'm a good writer, and less prone to error than most on RR, so I don't need it all that much.

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