Random Stuff VIII: The Admin Special

[Master Elodin]

At the beginning of part 6 couple of characters changed into Harry. His polyjuice potion turned gold and tasted good IIRC.

And Hermione made it super awkward.

[Voidus]

I reported the spammer.  Mods'll take care of it.

I missed these ones. I take great joy in finally being able to get rid of them.

For future reference Elodin, reporting the profile is generally better than reporting individual topics, that way there aren't like 50 different reports sitting there and it's way quicker to deal with.

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Back from a shorter hiatus!

Pro tip for making election season fun, look up Jimmy Kemmel Donald Trump on Youtube.

[Delightful]

General announcement:

I got a new job () which is crazy hours (?) which means I probably won't be on the shard as often anymore. ()

Have lots of fun without me?

[Young Bard he/him]

General announcement:

I got a new job ( ) which is crazy hours ( ?) which means I probably won't be on the shard as often anymore. ( )

Have lots of fun without me?

 

Sad to hear it.   I think I speak for all of us when I say that you're a prominent member of the community that a lot of people on the Shard look up to.

 

Good luck with your new job.

[Voidus]

General announcement:

I got a new job ( ) which is crazy hours ( ?) which means I probably won't be on the shard as often anymore. ( )

Have lots of fun without me?

Woo! Job season on the Shard it seems, though I still can't start mine until some stupid paperwork gets processed.   

Hope your job works out for you and that you still drop by when you can!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

What kind of job is it, Delightful? And congrats!

Speaking of jobs, I'm on lunch during orientation right now. So far so good.

[Edgedancer he/him]

What kind of job is it, Delightful? And congrats!

Speaking of jobs, I'm on lunch during orientation right now. So far so good.

Wuhu! Everything going good I hope?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Wuhu! Everything going good I hope?

Seems to be. There are a bunch of other employees from other departments here, so it's all just general information on things like benefits and ethics. I made it on time, though, and learned what I'll need to do to get a good score on my performance review, so that's nice. After this I'll head to the library to finish out the day.

[Kaymyth she/her]

One of the elevators at work is making the occasional high-pitched whistling noise audible all over the building.

 

[azninvasion99 he/him]

Started my new job last week, been really good so far! Definitely some new things to learn compared to my old one but time goes by a lot faster which is a plus.

[The Invested Beard]

One of the elevators at work is making the occasional high-pitched whistling noise audible all over the building.

 

 

Don't worry, that's just the sound of the rip in space-time at the bottom of the shaft.

[Kaymyth she/her]

Don't worry, that's just the sound of the rip in space-time at the bottom of the shaft.

 

Apparently one of the elevators actually fell down to the first floor last week.    It's a good thing our office building is only 5 stories.

[The Invested Beard]

Apparently one of the elevators actually fell down to the first floor last week.    It's a good thing our office building is only 5 stories.

 

Yeah those rips have a lot of gravitational pull.

[Oversleep]

It seems we have a new trend on the forum. It started with Roshar/Scadrial war, then Shardplate against bullets, then whether Shardplate is less resistant to Sharblades than regular weapons... it's hard to keep track on all of it. And of course Pewterarm vs Shardbearer: who is harder, better, faster, stronger...

[Kobold King he/him]

Chamber of Secrets:

 

Dumbledore: "You must have shown great loyalty to me for Fawkes to have come to your aide."

 

 

It's somewhat disconcerting that Fawkes wouldn't have considered intervening just for the sake of rescuing a twelve year-old boy from being eaten by a giant death-snake.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Chamber of Secrets:

 

Dumbledore: "You must have shown great loyalty to me for Fawkes to have come to your aide."

 

 

It's somewhat disconcerting that Fawkes wouldn't have considered intervening just for the sake of rescuing a twelve year-old boy from being eaten by a giant death-snake.

 

And people wonder why I tend to see Dumbledore as more of a Knight Templar than the paragon of goodness the series paints him as.

[The Invested Beard]

Never trust a man with a beard.

 

Or his bird.

Edited April 4, 2016 by The Invested Beard

[Kaymyth she/her]

Chamber of Secrets:

 

Dumbledore: "You must have shown great loyalty to me for Fawkes to have come to your aide."

 

 

It's somewhat disconcerting that Fawkes wouldn't have considered intervening just for the sake of rescuing a twelve year-old boy from being eaten by a giant death-snake.

 

Actually, I always saw the loyalty part as a type of magic that actually called Fawkes to the scene.  The bird had no idea what was going on, he just sensed great loyalty to his master in the face of adversity and came a'flappin'.

[Kobold King he/him]

Actually, I always saw the loyalty part as a type of magic that actually called Fawkes to the scene.  The bird had no idea what was going on, he just sensed great loyalty to his master in the face of adversity and came a'flappin'.

 

 

That interpretation makes it a lot better.

 

While you're at it could you please find a comforting way of interpreting the fact that Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey murder clearly sapient mandrake plants to create the petrification cure? Because this traumatizes me a little more with every re-read and re-watch.

[Voidus]

That interpretation makes it a lot better.

 

While you're at it could you please find a comforting way of interpreting the fact that Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey murder clearly sapient mandrake plants to create the petrification cure? Because this traumatizes me a little more with every re-read and re-watch.

Well while it's not intentional, Mandrakes are all potential mass murderers. 

I'm also not sure they actually murder them, they might just clip off some roots to use and then re-pot them. They're renewable that way, otherwise it's like chopping down an apple tree just to pick the apple.

[Kaymyth she/her]

That interpretation makes it a lot better.

 

While you're at it could you please find a comforting way of interpreting the fact that Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey murder clearly sapient mandrake plants to create the petrification cure? Because this traumatizes me a little more with every re-read and re-watch.

 

Um...OK, here goes....

 

Are they sapient?  Or are their anthropomorphized face simply an evolutionary development to combat the fact that they are such a magically useful plant?  The screaming, obviously, kills potential predators, but the young ones aren't powerful enough for that.  So they imitate the look and sound of a baby to make the humans feel guilty about chopping them up.

 

Now, for truly sapient plants, you'd have to look at some of the worldbuilding and alien races that I've been playing around with for my sci-fi book (series?). 

 

 

ETA:  OK, OK, spoiler tagging.  Because all the cool kids are doing it.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Kaymyth

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

That interpretation makes it a lot better.

While you're at it could you please find a comforting way of interpreting the fact that Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey murder clearly sapient mandrake plants to create the petrification cure? Because this traumatizes me a little more with every re-read and re-watch.

They aren't actually sapient; they just imitate human signs of maturity?

[Kobold King he/him]

Um...OK, here goes....

 

Are they sapient?  Or are their anthropomorphized face simply an evolutionary development to combat the fact that they are such a magically useful plant?  The screaming, obviously, kills potential predators, but the young ones aren't powerful enough for that.  So they imitate the look and sound of a baby to make the humans feel guilty about chopping them up.

 

Now, for truly sapient plants, you'd have to look at some of the worldbuilding and alien races that I've been playing around with for my sci-fi book (series?). 

 

 

ETA:  OK, OK, spoiler tagging.  Because all the cool kids are doing it.

 

 

The books mention the mandrakes going through typical adolescent behavior patterns as they mature; holding parties, establishing social cliques, and even trying to move into each other's pots. (The last one Sprout lists as an indicator that they're ready to be harvested.)

 

So while it's a good theory, the level of delicate deception that would be implied here, with an evolution taking place only over the timescale of a few millennia of environmental pressure, would imply a level of alien intelligence in and of itself.

 

 

I definitely want to hear about your alien plants. I always had trouble making them work, myself.

 

 

Well while it's not intentional, Mandrakes are all potential mass murderers. 

I'm also not sure they actually murder them, they might just clip off some roots to use and then re-pot them. They're renewable that way, otherwise it's like chopping down an apple tree just to pick the apple.

 

 

I'm gonna hopefully go with this one and hope my next re-read doesn't disprove it.

[Kaymyth she/her]

The books mention the mandrakes going through typical adolescent behavior patterns as they mature; holding parties, establishing social cliques, and even trying to move into each other's pots. (The last one Sprout lists as an indicator that they're ready to be harvested.)

 

So while it's a good theory, the level of delicate deception that would be implied here, with an evolution taking place only over the timescale of a few millennia of environmental pressure, would imply a level of alien intelligence in and of itself.

 

 

I definitely want to hear about your alien plants. I always had trouble making them work, myself.

 

 

 

 

I'm gonna hopefully go with this one and hope my next re-read doesn't disprove it.

 

Oh, yeah.  Heh.  All of those silly jokes Rowling likes to slip in have their dark sides, don't they?

 

OK, alien plants, colloquially known as the Arboreals (at least in English).

 

Originally, one of the more prominent galactic races accidentally colonized their homeworld.  It took them a few years to catch on, and even they they only figured it out because they were starting to try and bulldoze into the Arboreals' habitat.  The tree-like creatures had a fairly unique way of dealing with this encroachment; they would pick up the machines, gently pluck out the drivers and set them safely aside, and then perch the construction equipment upside-down upon nearby knolls and hillsides.  The message was clear:  please stop doing that.

 

It took nearly a century of mutual study before communication could get much more complicated than that.  The Arboreals communicated via scent, which was completely unsuited to the audio translation devices that were being developed.  A group of botanists and linguists worked together with their Arboreal neighbors to create a language that would work between the species.  The ultimate solution was a light harp.  The Arboreals were quite sensitive to light, and thus were able to discern various light "strings" on the harp, which corresponded to different tones.  The Arboreal could pluck the strings with their tendrils, creating tones that could be translated into verbal communication.  Translations back, then, would pass through a device that aimed various motes of light at a chlorocepter on one of the Arboreal's branches, although many of the Arboreals who have made their homes offworld have developed the skills to sense and understand the musical tones themselves.

 

The are, in general, highly prized members of Galactic society.  They are far more efficient carbon dioxide scrubbers than any mechanical means, so practically every space station in existence has at least a small colony of them on board.  Younger, more adventurous individuals have been known to make their homes on ships, but they're picky about whose ships they're willing to set root in.  They often hold positions as administrators and adjudicators, as their particular psychology creates true impartiality in most situations.