Well.  I actually came across this nearly three months ago, when we were on vacation on Long Beach Island, and promptly forgot to post it here.  I don't think anyone else has done it in the time since, but if they have, my apologies for the repost.

RWBY Volume Nine Sneak Peak:

Article here:
https://www.vox.com/recode/22673353/unem...-algorithm

While I do agree that some applicants are being a bit too ambitious in looking for a "promotion" or a different-but-similar job, it still appears that the majority of the onus is on the perspective employers for setting unrealistic expectations, failing to understand what these jobs truly entail, and refusing good applicants because they do not want to offer on-the-job training.

It's like I've said elsewhere.  I could probably have a great job managing factory automation because the Mk45 gun mount I worked on in the Navy is really no different.  It is a programmable, automated system with many moving parts, optical sensors, proximity sensors, and hydraulic solenoid valves.  It operates on a 1600psi hydraulic system with four separate hydraulic circuits, plus two low-power hydraulic pumps for maintenance and emergency use.  It's a pretty damn complex system that requires a lot of upkeep.

But do employers see in me the potential for a good maintenance technician who can keep their factory line running smooth?  Of course not.  They want someone who can not only turn a wrench and wrangle wire harnesses, but also knows like eight different programming languages because they use digital logic control units in the equipment, and they actually don't know which language they speak so they just spam a bunch of different ones in the job description. 

(As if you make your very own logic controllers with custom programming code?  Get the fuck outta town bitch.  We all know you buy the cheapest piles of shit from China or India.  And then you got the audacity to cry about them breaking all the damn time and try to pin it all on the techs working on them when there's next to no documentation, and if there is it reads like it was translated from poorly written Sanskrit by Google Translate.)

Oh, and they also want you working on the factory line with the other workers when you're not busy fixing or setting up something, and at only a couple more dollars an hour more than they are, and putting in 10-to-12 hour days six or maybe seven days a week.  Because PRODUCTIVITY!

I'm writing up an ATT page for Jack Staik and Lady Tesser's Tales of Ranma and Ranko, and there's this little throwaway bit that is driving me nuts. At one point -- no need to worry about the context -- Nabiki sings out "We've got hot water in our space ship's bathtubs", and the narration explicitly notes that it's from an "anime movie sequel" without identifying the movie.

Google turns up nothing with that line (or variations, like "starship" and so on).

Given the period when the story was written -- 2000 +/- a year or so -- should narrow things down a little, you would think, but I'm still not able to find anything. I'm hoping someone remembers the lyric or a possible translation variation and can remember from where.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

The Name of the Game by literalsin

How to put this... it's not actually a recommendation, because the fic has approximately all the red flags, waves them proudly, and does its best to live up the their philosophical ideals, and yet it somehow kept me going past all the roll-your-eyes-and-scroll-the-page moments through thirty four chapters and ... holy fuck, 688,855 words!? And it only barely gets MC past canon's trailers and backstory into early episodes. Crikey.

Right, so, those red flags. They start strong right out of the gate with the premise being a RWBY/The Gamer/pornworld fusion Jaune In Name Only harem SI, where the sibling fetish is so all encompassing that literally the only ones who (apparently) aren't banging or pining are Qrow and Raven, with a possible exception for Winter due to only appearing in another character's flashback to Atlas' Specialist program training, which is deep into the Nazi Science long grass of mustache twirling evil complete with super-soldier experiments and Dust and drug assisted brainwashing from day one, with removing all previous emotional ties as an explicit goal. Also, out of eight of canon's female antagonists I can think of off the top of my head, three are core members of the waifu squad and one is headed that way if she lives, after being seduced for infiltration purposes.

On the other hand, one early love interest who gets ignored too long calls JINO out on it, breaks up with him, and finds another relationship, which was stable the last I remember seeing it, and is treated IC and in narration as justified and in the right to do so, if overly complacent to a related spy-subplot threat. Leaving the waifus behind to go fight the big bad for their own safety is likewise called out and accepted as having been arrogant and disrespectful and the direct cause of nearly getting killed and not-quite-apocalyptically botching the quest.

Next is the author's tendency to toss in RL politics every two or three chapters, starting at right wing and making bold attempts at achieving incel cuckoolander status, though the affection and tenderness displayed to the waifu squad (who are actually decently believable individuals with their own wants and quirks, not a list of names and haremette tropes) and sincere-at-the-IC-level attempts to just have some female characters be friends leave it falling short of that ... lofty goal ... in practice. The closest I got to dropping the fic was a visit to a Schnee company town where dose happy Faunus singin' in de mines ran off the party with a crowd throwing tomatoes and cabbages followed by rocks, for daring to come and try to offer white- human-folk jobs in de big city, which I am blatantly, shamelessly spoiling as the "savvy" characters (meaning everyone there but Blake) and the narration all treat this as if it was the only expected result. Not phrased so blatantly, and with the justification provided being semi-plausible in context, but considered without narrative immersion that may just make it all the worse after the fact. Honestly, the only good thing about that part is confirming that I still find right-wing stuff as cringey as left-wing stuff, when hanging out on mostly left-leaning sites and getting annoyed by their enthusiasm had me worrying about drifting too far right out of contrariness.

A Penny copy is a literal bind-on-equip Epic Loot quest reward, but JINO assures her that she's her own person who can do what she wants right after equipping her to a pet system slot. (Again, though, IC she gets treated very humanely and like a real member of the team, and not even waifu'd into the harem, though there is some non-sexytimes daughteru going on.)

It's a Gamer fic, so threat escalation is less a matter of power creep and more a power turbolift ride, with frequent soliloquizing about quests, skills, stats, and how quickly they're engorging his clout and/or the best ways to make them bigger faster, with a mysteriously all-encompassing and occasionally directly responsive System driving it all. Inventory based quick-change disguises enable over-complicated multiple identity shenanigans, while Instant Dungeons trivialize a lot of theft and item duping with the copied area's contents. Gamer setting elements are largely absent except for the System itself, and Instant Dungeons/Illusion Barriers are for once nicely integrated into the fusion setting's lore as being the interstitial space where negative emotional energy collects to form new Grimm along with restless spirits too attached to move on. One of which also gets attached to a pet system slot, and is the subject of a long-term quest/subplot to get waifu'd.

And yet.

Despite that.

Despite all of that.

I still want to recommend it, because the technical quality of the writing is decent, the actual plot is engaging, and as long as the fictional character incest and MF/FF bisexuality doesn't squick you out, the porn is pretty hot.

I can't bring myself to do so, but I can give you a couple links, to make up your own mind about.

NSFW, obviously.

Chapter index on AO3
The FFnet version has one less chapter, but a higher word count. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Previous thread is previous.

link

Where the Wild Roses Grow / Kylie Minogue

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
She stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me that I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen
I said, "Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?"

On the second day he came with a single red rose
He said "Will you give me your loss and your sorrow"
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
"If I show you the roses, will you follow?"

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me that I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
And I kissed her goodbye, said, "All beauty must die"
And I lent down and planted a rose 'tween her teeth

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me that I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day
My name was Elisa Day
For my name was Elisa Day

Effect: Summons the ghost of Elisa Day. She's just a normal person, and mostly intangible despite having a fully formed body, but her rose is solid. While not particularly combative she can do a decent Tuxedo Mask impression with it if needed, with extra effect against evil spirits or humans who have committed murder. More generally usefully, if she places it in the mouth of a corpse, their ghost will also be summoned, to speak to grieving friends or relatives, about how they died or other things they knew in life. Details about any and all afterlife experiences are not available; awareness of events that happened since their death is variable - pretty much standard spirit medium rules there.

Elisa remembers each time Doug summons her (and was very confused and traumatized at first) has a loose idea of what he's been up to in between and why he's summoning her without needing to take time to explain, and is generally willing to help as much as she can, while other spirits have a muted emotional response and a varying range of attitudes, even if almost any of them are at least willing to talk with people they knew and/or help catch and prosecute/punish anyone responsible for their death. They remain intangible, glowing, partial manifestations unless a more powerful necromantic effect is used before the song ends.

I like to be here when I can....


Right.  In spite of all the head explody challenges I've faced I am back home.

Is anyone interested in a trip report?

Too Bad by Doug and the Slugs



I don't see this being a power song of any sort, but I can almost picture Doug quoting the chorus (or possibly playing a clip) as a villain is lead away in handcuffs.

(04-14-2021, 06:42 PM)In the images thread, robkelk Wrote: The cover of her first solo album, before the titles are applied?




Shrunk to 2/5 size

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I have been reading Playing Catchup by EvilAuthor, as has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum.

I followed this by re-reading the Fenspace story Candle In The Dark, and Lost Kin by JustAGuy.

Does anyone have other recommendations for stories like these that show clashing societies, rather than just a single (or small group of) fish out of water?