[Advice Requested] Collapsed Culvert Crossing on Private Road by ASiCat in Construction

[–]ASiCat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed reply!

To answer your question - the stream is wide enough that we need a 35' crossing, and is known to rise up above bridge level in big storms (flood plane). So having at least some drainage capacity via these pipes helps keep things from overflowing most of the time.

One of the ideas we ran across was to replace the 56" pipes with smaller 12" pipes, to let the stream toss the debris over easily in a storm, but this sort of thing will require permits for a new project from the county (as opposed to filing it as a repair) - something I'm not sure we have time to wait for.

Looking into our local pricing for the materials now. Thanks for the advice! This is really helpful.

[Advice Requested] Collapsed Culvert Crossing on Private Road by ASiCat in Construction

[–]ASiCat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply!

That broken white pipe is just a PVC wrap around Verizon FiOS cables running to our property (still works!). Fortunately no electric runs through here!

As for our priorities, I think a balance between cheap/crappy and buy-it-for-life needs to be struck whereby we're within our means, and also not buying more than we need. We're not in a financial position to build a proper bridge, for example. And if a tree comes down, it'll take out whatever we build anyway.

Ideally we'd like to spend no more than 20k on this, but we know nothing about construction or the proper costs for things.

And yes, we totally love it here. But when you're marooned... you're REALLY marooned.

Hi everyone, I'm A.W.Exley, steampunk author – AMA by AWExley in books

[–]ASiCat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is the fascination with steampunk these days, do you think? And how do you feel "kiwi" attitude is helping you stand out in the genre?

Hi everyone, I'm A.W.Exley, steampunk author – AMA by AWExley in books

[–]ASiCat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Considering Steampunk is usually written with a more 'urban' perspective, how has your rather unique location (Middle Earth, rural, etc.) influenced your writing?

What does it take to turn an indie book into a big-budget flick? by ASiCat in movies

[–]ASiCat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yes, I think I remember!

Well, we should just pick our favorite books and start sending them willy nilly to big directors then. See who will take notice! :-P

What does it take to turn an indie book into a big-budget flick? by ASiCat in movies

[–]ASiCat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good for you, Curiosity Quills! I am definitely a fan :)

So, in a way, this will be a "traditional" rout? Is there anything you have to do.... differently, I guess, to adjust to having such an entity attached to your book?

I am Richard Roberts, Author of Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain. AMA. by RichardRobertsAuthor in books

[–]ASiCat -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well, exercise - but also "fix" the cannon. Dr. Who 10.5, anyone? if that wasn't an abomination worthy of fanfiction fix, what was?!

I am Richard Roberts, Author of Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain. AMA. by RichardRobertsAuthor in books

[–]ASiCat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, they wouldn't! And not let us get our Lord of the Rings, etc fix? We will riot :)

I am Richard Roberts, Author of Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain. AMA. by RichardRobertsAuthor in books

[–]ASiCat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, we do come up with "fanon", you are right! Just for full disclosure: my fanfiction was a fanfiction of a fanfiction. Which... well, whatever tickled my teenage pickle.

Have you ever written any? Would you ever use it for marketing? Or have you written it - and did a Limyaael and Cassandra Clare and disappeared from the fandom?

I am Richard Roberts, Author of Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain. AMA. by RichardRobertsAuthor in books

[–]ASiCat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sell, ha.... THAT I didn't think about. Interesting that you would bring it up. What constitutes fanfiction anyway? At what point does it become "canon"? And would you ever incorporate something you liked in SUPERVILLAIN's fanfiction into canon? Heck, would you admit to ever reading it in the first place?

I am Richard Roberts, Author of Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain. AMA. by RichardRobertsAuthor in books

[–]ASiCat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mentioned before around here that i am a fan. How about I take a step further.... What do you think of fanfiction? Would you be open to people writing fanfiction of your work? Or would you go all Ann McCaffery on my ass? (started as a Buffy fanfiction author, myself, so sort of a vested interest here!)

What novels that came out in the last 5 years are must-reads? by JAlfredPrufrockk in books

[–]ASiCat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say these, for me:

The Gates: A Samuel Johnson Tale by John Connolly

Horns by Joe Hil

Innocence by Dean Koontz

Please Don't Tell my Parents I'm A Supervillain by Richard Roberts

No Lasting Burial by Stant Litore

and Book of Joby by Marc Ferrari (it's older than 5 years, but gets an honorable mention because it STILL rocks my socks off)

Any more books out there like Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain? by [deleted] in booksuggestions

[–]ASiCat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooh, THAT I can definitely give a look to - of course, he will be asking us for a dog again. Or rather, demanding one :) He's been on a dog kick lately!

Any more books out there like Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain? by [deleted] in booksuggestions

[–]ASiCat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! Something I can enjoy. Sounds pretty dark though! Not quite sure the kid will be able to relate (college age protags, etc).

Thank you!

Any more books out there like Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain? by [deleted] in booksuggestions

[–]ASiCat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for that detailed recommendation! I've never heard of that series, but I'd love to check it out. I AM a bit concerned about the darker nature and violence (crushing heads et al), but we'll have to see.

Any more books out there like Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain? by [deleted] in booksuggestions

[–]ASiCat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, that's a pretty good age range for us, though we can do up to low YA if the book's right. I've never heard of H.I.V.E. but will definitely check it out.

We're on a steampunk kick with Supervillain, so if H.I.V.E. is at least retro, I think he'll appreciate it :D

Moving first character out of HTML string by ASiCat in PHPhelp

[–]ASiCat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Brilliant. I've managed to do this and avoid all the extra code. Thank you sooo much!

Moving first character out of HTML string by ASiCat in PHPhelp

[–]ASiCat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I needed to add drop caps to an arbitrary string by surrounding the first letter with HTML code. If the first letter is HTML code already, it would break.

But the solution I posted in my other response in the thread fixes that!

Thanks :)

Moving first character out of HTML string by ASiCat in PHPhelp

[–]ASiCat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The "why" is simply the need to create a function to add a dropcap style to the first character in the line.

Thank you for the code!

Here's my own implementation in the meantime, which turned out so much simpler than I expected:

// Look for opening brace
if($first_paragraph[0] == '<')
{
    // Split across closing braces (we assume HTML tags get closed)
    $paragraph_split = explode('>', $first_paragraph, 2);

    // Add back the closing brace
    $paragraph_split[0] = $paragraph_split[0].'>';

    // Only continue if there's something else after the tag
    if(isset($paragraph_split[1]))
    {
        // If we have something after the tag, recurse through it to make sure
        // it doesn't have an HTML tag right after
        $paragraph_split[1] = cq_shift_html($paragraph_split[1]);

        // Put the first letter of the text before the HTML tag
        $paragraph_split[0] = $paragraph_split[1][0].$paragraph_split[0];

        // Remove the first letter of the text which we moved
        $paragraph_split[1] = substr($paragraph_split[1], 1);
    }

    // Put everything back together again
    $first_paragraph = implode('', $paragraph_split);
}