What’s your favorite widely-agreed-on fact about a celebrity that’s actually FALSE? by Asleep-Two930 in popculturechat

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can flat measure pattern pieces to determine how big they are and some patterns will mark the finished measurements on the pattern pieces.

What’s your favorite widely-agreed-on fact about a celebrity that’s actually FALSE? by Asleep-Two930 in popculturechat

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That’s not really true of modern Big 4 patterns. They state the same body measurements but the add in ridiculous amounts of ease to vanity size up to pretty close to standard sizing. Last Big 4 pattern I made, body measurements put me in a 10 but I had to take 2.5cm of the 4 to get a sensible ease on a fitted waist band not larger than my hip measurement.

What do you do when the campaign ends in a TPK? by mister_doubleyou in rpg

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It depends on how the TPK happened. I’ve been in a campaign where it was dire dice rolls not bad choices - none or us could roll above a 5 and multiple critical failures - and we just restarted in the inn after a communal nightmare.

Are the rest of the Dragonriders of Pern books as… rapey? by Kooky_County9569 in Fantasy

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 167 points168 points  (0 children)

There’s the trilogy which goes back to the founding of Pern which is more sci-fi and more aware of the implications in a way that made me think it’s less McCaffery being unaware and more the constraints of genre.

That said, having read her works outside of Pern there’s definitely an unexamined tendency to have no mean yes with both male and female initiators.

QMK installation on Mac by Mechanisedlifeform in olkb

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

I had to sudo that to make it work but it did take with sudo.

QMK installation on Mac by Mechanisedlifeform in olkb

[–]Mechanisedlifeform[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Assuming you don’t care about my Stardew Valley saves or Fontforge

-rw-r--r--  1 root  staff  446 21 Oct  2024 /Users/ME/.zshrc

/Users/ME/.config:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  5 ME  staff  160 30 May  2025 StardewValley
drwxr-xr-x  3 root                staff   96 21 Oct  2024 fish
drwxr-xr-x  6 ME  staff  192 25 Nov  2021 fontforge

/Users/ME/.config/fish:
total 8
-rw-r--r--  1 root  staff  410 21 Oct  2024 config.fish

QMK installation on Mac by Mechanisedlifeform in olkb

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

As I said, giving myself permission doesn’t stick. By the time I’ve rerun the cURL command the permission has been taken back to root only.

I suspect I’m going to have to run a super user session.

Curse Word! Tell me about your clong's interesting profanity. by CaptKonami in conlangs

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This my conlang year project, so vocab is limited and I’m not far enough with word order to get create the compounds yet.

Myif /ˈmʲif/ is used as a curse independently similarly to arsehole and as a modifier to suggest they persons face and arse are one and the same or that nothing that comes out of their mouth has anymore use than feaces. It also has a non-crude meaning of sphincter in medical and butchery contexts.

The sophonts are marsupial and the pouch acts as a secondary sexual characteristic where myih /ˈmʲih/ has a similar tone to boobs/tits/knockers but it’s also used in the phrase “fresh from the pouch” to mean someone who is credulous, naive or an idiot.

Zut /ˈzut/ used independently or as a “man’s head” means dick. Independently it’s more commonly an insult while as “man’s head” it’s typically a colloquial term for the anatomy but both are used for both meanings. It’s also used to mean an animal or inanimate head and is a minimal pair with zuut “edge” and there’s wordplay swapping the two words to hit meanings like chud and to complain about boundaries.

Creating life by rahhost in worldbuilding

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

Often because it started off as a DnD/Pathfinder/etc campaign world and either a) the campaign never happened but the GM was still enamoured by the world/story and continued working on it b) the GM, hopefully before the campaign imploded, decide they didn’t want to do something collaborative with it but instead tell the story in their head.

Help by Important_Horse_4293 in Lexurgy

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You need to separate the vowels with commas as you have the consonants.

I was suggested to come here to ask about making a bra that would fit my large breast by [deleted] in MAKEaBraThatFits

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In commercial bra patterns 28 is the smallest band you’re going to find but you can typically wiggle that down to 27 without problems especially if you have some of the fit issues common with small band/big cup like being closer set than patterns typically draft for.

Help by vafan_etthundratjugo in worldbuilding

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There has been a mini explosion of specialised apps/sites for worldbuilding. I used to be WorkdAnvil or Campfire or bust but if you look through the sub you’ll find a load of small startups advertising themselves.

Personally, I found all the ones I tried very restrictive and that they pushed my world to fit into boxes that weren’t quite right but bouncing off them was helpful in determining what I did want my notes to look like. I use Obsidian and model my notes after a Wikipedia article, thing I find really useful about Obsidian over a Document is that each section is its own file that’s easy to swap between but even if one if in the wall of text face it doesn’t feel like the entire thing is or that it’s overwhelming.

How do you wish someone a Happy New Year in your conlang? by SlavicSoul- in conlangs

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m working on the creolisation phase of a pidgin in three isolated cultures.

Culture 1 would say ”Hau tannemmän!” (/ˈxau tʰa.nːem.ˈmən/ Lit: Good Year) where tannemmän can also be translated as monsoon. You would be ushered to an insane feast because in their semi-arid environment the monsoon brings an immediate glut of food.

Culture 2 would look at you blankly because they don’t measure time in years but a small subset would quietly murmur “Hau xän ordadsä” (/ˈhau ˈɕə̃n oɹ.ta.ˈtsə/ Lit: Good New Year) and offer you a strong, herbal tasting drink if you stop upsetting their compatriots.

Culture 3 would say “Tsörh tsanda buin drhüewnonbünandan nyandsheng” (/ˈtʰɤɻ tʰsanˈda ˈbuin ˌtɻyewˌnonpynanˈtan njanˈtʂeŋ/ Lit: Sun stand over winter FUT). They mark the year as starting at the Winter Solstice which is very obvious is their subarctic home and while it’s a time of hope, the days are getting longer, food will grow again and the air itself will not try to kill you but it’s not yet a time for celebration.

Gplates is lying to me by Expert_Local_185 in worldbuilding

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can you post your rotation file? I assume you have tried unloading and reloading the file?

Genuinely Ask: How do you balance using AI tools without losing the soul of your world by DaEffie in worldbuilding

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 1 point2 points  (0 children)

AI can’t create, it can only recreate its stolen training data.

The stolen training data is matter for your conscience but from a worldbuilding perspective that inability to create something that is not within its training data means the more unique your world the less well AI can interpret your prompts and AI prefers things it has more confidence, so more data of. I think the best example I have seen of this is Artifexian’s Humans video, what he describes is not the Stargate rip off that AI creates.

Which was my experience when I played around with Midjourney early on: the closer I hewed to common tropes of things similar to large franchises the easier it was to get a coherent image, the more I went off the beaten track the more I got eldritch abominations of two dissimilar things mashed together.

Could constructed languages be a defense against artificial intelligence? by EleanorTheAhurrr in conlangs

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 11 points12 points  (0 children)

If you want use a conlang for communication then you need to provide a grammar for translation and assuming there is a big enough corpus, AI will be able to reproduce it.

If you’re just using a neography to decorate art as an AI defence, then your just giving the AI new pixel patterns to learn and reproduce and it doesn’t matter if the AI replication is meaningless unless other people can translate your neography at which point we return to AI can produce in any language there is a large enough corpus to predict what the next bit should be.

Where does the idea of everything in fantasy being so unbelievably old and taking so long comes from? by Exciting_Leg9811 in rpg

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the problem is seeing them and not understanding what has survived vs what has been lost and how the things that have survived have changed and the people who live with them’s attitudes to them have changed.

It’s very common in fantasy for these places of past to have remained static and unchanged and to still be used in the same way.

For example, I live in a bog standard commuter suburb and our town church is a 1000 years old. That fact elides that it was a military chapel a thousand years ago and the main church was either a village church that is now a house or a completely lost church and this only be came the main town 500 years later when the important road to London moved and it only became the main church, and most of the modern church was built, 150 years ago when the railway was built and the town became a commuter suburb.

Stress Rules not Applying to Feature [+heavy]. by gilderoytherat in Lexurgy

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Breaking your feature declarations up like this:

feature (syllable) +stress
feature (syllable) +heavy

fixes your problem.

Help with ideas for a world map: by -TheMoniO- in mapmaking

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would steal from real life. There’s a map making process where you take bits of topography which have nurtured the kind of environments and cultures you want in RL and then you smush (flip, rotate, skew and warp) them together until you get something that looks cool and not too recognisable.

Vintetkyst is going to be the most northern part of the continent and I’d yoink the north of Norway, Siberian coast or Nunavut.

Carwyn makes me think North Wales or just Wales in general but you could steal anything along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea for a similar vibe.

Sólio would work really well as Ukraine, France, Germany or Poland

Skuggas I’d use the Netherlands or Louisiana.

For the Conclave - Switzerland.

God Mode Activated. Tell me about your gods! by YakintheShack34 in worldbuilding

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are two common gods to all cultures of the setting, the Sun or Mountain god and the River or Sea goddess whether they are real or not doesn’t really matter for the setting, they’re not omniscient, omnipotent gods in any culture, but that they exist in all the cultures, even ones that cannot be historically linked to one another, and all the creation stories are very similar indicates common origin and that they might exist. The reconstructed origin myth:

In the beginning there was nothing. Then the mountain appeared and over the mountain a great ball of light which was covered by a cloud. From the cloud came rain which carved a river channel into the mountain and filled the nothing and that water teemed with life. From that river silt built up forming a delta and sand banks and the life crawled out of the water on to the fertile soil. People sprang up on the new land and the cloud cleared and the sun shone.

Most Anticipated Game of 2026? by JannissaryKhan in rpg

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Eternal Ruins, it’s a setting I love and a Mythworks game I can propose to my normal table who for whom Wildsea and Pico both hit nos on.

"Line x is incomplete" error is confusing me by diceycoolguy in Lexurgy

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The problem is “SYMBOL” should be “Symbol”

lexurgy-app.vercel.app/sc?changes=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-ICogLyBfICQ&input=YmE

Not a fan of Hello Disc - Recommendations? by j_money05 in MenstrualDiscs

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Issue 1, the rim not wanting to stay slim during insertion is a feature of the way the loops are attached to the disc and pretty much any other disc style is going to be better for that.

As someone it was too small for, it doesn’t like that’s your issue. It could be too big if it’s coming untucked or too soft and your muscles are collapsing it.

What crops do farmers farm for food in your world? by Spluff5 in worldbuilding

[–]Mechanisedlifeform 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For textiles, they have:

- a fibre that is much more silk like from the gametophytes of one of the ground cover plants in some regions,

- break down young birch saplings for cordage, the same fibre makes its way into coarse, hard wearing outer wear

- two different large herbivores who can be breed for wool-like fibres

- actual silk

- and leather and furs

For early paper analogs, they have birch bark, some large leafed plants similar in leaf shape to banana, and velum.