MC MMC

by which I mean, I gutted all the old code and made something new! Here are the goals I had:

Equalize the line lengths

Stop making 'scroll' samplers-- a 1:2 height:width ratio is okay, but a 1:4 is not

And here's what I came up with:

Once Samplerbot has the text it wants to samplerify, and has chosen its font and border, have it run the numbers for what the sampler size and line breakdown would be for a wide variety of potential line lengths. For each of those possibilities, Samplerbot calculates:

The standard deviation of the lengths of all the lines of text. This is the most important-- a small standard deviation in length means they're all close to the same size. Samplerbot starts by finding the fifteen line lengths that would lead to the smallest standard deviations, then runs the other calculations over those fifteen.

The ratio of total sampler height divided by width. It eliminates any options that are much wider than they are tall, and also vice versa, though it's less restrictive for height. Samplerbot then finds the absolute value of the difference between height/width and the golden ratio (and width/height and the golden ratio, whichever is smaller)-- another calculation where smaller is better.

Whether or not the given line length would create any single-word lines; if it would, it give that a value of '2', and if not, a '0'. Small is once again the goal here.

Samplerbot then finds the average of those three numbers-- standard deviation of the line lengths, difference from the golden ratio, and the single-word penalty-- and whichever line length has the lowest average is the one it goes with!

I've had it set up to make batches of ~50 test samplers at a time to see how they'll look, and I think it's a good improvement! Good enough that I considered figuring out how to have Samplerbot re-generate some of the ones already in its queue, but-- not this time!

The first samplers from this update will go live in late June.

Have a good night, all!

So because parkour is such a ridiculously male dominated sport, the "correct technique" for a lot of these movements that you're taught when you become an instructor plays to a male body's strengths: upper body strength, higher center of gravity, etc.

She demolishes this course by moving in ways that make sense for her body. She doesn't muscle her way up to her over a wall, she just throws a leg up over the wall. She doesn't use upper body strength to do the salmon ladder, she uses her hips!!! And it's fucking incredible.

So many girls and young women walk away from parkour because every movement caters to the strengths of men, because doing what makes sense for their bodies is seen as "bad technique" to be trained away.

I never really realised how much difference it makes until I went to England and realised that here the change of seasons is an obvious, visible, physical change in the world. Like, everything REALLY IS orange and foggy in autumn! In spring there are flowers EVERYWHERE, so much more than any other season, and the trees really do have all blossom and no leaves. Even if it doesn't snow, in winter there's frost all the time and the trees are bare and the sky is visibly greyer all the time. You don't need to be told "this date is the first day of spring", you can SEE IT (although this is getting way messier and less precise due to climate change).

By contrast, most places in Australia the seasons we're taught feel like arbitrary categories - and is it any surprise considering they're colonial constructs? Orange-leaved autumn and blossom-covered spring is a cartoon stereotype with no relevance on a continent where ALL NATIVE TREES ARE EVERGREEN!! Snowy winters are a joke in the desert, and even sunny summers don't ring particularly true considering that much of the country is in the tropics, where summer means monsoons - not that I've ever seen the concept that WE HAVE A MONSOON SEASON taught at an Australian school.

the 4 season model as you and i know it is a european invention, though 4 season models aren't unique to europe! most notably china has the same type of season subdivision.

Namely, the fact that we get them at all, and the fact that the general Midwestern response is to wander outside to see if we can see it.

We have bad weather forcasted the next few days and I had to talk him through the site tornado plan and storm shelter locations (we have six on site, my office is actually inside one) to head off the poor guy's anxiety and also I had to admit that yes, I also share the general Tornado Alley brain damage and go outside to try and see it when the sirens go off.

It was just a day trip, the Emerald Lake Trail, in the Rocky Mountain National Park, no need for camping equipment or rations of food.

It was just... California didn't know how he had been invited, and was determined to not get himself uninvited. The Four Corners are a tight group, any mention of having a tag along might have them realise California was not needed or wanted on the trip.

"Utah, your hat!" California waved a tan bucket hat into the front seat.

Utah looked at it in surprise and grabbed it while checking his head with his other hand, "oh thanks Cali. 'Vada always says I'ld forget my head if it wasn't screwed on."

California sat back and gave himself an internal fist pump. Finally, he found the line between annoying and helpful.

"New Mexico," California reached into his bag and pulled out a tube, "I have it on good authority that this brand of sunscreen doesn't leave white residue on darker skin."

New Mexico grabbed it from him, "if your authority is some gringo influencer then I'm burying you off the trail."

"Hey!" Colorado called from the driver's seat, "we're not polluting the Rockys with California's body!"

"Agreed," Arizona grabbed the sunscreen and started applying some, once New Mexico squeezed out enough, "Not enough on him to fertilize a weed."

"He'll give a coyote a tummy ache trying to find any meat on him." Utah laughed and took the tube off Arizona, "Stay still Ra."

Colorado swatted Utah's cream covered hand away from his face, "I'm driving, we're almost there, can you wait?"

"Okay," Utah shrugged and applied the cream to his own face, "Just don't forget or Cali might ground you."

California made a face but was interpreted by New Mexico laughing, "Sí, no weed for you."

"And no climbing 13ers," Arizona poked Colorado from behind.

Colorado pulled into a carpark and made a big show of grabbing the tube before turning off the car and getting out.

The others scrambled out after him and started stretching out the long drive, getting ready for their hike.

Colorado threw the near empty tube back to California, "There, anything else?'

California opened his mouth before his brain could catch up with him, "You have enough water?"

"Yes Dad," Colorado jiggled his bottle to show it was mostly full. Giggles came from the other 3 states, Colorado swatted Arizona's shoulder, "oh shut up."

California shifted nervously from foot to foot, they were laughing but it still wasn't too late to tell California to fuck off and leave them alone.

Utah took a picture of the trail map for future reference, "Does that make 'Vada our mom?"

New Mexico punched him, "You and your mommy kinks would enjoy that."

Utah spluttered as laughter filled the air. Finally Colorado started towards the start of the trail, "Come on you lot, we have to get Dad back before his bed time."