the Binomial Tie

So, Alignment Charts have some sort of strange, supernatural hold over me. I love finding cool ones online, sorting my friends and popular characters into them, and making them too.

I think it has something to do with the way they're a simple way to organize and categorize information/people in fun, uniform ways, and can mean as much or as little sense as you like.

In my "extensive research" of Alignment Charts, I have noticed that there are 3 main types of alignment charts.

The Grid Alignment Charts

The Graph Alignment Charts

The Tree Alignment Charts

The Grid Alignment Charts

This is probably the most common variety of Alignment Chart; a series of tiled geometric compartments. This includes the famous D&D Alignment Chart, as well as the far less popular Bear/Twink/Hunk Triangle.

The Square Variety either features two scales of different factors (lawful to chaotic / good to evil) or two collections of different things (preferred drink vs. sexuality is a common one).

The Triangle/Pyramid Variety, however, is a bit more interesting. Instead of having a label at the end of each row, there is only a label at the end of each vertex. As opposed to having the location of a compartment determine its exact value with regard to the chart, the proximity of a compartment to any given vertex determines how much that label applies to what is found in the compartment.

Fun Fact: A square Grid Chart has the same number of compartent as a triangular Grid Chart with the same side lengths! (i.e. A 2x2 square and a 2 layer triangle both have 4 compartments!)

This type of alignment chart is definitely better for smaller, finite sets of data, and allow for more specific and definable areas within the chart.

The Graph Alignment Charts

Graph Alignment Charts, while distinct from their Grid cousins in appearance, are practically identical in function. Again, like their grid cousins, Graph Charts come in both square and triangle varieties. Perhaps the most notable chart of this type is the "McDonalds Triangle Meme," seen here:

The lack of a grid/compartments allows for a lot more freedom when it comes to placing data points. Their lack of boundaries also allows for many more labels or points to be added in close proximity to one another, meaning that, unlike in Grid Charts, data points don't have to fight for a given spot, they can occupy the same niche in harmony.

The true graph Alignment Charts (As seen below), are an even better example of this category of chart.

While it shares the same labels as the classic 3x3 D&D Alignment Chart, it opts to turn the three columns of order and three rows of morality into axes, meaning one can utilize a greater range of positions, instead of relegating

These types of alignment charts are better suited to larger groups of data and work best when you're trying to relate data points more towards their relationships to a set of labels than more segmented, specific labeling.

The Tree Alignment Charts

This typing is somewhat loose and is more of a catch-all category. I only call them "Tree Alignment Charts" because the Tree Chart is the most structured variant of these charts, and most "Other" charts could be translated into the Tree Chart format and still work as intended. Really, these are the only types:

Tree Charts, which is just what I call the charts.

Freeform "Charts"

I don't think anyone else would call these "Tree Charts," this just looks like the Tree Charts I learned about in math class as a kid. You probably know the Tree Chart by its most famous version: the "When a bag is stuck in the vending machine" chart, seen below.

This is a somewhat prevalent version of alignment chart, but definitely not as popular as the classic 3x3 grid chart or the McDonald's-style triangle graph chart.

It's far less based on relation to values or labels, and is really just all or nothing and requires more broad, divided, and unrelated categories.

Finally, the Freeform Charts are just unorganized Tree Charts, as seen below.

This chart presents a similar format, with different categories of reactions to a singular prompt given in the title, this one just lacks the organization of lines.

There isn't really much to say about these Tree Charts as they are so open-ended.

These Tree Charts are best for displaying random assortments of data with only one set of labels, as opposed to the two sets of labels that both the graph and grid charts utilize.

Conclusion

I didn't really have a goal in mind with this post, I more just wanted to illustrate the different types of alignment charts and what they were good for. Also, I kinda just needed to get some Alignment Chart talk out of my system.

I have a lot of alignment charts saved up that I've found over the years, so I might post some of the more interesting ones at a later date.

Also, I have some varying charts and diagrams that I made as a form of personal indulgence that go into some deep specifics with regard to the values demonstrated within a given chart that I will post on another day.

1977: Star Wars is released, featuring, of course, Darth Vader

(Pictured: Darth Vader)

1984: Director Todd Durham releases his Star Wars parody movie, Hyperspace, featuring Darth Vader inspired villain Lord Buckethead.

(Pictured: Hyperspace poster featuring two Jawa-esque aliens flying through space in a shopping trolley.)

1987: Hyperspace is released on video in the UK, under the new title Gremloids.

(Pictured: Gremloids cover in the style of the original Star Wars poster, featuring Lord Buckethead.)

To promote the film, Mike Lee, the owner of the distributing company, ran for parliament as Lord Buckethead. He ran in Margaret Thatcher's constituency, Finchley, in order to get on TV. Lord Buckethead was representing the Gremloids party.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead on TV with Margaret Thatcher.)

1992: Gremloids is re-released. Lord Buckethead rides again, this time against prime minister John Major in Huntingdon. (Here's a fun fact about Huntingdon: I was born there! :D) 87/92 Buckethead seems to have leaned pretty hard into the space supervillain thing, with campaign promises including 'demolish Birmingham to build a spaceport'.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead on TV with John Major. Other notable candidates include Screaming Lord Sutch of the Monster Raving Loony Party.)

2017: comedian Jon Harvey, having recently watched Gremloids and learned of Lord Buckethead's candidacy for parliament, decides it's a great bit. He runs against Theresa May in Maidenhead. 2017 Buckethead seems to have a wackier and also more political approach, with campaign promises ranging from nonsense like 'nationalise Adele' to gesturing at actually sensible policies with stuff like 'lower the voting age to 16 and restrict voting after age 80'.

He also made an appearance on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. As with his previous incarnation, he was a member of the Gremloids party.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead dabbing on stage with Theresa May.)

2018: Director Todd Durham asserts his legal ownership of Lord Buckethead. Jon Harvey opted not to go to court over Buckethead and handed over the reins. Todd Durham extended an invitation to anyone who wanted to be the 'authorised' Lord Buckethead.

(Pictured: the new Lord Buckethead.)

2019: Lord Buckethead, now played by journalist David Hughes, stood against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He ran for the Monster Raving Loony Party, the UK's pre-existing gag candidate party. He ran with a similarly silly manifesto as the 2017 incarnation, but with a bit less of a political edge. His promises included 'All doorways to be increased by 1 foot (30 cm) in height' and 'Nigel Farage to be sold for parts'.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead and Count Binface square up.)

Meanwhile, Jon Harvey in his new persona Count Binface, also ran against Boris Johnson. Buckethead and Binface face off! Binface ran as an independent with a manifesto once again blending silly and semi-serious promises such as 'nationalising model railways' and 'giving £1 trillion a week to the NHS'. This was also I believe the debut of his promise to 'move the hand dryer in the men's toilet at Uxbridge's Crown and Treaty pub to a more sensible position'.

(Pictured: Count Binface presenting the offending hand dryer, inconveniently close to both the sink and the urinals.)

He has a point.

2021: Count Binface runs for the position of Mayor of London for the first time, with promises such as 'London to join the European Union'. He notably finished ahead of far right party UKIP.

2023: Count Binface runs in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election following Boris Johnson's resignation. He once again gets more votes than UKIP.

May 2024: Count Binface once again runs to be Mayor of London, debuting his now iconic 'build at least one affordable house' promise. Notably, he finished ahead of far right party Britain First.

(Pictured: Count Binface with Rishi Sunak. Also pictured: Monster Raving Loony Party candidate Sir Archibald Stanton with a ventriloquist's dummy.)

July 2024: Count Binface stands in the general election, running in Richmond and Northallerton against prime minister Rishi Sunak. He debuts his promise to cap the price of 99p flakes at 99p. This is his most successful election to date with 308 votes.

(Pictured: Count Binface with Andy Burnham. Also pictured: independent candidate Robert Pownell, dressed as a fox for his own reasons.)

June 2026: Count Binface stands in the Makerfield by-election against Andy Burnham, (recently) former Mayor of Manchester running for parliament with the intention of standing in the Labour Party leadership contest.

(Pictured: Count Binface on BBC's Newsnight.)

HAPPY 67 DAYYYYYYYYYY HELLL TFF YEAHHHHH‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Oh yeah and a doodle I made in class, the most memorable Monday ever (for nothing other than 67). 67 is still a thing in southeast asia lol, or our country at the very least. 67 unites all, 67 is global, 6... is 7.

I got an A on that paper.

Writing is a skill. Skill is muscle. If you don't use a muscle, it atrophies. If you are a student and you are tempted to use genAI to cheese an assignment, I am begging you for your own sake to not do it.

This is not a moral stance about genAI (which is shit at what it's ostensibly for, and full of lies and evil, and fueled by art theft and burning rainforests, and there is no good reason to ever use it for anything; that's the moral reason for why you shouldn't use it), it is a purely pragmatic stance based on the fact that if you use it you will never learn the single most essential skill that is used in every single workplace.

You will never learn to bullshit.

And if you cannot bullshit, you will not understand when you are being fed bullshit by others.

For your own sake you must learn to do your own thinking, your own bullshitting, because our trashfire society runs on bullshit and for your own good you must become fluent in it, because very few people will bother to translate it for you. It was asinine in the late 90s, and it is asinine today, but it is the central truth of adult society: everything is bullshit, and you need to know what is going on beneath the bullshit, and you need to be able to bullshit back if necessary.

I know that the expectations being placed on you are ever-increasing, and I know that it does not seem rational to put effort into explaining the plot of a Charles Dickens novel to someone who has read the thing 50 times and will read 50 identical essays about it over the weekend. I know you are being handed ever-greater heaps of what is functionally mindless busywork because of an institutional obsession with metrics that don't actually measure learning in a useful way. High school was nightmarish in the 90s and I am fully aware that it has only gotten worse.

Nevertheless, you must try, if only for your own sake. Curiosity is your best hope, and dogged determination your best weapon. Learn, please, if only out of spite.

I was able to get an A on that paper because I was able to skim the reading, figure out what it was about, and bullshit for 1500 words in the space of 40 minutes.

Unfortunately, what I heard was "read everything BUT The Old Man And The Sea."

Double unfortunately: the first day back was a test, on The Old Man And The Sea. Which I had read exactly zero words of. It was, notably, a short essay test. It wasn't multiple choice or fill in the blank. It was designed to require deliberate answers from scratch, entirely out of your own head, with nothing to go on BUT what was in your head.

And in the course of about 45 minutes, I was able to use the questions of the test itself to piece together a vague enough sense of how the story went to bullshit my way through other questions. I gave wide, thematic answers that were extremely light on details, since I did not know any of them, and did not even know this test would be happening until it was in front of me. An essay test for an AP-level English class.

I had a starting point of zero information, and an essay test about the thing I was supposed to have read.

I bullshitted my way to a B+ on it.

On a test I should have gotten a ZERO on.

It's been 16 years since I took that test.

I couldn't tell you a damn thing about The Old Man And The Sea.

But you better fucking believe I still know how to bullshit, and when someone is trying to bullshit me.

You need to know how to bullshit to spot a bullshitter, as said above, but you also need to be able to do real research and figure out how to understand a topic beyond just the surface level that you get with multiple-choice questions.

(Plus some additional nonbinary/gay man ramblings)

Okay so, this is a topic that has been around for a couple years now, and I want to throw in my opinion. This was basically just sparked by a comment I just saw, and one that I left in response. A lot of this is taken directly from my comment, with some slight changes.

Long post below the cut!

I think another good practice in this kinda situation is that if specifically the person you're meeting is a friend of a friend, or when you meet them there is someone else who you know knows them better than you, just use the stranger's name until the person who knows them better than you refers to them with a pronoun and then use that pronoun, otherwise I don't think they/them is all too bad for androgynous people.

My issue isn't exactly that the people calling me "they" are necessarily doing so in a derogatory or exorsexist way. A lot of the time, I don't think that's the intent. But this sort of "gender trinary" is actually part of the problem with the practice. In a world dominated by the gender binary, placing specific individuals into a "third" category (enby/gnc) as a default assumption is inherently othering.

That's why being singled out as the "they/them" in a group of people feels very similar to being called a faggot. They're implicitly calling out that something is "other" about the way that I present myself.

Rather than they/them pronouns being an avoidance of assumption, it has become a type of assumption in and of itself. It has become a new category. The "third" part of a new gender trinary. And specifically the "third" part, not the first or second or equal, because it is societally devalued under the preestablished gender binary.

It also implies that there is a specific way to "look" nonbinary, because there is a very specific genre of appearance that results in people defaulting to they/them instead of she/her or he/him.

A lot of "progressive" people basically gave up ground on the whole "gender doesn't have a look" argument. Instead, with the new gender trinary, nonbinary has just become associated with an androgynous appearance, in the same way that women and men continue to be associated femininity and masculinity, respectively.

(Plus some additional nonbinary/gay man ramblings)

Okay so, this is a topic that has been around for a couple years now, and I want to throw in my opinion. This was basically just sparked by a comment I just saw, and one that I left in response. A lot of this is taken directly from my comment, with some slight changes.

Long post below the cut!

I think another good practice in this kinda situation is that if specifically the person you're meeting is a friend of a friend, or when you meet them there is someone else who you know knows them better than you, just use the stranger's name until the person who knows them better than you refers to them with a pronoun and then use that pronoun, otherwise I don't think they/them is all too bad for androgynous people.

Thanks for the tag @laurenshippen I haven't done a tag game in FOREVER!

last song: "Hold Me Tight Or Don't" by Fall Out Boy

favorite color: shifts between shades of blue/green but rn I am digging Forest Green or Teal!

currently watching: nothinggggg D: I usually follow one tv series at a time and I am in between shows! WWDITS when will you return from the war

sweet/savory/spicy: I have such a sweet tooth

relationship status: :)

current obsession: still in my Baldur's Gate 3 hyperfixation

last thing you googled: how to get a specific achievement in BG3 LOOK I can stop any time!!!

Last Song: Back Math - Countdown

Favourite Colour: #7700FF

Currently Watching: Nichijou, The X-Files.

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: Sweet

Relationship Status: N/A

Current Obsession: Between interests (misfortune! Oh, woe and lament.)

Last Thing You Googled: Frosted Flatwoods Salamander

I'll tag:

Last Song: "week 52: witnesses" by Max García Conover

Favourite Colour: dark green

Currently Watching: House MD, a few years late lol

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: Savory!

Relationship Status: in a QPR :)

Current Obsession: bookbinding

Last Thing You Googled: primidone ADRs

Last Song: something from the simcity 4 soundtrack??? we were listening to it for workout music lol

Favourite Colour: mustard yellow

Currently Watching: Delicious in Dungeon and Seinfeld

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: sweet <3

Relationship Status: wedded!

Current Obsession: literary criticism

Last Thing You Googled: "typebar why no one wants to buy the future"

Many thanks for the tag @bernie-jsyk!

Last Song: Noc from Miłość w czasach popkultury by Myslovitz

Favourite Colour: Mustard yellow as well! Tourkoise and fucia are also very nice.

Currently Watching: Stuck on the second season of Breaking Bad

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: Savoury, sour or bitter is good too.

Relationship Status: In a one sided situationship with a long distance best friend.

Current Obsession: In between things atm, anatomy's cool tho.

Last Thing You Googled: "honk"

thanks for tagging me !!

last song: bint el khandaq - mashrou leila

favourite color: ultramarine

currently watching: last season of shameless 🙏🙏

sweet/savory/spicy: savory (or sour, why do people always exclude her...)

relationship status: taken, commited and obsessed

current obsession: it's oc season in my brain

last thing you googled: 'głóg'

last song: (rotten) apple dot com by pinocchio-p

fav color: violet is a honorable mention as my all time fav but recently it’s red!! especially in the red x black combo

currently watching: nothing but i plan to rewatch higurashi!!!! it’s my fav anime, i need to play the visual novel & read the manga bc i feel like a fake fan

sweet/savory/spicy: mm a hard one, i’d go for spicy as a treat bc i don’t have spicy foods often but i crave a spicy falafel sandwich sooooo bad

relationship status: single mantis parent

current obsession: gyaru subculture & tamagotchi

last thing you googled: tamagotchi uni colleqtic

last song: "Cold Turkey" by The Happy Fits... no "girl in blue" by Animal Sun... no "Sometimes" by Nick Lutsko (listening to music as im typing out the post lmao)

fav color: green ofc

currently watching: nothing, just a bunch of yt videos as per usual

sweet/savory/spicy: sweet, im a certified sweet tooth

relationship status: single (aroace version)

current obsession: tamagotchi and still kind of riding out (passive*) interest in drugs

last thing you googled: "I'm having a bad day maybe I should talk to someone nevermind" <- ok so i was looking for the one short form video that i mentioned in my prev post

Favourite color: purple! Like dusty lavenderish

Currently watching: Hmm nothing rn, I just got done with with watching scorpion king while eating (according to some tumblr post that was the most popular movie on my birthday! Wasn't good)

Sweet/savoury/spicy: savoury

Relationship status: single

Current obsession: how to save my fucked sleep and eating habits while changing nothing about the way I go about my day please and thank you

Last thing you googled: if it's true that germans prefer drinking bottled beer and austrians canned (results: none)

Last song: "Burn Butcher Burn" from the witcher. On loop for making an oc animatic. Does not even feel like a real song anymore.

Favourite colour: Probably green.. gotta fit that enviro student cliche, yk?

Currently watching: Re-watch of S1 of Star Trek Discovery + re-listen of Ars Paradoxica podcast

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: Savory :)

Current obsession: ............wildly outside my normal fare but a friend has dragged me into their obsession with Vampires smp. And I had made it so long without ending up in a minecraft smp fandom.....!! no longer 😔

Last thing you googled: "it sounds like you're just feeding your to and he" — which, shockingly did yield the meme I was looking for

last song: Full Metal Black by The Royal They A TOTAL BANGER I love their music

Favorite color: Purple

Currently watching: uh I’m not a big tv person… I would say go 3 but I’m waiting for a day I can watch it with my best friend. But currently listening to stellar firma

sweet loverrrr its 9 am and ive had a chocolate chip cookie and some strawberries

current obsession: oooo ok I have like. 3 answers. A) animal crossing cuz I used to have a switch and this week I got one again (my friend sold it to me for $70 woooo), B) the great gatsby -dont look at me its for school and I hate that I’m obsessed with it, C) The DLO and DOV of somewhere ohio cuz rat grimes’ music haunts me like a ghost (positive) and before full metal black a chase petra song was on and whenever I hear them I just go. Ughhhh Scarlette Jaunt I love youuuuu

last thing I googled: what happens if you dont give pascal ur scallop acnh

… i didnt wanna make him sad

I’m here now though TOT

Last song: Hand me my (x) I’m [y]! (So just the live version of hand me my shovel, I’m going in XD)

Favourite colour: Purple or green??? I can’t decide XD

Currently watching: I haven’t really watched anything recently, but I am listening to Englewood after dark!

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: What if I said sweet and spicy (gosh darnit I really like chilli ginger hot chocolate)

Current obsession: MULTIPLE MUAHAHAHA

- SCP foundation! One of my irl friends got me into this one and I’m now really into consuming as much SCP lore as possible

- idk if this counts but I’ve been pretty obsessively working on an animation/animatic thingie for a while and I can’t stop rewatching the bit that’s done TOT

- Newsies! Yeah no I can’t lie I’m just a bit of a theatre nerd

Last thing you googled: “The guy who didn’t like musicals” (self explanatory XD)

And now for my victims -v- :

@binomialtie7087 @thearxhiver @theknomearoundtown @appleblocks (you’ve been here since my first post I’m so curious) @themodernkronos

Last Song: Na Estrada by Ana Carolina

Favourite Colour: Periwinkle

Currently Watching: No particular series atm, but lots of films on the regular

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: Savoury, mmm

Relationship Status: None of Tumblr's beeswax

Current Obsession: DIY! I'm planning on making my own Calendar soon-ish

Last Thing You Ecosia-ed*: "films including waterslide song" < i was trying to find a film I remembered watching a while back that included the bonedaddys song, I gave up, it doesn't really matter

*I don't use Google, Ecosia is far superior :3

No pressure tags: @llewsdiary, @abstinentce, @dcidrags, @boldlyclassygentleman, @maybeemeg, @daisynebula, @ghoul-icious, @solarpunkdryad, @the-punk-wolverine