Dispatches from the Middle Circle

we need the return of billy possum STAT

If it is hot, you will need to drink more than normally because you are sweating. You can drink too much, though usually your body knows how to regulate it.

Yes, if it is liquid and not alcoholic it counts to your drinking intake. Yes, drinking lemonades, coke and whatever counts. All of it is still mostly water with some sugar and flavors added. It is fine. Be careful about taking in too much caffeine though, as it is a mild diuretic (means it makes you pee more and hence lose more water).

Yes, you also need electrolytes as you sweat them out. But you do not need to drink sports drinks. Eat some yoghurt with fruits, or some watermelon with salt, or maybe cold soup. It will refill your electrolytes.

No, it is not dangerous for you to sleep in front of a ventilator. This is a complete myth that has absolutely no basis in science whatsoever and literally originates with an Urban Legend. Especially with the recent heat wave in Europe for a lot of people the alternative is the possibility of heat stroke. It is fine. Sleep in front of that ventilator. Just make sure you are not getting too cold.

No, using sunscreen does not stop you from taking in Vitamin D, unless you are permanently using super high standard sun screen and are reapplying it every 6 hours as intended. And let's face it: you are not. Your skin gets enough UVB to make Vitamin D, don't worry about it. Skin cancer is worse.

Yes, switching between a very hot outside and a very cold context (be it super high AC or just jumping into cold water) can be a danger for your cardiovascular system, though unless the weather is very hot or the water very cold making the contrast very extreme, it is normally not a danger to people who do not have otherwise issues with their cardiovascular system. Though being a bit careful and allowing yourself to acclimatize is not a bad idea in general.

Yes, you should definitely not leave any living thing in a car while it is hot. Just don't. Cars heat up while standing very quickly and will become a death trap. If you leave an animal or a child alone in the car for even just 5 to 10 minutes, they might die. Don't do that shit.

Yes, you need to be extra careful about your medications. For once, most medications are not meant to be stored at above 25°C (don't ask me what this is in American units). But also a bunch of medications - especially psychoactive medications - will make your body worth at temperature regulation. So be careful.

Yes, you need shadow. Ideally the shadow of trees, because there is indeed a difference between that and the shadow of a building. But any shadow is good, especially during extreme heat.

In the same vein: be also careful about drugs during heat waves - like, the recreational type. Some of them work differently when your body is warmed up like that. Just... ideally read up online on possible side effects that might occur/be worse if taken during the heat.

i maed dis

I work in a machine shop now and recently I've been blessed with a lull in work and a cool supervisor, so I made myself a pair of dice out of some metal scrap that was going to be recycled anyway

2d6 for Battletech, naturally. Yes, they were very loud to roll. 22mm and 86g each! Dice tray mandatory! Battle report to follow.

i maed dis (Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbies in the background)

1d4 I made the week after the 2d6, rounded-rectangle style, because a metal pyramid-style d4 would instantly kill me if I stepped on it.

I hate explaining jokes but this fucking scene from Kung Pow makes me lose my shit every time: 

The children screaming “We’re children!” like they’re Pokemon

Cans of Pringles in the background 

Shopkeeper’s voice breaking the microphone levels 

“Babe-y”! 

The shitty cgi hand with the phone

Initially I wanted to make a sort of blue-violet gradient. Get a base coat of purple, drybrush silver on top, add a blue wash. But no matter how I did it it either ended up too subtle or just completely blue. At that point I switched to edge highlighting, on the purpler side I edge highlighted light blue, on the bluer side I edged a lighter violet, but that ended up looking washed out and visually bland. Finally, I thought re-edging with cyan and magenta might do it, pictured above, but that kinda loses the core color scheme I wanted :[

Additionally, this was one of my first uses of airbrushing and contrast speedpaints. Turns out, despite being a rich violet color, it really doesn't take over black.

“Dream trance is an early subgenre of trance music that peaked prominently on the international dance scene between 1995 and 1998 (colliding with the first time for trance to reach mainstream). The “dream” term has been known to largely influence house music in general, and therefore the subgenre is also known as dream house or dream dance on some occasions.[1]

Today, dream trance is considered to be the first and the most primitive derivative of the progressive electronic movement that started around 1992. Many psytrance producers emergent at the time (notably Infected Mushroom) were also influenced by it.

The key element of dream trance resides in catchy and deep melodies of such tracks, typically played on an acoustic instrument (piano, violin, saxophone, etc.) that are mastered and then sampled onto an electronic beat structure. The melodies are considered “dreamy”, i.e. tending to alter the listener’s mind, hence the name.[1]

The creation of dream trance was a response to social pressures in Italy during the early 1990s; the growth of rave culture among young adults, and the ensuing popularity of nightclub attendance, had created a weekly trend of deaths due to car accidents as clubbers drove across the country overnight, falling asleep at the wheel from strenuous dancing as well as alcohol and drug use. In mid-1996, deaths due to this phenomenon, called strage del sabato sera (“Saturday night slaughter”) in Italy, were being estimated at around 2000 since the start of the 1990s. “Children” by Robert Miles is one of the pioneering tracks of the genre and was created due to these accidents. The move by DJs such as Miles to play slower, calming music to conclude a night’s set, as a means to counteract the fast-paced, repetitive tracks that preceded, was met with approval by authorities and parents of car crash victims.[1]

Dream trance uses dance beats similar to those of the Eurodance and dance-pop genres rather than genuine trance beats mixed into 4-to-4 bass patterns with a particularly repetitive sound. The focus of the music is primarily on the melody rather than the beat, resulting in a trance-like melody and a house-like beat. The rhythm structure is also very simple, however, as stated before, all the importance is accented in instrumental strings that derive on various notes and shape the songs.[1] Therefore, the style is very similar to trance in its general consistence, with the only differences being a slower tempo (around 130 BPM) and a constant, house-like progression. “

http://www.junodownload.com/products/s-this-is-dream-trance-anthems-vol/1946940-02/

HMM Geno Breaker

I owned a Geno Breaker growing up. It was one of those old motorized kits, it was a birthday gift, and it was my favorite Zoid ever. It was a heavily loved toy - missing parts, a broken leg, replacement caps from other kits, but nevertheless a treasure that survived after more than a decade or so.

I pre-ordered this kit when the re-release got announced, and after I built it has been sitting on my shelf collecting dust until I finally got around to painting it. I've also just acquired a proper compressor with a tank and was itching to give it a go.

I let my cosplayer instincts take over while painting this. A bit of an aged look to honor my original Geno Breaker. Gold vents just like the Raven version just because they look good. Entirely silver feet just like the old ones. Didn't go too overboard with the decals this time. And of course, the glowing eyes. The blue LEDs didn't come in time for this shoot, so I can only make the eyes glow red instead of being able to switch between.