medeii

Mr. Lydon -- The link you posted is not working, and I'm unable to find anything that resembles it on Lulu. Did the book get taken down for some reason? When will we be able to purchase it again?

While that author's conclusions might hold true for past centuries, the advent of widespread, even global media distribution can be said to have slowed—or even stopped entirely—the phenomenon of language drift. Having to rely on memory turned communication of separated communities into a sort of decades-long telephone game, but now, most children are educated in their native tongue by someone other than their parents. That education is facilitated primarily through the use of products that use standardized language: school textbooks, toys from global corporations, and most importantly, broadcast television. As such, it is entirely plausible that humans a thousand years in our future could understand us today. Consider English, for example. While Shakespeare's writing seems stilted and avails itself often of circumlocution, it is still understandable with a small bit of education. That's over six hundred years' difference, and though there have been changes, they are a far cry from "unintelligible." The changes to grammar, syntax, letter forms, and vocabulary that English has experienced are largely due to its widespread use in the majority of scientific fields, as well as its decentralized nature, but most of those changes have been small. - Grammar and syntax: A slow movement away from strict (some might say blind) adherence to Latin rules. - Letter forms/typography: Gradual standardization and the trend toward simplified typefaces (gothic > serif > sans.) - Vocabulary: Lots of changes, but primarily the addition of words to satisfy new concepts and inventions, with the occasional word migrating from one meaning to another: intercourse, for example. As such, I find it entirely possible that English could survive in an intelligible form several hundred, or even thousand, years into the future. My personal views are that we'll start mixing Chinese with English over the next hundred years, but that's another discussion. Above all, though, the writer has the responsibility to make sure his or her dialogue is understandable to the reader. Even when you're breaking the rules of language, you have to do it properly, else no one in your real world will understand what you're trying to say.

I'm admittedly rusty with my skills, but I like these challenges Dan throws out. It's difficult to convey meaning in such a limited space, and the additional constraints make me think, which is kinda fun. The file I did is comprised of five layers. From top to bottom: 1. Text 2. Text glow 3. Silhouettes 4. Red glow (with mask) 5. Stars I started with a photograph of a guy with his kid. I used Illustrator to auto-trace the figures (just 'cause I'm lazy) and then simplified those outlines before exporting the resulting silhouettes to Photoshop. That was layer 3. For the second revision, I traced the figures manually in Illustrator. Well, I traced the kid fully, but I only bothered with the visible part of the father. I exported to Photoshop again and used the Smudge tool to modify the outlines a little more, since a few of the angles looked strange at the finished image size. For the star background (#5), I initially used a custom brush (large step value, small size) to 'scatter' stars on a black background at three different opacity levels (20, 60, 100%). I duplicated the layer twice and applied 90-degree and 0-degree motion blurs (horizontal and vertical) to fake a "shine" for each star, then merged all three layers. The second time around, I used a different brush (less starlike, more of a simple dot) at three slightly different sizes and off-white colors to go for a different look. I'm still not totally happy with it, but then again, I'm not getting paid for this either. The red glow (#4) was a simple red background with a gradient mask, so that it higlighted the silhouettes without eclipsing

Really rough attempt -- I'd want to redo the stars and clean up the figures' lines, at least, but it's 2AM! EDIT: Done.

Not sure if this is anything like what you're looking for...

Myr's work is much appreciated, if unknowingly, by people like me: those who read, and return, and come back again for more. We might not know who was behind the site, but several times I personally gave thanks for whomever was responsible for collecting a lot of worthwhile fiction. Unlike Nifty -- that bastion of six-kilobyte, unedited, and sex-centric tales -- I can actually satisfy my craving for plots and characters here. But I come here for the writing. The forums don't much interest me; I registered just to reply to this thread, actually. I wouldn't have even seen this thread if it weren't for dkstories's blog. (And whomever was singularly responsible for his self-enforced delay, pray that we do not meet. Ever.) Anyway -- from what I can see, it's the it's the "community" features that are causing so much trouble. And I have to ask: are they really necessary? Why does Myr need to run (and monitor) forums whose very existence is the source of so much extra frustration? What do these provide that cannot be found on other generic discussion sites, like Yahoo Groups? Can't think of anything? Me neither. Axe 'em. Myr: Running a popular site is hard work. I suggest that the next time you find yourself frustrated, you ask for help a little more prominently, more publicly, so that you never get to this point again. Post a notice on the front page that you need more editors, or someone to write some PHP, or whip up a few images. I'm well aware of the responsibilities inherent in offering my help, and I'd love to give something back to a site that's provided hours upon hours of incredible reading. But it's hard to know to offer, when you don't know that such a need exists. I've got bandwidth, server space, years of web development and design experience, and I currently work as a technical writer. Use me. ....and let us know if we can bribe DK with pictures of hot baseball players.