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Topics - Natalie

#1
I feel like we ought to have an upcoming games thread. For future readers, the year is 2023, Baldur's Gate III is the most hotly-anticipated furry dating sim of all time, and a remake/remaster of Tomba! (a.k.a. Tombi!) has just been announced. What else are folks excited about on the horizon? Hebereke 2 was just announced at BitSummit, that's pretty crazy, and Marble It Up! is finally getting its DLC out of Apple Arcade hell. And I think we should get more details on Earthblade this year. Lots of excitement.
#2
Spam / Random Number Generator
April 20, 2023, 05:35:39 PM
A topic for anyone who needs random numbers for projects or decision making. Each day I will provide a randomly generated number for discussion and personal use. Please reach out if you're interested in using this service for commercial applications.

Today's number is 7,766.
#3
Refugia / Floor 5: In Memorium
March 02, 2023, 05:07:45 PM


As many of you may have heard, floor 5 of the Admin Tower is set to be demolished following a tragic baking accident - our hearts go out to the simplebots lost in the blast. First responders burrowing through the rubble recovered a bulletin board, for some reason, and here today we gather to remember those most important office memos.

Recall how, on Veteran's Day of 2021, the holiday of romance culminated in multiple public declarations of love and affection:



And who could forget the rivalry with our Floor 6 neighbors?


I don't know what these are, but they are surely important artefacts:



Unfortunately, the World Assembly is neither fair nor balanced, and some dreams were never permitted to cross over the barrier into reality. We gather here to pour one (1) out for these fallen homies:


In the many years of this august assembly, there have been campaigns so remarkable, so inspiring, that they were preserved due to cultural significance. Please gaze upon them for a minimum of fifteen (15) seconds:



Finally, for the sake of posteriority, we have here the final bulletin from Floor 5 before the untimely swimming pool leak forced its closure.


Now, would anyone like to stand up and share their favourite Floor 5 memories, as we come together during this painful time?
#4
General Discussion / The CalRef Review Bunker
December 29, 2022, 09:59:21 PM
I thought it'd be cool to have a place for people to post reviews of things. Games, books, movies, buildings, whatever. Post reviews, talk about reviews, talk about things being reviewed. We should do more talking about things. Please find below a review of a thing to kickstart the topic, followed by a long period of silence, followed by many more reviews of things.
#5
Refugia / Referendum XVII: The Refugia Holiday Special
November 06, 2022, 02:04:58 AM
Referendum XVII: The Refugia Holiday Special


It is an era of growth. Having observed the continued erosion of our collective sanity by the sands of time, our heroes reflect on the fragile prosperity of REFUGIA. The region, once and always founded in early 2019, has exceeded even the most unhinged expectations, and the COUNCIL now holds the keys to the future in a democratized grip.

But no grip is absolute. Recognizing the instability of the future, efforts are redoubled to safeguard the region against the ENTROPY of the universe.

In the hills of JUNITAKI, an admin hatches a scheme to celebrate regional culture for year(s) to come...



RRS 17. The Region observes January 31st, the anniversary of the founding of the Region, as a region-wide holiday.


Authored by: Junitaki-cho
Seconded by: Tiralta
#6
Spam / Calamity Refuge Guestbook :3
October 16, 2022, 09:30:02 PM
Sign here when u visit and take a cookie!!1 <3 :cookie:
#7
Spam / The Official Refugia Boatyard
January 13, 2021, 08:05:39 PM
Ahoy!

It's been a year since I've brainstormed Spam thread ideas, but I think I've finally dredged up a winner. This is a home for salty sea dogs, safe from the Furious Fifties, to dock up their lakers and windjammers and swing the lamp. I think some people refer to this as a port.

As your conning officer, I'll be manning the rip rap and bending the jackline. Sailors seeking citadel, dayblink is here.
#8
General Discussion / Trans Day of Remembrance 2019
November 20, 2019, 10:06:13 AM
Today, November 20th, is the annual Trans Day of Remembrance. While pride events are celebratory, TDoR tells a more solemn story. This is the day we memorialize transgender individuals who have lost their lives to hate crimes, and acknowledge that the fight for queer rights, acceptance, and safety is far from over.

I'm going to share some statistics here, but I especially want to drive home that the reporting you'll read elsewhere is very likely to be US-centric. You might see mainstream outlets like USA Today cite a figure of 22 trans or gender nonconforming people having been killed this year, but that's 22 people in the United States alone. Additionally, TDoR tradition is to track deaths between autumn of one year and the next rather than January and December, and interpreting what counts as anti-trans violence can be slightly subjective, so data from different sources may vary.

So, let's talk numbers. The link in the first paragraph contains a plain text list of people killed with dates and causes, but that's pretty hard to parse. is a basic breakdown of murders between October 1st, 2018 and September 30th, 2019. Brazil had 130 reported deaths during that time; Mexico had 63; the United States comes in third with 31 killings, almost as many as were found in all Asian countries in this dataset. In total, 331 trans or GNC people died to hate crimes during this period. This is down from the , in which 369 deaths were found, but it is indicative of a in the US over the last several years.

That last link, though it measures year-to-year rather than fall-to-fall and doesn't have this year's data yet, gives us some more insight into vulnerable populations. 46% of victims from 2008 to 2018 were in their 20s. Of those for whom an occupation was reported, a majority were sex workers - it's not uncommon for trans people to have to turn to prostitution to get by, and they're at very high risk for violence, especially if they're people of colour. The most statistically fatal European country for trans people is Turkey, but its death toll across a ten year span is still less than the average yearly total in Brazil or Mexico. There's also info on cause and location of death if you care to click through for it.

From January 1st, 2008 to date, at least 3,314 people have died globally to reported anti-trans hate crimes. This should be taken as a conservative figure, however, as violence against minorities often goes misreported or unreported, and there are certainly other victims whose gender identities are inaccurate on the record. A basic breakdown of these long-term statistics is provided in the graphic below. The general trends are in line with both the ten year aggregate described above and this year's statistics. (Infographic source: https://transrespect.org/en/tmm-update-trans-day-of-remembrance-2019/)

Finally, there is a more detailed record of 2019 victims, compiled by TGEU, which you can find . I'm putting a big content warning on this link, as it contains not just the victims' names and locations, but sources and quotes about the circumstances of their murders. It gets pretty heavy, but I'm leaving it here because the reality that people are facing needs to be acknowledged and confronted. Human rights don't begin and end at the limits of liberal cities, or at the US border.

So what does all this mean? The purpose of TDoR is not to bemoan the status quo, nor is it to admonish cis people for the actions of their broad group. If you're clicking past headlines thinking "So what?", the takeaway should be that things can be better, and minor actions can help make a difference; every raindrop contributes to the flood. When you show support toward your trans or GNC colleagues, you build trust that makes them less likely to reach into dark places looking for acceptance. When you call out hateful rhetoric or behavior, you stand a chance to prevent it from escalating and embolden others to speak up as well. When you educate others on queer issues, you're helping to counter fake news and fearmongering which directly feeds the number of fatalities above. And that's not even getting into the shockingly high rate of suicide attempts among trans people, or nonlethal abuse and harassment. We have the ability to make a difference in the lives of those around us - that's the point of all this. Ask questions, critique the methodology, content yourself with subtle shows of support, whatever, but do something.

#9
General Discussion / The Official Anime Thread
November 09, 2019, 11:58:23 AM
Since people chat about anime on the server a lot, I thought it'd be neat to have a general thread for anime discussion that doesn't fit anywhere else. Everyone is still welcome to make other threads for specific stuff, but sometimes having an ongoing thread already in place feels cozy.


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Glad that's out of the way. Anyway, all I've been watching lately is DBZ Abridged and a little bit of One Piece, but when I have time again soon I'm hoping to start a more serious series. Has anyone seen anything lately they'd recommend?
#10
General Discussion / The Online Gaming Thread
February 28, 2019, 10:15:25 AM
Let's all find games to play together sometime! I don't know what people are into these days, but I'm sure we have some common ground somewhere.