That guy behind Adamant and Westwood

Yahoo! to buy blog-maker Tumblr for $1.1 bn

askthenightguards — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:22:12 -0700

Yahoo! to buy blog-maker Tumblr for $1.1 bn:

brainsandothers:

Yahoo!’s board has approved a deal to purchase the popular blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, The Wall Street Journal reported.

I say if they don’t censor and limit what we can post, and limit the advertising to a tolerable minimum, it’s alright. If it’s the opposite, Tumblr users will make sure Yahoo! regrets this buy.

“Tumblr users will make sure Yahoo! regrets this buy.”

Please, elaborate.

Speaking of limits: Yahoo! Now on Tumblr

Looks like they might fix the tagging system and post limitations we’ve all been kvetching about.

Wouldn’t it be funny if Yahoo buying Tumblr was the best thing to ever happen?

dieinginsidebutsmiling: I wanted to send this so bad… Then...

askthenightguards — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:04:37 -0700

dieinginsidebutsmiling:

I wanted to send this so bad…

Then send. Were I the send-ee, I’d much rather know than continue to blunder and hurt a close friend even deeper.

Working on pony-inspired cosplay outfit while watching Mythbusters

askthenightguards — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:01:57 -0700

There’s some of Adam and Jamie’s dynamic in Adamant and Westwood, but it’s not 1:1 directly.

I just rewatched the episode about the exploding implants, and am now watching the one about piddling on a third rail.

OHLUNA, I’ll have to make something involving the night guards as Myth Buckers, won’t I?

The process has evolved over time, but it’s sort of jelled...

askthenightguards — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:47:40 -0700

The process has evolved over time, but it’s sort of jelled into a write, then art process. I have a story bible that is just my notes and internal story bits to maintain consistency (e.g., Is Adamant an admiral or lieutenant? What WCPs have I already given numbers to?) although that’s in need of updating.

I have a LOT of questions queued up, like 800+. Some are questions that I’ve already used and just haven’t gotten to clearing them out. Some of them are mod messages and replies to things I’ve asked (since tumblr still doesn’t let you ask questions from anything but your main blog). Some are submissions that are too long or large to fit within the panels.

But most of them are super-cool questions, like open ended questions, or random questions, or reactions to previous posts. There’s one anon that does these wonderful asks in a Zecora pattern. Those make me squee in delight.

So anyways, things are like this:

Decide upon a subject
Go through all the questions that might be related
In a plain text file, copy and paste in the related questions
Organize them to a degree, come up with general summaries or possibly a script
Make a script — mostly it’s just the text. This script is stored in
Trim the text; it’s almost always too wordy
Make new character sheets for introduced characters
Screen shot the questions
Launch Intaglio, open up older file with posts
Save as new file, remove most of the stuff I’m not going to reuse
Assemble and art in general, often trimming more text
Export each frame to PNG
For animated gifs, stitch them together with Graphic Converter
Otherwise, open the PNG in Preview, and save it again
Create draft in Tumblr, adding images with the caption being a single ? so the ‘Let people answer this’
Save as draft so I can upload the images in case upload has problems.
Go back to the draft, add tags, add captions, add links to askers.
Post, releasing the entry to the wild
Worry, figuring I messed up somewhere
Obsess about number of notes the post gets.
Make a post on modblog advising to not obsess about numbers.

The three programs I linked to are mac-only and I’m kind of certain that I’m the only one who uses them as opposed to Sai or Adobe products.

For the most part, the questions steer what posts I make, and I pick and choose the questions. To give an example, there’s the question about Sweet Cream and Soul Edge. The questions were given months apart by separate people, and I did arrange the questions to make a story. But I never would have thought up the post were it not for these questions to spark the idea. So it’s a bit of both.

Testing, testing 1 2 3? Edit: Okay, works in preview, but...

askthenightguards — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:45:00 -0700

Testing, testing 1 2 3?

Edit: Okay, works in preview, but not enlarged. I have to trim it down.

So the monthly company meeting was today.

askthenightguards — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:26:41 -0700

Afterwards, they had karaoke and it was suggested that I sing. I don’t like singing. The wife has banned me from singing. But there are some duties of being the company Westwood (lots of arcane knowledge, and is quirky), and I knew a song, even if the meme was long dead. Anyways, I told the CEO my idea and he joined me in the karaoke. We chose “Never gonna give you up.” Yup, the CEO and I rickrolled the company.

I think that qualifies as a highlight?

askthenightguards: askdreambaker: “I am going to need a lot of...

askthenightguards — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:37:04 -0700

askthenightguards:

askdreambaker:

“I am going to need a lot of flour……”

(Mod Note: Oh gosh! Thank you guys!!! I hope to continue entertaining you guys for another 800 to come! Thank you so much for all the support for all this time. Check under the read more for all the blogs used.)

Read More

(( And congrats to Dream Baker! Who may or may not actually bake dreams! Ada is up in the upper left corner! And I swear I’m totally still working on the next update! It’s a doozy! ))

Kamoved to my modblog to make space for stuffs.

The only thing I can think about with the whole EQG thing is the...

askthenightguards — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:06:47 -0700

The only thing I can think about with the whole EQG thing is the intro bit:

Check it out: Crystal Empire guardponies. In armor. I’ll have to make use of this sometime. But how?

deadmans-landing: toromiko: konekosilvertail: morbi: Fun...

askthenightguards — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:51:18 -0700

deadmans-landing:

toromiko:

konekosilvertail:

morbi:

Fun Fact: Sonic 2006 wasn’t actually the worst Sonic game

oh my fucking god I just got to his voice and let out this inhuman shreik

oh m y l o r d

Okay, this was—without a shadow of a doubt—a cash-in title that a lot of companies delved into around that time period. That being said: who thought this would even RESEMBLE a good idea?!

Dee, you have to find this game and livestream playing it now. For completion’s sake.

Dangit dangit dangit dangit

askthenightguards — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:30:00 -0700

I still need to make arrangements for Bronycon, and what’s worse is that I lost the contact info for someone Lacemod and I were going to room with. I can’t even remember the name —I’m really bad at names. Argh. So if you remember me asking (I think it was during a livestream) or if you have space for two (we can pay for our part of the hotel room and whatnot), drop me a message, eh?

UPDATE: Room plans have been made! Thanks everyone for helping!

overandoutconnecticut: emilianadarling: titssmagee: outrott...

askthenightguards — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:51:00 -0700

overandoutconnecticut:

emilianadarling:

titssmagee:

outrotting:

g0dsand-m0nsters:

justwatchthesunrise:

keldulmo:

i don’t think i’ve ever agreed with anything more than what this man is saying

watch this. seriously

yes yes yes yes yes

this is amazing

this guy is so sick

I needed this right now. Anyone taking finals needs this right now.

This is a lesson that I’m still trying to learn. I’m better than I was in high school, but sometimes I still fall into this trap even when I try not to.

This is glorious spoken word and it’s an incredibly important message.

My professor played this is class the other day. It was very powerful.

ALYSSA. LOOK. THIS IS IT.

A wise man (one of the advisors in high school) once told me, “Never let academics get in the way of your education.” And it made all the difference.

I took quite a few courses in college that were difficult, sometimes too much so, but that was alright. I was really lucky that the one in charge of my scholarship would look the other way when my GPA dipped below what the scholarship required, because he understood that an F in a challenging course was better than an A in an easy one.

I’m not a hiring manager, but when we have applicants, I am one of the ones that interviews them. The GPA is never looked at. The college is never looked at. The degree is not a major factor. What I look for is experience and critical thinking. And keep in mind that experience need not be work; hobbies and open source projects listed rank high in my book.

Solving for “X” does help sometimes, tho.

Something new in my next post. The legs are such that I can...

askthenightguards — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:15:26 -0700

Something new in my next post. The legs are such that I can easily rotate them about the pivot points. Isn’t it just the cutest?

adurot: First commission piece for...

askthenightguards — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 01:45:00 -0700

adurot:

First commission piece for http://askthenightguards.tumblr.com/ is done. Wanted a bunch of Shooting Star Ponies harassing Skye Gazer. I suppose someone needed to fill in while Star Shot’s out recovering.

AduroT, the mod behind My Little Pony Kirby, is open for commissions! Give him moneys and he’ll make awesome art like this. He did a great job of drawing the cuteness that is Star Shot’s characters.

To add to that earlier post I made

askthenightguards — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:57:41 -0700

burningweird:

nightguardmod:

burningweird:

fogwithwheels:

I am physically disabled, have cognitive functioning problems because of chronic illness, chronically ill, mentally ill, neuroatypical, autistic, and most likely have undiagnosed learning disabilities but I don’t have a few thousand dollars to pay for the assessment for that.

I say all this because I need people to understand the intersectionality that exists in my life, and this is just with disability.

You can’t talk about how you hate the people see your mobility aid and assume you’re stupid and “oh my goodness I’m physically disabled, I don’t have an intelectual disability” without oppressing people with intelectual disabilities. You ignore the people that have both, and regardless, you’re throwing someone under the bus to make a point. You’re being an ableist douche just like the person you’re making the comment to, and that’s not okay.

While that is the example I see and hear the most, the disabled community still uses language that oppresses other members of the community. And that’s not ok. This probably happens the most with words related to mental illness. Think about your language.

You don’t get a free pass for being an ableist douche because you’re also disabled. That’s not how this works.

And I would love to actually watch a video, or read an article, or something, where someone didn’t manage to throw someone else under the bus.

Just don’t fucking do it.

This is a huge problem I see especially with any sort of general disability related blogs on tumblr which has caused me to unfollow 99% of them because sometimes there are conflictions in accessibility.

Like I’ll see a post about a service dog not being allowed in a doctors office because someone has life threatening allergies.

Or someone’s coping technique could trigger someone else.

I’ve had arguments in the past over shit like this because people can’t accept that it is not ok to hurt other people in the process of helpting yourself.

Speaking as a highly-privelaged white, able-bodied, cisgender male american citizen with a high-paying technical job and in a legally recognized heterosexual marriage — you know, a church affiliation away from being the worst sort of person on Tumblr— this may be very much be a significant obstacle to change.

As far as I can tell, what gets people to change is when there is something that they understand is good for themselves. You could explain away my interest in posting here as ‘Kat (Burningweird) is a neato person and draws butts, therefore anything that makes her unhappy makes me unhappy.’ In a more general sense, a call to justice by those unhurt by the status quo may do so for the warm fuzzy feeling of being morally superior because they’re doing ‘the right thing.’

So yeah, affecting change. The goal is to get the majority (or enough people of power) to want such a change. There’ll be some people that will never want the change (extremely racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever) but those butt-munches don’t matter. What do is the large group that are on the fence and can be swayed by a call to that warm fuzzy feeling or even more selfish motives (For some companies, being seen as socially progressive means more sales.)

The first response of us privileged majority, upon seeing someone disabled decrying abilism against their specific condition but ablist themselves at others, or of feminist that only cares about the plight of women of their own race, or of the lesbian that rejects MtF trans, will be one of, “Hold up, you’re not fighting for justice, you’re only fighting for your own needs selfishly. Were you not in that situation, you would not care about that situation. Since I am not in that situation, why should I care?” That chance for a warm fuzzy feeling just went right out the window, and with it, any justification, any call for change.

Which is a dang shame.

Because this lack of change potentially denies me of knowing other cool people who draw butts.

Yeah sadly I am aware :(

I do it too. I sometimes notice myself brushing off things like sex/race issues because it seems stupid from my perspective.

However, I have more of a tolerance if someone is just saying things on their personal blog for their own sake because frankly, if I unfollowed everyone who occasionally did something bigoted I would literally have to unfollow everything but blogs that are like just art posts or something. People who aren’t problematic selfish fuckups don’t really exist.

It pisses me off though when people are in denial about it though. Oh I am some great activist I care about everyone [invisible subtext: as long as it doesn’t inconvenience me]. I think if you are unable to step back sometimes and try to look at this shit from other perspectives than yours sit the fuck back down because you really shouldn’t be speaking for anyone else.

Which is why I don’t have any sort of general sj blog

Which is why I don’t really reblog things about other minorities as I have no fucking business in that discussion

I don’t think anyone will ever not put themselves over everyone else but it would be nice if they would just stop lying and saying they aren’t. Admit you fucked up and tuck the new info in the back of your mind or something for later reference.

It’s okay to be selfish. It happens. It’s natural. The catch is, if I’m being selfish, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to convince you to be altruistic. But altruism is not necessary for positive change. Just convince me that, by helping you, it helps me in some way.

That’s okay. That’s allowed. We can be selfish yet mutually beneficial.

To add to that earlier post I made

askthenightguards — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 02:53:14 -0700

burningweird:

fogwithwheels:

I am physically disabled, have cognitive functioning problems because of chronic illness, chronically ill, mentally ill, neuroatypical, autistic, and most likely have undiagnosed learning disabilities but I don’t have a few thousand dollars to pay for the assessment for that.

I say all this because I need people to understand the intersectionality that exists in my life, and this is just with disability.

You can’t talk about how you hate the people see your mobility aid and assume you’re stupid and “oh my goodness I’m physically disabled, I don’t have an intelectual disability” without oppressing people with intelectual disabilities. You ignore the people that have both, and regardless, you’re throwing someone under the bus to make a point. You’re being an ableist douche just like the person you’re making the comment to, and that’s not okay.

While that is the example I see and hear the most, the disabled community still uses language that oppresses other members of the community. And that’s not ok. This probably happens the most with words related to mental illness. Think about your language.

You don’t get a free pass for being an ableist douche because you’re also disabled. That’s not how this works.

And I would love to actually watch a video, or read an article, or something, where someone didn’t manage to throw someone else under the bus.

Just don’t fucking do it.

This is a huge problem I see especially with any sort of general disability related blogs on tumblr which has caused me to unfollow 99% of them because sometimes there are conflictions in accessibility.

Like I’ll see a post about a service dog not being allowed in a doctors office because someone has life threatening allergies.

Or someone’s coping technique could trigger someone else.

I’ve had arguments in the past over shit like this because people can’t accept that it is not ok to hurt other people in the process of helpting yourself.

Speaking as a highly-privelaged white, able-bodied, cisgender male american citizen with a high-paying technical job and in a legally recognized heterosexual marriage — you know, a church affiliation away from being the worst sort of person on Tumblr— this may be very much be a significant obstacle to change.

As far as I can tell, what gets people to change is when there is something that they understand is good for themselves. You could explain away my interest in posting here as ‘Kat (Burningweird) is a neato person and draws butts, therefore anything that makes her unhappy makes me unhappy.’ In a more general sense, a call to justice by those unhurt by the status quo may do so for the warm fuzzy feeling of being morally superior because they’re doing ‘the right thing.’

So yeah, affecting change. The goal is to get the majority (or enough people of power) to want such a change. There’ll be some people that will never want the change (extremely racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever) but those butt-munches don’t matter. What do is the large group that are on the fence and can be swayed by a call to that warm fuzzy feeling or even more selfish motives (For some companies, being seen as socially progressive means more sales.)

The first response of us privileged majority, upon seeing someone disabled decrying abilism against their specific condition but ablist themselves at others, or of feminist that only cares about the plight of women of their own race, or of the lesbian that rejects MtF trans, will be one of, “Hold up, you’re not fighting for justice, you’re only fighting for your own needs selfishly. Were you not in that situation, you would not care about that situation. Since I am not in that situation, why should I care?” That chance for a warm fuzzy feeling just went right out the window, and with it, any justification, any call for change.

Which is a dang shame.

Because this lack of change potentially denies me of knowing other cool people who draw butts.

sir-cherry-fizzy: extradan: more-of-your-favorite-austin: susi...

askthenightguards — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:24:01 -0700

sir-cherry-fizzy:

extradan:

more-of-your-favorite-austin:

susie-queen-of-the-vampireponies:

nightguardmod:

lazy-art:

Commission from the commission stream for NightGuardmod

Left is mine, Right is Minty’s

$46/$50

My new hobby: Commissioning/requesting Susie. Because I am easily amused.

ssss i have a vampire cutie mark.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I’m dying

pffftt was that a commission? for 50$? pfffftt i cant

Not sure if Nightguardmod is a Susie fan or he’s just trolling because Susie is undeserving.

It was actually that the two artists were doing a request commission stream, trying to raise $50, with $5 a drawing. They were already at $26, so I commissioned two, but paid $10 a drawing because they were underselling themselves, and because this was for groceries so do the right thing, yanno? Honestly, I requested Susie so I could pay them the $20, which is different than paying them so that I could request Susie, if that makes sense. So that raised their funding up to $46 out of $50.

As for being a Susie fan? I have to admit some of this is being trolling because, well, Susie is decisive in the fandom. Some friends really like her, some absolutely hate her. Also, she’s so bad she’s good. She’s Ed Wood. She’s the Aristrocrats. She’s Rocky Horror Picture Show. She’s Andy Kaufman.

As for Susie being ‘undeserving,’ one of the primary reasons I request Susie art is not because of Susie, but because of the artistic challenge. It’s difficult to make her color scheme work. She obviously has a body shape and some aspects, but the reference material is so, well, Susie that there’s no solid basis. Susie can have bat wings, or feathered wings, or no wings. Her mane can be a mohawk or an afro. Luna is a known entity and there’s a definite ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way to portray her. Susie is not limited by having a ‘right’ way.

When I ask artists to draw Susie, I don’t say, ‘draw Susie’, (okay, well, you know what I mean), I say ‘I want to see what you can do in making Susie awesome.’ It is an artist challenge, and I love the results because each Susie so far has been as unique as the artist who drew her.

asksweetcream: fullmoonluna: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1iVUKufM8eE ...

askthenightguards — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:16:58 -0700

asksweetcream:

fullmoonluna:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1iVUKufM8eE

[ Made rebloggable by request. ]

surely you dont mean 3some princess…

I was going to use the Adamant spit-taking image, but I have this one, too:

askthedoctorallons-y: jitterbugjive: cityapproves: frosthoof: ...

askthenightguards — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:38:15 -0700

askthedoctorallons-y:

jitterbugjive:

cityapproves:

frosthoof:

cityapproves:

asksweetcream:

Gonna make a blog - gonna call it ‘Disco Whooves’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5fF7S6Ls0w

PFFFFFT

fucking awesome, but he needs a fro.

Has the Joey Waggnoer version

even more yes

Don’t forget an Allonsy version as well

(Old drawing)

I regret nothing.

I'm innocent this time, I swear!

askthenightguards — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:00:16 -0700

Keilink (Mod of http://nightvanguard.tumblr.com/ ): Oh god, what have you unleashed xD
Adamant Pony (AskTheNightGuards): Wait, what?
Adamant Pony (AskTheNightGuards): What did I do?
Keilink: the doors of hell are opened ! ahaha
Adamant Pony (AskTheNightGuards): Which ones?
Keilink: http://fullmoonluna.tumblr.com/
Adamant Pony (AskTheNightGuards): :D
Adamant Pony (AskTheNightGuards): I was just about to listen to it.
Keilink: Night ones ! rofl
Adamant Pony (AskTheNightGuards): AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ask-wiggles: foxyshy: extradan: ask-wiggles replied to your post: I actually was counting the...

askthenightguards — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:06:49 -0700

ask-wiggles:

foxyshy:

extradan:

ask-wiggles replied to your post: I actually was counting the asks that were…

I bet it’s harder for people to think of asks when they’re asking a blog without a story. Most my asks are direct responses to whatever is happening in the story… and then the others are crystals / hugs / I am your long lost daughter. XD

*bark*

“crystals / hugs / I am your long lost daughter.”

I”M LAUGHING SO HARD

Seriously. I’ve gotten at least 15 asks of ponies dramatically (and sometimes tearfully) informing Sombra that they are somehow related to him.

I think my favorite was a guy who was just super casual about it. He was like “Hi, Sombra! You might not know this, but I’m actually your son! Isn’t that weird! But it’s true! Ha ha ha!” like they were going to go get a beer afterwards and talk about feelings.

Sorry, Wiggles. I had to. Surely you understand.