Help us fix old issues

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Well, if the team is 50-50 on something, generally we just defer to the named editor, which in this case would be Ransium. I'll leave it to you to let me know your preferred version, Ransium, otherwise we can leave it as it is.

[Ransium]

Go ahead and change it.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Done. Now reads:

the new foreign policy is "why bother invading neighbours when they can be bought wholesale?"

Didn't capitalise, as it's more probable that this will appear mid sentence.

[Trotterdam]

#752:

the dartboard at the charity @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Cancer Research bears a picture of @@LEADER@@'s face

I think that "@@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Cancer Research charity" would read better. Maybe "charity '@@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Cancer Research'" would also work, with the quotes indicating that you're naming what you previously described, but right now it reads as "the charity the charity @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ cancer research, as opposed to other @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ cancer researches that aren't charities".

[Candlewhisper Archive]

You're right. Changed it.

[Dunraven]

Got the issue #752 (The Immortal Cells Of Mrs. Gratwick).
Which seems odd because this nation is one of the most primitive on NS, and (among other things) has banned computers. That issue should be limited to high Scientific Advancement.

[Trotterdam]

Do you need computers to maintain a cell culture?

[Ransium]

Originally there was a scientific advancement criterion, but I argued to have it removed. HELA cells were first cultured in the 1950's so it's not as if you need to be at the modern cutting edge to understand their importance. That said I suppose I wouldn't be against a weak scientific advancement check, but it's kind of tricky. My nation is currently 304th most primitive but also has a state of the art medical system.

[Drasnia]

Originally there was a scientific advancement criterion, but I argued to have it removed. HELA cells were first cultured in the 1950's so it's not as if you need to be at the modern cutting edge to understand their importance. That said I suppose I wouldn't be against a weak scientific advancement check, but it's kind of tricky. My nation is currently 304th most primitive but also has a state of the art medical system.

Is it possible to have an OR check? Either mild SA or public Healthcare could assign it.

[Ransium]

It's possible but the simulation is so coarse now in so many places it feels a bit silly doing something that specific. Anyway, I'm sure CWA will weigh in on this tomorrow.

[Jutsa]

Sorry about going a little off-topic, but mind my asking if you know whether NS will have fixes to its coarseness and knock-on effects?

[Luna Amore]

Sorry about going a little off-topic, but mind my asking if you know whether NS will have fixes to its coarseness and knock-on effects?

It's a living code. I don't think it's outrageously coarse or unpredictable. But it's constantly being polished.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Do you need computers to maintain a cell culture?

No, all you really need is a growth medium.

I think its reasonable to say a certain level of tech advancement is needed to grow cells in a lab, much as a certain level of tech is needed to build a bicycle, or to engineer a large bridge, or to set up the industry needed to make Eckie-Cola.

As it is, we don't tend to use the scientific advancement as a validity check in things that require today-level tech, as even if a nation has since become primitive, it would have been at near average tech levels at some time in its creation (during nation generation). Only "5 minutes in the future" stuff needs an advancement check.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Sorry about going a little off-topic, but mind my asking if you know whether NS will have fixes to its coarseness and knock-on effects?

It's a living code. I don't think it's outrageously coarse or unpredictable. But it's constantly being polished.

I agree and disagree. It's definitely a living code, and there are technical challenges to changing it on the fly. I also think its fundamentally a very clever simulation.

However, there are a handful of specific decisions that really need fixing, which we've been informed are in the process of being fixed. As to when that happens, that's out of the control of us mere Issue Editors.

I'd note though that nobody (including hard working editors) is entitled to try to hurry this process. None of us pay for this site, and if you want chocolate sprinkles on your free cappuccino, it's polite to wait to be offered them first.

[Trotterdam]

#756: "issues that could have just as easily been dealt with by the flip of a coin"

Oh, and "bee-suit-clad".

As it is, we don't tend to use the scientific advancement as a validity check in things that require today-level tech, as even if a nation has since become primitive, it would have been at near average tech levels at some time in its creation (during nation generation).

Of course, in real life, nations rarely go down in scientific advancement. Third-world nations are that way because they never managed to develop properly, not because they're former first-world nations that since backslid.

Of course, also in real life, even nations that lack the infrastructure to make any impressive technology of their own still import some advanced trinkets, and probably have some people with theoretical understanding of the technology that they don't have the means to actually build.

But for this, I think all you really need is a vague awareness that life is made up of cells, and the surgical knowledge to say "yup, that's a cancerous tumor" when you see one.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

#756: "issues that could have just as easily been dealt with by the flip of a coin"

Good spot, fixed

[Jutsa]

Roses Are Due If Violet's For You: Uh, hmm, this particular part of the sentence seems a little off to me...


Perhaps instead of "have interrupted you while you are at dinner with family", it could be
"are now interrupting you while you are at dinner with your family"?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

So this is the full sentence:

Bachelors, bachelorettes and believers from across @@NAME@@ have interrupted you while you are at dinner with family, demanding an immediate solution to their dating woes.

Looks fine to me. What's the bit that looks wrong?

[Jutsa]

Well, I figured "with family" would be better put as "with your family" - but I suppose it's not entirely off,
but "have interrupted you" feels more like a past tense form whilst the rest of the sentence appears to be present tense.
I could be mistaking in this, but that's how I interpreted it.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Ah I see, I think.

"Have interrupted you" is present perfect tense, as it combines present tense "to have" with the past participle "interrupted". It can indicate that the action has been completed in the past (in this case the recent past) or that it is still ongoing.

Grammatically, it reads as either the interruption happening followed by the demands, or that the interruption is happening and that it includes the demands. While there's some ambiguity there, it's non-consequential, as either interpretation makes for an acceptable narrative.

Likewise, both "with your family" and "with family" are correct uses, with ever so slightly different meanings/emphases.

I think certainly your amended version works equally well grammatically, but Joy's current approach is probably more elegant, in my own opinion.

[Jutsa]

Aah, ok, thank you.

[Pythagaslavia]

Issue: 183
Option 1

Original Text:

Embryo selection isn't really genetic engineering in the technical sense," explains Dr. @@RANDOMNAME@@, owner of the Babies-2-Go Clinic. "It's more like being able to have a dozen abortions per month until you get the foetus you desire. I can't really see what's wrong with parents who can afford it being able to eliminate foetuses with undesirable genetic traits - like stupidity.

Incorrect spelling, it is fetus, not foetus.

Corrected Text:

Embryo selection isn't really genetic engineering in the technical sense," explains Dr. @@RANDOMNAME@@, owner of the Babies-2-Go Clinic. "It's more like being able to have a dozen abortions per month until you get the fetus you desire. I can't really see what's wrong with parents who can afford it being able to eliminate foetuses with undesirable genetic traits - like stupidity.

[Leutria]

Actually foetus is a British spelling, so is correct.

[Pythagaslavia]

Actually foetus is a British spelling, so is correct.

I didn't know that, my apologies for clogging up the forums.

[Rekasneg]

There appears to be a typo present in option 2 of issue #756 "The Issue With Issues."

You suddenly hear a shattering noise and find Theresa Kim, your Advisor Of Trivial Matters, has broken through your office window. “Sorry about that, your office door was being fixed,” she apologies. “Anyway, an issues crackdown? Ha! Your window’s a trivial issue, yet you’ll probably be enlisting all of Rekasneg’s government to replace it! I say, anyone who wants should be able to bring an issue directly to your attention! Then the people will feel like the government is a helpful organization working for them, not something big to fear! If that doesn’t work, I’ll even help fix your window!”

I believe that it's supposed to be "apologizes" rather than "apologies."