[SUBMITTED] Silence of the Birds

[Debussy]

First Draft:

Silence of the Birds

[validity] High polluting industries, such as Timber Wood-chipping, Sector: Manufacturing, Automobile Manufacturing, etc. Has Defense Forces or Arms Manufacturing. Some degree of Eco-Friendliness.

[description] Following an oddly quiet morning in the office, a frantic group of scientist and bird watchers thrust through your door, interrupting a routine meeting with your Minister of Defense. They claim that all the birds in the nation have gone silent.

[option]“Oh, what calamity!” claims renowned bird scientist, @@RANDOMNAME@@, studying you through a pair of binoculars. “It is clear that our destruction of the environment, or a virus, or… something has stolen the voice of the birds. We must put an end to polluting industries until we find a solution.”

[effect] All major polluting industries have an albatross around their neck.

[option] “This could be far more serious!” gravely answers your Minister of Defense, @@RANDOMNAME@@. “When nature goes silent, be very afraid. They are signaling a predator’s strike, and we are sitting ducks! We must prepare our forces for an imminent attack before we are dead as a dodo!”

[effect] The military has been described has having eagle eyes.

[option] “A little birdy told me there is nothing to worry about,” remarks Alfred Fox, a lobbyist from @@MAJORINDUSTRY@@, who seems to have been in a hear-shot of your office. “All this silence means is that we can enjoy our parks, walkways, and outdoor spaces more without any of that annoying, loud chirping in our ears.”

[effect] Major industries have been feathering their nest.

[Daarwyrth]

Question! What is the premise inspired by? Is it based on a real life event, or something from literature/films/games? While very interesting, it feels a little odd, especially the idea that the silence of the birds was clearly caused by something that your nation is doing, but that it isn't clearly explained, or the link made at least. Have you considered adding an explanation such as "because of high bird death rates, birdsong across @@NAME@@ has fallen silent"? Or that the birds avoid @@NAME@@?

[Debussy]

Question! What is the premise inspired by? Is it based on a real life event, or something from literature/films/games? While very interesting, it feels a little odd, especially the idea that the silence of the birds was clearly caused by something that your nation is doing, but that it isn't clearly explained, or the link made at least. Have you considered adding an explanation such as "because of high bird death rates, birdsong across @@NAME@@ has fallen silent"? Or that the birds avoid @@NAME@@?

I got the idea for the issue from the Silence of the Lambs movie. I tried to work something from the movie into the issue, but couldn't. I can't say the premise is real-life based. Your remarks did cross my mind, but I was worried about the correct answer in issues problem. I didn't want to say all the birds had gone silent and here is the immediate option to fix that problem, nor did I want to say that all the birds were dying. If you believe that is the best approach, do you have any ideas on how to go about it? There are so many bird idioms, more options couldn't hurt.

[Daarwyrth]

Question! What is the premise inspired by? Is it based on a real life event, or something from literature/films/games? While very interesting, it feels a little odd, especially the idea that the silence of the birds was clearly caused by something that your nation is doing, but that it isn't clearly explained, or the link made at least. Have you considered adding an explanation such as "because of high bird death rates, birdsong across @@NAME@@ has fallen silent"? Or that the birds avoid @@NAME@@?

I got the idea for the issue from the Silence of the Lambs movie. I tried to work something from the movie into the issue, but couldn't. I can't say the premise is real-life based. Your remarks did cross my mind, but I was worried about the correct answer in issues problem. I didn't want to say all the birds had gone silent and here is the immediate option to fix that problem, nor did I want to say that all the birds were dying. If you believe that is the best approach, do you have any ideas on how to go about it? There are so many bird idioms, more options couldn't hurt.

Before you change anything, I would wait for a little bit more feedback, because it could be that it's only me who's having the issue I just described

Perhaps if there was a little bit more of a build-up, it would feel a little bit less sudden. Perhaps you could state in the premise that songbird was on the decline, until it suddenly stopped this morning. But definitely wait to see if others have the same remark as I gave.

[Debussy]

I got the idea for the issue from the Silence of the Lambs movie. I tried to work something from the movie into the issue, but couldn't. I can't say the premise is real-life based. Your remarks did cross my mind, but I was worried about the correct answer in issues problem. I didn't want to say all the birds had gone silent and here is the immediate option to fix that problem, nor did I want to say that all the birds were dying. If you believe that is the best approach, do you have any ideas on how to go about it? There are so many bird idioms, more options couldn't hurt.

Before you change anything, I would wait for a little bit more feedback, because it could be that it's only me who's having the issue I just described

Perhaps if there was a little bit more of a build-up, it would feel a little bit less sudden. Perhaps you could state in the premise that songbird was on the decline, until it suddenly stopped this morning. But definitely wait to see if others have the same remark as I gave.

Thanks for the great feedback. If others feel the premise is a bit to sudden, I'll find a way to adjust it.

[Trotterdam]

If your nation has environmental problems that result in you no longer hearing birds, it's significantly more likely that they simply died off than that they're still around but just turned completely silent.

I guess one thing that might encourage birds to make less noise is widespread hunting, in which case they'd have an incentive to stay quiet when hunters might be around. They'd probably learn to recognize hunters and/or territories where hunting is permitted, rather than being silent all the time, though. Plus birds aren't that easy targets for hunters (being small and fast-moving), and there are animals that hunt them in nature too, so it isn't like they're not already used to it. Also, this scenario still technically involves lots of birds being killed before the remaining ones realize they it might be a good idea to shut up, so my previous point about mass die-offs being a bigger concern than mysterious muteness sort of stands.

Another mildly-interesting thing scientists have discovered is that birds which live in urban areas still make calls, but often adjust the pitch of those calls to be different from what they'd use in the wild, in order to better carry over the ambient noise typical of machinery (such as cars). This probably isn't the most important consequence of urbanization on wildlife.

[Australian rePublic]

Why is a bid virus the issue of humans?

[Debussy]

Why is a bid virus the issue of humans?

As custodians of the environment, I don't see how it isn't. The sudden silent would naturally peak human interest, too. There are other elements to it than just a virus, which was speculation.

[Debussy]

If your nation has environmental problems that result in you no longer hearing birds, it's significantly more likely that they simply died off than that they're still around but just turned completely silent.

I guess one thing that might encourage birds to make less noise is widespread hunting, in which case they'd have an incentive to stay quiet when hunters might be around. They'd probably learn to recognize hunters and/or territories where hunting is permitted, rather than being silent all the time, though. Plus birds aren't that easy targets for hunters (being small and fast-moving), and there are animals that hunt them in nature too, so it isn't like they're not already used to it. Also, this scenario still technically involves lots of birds being killed before the remaining ones realize they it might be a good idea to shut up, so my previous point about mass die-offs being a bigger concern than mysterious muteness sort of stands.

Another mildly-interesting thing scientists have discovered is that birds which live in urban areas still make calls, but often adjust the pitch of those calls to be different from what they'd use in the wild, in order to better carry over the ambient noise typical of machinery (such as cars). This probably isn't the most important consequence of urbanization on wildlife.

I like the sudden silence otherwise the military option doesn't make sense. Widespread hunting seems a bit to much like issue #647.

[Trotterdam]

Let me rephrase:

Your scenario is unrealistic and does not make a good issue.

[Daarwyrth]

To put it somewhat kinder... perhaps it would be better to try to find another subject to write an issue on. You clearly are capable of writing issues, so I am confident that there is another topic that you could write on. Try to look to the newspapers in your country and/or regional media, perhaps you'll find inspiration there!

[Palos Heights]

I'm going to piggyback here, but I think that this issue needs to be reworked. That being said, you are right to talk about the collapse of birds, but I think that you have a better shot with an issue talking about an even bigger ecological collapse: insects.

Rework this issue to talk about how, especially as this is a critical real world issue, insect populations everywhere are tanking and entomologists are signing alarms as loud as they can. I think an issue like that might border on bee issues, so try and frame it regarding the collapse of ecosystems as a whole, but it also allows for the potential of some really humorous situations, i.e., one of the options involves someone you highly suspect is actually a massive colony of ants in a trench coat who speaks in nothing but third-person and constantly references "PROTECTING THE COLONY!". No more birds is a tough niche issue to write about, but I think if you pivot to insects, you can really work a gem out of a lump of coal.

[Daarwyrth]

I'm going to piggyback here, but I think that this issue needs to be reworked. That being said, you are right to talk about the collapse of birds, but I think that you have a better shot with an issue talking about an even bigger ecological collapse: insects.

Rework this issue to talk about how, especially as this is a critical real world issue, insect populations everywhere are tanking and entomologists are signing alarms as loud as they can. I think an issue like that might border on bee issues, so try and frame it regarding the collapse of ecosystems as a whole, but it also allows for the potential of some really humorous situations, i.e., one of the options involves someone you highly suspect is actually a massive colony of ants in a trench coat who speaks in nothing but third-person and constantly references "PROTECTING THE COLONY!". No more birds is a tough niche issue to write about, but I think if you pivot to insects, you can really work a gem out of a lump of coal.

"Silence of the Bees" does have a very interesting ring to it (albeit a very sad one).

I agree with Palos though, an approach to the issue like that could help to make it distinct and realistic.

[Debussy]

Let me rephrase:

Your scenario is unrealistic and does not make a good issue.

It doesn't seem any more unrealistic than Issue #474, Mesozoic Park.

To put it somewhat kinder... perhaps it would be better to try to find another subject to write an issue on. You clearly are capable of writing issues, so I am confident that there is another topic that you could write on. Try to look to the newspapers in your country and/or regional media, perhaps you'll find inspiration there!

I actually had another bird idea based off a movie. Have you ever seen the movies Birdemic or The Birds? I think it would be easy to write those circumstances with realistic backgrounds.

I'm going to piggyback here, but I think that this issue needs to be reworked. That being said, you are right to talk about the collapse of birds, but I think that you have a better shot with an issue talking about an even bigger ecological collapse: insects.

Rework this issue to talk about how, especially as this is a critical real world issue, insect populations everywhere are tanking and entomologists are signing alarms as loud as they can. I think an issue like that might border on bee issues, so try and frame it regarding the collapse of ecosystems as a whole, but it also allows for the potential of some really humorous situations, i.e., one of the options involves someone you highly suspect is actually a massive colony of ants in a trench coat who speaks in nothing but third-person and constantly references "PROTECTING THE COLONY!". No more birds is a tough niche issue to write about, but I think if you pivot to insects, you can really work a gem out of a lump of coal.

I like some aspects of this idea. Is there not already an issue about disappearing bee populations? That would be surprising.

[Palos Heights]

Let me rephrase:

Your scenario is unrealistic and does not make a good issue.

It doesn't seem any more unrealistic than Issue #474, Mesozoic Park.

To put it somewhat kinder... perhaps it would be better to try to find another subject to write an issue on. You clearly are capable of writing issues, so I am confident that there is another topic that you could write on. Try to look to the newspapers in your country and/or regional media, perhaps you'll find inspiration there!

I actually had another bird idea based off a movie. Have you ever seen the movies Birdemic or The Birds? I think it would be easy to write those circumstances with realistic backgrounds.

I'm going to piggyback here, but I think that this issue needs to be reworked. That being said, you are right to talk about the collapse of birds, but I think that you have a better shot with an issue talking about an even bigger ecological collapse: insects.

Rework this issue to talk about how, especially as this is a critical real world issue, insect populations everywhere are tanking and entomologists are signing alarms as loud as they can. I think an issue like that might border on bee issues, so try and frame it regarding the collapse of ecosystems as a whole, but it also allows for the potential of some really humorous situations, i.e., one of the options involves someone you highly suspect is actually a massive colony of ants in a trench coat who speaks in nothing but third-person and constantly references "PROTECTING THE COLONY!". No more birds is a tough niche issue to write about, but I think if you pivot to insects, you can really work a gem out of a lump of coal.

I like some aspects of this idea. Is there not already an issue about disappearing bee populations? That would be surprising.

There likely is an issue regarding bee populations disappearing, but I am talking about an actual problem with insect populations dwindling around the world. I'm not just talking bees, I'm talking everything. When was the last time you saw a night illuminated by fireflies? When was the last time you heard a mass of bugs at night chirping and buzzing to find their one true love? When was the last time you walked through the woods and was made uncomfortable from the swarm of insects flying through the air? Insect collapse is a serious problem that you could run with, not step on any bee issues that someone will inevitably bring up, but still take your core issues and core validities and create a fantastic, original issue. I mean, if you don't, I will, now that I think about it.

I would also make sure that no one has done an issue on Silent Spring and DDT either, as with birds, you might reach overlap with that as well.