New Substack Is Up, This Time With My Thoughts On Character Death, Narrative Weight, And Making It All

HUGE news for researchers, writers and journalists! JSTOR drops paywall (see update below for clarification)

JSTOR Makes Database Accessible to the Public

“The online academic resource has made over 6,000 ebooks and over 150 journals accessible without the need for an online login.”

“Online academic resource JSTOR has announced it is making its database accessible to the public, amid the widespread closure of universities across the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The database, frequently used by university students for research and essay work, announced on Twitter today that it has made over 6,000 ebooks and over 150 journals accessible without the need for an online login.

Previously, students needed a university login to access these resources.

This is the first time that the database has been openly accessible to non-subscribers.

The database is also working to expand on the amount of free content available online to students accessing the database through their subscribed universities.

In a statement on its website, JSTOR said that it has “an expanded set of content that is available to institutions where students have been displaced due to COVID-19 through June 30, 2020”.

“We are working with publishers to make more than 20,000 books available at no charge for JSTOR participating academic institutions and secondary schools that do not participate in our books program”, the statement said. “The number of books available through this effort is growing daily as more publishers opt in.”

Universities that previously only had access to some areas of JSTOR will also have unlimited access to the complete archives, at no extra cost.”

PLEASE SHARE - THIS IS A PRICELESS OPPORTUNITY FOR JOURNALISTS, RESEARCHERS, AND WRITERS!!!

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UPDATE: Open-Access JSTOR Materials Accessible to the Public

“The online academic resource has long had ebooks and journals available without the need for a login.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly implied that JSTOR had made its database accessible to the public for the first time. In fact, only certain materials from its database are available to the public, and this has been the case for some time. The headline, subheading and body of this article have been updated to reflect this information.

Online academic resource JSTOR has clarified that much of its database is accessible to the public, amid the widespread closure of universities across the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The database, frequently used by university students for research and essay work, flagged on Twitter today that it has over 6,000 accessible ebooks and over 150 journals.”

You can donate to the kickstarter here!

The Dreamer by Norman Duenas

You discover you have the ability to reset the day. After a while with your powers. You do the inevitable. Murder. After you reset the day. Around the time of the murder. A police report comes on, it details the unexplained murder of the person you killed.

Today I learned

→ Star Wars Atlas (2009) - Galactic Regions → Interesting notes:  Location of many notable planets, the layers of galatic regions → This is a selection of maps showing the sectors of Star Wars’ galaxy, radiating outward from the center.  While no longer strictly canon (as of April 25, 2014) it still gives a good idea of what planets are where.  It can be especially helpful if you want to find a planet that’s nowhere near Coruscant to strand your characters on or if you want to find a more densely populated world near the center of everything!  Or if you just want to know how close a specific planet is to the center of the galaxy. ✦ Deep Core:  

Byss

(Note:  The Deep Core did not hold as many notable worlds as the Core Worlds/Galactic Core/the Core, it had a massive black hole at the center which made hyperspace travel difficult and it was extremely densely packed with stars that had tremendous gravitational pull.) ✦ The Core:  

Alderaan / Anaxes / Brentaal / Corellia / Coruscant / Duro / Kuat / Nubia / N’zoth

✦ The Colonies:  

Fondor / Neimoidia

✦ Inner Rim:  

Bestine / Hapes / Onderon / Taanab / Thyferra

✦ Expansion Region:   

Mimban

✦ Mid Rim:  

Ansion / Bothawui / Boz Pity / Ithor / Kashyyyk / Malastare / Naboo / Nar Shadda / Ord Mantell / Ruusan

✦ Hutt Space:  

Nal Hutta / Nar Shadda / Toydaria

✦ Outer Rim:  

Anoat / Bespin / Bonadan / Christophsis / Dagobah / Dantooine / Dathomir / Endor (Forest Moon) / Eriadu / Felucia / Gamorr / Geonosis / Honoghr / Hoth / Kamino / Kessel / Korriban / Mandalore / Mon Cala / Mustafar / Mygeeto / Nal Hutta / Ossus / Raxus Prime / Rhen Var / Rishi / Rodia / Ryloth / Saleucami / Sernpidal / Shadda-Bi-Boran / Sullust / Tatooine / Toydaria / Triton / Tund / Utapau / Yavin

✦ Wild Space:  

Bakura / Kalee / Teth

✦ Unknown Regions:  

Csilla / Iego / Ilum / Nagi / Lehon (Rakata Prime) / Rattatak / Zonama Sekot

Note: I claimed a community copy for this game, so while I did not pay money, I received it for free.

Exquisite Biome was pointed my way by one of my Discord community members as something I'd be interested in, and oh my God, they were right. As a professional ecologist and wildlife conservationist--and a fan of all things spec evo/bio--Exquisite Biome is everything I love conceptually, and it even had the audacity of being fantastically designed.

Caro Asercion on itch.io has managed to make a masterpiece of a GM-less game for one to three or four players, using only a single deck of cards. It's incredibly simple and intuitive, with much of the interaction coming from the human element. In fact, I loved the test run I gave it. Exquisite Biome (is it named after Exquisite Corpse? I'm pretty sure right?) uses drawn cards to guide player(s) through the designing of a speculative species, from the creation of the biome it lives in, to its most notable features and how it interacts with other species within the ecological web. Each designed species culminates in a scene played out, almost akin to a nature documentary, of an important part of the animal's life--giving greater insight into both its daily existence and its most important evolutionary aspects.

I can't give too much detail as to how, exactly, the game parts function, or what they are, but they are precisely balanced between detailed and loose enough to allow players the structure/random element needed for fun and guiding through the process, while leaving the vast majority of the imagination up to them. A traditional Exquisite Biome session is intended to be done with creating three unique animals, seeing how they all intersect with each other, but there are also other options for various modes of gameplay given as well!

My favorite aspect of Exquisite Biome, however, may be what isn't in the game just yet. The system itself is so perfectly intuitive and genius that it lends itself instantly to conceptualization of further deep-dives into specialization (speciation?) of different biomes and concepts--expansion packs, in short. What would a variant of EB look like in a xenobiological setting? Or perhaps an entire variant dedicated to rainforest or tropical reef biomes (or the various listed ones, even--even deserts have great biodiversity!)? Caro Asercion has managed to hit upon something here that I would really hope to see find success, because I can envision it having an incredibly dedicated and loyal fanbase for years and years to come.

I'd recommend this game to anyone who loves nature documentaries, who is passionate about life sciences, and who enjoys worldbuilding natural elements for tabletop settings! For fans of Monster Hunter, In Other Waters, Pokemon, Pikmin, and Wingspan, definitely give it a look to see if you'd be intrigued!

And, bonus round--a sketch of my own Exquisite Biome's first animal, the Shepherd Spider!

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A highly territorial species of cobweb-spiders, shepherd spiders create various 'pastures' with their webs where small insects such as beetles, flies, butterflies, and aphids can safely use as nursery habitats. By hiding within the webbed pastures, they obscure their location from predators, allowing an easier chance to reach adulthood and pass on their genes.

Additionally, the shepherd spiders tend to avoid immature specimens as much as possible: they prefer to hunt adult prey at the end of its lifespan, or sickly or otherwise 'unfit' food. In doing so, it ensures itself a steady supply of food, keeping a 'pantry', and opportunistically feeding on the young as needed when times are dry.

Shepherds mate for life, and their courtship rituals are based on the large, iridescent eyespots of the chelicerae. During rainy seasons, male spiders will gather up dew and rain and daub them on themselves, magnifying their false eyes to greater proportions and causing bright refractions in the water's reflected curves. A female will choose her mate based on the brightest display. There seems to be a growing subpopulation of males with prominent pseudopupils as well, which may affect apparent fitness during these rituals versus specimens with smaller or nonexistent pseudopupils.

hey reminder that the monterey bay aquarium has livestreams of the tanks and also fish r pretty

take it.