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Messages - Dark Art

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16
Suggestions / Re: Fence as drying rack
« on: February 20, 2021, 10:57:58 PM »
Friend, you are missing the point. It may or may not be hotter here or there, it really doesnt matter all that much. All you need to do is to have a nice sunny day or three with temperature around mid 20s, a flat rock to accumulate the heat and some thinly beaten meat on some kind of mesh. Thats all. My grandparents used to make quite a bit of this stuff and had the youngsters slave at beating the meat - thats how I and the rest of my younger kin knows about it, as their parents did, coz their parents used to... and so on. You get the picture. There is really nothing complicated or sophisticated about it and the weather reqiroments are rather broad. You can go as simple as you like and use just a large rock, or get sophisticated and build a proper rack with a place for a small fire for added speed and flavour, but thats completely optional. I am pretty sure that in overwhelming majority of places on our dear Earth this can be done with very little resources - as long as it gets hot enough to heat up a large rock to the point of making your hand rather warm to touch and your willingness to go through the process of actually making the thing.

17
Suggestions / Re: Fence as drying rack
« on: February 20, 2021, 07:39:58 PM »
I've done in in central Ukraine and southern Canada :) Havent been to Finland so far, but I think that Ontario's summers are somewhat compatible - its extremely humid and the temperature is somewhere between 25-30 at its max, but usually sits around 20-25. It has been getting warmer in last years, but not dramatically. Ukrainian summers are very similar, just not as humid.

I dont know exact % of weight loss and it really didnt matter all that much. The food had to last up to two, three weeks max with no fuss or special care. As long as dried product would snap and crumble instead of bend and tear - it would last long enough in a simple ziplock bag. Maybe it would last longer, but like I said - it never had to. Since it was a major pain to prepare in quantity, we never really made too much of it to see what would happen with it long term.

18
Suggestions / Re: Fence as drying rack
« on: February 20, 2021, 10:39:24 AM »
If you think drying cant work in the summer, you've been doing it wrong. On occasion, I've sun dried beef and i've dried plenty of chicken with very little spicing and no preservatives like salt or vinegar. Trust me, it works just fine. its a major pain in the proverbial to properly prepare in large quantities, but it works. What you need to do is beat the slices of meat into paper thin sheets and lay them out on a hot surface to dry. I've used metal oven grills placed on a large rock coz I am lazy, but a friend of mine built an actual drying rack out of thin bamboo. In less than a day of hot weather you'll have the meat completely dried out to the point where it would snap like potato chips in your hand. Thats how we tested it if it was ready - it should crackle and snap. In this form it very bland and has not a very pleasant texture, but it would keep pretty much indefinitely if stored properly. Adding spice is generally a no-no as it would either fall right off the dried strips, or let the moisture stay in the meat. When I was in my teens and early twenties, we've used to prepare these strips for long camping trips as they are a very cheap and reliable source of camping food, extremely light (i think the meat loses about 60-70% of its initial mass) and pretty awesome in any stew. Or if the the cook feels lazy or just low on veggies - just boil them for 5-6 mins, add insta-noodles, a bit of salt and you've got a pretty filling meal.

19
Suggestions / Re: Fence as drying rack
« on: February 19, 2021, 11:45:19 PM »
Kinda yes and kinda no. While it would make sense and simplify drying, the real question (IMHO) should be do we need this? If anything, I'd be more happy to see a new, buildable structure - a drying rack. I've prepared plenty of salt cured dried fish and I can guarantee you that with a proper rack it dries faster and had much fewer chances to rot. The trick is not to have any parts of the meat touching either another drying piece or any wooden parts. Moreover, this way bugs have harder time getting at it and from time to time you can start a small, smoldering fire underneath the rack to speed up the process and add a bit of smoky flavour. With the fence its possible to dry things, but the bugs get at it pretty much right away and probably spoil bits of the meat directly touching the wood, possibly even more that just bits, since in URW the mean isnt salted beforehand. But then again, in URW the drying happens only in the winder (still wonder why, IMHO it would make more sense to do it in the summer), so maybe you'd be fine.... Still, is it something worth spending time implementing?

20
Off-topic / Re: Ancient Savo : A new Enormous Elk game in the making
« on: January 10, 2021, 08:20:54 PM »
I mean no offense Erkka, but I always thought that using real names for tribes in URW would've been much better choice. I understand why you guys chose to go the way you did, but still... People tend to forget history and educating the world, even in a game environment, is absolutely a good thing. We have enough (perhaps too much) fantastical goblins in our lives, while our own true history and folklore are being either forgotten, or twisted to the point of being completely unrecognizable. So for what's it worth - thank you for telling us a bit about history of your ancestors. I always thought that real historical evens can be (and often were) much more dramatic and fascinating than any sci-fi or fantasy story. We need more of that.

21
General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: January 03, 2021, 06:38:46 AM »
Since a new thread will be started, I think its ok to continue for a bit with "maybe-this-way-and-what-about-that-and...". So I would like to ask if there are any other alternatives to paypal. I was never a fan and after several issues closed my account years ago and I am really NOT looking forward to opening another one. Erkka, please do not take it as yet another push at you, but I would really like to see some options. If there is absolutely no other choice, I guess I'll open another paypal account, but I would strongly prefer not to be bothered with it again.

22
General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 29, 2020, 09:08:52 PM »
So if the Hack n burn, family survival game is under way... are you including trade elements with settlements, villages?

I personally wouldn’t mind “URW-ish” take on sandbox. With Rimworld/Dwarf Fortress-esque features (without fighting?)
That’d be lot bigger than couple months of coding though, and not likely just a “side-project” scale.

If we want a full blown, complex and detailed game, I guess we really ought to make sure that this "side project" makes it well into the green and proves to everyone the feasibility of the concept. And after that... Well... Who knows what may happen. Maybe the devs will have enough resources and confidence to start something mid-to-large scale. So lets make it happen folks, lets make it happen.

23
General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 28, 2020, 11:52:08 PM »
Friend, you are overthinking it. There are plenty of Patreon accounts that are set up for just one project and even then, half the time the project is far from being either completed or even fully planned out. Moreover, there are creators that use it for direct support without actually having a defined product - bloggers, journalists, book writers etc. In my very humble opinion, you are more that ripe for it.

In terms of Sami vs Erkka vs Enormous Elk  - this is something you guys need to sit down and discuss. Personally, I'd make two accounts: one purely for URW and another one for Enormous Elk with honorary mention of its sister in each. Those who are interested in URW alone will be happy, any other project can fall under Enormous Elk. In terms of rewards - dont worry about it. Really. Most Patreon accounts are simple blogs with dev updates visible only to active contributors. Keep in mind that folks who are willing to support the creator long-term do it consciously and, more often than not, not looking for some kind of special reward. They support the creator because they want the end product and because they think its a right thing to do. So again, do not overthink it. I'd just start off simple, post weekly or bi-weekly updates on whats going on with devving and take things from there. Patrons will tell you if there will be a need for anything else (which I doubt).

P.S. Its your call of course, but I will not get off your back till you actually make it happen. Just so you know :)

24
General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 28, 2020, 10:14:23 PM »
Comes out from the shadow with face covered with  a bandana, spray-paints in large, fluorescent, bright red letters "PATREON, JUST DO IT ALREADY" and runs away


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General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 28, 2020, 03:21:00 AM »
Oh please... There is really no need for any apologies. I just hope you making some headway with coding - I am really looking forward seeing what will you end up with eventually. With the way things are going, we'll need a good, fun diversion. At times like these I kinda wish my coding skills were greater than relatively simple SQL and good ol' bash scripts :)

Sure, we can do email.

26
General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 27, 2020, 08:42:41 PM »
Hey guys, looks like this rather important thread got flooded with interesting, but rather unrelated stuff. IMHO, it might be a good idea to separate the unrelated stuff from the main discussion and move it to "Off topic" section. Just a thought, its your call of course.

27
General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 24, 2020, 09:25:10 AM »
Thanks for sharing this Erkka. Being able to face your inner demons is not easy. Its even harder to deal with them in any meaningful way. Oh and I never really understood people who claimed that dealing with mental issues is waste of time. Mind is just another organ. When your leg is badly damaged and you want it back to relatively normal condition - you go see the specialist. When you got head issues - you go see the specialist. If you want it back to relatively normal condition that it. It just makes sense. Without going much into the details, I can say that I somewhat know what you are talking about it. I didnt have to go to the doctors (or rather chose not to), but yeah... I know what you mean. Luckily for me, as a youth I was a very voracious reader devouring anything I could've gotten my little greedy hands on. I am very sure that some of the books I've read kept me sane and productive during my darker moments. Right now I live (or rather try to) by few very simple rules - I need to know how to wait, think and fast (abstain from overeating). My enemies (life challenges really, but in the original text these things were called "enemies") are fear, clarity, power and old age. My most trusted advisor is my own death (or rather inevitable mortality). And its always good to remember that hell is other people (no, its not related to misanthropy). I know its a strange bag of Hesse mixed Sartre and seasoned with Castaneda of all things, but hey, it works for me :). If you'll have some free time and will want some food for thought - let me know, I'll give you some interesting and possibly useful titles.

28
General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 24, 2020, 03:03:34 AM »
I am speaking kinda from experience. Even though I am not a structural engineer, I serve on a board of directors of my condo for last 7 years, so I deal with them on somewhat regular basis. Trust me - if the place would be unlivable, you wouldnt be able to sell it as a residential unit. I realize that every country have different regulations  and in some parts of the world "livable" means different things, but still... As far as I know, Finland is very civilized place and I just cant imagine a real estate agent selling property marked as residential that is completely unfit to live in or outright dangerous. If that would've been a case and something bad would've happened to a buyer, well.... Lets just say that the agent and everyone he/she professionally associated with (issued licenses, did the pre-sell inspection, insured, etc ) would be outta work and possibly behind bars. So yeah, it cant be all THAT bad, but if the place is quite run down, a proper inspection from a professional engineer to see whats what and outline any potential structural damages would be a very good idea - they can see small things that, if repaired in time, prevent major renovations down the road.

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General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 23, 2020, 11:13:02 PM »
There is no such thing as "unlivable". OK, maybe there are some exceptions, but usually it means "the place needs lots of work". Otherwise the place would be deemed unsafe and probably be demolished by the municipality. When my parents bought their house it was in a VERY sorry condition - a man who lived there was known in the neighborhood for ah.. overindulging with different brews and didnt care one hoot about the place he lived in. So yeah.. It took a while, but now their house, the garden and a small cherry orchard is their shining pride. Oh and they were able to buy it much cheaper than any other property in the area. Same goes for my condo - I had to renovate almost everything, even the ceiling needed some work. But now I know EXACTLY whats what and I take pride in the fact that most of this was done with my own hands. One word of advice though - find a structural engineer and have him do a throughout inspection of the place. That way you'll know what needs to be done and in what order. You'll be able to plan your work/budget years ahead and sleep calmly knowing that you know your house aches and worries. It may cost a bit, but its worth it. If you dont know anyone directly, you can ask someone who lives in a largish apartment buildings, they can ask the management company to suggest an engineering firm who deals with these things, otherwise a real estate agent may know someone.

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General Discussion / Re: Crowdfunding : your thoughts?
« on: December 23, 2020, 08:28:40 PM »
Cough, PAT cough, RE ONhh... Sorry guys, feeling a bit under the weather today, how's everyone doin'? :)

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