TL;DR: You should respond with Error 400 if the URL is malformed or the parameters fail validation rather than with Error 404.
If you’ve ever run a website which reports 404ed requests to the admin, you’ve probably noticed that, every now and then, GoogleBot gets it into its head that it can do a better job if it tries guessed, nonsense URLs to try to tease hidden pages out of your site.
The big problem is that, most of the time, it’s guessing such utter nonsense that you have to wonder about the competence of whoever wrote it. (Not to mention that it’s effectively punishing the whole web because some sites are poorly structured)
That’s where HTTP Error 400 comes in. Error 404 is so overused as a generic “nope” response that it doesn’t say anything about why the request couldn’t be serviced.
By sending Error 400, you tell the requesting agent that the request couldn’t be serviced, not just because nothing matched, but because the URL given doesn’t meet the minimum requirements to be tested for a match. (Sort of like if you were to write “If-Modified-Since: pineapple” in your HTTP headers)
That means that, if someone or something is trying to guess URLs, it at least has enough information to learn the constraints for URL validity so it can only try to guess ones that have the potential to exist.
Given that, you might be wondering how to implement Error 400 responses. The simplest solution is just to tie them into your URL routing and input validation.
Did the URL router fail to find a matching route? Return Error 400.
Did the parameters fail to pass input validation (eg. “bike” in an integer field)? Return error 400.
Did the URL request an object ID that doesn’t exist? Return Error 404.
(optional) Did the URL request an object ID that has been flagged as deleted (with no replacement on record) but kept around to preserve relational integrity? Return Error 410 (Gone).
With modern web frameworks, this is often ridiculously simple to concisely retrofit and, as with Error 404, you can still return custom human-readable messages.
I just wrote another useful little script. This one takes a CSV representation of any schedule in this form and imports it into TaskWarrior for easy time management
Week 1
Read pages 1-25
Week 2
Read pages 26-50
Do Exercise 1
Week 3
Read pages 51-75
The week column can contain anything. The script will warn you if it doesn’t recognize it but it’s really just using the presence of text in column 1 to mark the changeover to a new time period.
Using it is also quick and easy:
Copy-paste the table from whatever format you got it in (HTML and MS Word tables work for me) into a spreadsheet tool like Excel or OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc.
If necessary, delete columns so column 2 holds task names.
If necessary, alternate between Delete and the down arrow, rapid-fire, so only rows which mark a new time period have content in column 1.
All arguments are optional. By providing a deadline, you let script automatically adjust the definition of a week if there aren’t enough weeks before the given date.
If you want to use it for periods other than weeks, specify --increment=DAYS to override the default of 7. The script will use the smaller of --increment and the value calculated from --deadline if both are provided. See --help for more details.
As usual, here’s the download link for if you don’t want to scroll past the embed. I’ve only tested it on Lubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS under CPython 2.7.3, CPython 3.2.3, and PyPy 1.9.0, but it should run anywhere.
(It was surprisingly complicated since TaskWarrior currently has a very primitive line-by-line JSON parser that reminds me of the parsers I wrote using things like sed and regexes when I was young and ignorant. Take a look at the last few lines if you want to see how I mixed json.dumps(indent=0) and string-formatting operators to securely and robustly get the newline use task import demands.)
Last Updated 2020-09-10: Added an entry for Angry, Angry Wizards.
Since my last post on Familiar of Zero fics, it occurred to me that there is another series that’s not to my taste but which still manages to make interesting crossover fodder in exceptional circumstances: Sekirei.
Now, I don’t have anything against harem anime in general. I actually really enjoyed watching anime like Saber Marionette J and Ai Yori Aoshi. They’re funny, the characters are entertaining, and I can just ignore the stuff that’s not my cup of tea.
The main problem with Sekirei is twofold. First, from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t really put enough effort into being engaging outside its target audience. Second, it runs right into several of my pet peeves.
I already wrote and discarded a ridiculously long post on this that was approaching rant territory, so I won’t go into detail beyond saying that most of them have to do with the author’s approach to things. (For example, it’s a story that combines romantic comedy and cute girls fighting in deathmatch-esque battle royales.)
Thankfully, unlike some stories, it does have elements which I’d find interesting under better circumstances. So far, I’ve found several cases where a good fanfic author has written something more to my taste. For each one, I’ll list it along with a brief summary of how it fixes the tonal problems and what makes it so noteworthy to me.
(If anyone knows of any other fics which manage to dodge the flaws in how canon handles things, please leave them in the comments. When written by a skilled author, I quite like the characters.)
Solution to Tone Problems: Generalized “heroically overcome” which manages to mute the darker implications of canon as a side-effect.
By the author of The Hill of Swords, this 630,000+ word (and still being extended) 762,492 word, completed fic drops post-canon Emiya Shirou into Sekirei as a replacement for the original protagonist. Like Hill of Swords, it’s well-written and, like Hill of Swords, it mixes things up by dropping someone much more experienced than the canon protagonist into the thick of things.
In fact, saying it’s well-written is a bit of an understatement, given how much work it takes to defy a status quo as deeply entrenched as Sekirei canon while still feeling truly good. Authorial skill aside, the reason this works so well is that post-canon Shirou is very well suited to the role of a serious literary hero in this setting. He takes the inherent issues with the setting seriously (rather than just facilitating a male fantasy like in canon) and the story neither tries to make excuses to justify canon nor tries to wave an authorial magic wand and fix everything. It’s just a believable character with a believable viewpoint and enough skill, experience, and conviction to believably subvert various aspects of the canon plotline without throwing things off the rails.
Combined with a slow, methodical approach to characterization and a narrative style that gives the solid impression that the author shares Shirou’s views on things, this means that I find myself trusting him to bring about something I’ll accept as a happy ending (after a narratively-appropriate amount of struggle) and, thus, I let my guard down. (It’s not foolproof, it’s not a perfect solution, and I’ve been burned on occasion before, but it’s a very good sign and it means that I enjoy the story in spite of my discomfort with some of the core elements.)
I don’t want to spoil anything but, in the novel worth of text between when I wrote this and the end of the story, gabriel blessing really shows off the amount of care he put into things, revealing some really masterful ideas for world-building and characterization. (Plus, having Minaka engage in a genre-savvy villain exchange with Shirou works beautifully.) Not only is this the best Sekirei fic I’ve read, it’s also one of the best Fate fics I’ve ever read.
Solution to Tone Problems: Retcon to mute the dark undertones and add more hope, outmanoeuvre the antagonists.
Harry Potter crossover. This story really shows how interestingly elements from Harry Potter can be used to reinterpret things in Sekirei and it does an even better job than “In Flight” of considering Sekirei people first and aliens second. (Essentially, it takes lessons learned from Harry Potter Veela-bond fics and treats Sekirei as psychologically human but raised with a warped worldview… which, to me, not only makes them higher-quality characters from the literary theory side of things, but makes them deeper, more sympathetic, and it just plain makes more sense given who runs MBI.)
I also like how it reinterprets a lot of Sekirei elements in the context of Harry Potter magic (For example, Homura is an untrained metamorph with a problem) …especially the Sekirei-Ashikabi bond which helps to neutralize my biggest issue with it.
It does starts with tired old Harry Potter fanon clichés as a way to get Harry out of Britain, but those are over before the end of the first chapter and, aside from a slight hiccup in Chapter 3, it’s much better from then on, doing quite a few things I’ve yet to see in another fic, like taking its sweet time to even start on Sekirei canon and giving Karasuba some focus. Harry also does an even better job of defying MBI here than Naruto and Jiraiya have been in Michief Fragment Sekirei.
Solution to Tone Problems: Intentionally force Sekirei to take off its rose-colored glasses, even if that means hurting characters in the short term.
This is a really interesting case. While it’s a spin-off of In Flight, it actually makes things even less pleasant. I won’t spoil things, but I will say that, for certain characters, it feels like it’s preparing to explore more depth of character than In Flight.
I like it because, as with In Flight, it doesn’t have the schizophrenic tone that I perceive as a sort of “dystopic comedy” and, at the same time, I get the impression that the author is casting the retained (and perhaps mildly reinterpreted) aspects I’m not fond of as challenges to be overcome rather than, as Sekirei canon does, as static elements of the context in which the story takes place. If so, it’s the first fic to focus some of the elements I hate head-on and directly challenge them, rather than tonally brushing them under the rug (out of sight, out of mind) or bringing in a crossover hero who can re-interpret them.
Solution to Tone Problems: Acknowledge that things are darker than canon wants to portray but completely reinterpret the villain’s motivations. (Also, it’s The Doctor. Being The Hero is what he does.)
An interesting story. It’s a Doctor Who crossover which explores Akitsu, Minaka, and Takami in more detail than anything else that I’ve read. However, the part most relevant to this list is that, rather than trying to sugar-coat the elements that grate on me, this fic throws them to the forefront, resolving my unease by acknowledging the tragic inevitabilities built into to the Sekirei concept. It has the odd flaw, but it’s definitely worth a read.
Solution to Tone Problems: What canon tone problems? The tone makes it obvious that this is a Wolverine story that happens to take place in Shinto Teito, not a Sekirei story featuring Wolverine.
Logan/Wolverine wakes up heavily concussed (and temporarily amnesiac as a result) in a hole in the ground in a Tokyo, park being watched over by an alien woman named Akitsu. You can probably imagine where things go from there.
Logan ends up endearing himself to various people in his own unique way and, as his faculties slowly come back online, he starts to plan to screw with Minaka for reasons that are better discovered by reading the story. An entertaining, very divergent take on Sekirei with a lot of good character work too. In this case, it fixes the tonal conflict in Sekirei by playing everything serious and character-deep.
This story is like a better alternative to The Game Changer. It elaborates less on the Sekirei setting, but the main character is also a lot less likely to be called “boring” or “annoying”. It’s even got a Sekirei (albeit a more minor character) who uses her wits to keep her options open… which makes it only the second fic I’ve seen to do so. (Though, since she’s a minor character, it still doesn’t satisfy my desire to truly explore the character of a Sekirei who feels like she’s outwitting the status quo itself.)
It’s also one of those stories where the title was carefully chosen and the revelation of its significance has a good build-up.
Solution to Tone Problems: Embrace the dark implications. Show how dark things really are… assumably as a prelude to heroically overcoming them.
In defeating Madara, Naruto and Hanabi wind up thrown out of their own place in spacetime and wind up in Sekirei. This story definitely gives a less than ideal first impression but it also has some very clever twists and, once it gets going, it does a very creative and thorough job of interpreting the nature of the Sekirei crest in terms of fuuinjutsu.
What earns this a place on the list is that it doesn’t screw around and try to whitewash anything. Not only does it kill (not deactivate) a named canon character for the sake of bettering the story, it resolves the tonal conflict in Sekirei by showing you just how much sadistic power lurks behind those innocuous-looking crests.
As for the ones which don’t make the cut, they are still fun and worth a read… they just don’t directly address the aspects of canon I dislike, instead focusing on giving them as little attention as possible while focusing on things I do enjoy:
Solution to Tone Problems: Recast the potentially problematic nature of the bond as a way to force open the walls around the immortal hero’s heart. Avoid stepping on any tonal landmines.
Naruto Crossover. Noteworthy because it’s the first time I’ve run across a fic which truly makes the Sekirei-Ashikabi bond something good rather than a neutral set piece or something bad.
It does cover a lot of the same major plot points as In Flight but it also does enough new stuff that I enjoyed it… for example, thanks in part to Naruto’s memories of Jiraiya, I’ve never seen a more amusing portrayal of Matsu.
Solution to Tone Problems: Mostly, just copying what works in In Flight’s tone mixed with rethinking certain specific botched canon events like Homura’s transformation.
A self-proclaimed spin-off of In Flight, this fic explores what might happen if Sahashi Minato grew up to be Kotomine Shirou.
It doesn’t really put much focus into knocking down the elements of the setting I find distasteful, but it does do a decent job of focusing more on the characters and it’s the first Sekirei fic I’ve found where our hero manages to set up a cold war between Miya and MBI after all but declaring open war on the Sekirei plan. (To actually declare war, the other side has to recognize you as a serious threat rather than just a guy with a temper.)
It also brings Rin and Sakura into the mix, decides to mix up the Sekirei-Ashikabi pairings a bit, and takes Homura’s malleable body in a refreshing new direction. All in all, a very entertaining fic.
Solution to Tone Problems: Focus on a plot that never intersects canon and keep the reader distracted from the problematic side of things.
A little timeline adjustment where, when Shirou doesn’t heal quickly enough, Emiya Kiritsugu takes him to a hospital… where he ends up meeting and later getting adopted by Uzume and Chiho. It doesn’t really fight canon directly, per se, since it simply keeps all the elements I don’t like as far off camera as possible, but it’s so rare for me to find something that’s short, sweet, and complete like this that I’ll toss it in the honourable mention bin for now.
Solution to Tone Problems: Focus on a plot that never intersects canon and keep the reader distracted from the problematic side of things.
A masterfully-written concept outtake from In Flight (Shirou-Miya pairing) that’s such a joy to read that it’s definitely earned a place on this list. Completed.
Solution to Tone Problems: Frustrate the antagonists, ignore the bond and let the reader assume Jiraiya the seal-master will eventually get around to figuring out something.
This was the first I’d ever heard of Sekirei and it has some interesting potential. The basic setup is that Jiraiya and Naruto wind up in the Sekirei setting due to some Addventure fatesplit dimension-jumping plot device, the details of which are unimportant.
The potential comes about in how good Naruto and Jiraiya, the extra-dimensional ninja spy master and student, are at outwitting MBI on sheer paranoia and unknown skills, despite not being fully familiar with the abilities of the locals.
Unfortunately, since I wrote this list, it’s been increasingly focused on diluting the Sekirei elements to the point where I’m not sure whether it’ll be listed here much longer.
Solution to Tone Problems: It’s a Dresden files fic where Sekirei happen to exist in the same universe. What tone problems?
The arrival of the Sekirei ends up having ripples in the context of the Dresden setting and Queen Mab calls in one of her favours to get Harry sent to Japan to investigate why some of the Wyld Fae who usually ally with her have dropped off the map.
This story is barely started, but I feel it really deserves notice because of how much potential is in it if it gets far enough into its story arc and continues in the direction it seems to be going. (Think Soul’s Light but with The Dresden Files rather than Evangelion.)
Solution to Tone Problems: I had trouble feeling any problems but it’s so different from canon that it’s hard to localize the reason… it probably has something to do with the Elemental Nations having so many other evils (even if you ignore the Caged Bird Seal) that it’s easier to reconcile the two when you bring the Sekirei to Naruto rather than vice versa.
I’m honestly surprised that I’ve only ever seen this done twice (and that this is the only good one), given how mobile a crashing spaceship is as a plot device and how much originality and creativity it allows you to add to the plot. (I don’t count the third fic, which just relocates MBI to The Land of the Moon in the Elemental Nations. It’s even less interesting than something stupid like teleporting Naruto to Shin Tokyo because Madara hiccuped while fighting him.)
In this one, Minato is still dead, Miya is the fifth Hokage, and Naruto is half-sekirei… and my main reason for finding it so entertaining is seeing what parallels the author managed to draw with canon in this hugely different setting.
Solution to Tone Problems: Mock the stupidity of canon and reinterpret things to be less dire.
Angry, Angry Wizards is a humourous crossover built around a 15-year-old Harry Potter who is clever enough to convince Cornelius Fudge to emancipate him and pay his way into banishment from England, and then winds up with Karasuba, Haihane, and Akitsu as his flock after it’s discovered that Minaka is his second cousin.
With Akitsu reacting to him after he hides her from her maliciously incompetent adjuster, Karasuba loving his jaded take on her behaviour and dark sense of humor, and Harry plotting a hostile takeover of MBI after becoming majority stockholder, the tone already helps to diffuse canon’s problems somewhat, and it’s not every day you find a story that mocks the stupidity of canon in this way without feeling like a cheap fix-fic.
What makes it relevant to this list is the unique mention that, in addition to all that, it reinterprets Minaka’s canonical behaviour by saying that he tolerates forced wingings because those bonds will be broken during the Sekirei Plan and the sekirei in question will have another chance to find their proper ashikabi. In line with that paradigm, the Sekirei crests are an artificial creation intended to encourage defeats without permanent injury.
Likewise, the problem with Homura’s situation is resolved like in several other fics… he was born a female with a metamorphic ability and “because Sekirei”, his gender identity has no nature component for or against it… just a lifetime of nurture.
I just wish it had gotten further in its story arc.
See also Flock Off!, which was inspired by this fic and is entertaining in its own right but doesn’t quite have the right elements to make the cut for this list.
Just as Sekirei has flaws which make it specific to a certain male audience, this fic has flaws which make it specific to a certain Harry Potter audience. As such, I can’t recommend it generally.
That said, if your taste in Harry Potter fics does line up with this fic’s design choices, it’s quite engaging. However, what earns this fic an honourable mention is how it handles turning Homura female. (I run a gender-bending fiction index, so I’m no prude here, but bonding a guy to a straight guy without potential for divorce, and then resolving that by non-consensually turning him female is definitely not what I’d call sexy.)
In this fic, Homura’s situation is made more palatable by “revealing” the following details through various means:
The extreme gender imbalance is such a normal facet of the Sekirei species that, in the complete absence of males, some females will temporarily metamorphose into males in order to ensure a viable breeding population. (In other words, not unlike certain real-world amphibians and tropical fish, made famous as a plot point in the original Jurassic Park.)
Homura’s adjuster didn’t realize this fact and locked Homura into a form meant to be temporary. Homura’s nearly fatal issues with control were a result of his/her body’s attempts to forcefully return to its natural state.
After coming to terms with the more conscious objections to becoming female after having been raised male, Homura realizes that doing so has resolved a discomfort she never realized she was feeling… which suggests that, coupled with their natural gender-fluidity, Sekirei have much more subdued gender-identity instincts.
When two Sekirei bond with each other, rather than bonding to a human, the urge to obey cancels out and they’re equal partners in the relationship (Discovered as a result of Harry getting turned into a human-Sekirei hybrid as part of saving his life). While this still doesn’t make everyone equal in a multi-way relationship, since each Sekirei can only have one Ashikabi, it does allow one to imagine a less “teenage power fantasy” interpretation of the species as they would exist back on their home planet.
While it never got beyond the setup, Harry Potter and the Freedom of Apathy does such a thorough job of acknowledging the problems with Sekirei canon by reinterpreting them that I feel it deserves a place here.
Specifically, Sekirei used to have multi-way bonds between equals, and the removal of that was engineered in after the cataclysm that destroyed their homeworld to prevent inbreeding. The Jinki and Pillars were a system for allowing individuals like Karasuba to be stripped of their powers. All the dark and disturbing implications of the canon Sekirei bonds resulted when, having realized how widespread Sekirei genetics are in Earth’s population, Takehito botched an attempt to bring back classical winging without the Sekirei ship containing a complete set of the relevant Jinki-manipulation equipment.
It’s still canon, with all its faults, but it softens the blow a lot and justifies the presence of the injustices as “humans being humans”.
Of all the stories I’ve encountered, Familiar of Zero (or “Zero no Tsukaima” as I still think of it) is an interesting case. I’ve never really seen the appeal of the anime and, while I haven’t had the opportunity to read the light novels, I’m doubtful I’d find them to my taste.
However, despite that, I still think it can be a lot of fun if you throw in the right replacement for Saito (usually a crossover) so you can either keep the canon characters entertainingly off guard or delve deeper into their psychology and culture than what I’ve seen of the anime.
As such, here are the ZnT stories which I found interesting:
Note: This list is incomplete and will be amended as I clear out my reading list.
Emiya Shirou from Fate/Stay Night. A very long, detailed story with some very satisfying insights from Shirou along the way and some interesting character exploration for characters like Guiche and Kirche. Completed and quite possibly the only high-quality crossover which manages to run long enough to adapt the entire ZnT anime.
Hiraga Saito is a freshly graduated Onmyoji, from an Earth where the void element faded away (siphoned away to somewhere they can’t follow without the very void magic they’re missing) but there has been much more impetus to continue to innovate.
If you like world-building on the topic of how magic works and why Louise has so much trouble, this is the fic for you. Heck, this story has a lot of interesting novel stuff, and it’s also over a novel worth of text already.
Louise summons Tabitha from across the field (after she summons Sylphid, though that’s not really emphasized much) instead of Saito from another world.
This story feels so different from canon (but justifiably so) that I wrote a whole review for it to better explore what makes it distinctive.
An OC who is an Aether mage. When Louise attempts to complete the bond, it backfires and she becomes his familiar. The OC ends up mentoring her without anyone else realizing that aether magic and void magic are two words for the same thing.
Ryoko and Ryo-ohki from Tenchi Muyo. An interesting mix of humor (mostly focused on Ryo-ohki) and serious character work (Ryoko and those around her). I especially like how this not only explores a Louise-Familiar dynamic which isn’t antagonistic, but manages to keep it interesting by mixing in other types of conflicts and setting up a friendship between Ryoko and Kirche.
Zeruel from Neon Genesis Evangelion in the “cute girl” form used for the Chromosome XX 10th anniversary figurines. That probably sums up everything you need to know about how the story plays out.
Ranma Saotome from Ranma ½. Simply put, Ranma is up to his usual foot-in-mouth shenanigans in Halkegenia. If you like your humor and character development to come from someone annoying as many ZnT characters as possible and surviving but you still want it well-written, this is probably your fic.
That said, it does have character development and normal interactions, so don’t think it’s non-stop slapstick. It’s also another fic which spends an interesting amount of time on Kirche.
it also helps that Ranma’s cursed form mysteriously changes. I won’t spoil how, but it makes for some very entertaining misunderstandings.
Hiraga Saito… but one who stumbled upon Ranma Saotome Doesn’t Miyah! and got turned into a cabbit just before getting summoned. The set up is a bit silly, but the fic’s not bad.
An OC cosplayer who becomes a real Bleach-style Shinigami when summoned. It does something interesting with Derflinger and it’s the first story I’ve seen where the idea is raised that maybe Louise botches all her spells because Void magic is too powerful to be controlled by ordinary means. It also spends more time on the Dragon’s Raiment (Zero Fighter) than any other stories I’ve read and it’s the first story I’ve seen to consider the possibility of re-creating the circumstances which allowed Siesta’s grandfather to cross over to Halkegenia.
I will, however, caution potential readers that other Bleach elements start to come into the story later on. It’s done decently, so it’s still worth a read, but you may be disappointed if you were expecting something less action-oriented and more along the lines of a character-centric pure Zero fic with a Bleach-empowered OC making things interesting.
Happosai from Ranma ½. Comedic without going full-out crackfic. Louise summons the perverted old fart but, at the same time, someone who has the potential to teach her (and commoners) to beat mages without using magic.
The cross should be pretty obvious from the title. It’s actually been quite a while since I read this and I don’t remember many specific details. What I do remember is that it included mentoring and scenes I enjoyed for the comparative magical theory.
Shinji Ikari, post-Evangelion… now more a cosmic horror shackled by a human mind than a human and with Asuka piggybacking along in his mind. A rewrite of Points of Familiarity.
Shinji Ikari, post-Evangelion. Same plot as Surrogate of Zero but done a little differently and with more than just Asuka tagging along. Abandoned but still worth a read.
Jesse, James, and Meowth from Team Rocket. This story is an interesting mix: a light-hearted balance between humor and serious stuff. Sort of like Pokémon with the odd dash of humorous fourth wall bending, actually.
It also presents a nice change since it’s rare to see Team Rocket as protagonists, they make good willing familiars, and they’re good at being comically well-intentioned, hard-working, loyal screw-ups.
If you’re going to read a Zero fic with an OC who always seems to be ready for whatever the setting throws at him, read this one. As with all stories that succeed at this, the author seems to understand that the entertainment must come from keeping the reader guessing about what the OC will do next and how they’ll stay unpredictable rather than whether they’ll succeed. For example, it’s the first fic I’ve seen where:
It’s discovered that Siesta is a first-generation mage
There’s a potion accident that temporarily body-swaps Louise and her male OC familiar
We finally see a familiar using conjuring tricks to impress at the familiar exhibition
A human familiar summoning a familiar of their own… and also getting one that isn’t ordinary
An OC classmate of Louise’s summons another OC as The Eye of God. Saito is also present as in canon. A good implementation of several novel concepts tied together in one fic. However, I get the impression the author’s experience with Zero no Tsukaima is from fan-translated materials since various names and terms differ from the usual. (eg. “Dragon’s Plumage” rather than “Dragon’s Raiment”)
Plus, as a side benefit of the author focusing on a pair of OCs who don’t replace the canon characters, there’s more wiggle room for them to be original as long as they succeed as interesting characters. (Canon characters have to work harder to retain familiarity in the face of being original.)
Harry Potter, during the summer after Cedric Diggory died. One of the few fics which explore Louise summoning someone who is then recognized as a mage. It’s also interesting in that it’s still cutting back to Dumbledore and crew in a manner that suggests they might find a way to intervene in some future chapter.
A Pern dragon and her rider who are lost and dying between. This fic is actually listed as complete, but the author hasn’t ruled out the possibility of continuing it. I’m listing it more for the feeling of potential it shows.
An Edward Elric who sacrificed his life to save Al rather than his alchemy. While it’s only 22,000 words so far, I already get the impression that the author has plans for both an interesting friendship between Kirche and Ed and an interesting “alchemy is (re)introduced to Halkegenia” subplot… probably including Louise learning alchemy since I seem to remember her being good at the theoretical side of her magical education.
A 93-year old Nanoha. While not marked completed, this hasn’t been updated in over a year. It makes an OK oneshot but, if it is completed, this has the potential to become one of the best “summoned mentor/teacher” stories around.
Desired (Stuff I’ve Yet To See)
Louise becoming her own familiar
Either summoning or being summoned by an alternate universe double or making a copy of herself with memories intact.
…or, now that I think about it, her becoming master and familiar in one person. That’d be difficult to write since it’d rely heavily on exploring how it affects her as a person and the social ramifications, not to mention the need to create the magical implications from whole cloth, but it has a ton of potential to be interesting if the author can pull it off.
Louise becoming the familiar of a non-mentor
Possibly another human, but I get the feeling the most fun is to be had making fun of the familiar bond by making Louise familiar to an animal summon who either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that the familiar bond is backwards.
Louise summoning someone who is as stubborn as she is and refuses to come to some kind of agreement
I’ve seen this done in The Shinigami of Zero, but it didn’t last long enough to really explore the dynamic. I’ve also seen Emperor of Zero explore the idea of someone very independent who has their own plans very different from Louise’s but Napoleon’s too diplomatic to remain antagonistic.
Arthur C. Clarke famously said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and, but for our knowledge that it’s not, most people would already say information technology fits that criteria.
The problem is that we computer wizards, being only human, have done as humans do and assumed that the time of plenty will always be upon us. (If you haven’t already read Collapse by Jared Diamond, I strongly recommend it just from the excerpts I’ve had read to me from borrowed copies.)
There are a great many incumbents (and unethical newcomers) who feel their revenue streams threatened by the freedom to innovate and many of them have a great deal of power.
Now, this is a big problem because these people see no problem in stagnating technological and cultural progress to feed the lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to. What’s worse, in most cases, they have a fiduciary responsibility to use the power granted to them by the corporations they head to extract as much profit as possible, regardless of the externalities.
Eben Moglen (the guy who heads the Software Freedom Law Center) has given two excellent keynote speeches on the cultural burden of this sort of behaviour which I strongly believe everyone should listen to:
The first, from 2006, talks about the importance of free software while the second, from 2012, talks about the power of decentralized innovation to help the economy recover and the harm middlemen like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple can cause.
To paraphrase Moglen, we’re filling our pockets with robots that only serve us so long as their true masters say so.
On that topic, another excellent speech to listen to would be Cory Doctorow’s “The Coming War on General Purpose Computation” (transcript) which he’s also turned into an article named Lockdown. This focuses less on the social benefits of free innovation and communication and more directly on how and why governments and big businesses either do or will want to put up barriers to it.
In short, SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA are only the tip of the iceberg and, like Alastor Moody, even the most vigilant of us can be caught off guard when so few of us speak out against things like the restrictions imposed by platforms such as iOS and Windows RT.
I just ran across an episode of The Young Turks which mentioned and briefly summarized a very interesting article. Here’s the relevant part:
Now I’ll understand if you don’t have time to read the full article (linked to on Salon.com to avoid AlterNet’s irritating layout and pagination) but I highly recommend it.
It goes well beyond the summary and provides a very fascinating look at the sociopolitical history of the United States of America.
Happy Mayan Y2K but, more importantly, happy birthday to me. (Ain’t I egotistical? :P)
Yes, today’s not just the latest in a very long list of failed apocalypses, it’s also my birthday and was the winter solstice for most of my childhood. (These days, it’s the 22nd)
I think that calls for a playlist, don’t you? Unfortunately, given that this blog post will most definitely be around longer than my YouTube account, you’ll have to manually advance them.
It’s not entirely topical, but it’s worksafe, perfect for blasting throughout the house, and loaded with cheery stuff for one of the shortest, darkest days of the year. As such, I’ve bolded the especially topical ones and italicized the little-known ones in case you don’t have time to try them all.
I’d have included more parody birthday songs but all the others in the sorted part of my music collection are either not worksafe or not something I felt was appropriate to blast on the sound system.
