Creativity of the day

[Drydic]

Well, I made this to use as my avatar, but since avatars aren't working… . It's the Ancient Greek word ὁ Κρόμμυον, which is my moniker in Greek class. I originally hand-drew it, and then filled it in in Gimp.

The Forest with a Thousand Ewes...

[vampireshark]

Proof that having limited internet access at the present doesn't mean I haven't been doing stuff. It might actually have helped some with my creativity.



(Yes, the passport itself is supposed to be rather low-tech.)

More stuff will probably be coming tomorrow.

[Jipí]

Some of this stuff is obviously a rip-off from Euro notes

[vampireshark]

Some of this stuff is obviously a rip-off from Euro notes

Well, of course. Looking at "successful" examples of money is excellent inspiration for making one's own, because it also tells you what's doable and what's less so. Plus, with the notes being heavily inspired/drawn from the Euro, German Mark, and Romanian new leu, there'll be at least some similarities (if not, then the mission's not quite accomplished).

[Cathbad]

What's the rationale behind the different National Bank "offices"/branches?

[vampireshark]

What's the rationale behind the different National Bank "offices"/branches?

It's similar to, in Germany, how there are several different offices for the Deutsche Bundesbank (national bank) all across the country. The branches are there to facilitate transactions with the national bank such as coin and banknote delivery to smaller banks and businesses; to issue certified checks (only the BNFT can legally certify a check/cheque) in Francs, Ilian Dénar, and other currencies; to provide for exchange of demonetized currency; to issue Federal securities; and to exchange foreign securities for Francs, among other things. Those offices are the main offices, which provide all the services and have more regular hours, but there's one branch of some form or description in each canton/region (18 in all).

Oh, and I took the old poster, cleaned it up a bit, and here it is now:

[Ulrike Meinhof]

It looks great, best conmoney I've seen! The only thing that stands out as fake to me is the font, what font is that?

[Travis B.]

Some of this stuff is obviously a rip-off from Euro notes

Well, of course. Looking at "successful" examples of money is excellent inspiration for making one's own, because it also tells you what's doable and what's less so. Plus, with the notes being heavily inspired/drawn from the Euro, German Mark, and Romanian new leu, there'll be at least some similarities (if not, then the mission's not quite accomplished).

And this is exactly what people did historically, on a scale that makes this look like only very loose inspiration at most in comparison. During many periods, outright forgery or duplication with only small changes of coins that were widely used or had a great deal of prestige tied to them by states other than that which created the original coin was very much the norm. (Of course, conversely, many states historically did not bother in the first place, and hence used the more widespread and prestigious coinage of other states rather than even trying to maintain their own, a state of affairs that was in place in practice* in much of Europe and the Americas to quite a late date.)

* as just because individual states might nominally have their own national currencies did not mean that these were what the general population actually used, e.g. in the US in the decades following the revolution there, which had an official national currency but where the de facto national currency was the Spanish Dollar

[vampireshark]

Some of this stuff is obviously a rip-off from Euro notes ;)

Well, of course. Looking at "successful" examples of money is excellent inspiration for making one's own, because it also tells you what's doable and what's less so. Plus, with the notes being heavily inspired/drawn from the Euro, German Mark, and Romanian new leu, there'll be at least some similarities (if not, then the mission's not quite accomplished).

And this is exactly what people did historically, on a scale that makes this look like only very loose inspiration at most in comparison. During many periods, outright forgery or duplication with only small changes of coins that were widely used or had a great deal of prestige tied to them by states other than that which created the original coin was very much the norm. (Of course, conversely, many states historically did not bother in the first place, and hence used the more widespread and prestigious coinage of other states rather than even trying to maintain their own, a state of affairs that was in place in practice* in much of Europe and the Americas to quite a late date.)

* as just because individual states might nominally have their own national currencies did not mean that these were what the general population actually used, e.g. in the US in the decades following the revolution there, which had an official national currency but where the de facto national currency was the Spanish Dollar

Oh, it's still happening! Montenegro, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, to name a few... they all use currencies of other countries, maybe with a cosmetic variant or two (Monaco and San Marino mint their own euros; East Timor, Ecuador, and Panama mint "centavo" or "centesimo" coins to complement the US dollar). You also have cases like Bulgaria and Bosnia who use currencies that are, really, just cosmetic variants of the Deutsche Mark (no offense to Bulgarians). And, of course, there are some countries where other currencies are preferred to the national currency.

And part of what I am doing is loose inspiration, in a way, because there are surprisingly few con-currencies produced (web or physical) that I've seen. I mean, Mecislau has the Novegradian mark (which looks awesome), but that's the only one I've seen and, in the absence of others, I just do what I can to make the money look realistic. Likewise with the visas, passports, stamps, and other things: I want them to look at least somewhat realistic.

It looks great, best conmoney I've seen! The only thing that stands out as fake to me is the font, what font is that?

The numbers are in Sakkal Majala (I think that's how it's spelled) and the lettering is in Trebuchet (looked nice and neutral to me). But thanks, in any case.

[Jipí]

May I suggest Linux Libertine and Biolinum and their various cuts? Biolinum is an organohumanist (or wossname) like Optima. Libertine is a plain old renaissance antiqua like Times, except prettier.

[Jar Jar Binks]

Times is not a "renaissance antiqua". It is a chimaera, a thing that should not be. If you want your con-country to look third world, by all means use Times, but if you want professional-looking con-currency, find a real traditional serif font and no, Palatino is not a traditional serif font, everything I said about Times applies to Palatino as well. The various Garamonds are good examples of "renaissance antiqua" ("old style"); if you want something that looks kiiiind of like Times but more traditional, try Baskerville.

[Lithray]

This sling was crocheted from nylon line I bought at a hardware store*. The black is a shoelace. I'm going to bleach the shoelace tomorrow so it isn't such an eyesore.
*yes I crochet

Don't bleach it. Changing colors makes it seem authentic. I knit. I can purl, and make a cable with the best of them. I have made sweaters, mittens, afghans, potholders...

I don't have any pictures. Though I could never figure out which seemed more gay.

[blank stare II]

This sling was crocheted from nylon line I bought at a hardware store*. The black is a shoelace. I'm going to bleach the shoelace tomorrow so it isn't such an eyesore.
*yes I crochet

Don't bleach it. Changing colors makes it seem authentic. I knit. I can purl, and make a cable with the best of them. I have made sweaters, mittens, afghans, potholders...

I don't have any pictures. Though I could never figure out which seemed more gay.

Any sort of creativity is its own defense. And luckily you found yourself on a board full of people who value creative expression in and of itself, despite(or in spite of) the way people view it. After all, most of us have at least one friend(i have several) who think we're nerds for inventing languages etc. They're just jealous of all the skill it takes
Having said that, since you can make a good cable, you should try your hand at making a sling. There's not much that you could knit that would be more masculine than that.

I am braiding this one - the pouch will be the hard part because I am doing it 100% by hand, i.e. without a crochet hook or a needle or anything.



This finished sling has a leather pouch and bits of dog leash for the cords. I modeled it after the way the Apaches made theirs.

[Jetboy]

A sketch of my brother's sleeping cat I made yesterday; he moved before I got too far, and I put the ears in after that, so they're not too great. I'm still pretty happy with it; I've been wanting to sketch one of the cats for a while now.

EDIT: don't know why the board won't display it horizontally.

[Pthagnar]

Don't bleach it. Changing colors makes it seem authentic

What is "authentic" about not having enough of the same kind of string? Are places with large quantities of string available fake dreamworlds made up by the Man?

[dhok]

THAT might be.

[Io]

Oh, and I took the old poster, cleaned it up a bit, and here it is now:

!!!!

The Duke of Nuke, he has totally vanished! Would it be too creepy to send him an sms?!

[Herra Ratatoskr]

I've just finished up a jQuery plugin that makes web content act sort of like an ebook. Take a peek at my demo.

*Note, doesn't work yet in any version of IE.

[blank stare II]

What is "authentic" about not having enough of the same kind of string? Are places with large quantities of string available fake dreamworlds made up by the Man?

THAT might be.

dhok, that post made my day. I still laugh about the idea of "shooting electronic arrows at synthetic buffalo"

But I do see how the obviously accidental multicoloredness of the sling makes it look more authentic. If it looked too perfect and pristine, it wouldn't give the impression of being made by a folk craftsman. That is, someone who made it for use, as opposed to for market.

[Pthagnar]

But I do see how the obviously accidental multicoloredness of the sling makes it look more authentic. If it looked too perfect and pristine, it wouldn't give the impression of being made by a folk craftsman. That is, someone who made it for use, as opposed to for market.

Why, are "folk craftsmen" too stupid to know how much string they will need before making something? Seems like the modifier there should be "bad".

[blank stare II]

Sir, you make a good point.

[blank stare II]

New featural script. Just like Tolkien's elves, my conpeople will be plagued by dyslexia

[Jetboy]

What did you use to write that? It's quite prettily done.

[blank stare II]

Itoya brand double headed wide tipped felt marker. Mocha colored ink, using the 1.5mm fine tip

[TomHChappell]

New featural script.
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1887 ... script.jpg

I am impressed.

Just like Tolkien's elves, my conpeople will be plagued by dyslexia

Why? Are there lots of mirror-image pairs, or pairs of characters one of which is a rotation of the other? Or, pairs that differ only in size?