the spell has been broken, I loved you so

So, this was an interesting thing to find in email:

Hello,

Hi!

This is a message from Kickstarter’s Trust and Safety team. We're writing to inform you that a project you backed, 1UP Dice, is the subject of an intellectual property dispute.

So far, everything we've backed from Infinite Black has been Lovecraft-based. They garnered our attention a couple years back with their Elder Dice, lush, unearthly shades of gaming dice and accessories. Recently, though, they launched a new Kickstarter for 1Up Dice:



These are fun, brightly colored retro gaming dice. I think they're wonderful. Apparently someone else (our bet's on Nintendo) doesn't...

The project has been removed from public view until the dispute is resolved, which can take up to 30 days. The project’s funding and the countdown to its deadline have been stopped. If the project becomes available again, the countdown will continue and the new deadline will extend past the original deadline for as much time as the project was unavailable. You can find out more by reading our Copyright Policy and our Trademark Policy.

So...annoyance that the project's going to be delayed, a bit of worry on the project getting entirely axed, which would be said, but...bright spot that this Kickstarter may be delayed into January? So funds may not be coming out in December?

Original deadline
Thu, Dec 9 2021 6:30 pm PST

Time remaining if project becomes available
17 days

So the longer this takes to decide, the closer we get to January and not December, but still...that is a very, very thin silver lining.

Your pledge is currently still active. If you’d like to manage your pledge or reach out to the creator directly, you can still do so through the project page.

Which, by the way, is the only page that remains visible when this happens. Because pledgers need to be able to reach out and message the creators, change their pledge, or cancel entirely.

Still strange, though. And we had just found out about this:



Which I was really looking forward to having in my acquisitive little hands.

So we'll have to see how it goes. I hope for good things, but...depends entirely on who's sending them the copyright notice, and how much they want to drag this out.

it's not a cage when it's for your own good

What a strange November it's been so far. My work on NaNoWriMo has suffered several setbacks; I'm not dead in the water, yet, but I'm fairly sure that while I'll finish with something, I won't win the challenge this year.

Along the way Desert Bus for Hope happened, and when that tied up...well, see for yourself:



Everyone was astounded; not only with how much was raised, but the fact that the bulk of that wasn't live auctions going into the stratosphere, but the prize giveaways. (That, and this is now the third year Desert Bus has gone over a million in a row.)



This started things off, and then went to a quilt:



followed by a Faerun/Magic the Gathering crossover box:



The first giveaway to really give us an idea of how amazing this year was going to be was a handmade wooden wall clock (click for larger version):



which went over twenty-one thousand dollars. And it just kept going from there, until the final giveaway of the night, which was another sword. Well. Not just any other sword. A replica Final Fantasy Buster sword:



which was sold for a stunning $110,173.



This is Erika Cole, their prize coordinator for this year (and the past several years) with the sword, which weighed upwards of fifty pounds. It was deeply impressive.

But fun was had, happy tears were shed, and at the end of it, we knew as a group that we had contributed to the happiness and distraction of children in shelters and hospitals, and at the end of the day, after all, that is the point. And an important one, besides.

In the meantime, enjoy the Web Archive of Art. I also found a National Fairground and Circus Archive--mostly photographs, all interesting. And if you have some free time, go play with another AI-based art site, this one that uses text descriptions to make artistic depictions. It's fascinating.

And that will be that for now, and I'll get back to coding up RP entries! Cheers!