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[Aqizzar]

gather the bees and smear them over your body

This better be a thing that actually happens.

next week: the Clockwork Empires personality test for Livejournal

That's where you lost me, nobody goes to Livejournal anymore, it's Tumblr or nothing now, get with the times.

I cannot wait to buy this game at full price.

[Cthulhu]

I don't go within 100 miles of tumblr (tw: imperial measurements, tumblr shaming).

This game looks pretty sweet though.  Can't wait for something playable.

[forsaken1111]

I don't go within 100 miles of tumblr

Same.

Though to be fair, I don't go to livejournal either. Or any of those other sites.

[PTTG??]

I recall a Terry Pratchett book included a brief glimpse into the field of Reverse Phrenology. You'll recall that basic Phrenology is the study of how personality traits change the shapes of the head; Reverse Phrenology applies this in a therapeutic way, and in fact has been supported by modern science.

It's well known that head injury can change personality, after all.

[lordcooper]

I recall a Terry Pratchett book included a brief glimpse into the field of Reverse Phrenology. You'll recall that basic Phrenology is the study of how personality traits change the shapes of the head; Reverse Phrenology applies this in a therapeutic way, and in fact has been supported by modern science.

Got a reputable source for that?

[10ebbor10]

The gaslamp blogpost has a link to the pratchett wiki in the comments

[lordcooper]

Believe it or not, that isn't the part I have any doubt over.

[10ebbor10]

Didn't read the last part of that sentence.

[Pnx]

I got bored at one point so I wrote a little bit of fan fiction in the form of an article.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

PICTURE THIS: You are a business oriented person of note who has started to have dealings far away from your home in the Capitol. You need to stay in communication with contacts throughout the Empire, and thus make extensive use of Heliographs, perhaps you even have a tower on your estate to stop you having to use one of the office's dispatch runners. However when you receive the messages you find that they contain bizarre configurations of letters, such HRM, JGF, or other oddities. What is the up and coming business man or woman to make of this? Is it some kind of unclean influence created by cephalopods? Well fear not, for you like many others are simply discovering the wonderful world of Heliograph abbreviations.

In a world where the cost of the Heliograph is measured by the word, and sometimes even the letter, many enterprising citizens of the Empire have taken to creating a shorthand to reduce the cost of their messages. Decoding these strange abbreviations can often be of difficulty, and translating such things is looking to become a new full time profession, the Times has included a few known abbreviations here to get you started.

HM/HRM: His/Her Majesty or His/Her Royal Majesty
JGF: Jolly Good Fellow/Friend
MEA: Most Esteemed Associate
NSFW: No Safeguards: Fair Warning
OMI: Official Ministry Investigator/Inspector

There are of course many more out there just waiting to be discovered!

NOTE: The Times would like to remind every citizen of their civic duty to report any unexpected messages that have unusual content, to the Department of Heliograph Sanitation, as these may be the result of Perfectly Harmless interference caused by Apiaries being positioned too close to a Heliograph line.

[PTTG??]

LOL: Loquacious, Ostentatious Laughter
:) : Indicates a serious medical condition known as "Parenthetical Colon Disease". Do not, under any circumstances, venture to the place this message was sent from.
QFT: Quite Fine Tea, used when thanking the recipient for a gift box, sent parcel post, containing quality tea.

We would also like to remind all readers that when a message is "sent" to a distant location by heliograph, it is not, in fact, sent bodily flying through the air, but rather copied, as it were, to the destination. Thus, it is not essential that the memorandum be returned after reading, and, in fact, you may request that the heligraphographer speed the letter back to you after transmission. And no, we cannot "heliograph them some blank paper in case they don't have any".

[Pnx]

We would also like to remind all readers that when a message is "sent" to a distant location by heliograph, it is not, in fact, sent bodily flying through the air, but rather copied, as it were, to the destination. Thus, it is not essential that the memorandum be returned after reading, and, in fact, you may request that the heligraphographer speed the letter back to you after transmission. And no, we cannot "heliograph them some blank paper in case they don't have any".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliograph

Yes, it's kind of a real thing. Though the telegraph/radio was a lot more popular than any of the semaphore systems tried because it tended to be easier to use than a system that could be cocked up so easily by one sleepy operator along the line.

I'm guessing Heliographs are so popular on account of being able to mechanically relay messages.

[PTTG??]

Yeah, I was making fun of people and fax machines.

[Pnx]

Oh yeah crap, I kind of misread that... I thought you were saying something else.

Sorry, I blame it on my fuzzy head, it seems to be keeping me from reading things properly today.

[Geen]

I recall a Terry Pratchett book included a brief glimpse into the field of Reverse Phrenology. You'll recall that basic Phrenology is the study of how personality traits change the shapes of the head; Reverse Phrenology applies this in a therapeutic way, and in fact has been supported by modern science.

It's well known that head injury can change personality, after all.

Oh Pratchett, you so silly.
Goddamn discworld is hilarious.

[Criptfeind]

So, newish (sometime last week) blog post. Which brings up a very important question. Will there be a official Gaslamp fishing rod peripherals?