Story Notes: OPP 34: New Discoveries, part I · 3:40pm May 31st, 2020
First off, let me thank my pre-readers! AShadowOfCygnus, metallusionismagic, MSPiper, and MrZJunior!
It’s been a long time, friends, and I thank you for your patience. 
In terms of traditional English maids/domestic workers, there was a whole huge hierarchy, from the steward or the butler on top, and then going down through cooks, housekeepers, footmen, chauffers, chambermaids, nursemaids, laundrymaids, and so forth. Each position had its own ranking in the hierarchy, ways that they were addressed (and since social status was important, just like in the military, who was addressing who might change which honorific was used); Wikipedia helpfully tells me that a female cook was always called Mrs., regardless of her actual marital status.
Some years back, I mentioned a young Twilight Sparkle figuring out most of the hierarchy in the palace, and of course there’d be a lot. Currently, at the embassy, and likely to Diamond Mint’s disappointment, there are a grand total of two domestic workers, her and Starlight.
Starlight obviously has the cook role; Diamond Mint most closely falls into the footman role: “usually filled glasses, placed and removed dishes etc. while standing at meals, while the master and guests remained seated,” while also covering other domestic duties as needed and thus blurring the lines of what she knows she’s supposed to do. Typically, she’d report to a housekeeper, but they haven’t got one. (Historically, the footman also took on some of the butler’s duties when the butler wasn’t available, so she would anticipate some of her additional roles.)
It’s also possible that she could be considered a maid-of-all-work or a skivvy.
It probably feels a little bit weird having a discussion about a pony-caused pandemic, especially now. However, that really is a worry with alien contact--if they’re extremely different than us, odds are that any pathogens they might have probably won’t be able to infect humans (and vice-versa); however, if they’re really close there’s a chance that they could, and of course we’d have no defense against it. And we don’t even have to imagine space travel; historically, people have brought novel diseases with them when they travelled, and there are various viruses and parasites that can be carried by an animal host and then infect humans.
In this particular case, being isolated on a remote island actually greatly reduces the chance of anything nasty making the jump, unless of course it has a long isolation period.
Unsurprisingly, doors have a lot of parts, and they all have names.
Source
Yankee Screwdriver is actually a brand name for a particular model (much like a Xerox machine or a Thermos or Kleenex); the actually tool is an ‘automatic spiral ratchet screwdriver’* which is a mouthful. Invented in the late 1800s, they have a spring-loaded cross-cut shaft, and all the ones I’ve seen have a three-way switch on them. In one position, when you push down on the handle, the shaft rotates clockwise, in the opposite position, it rotates counterclockwise, and in the center the shaft doesn’t rotate at all and you can put in screws the normal way.
Until the invention of torquey cordless drills, Yankee Screwdrivers were one of the best ways to put in screws. Back in high school, I was still using them to build things.
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*Those, also called spiral push drills or spiral screwdrivers, were first patented in 1868; the first known mass-produced model came to market in the 1870s, and since they’re not called “Howard Screwdrivers,” it’s reasonable to assume that the Yankee brand was the first wildly successful brand.
Just like the Yankee Screwdriver was a precursor to cordless screwdrivers, so too was the brace and bit the precursor to a drill, basically a crank that you could put drill bits in. (The part that gets cranked is the brace; they’re usually described as ‘brace and bit’ becaue each part on its own is fairly useless.) The U-shape to the brace dates back to at least 1400s Flanders, and of course there were other designs of hand-cranked drill which date even further back.
Mackinac Island sits in Lake Huron, and there are commercial ferries from Mackinaw City which take you there (yes, the two are spelled differently; one’s the French spelling of the Ojibwe and the other is the British spelling). It was a strategic location back in the day, although now it’s mostly known for the Grand Hotel, fudge, and the fact that cars are banned with the only exception being emergency and service vehicles, and snowmobiles in the winter. Otherwise, if you want to get around on the island, you’re going by foot, bicycle, or horse. The good news is that horse rental is available, near the ferry docks. And if you live on the island and order a package:
I have to imagine that UPS isn’t running too many horse-drawn operations these days.
As the professors observed, selfies go way back. Discounting comissioned paintings (becuase I’d argue that to count as a selfie, the artist also has to be at least one of the subjects in the painting), it was often done with mirrors. Even in this modern internet age, there’s one famous face of selfies virtually all of us would recognize: Joseph Ducreux, 1735-1802.
Back in the day, before steam engines were invented, one of the best ways to get rotational power was with a water wheel. Unless you were Dutch; then you used the wind. For a lot of history, that was all you needed--you could turn a saw with your water wheel to make lumber, and you could float the logs down to the mill on that very same river. Or, if you were making flour, you’d have the water (or wind) turn the millstones.
During the industrial revolution, this concept was expanded into the idea of a line shaft. Many of you have probably seen them at museums; it was an overhead shaft (or many of them); machines would be attached to that shaft with belts--originally rope, then switched to leather or duck cloth. Machine speed would be controlled by the pulley ratio, and some variable speed machines were ‘shifted’ to different speeds by moving the belt to a different pulley (some machines like drill presses and lathes are often still controlled this way; obviously, multi-speed bicycles typically are shifted like this, too).
As technology progressed, the water wheels were replaced with stationary boilers running steam turbines, and then when electification came along, the boilers and turbines were replaced with electric motors. Then, in time, the factory machines all became individually powered.
This video shows a line-shaft powered machine shop; skip to the 15 minute mark if you just want to see it running.
Finally, here’s a teaser for Chapter 35: Dale is correct that Silver Spanner’s workshop is next to Ambrosia’s.
How long he'd had an audience of two, he didn't know. He'd been so focused on the baluster that he hadn't heard Silver Spanner enter, nor had he been aware of her also watching as he made the final cuts on his piece, patiently matching them to the template.
She'd kept back, slightly out of the way, understanding as only workingmen did the space allotted for craftsmen.
He crouched low, and reached out a hand, which she bumped happily. “Dale make wood?”
He nodded, considering taking his piece back out of the storage bin, but she'd seen it, and doing so would feel like bragging. “Me not good with wood, I work with metal.”
“Metal, like pipe?”
“Yes, like pipe. Not pipe, not make pipes, but make metal things.”
“Dale come see?” she said hopefully, and he nodded. They'd bonded over naming tools and now it was time to bond over shops.
Excellent. I just started a re-read a few days ago so I'll get to this when I get to it. Hopefully it won't be to long
This story is heartwarming in it's wholesomeness
I think dietary problems are more likely than pathogens. I don't think the biology between us and ET will be similar enough for cross-propogation. You can't get diseases bananas can and they're 50% similar to your DNA, and monkey-human diseases are rare even though we're 98% similar.
Better watch for AJ.. Aparently she prefers to use Irish Screwdrivers.
Check the recent DIY shot stop motion animation. Those nails theyre hammering with slating hammers?.. Have round heads and cross head slots.
5272583
Yeah, BUT some of the diseases that you can get are pretty ferocious. Anthrax is a horse disease & bubonic plague is a rat disease. Monkeys can get malaria & some doctors think AIDS was originally a monkey disease.
Plus rabies, which a wide variety of species can get
Isn't Mackinac Island in Lake Michigan?
I was wrong, It's on the east side of the Straights of Mackinac in Lake Huron.
Probably not, but they do still run mule trains to the post office in Supai, Arizona. It's basically at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and lacks things like road access. It results in the weird image of a plastic mail tub strapped to the side of a mule, which just seems wrong somehow.
I still have a screwdriver like that, and I remember the brace and bit hanging on the walls at school woodwork classes, though I don't think we ever used them.
Though the issue is a little more complex than just whether there's a pathogen that can infect us, when we are dependent on a wide variety of plants and animals and bacteria for our survival. A pathogen that was harmless to us but which was devastating to cows, or chickens, or wheat, or algae, or nitrogen fixing bacteria would be very very bad.
Bonding over peace pipes? :)
(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
That bit in the gif... it's going the wrong way, isn't it. ;-)
Just something I noticed.
5272868
Not only that, but her hoofs imply that shes properly made of some kinda of play-doh.
5272930
Nawww, she just... chubby, is all, dawg. ;D
Still, makes you wonder something else... What if ponies - the ponies we know them as today - had those faces? More equine than human... I wonder how things would play out in the innumerable clopfics if that were the case... ;]
I know appearances aren't everything, but first impressions are very important after all. I'm not sure how long it'd take me to get used to it enough to actually consider romancing a pony like that. And if you think about it, it must work like that both ways...
Happy to see this story getting an update :)
Ooh, that teaser at the end.
I had no idea that that meme pic was a selfie, but it makes sense.
I hope regular updates are a thing we get to experience again soon. I have missed this story. :)
And thanks, as usual, though that is also a story I'd like to get to but haven't yet. :D
5272520
Sounds like my timing was pretty good then, eh?
5272556
Thank you!
5272583
Oh yeah, totally. While I decided in this story to not make dietary problems a major issue, I do have one where the human does suffer a vitamin deficiency . . . actually, two now that I think of it.
Most IRL equine diseases can’t be gotten by humans (and vice-versa), but there are a few that can and I think that one of them is incurable in humans (and in horses).
5272589
At least it’s not an Irish Car Bomb.
You can hammer in screws if you try hard enough.
5272664
My college girlfriend got vaccinated for rabies, ‘cause she was studying to be a vet. Apparently, it’s expensive and painful to get the vaccine.
5272699
Not unless they moved it since the last time I was there.
(technically, it’s in the Straits of Mackinac)
Also interesting but not particularly relevant: I’ve sailed from Duncan Bay (near Cheboygan) to Bois Blanc Island on a 16’ sailboat.
whew
5272744
I did not know that!
And let’s be honest, that mule does not look too happy about all those packages.
It’s also interesting that in that picture the mule’s got the fur rubbed off his hind leg; I mentioned in a story once about an earth pony having strap scars from using an ill-fitting harness.
5272786
I’ve got a couple myself, and unfortunately, they’re from the end of the era where they used their own custom bits rather than the far more common 1/4” hex bits. I don’t know if there’s a way to retrofit it.
Agreed, and you make a good point. A lot of sci-fi speculation and I suppose real people speculation is what happens to us, whereas what happens to something we depend on might be far more worrisome (and potentially have the same end result). I did read one generally terrible Sci-Fi book once where an agressive bacteria that ate petroleum products showed up . . . the idea was good (and plausible; I think that some petroleum-eating bacteria thrived near the Deepwater Horizon, which is part of the reason it wasn’t as bad as it could have been); the book was not that great.
5272860
Hey, if that’s the way to do it, that’s the way it should be done.
5272868
Depends on how you see the gif going; I found that like some optical illusions, if I looked away and then back again, it looked like she was cranking the drill the other way ‘round.
Also! Sometimes when you’re drilling plastics with a normal drill bit, you can reduce chipping by running the drill bit backwards . . . maybe giant mints behave like plastic.
5272930
Marshmallow, duh. Ponies are made of marshmallow.
5272946
I suppose it would depend on who likes actual equine looks and who likes anime eyes. I ain’t gonna judge.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/6/26/21854.png
Yeah, you’re not wrong.
5273680
the only time I went to Mackinaw Island was in 1978 shortly after the filming of "Somewhere In Time" was done. That island is beautiful!
5272976
Thank you!
5272977
He’s seen Ambrosia’s; now Silver Spanner wants to show him hers. :P
Yup, buy a really awesome painter. That painting’s from 1793.
5273121
I hope so, too.
Thanks!
5273153
5273695
It is! I haven’t been there in years, which is a shame. Ought to take a trip up there sometime.
5273687
I actually owned at one point in a toolkit a screwdriver exactly like what you describe with a three position ratchet switch and exchangeable tips.
5273687
Sounds like Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters (Kit Pedler]
IMO, it wasn't too bad, for it's time
5273765
That isn't the one. I'd have to go digging on my bookshelves, bit if you're really interested, I can probably find it.
5273780
Thanks, but no thanks.
ALREADY GOT 800+ in my "Unread" file + a couple of other universes that I follow (like 1632 & Wild Card).
I'd never find time to read it.
I just mentioned it because the plot rang a bell
5273673
well, I did have a heads up that it was coming out.
And my mind went to the old '70s Upstairs, Downstairs -- apparently, there's an early 2010s continuation -- and on looking up the character page on WIkipedia, it seems there's contradictory canon information on whether Mrs Bridges is 15 years a widow, or whether she was never married, but has the honorific for the reason mentioned.
5273786
Well, good news, I found it. So now you’ll know what not to read.
It’s called Ill Wind, by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason, and I bought it on sale at K-Mart for $5.24, which it turns out wasn’t a bargan.
My copy’s slightly water damaged and interestingly has a dent in the back cover and a big scratch in the front. I might have thrown it in frustration and/or used it to prop up something that needed about 560 pages worth of propping.
5273835
I figured I’d head off the torch mobs with a blog post
5273963
I wonder if that’s one of those things where the show writers knew the detail, or if in her bio she was married but the subject of her husband never came up?
I only say that because as an experienced writerTM, sometimes I figure out a little detail about a character well into a story, and sometimes a happy accident earlier makes it fit in nicely, and readers often assume that I meant for that to happen.
5274501
A quick Google, they're both supposed to be good writers.
Certainly, they are both PROLIFIC writers
5273694
Okay, that's not half-bad, actually. At the very least I'd be interested.
I'd like to clarify, that at some point it really becomes rather irrelevant. Even if they looked just like small horses, eventually you'd get to know one well-enough to start falling in love, and that's that. It'd just probably take longer - how much, that would depend on the person. Personally, I don't have anything about equinoids, and truth be told - if that horse-ish face meant something to me, I'd want to see it contort in pleasure eventually, and you can go look for my human-issues-with-how-she-looks in the field of fucks I grow.
This is actually not explored all that often - in most cases it's just assumed that "pony {X} has weird tastes" (typically Rainbow, if we're being honest :D), or that the human physique is somehow appealing to ponies despite not being classically attractive. There aren't enough HiE fics where the human is found plain unattractive, or even repulsive, and how that's overcome through months of contact and growing fond of each other...
5273690
I think I'm going to entirely sidestep that particular rabbit hole, if you don't mind... :D it's 2:20 AM already.
(though if you think about it, they actually might...)
5274501
That is now officially the best piece of comment I've read this week. :D
5274504
I’m also a prolific writer.
Make of that what you will
5275311
Probably for the best; I was about to order a bunch of Star Brites from Amazon to experiment with. You can get nearly 500 of ‘em for less than $20 . . . that’s a lot of candy
Thank you!
Joseph Ducreux's other self-portraits deserve more love and memes...
Definitely looking forward to Dale becoming the latest member of the noble Ponyville family of craftsmares.