In reality they've just discovered the ceiling fan

Hopefully that title wasn't too clickbait, here is the article and details.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-africa-bird-island-eastern-cape-helicopter-crash-penguin/

Tldr:

South Africa helicopter crash blamed on penguin in cardboard box that hit pilot's controls

Everyone was ok:

The aircraft sustained substantial damage but the pilot and passengers were uninjured, according to the incident report. The penguin was also unharmed, the report noted.

How it happened:

The pilot and passengers were conducting an aerial survey flight of an island off South Africa's Eastern Cape on January 19, 2025. The helicopter safely landed on Bird Island. Before departing, one of the passengers, who the incident report referred to as a "specialist," asked that they transport one of the penguins on the island back with them. The pilot agreed, and the penguin was placed in a cardboard box.

When the helicopter was at an altitude of around 50 feet, the cardboard box slid off the passenger's lap -- onto the pilot's cyclic pitch control lever, the incident report said. The helicopter rolled to the right. The pilot could not recover, the incident report said. As the aircraft descended, the main rotor blades of the helicopter struck the ground, and the helicopter landed on its side, about 60 feet from where it had taken off.

A more casual article:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/helicopter-crash-blamed-on-unsecured-penguin-in-a-box/

Corina Berry grew up going to drop-in programs with the Rainbow Youth program at the Peterborough AIDS Resource Network (PARN). Now, she is studying Gender Studies and Social Justice at Trent University, and is the director of PARN’s Rainbow Youth programming. Berry credits the program’s weekly drop-ins and events with helping her find community and friends that had similar experiences as her. But since the U.S. presidential election, concern for Canada’s LGBTQ2S+ communities losing their rights comes up almost every session. “I’m really scared of what the future looks like,” she says. Berry adds that youth should never have to question if their life is worth living because of an election.

Here in Canada, on March 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney called an election to take place on April 28. For many young LGBTQ2S+ voters, this election feels crucial: it’s occurring in the midst of a significant rise in anti-trans and LGBTQ2S+ hate, on the brink of a recession and when Canada’s sovereignty is being questioned. With so much on the line, young queer voters like Berry are extremely worried going into this election. Speaking to young queer voters shows that they also feel exhausted, citing dissatisfaction with the candidates for prime minister, and the prospect of needing to vote strategically to protect their rights as queer people.

Found only in the rocky slopes of China's Tianshan Mountains, this shy creature is barely ever seen.

Interesting Fact: There are fewer than 1,000 left in the wild, making it even rarer than pandas!

Photo by Li Weidong

Original art by @monsterologist.bsky.social‬

Gender care: The treatment of trans youth with puberty blockers is a Dutch invention that is now used worldwide. However, in an increasing number of countries, there is growing debate about this ‘Dutch Approach’. NRC spent a year and a half at the oldest and largest gender clinic in the Netherlands, where this care model was developed in the 1990s. „They think you can just roll into a transition…

This article in the NYT made me curious what other people's experiences were like.

https://archive.ph/ISPSc

Our party has opened war on the Drow capital city, with a rag tag army of Moon Warriors, Pirates looking to make a name for themselves, Forest Rangers, and our not quite stable party of an Eladrin Warlock with multiple personalities, a half orc barbarian with Wonder Woman's tiara, a panther-halfling hybrid rogue, a Giant Powered Kobold, and a Yuan-ti/Gobling hybrid Bard against the forces of the Drow Nation. Numbers are not in our favor, especially as our allies from the Wizard City can't arrive until we destroy the giant spider golem the city has.

Combat is rough, so our party's opening gambit...is to throw out an egg in the center of the city that becomes a gargantuan Spawn of the World Serpent, then run back to our battle. It spawns with only the golem between it and the Arcane Academy, and next to a giant spider nest spawning giant demon spiders once a day.

The first couple days are a bit rough as the tide of battle is not with us, and the serpent, while destroying a large area of downtown, is taking a lot of damage and missing it's attacks on the mechanical and demonic spiders...

So we throw two more eggs into the mess, and continue on with our battle as the Pirates manage to reach us where our part of the army had come up from the underground, the eastern front is still rough but sorta even, and the center of town has had a kaijuu battle going for half a week now.

My RPG group and I (mostly the latter) have spent the past few months working on a setting-generic RPG system. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! I'm quite proud of it as I haven't really seen very many dice systems like this. The system has character specialization (some are better at things than others) without any modifiers or math, just comparison!

Creating a Character

Players need only decide two things when creating their characters: their action die and their approach die.

A character’s “action die” broadly describes their physical attributes, skills, and talents.

• Intelligent, thoughtful, and quick-witted characters use a six-sided action die.
• Charismatic, charming, and attractive characters use an eight-sided action die.
• Agile, dexterous, and swift characters use a ten-sided action die.
• Strong, powerful, and tough characters use a twelve-sided action die.

A character’s “approach die” broadly describes their outlook on the world and how they go about executing their skills.

• Sharp, perceptive, and attentive characters use a six-sided approach die.
• Forceful, reactive, and fiery characters use an eight-sided approach die.
• Disciplined, courageous, and willful characters use a ten-sided approach die.
• Calm, level-headed, and careful characters use a twelve-sided approach die.

Attempts

Characters may do any of four things to interact with their environment: engage, consort, finesse, or exert. These are known as “actions.”

• To “engage” is to interact with an object or place using intense focus and care.
• To “consort” is to persuade, deceive, or otherwise communicate with others.
• To “finesse” is to maneuver one’s body in a precise, swift, and calculated manner.
• To “exert” is to use raw, physical strength.

Characters may go about an action any of four ways: sharply, forcefully, boldly, or calmly. These are known as “approaches.”

• To be “sharp” is to be perceptive, keen, and attentive.
• To be “forceful” is to explode with reckless power and speed.
• To be “bold” is to overcome one’s fears or anxieties.
• To be “calm” is to remain composed under pressure or threat.

If ever a player wishes to do something, they must first describe it to the narrator, who will then determine the action and approach that best fits. Players will automatically succeed in most of their endeavors, but the outcome of riskier or more unpredictable ones is determined by rolling their two dice and counting successes. This is known as an “attempt.”

For a die to yield a success, the number rolled must fall within the corresponding range for that category. (This is supposed to be in table form but most front-ends don't support Markdown tables.)

• Engage/Sharp: 3--6
• Consort/Forceful: 4--8
• Finesse/Bold: 5--10
• Exert/Calm: 6--12

Zero successes result in the attempt failing, one success results in the attempt succeeding, and two successes result in the attempt critically succeeding.

If ever the manner in which a character does something has no effect on its outcome, the player may roll two action dice and no approach die. If ever only the manner in which a character does something has an effect on its outcome, the player may roll two approach dice and no action die.

If the narrator believes that a player’s attempt should be easier or harder than usual, they may increase the number of dice the player rolls. If it is to be harder, the number of required successes increases. If it is to be easier, it does not.

Combat

Many direct competitions require more mechanical structure to ensure every party has a fair chance at victory. In situations such as these, “combat” may be initiated.

Combat is divided into rounds, during each of which, all participating characters make an attempt to win. As the attempts are being made, the narrator writes them down in a list, using the number on the approach die of each to order them from lowest to highest. To end the round and begin another, the narrator reads through their finalized list and describes to the players what happens. If ever a previous attempt—such as the killing of a character—prevents the current attempt—such as that character striking back—from occurring, it automatically fails.

Wounds & Stress

If ever a character is inflicted with some sort of physical injury or mental affliction, they must roll their action or approach die, respectively, and then scratch that number from the corresponding list on their character sheet. This is known as taking a “wound” or “stress” on that number. In the future, if ever an action die rolls a number with a wound, or an approach die rolls a number with a stress, it automatically yields a failure, regardless of whether or not it would normally fall within the succeeding range.

If ever a player receives a wound and no longer has a possible succeeding action roll, they die. If ever they receive a stress and no longer have a possible succeeding approach roll, they go insane. Both permanently remove the character from the game.

When determining how many wounds or stresses an event inflicts, it is important for narrators to note that one character may be killed in only six wounds, and another twelve. The same attempt should have the same effect on both of these characters. A successful attempt may result in zero-to-two wounds depending on the context of the attempt, and a critically successful one may result in two-to-four. A failure always results in zero.

Non-Player Characters

Non-player characters (NPCs)—especially unintelligent or narratively unimportant ones such as goons, objects, animals, and the environment—function differently to the players’ characters. Rather than being limited only by the creativity of the narrator, each NPC has a unique list of specific actions and approaches, each with their own, unique succeeding ranges. This is known as their “attempt table.” During combat, NPCs have no volition; what they do is randomly determined by rolling and indexing into their attempt table.

Downtime

In between important or especially grueling scenes, players may choose to have downtime. During “downtime,” rather than describing their exact actions in the present moment, the narrator and players broadly discuss what they are doing over a matter of days, weeks, or even months. This could include purchasing new equipment, training, searching for information, or taking time to recover from an injury.

Players are given special agency during downtime; they should be allowed to affect the narrative in ways they wouldn't normally be able to during play. A player might come up with a piece of information they would like their character to find or create an individual they would like them to meet. However, the narrator always has the final say and must agree to what the players propose before it becomes canon; not everything can fit into their existing narrative.