…is this supposed to be considered weird? I don’t get it.
I think it’s more that it was an unexpected feature. I’m glad it’s there.
Yeah I actually found it while prepping for brain surgery, and was incredibly relieved that it was a built-in feature and not something I’d have to leave convoluted instructions about or whatever. It’s a bit morbid, sure, but it’s a great feature.
…an unexpected but very appreciated feature.
This is a feature designed by women who’d been in fandom for decades, and who had faced the issue of, “X is dead, and we know she loved fandom, so… can we reprint her stories? Who can decide? Her family knows fuck-all about fandom. Who was her best friend? Do they know if she would’ve liked her story to be reprinted in the Best Of OTP Fic zine?”
Running across that once doesn’t make you think about a policy, but by the time it’s five to ten times, and then you’ve seen people vanish from the internet (might be dead; might just be not interested anymore) and nobody knows whether it’s okay to collect their fic in an archive or transfer it to a new one….
Yeah, the FNoK policy is one of the awesome things about AO3.
*It’s customary in Judaism to make donations in multiples of 18 as to bless the recipient(s) with good health and long life (the numerical value of the Hebrew word “chai” which means “life”), but by all means, just give what you can.
i’d encourage people to donate to HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, if able. they support refugees and immigrants all over the world.
the pittsburgh shooter allegedly posted on social media, claiming that HIAS are bringing in ‘hostile invaders’ that ‘kill our people’, before carrying out the shooting.
he will not silence us. now, more than ever, we stand with immigrants and refugees, and live our jewish values publicly and bravely.
A couple of days ago, I did something I’ve always wanted to do: I visited the real life Watership Down.
When I was a little kid, I won a copy of this book. I was hooked right away and I re-read it every year. I know many people saw the Watership Down animated movie way too young and were traumatized. It’s too bad, because the book, while dark in places, is a ripping adventure story with fun characters and a lot of natural history and environmentalism woven in. It’s like if Moby Dick starred the whales.
Like a lot of fantasy books, this one begins with an intricate map. But unlike a lot of fantasy books, Watership Down is 100% set in a real place.
There’s no official sign for the path up the Down. Someone has helpfully written “Watership Down” on the path sign in sharpie. Note the Hazel-Rah tag on the left.
There was a lot of wildlife. I saw red kites, deer, pheasants, partridges, wood pigeons, and a hare. No rabbits, but apparently they come out in the evening.
The hike up was wet and muddy. But the view from the top was so, so beautiful.
“Come and look! You can see the whole world.”
Though many of the wildflowers had passed, I found all sorts of plants that inspired the names in the book. Just watch out for stinging nettle and hogweed beside some of the paths!
At the top of the Down, there’s a baby hazel tree surrounded by a small wooden fence with a plaque honoring the author, Richard Adams. It’s nothing fancy that might detract from the wide, green, breezy place. Just perfect. Bigwig had even taken a moment to tag it, which was also perfect.
I don’t think I’ve ever geeked out this hard. Watership Down was EXACTLY like I pictured it, and I spotted a lot of the places mentioned in the book. If you loved this story as a kid, and you have a chance to visit, do it.
ahhhhhh *screaming continues for some time* hhhhhh so amazing
Dracula: So I asked myself, who has been so abused by humanity that they would want the species wiped from the Earth?
Dracula: And then I thought, OTHER HUMANS
The internet went from showing food recipe videos to alchemy in less than a decade. There’s going to be a quick video on how to make the philosopher’s stone from tomato sauce next week.
I know that half of these are true which makes me wonder about the other half… are they all true, or were the true ones thrown in to trick us?
peanut butter coal – fake as hell. That ain’t how chemistry or crystallization works. at all. Like there’s at least 4 layers of wrong there.
salt water ice trick – real
acid cleanin – real, but there’re better, less abrasive ways of cleanin your metal jewelry
warm water and wax – plausible? but why bother. Waxes’re biologically inert. They pass through you without bein absorbed in the slightest. The amount they put on apples is minuscule too, so this is a pretty useless trick even if it works.
honey “genetic memory” – I mean. It does that. But that’s from the swirlin motion of the water, and not any “genetic memory” in the honey (which it ain’t got any genes besides maybe from pollen grains or miscellaneous bee parts)
fluffy eggs – plausible. You’d have much better results with a tiny amount of bakin soda tho
banana ripenin – real. with caveats. Not all fruits continue to ripen after bein picked. You couldn’t do this with a pineapple or citrus fruits, for example.
clear milk coke – why
ketchup silverware – NO. STOP. DON’T FUCKIN DO THAT. A homemade electrolytic cell is easier, more effective, and much less destructive to your silverware than repeated acid cleanin. It reduces the oxidized silver back into its elemental form instead of just strippin it away.
milk porcelain – so much bullshit even trump would hesitate to endorse it
screaming into the void since '89 