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colleendoran · 3 months

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Great Big Good Omens Graphic Novel Update

AKA A Visit From Bildad the Shuhite.

The past year or so has been one long visit from this guy, whereupon he smiteth my goats and burneth my crops, woe unto the woeful cartoonist.

Gaze upon the horror of Bildad the Shuhite.

You kind of have to be a Good Omens fan to get this joke, but trust me, it's hilarious.

Anyway, as a long time Good Omens novel fan, you may imagine how thrilled I was to get picked to adapt the graphic novel.

Go me!

This is quite a task, I have to say, especially since I was originally going to just draw (and color) it, but I ended up writing the adaptation as well. Tricky to fit a 400 page novel into a 160-ish page graphic novel, especially when so much of the humor is dependent on the language, and not necessarily on the visuals.

Not complainin', just sayin'.

Anyway, I started out the gate like a herd of turtles, because right away I got COVID which knocked me on my butt.

And COVID brain fog? That's a thing. I already struggle with brain fog due to autoimmune disease, and COVID made it worse.

Not complainin' just sayin'.

This set a few of the assignments on my plate back, which pushed starting Good Omens back.

But hey, big fat lead time! No worries!

Then my computer crawled toward the grave.

My trusty MAC Pro Tower was nearly 15 years old when its sturdy heart ground to a near-halt with daily crashes. I finally got around to doing some diagnostics; some of its little brain actions were at 5% functionality. I had no reliable backups.

There are so many issues with getting a new computer when you haven't had a new computer or peripherals in nearly fifteen years and all of your software, including your Photoshop program is fifteen years old.

At the time, I was still on rural internet...which means dial-up speed.

Whatever you have for internet in the city, roll that clock back to about 2001.

That's what I had. I not only had to replace almost all of my hardware but I had to load and update all programs at dial-up speed.

Welcome to my gigabyte hell.

The entire process of replacing the equipment and programs took weeks and then I had to relearn all the software.

All of this was super expensive in terms of money and time cost.

But I was not daunted! Nosirree!

I still had a huge lead time! I can do anything! I have an iron will!

And boy, howdy, I was going to need it.

At about the same time, a big fatcat quadrillionaire client who had hired me years ago to develop a big, major transmedia project for which I was paid almost entirely in stock, went bankrupt leaving everyone holding the bag, and taking a huge chunk of my future retirement fund with it.

I wrote a very snarky almost hilarious Patreon post about it, but am not entirely in a position to speak freely because I don't want to get sued. Even though I had to go to court over it, (and I had to do that over Zoom at dial-up speed,) I'm pretty sure I'll never get anything out of this drama, and neither will anyone else involved, except millionaire dude and his buddies who all walked away with huge multi-million dollar bonuses weeks before they declared bankruptcy, all the while claiming they would not declare bankruptcy.

Even the accountant got $250,000 a month to shut down the business, while creators got nothing.

That in itself was enough drama for the year, but we were only at February by that point, and with all those months left, 2023 had a lot more to throw at me.

Fresh from my return from my Society of Illustrators show, and a lovely time at MOCCA, it was time to face practical medical issues, health updates, screening, and the like. I did my adult duty and then went back to work hoping for no news, but still had a weird feeling there would be news.

I know everyone says that, but I mean it. I had a bad feeling.

Then there was news.

I was called back for tests and more tests. This took weeks. The ubiquitous biopsy looked, even to me staring at the screen in real time, like bad news.

It also hurt like a mofo after the anesthesia wore off. I wasn't expecting that.

Then I got the official bad news.

Cancer which runs in my family finally got me. Frankly, I was surprised I didn't get it sooner.

Stage 0, and treatment would likely be fast and complication-free. Face the peril, get it over with, and get back to work.

I requested surgery months in the future so I could finish Good Omens first, but my doc convinced me the risk of waiting was too great. Get it done now.

"You're really healthy," my doc said. Despite an auto-immune issue which plagues me, I am way healthier than the average schmoe of late middle age. She informed me I would not even need any chemo or radiation if I took care of this now.

So I canceled my appearance at San Diego Comic Con. I did not inform the Good Omens team of my issues right away, thinking this would not interfere with my work schedule, but I did contact my agent to inform her of the issue. I also contacted a lawyer to rewrite my will and make sure the team had access to my digital files in case there were complications.

Then I got back to work, and hoped for the best.

Eff this guy.

Before I could even plant my carcass on the surgery table, I got a massive case of ocular shingles.

I didn't even know there was such a thing.

There I was, minding my own business. I go to bed one night with a scratchy eye, and by 4 PM the next day, I was in the emergency room being told if I didn't get immediate specialist treatment, I was in big trouble.

I got transferred to another hospital and got all the scary details, with the extra horrid news that I could not possibly have cancer surgery until I was free of shingles, and if I did not follow a rather brutal treatment procedure - which meant super-painful eye drops every half hour, twenty-four hours a day and daily hospital treatment - I could lose the eye entirely, or be blinded, or best case scenario, get permanent eye damage.

What was even funnier (yeah, hilarity) is the drops are so toxic if you don't use the medication just right, you can go blind anyway.

Hi Ho.

Ulcer is on the right. That big green blob.

I had just finished telling my cancer surgeon I did not even really care about getting cancer, was happy it was just stage zero, had no issues with scarring, wanted no reconstruction, all I cared about was my work.

Just cut it out and get me back to work.

And now I wondered if I was going to lose my ability to work anyway.

Shingles often accompanies cancer because of the stress on the immune system, and yeah, it's not pretty. This is me looking like all heck after I started to get better.

The first couple of weeks were pretty demoralizing as I expected a straight trajectory to wellness. But it was up and down all the way.

Some days I could not see out of either eye at all. The swelling was so bad that I had to reach around to my good eye to prop the lid open. Light sensitivity made seeing out of either eye almost impossible. Outdoors, even with sunglasses, I had to be led around by the hand.

I had an amazing doctor. I meticulously followed his instructions, and I think he was surprised I did. The treatment is really difficult, and if you don't do it just right no matter how painful it gets, you will be sorry.

To my amazement, after about a month, my doctor informed me I had no vision loss in the eye at all. "This never happens," he said.

I'd spent a couple of weeks there trying to learn to draw in the near-dark with one eye, and in the end, I got all my sight back.

I could no longer wear contact lenses (I don't really wear them anyway, unless I'm going to the movies,) would need hard core sun protection for awhile, and the neuralgia and sun sensitivity were likely to linger. But I could get back to work.

I have never been more grateful in my life.

Neuralgia sucks, by the way, I'm still dealing with it months later.

Anyway, I decided to finally go ahead and tell the Good Omens team what was going on, especially since this was all happening around the time the Kickstarter was gearing up.

Now that I was sure I'd passed the eye peril, and my surgery for Stage 0 was going to be no big deal, I figured all was a go. I was still pretty uncomfortable and weak, and my ideal deadline was blown, but with the book not coming out for more than a year, all would be OK. I quit a bunch of jobs I had lined up to start after Good Omens, since the project was going to run far longer than I'd planned.

Everybody on the team was super-nice, and I was pretty optimistic at this time. But work was going pretty slow during, as you may imagine.

But again...lots of lead time still left, go me.

Then I finally got my surgery.

Which was not as happy an experience as I had been hoping for.

My family said the doc came out of the operating room looking like she'd been pulled backwards through a pipe, She informed them the tumor which looked tiny on the scan was "...huge and her insides are a mess."

Which was super not fun news.

Eff this guy.

The tumor was hiding behind some dense tissue and cysts. After more tests, it was determined I'd need another surgery and was going to have to get further treatments after all.

The biopsy had been really painful, but the discomfort was gone after about a week, so no biggee. The second surgery was, weirdly, not as painful as the biopsy, but the fatigue was big time.

By then, the Good Omens Kickstarter had about run its course, and the record-breaker was both gratifying and a source of immense social pressure.

I'd already turned most of my social media over to an assistant, and I'm glad I did.

But the next surgery was what really kicked me on my keister.

All in all, they took out an area the size of a baseball. It was hard to move and wiped me out for weeks and weeks. I could not take care of myself. I'd begun losing hair by this time anyway, and finally just lopped it off since it was too heavy for me to care for myself. The cut hides the bald spots pretty well.

After about a month, I got the go-ahead to travel to my show at the San Diego Comic Con Museum (which is running until the first week of April, BTW). I was very happy I had enough energy to do it. But as soon as I got back, I had to return to treatment.

Since I live way out in the country, going into the city to various hospitals and pharmacies was a real challenge. I made more than 100 trips last year, and a drive to the compounding pharmacy which produced the specialist eye medicine I could not get anywhere else was six hours alone.

Naturally, I wasn't getting anything done during this time.

But at least my main hospital is super swank.

The oncology treatment went smoothly, until it didn't. The feels don't hit you until the end. By then I was flattened.

So flattened that I was too weak to control myself, fell over, and smashed my face into some equipment.

Nearly tore off my damn nostril.

Eff this guy.

Anyway, it was a bad year.

Here's what went right.

I have a good health insurance policy. The final tally on my health care costs ended up being about $150,000. I paid about 18% of that, including insurance. I had a high deductible and some experimental medicine insurance didn't cover. I had savings, enough to cover the months I wasn't working, and my Patreon is also very supportive. So you didn't see me running a Gofundme or anything.

Thanks to everyone who ever bought one of my books.

No, none of that money was Good Omens Kickstarter money. I won't get most of my pay on that for months, which is just as well because it kept my taxes lower last year when I needed a break.

So, yay.

My nose is nearly healed. I opted out of plastic surgery, and it just sealed up by itself. I'll never be ready for my closeup, but who the hell cares.

I got to ring the bell.

I had a very, VERY hard time getting back to work, especially with regard to focus and concentration. My work hours dropped by over 2/3. I was so fractured and weak, time kept slipping away while I sat in the studio like a zombie. Most of the last six months were a wash.

I assumed focus issues were due (in part) to stress, so sought counseling. This seemed like a good idea at first, but when the counselor asked me to detail my issues with anxiety, I spent two weeks doing just that and getting way more anxious, which was not helpful.

After that I went EFF THIS NOISE, I want practical tools, not touchy feelies (no judgment on people who need touchy-feelies, I need a pragmatic solution and I need it now,) so tried using the body doubling focus group technique for concentration and deep work.

Within two weeks, I returned to normal work hours.

I got rural broadband, jumping me from dial up speed to 1 GB per second.

It's a miracle.

Massive doses of Vitamin D3 and K2. Yay.

The new computer works great.

The Kickstarter did so well, we got to expand the graphic novel to 200 pages. Double yay.

I'm running late, but everyone on the Good Omens team is super supportive. I don't know if I am going to make the book late or not, but if I do, well, it surely wasn't on purpose, and it won't be super late anyway. I still have months of lead time left.

I used to be something of a social media addict, but now I hardly ever even look at it, haven't been directly on some sites in over a year, and no longer miss it. It used to seem important and now doesn't.

More time for real life.

While I think the last year aged me about twenty years, I actually like me better with short hair. I'm keeping it.

OK. Rough year.

Not complainin', just sayin'.

Back to work on The Book.

And only a day left to vote for Good Omens, Neil Gaiman, and Sandman in the Comicscene Awards. Thanks.

#good omens graphic novel #good omens #terry pratchett #neil gaiman #dunmanifestin

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angelltheninth · 5 months

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If you’re still taking requests how do you feel a about Modern Mizu? If you’re interested in that setting could you do one in which both the reader and Mizu are in college and they get paired together for a project? Could be the reader is super shy but has a huge crush on Mizu and this is the perfect chance for them to get to know each other but the reader keeps stumbling on her words or blushes whenever Mizu looks at her 😂 oooh what if after one of their project sessions they didnt finish what they were supposed to do so then Mizu suggets they meet up for coffee tomorrow and run by some ideas and the reader agrees and Mizu is like “great, its a date” gosh the backflips my little heart would do lol. If you like this request and would like to do it then awesome and thank you! If not that’s cool too and i hope you have an awesome day! 💖

Funny I was talking to @multi-fandom-imagine about modern Mizu. Check out her Mizu imagines too cause they kinda inspired these.

Pairing: College!Mizu x Fem!Reader

Tags: fluff, college au, studying together, coffee date, secret crushes, shy!Reader

A/N: Mizu brainrot is still strong. Also reminder that I appreciate the reblogs/comments, it lets me know that you enjoy my content.

College!Mizu keeps to herself and her small, very small, circle of friends. She is mostly focused on her studies and her various competitions, martial arts and swordsmanship. She's more passionate about those then her studies.

College!Mizu is very popular on campus. The target of many crushes, many confessions, bit never reciprocating them. She doesn't try to get attention, she really doesn't but it seems to follow her where ever she goes. That include attention from you.

College!Mizu was surprised when you approached her for the upcoming class project. Little did she know it took all of your courage to do so. She planned to do this with one of her friends but since you asked she'd feel bad refusing, she has seen you struggling a little in this particular class.

College!Mizu invites herself over to your place pretty casually. But don't you worry, she brings snacks. Explains why she asked for your favorites earlier that day. She was amused by how flustered you got trying to settle on just one so she brought more than one snack.

College!Mizu gets entirely too close to you, making it impossible for you to focus on the project. Try as you might you keep looking at her rather than focusing on the task at hand. Because of this time passes without you getting much done at all.

College!Mizu isn't oblivious to why you're so distracted. Her suspicions are only confirmed when she asks you to meet up for coffee and your eyes suddenly light up. When she puts her number into your phone you can't help but get the biggest smile on your face.

College!Mizu texts you the very next day asking if you're available tonight. She was so shocked by how quickly you replied, but also a lot more talkative through texts then in person. She even sent you a picture of herself so you could figure out what to wear to your date.

College!Mizu was a little bit late because of her swordsmanship practice but she did let you know in advance. Besides you don't mind waiting because she did send you a picture while on break. You never knew how pretty she looked with her hair down.

College!Mizu enjoys taking a break from everything and just talking to someone with nothing impending happening. Yes, there's the project but you have lots of time. Truth be told she wanted to see what you were like when you're casual with her.

College!Mizu is well aware that she can be a little bit intimidating at first, so breaking the ice like this will be good for the two of you if you're gonna work together in the future. For that to go smoothly she needed to get to know you better and she can't do that when you're constantly staring at her, too shy to say anything.

College!Mizu hopes that you'll learn to be more relaxed around her as time goes on. Maybe even work up the courage to confess, cause she's been secretly waiting for it since your first shared class together.

#blue eye samurai #mizu #bes #blue eye samurai x reader #mizu x reader #mizu blue eye samurai #bes x reader #blue eye samurai imagine #mizu imagine #bes imagine #blue eye samurai headcanons #mizu headcanons #bes headcanons #blue eye samurai fanfic #blue eye samurai fluff #mizu fluff #bes fluff #college au #x female reader

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cryptidofthekeys · 2 years

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#time for a lil bit of seriousness now that im done being a gay dumbass over the judgement day...#i uh- im not gonna lie- i've been thinking about certain things Mark was saying in the livestream the other day #about like streaming or doing youtube or doing projects like that #this is not me going onto say i wanna do a choose your own adventure god no- i'd be TOO overwhelmed for that fjkgdjgfdks #but i was just listening to him speak and talk about just getting out there and doing things #and just all of that and ya know... I mean Mark n Jack have literally been my- mm... inspirations? or... somethin like that #i guess role model isnt too bad a term- not- idols but just people I've looked up to #hell i was practically raised on them two lmao and i've thought about it for a long while ever since i was younger #but i wanted to wait... wait until i got older for a MULTITUDE of reasons #especially now that i like myself much more than i used to #but... i've legit thought about it and...#I think i wanna start doing like- lets plays and streams- ESPECIALLY streaming #i do wanna wait til i get my own place and just AWAY from my parents tho so it wont be happening for a l o n g time #but im genuinely gonna start doing lets plays and streaming in the future #i KNOW deep down it's what i've always wanted to do and its time for me to stop denying that #and telling myself 'Chase that'll never work' bc i mean i dont KNOW that #it could work out great and then again it could not #but how am i going to know if I dont ever TRY it first #i wont know until i try to do it- and im going to #who knows maybe I can also turn THAT into my job too! so I can have a combo #a combination of income and having genuine fun #the basic gist of this is goddammit Mark inspired me VERY heavily and what he said really spoke to me #on a VERY personal level #Chase's Late Night Real Talks

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honeytonedhottie · 2 months

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video diary entry ideas⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🍭

so if u dont already know, a video diary is exactly what it sounds like. a diary of videos that u make, in my previous post about video diaries i talked ab why its sm fun and in this post i'll be giving video ideas just in case u need an extra push or ideas ✨

THRIFT HAUL ;

talk about ur personal style and ideas and what ur plans are for those clothes. maybe turn the clothes that u thrifted into a project and personalize the clothes to ur needs and style. talk about how you'd style the clothes. as a person who has a passion for fashion i love a good thrift haul video entry.

BAKING AND CHATTING ;

pick up a box of cake mix and make ur favorite sweet treat while just chatting to the camera. this is helpful especially if u find sitting and talking about ur thoughts and expressing urself kind of awkward, it gives u something to do and helps to lessen the anxiety if ur just starting.

LETS TALK ABOUT IT ;

my video diary is like my own podcast so here's some things that i've talked about.

my "hot takes"

ideas for my future

things that frustrate me

talk about ur day in a different language (this is also great practice if ur learning a new language)

talk about whats going on in a show/series that ur watching or reading

and just sitting and talking is a rly great way for me to cultivate creativity, think of new ideas for literally everything. from my blog to law of assumption epiphanies to projects, fashion ideas and projects, my music EVERYTHING.

talk about things that u need to get off of ur chest for ur own peace yk? cuz theres just something about saying it out loud

do a mukbang

DO A COLLECTION TOUR ;

i've actually written a post about starting a collection, but if u need an idea for a video entry go through ur collection and talk about pieces in ur collection.

DO A MUKBANG ;

order and eat ur favorite foods, or if u want to you can take an asmr kind of approach so that then u can enjoy your food and the sounds r SO GOOD in my opinion. when u do a mukbang or asmr u can try new foods and give feedback which gives u something to talk about. some things i've mukbanged recently are

mexican tacos and rice water and for dessert i had cheese cake tempura with some mochi

it was actually my first time trying rice water and it was SO GOOD. it was so delicious and refreshing and the tacos were amazing too. the cheese cake tempura was a bit small but it was rly good and the mochi as always was delicious.

#video diary💬🎀#becoming that girl #self care #honeytonedhottie⭐️#that girl #it girl energy #dream girl tips #dream girl #dream life #it girl lifestyle #it girl #girly #girl blogging #girl blogger #ideas🌸#romanticization #romanticize #hobbies #hyper femininity

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bambisnc · 2 months

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raspberry lip gloss

pairing : j.sc x fem!reader ish genre : angst !! (i promise its not as sad as the combo of pics i chose) cw/tw : reader is kinda confsuing (and confused) as hell + kisses + raspberry + swearing + not proofread wc : 0.8k

you were not having a great day.

with all the projects and schoolwork your teachers sadistically enjoyed piling over you, the only thing you had to look forward to was lunch. which was now taken up by some girl, jiwoo or jisu or something – you’re not really sure, and frankly, don’t really care.

she seems totally unaware of your annoyance, so you take it as a win; that one youtube video on how to pretend that you're not 10 seconds away from committing several criminal acts must have worked.

jisu (or jiwoo), finally speaks up, “so uh.. please don’t take this the wrong way.. but are you and sungchan um t-together?” … she was this hesitant and terrified to ask you that?

“no? we’re just friends; what even gave you the impressio-”

“oh thank goodness!” she interrupts, sighing with relief, “that was all and i’m sorry to have taken your lunch time..”

without waiting for an answer, you watch as she runs back towards someone who you assumed was a friend of hers. you hear the other one’s critical and harshly disapproving tone, “girl how delusional can you be.. have you seen him?? the guy’s obviously fucking mad about her!”

to that jisu/jiwoo easily provides an answer, “i’m going to be so real sweetheart - i don’t care if he is ‘cause like – have you seen him?? i’d be okay being the homewrecker for that, if you know what i mean~”

you’re not a huge fan of this conversation.

“... you’re mad.”

“ugh only for him~ like c’mon have you seen him. he’s just soo-” -

“sec c!”

“what.”

“the answer yn.. (1+sin c) divided by (cos c) would be secant c! god, i’m great at this trigonometry shit.” sungchan is rather delighted at having solved one of the easiest questions from the practice test papers you were both had been working on for the past few hours.

you let him ramble on about how he could literally solve all of these in minutes it’s just that he chose not to, allowing your mind to drift away with his soothing voice.

you think of that girl (jiwoo.. or jisu?) and how she was probably planning on confessing to your friend sometime in the future. which was probably why she asked if there was something going on between the two of you..

“oh right!” he suddenly announces, “jisu from your class confessed to me after school today.” you definitely can sense a hint of amusement by his tone; but also..

damn jiwoo worked fast huh?

“i’m assuming you turned her down?” you quip back playfully

“excuse me?? assuming?? what do you mean by that??” sungchan always takes your banter the right way – it’s one of the things you’re very fond of about the guy.

“just.. i don’t think you’d be here with me if you’d had a girlfriend by now~” ruffle his hair a bit to emphasize that this is friendly, you’re teasing him platonically.

his smile drops at that, “i would never leave you like that yn; not for anyone.” and there it is.

you opt to let his words sink in hang in the air for some time.

“heyy yn. what’s up with you you’ve been actin’ weird all dayy..” sungchan asks, snapping his fingers in a somewhat desperate attempt to break your haze.

choosing to stay silent again; you’re not really sure how to answer his question. follow it up by dropping your eyes down to his lips and back to his eyes, as if posing a question of your own.

and he knows the answer. he always does.

sungchan pulls himself closer to you, cupping your cheek with one hand. a brush of his lips to yours, as if testing the waters, before he completely closes the distance between you both.

the kiss is long, drawn out. but at the same time it’s .. soft. when you break apart for air, his lips have the slight sheen of your raspberry lip gloss. it looks pretty on him.

“this.” you blurt out, “this is wrong. we- friends don’t do shit like this.”

but he’s just as quick to fight back, “so let’s not be friends then. let’s be more.”

“sungchan.. i wouldn’t.. i couldn’t bear–” not being enough. not being perfect for him.

“couldn’t bear the idea of dating me. yeah okay i got it.” he’s slow to pack up his stuff, and all you can do is numbly try to process it all..,

“what are you trying to say.”

“i’m leaving. i- i can’t do this right now. i’ll see you later.” he leans to kiss your forehead lightly.

flinching slightly at his touch, you swallow the lump in your throat, to choke out an, “i think we should stop this. for good.”

your closeness makes you feel like you physically hear his heart shatter into a million pieces, or maybe that’s just yours.

“what happens to us then…?”

“sungchan.. that’s the thing. there was never an us.”

he leaves without another word.

at school the next day, you see him with his arm wrapped around jiwoo’s waist (shit no, you think it’s jisu). you can almost swear that there’s an ever so slight pink shimmer to his lips... and.. is that your lip gloss in his pocket?

notes : fell into a rabbit hole while doign chem idek </3 + [m.list]

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wumblr · 3 months

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one thing i have not thoroughly expanded upon about nuclear policy is supply chain fragility.

the united states did not have enough fissile material to drop a third bomb on japan. enriching more uranium required the construction of refineries at an industrial scale, and producing plutonium required the contruction of reactors in a practically unprecedented infrastructure project (atoms for peace). sl1 was completely unclassified, nuclear car batteries and airplanes were promised and nuclear mutant gardens produced over 2200 novel cultivars. atoms for peace was a coordinated tranche of propaganda designed to convince the public that a limitless energy utopia was just around the corner if we only built out the reactors to produce the plutonium that would make the arsenal. after it was produced, all of these great visions of the future quietly withered away, and would have revealed themselves as lies all along if anybody had been paying attention.

the nuclear deterrent is expiring. we are currently engaged in subcritical testing in nevada to identify what portion of the arsenal could theoretically still function. in order to make any new warheads at scale, we would need to rebuild a number of reactors comparable to the number that has been decommissioned since the cold war.

we no longer have the manufacturing capability to undertake an infrastructure project of this scale. we can't even cobble together the funding to greenlight a single power plant. gates' nuscale just lost intermountain west, we can't even cobble together funding for six small modular research reactors. given no action, the bombs will become duds, and we will not be able to produce any more.

i would give it maybe 40 years at most, realistically more like 20 (an insufficient amount of time for an infrastructure project of this scale), before the united states loses its capability to defend itself, a "right" it never had.

which is why we're doing "atoms for peace 2" now.

it's still a lie.

the people who are going to have to ultimately end this -- in one way or another, disarmament, abandonment, or detonation -- are alive today. it's us. nobody else is coming to save us.

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ammg-old2 · 1 year

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How do you protect a culture that is being wiped out?

For Uighurs, this is more than just a hypothetical. Repressive measures against the ethnic minority have progressively worsened: The Chinese government has corralled more than 1 million of them into internment camps, where they have been subjected to political indoctrination, forced sterilization, and torture.

The targeting of the Uighurs isn’t limited to the camps. Since 2016, dozens of graveyards and religious sites have been destroyed. The Uighur language has been banned in Xinjiang schools in favor of Mandarin Chinese. Practicing Islam, the predominant Uighur faith, has been discouraged as a “sign of extremism.”

Beijing frames these moves as its way of rooting out terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism. But the aim of China’s actions in Xinjiang is clear: to homogenize Uighurs into the country’s Han Chinese majority, even if that means erasing their cultural and religious identity for good. What is taking place is a cultural genocide.

The repercussions bear heavily even on Uighurs living outside the country. Their burden is more than just raising awareness about what is taking place in their homeland—a task many have taken up at great cost to themselves and their families. It’s also about preserving and promoting their identity in countries where few people might know who the Uighurs are, let alone what the world stands to lose should their language, food, art, and traditions be eradicated.

In an effort to understand what this kind of cultural preservation looks like in practice, I spoke with seven Uighurs residing in Britain, France, Turkey, and the United States. As chefs, poets, singers, filmmakers, language teachers, and musicians, each of them is contributing to this work in different ways. All of them are passionate about ensuring that their heritage will be passed on to future generations. None of them is under any illusions about what’s at stake if they fail.

“Every Uighur now is under very big psychological pressure,” Omer Kanat, the director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit, told me. “We cannot sleep at night.”

#current events #culture #genocide #cultural genocide #oppression #diaspora #islamophobia #uyghur genocide #xinjiang #uyghurs

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mouschiwrites · 3 months

Note

hi hi! can I request some headcanons about the ninja (+pixal, if you're up for it) having an artist s/o? okay thank you, also I love your writing!

Oooh yess!! Where my artist ninjago enjoyers at⁉️ I’ve come to nourish you <3

Ninjago - Ninjas (+ Pixal) with an Artist s/o

Jay

Immediately asks if you can draw/paint/etc him

If you agree, he will ask again in the future

….honestly he’ll probably keep asking even if you say no

What can he say? He wants to inspire you ;)

If you have art block, he immediately jumps to pose dramatically or arrange a bowl of fruit or something

He’s equally enamored with the quality of your work and the fact that it came from your hands

He loves all your work, even the pieces you decide to scrap/re-do

“What are you doing?? That was perfect!”

“Jay? How long have you been standing there-”

On that note, he loves to watch you work

Even when you don’t know he’s watching… (he’s a little obsessed)

But the plus side of this is that he knows the exact products you use, and he can see when you’re running low

He makes sure to replenish your stocks for you :) so you won’t ever have to worry about running out mid-project

He also makes sure to flaunt your work as much as possible, especially the pieces he “inspired”

He truly thinks you’re the best artist in the world, and he WILL fight someone over it

Cole

I see Cole as a pretty artsy guy himself, so he’d be thrilled to have an artsy s/o

You might not expect it, but he’s really in tune with his feelings, so to me it makes sense

He’s not quite as artsy as you, but he knows how to appreciate it

He’s more into the performing arts himself, but he has no less respect for other types of art

He’ll totally arrange work sessions for you both, which vary depending on the vibe you’re working with

Feeling like doing something a little dark or moody? Dramatic piano. Candles. Wine/grape juice in wine glasses.

Feeling colorful? Open windows. Flowers in vases. Candy and fruit. Maybe some cartoons playing in the background.

Point being: he knows how to get a vibe going

He really loves to work alongside you, even if you’re not doing the same thing

Sometimes he tries to sketch or paint, but more often he’s just watching you work or practicing moves

(You guys totally have a shared studio btw; wood floors and barre for him, easel/supply cabinet/whatever you need for you)

You guys definitely help each other out too

He’ll teach you a few moves so you can be his dance partner every now and again, and he’s more than happy to be your muse in return

He doesn’t really do performances or anything (dance is just a side hobby), so he has all the more respect for you if you publicize your work

He loves all your work, but he’s also a great source of constructive criticism

“I like this one. It’s darker than your other pieces, though, isn’t it? More drab.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda what I was thinking. I think I was just in a mood when I made it.”

Kai

He’ll make requests, but mostly for things he thinks would be cool

“What if you did one with, like, a car shooting flames from its exhaust pipes? Oh! And the driver is super handsome with a flaming cape and swords and sunglasses that are made of pieces of the sun!”

“That is insane. …I’m starting right now.”

He really admires your art, and he’s honestly a bit jealous of your skill

He actually has a pretty creative mind, just not the means to express it

So he’ll be shy about it, but eventually he asks if you can give him some pointers

He doesn’t want to keep asking you to bring his sharks flying in jets over volcanoes to life forever, after all

He’s gotta learn to be independent!

So he’ll quietly join you while you work, watching you closely and trying to follow along

He gets frustrated when he isn’t instantly as talented as you, and you have to laughingly assure him that skill takes time

He only gains more respect for you as he tries to stay calm

He learns to truly admire your work this way

And with his admiration came a tenfold increase in support

However you share your art, he’s the #1 supporter

Posting online? He’s already liked, commented, and shared on 7 different platforms. At a showcase? He’s dressed sharply, stationed not-so-inconspicuously in front of your piece(s) and getting others to talk about them

Zane

He also has a deep appreciation for art

He doesn’t always understand non-logical things, but art has a way of resonating with him

So to have a partner who makes art…

It adds a whole new level of emotional depth to your relationship

You already make him feel complex things, so seeing art that’s from you is truly an experience

The wistfulness he gets when looking at normal art is only amplified when he remembers that your hands produced it

He likes to be with you when he admires it, squeezing your hand while he takes in the little details

He’s a quiet admirer, but he’ll absolutely attend any events you’re featured in/support any online presence you have

He never gets tired of looking at your work; or looking at you work, for that matter

If you let him, he’ll watch you work

He’s dead silent, which is either a blessing or a curse depending on how easily you get creeped out

Eventually, when you finish, he’ll stand up and join you at your side, admiring the final product

You know he likes it when he reaches for your hand with a smile, letting you rest your head against him

The most you’ll get verbally is “it’s beautiful,” but trust me, he feels so much more deeply about the piece (and you <3)

Lloyd

Lloyd is more curious than anything when he finds out you’re an artist

What kinds of art do you do? Can he see your work? Have you always liked art?

He’s eager to see your work, but he’s not sure he can “appreciate” it properly

You have to reassure him that there’s no one way to “appreciate” art, and however he feels about it, that’s just how he feels

Your response only increases his interest

He ends up getting more into art because of you

The art of appreciation, if you will

He wants to be able to understand your work more so that he knows how to support you

He mostly spends hours just staring at your work, trying to notice the little details

He’d love to watch you at work, too, if you’ll let him

He asks questions all the time, but still tries not to annoy you

He’s actually already a natural at “appreciating” art, but the fact that he’s always trying to learn only makes him better at it

So you can do nothing but smile while he tilts his head, carefully formulating his next question

They’re surprisingly deep at times:

“Do you think this piece uses smoother shapes because you were feeling relaxed, so you moved more slowly? Or perhaps you were just emulating your calmness subconsciously..?”

“That could be it. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“Oh, sorry, am I overanalyzing? Sorry-”

“No, no, you’re totally right.”

You’ll ruffle his hair affectionately, and he’ll wrap an arm around your shoulder while he continues to examine your piece :]

Nya

I’m gonna be honest, I don’t see Nya as the type to get all deep over the meaning of art

Like, if it’s pleasing to the eye she’ll appreciate it, but she doesn’t think about it too much

It’s just too abstract for her tastes; the pseudo-reasoning of art critics gets on her nerves

But for your work she makes an exception

Well, not really an exception—she doesn’t take to pseudo-reasoning

She knows you, she knows your feelings, so when she sees your work, she sees a piece of you in it

It’s something she doesn’t see in other art pieces; she doesn’t know the artist, so it’s nothing more than a visual piece for her

But with your pieces, she can dig deeper because she knows deeper information

That’s why she loves your work, and why she loves watching you work

You’re the only artist that makes her feel like she really understands art, and for that she appreciates you

(She still thinks that most critics talk out of their asses though)

On that note, she will fight your critics. She will hunt them down and make them regret ever trying to “understand” your work

“Tch, look at this idiot. He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about! He doesn’t know you!”

“Nya, he’s complimenting my work-”

“But he doesn’t understand it!”

Honestly you think it’s a little funny how she’s unintentionally become one of those critics who argue about a piece’s meaning

Only for you though ;)

Pixal

She has a vast trove of knowledge, but feeling is something she often struggles with

There are few things that actually give her profound emotions

Your art is one of those things

The fact that it came from you, that your hands crafted it…

It stirs something in her, and suddenly the shapes and colors come to life

She asks you about it often, trying to understand

“Why is it… calming?”

“Well, I suppose I used some pretty muted colors, and the imagery is kinda peaceful… I dunno, does it calm you?”

“Yes. It makes me feel calm.”

Obviously you’re proud of her for better recognizing her emotions

And she’s proud of herself!!

Your art helps her understand a part of her that she’s only beginning to explore

And, since it comes directly from you, she credits you with the help :)

She loves to see your finished work, but she also finds herself mesmerized by your creative process

Watching the piece come together, each motion bringing it closer to completion, helps her understand the art itself

She tells herself that it helps her understand her feelings, too

Even though she knows that not every piece is dedicated to her, she always thanks you for showing her your work <3

Thanks for this request!! And thank you for reading, take care you little rockstars <33

(divider by saradika)

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literary-illuminati · 3 months

Text

2024 Book Review #5 – The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

I read Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea last year and, despite thinking it was ultimately kind of a noble failure, liked it more than enough to give his new novella a try. It didn’t hurt that the premise as described in the marketing copy sounded incredible. I can’t quite say it was worth it, but that’s really only because this novella barely cost less than the 500-page doorstopper I picked up at the same time and I need to consider economies here – it absolutely lived up to the promise of its premise.

The book is set a century and change into the future, when a de-extinction initiative has gotten funding from the Russian government to resurrect the Siberian mammoth – or, at least, splice together a chimera that’s close-enough and birth it from african elephant surrogate mothers – to begin the process of restoring the prehistoric taiga as a carbon sink. The problem: there’s no one on earth left who knows how wild mammoth are supposed to, like, live- the only surviving elephants have been living in captivity for generations. Plop the ressurectees in the wilderness and they’ll just be very confused and anxious until they starve. The solution: the technology to capture a perfect image of a human mind is quite old, and due to winning some prestigious international award our protagonist – an obsessive partisan of elephant conservation – was basically forced to have her mind copied and put in storage a few months before she was killed by poachers.

So the solution of who will raise and socialize these newly created mammoths is ‘the 100-year-old ghost of an elephant expert, after having her consciousness reincarnated in a mammoth’s body to lead the first herd as the most mature matriarch’. It works better than you’d expect, really, but as it turns out she has some rather strong opinions about poachers, and isn’t necessarily very understanding when the solution found to keep the project funded involves letting some oligarch spend a small country’s GDP on the chance to shoot a bull and take some trophies.

So this is a novella, and a fairly short one – it’s densely packed with ideas but the length and the constraints of narrative mean that they’re more evoked or presented than carefully considered. This mostly jumps out at me with how the book approaches wildlife conservation – a theme that was also one of the overriding concerns of Mountain where it was considered at much greater length. I actually think the shorter length might have done Nayler a service here, if only because it let him focus things on one specific episode and finish things with a more equivocal and ambiguous ending than the saccharine deux ex machina he felt compelled to resort to in Mountain.

The protection of wildlife is pretty clearly something he’s deeply invested in – even if he didn’t outright say so in the acknowledgements, it just about sings out from the pages of both books. Specifically, he’s pretty despairing about it – both books to a great extent turn around how you convince the world at large to allow these animals to live undisturbed when all the economic incentives point the other way, a question he seems quite acutely aware he lacks a good answer to.

Like everyone else whose parents had Jurassic Park on VHS growing up, I’ve always found the science of de-extinction intensely fascinating – especially as it becomes more and more plausible every day. This book wouldn’t have drawn my eye to nearly the degree it did if I don’t remember the exact feature article I’d bet real money inspired it about a group of scientists trying to do, well, exactly the same thing as the de-extinctionists do in the book (digital resurrection aside). The book actually examines the project with an eye to practicalities and logistics – and moreover, portrays it as at base a fundamentally heroic, noble undertaking as opposed to yet another morality tale about scientific hubris. So even disregarding everything else it had pretty much already won me over just with that.

The book’s portrayal of the future and technology more generally is broader and less carefully considered, but it still rang truer than the vast majority of sci fi does – which is, I suppose, another way of saying that it’s a weathered and weather-beaten world with new and better toys, but one still very fundamentally recognizable as our own, without any great revolutions or apocalyptic ruptures in the interim. Mosquito's got CRISPR’d into nonexistence and elephants were poached into extinction outside of captivity, children play with cybernetically controlled drones and the president of the Russian Federation may or may not be a digital ghost incarnated into a series of purpose-grown clones, but for all that it’s still the same shitty old earth. It’s rather charming, really.

#book review #the tusks of extinction #ray nayler #sff #cli fi

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christinesficrecs · 5 months

Note

Happy holidays in advance ❄️ 🎅 🎄 ! Whenever and if u have time Pl share fics where stiles or Derek have the bad boy image. Thank u!

Hey you! Happy Holidays!! 🎄⛄️🎄 I love it when they're both bad, very 10 Things I Hate about you. 🥰

A High School Cliché. by halelujah | 2.8K

“Are you the one that played a porno in the Principal’s office?” A gruff voice asks.

“Depends if you’re the one that threw a dumbbell through a window.” He drawls, not bothered in moving from his comfy spot.

The Athlete & The Criminal by damnfancyscotch | 12.1K | Explicit

“What’re you doing here, Stilinski? Did you only score half the winning points at the last lacrosse game instead of all of them?”

Stiles snorts and says, “I thought you were locked up, Hale.”

Derek huffs a laugh and drawls, “Not quite yet.”

The Great Pretender by talktowater | 45.2K | Explicit

Stiles is the new kid at Beacon Hills High, class of 1958 and he's trying to make an impression. Derek can't figure out why this kid is so set on making such a bad one.

Six Minutes by CosmoKid | 4.3K

“What do you want?” Derek practically grows when Stiles is near enough to hear. He can definitely feel the werewolf vibes coming from the guy as well as the fuck off vibes that roll off him in tsunami-sized waves.

Stiles has one thing he needs to say to Derek, but he also has eight million questions to ask him about the werewolf thing and he can barely sort out his thoughts as it is, let alone when there’s a ridiculously attractive werewolf who’s basically Adonis staring at him. Derek takes another drag of his cigarette and raises his eyebrows at Stiles expectantly. He shivers and blurts out, “Six minutes.”

Finstock’s Wilderness Camp for Boys by rainsoakedshoes | 12.1K

“What happens if I don’t go?”

“You get charged with breaking and entering, and you will probably serve time in a juvenile facility,” the sheriff said matter of factly. “That’s if you’re lucky enough to be tried as a minor.”

“You’d send your own son to jail?” Stiles asked in disbelief.

“You broke into someone’s home, Stiles!” The sheriff took a breath to compose himself and ran a hand across his face. “And this isn’t the first time. I can’t keep bailing you out of trouble. I don’t have any favours left to call in. Either you agree to go to the camp and clean up your act, or you risk getting tried as an adult.”

Don’t Judge a Derek By His Cover by captaintinymite (augopher) | 4.5K

Stiles doesn’t care about the rumors surrounding Beacon Hills High School’s resident bad boy, Derek Hale. In fact, he thinks the rumors are total crap. Of course, being secretly in love with someone has a way of clouding one’s judgment.

However, he knew for a fact that Derek liked books. So when the two paired up for a final English project, he was excited (but also a little terrified).

But you know what they say…never judge a book by its cover. The same goes for people.

The Best Bad Things by TroubleIWant | 10.5K

“Fuck,” Stiles moans again, squirming desperately against Derek’s crotch. “You gotta - gotta give me something.” He does his best to slide a hand into the back of Derek’s underwear, and gets far enough that his middle finger brushes the base of his spine.

“I am,” Derek says, reaching back to grab Stiles by the wrist. He deftly pins both of the kid’s arms above his head and grins, all teeth. Stiles goes quiet, then, chest heaving and eyes wide. This is what he’s here for, after all. To feel like he’s doing something dangerous.

"Five Days in Detention" (A Future Song by Stiles Stilinski) by alisvolatpropiis | 3.4K

It’s still preseason, sure, but he needs to be practicing. He led the team to the State semifinals last year, and he’s determined to not only make it to the finals this year, but to win the title. He should be on the field right now, practicing his play calls and prepping for next week’s season opener against Saint Pius.

And he can’t do that if he’s wasting his time in detention with these losers. There are a couple of burnouts lazing over some seats by the window, one kid with his face on a desk, hood over his head, and a few Goth kids are sitting in the back corner, looking surly and morose. Maybe you wouldn’t be so miserable if you didn’t listen to such shitty music, he thinks, turning towards his usual seat in the back of the room.

He pauses for the briefest of moments when he sees who’s already sitting there, in the second-to-last row, black-clad limbs spread out, acoustic guitar in his lap, long fingers casually plucking at the strings.

Stiles Stilinski.

#asks #sterek fics #ficrecs #shimmeringstarrs #high school fics #bad boy derek #bad boy stiles

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strangebiology · 4 months

Text

How Funding Affected my Journalism Jobs

The different places I’ve worked as a journalist, and in related fields, have all had different funding. Here are my experiences at different places–and it seems to me that grant-funded stuff is the best.

Internship at Nat Geo

Grants sponsored both of the other interns, but not me. Nat Geo makes a lot of its money through things like books at TV.

Mine was low-paid, but probably normal for an internship in 2016? LOVED the experience. Freelance at Nat Geo afterward was MUCH better paid. $14/hour part-time. IDK how much the grant-funded interns made. 2016.

Fellowship at PBS Newshour

A grant from the National Science Foundation funded me, but PBS is state-sponsored media. Interestingly, that’s a huge red flag in China and Russia, but I found the US-funded Public Broadcasting Service very fair to its subjects. Good experience, but even worse pay, at $13/hour full-time. 2016-2017

Job at Newsweek

Their funding is from clicks. This place was crazy bad and paid garbage. Everyone hated it and almost everyone quit, unless they were being fired for making a living wage. Some people even got fired for accurately reporting on the company itself on assignment from their editors–there was no obscuring it, that was cited as their reason for termitation. Newsweek is Hellfire and damnation. I suspect the nonsense demand for 5 stories/day/person and silly demand that we make them go viral stemmed from the following: the fact that the company primarily made its money from clicks and higher-ups didn’t appear to care about the long-term reputation of the company or its reporters, and perhaps an ego-fueled refusal to try to understand what actually got clicks. $39k/year. 2017-2018

Freelance at VOX

Funded by clicks/ads and grants at the time, but halfway through they started a contribution campaign. The difference I noticed between VOX and Newsweek was that VOX practices were smarter and they actually paid attention to analytics and sane business practices. Also, it's much easier to qualify for and get grants if you're actually doing good journalism, so I don't believe that Newsweek's policy of "lots of garbage" was actually business-savvy in any way.

Vox was a good experience, even though I wasn’t working as a journalist, but doing SEO/social media for journalists. $35/hour, then $50/hour part-time. Then I was laid off due to the pandemic. 2019-2020

Freelance at Alzheimer's Association

Remote, not really journalism, but I liked it anyway. Nonprofit, so, funded by donations and grants. $65/hour part-time. 2021

Job at Bay Nature

My job was entirely funded by a grant. Odd situation–I got the grant and I could bring it to any legit journalism employer. Bay Nature was supposed to contribute 40% of my salary but flexibility happened and they just paid health insurance and such. They got basically no money at all from clicks, like, pennies a year. Not much from subscriptions. They have fundraisers, and at the time, there were 3 writers/editors and 2 fundraisers on staff. Later they hired another writer whose entire salary was paid by a philanthropist, and then I’m told they got another salary funded by a UC Berkeley journalism grant program. So, like half of their editorial staff was grant-funded.

Great experience, but low pay for the Bay Area. $50k/year, all from Poynter-Koch, 2021-2022.

Freelance at Politifact

A nonprofit and they probably get lots of grants. My particular position was also funded by a grant entirely. Loved it. $250/article fact check. 2022.

Book

REALLY love it. $50k is from MIT Press, which is a not-for-profit, and it gets some grants and endowments. Then I got $56k from a grant from the Sloan Foundation on top.

Future?

I also got $500 (plus gas and hotels) to attend a day of learning with a program called Investing in Wyoming’s Creative Economy, and that means I’m one of 100 people eligible to apply for 10 $25k grants for future projects. The idea is to support creatives to stay in Wyoming and have sustainable businesses here. Maybe do some art that will bring in tourists.

_____________________

Note that a grant sort of does, and sort of doesn’t, mean free money. It means money to support a project that usually has to have a mission and a public good, like educating the public. You don’t pay these back, and the org giving the grants doesn’t require a percentage of the profits or anything. But, for instance, the $50k grant from Poynter-Koch was more like a gift to Bay Nature, so they could pay me, and I worked for a year to actually have the funds.

However, I’m not yet convinced that there is any objectively good funding model to ensure the most fair and accurate journalism. In theory, the capitalistic ones would be the best, but the public desire to read inflammatory stories about how their political enemies are evil, or a different generation is full of idiots, adversely affected the accuracy of headlines at Newsweek IMO.

You might think that the worst funding source would be Poynter-Koch, which is a program run by Poynter and funded by the Charles Koch Institute. But neither Poynter nor Koch even asked me to tell them what I was writing, let alone try to stop me from writing it. (Poynter hosted mentor-led auxiliary groups to talk about our careers/lives and such, so the topics of our articles came up sometimes if we chose to share that.)

Anyway, I’m thinking of writing an article on how funding models affect journalism, for better and worse. There are some high-profile examples of grant funding causing harm. But for now, the above is my experience–pretty much all good, except not enough funding sometimes.

#funding #journalism #not biology

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andmaybegayer · 8 months

Note

After I deleted a bunch of projects (thankfully non-critical, though representing a great deal of work in total) during a recent fresh OS install, I realized that my backup practices are practically non-existent. Any tips or sources on getting started making, and eventually automating, effective backups?

I am stealing the concept here from jwz's backup guide, but I am recommending different tools, focusing on personal files only, and also addressing Windows. jwz's guide is a good reference:

Doing a way, way better job than most people of backing up one single system is very easy. Let us begin.

The most basic step of having decent backups is getting your hands on two external hard drives at least big enough to hold your entire system, and putting a label on them that says "BACKUP ONLY DO NOT USE FOR ANYTHING ELSE I AM BEING FOR REAL HERE"

Once you've got those, plug one into your system wherever it spends the most time. If you have a desktop then that's solved, if it's a laptop hopefully you already have a USB hub you plug it into when you sit down to work or whatever and you can just leave it there.

Now set up regular scheduled backups to that device. On Windows and Mac, there's a built in tool for backing up your system to an external drive. We'll assume that you just want to back up your user files on Windows and Linux, since doing full system backups isn't tricky but is kind of unnecessary.

(Ugh. Windows seems to be trying to phase out Windows Backup and Restore in favour of their File History thing. That's annoying, let me log in to windows and check how this actually works. Mac in the meantime)

Mac has Time Machine. Time Machine is extremely good, and you can tell Time Machine to save its backups to a disk. Point Time Machine at your external hard drive and tell it to schedule a backup however frequently you want. If anything goes wrong in the future, you can ask Time Machine to look at that backup disk and it'll show you a few versions of whatever you backed up there. I'm not a Mac user but I think you can even use Time Machine to transfer between an old computer and a new one.

Windows now has File History which I have never used in my life, they added it after I stopped using Windows. Same idea though, pick some folders and back them up to an external storage device. If anything goes wrong, use File History to go back through that device and find the version of the file you wanted. I don't know if there's still a way to access the older Backup and Restore system.

On Linux, my favoured way to manage simple desktop backups is Deja Dup, a GUI for Duplicity. Duplicity can do a lot more than just backup to a disk, but we'll start there. Install Deja Dup, open it up, and follow the prompts to back up your user files to the external drive. Deja Dup can also do backups to remote storage servers, Google Drive/Onedrive, and commercial storage providers like Amazon and Backblaze. It will even encrypt your backups if you are worried about Amazon spying on your files or whatever. If something goes wrong, point Deja Dup at your backup drive and it will offer you a suite of restore options covering a few versions.

Now, you have a permanently plugged in hard drive that will always get rolling backups you can restore from. These aren't safe from, say, ransomware, or your house burning down, but at least you won't lose anything when you update a computer or accidentally delete something and have an ohshit moment.

Now you take that other drive you bought, and do the same backup you're already doing to that. Now you go put it somewhere else where it's readily accessible and won't be accidentally used for anything, keep it at the office, give it to your dad, whatever. Set a reminder on your phone for once a month. Once a month, go get that drive, run another backup, and put it back. You now have better backups than many medium sized businesses.

This is impractical to scale beyond one PC, but if we're being honest even when I had like half a dozen laptops, only one contained much of value. Back up the system you care about.

Don't worry too much about making sure your backups are space efficient, like, yeah it would be a good idea to exclude game installs and stuff from your backups to save space but if that sounds daunting or time consuming literally do not do it. Decision paralysis is brain poison, just back it up and sort it out later. 2TB external hard drives are cheap.

FURTHER STEPS YOU CAN TAKE:

Easy Cloud backup: Backblaze personal backup on Windows and Mac is $6/month and pretty easy to use. If you are struggling to keep track of a monthly remote backup, or you want an easy remote backup. Backblaze is a reasonably reliable company and one of the Go To Companies in the world of data reliability. Yes, it's a cloud subscription. If you don't want that don't use it.

Network backup: If you have access to a storage server, that can be a good way to make a remote backup without having to shuttle disks around. That could be a physical server if you maintain some kind of lab, or it could be a cloud storage provider like Backblaze B2 or Onedrive or whatever. Deja Dup specifically supports backing up to a lot of different network storage providers, and even if you only have a fifty or sixty gigabytes of network storage on hand, your most essential personal files can probably fit in there.

Drive failures: Eventually one of your drives will fail, either your storage drive or your backup drive. If the storage drive fails, well, that's what the backup is for, go get a replacement and restore from the backup. If your backup drive fails, well, that's why you have two of them. As soon as humanly possible go get a replacement drive, and substitute it in for the dead one.

#computer stuff #kelp-of-discontent #ask #backups

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ima-ghost-art · 10 months

Text

Types of Magical cats

When watching cats the musical, it's clear to see that some cats are more magically gifted than others, but honestly I think alot more cats have magic (or at the very least the fun potential of magic) so heres a post depicting each type of magic cat!!

(OC's at the end)

Terpsichorean powers!

Now every cat has this! Terpsichorean means power of dance, and each year the cats reserve to use for the jellicles to use at the jellicles ball!

Basically it just means they can all dance together and vibe in sync without having to do months of practice plus no fear of messing up!!

(specific characters underneath)

The Fantastical Cat!

Mistoffelees (the most obvious magical cat of the jellicles) is a fantastical cat! His magic is powerful and unpredictable. Being able to do small things like manipulate lights and create sparkles, to some mid level stuff like changing his appearance and being able to project his voice into other places, like outside or down the hall, to even bigger things like teleportation (both himself and others) as well as sometimes even creating storms!!

His biggest trick he had ever done (before saving old Deuteronomy) was when he helped save 7 kittens by teleporting them threw an old hat out from under some junk that had collapsed around them!!

Mistos magic (like everyone elses) is inhanced by dancing and music, which helps because it really adds to his love to show off while performing! (The sparkles and lightning really help adding some fun piazza to the show!)

His one main drawback however is over use of his powers is incredibly draining, and can often lead him to sleep for multiple days after big stunts! (Que tugger fireman carrying him back to his den after the ball where he saved old doot!) His hands also have a permanent tingling sensation aswell!

Mistos magic also very similar to his fathers who was also a fantastical cat!

The Mystery Cat!

Macavity is a mystery cat! Now his powers is sort of difficult to distinguish, its most similar to Mistoffelees but alot more controlled and violent. His magic is centred on being able to trick people and stop people from tracing his crimes back to himself.

His levitation (aka glorified hovering let's be real) to stop others to follow his paw prints. Fire means ge can burn evidence. Teleportation to get away. Hypnosis to create an alibi (bc Macavity wasnt there). And finally other little forms of tricks and trickery to cause mayhem similar to mistos powers!

Now Macavitys drawback is arguably the opposite to Mistoffelees. Whereas misto becomes physically drained to the point of needing to sleep for long periods, Mac's powers force him to stay awake. The more he uses his Magic, the longer he is essentially kept from being able to sleep. (Hes always wide awake)

Now depending on the story, Macavity is either actively seeking out the manic effect on his body, willingly choosing to force himself into these periods of unrest just to use his powers for chaos and reveling in its distruction, OR his powers THEMSELVES are what have lead to his life of crime, slowly forcing him into insanity and unable to stop himself by never letting him sleep!

(Either option is great for angst!!)

The Physic Cats!

Now theres no denying that there is some sort of weird powers held by our beloved Tantomile and Coricopat! These twins are often shown to be the first to know/ react to anything new that was about to happen on stage (besides misto), literally sensing Old Deuteronomy before I comes on stage!

Now for there magic, I believe they both share similar types of physic abilities, my favourite hc for this is Tanto sees the past/ memories, and Cori can sense the future/ gets prophetic vision (ik I've seen @afairytalestray talk about similar hcs which I love them!!)

For Tantomile, her powers consist of being able to read peoples memories/ collect memories from objects and surroundings. Not everything is the easiest to read but specifically if it is or has interacted with water or earth it is usually stronger (water and earth hold memories) hence why it is somewhat easy to read other cats. With all of this knowledge, Tanto often ends up predicting alot of what will happen because she says history can repeat itself. However she can also get involuntary visions of peoples pasts.

Coricopat on the other hand can see the future. When hes not having visions, his powers usually manifest as being able to predict what will happen 5 - 10 seconds before something happens. However when it comes to his visions he would become prone for around a minute or two, which depending on where he is at the time, can end up being pretty dangerous, but the other cats look out for him.

When they use their powers together (especially during the ball) their powers meld together and they are able to use them to bolster themselves and others magic!!

The two also have a kinda physic link but whether or not that's bc they are magic or because they are twins is up to debate!

The Gumbie Cat!

Time for our first not quite obvious magical cat, Jennyanydots!! Now to me there is no way Jenny is not somewhat magically gifted, I mean she has 3 costume changes and a sick ass tap solo how is that not magic??

But on a serious note, I do strongly believe Jennyanydots has powers, even as they are not as obvious as her other magical counterparts!

She has the ability to speak with more animals than the average cat, (most cats can only really communicate with dogs/ understand humans) and Jenny can understand mice birds and most other creatures! She definitely uses this part of her powers to become a teacher to other animals!!

She also has the ability to shape shift her form between her 'Gumbie' form her 'Tap' form and her 'Normal' form!

The Knockabout Cats!

JERRIE AND TEAZER ARE MAGIC and you cant take this hc away from me!!!

Like Macavity, their magic isnt very specific, it's very much what they need in the moment to pull off their heists. They can switch places with eachother, disappear melt into shadows, minor teleportation of small objects and masters of disguise all that Jazz!!

Since it's not exactly a set 'set' of powers Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer dont have distinctive separations in their magic, but how it presents itself does allow each of their personalities to shine through!!!

Same as Tanto and Cori, they potentially have telepathy with eachother, whether or not its them being twins or their magic who knows???

Everlasting Blessed

Finally Old Deuteronomy and Jemima!! These two's magic is derived from the Everlasting Cats Blessing!!

Every cat who receives the Everlasting Cats blessing is destined to become the leader of their tribes and the one to pick the next Jellicle choice!

They also are granted with deep wisdom and are naturally gifted with being able to read people. Similarly, like the Physic twins, they can uses their magic to boost others magic!!

_____

Finally! Other cats have small amounts of magic just not anything distinctive to be noticeable!!

I hc that both Victoria and Alonzo share a small part of Mistos magic that stems in enhancing theirTerpsichorean powers! And Munkustrap and Tugger have a mix of a sensitivity to both their father and Jems magic, as well as Macavitys magic!! But also the Terpsichorean powers to!!

Gus and Griz also had a strong connection to a more performance based magic but similarly it's just an off shoot of the Terpsichorean powers aswell!!

(And for people who also like my Oc content, Merlinite, Eglantine and Dylula are fantastical cat, Alibi and Admetus are Mystery cats, Mollycoddle and Magnolia are Gumbie cats, and Old Jillymonty and Dapple doo are everlasting blessed!!)

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teeth-cable · 2 months

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Hey. I've seen some of your HB rewrites and their pretty cool. I even like some of the ideas you came up with (ex. Stolas & Stella being political enemies rather than a married couple, imps being intersex & following a binary gender system, etc).

I was wondering if you could give me some writing advice with rewrite stuff. See, I have this portfolio-like series called 'Let's Reimagine', where I revision (i.e. rewrite and/or redesign) a piece of media (be it a show, movie, webcomic, video game, etc), whether it be something I like, or something that while I'm not a fan of, believe that it could've been great (or at least decent) had it been handled better, while also integrating my OCs (including self-inserts) into my revisions as if they were canon characters in said media. This is one of my passion projects that I'd love to bring to life someday, as I wish to make YouTube videos about them when I create my YT channel (which doesn't exist at this point in time) in the future, so for now, I'm starting small by making posts talking about my revisions on Tumblr & Reddit as like a practice run of sorts (like for ex. creating a manga and then having that manga get an anime adaptation, or creating a comic (like a webcomic) and having that be adapted into an animation of some sort (ex. series, short(s), etc), or creating a book or novel and having said book or novel being adapted into a movie and/or series).

I'm also an aspiring writer who wishes to share their stories with everyone for them to enjoy, including 'Let's Reimagine' (where Helluva Boss is one of the shows I plan on reimagining, due to the many issues it's got, especially with the increase of them in Season 2; as much as I like & enjoy HB, I do have to agree that it's kind of a mess, and I get where fans are coming from with its criticisms, especially towards Season 2). However, there are some issues of mine that I feel could detriment my writing abilities & projects (including 'Let's Reimagine') in general (ex. not thinking about potential plot holes, inconsistencies, worldbuilding/lore issues, & questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, rushing into things before thinking & planning stuff out, worrying about my stories not being good enough for anyone to enjoy, feeling inferior compared to other artists & writers, people hating what I make, and thinking the worst possible outcomes; apologizes if that got a little too personal and if I (potentially) made you worried; I suffer from anxiety and have a tendency to get anxious and worked up too quickly, especially when thinking negatively, and trying to be a perfectionist, worrying that if I or my content aren't perfect, then I come across as a failure; but I assure you that I am trying to work on these issues and getting past them for the better).

So, with all that said, do you have any advice in creating & doing rewrites/revisions (ex. planning stuff out, character arcs/development, worldbuilding/lore, plot points, fixing & covering plot holes & inconsistences, fulfilling wasted/missed potential & missed opportunities, avoiding questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, integrating ocs/self-inserts into said rewrite/revision, etc) to any writers out there (including aspiring ones)?

Feel free to respond back to me whenever you get the chance. Thank you and have a wonderful day/afternoon/night. 🤗💕❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖💕🤗

This is very late, I'm so sorry it took me this long to answer your ask.

Things has changed sufficiently from when this ask was submitted. My HB rewrite is on currently on pause so I can focus on my Hazbin one instead.

I do like the concept of your Let's Reimagine series. It sounds like a fun passionate project in which you experiment with your writing and show tough love for the shows you're rewriting for. I hope soon you'll be able to release your first rewrite for the series.

I have some general writing advice and one specific advice for rewrites I personally use.

Create the world building first

If your rewrite takes place in a fantasy world, I suggest fleshing the world building first before the characters. This is a different world from our, so their rules and lore will affect these characters differently, and you should know why first to explain the certain elements of the both the characters and world. Fleshing the world building first can help create plot ideas and external conflict easier.

Have a Beta Reader

This one is standard. I suggest having a beta reader to review your rewrites and concepts. As writers, we think our stories make sense because we know the context, but to readers who don't know anything, our scripts realistically be confusing at first. Along the same vain, they can help you realize that an idea is underdeveloped or useless. Another good reason is they can offer new and improved concepts and ideas you didn’t or wouldn't think of before.

Be open to criticism

Criticism will help you grow as a writer. You don't have to like them all or listen to every piece, but still keep an open mind because they can and will help you. I heavily suggest being open to criticism specially when you’re writing a topic you have no experience in (Ex: mental illness, addiction, a specific identity). Again, not only will it help you improve, but also portray those topics better.

Rewrite

My only rewrite specific advice is to expand and flesh out ideas and characters, you felt the original show skimmed over. In both of my rewrites, I'm putting a greater focus on the world building, dark character concepts and how they intertwined with each other because the shows barely touches on them. It's your rewrite so do whatever you want with it, don’t feel limitless.

I hope this helps!

#꧁rambles꧂#➥asks #writing advice

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averagehomosapien · 1 year

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Kraaph/Sraaph Doodles +Rant

ok, first of all, remember the au I made with the two new alters? These Tendrils Run Deep? Do you remember that??

I sure do! And I’ve been neglecting them, the poor things!😢🥺

Soooo, I have some doodles to compensate! Just of Sraaph tho (the name is a combination of Savage, Krang, and Raph)

The next doodle has it’s left eye blank, similar to Savage’s—I just wanted to see how it looked

Ok, so from here I’m just going to ramble—

Basically Sraaph is a combination of Savage and the possessed Raph from the movie.

That means that it has a lot of issues relating to being left alone—it needs to be lead and for at least one family member to be close at all times—so abandonment issues like regular Raph and Savage.

other than that, Sraaph is quiet, and obedient while in a space it seems as ‘safe’ like the Lair.

outside though, it acts more like how it did in the movie: very violent, prone to bursts of anger, extremely protective of bale, yet also still obedient to it’s bale as well—if one of its brothers were to tell it to stop, it would stop.

honestly, I have ideas for a fanfic with Sraaph and the aftermath of the movie, but the concepts and ideas my mind are coming up with are way too dark and heavy, so I’ll need to tone it down. Not only that, but I would need to do character analysis’ on EVERYONE, which is going to be a hassle.

That is not including the fact I have work to do and that life exists, so it is not likely you’ll see a fic from me anytime soon. My biggest worry would be concerning the characters—I would constantly be wondering if I wrote them correctly, and that would just drive me insane if I didn’t have a beta reader.

I would also need to be confidant in my writing enough to release something; I do love writing, but 1) I only write original stories with my own characters and 2) I’ve never written a fanfic before 😅 Being me, I would also constantly compare my writing to those with great stories—like @debb987 and The Eldest Brother, among others. I know realistically that every skill requires practice and patience, but I am a very lazy and impatient person. Ok, so to summarize: I have an idea I want to write, but don’t have the time nor the patience to write it—at least, it wouldn’t come out anytime soon.

I am also more concerned with at least finishing/giving a satisfying end to Pools of Acceptance, as well as making art. I have many ideas for future projects and gifts to other creators on Tumblr, so look out for that! Too many ideas and too much work(which is honestly my fault because procrastination has me in a chokehold at all times)

on a lighter note, I just want to say thank you to all that like, comment, and reblog my posts! I hoped I would get support eventually, but I never thought it would come so fast, nor that there would be so many of you who liked my art! I’m just greatly appreciative that you all gave me a chance and decided to stay!! I now have more followers than I do posts and i will do something big to commemorate 100 followers! Just know that all of your support gives me the motivation to continue what I’m doing—each and every one of you helps motivate me!

And a final note—I said back in chapter 3 that you would know who hurt baby Raph soon…

uhhhh, honestly the plot is dragging me I have no control over it; basically it might be a while until you guys get confirmation of what hurt baby Raph, so whoops!😬 😅 I’m just having fun with this whole thing! Might take a few chapters till you meet the attacker (doesn’t that sound harsh?) but it might be in the next hmmm…10 chapters?? Like I said, i have no control over the plot and no plan.

Anyway, this post is long enough, so have a great evening/night/day!! See y’a peeps on the weekend!

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rise of the tmnt fanart #rottmnt fanart #rise fanart #post rottmnt movie #rottmnt headcanons #rottmnt au #Sraaph #Kraaph #These Tendrils Run Deep #rottmnt raph #rise raphael #tcest dni #raphael hamato

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