donutsweeper

I am curious what people think about this (and will explain why I am asking this under the cut but please answer the poll before looking)

Poll #34281 Primary

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

In your opinion, when something is listed as "the primary" of something, it is....

View Answers

the most important or well known
13 (86.7%)

the first (timeline-wise)
2 (13.3%)

something else
0 (0.0%)

Okay, so recently I was doing a survey and it asked "Who was the primary drummer for The Beatles?" and while I am not a Beatles fan, via osmosis I knew that there were four of them (George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr) and that Ringo was the drummer but then scrolled down only to find it offered the following three choices: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Pete Best.

I had never heard of Pete Best but knew the other options were incorrect so clicked him and was told I got the answer correct. After googling I learned Pete Best was the first 'official' drummer for The Beatles ('official' in the sense that it seems like they'd played with random drummers here and there but he was the first to actually join the band and *was* a Beatle from 1960-mid 1962 when they fired him and hired Ringo just before recording the record that catapulted them to fame and remained with them until the band broke up).

All the dictionaries I looked at gave multiple definitions for "primary." Amongst the definitions were always something to the effect of 'first in order of events/sequence' as well as 'most important or well known' although where those two were placed in the list of definitions wasn't always the same.

So, technically, Pete Best was the primary drummer for The Beatles using the 'first in order' definition but probably not if using the 'most important' since I think most people would consider Ringo Starr the better known Beatles drummer.

So that leads to poll #2:

Poll #34282 Primary, take two

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

Who would you consider the primary drummer for The Beatles? (either by previous knowledge or as their history is described above)

View Answers

Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

Ringo Starr
9 (100.0%)

Don't Know/Unsure
0 (0.0%)

and then poll #3

Poll #34283 Primary, take 3

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

How did your response to #2 compare to #1?

View Answers

Most important or well known + Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

Most important or well known + Ringo Starr
8 (88.9%)

Most important or well known + Don't Know/Unsure
1 (11.1%)

First (timeline-wise) + Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

First (timeline-wise) + Ringo Starr
0 (0.0%)

First (timeline-wise) + Don't Know/Unsure
0 (0.0%)

Something else + Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

Something else + Ringo Starr
0 (0.0%)

Something else + Don't Know/Unsure
0 (0.0%)

I was honestly a bit thrown by their use of 'primary' in the poll. While, of course, it *can* mean first in a question like that I interpreted that they were asking for most well known instead and was curious about what others thought of this.

Anyway, thoughts?

In exchanges news, Candy Hearts exchange had reveals- I wrote an angsty triple drabble for S.C.I.谜案集 | S.C.I. Mystery (TV):
- To Banishing Memories Summary: It wasn't a bedside vigil, it was more that Bai Yutang just couldn't make himself leave.

hurtcomfortex also announced it would not be running this year :( but will be back in 2027 :)

Since the beginning of the year I got it in my head to teach myself nalbinding (an incredibly ancient technique, while now thought of mostly as a Viking era thing it actually predates the Vikings by thousands of years, with textile fragments made using the technique found at the Nahal Hemar Cave (modern Israel) dating back to 6500BCE and from 4200BCE in Tybrind Vig (modern Denmark) but there's lots of evidence from many places more "recently" like socks from 4th C CE Egypt and hats and shawls from Peru from 300BCE to 300 CE) and post-Birthday Bash really threw myself into figuring it out. There are SO many different stitches and techniques and very little standardization and there's very, very little out there about it (i.e. NO patterns basically whatsoever). After watching approximately eleventy billion videos and trying to muddle my way though some articles and books I have sort of figured out a few different styles/stitches but who knows if I'll manage to actually make anything. It's been fun (and frustrating but whatever) to attempt though!

And, as always,

recthething recs (tumblr art for Bridgerton, Doctor Who, Merlin and Under the Skin):

Bridgerton
- Sophie at the ball (gorgeous)

Doctor Who
- Sillies (cute doodle of Ten and Thirteen interacting)

Merlin
- Happy Valentine's Day!! (adorable modern!au doodle)
- I once read a fanfic with a modern AU where Arthur is a restorer. Now I think about it all the time (I haven't read that fic - it's in Russian and incomplete - but I really like this art for it)

Under the Skin (TV)
- Cuddle (adorable Du Cheng hugging Shen Yi and settling in Shen Yi's lap)
- uno reverse of the cuddle (so gentle and sweet of the two in reversed positions)

If, like me, languages interest you, I thought these two Old English/Middle English/Modern English story telling techniques were a fascinating way to show the way English has changed through time. How far back in time can you understand English? (posted story) and From Old English to Modern American English in One Monologue (video).

EAD's delayed Birthday Bash just had reveals and (as I am sure you will all be shocked to read) I crocheted a lot for it. A LOT a lot. Like 12 things in total, 11 of which were decent sized amigurumi. Between the one I accidentally posted to my main and all the works I posted to my BBsock I now make up 13% of AO3's crochet tag :) I'm sure that will change soon, I'd dropped to just over 11% before all these revealed, but it's a neat stat for now. My favorite of the works was this cute little froggie "knitting"

who is actually not knitting because I tried but couldn't get the knitting to work on toothpicks so instead it's Tunisian crochet threaded onto the toothpicks.

Besides the frog, I made: a hat for it (as per the prompt), a bumblebee, a small doggie "with zero thoughts behind its eyes", a dachshund, two different small dragons, a groundhog, a mola mola sunfish, a fat kitty, a potion bottle, and a Moopsy from Star Trek: Lower Decks. Like I said, far too much to crochet in four or five days or whatever it was. Like usual, I did a group photo of them all:

We went from some of the coldest weather in years here (-40ish or below with windchill) to some serious warmth (relatively speaking) where it's been not only above freezing the last few days but saturday might hit 50f/10c! Which is insanely warm for mid-February.

Just before Birthday Bash took off I finished a bag rug (50 refrigerator bagel bags, halved, for the main and 36 hamburger bags, thirded, as the runner. It's a decent sized one, 27"x18.5" or so:

Last but not least, have some

recthething art recs (Bridgerton, DCU, Heated Rivalry, MDZS/The Untamed, Merlin from tumblr and on AO3 from BirthdayBash MCU/Groundhog's Day (the holiday, not the film) and Original Work):

Bridgerton
- happy benophie eve! (this is lovely)

DCU
- Hey Old Man, lose two sleepy superheroes? (Adorable Nightwing, Damian and Jon)

Heated Rivalry
- what do you guys think ilya and shane’s dad talked about while shane and yuna were outside (hilarious comic)

MDZS/The Untamed
- you can pry thicc LWJ from my cold dead hands (yes excellent)

Merlin
- healer Merlin tending to Arthur’s bruises/wounds (excellently done)

--AO3--

MCU/Groundhog's Day (the holiday, not the film):
- Winter is staying? by Odalyn. Summary: A bunch of interviews about the future of winter. Come meet this year's predictions from the paws of our beloved weather casters. (8 different traditional (and non-traditional) Groundhog's Day groundhogs and other creatures and their predictions, absolutely adorable comic)

Original Work:
- More than 8 Ducks by Odalyn. Summary: Duck! (adorable animation of 12 little duckies)
- A Beautiful Hen by Meatball42. Summary: A beautiful hen in a flower crown. (very pretty chicken)
- Ocean Sunfish by RynRose4. Summary: A sketch of an Ocean Sunfish who is up to no good. (excellent mola mola)
- [ART] Parade by ChezPillow (PillowLord). Summary: Animals parade. (3 cute little animals in a parade)

Hope everyone's doing well!

Quick post because I wanted to get these recs posted while it's still Threshold day. In the past two weeks I finished two rugs (pictured below) and am about half of the way through a third. Rugs:

21.5"x14.75"ish rug made from sheets

23"x13"ish rug made from three t-shirts (one white, two tie-dye)

Assorted tumblr recs (Batman/DC, Doctor Who, Heated Rivalry, MDZS/Untamed, Merlin, The Mummy, and ST:Voyager)

Batman/DC comics:
- Red Hood (amazing digital art of Jason)

Doctor Who:
- Nine (love his expression, perfectly him)

Heated Rivalry
- ilya destroying that plate of spaghetti right before this sweet moment is so fucking funny (adorable comic version of the e6 spaghetti scene)

MDZS/The Untamed
- Personal time with their little radish/little bunny (adorable WWX & A-Yuan and then LWJ & A-Yuan)

Merlin
- I have absolutely no time to draw, but I have the silly little ones in the silly little costumes (adorable Merlin and Arthur doodle)
- Not your type? I'm everyone's type! (hilarious Methur comic)
- The power couple they would have been… (gorgeous)

The Mummy
- I am a librarian! (gorgeous)

Star Trek Voyager: (assortment of arts celebrating today which is the 30th anniversary of Threshold Day)
- you know how it goes (doodle of cute threshold baby wearing a party hat)
- Happy Threshold Day! Animal Crossing Threshold Baby design. (wearing a cute little starfleet outfit)
- Happy 30th Birthday to the Threshold babies! (neat take on a character card)
- This is a new blend. I’m calling it Paris Delight. It’s in honour of you. (Janeway and a threshold baby, drinking coffee - adorable)
- Janeway is off doing Captain things and Tom is left to babysit the kiddos :3 (adorable #1 dad 'photo')
- Good morning and happy birthday babies🥰🥰 this years threshold craft is embroidery! (love the embroidery, the lizard babies and the quote chosen)

Oh, and nearly forgot to mention, but I managed to rec something every week again last year, that means over 4.5 years of weekly recs! No idea how long I'll be able to continue that but still, quite the achievement!

Ok, I am not going to lock this post. I will put it behind a cut though since I totally understand not wanting to read about any of this. ( Post about ICE in MN )

Stay safe out there, both to those affected by the current weather craziness and the general *waves hand at the world today* craziness.

So... ummmm... this January has been something, huh? Although I don't go out of my way to talk about where I live I don't try to hide it either so let me just say that while things are chaotic in my general area, it's not in my (very) specific immediate area and me and mine are fine. Generally speaking, there's the potential for things here to get as bad, if not worse, as when there were the riots a few years ago but here's hoping it all dies down before then. With the egos involved it seems unlikely (which really says something about the world today that I am even typing that) but, hey, it's possible.

But, in trying not to dwell on any of that or going into details on an unlocked post... craft spam time!

Feast your eyes upon this adorable Werewolf in a Top Hat (made by request and done by adapting a few different patterns)

He's a fine gentleman and tipping his hat to you in greeting. :)

I've also made two rugs

The pictures are a bit deceiving, the white and grey one is small-medium sized, 27"x17", while the following blue and white one is one of the larger I've made, 43"x30".

I don't really have a plan or a place for either (nor for the one I'll make out of the fabric strips I'm currently cutting) but upcycling stained/torn sheets and shirts is better than tossing them and I enjoy doing it so who cares.

Have two weeks of

recthething recs! One MDZS/Untamed fic and tumbr art for that, Merlin, Murderbot and ST:TOS:

I'll Stop the World (And Melt With You) by Rainewritesfanfics (28k)
Summary: Lan Zhan comes from a long line of aerokinetic heroes. Over time, his family came to found the Cloud Recesses School for Young Heroes. Lan Zhan will now be attending this very same school, however he, unlike his relatives, has no powers. To make matters worse, even though Wei Ying is only steps away, they are barely on speaking terms since the incident before summer break. Add in a dash of conspiracy, a school full of ghosts, and cryptic fortunes, and Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are in for a lively first year! (This is a Sky High fusion but I only know the broad strokes of that movie and still thoroughly enjoyed this fic and its accompanying art)

tumblr art:
MDZS/The Untamed
- Something is gained when something is lost (3 panels, LWJ and A-Yuan, oh my heart)
- When had children started growing up so fast? (two LWJ raising A-Yuan sketches, adorable)
- Wei Ying and his ducklings (adorable wwx and the juniors art)

Merlin
- Still waiting for his king… (hauntingly beautiful)

Murderbot
- I just want to watch my shows I can relate, Murderbot. I can relate. (too valid these days)

Star Trek:TOS
- uhura sketch ^^ (love this style)

And, not rec related, but I know there's some due South fans here and I wanted to share an excellent fandom-specific resource I just discovered: A due South tumblr that posts archival stuff from the show like making of episodes and scripts as well as character bios and episode storylines and whatnot. (I really love the first 5 pages of the second draft to the pilot posted here)

yuletide had author reveals (and some earlier chaos) so usual ficlist of what I made and received under the cut along with some of the said-chaos related stuff

Despite random RL chaos I managed 5 main collection works and one drabble for Yuletide this year:
One Ultimate Note fic:
- Xiaoge's Memories. Summary: Unfortunately, it turned out the weren't going to be able to retrieve any of Xiaoge's memories from Banai; fortunately there was another way for Xiaoge to reclaim some. (1333 words)

One The First Shot fic:
- Cold Makes Warmth. Summary: It was a good plan but that didn't mean Zheng Bei had to like it. (3429 words, GYR/ZB)

Three Under the Skin fics:
- Carrying Your Lead. Summary: He Rongyue comes to Shen Yi for a favor. (1532 words, HRY&SY fic)
- Another Fine Mess. Summary: It had seemed like an open and shut case until Shen Yi wanted another look at the crime scene. (2096 words, DC/SY fic)
- Riding Herd. Summary: Since Shen Yi was incapable of taking care of himself it had somehow become Du Cheng's job. (2002 words, pre-DC/SY fic)

and a drabble for Without a Clue:
- A Deduction of One's Very Own. Summary: It might have been a simple deduction, but it was still a solid one.

I got a wonderful The First Shot fic: It Takes a Village. Summary: The question of who has the stronger willpower — himself or the chicken van, temperamental as an aging opera diva and with abandonment issues worse than his own — remains unanswered for the day. Before he can retrieve the car keys, one of the uncles who he recognizes as a restaurant regular calls out his name, and Gu Yiran obediently trots in his direction, wondering what kind of errand the community of Halan might want of him today, in the absence of their load-bearing pillar. (6957 words, GYR/ZB)

There was a big of 'excitement' this yuletide when, 20 minutes or so after the mods revealed the main collection AO3 decided to reveal the authors as well and the mods scrambled to work-by-work unclick and then reclick to re-anonymize everything. It's a bug that's happened before (several of the Battleship subcollections got caught by it this summer) so to see if they could get it to do it to a collection where the works could be kept unanon without issue the tagmods threw together a treating challenge and got a bunch of works posted to it and revealed it but AO3 behaved and it went normally (as did Madness, no clue why the main collection mucked itself up) but anyway, I posted a cute crocheted hippo, The Hardest Worker Of All to it and got a sweet double drabble for S.C.I. Mystery Pasta Making with Chef Bai.

Two weeks of

recthething recs - one (very very long) MDZS/Untamed fic and tumblr art from Guardian, Merlin, The Mummy, ST:TOS and SPN :

When Plums are Ripe (There Must Be a Road) by somevariationofgay (105k)
Summary: When his army is defeated at the border, Wei Ying - a former General of Dazhi - is taken as a prize by the victor nation Beicui. He's resigned to a life of hard labor and an early death when a chance encounter alters his fate - he ends up in the manor of Prince Qing as a concubine instead.

Wanting nothing to do with the fights of an inner courtyard, he takes pains to avoid the attention of the prince's legal wife and the other concubines. But all his efforts go to waste as the petty struggles for favor that consume the inner courtyard overflow, leaving death in their wake.

Throwing himself headfirst into treacherous water, Wei Ying struggles against the current to create a future where he belongs and thrives, survive a present where danger hides in beauty, and tear down the powerful to get justice for the dead. (very interesting no cultivation harem AU with quite the different premise, intersex WWX is taken by the emperor's younger brother (NHS) as a concubine and has to navigate numerous plots and problems in the inner courtyard and beyond, this (vaguely) a NHS/WWX fic with a splash of NHS/JYL/WWX as well as Jiang Yanli is NHS' wife, LWJ does not appear)

Guardian
- If Guardian V1 by Priest were to ever get a hardcover edition (gorgeous novel take of Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei and Da Qing)

Merlin
- merthur (gorgeous triptych)

The Mummy
- Rick and Evie (love this)

Star Trek:TOS
- "Sometimes I draw ink/anime Spock, some others I paint blocky pastel Spock- Bottom line is: there’s always a good reason to draw Spock"(excellent spock)

Supernatural
- Castiel (love the B&W pencil style of this)

I've also done a bunch of crafting recently but haven't had a chance to take decent pics yet (hectic time of year made more hectic due to lots of snow and therefore shoveling). Oh well. I'll manage that in the new year, and on that note... Happy New Year everyone!!

Got my yuletide assignment posted and have been keeping my eye out for pinch hits over at the PH comm,

yuletide_pinch_hits but so far there's been nothing I could take. I am hoping to manage a few treats, we'll see, the writing brain has not been braining.

Generally speaking, there's not much going on here, but I wanted to post my

recthething recs while the exchanges they were from are still anon (because I am lazy and don't want to have to look them all up and recode things rather than C&Ping them) so here are two weeks of recs, from

ficinabox (assorted things) and

doodle4doodle (art):

Some recs from

ficinabox, creators anon until Dec 20th:

Casablanca
- Victor Lazlo: A Retrospective (excerpt). Summary: ...no review of the life of Victor Laszlo would be complete without mention of his long-time collaborator (some say long-time lover) Richard “Rick” Blaine, well known for his brief stint as founder and owner of “Rick’s Americain” café and casino in Casablanca. [excerpts of a magazine article] (neat papercraft/magazine article/in universe magazine article combined work)

DCU
- kiss and fly (absolutely adorable Superman/Batman animation)
- Alfred Pennyworth: Amigurumi!. Summary: It's Alfred Pennyworth - As an amigurumi weeble-wobble. (really cute crocheted Alfred)
- we can get a little reckless. Summary: Diana and a beautiful evening. (beautiful colorwork on this art)
- Not Fit To Print. Summary: When Dick leaves Gotham on bad terms with Bruce, he takes an internship at the Daily Planet in an attempt to move on. Instead, he submits a series of unpublishable articles—each one stranger and more personal than the last. Gargoyle surveillance. Emotional furniture. The weather patterns of Bruce Wayne’s guilt. These are the short excerpts, quotes, and fragments from the stories that never made it to print. (Hilarious snippets with great commentary on each by Lois, Perry and Clark. 4k)
- Continuity Error (And Other Family Traditions). Summary: When a curse summons the ghosts of Dick’s younger selves, his family comes face to face with the boy, the partner, the leader, and the survivor they each thought they knew. (great weaving together of different glimpses of Dick and interactions with his favorite people, 6k)

Discworld
- Minder of the Keys [ART - pottery]. Summary: Sybil Ramkin's smallest dragon likes to keep watch over her trinkets. (amazingly detailed pottery dragon guarding a trinket dish)

Original Work
- [Art] Excerpts from 'Field Guide to Woodgeists' (Interlibrary Loan). Summary: Forest Spirit via pottery and a field guide that definitely, totally, actually exists. (brilliant ceramic woodgeist and its 'write up' in a field guide.
- [Art] Leaf Friends. Summary: Pottery leaf friends in autumn colors (lovely collection of ceramic leaves)
- [Art] Fig. 8. Megafauna of the Southern Hemisphere. Summary: Excerpt from A.Y. Oaks, Megafauna & Environmental Anthropology (3d ed. 9673). (really fascinatingly done scientific illustration)

MDZS/The Untamed
- Love, Love Love. Summary: It all went wrong. (Yungmeng Brothers vid, right in the feels)
- price of postage. Summary Snippet: Wei Changze sends one letter to his old friend Jiang Fengmian, and inadvertently changes the course of the future - all out of love for his wife... Or, an epistolary fic, comprising of letters sent across the Jianghu over the course of several years, starting with a letter to an old friend. (love when stories are told creatively like this, 6.6k, locked to archive)

Some art recs from

doodle4doodle (works anon until Dec 19th):

Original Work:
- forest friends. Summary: A couple of small critters I encounter on nature walks: a wood frog and a white-lipped snail. (a neat looking frog and snail)
- houseproud. Summary: I'd be proud too, with a nice house like that one! (very impressive box turtle)
- snow bunting. Summary: A small subarctic friend. (gorgeous bird, amazing work on the feathers)
- Owl Moon. Summary: A great horned owl. A waxing gibbous moon. (beautiful owl and moon)
- [Art] Looking for this? (An adorable rat familiar in a wizard hat)
- Fancy Little Men. Summary: Three penguins midway through molting their baby feathers. (so cute!)
- frogs on leaf (four cute, colorful frogs on a leaf)

Stargate Atlantis
- [Art] Not Himself. Summary: John: Last night, Ronon clubbed me in the head. Ronon: By accident. Sort of. John: I was cut. I went to the Infirmary...and by the time I got there it was completely healed. (gorgeous use of color and negative space in this one)

Star Wars (Original Trilogy)
- Leia (an adorable doodle)

Had a hilarious exchange in one of my discords recently where someone commented something to the effect of "Oh man it's 37 out now" and, after checking my weather I responded with "Oh wow, here too" but then after thinking about it for a half sec quickly added "But I think you're complaining about 37c being too hot while I'm thrilled since it had been -19f here a few days ago and 37f is a lovely change!" (It was, but the weather's supposed to drop again and a massive snow storm is supposed to blow through YUCK but still, the internationalism of fandom will always be a wonder to me)

Hope everyone's having a good Hanukkah/holiday season and staying warm/cool!

Not a lot to post about but I want to make one before I forget again or get even more snowed under (I've shoveled every day since Wed and twice a few of those days; I am so so sore and so so tired) BUT I finished my newest crochet project (a blanket made from the last of my Black Friday 2023 sale yarn) it's huge, give or take 50"x68":

I was good and didn't buy much more yarn this Black Friday, only a single deal's worth that'll be a blanket for son at some point. I need to make many, many rugs before then because two separate sets of sheets ripped and now my 'to-be-rugged' storage drawer is overflowing. Luckily they ripped right before Black Friday so I was able to replace them with new sets on some very good sales. (Black Friday sales are so weird and you have to be so careful to futz around to get the best deal. Oddly, sometimes that means buying *more* and paying less. In one store I was ordering from the total was $72 and with shipping and tax it would have been $89 but because of deals- free shipping and $25 off if you ordered $100 of stuff- once I added a $28 item the total was $83 after taxes. So weird but worth spending the time futzing about) I also did some Small Business Saturday shopping to support small places and got some neat stuff (a hefty, hard carved spoon for one, I can't wait to use it)

Have two weeks of

recthething recs (tumblr art from Dracula, MDZS, ACD Sherlock Holmes, and X-Files and assorted AO3 things from BtVS/Angel, MDZS and Under the Skin)

Dracula
- Howdy y'all, I'm Quincey Morris and this is my friend Jonathan Harker, welcome to our unboxing video (hilarious)

MDZS/The Untamed
- sun and moon themed set of portraits (gorgeous WWX and LWJ sketches)

Sherlock Holmes - ACD
- Forever, if you are amenable (wonderful expressions and colors on this)

X-Files
- a tiny space scully I drew before bed (love Scully's smile in this)

AO3 things:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel: The Series
[FANART] The Crochet Buffyverse! by girlpire
Summary: This post is for my crochet versions of the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series. I'll be doing a bunch of them, so I'll add chapters as I make new dolls. Chapter 1: Illyria (and her pet), 2004; Chapter 2: punk!Spike, 1977; Chapter 3: wizard!Giles, 2000; Chapter 4: Randy Giles, 2001; Chapter 5: Life of the Party Lorne, 2003. (all are utterly amazingly done, there's also links to see each of the amigurumi dolls on tumblr)

MDZS/The Untamed
On Little Cat Feet by deliciousblizzardshark (29k, locked to archive)
Summary Snippet: Wei Wuxian accidentally turns into a cat. Lan Qiren unknowingly adopts him. (LWJ's POV of this is absolutely hilarious as his very proper, always hated pets and mess etc uncle adopts a cat)

Under the Skin
UTS Advent Calendar 2025 by michinarty
Summary: Christmas is coming so let's wait for it with a fanart a day! This is just a collection of small ideas and the advent calendar was a good excuse to turn them into little doodles. So enjoy the fluff (new chapter/work added daily, also being posted to tumblr via this tag, absolutely adorable)

Hope all of you are doing well! :)

It's that time of year again!

✨ holiday love meme 2025 ✨
my thread here

Everyone go throw your names in the hat so you can get some holiday love too! :)

While I will probably never be able to divest myself from google completely, I'm thinking of trying to start shifting some things off google (and also juno, I have an ancient juno email acct I really need to move away from) so I turn to my brilliant friends to ask what you all use. I had heard tons of good things about proton (both its mail and docs) but just read it is possibly wishy-washy on AI so am not as sure about it. I've also heard good things about thunderbird and one or two places suggested tuta.

Anyone use one of these or have opinions? Are there others I have missed? (GMX used to be suggested but I haven't seen it mentioned recently?) Besides google's well, everything, I am sick and tired of having to turn off its AI "features" every few weeks/months every time they push a new update/product. I loathe all things AI it is just an annoying scourge that is *everywhere*.

I mostly want just reliable email that can be accessed via a browser webpage without having to download anything. If I can also access it on my phone via an app or browser there, great, but that is less important. Free is ideal, although I guess I'll consider a one time purchase if it's not too bad and is for a well established, reliable company. I do like googledocs and plan on moving away from that eventually but for now just starting to establish a new email would be a good step.

Livejournal is down today when I use firefox but if I try in another browser it seems to load (I have Edge on this laptop but only because it came installed and I used it to DL firefox, I haven't signed into anything on it). I even tried turning off uBlockOrigin and it still wouldn't work on firefox. I wonder if firefox tweaked its settings or something, one of the things that kicked off my new email client search was juno being weird on firefox. SIGH. I did check and my firefox is up to date. (The 'is it down right now' sites seem mixed on if LJ is down for everyone or not so I guess there is an actual issue. I barely use LJ anymore but still, twas my fannish home for a bit, I hope it doesn't go down for good)

I managed to find things to post to

recthething the past two weeks (behold! tumblr art for Batman, DMBJ/Lost Tomb, MDZS/Untamed, Sherlock, SPN, Superman, and X-Men):

Batman
- Yapping on a random rooftop until sunrise. (really great Dick and Tim art)

DMBJ/Lost Tomb:
- "Next time, can we not come to such a cold place?" (gorgeous artist interpretation of the finale scene in Mystery of The Abyss, the Heihua Russia adventure tease)
- Clair-Obscur also on AO3 here Summary: Summary: Xie Yuchen is kidnapped. Hei Xiazi comes to the rescue... As his lift. (wonderful, and wonderfully detailed, B&W wordless Heihua comic)

MDZS/The Untamed
- Happy radish family! (adorable WWX, WN and a-Yuan during the burial mounds settlement days)

Sherlock
- Bleak (sherlock in the rain, love it)

Superman
- Sunshine Boy (this is one of my favorite Clark fanarts I have ever seen)

X-Men
- Halloween at the x mansion but it’s just everyone wearing starfleet uniforms. Charles does Not think it’s funny. (absolutely hilarious but the bonus is just *chef's kiss*)

I've been seeing articles and comments about both a White Collar and Stargate reboot possibly happening. The White Collar one seems like it's mostly rumor and hopeful folks rehashing comments made a few years ago (or, there's nothing specific behind the chatter at least) but Amazon/MGM has actually greenlit a Stargate project with a showrunner who had been involved with SGA so that might be something. (I am not entirely sure stargate can work in today's world/climate considering the military push and 'ancient aliens' conspiracy theories but still, I loved SG1/SGA back in the day so I guess I am cautiously optimistic?)

Let's see, what's happened since my last post. Yuletide assignments went out and I'm on take two of mine, hopefully this one will work. My current craft project is a crochet blanket that should use up all of the rest of the yarn I bought via an excellent deal during 2023's Black Friday sale (I'm currently just about half way through so I should finish just in time to buy new yarn assuming there's decent sales for this year's as well, 2024's was meh but I still do have a chunk of yarn from that.)

Had some "excitement" two weeks ago when we had the annual maintenance on our boiler and they discovered an issue and we had to turn it off immediately and then replace it. That was a fun week and $24k unexpected expense.

Last year (nearly exactly, Nov 18th apparently) a small crack developed on the old igloo playmate cooler I bought for lunches when lifeguarding sometime between 1987-1990. Son kept using it but last week he dropped it and the whole handle cracked so he's finally retiring it. I can't quite recall what I paid for it (I want to say $20) but whatever it was, it was money well spent.

I made hobo bread the other day. I love this recipe (which I posted here years ago, so incredible simple, such delicious bread:

Here's two weeks of

recthething recs (tumblr art for DMBJ, FMA, IwaV (TV), MCU (DD+Spidey), MDZS and SPN and

trickortreatex collection art recs for Addams Family, Guardian and Original Work)

DMBJ/Lost Tomb:
- Pierce (perfect rendition of Xiazi spearing the fish in the Mystery of the Abyss opener)
- Ragged (Xiazi/Xiao Hua covered in slime but lost in each other's eyes. Perfect)

Fullmetal Alchemist
- the house on the hill (love so many things showing Ed and his childhood home here)

Interview with a Vampire (TV)
- Armand drawing (amazing)

Marvel (Daredevil and Spiderman multiverses):
- Do you think other Spideys and DDs in other universes are also good friends? (amazing 30 second animation)

MDZS/The Untamed
- Ah yes me and my ~~rival crush zhiji~~ Wei Ying (wonderful sketch of them immediately post-Xuanwu of Slaughter)
- Mn. Mn! (adorable qin lesson between LWJ and a-yuan)

Supernatural:
- Castiel (Love the bloodied, sleeves rolled up with wings out look here)

trickortreatex collection recs, creators anon until Nov 7th:

The Addams Family:
- It Takes Two... Summary: "Oh, Tish....that's French." (gorgeous art of Gomez and Morticia)

Guardian:
- The Ghost and the Snake Summary: They are tiny and cute and (not very) spooky. (really cute art of Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong)

Original Work:
- Dog in a fog (wonderfully ominous art of British folklore's Black Dog)
- Prima Donna Summary: A little orangutan’s dreams come true (adorable art)
- [Art] If You Dare Summary: Go ahead, knock. (delightfully creepy comic)
- Witch and Company Summary: Witch cat and their mouse familiar (really cool papercraftish art)
- Long Night Detective? Summary: "I do so hate to drop in after hours but there's just one last thing-" (absolutely amazing Fairy Prince/Noir Detective art)
- Joyride (hilarious art with a mouse familiar who really isn't enjoying the ride on their cat witch's broom)

(I know I've said this a few times already this year but sadly I do suspect I'll be breaking my 4+ year steak of weekly reccing soon, it'd been getting harder and harder to find things to rec.)

Only a few more days to signup for yuletide! They close 9pm UTC 24 October (time converter thingy) The post with all the info is here, there's some differences this year including a trial run of allowing DNMs (do not matches) as well as upping requests from 6 to 8.

Not surprisingly, neither of those changes have effected me. In my previous yuletides I only signed up with the maximum number of requests a few times, I am way way way more likely to do the minimum (8 vs 3 according to past letters) with a handful of 4 requests and a single 5. I also tend to repeat requests a lot (having asked for only 30 different fandoms in total) although I've never repeated a signup exactly, since I haven't re-requested anything that I've received (perfectly valid thing for people to do that, I have even filled certain people's requests numerous times, I just haven't ever done it).

This year I've asked for four fandoms (All Souls (TV), Vampire Gastelbrau (2011), 看見愛 | See Your Love (TV), and 雪迷宫 | The First Shot (TV)) and my letter went up about a week ago. I will probably continue to tweak my offers until shortly before they close because I always do that and never can leave them alone. (Although the requests are kept hidden during signups, the signup summary is available and updates every hour or so).

I didn't have the headspace to finish putting together my usual short stories in the yuletide tagset list but thankfully embraidery was willing to pick up the job and posted the list, with links when possible, here over on the yuletide community comm.

In exciting news, an old fic of mine Appeasement Fed (a The Yellow Wallpaper & The Residence at Whitminster crossover) from Yuletide 2020 was recently podficced. You can listen to the amazing job wilfriede0815 did for it here.

And before I forget, here's two (I think?) weeks of

recthething recs (one mdzs/untamed fic and tumblr art for Doctor Who, FMA/FMA:B, Merlin and SPN):

The Third Bow by Ashura (20k, locked to archive)
Summary: Finally Wei Ying drops onto the edge of the bed and blurts, ‘Lan Zhan, are we married?’
Lan Wangji’s hands freeze in place, the soft cloth slipping from between his fingers. Whatever he imagined Wei Ying was gathering the courage to say, this is a question he absolutely would not have predicted. He looks up, blindsided, to see Wei Ying shifting uncomfortably, fingers twisting in the folds of his robe. ‘We — what?’
Or: Wei Wuxian has feelings. So does Lan Wangji. They figure it out. (aka WWX and LWJ get a clue :) a part of the 2025 MDZS Reverse Big Bang)

Tumblr art:
Doctor Who
- 3rd doctor, UNIT and Master (love their expressions, particularly Jo's)

Fullmetal Alchemist (all Oct 3rd related art)
- Don’t forget. (animation of the watch with flames reflected on it)
- Don't forget 3. oct. 11 (gorgeous Ed and Al)
- Don’t forget! (amazing painting of the watch and fire)
- don’t forget (so many layers to this one, I love the juxtaposition between Ed's determined look and Al's wistful one)

Merlin
- i'll keep the king, i'll keep him safe from the dark things that wait (amazing Merlin and kilgharrah art)

Supernatural
- Untitled (Dean sleeping in the Impala, clutching Cas' coat. Oh my heart)

( All Souls (TV), Vampire Gastelbrau (2011), 看見愛 | See Your Love (TV),雪迷宫 | The First Shot (TV) )

I haven't had a ton of free time lately but have been trying to get started on my yuletide letter. Other than All Souls (which will be my 7th time requesting) all my requests will be new which is exciting! New fandoms! Except that means coming up with the prompts from scratch which is not easy. Usually I am repeating 2 or 3 fandoms so I can reuse and reword things.

Also, I'm kicking myself because I totally forgot to take pictures of my most recent craft project- I had been working on a rug (back to knotted kind, from a set of old blue sheets) and my parents asked for it but they'd need it before they headed out of state (they snowbird every year now) so I rushed to finish it before we headed to their house for break-the-fast after Yom Kippur and finished with a half hour to spare and documenting it totally slipped my mind. Oh well. They loved it which is the important thing.

I don't know if anyone's followed the SciShow vs the knitting community controversy but...

cut for length

For those unaware about a month ago on SciShow Hank Green did a video called "Physicists Don't Understand Why Knitting Works" that was... well, not great (and the info provided didn't match the clickbaity title at all). There was some true science presented in it, including some recent studies that were quite interesting, but it was presented in a way that, well, kind of implied actual crafters didn't know or even think about much about the hows or whys it's done the way it's done and if that's not enough it did so in a kind of pat-on-the-head dismissiveness of women's work kind of way. It also was just riddled with errors (from mistaking nalbinding for knitting, to not seeming to realize the difference between woven garments and knitted ones, to even misspelling the word 'stitch' numerous times, etc etc)

There were some great videos posted in response to it though, Kristine Vike did a great Scientist and Knitter reacts to SciShow's knitting video and JillianEve started a new channel, Evie Unraveling, to do her own I Remade the SciShow Knitting Video (with accurate SCIENCE) (there are numerous other good reaction vids, these were the two by people I followed already).

Previously, SciShow pinned a not very good correction/we hear you had issues with out content comment to the vid in response to backlash but I noticed a few days ago that SciShow actually pulled their vid and put up an apology youtube community comment which was pretty decent. Long story short (too late) I thought the whole controversy was interesting and that some of you might find it so as well. (As a note, I've still unsubscribed, I'd noticed a few errors/bad takes/odd ways they'd presented things in previous videos but hadn't really known enough about most subjects to question their ability to teach me things but I learned long ago that if I'd been following someone to learn from what they present and they do a topic I know something about and notice issues with what they present then it means it's likely there's been plenty of things I hadn't noticed so I can't rely on them anymore.)

And last but not least, here's 2 weeks of

recthething recs! (MDZS/Untamed fic and Batman, Clue, Doctor Who, MDZS, Merlin, and Supernatural tumblr art):

The fic:
the cat distribution system by ScarlettStorm (38k)
Summary Snippet: Wei Wuxian gets a cat, and then a boyfriend, both of which are a surprise. (great fic with great art from the 2025 MDZS Reverse Big Bang, also 2 podfics have been done of this fic, linked in the endnotes)

the tumblr art:

Batman/DCU
- Nightwing written in Nightwing (very cool effect)

Clue (the movie)
- “Okay, Chief, take 'em away. I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife.” (excellent art of the cast)

Doctor Who (Classic)
- Delgado!Master doodle (love this)

MDZS/The Untamed
- Dadji and his pride and joy (Adorable LWJ and a-yuan and bunnies)

Merlin
- Tenderness (perfect title for this terribly tender Merther moment)

Supernatural
- Dean Winchester <333 (excellent rendition)

So many, many years after we probably should have we finally went out and bought a new bed to replace the 20 yr old futon (do not be me, that was *far* too long to keep that cheap thing) and when taking apart the bedframe I found an old braided rug I'd stored between the board and the slats in an attempt to flatten it *ages* ago.

And when I say ages, I mean ages. As I vaguely remembered posting about it, I search through my livejournal and found a mention of pulling out the rug to work on (while watching an episode of due South, good taste past!me) in a post from December 2007 (2007!! who knows when I actually started it) and included a picture of the rug then:

The rug I pulled out only had two more color rounds completed so wasn't all that much further along but was left with a long section of braid unattached and needing new strips sewn on. I never quite mastered the technique of sewing on the new strips properly so that the seam didn't show and always found lacing the braid to the rug was frustrating, fiddly and hard to do for any length of time without hurting my back so it's not surprising I just gave up at some point. Tension was always a perpetual problem so I must have shoved the rug there in an attempt to flatten it. (Something that mostly, but not completely, succeeded). Deciding to just figure out some way to finish it (unfortunately, that's a part I had never really mastered either) I eventually finagled something and TADA:

(Do I need another rug? No. Do I have a place for the rug? Also no. Am I also in the process of making a knotted rug that I took a break from to finish this guy off? Yes. Do I have a place for that rug? Bwhahaha, no.)

Anyway... Just a few more days left for Yuletide nominations! We get 5 slots, it's so exciting! (I really need to make an actual decision on my last slot, I've been waffling for ages about it)

And, last but not least,

recthething tumblr art recs (whoops, I've been forgetting to crosspost these here, sorry!)

Batman
- images that came to me in a vision. i just needed to see him in a nice cottage kitchen. (this vision of Batman made me laugh)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- buffy summers more like buffy snork mimimi <3333

Guardian
- boop the snoot (Adorable cat!da qing booping Zhao Yunlan)

Merlin
- [Dragonlord merlin - 2]: Magic returning slowly. (subtle but sweet)

MDZS/The Untamed
- His love language is being a menace (WWX has the best expression on his face when teasing LWJ)
- I have drawn many, many pictures of Jiujiu Holding A-Ling! Yet somehow, not enough. So I present to you all: Another One (adorable grumpy jin ling!)
- Emotional support hug (aww sweet)

Supernatural
- lazarus rising as a paperback (there's a whole series of these linked on the post and all are amazing)

Under the Skin
- Not sure if they should drink this… (Late night Shen Yi/Du Cheng and a very judgy but adorable cat)
- Cat Cuddles "Because everyone need a little sweetness in september I decided to make a fluffy little animation of DuCheng being adopted by the 2 cats of the house" (absolutely adorable)

Tomorrow is Rosh Hashanah, L'Shana Tova everyone! May your new year be sweet!

Earlier today I *finally* finished checking all the links on my research/useful links posts, adding all the new links and reorganizing them. Both the Hollywood/History/Clothing/etc post and the Randomness one had gotten too big so I removed somethings from the history one and separated the randomness one into two posts with the history things (old books, magazines, radio theater etc) fitting into one. There's now close to 2250 links between all the posts. *phew* The masterpost is here or everything can also be found via my useful links tag.

And also, excitedly, Yuletide nominations have opened!! Go forth and nominate! (I'll be nominating that cute animated short, Vampire Gastelbrau, and also The First Shot (Gu Yiran, Zheng Bei and Jiang Xiaohai), See Your Love (Jiang Shaopeng, Yang Zixiang) and All Souls (Mitchell Grace, Glory, and Worldbuilding) definitely but am still waffling on my last slot. But we are allowed 4 characters per fandom so if anyone wants someone added to First Shot or See Your Love just give me a shout.

What's everyone else nominating?

The Yuletide fandom promo post is up. I promoed a cute little animated short I found recently and am planning on nominating and requesting, Vampire Gastelbrau. Here's the promo I did:

Title: Vampire Gastelbrau (2011)

Media: Animated short film
Approx length: 3 minutes
Where to find it: On youtube here or vimeo here
What is it, in summary?: An animated short where Vampire Gastelbrau helps Gerta and Gabi with their chores in order to earn back his vampire fang.
What do you love about it?: It's just such a sweet little story with cute animation and lovely music.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: The further adventures of Gerta, Gabi and Gastelbrau.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, but it's less than 3 minutes long.
Content warnings: none, despite it being about a vampire no warnings apply

The Yuletide evidence post has also been posted. If your eligible fandom (this post explains eligibility) is closely related to an ineligible one (i.e. all DMBJ fandoms since the novels are too big, NIF2 or the NIF novel since the drama has gotten too big, etc) you'll want to make a comment in the evidence post (if you've given evidence in previous years you can just link to your previous comment but ideally you should still comment on the current post). I've been doing yuletide a billion (aka 17) years, if you have questions/want help determining eligibility or how to post evidence just give me a shout, I'll be happy to help.

I also finally finished the chevron lace blanket I'd be working on for daughter:

Multicolored Chevron Lacr Crocheted Blanket

It's 42” by 75-78” (valley vs point) and I misjudged the yarn yardage so she overbought and I have 2 skeins left with no idea what I'll do with them. Ooops. Oh well.

Aaaand now I need a new craft project. Maybe a rug. Or another blanket? Or both? (Do I need another rug or blanket? Nope. Do I have a place to put either? Also nope. Will that stop me from making them? Of course not.)

I've spent the last three or so weeks going through and updating the resources links posts and I'm not done, it's still an ongoing progress. I had over 150 links to add and I also like to go through and check for dead/changed links every 1-2 years (which I last did spring 2024 and now takes *forever* since 2k+ links). I'll also (probably) be splitting the randomness post into two posts and moving some things from the Hollywood/history post over to one of those posts but that's all still in the planning stages while I still slowly make my way through the other posts.

It always amazes me how many links die every time I do this. Sometimes it's just a web address switch and I'm able to find the new one and I do try to back stuff up at the wayback machine when I add links to my resource posts but they're not always things or sites that can be backed up so finding dead links there is a crapshoot. (It's still a wonderful resource though, more than 160 links *had* been backed up and are now accessible via it). That old adage about 'once something is on the internet it's there forever' is just not true. Some stuff will be there forever, but others? *poof*

As always, if anyone uses the resource posts and finds the layout confusing, has suggestions to make it better, has links (or even general topics) they should be added, etc etc just give me a shout, either here or on the specific post or any of my posts in general honestly. I'd like them to be as useful and informative as they can be.

It's almost Yuletide time! The schedule has been posted and for the first time in a few years there's been some changes (mostly a 12 hour shift backwards with assignment deadline not being 9pm UTC on Wednesday 17 December instead of 9am on the 18th and reveals being 9pm UTC on Wednesday 24 December instead of 9am on the 25th.) They've changed before and will change again, they mods need to do what work best for them and they've given us plenty of time to adjust to the change.

Another interesting change is as an experiment for this year only we'll be given 5 nomination slots instead of 4 (although with still only 4 slots per fandom) and the ability to have up to 8 requests rather than the previous max of 6. I usually only request 3 or 4 so that doesn't really affect me but more nom slots is definitely nice. :)

And, whoops. here's a month or so of

recthething recs (tons of tumblr art recs and some MDZS/Untamed fic/podfic recs):

Tumblr art:
Batman/DCU:
- The whole world at her fingertips. (love this take on Barbara as Oracle)
- AU: what if Dick became the vessel for Nightwing of Krypton? (wow, incredible idea and art)

DMBJ/The Lost Tomb:
- Heihua (Xiazi 'helping' Xiao Hua with his opera makeup, excellent)
- the apple trend ft. heihua... (delightfully sensuous)

Doctor Who:
- Sandwich break (Jamie and Two!!! Lovely)

The Losers
- How to Properly Care For Your Domesticated ~~Housecat~~ Cougar (this is just so soft and gorgeous)

MDZS/The Untamed:
- we will always get through the bad times (gorgeous mirror set of paintings)

Merlin
- I just needed to draw them again (gorgeous Merthur wih magic art)
- devotion (this is *incredible*)
- dressing up your boyfriend as a silly lil jester (absolutely nailed their expressions in this one)
- Being rough with Merlin is Arthur’s love language guys trust me (love their expressions!)

The Princess Bride
- This is true love. You think this happens every day? (gorgeous, almost movie poster style look at most of the cast)

Star Trek
- I finished the quilt I’m gifting to my daughter (Absolutely amazing TOS Enterprise in space quilt)

Supernatural:
- as a spn fan i’m legally obliged to draw this (Dean at his snarky, beaten-up best)
- I love old men retired yaoi (a wonderful look of what the future might have been for dean and cas)
- diner (Sam and Dean in a diner, spot on)

MDZS/Untamed fic/podfic:
Target Acquired (A Family) by relenafanel (11.7k, locked to archive)
Summary: Wei Wuxian has been on his own for months. It’s easier to pull off surprise assassinations against the sect that destroyed the Jiangs if most people think he’s dead. He doesn’t expect Lan Wangji to join with his own vendetta against the Wen. And he certainly doesn’t expect to acquire A-Yuan in the middle of a job. (assassin AU that's also sort of fluffy and adorable)

fic and its podfic
the guqin player next door by marquisguyun (1k)
Summary: Lan Qiren meets someone who is far older than he looks. (mortal/reincarnated LQR and immortal LWJ); podfic (by sisi_rambles, length - 6:33)

Words - links for finding the right one and whatnot - including lists for alternates for said, walk, good, very, look and more; geographic descriptions; words for describing appearances, smells, sounds, touch, expressions, tone; body language and emotion terms; action and sex scene descriptive words; phrase finders, words + their timeframes; online dictionaries/thesauruses/etc; slang (including sexual slang terms); translation websites; etc. (link)

Titles- links for helping to come up with one including title generators, sites with searchable poetry and quote indexes; etc. (link)

Fighting/Military/Police/Forensic Related Things - info on various weapons and fighting techniques with and without them; writing advice for different kind of fight scenes; escaping handcuffs and ties; military and spy info; police, law, and forensic links and more (link)

Injuries, Treating Injuries, and Medical stuff - how to hurt and then treat your characters 'realistically', or at least somewhat. Includes basic first aid info, descriptions of various situations/injuries/maladies/etc, advice on writing various injuries and treatments, manuals and PDFs on various medical topics, and lots, lots more. This post contains mostly "modern" (WWII and later) medical info, older info is in the history post. (link)

Useful Websites and Programs - for writing, editing, planning, paint/photography programs and whatnot - online or downloadable programs for the writing process itself, including ones that are for checking grammar, editing, encouragement, word count, and more. Also ones for planning out stories, diagramming, drawing, creating graphs, doing photoshop, editing photos etc. (link)

Generators and Prompt List Type Things and Various Name Lists - for when you need help coming up with plots, names, spells, whathaveyou including whump, kink and story generators and more. (link)

Folklore, Mythology, Paranormal, Map Making, World Building, Home Building, Name and Language Creation Links - both information and resources on existing things (lore, plants, mythology, superstitions, monsters, etc) as well as links to help you create your own AU/world including planning everything from a house, to language, city, map, world, universe, and more. (link)

Helpful AO3 links, as well as ones for participating in fanwork exchanges, vidding, and podficcing; also general writing links- Tips and tricks for posting, using and searching AO3 as well as some general writing advice links and grammar and style guides. Podficcing tutorials and links to sits offering public domain sounds and music. A vidding primer. Tips for participating in fanwork exchanges. (link)

Historical Chinese Clothing (and much, much more) Resources - Links, broken down by dynasty or eras, for information on hats and headware; general clothing; undergarments; makeup; shoes; belts, jewerly, waist ornaments, and other accoutrements; armor; weapons. Also links for history, crafts and music, tea, lgbtq history, police and law, royal/status info and terminology, naming resources, relationship terms/slang, language resources, etc. (link)

Hollywood, Hollywood, History, Clothing (Modern and Historical), Hygiene Links and Time-frame Specific Research Links - Hollywood/movie/tv links (including costuming, scripts, transcripts, and other IMDB-type databases for things like cars, planes, guns, cartoons, and more); historical research links (hundreds of links to manuscripts and books and other primary sources as well as links for all eras of history from 'ancient' history on through modern days on subjects varying from culture to clothes to medicine etc); food history links; clothing and armor of various eras; hygiene links; lgbtq history; historical and modern clothing and more. (link)

Randomness: Part One - links about the world itself and thinks to do in it, broken down into the following groupings: survival, moving about (maps, travel and vehicles), information on the sun/moon/stars, various calendars and conversions between them, communicating with others (accents, pronunciation and languages), plants and animals and various databases about them, and various places on the web to find things to read and listen to. (link)

Randomness: Part Two - search sites (scientific and general non-google places); places to find articles, books, and more; library, museum and cultural collections; recipe, food and drink sites; random place related sites; building and homes info and terms; people and their shapes and sizes; things to consider regarding sex and writing sex scenes; "writers' guides to..." type links; lots of artists resources; and, last but not least, uncategorized random links. (link)

*Each post was mirrored on LJ originally but I've linked to the DW post here since, due to numerous reasons, those posts are no longer being updated.
*Links occasionally die or need updating, please comment on the appropriate post if any updating or correcting is needed.
*Feel free to comment here or on the appropriate post with links to any useful site I've missed, I'm constantly finding new links to add to these posts and would happily add more.

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donutsweeper

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