Heracleum Mantegazzianum

In high school in the early '00s, I read a webcomic called 1/0 by Tailsteak. It was a postmodernist, completely fourth-wall-less comic that did things with metafiction I had never seen before. I haven't reread it super recently but the last time I did, it held up pretty well, although with some... caveats. I'd recommend it with reservations.

1/0 also referenced other contemporary indie webcomics extensively. At one point it referenced a Christian furry webcomic (stay with me) called Under the Lemon Tree, that would later rebrand as Goblin Hollow. It featured what was, in retrospect, an incredibly plural premise: normal guy suddenly finds he has a bunch of headmates that only he can see. I found that very interesting for Some Reason. I think that UTLT probably doesn't hold up very well, for a number of reasons, and even in 2004 or whatever I had somewhat icky vibes about the dude's politics, but I still read through the archive once. He apparently passed away earlier this year.

UTLT had a crossover with a science fiction comic called Schlock Mercenary, which at that point was about three years old. Schlock Mercenary was and still is a damn good piece of science fiction, starting from a fairly comedic and episodic beginning and going all sorts of wild and wonderful places. It ended in 2020 after exactly twenty years of uninterrupted daily updates. I absolutely recommend it, although look up a good place to jump in because the beginning can be a little rough. Just be prepared for. Y'know. 7,305 comics.

The author of Schlock Mercenary started a writing podcast with a couple author friends of his, called Writing Excuses. This was my introduction to later cohost and common answer I give for "favorite author", Mary Robinette Kowal. (It dithers between her and Becky Chambers, kinda depends on the day.) That would be impactful enough, but it was also my introduction to one of those other two cohosts, an up and coming fantasy author by the name of... oh what was his name again? Oh right. Brandon Sanderson.

I checked out some of his books because what he talked about on the podcast sounded cool. They were incredibly good, very up my alley. The first book in his new big series, The Way of Kings, was about to come out. I went on Tumblr to see if anyone else was excited about this.

this particularly works with anything negative i’ve forecasted. “i woke up feeling like shit today, so my day is gonna suck” isn’t a particularly helpful thought, but “it’s a great day to be alive!!!!!” feels hollow and insincere when i have a pounding headache & am running on three hours of sleep

instead i’ll tell myself, “i really don’t feel good right now, but i’m open to the possibility that coffee and breakfast might perk me up a bit.” or “i’m in a lot of pain today, but i’m open to the possibility that my workday might still have fun parts despite that”

"Pinhole Camera" Eclipse Effect !

when i asked whether their autistic classmate's meltdown was dangerous or merely uncomfortable, they said, "i felt like i was in danger!"

yes you should, actually. that's life. upsetting things happen. no one should have to experience any discomfort. but we do. we get stung by bees and sunburns and headaches. we live in bodies in the world.

autistic people are human beings who have the right to exist in society, including during meltdowns. having one class of your entire semester interrupted by a singular meltdown is not anymore of an infringement upon your entitlement to education than having your class interrupted by a fire alarm or cancelled for a snow storm.

one of my peers once experienced a cardiac event 10 minutes into class. it was terrifying. it was desperately upsetting. i was contacted by the school and offered counseling because i happened to be the one who managed the situation until paramedics arrived. everyone was worried about my classmate first and foremost, and then about me. no one blamed anyone, and certainly when my classmate happily recovered and returned to school, no one thought they should be removed from the program.

You must be saying, but that is just a regular rooster.

WRONG

At this point you’re probably sweating, maybe shaking and crying saying, surely that child is just short, but again you’d be

WRONG

but then it keeps coming

Anyway apparently Mr. Eclipse made 5000 years' worth of solar eclipse graphics, which you can find the simpler versions of here

ECLIPSE OF THALES LETS FUCKIN GO