Tyro Graphic

I have switched to using Startpage.com and vastly prefer it. for one thing, instead of displaying an "AI summary" at the top of the search results (unless you turn it off, yes I know), it displays the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, with link, whenever it finds one that's relevant.

also a waaayyyyy better sense of design than duckduckgo

Search Engines

Infinity Search is an alternative search engine with a special focus on privacy

DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine for those who value their privacy and are put off by the thought of their every query being tracked and logged. Uses bangs, ![site] for in-page search (sells your data to microsoft and draws from fucking bing)

WolframAlpha is a privately owned search engine that allows you to “compute expert-level answers using Wolfram’s breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase, and AI technology.” A data search engine.

Boardreader is a search engine for forums and message boards. It allows you to search forums and then filter down results by date and language.

Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-based search engine that won’t record your searches or use your personal details for advertising. Uses “&” as a bang search.

Another privacy-based search engine is Search Encrypt, which uses local encryption to ensure that users’ identifiable information cannot be tracked. Metasearch across multiple engines. 

Offering unbiased results from several sources, SearX is a metasearch engine that aims to present a free, decentralized view of the internet. Can be self-hosted. 

Gibiru’s tagline is “Unfiltered private search” and that’s exactly what it offers. Requires AnonymoX Firefox add-on for privacy. 

Disconnect allows you to conduct anonymous searches through a search engine of your choice.

Swisscows provides fully encrypted searches to protect your privacy and security. Built-in violence/porn filter cannot be overridden. 

MetaGer offers “Privacy Protected Search & Find” through its anonymised search. A plugin will allow it to be made a default.

Gigablast is a private search engine that indexes millions of websites and servers real-time information without tracking your data, keeping you hidden from marketers and spammers. Variety of filtration and refinement options for searching. 

Oscobo is a search engine that protects your privacy while you search the web. By not using any third-party tools or scripts, your data is protected from hacking and misuse. Has a Chrome extension to allow use in toolbar. 

https://search.marginalia.nu/ an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed. Use old-school searching rather than query-based for the best results. 

https://www.mojeek.com/ 

https://wiby.me/ - It’s goal is to index as many personalized websites as possible, and NOT commercial sites. 

https://4get.ca/ it works a lot like SearX, but honestly better. It doesn’t have its own index, but pulls from many others. I think it’s the best for research, since it allows you to search for answers from different indexes, is easy to configure, add free, and avoids censorship as much as it can.

https://www.searchenginemap.com/ for more on how search engines relate to each other.

https://yep.com/ is a crawler

https://www.etools.ch/ retrieves from Google, Mojeek, Bing, and Yandex, like Searx

https://www.dogpile.com/ 

https://searxng.org/ (next gen Searx)

https://luxxle.com/ - possibly conservative?

https://presearch.com/ - good for academic?

https://kagi.com/smallweb - free/randomised Kagi.

Other Searchers

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

Throwback Thursday peeps out of the gopher hole once again! I don't know how regular I can promise to be -- the long slog of getting to s3 kind of took it out of me, that and *gestures at everything,* and a months-long stress situation involving a hoarder house, cat smuggling, a rabbi, a drag queen, and a feral Republican talk show host, among other things. But I was moved to post, for those in the Good Omens fandom who are homesick for some good old fashioned post-season-1 fic.

I've caught myself thinking repeatedly this week about Angels Behaving Badly, which I posted in 2021 and 2022 -- a seven-fic series in which both Hell and Heaven get curious about what Aziraphale and Crowley find so attractive about humanity and the world. I mean, it's utter crack, but it's crack about both angels and demons going off the rez, trying Human things like lingerie, dancing, fine dining, Broadway musicals, and in one case, some thoroughly E-rated shenanigans -- winding up with, well, there's Offenbach, and canapes.

The adventures start with

Dream Angels -- rated M, ~2680 words

Why is Uriel hurriedly closing browser windows? And what is Michael hiding in her desk drawer? Inquiring Archangels want to know.

Or, Heaven discovers lingerie catalogues, and mail order.

Slow Dancing -- rated G, ~2650 words

Aziraphale has fans in Heaven, and they want him to teach them Human things – starting with lessons from the only angel who ever learned how to dance.

Aziraphale’s flattered and excited. Crowley’s not so keen. Tender humor for those longing for a bit of South Downs cottage life.

Unsafe At Any Speed -- rated E, ~4550 words

The rip-roaring explicit F/F one. Gabriel’s fellow archangels decide that just because the last charge didn’t happen, there’s no reason they can’t ride. A clandestine call to the Horsepersons and some quick selection of gear later, they’re ready to try touring the famous Mountain Course on the Isle of Man.

War remembers old times in the field alongside Michael and decides she has more to teach her than riding.

Tonight We Dine In Hell -- rated M, ~3000 words

Crowley discovers that he and his husband now have groupies in Hell. And they have a very specific request.

Vexed angel, sly demon, and the dinner guests from Hell. Rated M for the husbands' afters once the guests leave, bonus White Jacket Crowley.

Anything Goes - rated T, ~1580 words

Gabriel, like the other angels, has very little acquaintance with Human popular culture. So he misunderstands when he hears someone calling his name night after night.

A little swerve back in time: in the heyday of the Great White Way, Gabriel blunders into an appreciation of toe-tapping show music and brash singers.

Stripes -- rated M, ~1060 words

As cracky as it gets. Gabriel's started to feel sorry about the way he's treated -- well, everyone, and his review of the Tadfield Airbase Incident has led him to one person whose skill set seems exactly right to salve his conscience. If she can still get into the leather pinnie.

And finally:

Any Which Way You Can (-Can) -- rated M, ~3670 words

...it all comes together, with demons attending the operetta, a grand conciliatory celebration, fancy dress, the Tartarean Chamber Orchestra, a kickline, shenanigans in the cloakroom, and prairie oysters.

I mean, after all, the desired, er, consummation was always to move beyond the stupid, literal scorched-earth rivalry and appreciate the human world instead of trying to blow it up, right?

Offered as a candy dish with no whiff of those, um, sequels. Bon appetit!

Tagging past readers in the replies as usual -- let me know if you want on or off the list. If you reblog, i'd love you to recommend a favorite comfort fic that disregards the developments after season 1!

I know the Good Omens finale has left a lot of fans feeling heartbroken. It got me thinking about what really ties me to this fandom, and for me, my love for Good Omens has never lived or died by what happens on the screen. While I enjoyed Season 1, it didn’t blow me away—and yet it sparked a fierce desire to create my own stories about the characters, and it was through that act of creation that I connected with the fandom.

Canon may have closed its book, but my keyboard is still wide open.

I am still deeply, hopelessly in love with Aziraphale and Crowley and with writing. My method of coping with the completion of the on-screen story has been to furiously write—creating new worlds and giving them the gentle, romantic, or action-filled chapters with the happy endings they deserve. Which means I've been sneaking off to my computer like an addict to write at every single opportunity. (“Sorry kiddo, mom’s busy. Go drive yourself to school. You're ten, you've got this. Love you, bye.”)

To the fanfic readers, writers, artists, and the meta-analysts: we built the cottage. We always have.

Summary:

Look, I just really hated the ending of the finale and am getting this off my chest. The world goes back to what it was. That's it.

Aziraphale glanced over to Crowley with the full knowledge they appeared as the mortal couple of Asa and Anthony.

"Anyone looking?" Aziraphale asked carefully.

Crowley pressed his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. He shook his head. "No. Nobody."

Aziraphale smiled.

"Swap back then?" Crowley suggested.

"Are you going to do the eye thing?" Aziraphale asked, a hint of hope in his voice.

Crowley smiled. "With all the pleasure in the world." He removed his glasses. His brown eyes shifted into yellow, and his round pupils shifted into vertical slits.

Delighted with a giddy smile, Aziraphale asked, "Ready?"

Crowley nodded. He stood and offered his right hand. Aziraphale accepted the offered aid, standing as well. They swapped positions from where they stood.

They kissed softly, briefly, before sparing some space between them.

Both held their hands up together and touched, channeling their supernatural energy toward each other.

Black wings sprouted from Crowley's back, and white wings sprouted from Aziraphale's back.

The material energy of their universe shifted.

They no longer looked human but as the angel and demon from their own universe.

So many people who had been waiting patiently to return back to that place felt a burst of relief. Their lookalike forms whisked away. This hollow horror that they had lived in for the span of a few minutes, masking itself as billions of years, was gone.

They were home.

Back at the cottage, Crowley and Aziraphale stood in a warm embrace, then let it end.

They turned to face the cottage. "What do you think?" Crowley asked. He knew his own vote but would not say it aloud, at least not yet.

"I think, considering the source," Aziraphale remarked carefully, "we really should return it. Get a new one properly with some time," he advised.

Crowley agreed, nodding. "Right. I'm more than happy to leave this ghastly idea behind." He snapped his fingers.

The cottage popped away in an instant. The two momentarily stood in darkness. Crowley scowled. He would have to figure out how to get a job, earthly or infernal, but a job was better than this farce.

He pulled a pair of dark sunglasses out from his pocket and put them on, feeling like his proper snake demon self.

Color returned and blurred like horizontal motion as they found themselves returned to Whickber Street, just outside the front doors of Aziraphale's bookshop.

The supernatural magic had started to cleanse the area.

"Hey." They heard a familiar voice and turned around. Before them stood a human who was older than they had least seen him. He had grown up some.

"Adam?" Aziraphale asked.

"Thanks you two. You really had me worried there. I did what I could as soon as I felt you both," Adam told them.

Aziraphale nodded. Crowley nodded as well though his nod was more subtle.

"Can anyone tell me what's going on?" asked another careful and timid voice.

"Oh, Jesus," Crowley asked in a borderline mock of surprise.

"Yes, well...this universe was gone for a few minutes, mostly, and we uh...brought it back," Aziraphale started to explain. "We just needed a little placeholder in the meantime. But we're back! And now we're going to have to see who is where and doing what and what-have-you. Let's you and me start with Heaven." He motioned for Jesus to follow him. With a pause, he looked over to his partner. "Crowley?"

Crowley looked around and met his gaze with Adam's.

"Let's check the bookshop first," Adam offered.

Crowley nodded in agreement. The two started in that direction, up the steps, together. Aziraphale and Jesus had already resumed their walk.

"Welcome back, world. We missed you," Crowley said with a little smile.

...

So not long ago I listened to an episode of Ditch Diggers* where authors @tkingfisher and Mur Lafferty were discussing "it was all a dream"/universe reset endings, and why they felt so cheap and unsatisfying / why writers are advised to avoid them. 

And their point was, these endings feel unsatisfying because they tell the reader: all that stuff you just read? those epic adventures? everything that happened to the characters? Yeah, none of that mattered, it didn't happen, none of it was real. 

But if none if it happened, why did the reader waste their time reading about it? Oh you were emotionally invested in those characters? Jokes on you for caring, because none of the growth or danger they went through mattered. It was all a dream. The universe reset. None of that happened, actually.

It feels like a betrayal. And it is a betrayal of the contract the writer makes with the reader. All the time and emotional investment you put in to the story and the world is wasted, because none of it was real. I think that’s really the core of the issue with the ending of the GO finale. S1 told a beautiful, hopeful story about a bunch of ordinary people (and an extraordinary demon and angel) standing up for what they thought was right. Trying to stop the world ending even when it seemed hopeless. They stood up against powerful, corrupt systems that seemed insurmountable, and they managed to win. The world was saved. It’s a beautiful story and one we need now, when we live in a time where corrupt systems seem more powerful and unbeatable than ever! 

And we saw a beautiful, queer, and deep relationship built between Aziraphale and Crowley through history, despite everything keeping them apart.

The writers decided to throw all that out the window. Because if the world is reset and Heaven and Hell never existed, then nothing in S1 happened. Adam's choice to defy his Destiny and Satan is meaningless, because it didn't happen. There is a new Adam Young who was always the son of Arthur and Deirdre young. Newt and Anathema, Shadwell and Tracy, all those supposed "enemies" who found a connection in the person they were told to hate, who stood up to save the world, well that didn't happen either.  Aziraphale and Crowley, who we watched build a relationship over 6000 years despite incredible danger, who stood up to save billions of people (and dolphins, and gorillas) from pointless violence… all that history is thrown out in favor of two random humans. Sure, their relationship may be cute, but those are not the blorbos we spent so much time invested in. Aziraphale and Crowley died. And so did everyone else on Earth. Even if they were replaced with close copies, they died. They didn’t get a choice in that. Neither did the 20 million angels and demons in Heaven and Hell. A story about preventing the end of the world and the injustice of a universe slated to end before its time... gave us an ending where they destroy the whole universe. And the writers have the gall to pretend this is our happy ending?

The South Downs ending feels hollow because it’s not Aziraphale and Crowley finally getting to rest after 6000 years, finally building a life together. It’s just two random humans who sort of look like them.

There are sad or bittersweet endings that can still feel satisfying if they meet the characters' needs. This ending does not do that. “Everyone dies” is not a solution to anything. It’s a tragedy. So yeah, I do not accept this ending as canon. I am ignoring S2 and S3. As far as I'm concerned the story ended with the Ritz and to the world. I will keep writing and producing art of them from that moment. Because their story did matter. To many of us. And they deserved a real ending, not a “nevermind, none of it happened.”

Text: Aivelin Illustration: a-ida

The series finale of Good Omens dropped this Wednesday, leaving the fandom shaken and in absolute distress. The audience reaction was immediate, driving the Rotten Tomatoes score for Season 3 down to a disappointing 36%. The online debate grew so heated and overwhelmed with grief that numerous fan accounts faced 24-hour social media bans for their highly emotional confessions.

Viewers are highly divided. While a fraction accepts the heavy ending as a necessary evil, the overwhelming sentiment across platforms is utter bewilderment and heartbreak: "These characters do not feel like the ones we grew to love in previous seasons!"

This raises painful, critical questions: Is this sudden shift in characterization a narrative misstep? Is the tragic, suicidal ending a harsh subversion of the original book, which famously promised a comforting happily ever after?

To find the answer, one must look closely at who held the creative reins for the scripts of Seasons 2 and 3. By analyzing the writing credits, clear and undeniable patterns emerge, linking these distressing plot choices directly to Neil Gaiman’s broader, often dark and subversive, body of work.

The Solitary Vision and the Realigned Mold

While the first season captured the shared spirit of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s 1990 novel, the subsequent seasons belong to Gaiman’s solitary vision. When viewed alongside his wider world of storytelling, such as The Sandman, American Gods, and Stardust, the tragic fractures in Aziraphale and Crowley’s bond lose their surprise. Gaiman’s worlds are populated by immortal beings who are deeply fractured at best and cruel at worst. In these narratives, it is almost a rule that celestial entities will take advantage of the hearts that love them, turning devotion into a tool before abandoning those souls to a devastating fate.

Crucially, Gaiman always veils this emotional cruelty behind high-minded dilemmas. The act of abandonment is never framed as simple coldness; instead, it is masked as a profound moral crisis ("We cannot be together because I am a god and you are human"), a sacrifice of monumental importance ("I must leave our future to save my kingdom"), or an unyielding divine necessity. Even when Gaiman’s romances lack outward malice, they are consistently denied peace. In Stardust, the mortal husband passes away, leaving his immortal, celestial wife to endure eternity in silent, isolated grief. By transforming Aziraphale into a colder, more emotionally distant figure who abruptly leaves Crowley for a heavenly promotion, Gaiman is merely reshaping Good Omens to fit his favorite creative blueprint.

Deeply Pessimistic Parallels

Ultimately, the ending of Good Omens Season 3 and the conclusion of The Sandman reveal deeply pessimistic parallels. The Sandman closes with its protagonist suffering the consequences of his own rigid nature, forced by higher powers into self-destruction so that his kingdom might survive. In the wake of this death, the universe offers a surrogate replacement - a new entity stripped of the original’s memories, whom the remaining characters are forced to accept despite their lingering grief. 

Aziraphale’s sudden, illogical decision to leap at Heaven’s offer mirrors this exact brand of narrative cruelty. Neither Aziraphale nor Crowley deserved to have their hard-won autonomy stripped away for the sake of a grandiose self-sacrifice. 

A Profound Departure from Terry Pratchett

This shift represents a profound departure from the late Terry Pratchett’s fundamental worldview. Pratchett harbored a deep-seated aversion to suicide tropes and grand, sacrificial violence in fiction. His works respected the dignity of both life and death. In his narrative, the Apocalypse is defeated not through self-sacrifice or bloodshed, but by the quiet resilience and stubborn pragmatism of ordinary people. The first season beautifully honored this philosophy, as the Antichrist and a group of children stopped the Apocalypse through sheer, down-to-earth humanity.

The subsequent seasons discard this logic entirely, altering the very cosmology of the universe. In Season 1, God was an infallible, detached observer whose ineffable plan quietly empowered the right people at the right moment to prevent ruin. By Season 3, God is reframed as a petulant, semi-malicious entity capable of erasing existence on a whim.

Furthermore, while Pratchett and Gaiman likely brainstormed the concepts of the South Downs cottage and the conflict between Heaven, Hell and Earth together, Pratchett would never have designed an intentionally suicidal and destructive endgame. In his philosophy, survival is achieved through an attachment to mundane, earthly joys. In the first season, Crowley is saved from hellfire by his love for his car and his human-like imagination, while Aziraphale survives because of his eccentric, earthly devotion to collecting rare books.

Conclusion: Fanfiction or Harsh Reality

A true thematic continuation of both authors' visions would look radically different. It would find Aziraphale and Crowley left alone in a quiet bookshop for eternity, weaving their magical memories and shared love for humanity together to rewrite every lost book back into a brand-new universe. If that choice ultimately stripped them of their divinity and left them mortal, it would be a logical, bittersweet happily-ever-after within the sanctuary of a beautiful, earthly garden.

I'm Yours ❤

I did it, i did the entire month ! 😳😁 Once again, enormous thanks to @mielpetite for the lovely prompt list - I did the lineart in Feb 2020, and I am terribly proud of myself for colouring them all in Feb 2021! Thanks for coming along on the ride 😚!

Start with Feb 1 here , or see the whole series on my insta and ao3 as well ❤