to anyone in the areas impacted by the wildfire smoke, my #1 biggest piece of advice as someone whos been dealing with wildfire smoke in the NW united states for years, is build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal Cube
they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!
i think it took us maybe a half hour to put ours together, if that, and we replace the filters every 3 months. it's really made a HUGE difference, both when the air quality is bad, but also with our allergies
Also just a handy, DIY air filter in general, if a bit bulky. For a less bulky and cheaper (but also less effective) solution, you can simply tape one filter to the fan, cut a shroud if you'd like.
just FYI, this is quite literally what the climate scientists at my work who specialized in wildfire smoke impacts recommend. it works great, it's cheap to make, and it will make a noticeable impact on your air quality.
i have asthma & keep one of these running in my room perpetually. after I set it up the difference in my sleep quality was pretty much night and day. Dont waste your time on proprietary air filters; SIMPLY bust out the duct tape
Do you have any lore bits for Grim? I just realized that we barely know anything about him
Sure do!
How he came to be is similar to Lion in canon, except Dan found him already dead and a pile of normal wolf bones. Dan had been given a bottle of Lizzy/Roseās healing tears/spit by the hermitcraft/life series rebels and was taking it back by foot to the Sub-Zero/Shady Oaks rebelās temple because the warp pad was under repairs. Keep in mind, Dan wasnāt AS accustomed to the concept of organic death, decay, and preservation as a human would be, so he got distracted by the bones, ambushed by a corrupted Quartz, and accidentally dropped the tears, which seeped into the ground along with his own spit from the fight, reviving the dog into a sort of animate skeleton with the soul making up the rest of the body. Once he took care of the Quartz, a tiny bit of corruption essence mixed into the dirt, which made Grim into a big ass direwolf, and Dan didnāt realize what the hell he just made until it literally followed him back to the temple and scared the shit out of everybody else. Lizzyās spit/tears reanimated him, but it was diluted, as opposed to Danās being direct, which is how Grim ended up not fully alive with flesh and just undead. And blue.
Like Lion, he also has that hammer space in his fur. It would look a lot different, though, probably a blue-ish wisteria tree and some hydrangeas. Dan doesnāt keep near as much stuff in there because heās worried about losing it, instead letting Justin carry most of it in his Pearl. If anybody keeps stuff in Grims fur, itās most of the team, though whatever they do keep in there, they secure in a box or something because Grim not being fully alive means stuff falls out a lot easier. If any of them gets poofed, they typically throw anybody but James in there until they get back home. James canāt stay in there because heād sufffocate. Same no-oxygen rules apply with Grimās space. The point of entry is just his underside and the thick fur around his head, so if anyone needs something, he just rolls over.
Grim came perfectly trained upon being revived, so the group assumes he retained at least some of the memories from before he died and that he belonged to somebody before, but that somebodyās long gone. He doesnāt remember who they were, at all.
More among us doodle dumps oop.. I REALLY tried my best to see if I could design gijinkas of the rodamrix characters but it's so hard to see these guys being human lmao
Made this for funsies. Do understand none of this actually upsets or bothers me (I actually laugh at these "theories" a Lot), I just made them out of silliness, hehe.
This is gonna be a more unique post than what I usually do but uhm...
See this guy? Black from Rodamrix. I'm gonna talk about them, because they're such a decently portrayed character in my own personal opinion and I believe they deserve more attention than what the fandom gives them (which is like... none.)
With the power of having autism and unnecessarily psycho-analyzing the jellybeans, I see Black as a pretty well assertive character. They're VERY expressive, loud, and is often strongly opinionated on things. If they have something to say, they'll say it. If they want something, they'll do what they can to get it. A decent majority of scenes of Black is them with the >0 expression and I love that aboutthem.
And as I rewatched Rodamrix for like the 2000th time, I noticed one thing.
Remember when I said they were very strongly opinionated on things? This is the one and ONLY time (as of now) Black has ever hesitated to make a decision, which is between voting Yellow or Green out. And when I watched this scene a dozen times, it always confused me because this was so incredibly out of character for Black. Black has been siding with Green this whole time, but suddenly hesitates when forced to decide between Green or Yellow. But why?
Not sure if anyone truly took much notice to this scene, because I for sure didn't. I stupidly saw it as just a "Glitch.Y is trying his best but his best isn't good enough for the crewmates," and I had assumed Black would of shrugged it off as "Man this kid is insane as hell whatever" BUT I DID NOT NOTICE they actually turned around to see the box Glitch.Y was pointing at.
Glitch.Y saved Black's life and they acknowledged it. Their ass got saved by a literal child he saw as a freak. And this is the first time we see them with a face of Genuine Worry.
YOU NEVER SEE THEM WITH THIS SORT OF GENUINE EXPRESSION AGAIN. UNLESS I'M JUST REALLY BLIND. BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME BLACK EXPRESSES GENUINE WORRY AND IT'S FOR GLITCH.Y. They've sided with Green this whole time but then has realised that just this once, Green was wrong about something, which was Glitch.Y trying to kill them all. And Black Worried. For once they hesitated, and couldn't bring themself to make such a decision.
And that's just one thing about Black. Small detail, really. They had a moment of hesitation for the first time. Oh well. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.
Green, who is the Skeld Leader goes missing, right? That was their LEADER. They are now without a leader. And who is the first to take initiative and act as next leader?
BLACK DOES.
Yellow tries to take the initiative first, but is torn when Dr White assumes Glitch.Y and Green already dead, so Black immediately takes the lead instead. Black becomes the new, temporary leader for the team when they go to look for Glitch.Y and Green.
They even stand at the front of the team, willing to go forth before them all which would put themself at the most risk. And this isn't arrogance either, they do it GENUINELY. They even waited for Yellow's word before they start walking. They even gave each other the nod to proceed.
And they do a pretty decent job at leading too. They take after Green pretty well, in my opinion.
Altogether, I just feel like Black is a well fleshed out character, especially for someone who's sidelined for the entirety of the series. Everyone talks about Tan, a lot talk about Lime, which both deserve the attention they get of course, but I feel like Black is the most fleshed out side-character in the entire series.
I appreciate how much effort Rodamrix puts into Black's personality. I do hope Cyan gets a bit of a character arc too though. I like to see Black as Cyan to be really close, especially since they share similar personality traits. I just hope the fandom comes to appreciate Black more for his character in the series.
Also, bonus Black Alternate content
(They were actually the last to die out of the Skeld team which I found interesting. Gives into the idea they could've potentially made it out alive had it not been a 2v1. The only reason they got stopped and killed was because Purple came in as they barely escaped Pink.)
(Fun fact, Black's role in the Skeld is actually guarding*, so it'd make sense they watched outside while the others worked to fix the dropship)
(I like how Green looks directly to Black here honestly, might be a part of why Black tends to take after them. Green gives them the their attention first KYEHEHE)
(bro looks like they're trying to intimidate Purple over actually trying to stop them BEHEHEHE)
(And here, they're the first one to say something upon seeing the France Squad (and Mini Yellow))
*From Rodamrix's Instagram, a reference of Black's role here
I hope you guys understand why I like Black as a character a lot now.
Uncs fusion #5, hereās Abalone! Despite his components, heās pretty quiet and stoic around most until heās in a safe spot with Dan and/or James or any other rebels, only then is it apparent heās a complete sweetheart. Heās harmless to anything but the corrupted and any loyalist gems trying to attack, just has the worst Resting Bitch Face known to man. Heās really similar to canon Opal in terms of calm temper and being nothing yet everything like the gems that make him.
I donāt know why I went for a navy theme, my mind thought of a blend between Justinās crossbow and water and came up with a harpoon gun, then I said āeh why the hell notā. Yes I had āIn the Navyā by the Village People in my head the entire time.
There should be more ace characters in media and more aro characters and more aroace characters and more aroallo character and more alloace characters and they should be in all sorts of different genres with all sorts of different personalities and relationships and storylines #yay
In a world where genies are commonplace and delight in granting wishes in the most inconvenient way possible, you are a defense attorney who must defend your client, a well-meaning genie who is charged with felonious wish-granting.
It wasnāt the first time Iād had to defend Jimmy, and it wouldnāt be the last. Heās got to be one of the most-litigated genies whoās ever lived, which is a little unfair, since heās also actually one of the most genuinely benign. He just gets things wrong a lot.Ā
Like, a *lot*.Ā
So wrong.
So often.Ā
See, all genies will, to some extent, screw with wishes. Itās their nature. With some of them, if you wish for āa horseā, they give you a heavily insured and very identifiable race-horse and watch the catastrophe unfold. Others will justĀ mess with the wish a little bit, say, by giving you a foal instead of a currently rideable horse or something. But everyone knows they need to be careful with their wording, these days, so itās not usually too bad. (Unless you violate the three rules. Wish to raise the dead, to kill someone, or to make someone fall in love with you, and they will get *very* unpleasant.)Ā
