random miscellany of geekishness

Books, anime, knitting, fandom, and libraries. Pretty damn queer and old enough to know better. Find me on AO3 and DW also as daemonluna.

[scifiseries]

[hunter-rodrigez]

So I do 3D modeling and printing as a hobby, and a few weeks ago I designed wheel guards meant to prevent office chairs from running over cables and clothes... or your pet's tail.

I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.

Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.

So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.

Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.

Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵‍💫

Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.

Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.

I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.

[these-violet-delights-fic]

People love simple, extremely practical things. I hope you win!

[aqarititss]

@sweatermuppet

[mythicalcoolkid]

Hey can we queers please remember that the rural queer experience has unique challenges thanks

[mythicalcoolkid]

Coming out is different when you know if you come out to one person you risk the whole town knowing. Coming out is different when religion is entwined in your entire community. Being queer is different when you can't trust that your doctor or therapist will stay confidential. Being queer is different when conversion therapy is subtle and normalized. Transitioning is different when there aren't gender clinics or gender therapists for 50 miles. School is different when other kids are put at risk by being seen with you. Can we stop acting like there aren't queer people living in rural areas and start supporting them

[tayefeth]

What are some things city and suburban queer folks can do to support rural queer folks?

[mythicalcoolkid]

Thank you for asking!

I think the biggest part is challenging your assumptions and views on rural queer people and rural people as a whole. “Rednecks/hicks/country folks are stupid/bigoted/all Trump supporters” is a pretty pervasive view, and while there is truth in that bigoted views can thrive in rural areas, it’s alienating for rural queers to hear, especially so constantly. Being derisive toward people from rural or Southern areas tells queer people from those areas that their opinions aren’t worth as much

The same goes for assuming that queer people don’t live in rural areas, or even that queer people would never CHOOSE to live in rural areas. There are queer people who are there by force - minors, people who can’t afford to leave, people who are reliant on caretakers who can’t or won’t leave, and many others. But there are also queer people who have the option to leave and decide not to. Or who move to a different rural area, or leave for a time and choose to return. There are a million reasons why a queer person would freely choose to live in a rural area

On that note: the idea that rural areas can’t be improved or are inherently bigoted. Not only is this not true, but it removes any need for reform or support. The solutions to “rural areas often support hotbeds of bigotry for x, y, and z reasons” and “rural areas are often inhospitable toward minorities” are “dismantling systems that harm minorities is essential” and “there needs to be specific effort made toward adding support and services for minorities in rural areas,” NOT “if you’re a minority you should move to a city” (which, as already discussed, not only may not be possible, but may not actually be what the person wants to do)

The final prevalent issue I tend to see is lack of awareness of rural specific issues and assuming that things in rural areas are the same as they are in cities and suburbs. This often comes up in areas like pressure to come out (e.g. to have the “gay experience,” to be your “authentic self,” claiming it’s not fair to your partner, claiming that people will regret not coming out sooner), when in reality coming out may be dangerous or inviting harassment. Prioritizing early transition and claiming that you won’t get good results if you transition as an adult is also a big issue - after all, if you won’t look good unless you transition early and transitioning isn’t an option, your future looks pretty hopeless. (Making medical transition the forefront of transness is an issue in general, but we won’t go into that right now)

Those are the main things I can think of right now. Other rural queer people please feel free to add on! 

[greenhorn-art]

Much Ado About Chickens (or "With This Chicken I Thee Wed") by Silvarbelle

Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: M/M

Words: 4,189

What the CLUCK? Wei Wuxian has the sense of clucky mutterings with every gift and kindness his Lan Zhan gives him, beginning with Unexpected Proposal Chickens.

and it's fanart comic With this chicken I thee wed!!! by @pakhnokh

This was a fun little story! Gotta love the scene with the roosters — the joke writes itself, and Silvarbelle's delivery is fun:

"With his hands full of cock, Wei Wuxian wondered if his beloved Lan Zhan had finally flown his own mental coop."

Pakhnokh's comic is also beautiful, and I absolutely had to include it!

.

ABOUT THE BOOK

FORMAT: Perfect binding, trimmed to 5 7/8" x 4 1/4"

FONTS: Palatino Linotype, Rosarivo [Google Fonts]

IMAGES: Painting of a chicken [Pinterest], Painting of lotus seed pods by Qin Tianzhu [Pinterest], Lotus Home For A Little Mouse by Violetta Boyadzhieva [Pinterest]

MATERIALS: 20lb Domtar EarthChoice Multipurpose Colour Copy Paper (cream), 20lb Hammermill Premium Laser Gloss Paper for Coloue (94 bright), cardstock

PROGRAMS USED: Procreate (cover design), LibreOffice Writer, Bookbinder-JS

TIMELINE OF SHAME:

Typeset: May 2022.

Printed and bound: October 2024.

Posted to Tumblr: July 1, 2026.

.

Regarding the typeset:

The decision to use glue and make it into a perfect bound book, instead of a sewn binding, came later in the process. The typeset was made with sewn signatures in mind, so I ended up making 3 separate documents for this fic:

Everything before the comic. I finagled the document so that there would not be random blank pages before the comic.

The comic. Printed on glossy paper for laser printers. The resulting colour was a little lacking compared to if I'd used my inkjet, but there was no ghosting from the other side of the page!

The backmatter. Here, I included links and QR codes to souces, the materials list, and the information from AO3.

Regarding the binding:

This was also my second try at both perfect bound style binding and at making a paperback. I was more liberal with the glue, and pasted down the cover 1/4" onto the endpaper, instead of 1/8" as previous. Definitely more secure!

Regarding the cover:

For the cover design, I went with roosters and lotus pods, from the first and third scenes. I raided Pinterest for the images, which is absolutely terrible for sources. As far as I can figure, the lotus pods on the front are by Qin Tianzhu, and the back cover artwork is by Violetta Boyadzhieva.

[glorious-spoon]

While I sort of get the impulse, it does always get my back up when people talk about something like Animorphs with this attitude of 'omgggg remember these books, how on EARTH were we allowed to read these books, they're so grim and dark and violent and tragic, no adults could possibly have known what they actually contained or they'd have been banned.'

And like. Allowing for the fact that there absolutely are adults who think every distressing topic ever should be banned from children's literature - they're children's books. You were allowed to read them when you were a kid because they were written for kids. Bridge to Terabithia is also a children's book. So is Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller and Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry and The Giver and loads of other books that deal with heavy, difficult topics. It is appropriate and good for children to have books about these things that are tailored to their reading levels and it genuinely really bugs me when people act like they're somehow not really for kids because bad things happen in them or they end tragically.

[millenniallust4death]

I’m paying to force seven thousand strangers to see a photo of my late husband having fun with his dog. Tumblr Blaze is totally worth it. XD

[millenniallust4death]

Thank-you to all of my new Internet stranger friends for being so gracious about having my post shoved onto your dashboards. I loved reading all of your kind tags and comments! Both Martin and Bosco have been gone for several years now but for 24 hours, they felt very present in my life. I greatly appreciate this gift. ❤️

[psycorax]

Reblog to have your dashboard be visited by the spirit of joy that death can end but not erase.

[leavescrown]

Love that this is well beyond 7000 people now and still going

[millenniallust4death]

@leavescrown Exactly! It’s a beautiful gift. Martin and Bosco out there travelling around the Tumblr community, continually making new friends.

[millenniallust4death]

@sseanettles

#hello again martin and bosco!! sending you boys round for another go :)

Reading your tag made me laugh out loud. It’s like two old friends unexpectedly stopped by your porch for a quick visit. XD

[petermorwood]

I’ll always reblog Martin and Bosco when they splash across my dash, because of Reasons.

What’s loved, lives.

[deehellcat]

“the spirit of joy that death can end but not erase.” thanks tumblr for making me tear up right before bed. <3

[abbiistabbii]

The Germans really cooked making "Hobbyless behaviour" an insult. It is both devastating, applicable to a wide range of people and behaviours, and doesn't resort to swearing.

Man ranting on the internet about the Superbowl halftime show or complaining that something is "woke"? Hobbyless Behaviour. Girls mocking another girl for not looking right? Hobbyless Behaviour. Mindless vandalism? Hobbyless Behaviour.

It is more powerful than "get a life" or the English "You're Sad" because it gets to the central point of the matter, and that is wonderful. Danke, Deutsch.

[mlleclaudine]

from India Rose Crawford's Instagram

[francistheterrible]

Highlights of the bullshit shakespeare show (romeo and juliet) i saw with my mom yesterday:

- they had a whiteboard in front of the stage where you would write what genre you wanted to see the show in. I wrote “western”. Someone else wrote “horny western”

- someone wrote “shakespearean” on the board. For a shakespeare show.

- “sondheim musical” was suggested but crossed out because that would basically just be west side story and the theater would get sued by disney

- “make them irish idk” written under “gothic”. Not a genre but the actors thought it was funny

- “‘problematic age gap relationship’ is basically already canon”

- “what are some characters you would expect to see in a western” “clint eastwood”

- so the audience ended up voting to do a western adaptation of romeo and juliet but the montagues were all vampires (had to suggest characters you wouldn’t expect to see in a western and someone suggested vampires)

- mercutio wasn’t a vampire he was just a human guy who was remarkably calm about being friends with a bunch of vampires. Also i think he and benvolio were gay but maybe that was just in the source material

- romeo kept biting people’s necks and drinking their blood when they died

- i think juliet was still problematically underage

- romeo bit juliet at some point and she spent the rest of the show covering the bite mark up like it was a hickey and not very obviously from a vampire

- mercutio and tybalt got into a barfight. Mercutio’s actor downed an entire bottle of whateverthefuckitwas in one go “yep i hated that”. They couldnt actually break the glass bottles so they were just fighting with intact glass bottles until tybalt remembered that he had a gun and shot mercutio. They both had guns btw so i guess mercutio forgot about his

- the friar was also the town drunk and was apparently also chill with romeo being a vampire

- balthasar was a talking horse. None of the characters wonder why a horse talks

- instead of drinking poison at the end of the show romeo ate garlic. And he was tossing it between his hands like a hot potato and wincing in pain every line he delivered while holding it

- juliet almost broke out laughing during the aforementioned garlic incident (while she was supposed to be dead)

- when juliet woke up she was a vampire. And was also getting burned by the garlic and threw it away. And i think she drank some of romeo’s blood after he died (again) and then staked herself (romeo had the stake throughout the entire show just in case he had to kill himself i guess)

10/10 show. First time i have ever seen a shakespeare show so this was my first impression of romeo and juliet. William Shakespeare would be proud

[plaguedocboi]

So every year, my aquarium does a captive lobster hatchery project (hence all the loblings). The reason we’re doing it is because in the wild, loblings only have a 1 in 25,000 chance of surviving their larval phase. They’re plankton as babies and everything eats them. Additionally, as the Gulf of Maine warms, they are having even lower survival rates because the blooms of copepods they feed on as babies are happening earlier in the year, and they’re missing it.

Obviously, the goal of this experiment is to grow the lobsters until they’re big enough to settle to the seabed and then release them, because they have a much higher likelihood of surviving to adulthood when they’re able to hide. Ideally, captive lobster hatcheries can boost the wild population and keep things stable, so we don’t have a major crash in a decade or two.

The first year we tried this was pretty bad. We had a lot of eggs, but very few babies. It turned out that the CO2 levels in the building spiked as more guests visited throughout the summer, and that settled into the water and threw off the pH and caused a chemical reaction that prevented a lot of the eggs from hatching. I think we ended up releasing three baby lobsters (which is still better than their wild survival rate but not great).

The second year was a little better. We added a de-gasser to the aquarium and got a ton of larval lobsters, but right as they were settling to the bottom we had a disease outbreak that killed most of them. We ended up releasing four babies at the end of the season.

But this year? Oh boy. We have so many lobsters that we had to release the first round early (usually we wait till September or October so guests can see them). We just released a total of FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE baby lobsters, and we still have over a hundred who haven’t settled to the bottom yet. I genuinely don’t even have words to explain how cool this is. OVER FIVE HUNDRED. We just added hundreds of lobsters to the wild population that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.

Conservation is so fucken sick

[artistformerlyknownasbutttrumpet]

i was training a young person at work, and she referred to sexual assault as "SA" out loud, and i immediately was like, "no, it's sexual assault, call it what it is," bc idgaf if the algorithm overlords have taught y'all that you should fear direct language, how tf do any of you expect to ever address real issues with any amount of seriousness if you can't even say the words? imagine an advocate looking a sexual assault survivor in the eyes and asking "did he grape you?" it's absolutely fucking absurd, but these young interns and new hires are coming into an environment where we deal with survivors of all different kinds of abuse, and they're coming with the mindset that the words are as bad as the actions, and that makes them shitty at the job and look juvenile af

i HATE self-censorship for a lot of reasons, but being in crisis work makes it even more frustrating. who are you censoring for? like i am being so fr, WHO are you censoring for? have you even thought it through? people who have been raped know that they have been raped. if someone attempts suicide or is grieving someone who did, saying "sewer slide" isn't going to protect them from any of the feelings. a murder victim's family isn't going to feel better bc you said "unalived" instead of murdered. if anything, it's just extremely invalidating and othering. it's saying "what happened to you is so bad that i won't even say the word," which is NOT trauma-informed care. you are not protecting survivors/victims when you self-censor. the ONLY things you protect when you self-censor are the puritanical ideologies that are being encouraged by rich fascists who want your money and obedience

say the fucking words, guys. just say the goddamn words before i go insane!!!

[strange-aeons]

during pride month??????

[strange-aeons]

Great news: after being banned from Night Power Tools, my wife has taken up whittling and is making me a spoon

[strange-aeons]

Finished spoon!

[pookieshane]

favorite hollanov kisses 30/??

[regainingparadise]

When #myshane retires, he doesn’t go into coaching or podcasting or whatever.

He becomes a consultant who shitty teams trying to not suck, good teams who want to last further into the playoffs, great teams who want to finally win the cup, call to Fix Them.

He is paid absolutely bonkers amounts of money to watch a team play for five minutes and immediately diagnose what’s wrong with them. He is always right.

Ok 5 minutes is probably an exaggeration. The coaches send him a bunch of tape to review in advance. They probably focus on their best players or the ones they think need the most improvement, but half the time Shane requests more, focusing on players they hadn’t paid much attention to before. Then one day at practice, the players look up into the stands and are filled with awe, terror, and wonder, because Shane Hollander is sitting there staring directly at them with a scarily thoughtful look on his face.

He meets with the coaches and gm and reports his conclusions. Who to trade and for who , how to get better results from certain players, how to run power plays and penalty kills, changes in line makeups.

Some lucky players get to meet with him. He takes about five minutes to list off or demonstrate everything they need to do to stop sucking. He has no time for chit chat or hero worship. Focus, listen, learn, and do exactly what he says and you will be good. Fail to do what he says and you will shame your entire bloodline.

I think that, if he’s not the one actually playing, this would be a dream job. It involves Knowing Things About Hockey, Judging Shitty Hockey Players, Getting Recognized As The Best at Hockey, Being Correct, and Making Hockey Better. He should get to do all these things

[binkythegeek]

I will add that he contracts Yuna and Svetlana to do research on players and coaches. They get so good that the league starts requiring that he sign contracts saying he will never acquire ownership of any teams. And when teams sign him on they MUST agree to sensitivity training before he even starts his evaluations.

[iah-q]

im obsessed with jelly minty-turquoise nails rn ---- and its leaked into my beadwork I think 🦭🐬🪼🧊⛲️🌀🌊🎐🪩

[ineptshieldmaid]

Today's rec post is...

Today's rec post is: realising multiple this is delightful and also educational fics I have read are all by the same person, @arustyspork. I really love a) fanwriters going all out on localisation and b) a personal hobby/interest dialled up to 11 for the purposes of fanfic. Let's start with the first one:

5 Times Ilya Was Confused by a Canadianism (11939 words) by ARustySpork Chapters: 6/6 Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander & Hayden Pike Characters: Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander, Hayden Pike, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Evan Dykstra, Cliff Marlow Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, POV Ilya Rozanov, Ilya Rozanov-centric, Married Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Fluff, Extremely Specific Canadian Knowledge, Cheddar Cheese Slander, Regina Saskatchewan, North American House Hippo - Freeform, Spoilers for Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Poorly Veiled Love for the Edmonton Oilers, Hockey, Hockey Fights Summary: + 1 time he completely understood

As an Australian who has known and loved Canadians and a fair amount of CanCon, this delighted me. It also made me specifically disappointed that no one had told me about the North American House Hippo.

In fact, was the North American House Hippo regional or something? You see, I saw Great Big Sea in Sydney in... 2011? 2012? The boys had recently played in Melbourne, and I can't remember if this was in the botanic guardens in Melbourne or Sydney, but they had been taken to Experience The Nature. Their local friend told them about drop bears. They were suspicious. They wisely grabbed a random passer-by and asked if their friend was fucking with them. No, said the random passer-by. You gotta watch out for Drop Bears.

Alan Doyle, ridiculous bouncing puppy of a man that he is, spent chunks of the show coming back around to trying to convince the Sydney audience that he comes from the home of ferocious... land seals, I think? (Which. Uh. I've encountered seals on land, in NZ). Why would he do this, if he could have been telling us about the North American House Hippo?

NEXT UP: We've all seen the post that describes Heated Rivalry as a "Fade To Black Hockey Romance": steamy sex, fade to black on the hockey, right? Well, with shows where the sex is only implied it is clearly the duty of fandom to fill in the gaps. Where the hockey is implied, someone needs to provide the hockey. I can't, I don't know enough hockey, although I'm frantically gaining ground. @arustyspork is here for us in our time of need:

The Best Game You Can Name (the good ol’ hockey game) (4491 words) by ARustySpork Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander & Hayden Pike Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike, J. J. Boiziau Additional Tags: Hockey, Banter, Fluff, Hockey Fights, Ilya Rozanov Loves Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov Goes Flying into the Bench, Shane Hollander Says Safety First, References to Brad Marchand, Licking, Does this hurt the horse?, The neck guard stays ON, Crack Treated Seriously Summary: “Why would anyone want to mic you up, Hollander?” Ilya asked, getting down to his knees next to Shane to join him in his stretches. “All they will hear is you discussing boring statistics and complaining how I am so much more talented than you.” _ Or, Shane and Ilya on the ice, over the years

I am particularly delighted with the Licking Incident, because, in the course of my Researches, I learned about Brad Marchand. And then RR was on What Chaos and, when asked if there is a "Brad Marchand figure", did not say Ilya? Ridiculous. He clearly a) is the kind of guy who would lick other players on the ice and b) the What Chaos guys basically really wanted to picture Brad Marchand shutting down locker room homophobia / standing up for Outed Players, both irl and they want that for Shane and Ilya - but that's one of the roles Ilya plays in his cameos in books 3-5! Anyway. I really wanted the licking stunt and I got it. The "falling over the boards" bit was also helpful - such hockey as I have so far watched hasn't given me a good sense of the layout of the bench, or even of a line change, but the notes at the bottom led to video of Connor McDavid falling into the opposing bench. *clasps hands earnestly* When I was young, fanfic taught me about sex; now that I am old, fanfic teaches me about Sports.

Ilya Rozanov’s Guide to Interacting with the Media (7509 words) by ARustySpork Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Cliff Marlow, Scott Hunter (Game Changers) Additional Tags: Hockey, Social Media, Twitter, Bongo Anthem, Biblically Accurate Newfoundlanders, Beet Borscht, Mic'd Up, References to Quinn Hughes's Ghosts, Tim Hortons, Spoilers for Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Fluff, Crack Treated Seriously Summary: Use this foolproof guide to make the fans love you! Not recommended by publicists.

Hilarious. ALSO genuinely useful. I didn't know about the All Star draft process. Finally, @arustyspork has an in-progress WIP which involves Ilya billetting a Russian rookie in Boston. That would not normally be my jam but I'm adding it to my to-read list on the basis of the excellence of the above.

[arustyspork]

Absolutely floored, this is the nicest thing I've ever read. I am very happy to fulfill my duty as your Canadian hockey educator, it has been so exciting for me to be delivered a Fandom on a silver plate that fits every special interest I have.