Black ppl deserve to feel safe and welcomed on the internet, on fandoms on whatever community or hobbies they want without having to deal with antiblack racist attacks, microaggressions or enablers of antiblackness . And if u genuinely consider urself to be left leaning or an ally or woke you should do and try to unlearn the colorism, texturism , eurocentrism and antiblackness
In the spirit of encouraging people to comment on fanfics while also making it easier to do so, I feel obliged to share a browser extension for ao3 that has quite literally revolutionized the comment game for me.
I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!
From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!
I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.
The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.
(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)
If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.
The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.
insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box
add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box
delete -> self explanatory
on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic
The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.
Comments are what keep writers going, and as both a writer and a reader, I think it's such an easy way of showing support and enthusiasm.
How are we more than halfway through 2026?! Wasn’t it just January yesterday? 🥴 Either way, each new month brings new positive news headlines, and July was no exception! ☀️ Come recap five good news stories from July! 🩵🌺🌊
1. ❤️🩹😷 Uganda has been declared free from Ebola!
Authorities in Uganda declared the country free of Ebola following the discharge of the country’s last patient! The country reported cases in May alongside its neighbor Democratic Republic of Congo, which continues to deal with the outbreak — Uganda, however, only ever recorded 20 cases and two deaths, with authorities finding no indication of further spread within the country! Uganda responded swiftly to the public health threat, including contact tracing and postponing potential superspreader events. Part of the reason the response was so successful was due to Uganda having experience in swiftly responding to health crises like Ebola. Uganda for now can breathe a sigh of relief as it continues to educate the public on prevention measures as well as send healthcare workers to Congo to help tackle the virus!
Uganda discharged its last Ebola patient from hospital roughly two weeks ago.
2. 📍🗺️ 7 natural wonders just became UNESCO World Heritage sites — and one country gained its very first!
These newly-christened landmarks highlight Earth’s cultural and natural diversity, from the massive ancient landscape of Greece’s Mount Olympus, to climate-resilient coral reefs in Jordan, to fossils in Denmark that provide clues into the evolution of life on Earth! Joining the World Heritage List’s 26 new sites for 2026, these natural landmarks include the first ever World Heritage site in South Sudan, which annually hosts the world’s largest land mammal migration of six million antelopes!
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has followed advice from IUCN, as the official advisor on nature, to inscribe seven new sites on the Wor
3. 🚫🧪 Sweden plans to ban all forever chemicals in everyday products by 2028!
PFAs, or “forever chemicals,” are synthetic chemicals that take thousands of years to degrade and pollute the environment, all while being linked to harmful health impacts. The ban’s prohibition of PFAs in commonly-used products like kitchen appliances, clothes, and cosmetics is a victory for both the environment and human health!
Sweden plans to ban forever chemicals in kitchen appliances and clothing by 2028. When will the EU follow suit?
4. 💧🌱 Water is returning to the African Sahel!
Groundwater reserves are rising after decades of drought in the region, restoring water to dried water sources! While part of the shift unfortunately comes from increasingly stronger rainfall due to climate change, it is also largely in part to rain-water harvesting. From Ethiopia to Senegal, the drought of the 1970s and 1980s fueled hunger and disease, but as monsoons now grow stronger, today the region shows a vastly different story — near-extinct wildlife are resurging, farmers are planting thriving trees and harvesting higher-yielding crops, and wells and new ponds are filling! One of the most notable transformations can be seen in Lake Chad — one of Africa’s largest bodies of water before drying up during the droughts, the lake is now almost as big as in the 1960s, and is 10 times its mid-1980s size!
Warming has brought extreme rain to the parched Sahel, which is seeing aquifers refill as monsoons grow stronger. But heavier downpours alon
5. 💉🍼 Childhood immunization continues to grow globally!
Despite vaccine efforts being threatened by conflict and vaccine hesitancy, in 2025, 90% of infants globally received at least one dose of a diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine, and 85% completed the full three-dose series, an increase from 2024. Compared to 2024, the number of unvaccinated children with no doses fell by nearly 750,000! These numbers reflects the strides made in protecting children's health — in just the past 25 years, government investment, community efforts, and public trust have reduced the annual number of unvaccinated children by 40%!
Zero-dose children fell by nearly 750,000 in the past year, but drop-out numbers high and stagnant, increasing risk of disease outbreaks
The most interesting thing about your character is not their wound. It's what they built on top of the wound to survive it.
The wound is backstory. The structure they built on top , the habits, the walls, the jokes they make to change the subject, the way they leave before they can be left, that's character. So don't show me the wound. Show me the architecture.
The reader will figure out what's underneath. That's the part that makes them feel clever. Let them have it.
Man, we have got to stop treating art like it has an expiration date. That show stopped airing? Doesn’t mean it can’t haunt your every waking thought. Everybody’s into this album, but you don’t have the energy for new music right now? It’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready. That movie’s fifty years old and indie as shit? Incredible, you have the chance to share it with folks who might never otherwise feel that particular punch of delight. Books don’t go bad. Shows inspire fandoms decades after they’ve wrapped up. We’re still looking at cave paintings and statue work from ancient times and letting the joy of creation bring tears to our eyes. That’s the point of art. It’s as close to immortality as we ever get. Why try to give that magic a shelf life?
rewatching 1x12 and the scene in the bullpen where jane lays into kate just hits so hard. kate’s genuinely taken aback by it, you can tell jane hurt her feelings. it’s obvious lucy was hurt for kate. everyone was caught off guard by it. part of me thinks jane decided to open her circle to include kate in 1x13 as an apology. kate was doing all should could and still got yelled at, and jane wanted to prove to kate she didn’t mean what she said. that she trusts her and believes in kate’s abilities
anyway, here’s a little drabble that’s been rattling around in my head based on this
“yes?”
kate sounds so tired answering the phone. it’s late. they should both be asleep. but jane knows how similar they are. and if she’s having trouble falling asleep, kate is too. there’s something else in her voice too. resigned and slightly annoyed, maybe even a little upset.
like she saw jane’s name appear on her screen and it took everything in her to not let it ring out. it took jane almost two hours to decide whether or not to call kate. and now that she’s actually answered jane’s prepared monologue no longer seems appropriate.
“tennant.”
jane took too long to respond and now kate sounds impatient. she can just picture her, phone pressed to her ear with one hand, the other reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. jaw clenched and grinding her teeth.
“i’m here,” jane responds.
kate’s silent on the other end before letting out a sigh. “and?”
“whistler,” jane starts. she shakes her head and corrects herself. “kate. i need to apologize for how i spoke to you.”
“it’s fine, nothing i haven’t heard before.”
she brushes it off so casually in a way that makes jane bite her own lip to keep from snapping that it’s not okay. that kate deserves better and shouldn’t allow someone to walk all over her like that. jane takes a moment to think over her next words, not wanting to spook kate.
“it’s not fine. you’re doing everything you can to help and then some.” kate doesn’t respond, so jane keeps talking. “i have a great deal of respect for you. and i’m embarrassed at how i treated you.”
she can hear kate swallow hard on the other end of the phone.
“today’s certainly not the first time we’ve yelled at each other,” kate reminds her. she’s forced an air of amusement into her tone, but it falls flat with the way her voice warbles. “what makes this time any different that the others?”
jane doesn’t have a good answer to her question. all she knows is the stricken look that overcame kate’s face while she sneered at her, jabbing her finger in the air didn’t make her feel better. it made jane feel even more sick than she already did. truthfully, she already had a gut feeling about maggie’s connection to bao. but it was easier to lash out at kate than verbalize her hunch.
“it just is.”
kate sighs again. “you’re not making much sense, jane.”
“i’m sorry,” jane apologizes again. “i just wanted to say i’m sorry. and to ask you something.”
kate lets out an empty chuckle. “there it is. the real reason for the call.”
it’s not. jane has a hundred things she wants to say to kate, but another million things are running through her mind. and it’s getting hard to keep track of what’s what. she doesn’t know how to make kate understand what she’s trying to say. but it’s probably useless trying to do so tonight.
“i want you to join my team. for an investigation.”
“don’t i kind of already do that?”
“not like this,” jane tells her. “this is off the books.” she hesitates before revealing, “this is looking into bao and maggie.”
another benefit to them being similar is that jane doesn’t have to elaborate. the catch in her voice is enough for things to click into place for kate.
“oh.”
“yeah.”
kate takes a beat before responding. “okay. okay, i’m in.”
“good.” jane takes a breath. “i’m not apologizing to get your help,” she clarifies. “i really am sorry.”
“i believe you.” kate’s voice has gone soft in a way that makes jane’s chest feel funny.
jane nods even though kate can’t see her. “i’ll send you the details. thank you.”
“you’re welcome. goodnight, tennant.”
back to tennant, then. jane should’ve expected that. she looks at her untouched glass of tequila. suddenly jane doesn’t feel like drinking anymore.
“The difference between America and England is that Americans think 100 years is a long time, while the English think 100 miles is a long way.” –Earle Hitchner
A fave of mine was always the american tales where people freaked out because ‘someone died in this house’ and all the europeans would go ‘…Yes? That would be pretty much every house over 40 years old.’
‘…My school is older than your entire town.’
‘Sorry, you think *how far* is okay to travel for a shopping trip?’
*American looks up at the beams in a country pub* ‘Uh, this place has woodworm, isn’t that a bit unsafe?’ ‘Eh, the woodworm’s 400 years old, it’s holding those beams together.’
A few years ago when I was in college I did a summer program at Cambridge aimed specifically at Americans and Canadians, and my year it was all Americans and one Australian. We ended the program with a week in Wessex, and on the last day as we all piled onto the bus in Salisbury (or Bath? I can’t remember), the professors went to the front to warn us that we wouldn’t be making any stops unless absolutely necessary. We’re headed to Heathrow to drop off anyone flying off the same day, then back to Cambridge.
“All right, it’s going to be a long bus ride, so make sure you’re prepared for that.”
We all brace ourselves. A long bus ride? How long? We’re Americans; a long bus ride for us is a minimum of six hours with the double digits perfectly plausible. We can handle a twelve hour bus ride as long as we get a bathroom break.
a tour guide in France told my school group that a particular cathedral wouldn’t interest us much because “it’s not very old; only from the early 1600s”
to which we had to respond that it was still older than the oldest surviving European-style buildings in our country
China is both old and big. I had some Chinese colleagues over; we were discussing whether they wanted to see the Vasa ship (hugely expensive war ship which sank on it’s maiden voyage after 12 min). They asked if it was old, I said “not THAT old” (bearing in mind they were Chinese) “it’s from the 1500s.” To my surprise they still looked impressed, nodding enthusiatically. Then I realised I’d forgotten something: “…I mean it’s from the 1500s AFTER the birth of Christ” and they went “oh, AFTER…”.
I love this post but also hate it because people never acknowledge the structures of native and indigenous people in America and Canada. We literally have pyramids here in Illinois that are thousands of years old.
There is stuff here from the Aztecs, but since it wasn’t made by settlers people think that America is only as old as when Europeans came over.
The population that got wiped out and displaced by Europeans is still here and needs to be acknowledged. America and Canada aren’t “young” and have more history than most ppl acknowledge.
In 1990, the high school dropout rate for Dolly Parton’s hometown of Sevierville Tennessee was at 34% (Research shows that most kids make up their minds in fifth/sixth grade not to graduate). That year, all fifth and sixth graders from Sevierville were invited by Parton to attend an assembly at Dollywood. They were asked to pick a buddy, and if both students completed high school, Dolly Parton would personally hand them each a $500 check on their graduation day. As a result, the dropout rate for those classes fell to 6%, and has generally retained that average to this day.
Shortly after the success of The Buddy Program, Parton learned in dealing with teachers from the school district that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different developmental levels. That year The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.
During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995: The idea being that children from her rural hometown and low-income families often start school at a disadvantage and as a result, will be unfairly compared to their peers for the rest of their lives, effectively encouraging them not to pursue higher education. The objective of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free of charge. What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, mailing thousands of free books to children around the world monthly.
On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of “Coat of Many Colors” dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write.
stage 1 of liking media: yeah this thing is pretty good!
stage 2 of liking media: haha remember when blorbo bleepus did that thing that was so funny
stage 3 of liking media: huh this one song is kind of blorbo bleepus… if you think about this other song is also kind of blorbo bleepus
stage 4 of liking media: blorbo bleepus is really interesting… here’s a sensible analysis post
stage 5 of liking media: FUCK. THE CHARACTER. THE CHARACTER IM HAVING A CHARACTER ATTACK
stage 6 of liking media: well let’s see what ao3 has to offer!
stage 7 of liking media: everything goes on my character playlist. this song with no lyrics is about blorbo bleepus exploding a building and looking really cool. if this lyric was an entirely different sentence it would fit perfectly
stage 8 of liking media: who wants to hear about these characters new pronouns and mobility aids
turnnoffyourmind
2087
romaincrisis
andulkaphoto
snowghoul
tangentwithtanner
