I do it a lot here anyway, but allow me a moment to get on my archivist soapbox because this is not only cool af but important too.
The US National Archives (and this may certainly apply to other countries but this post is about this specific institution) has a lot of material. And that may seem like an obvious statement, but what I mean to say here is that it has a lot of unprocessed material.
“Processing”, in the archive world, is the word we use to mean “organizing the collection materials in a way that makes sense and describing the collection so people know what’s there”. Essentially, processing a collection or material is what makes it accessible to researchers. Think about how you organize yourself or your space. Most of the time when we acquire material we get it exactly how the creator kept it, which is ranges from neat as a pin to literal garbage dump, but mostly falls into the middle area of somewhat organized but also not really. Processing gives the archivist “intellectual control” (we go through everything so we now know exactly what’s in the collection) and gives researchers something to look at that’s a lot more manageable.
But, like I said, the National Archives has a lot of material. Which at this point includes a massive backlog. So what they have done, with the advent of the internet, is turned to crowdsourcing. (Using a large group of volunteers over the internet to accomplish more than the few people who work for the archive can do, and/or using group knowledge and skills that they don’t have to their advantage. Wikipedia or any fandom wiki is an example of crowdsourcing.) This is a long process, because anything they put up has to be digitized first, and that is not as easy as it sounds. I won’t rant here, but it’s time consuming, labor intensive, and in some cases not even feasible with the material.
Anyway, the National Archives crowdsources through a program that they call “citizen archivists”. It’s something that’s free and obligationless, it’s totally voluntary and you do things like add tags to pictures, transcribe documents that are handwritten or otherwise not word-searchable, and add comments about things that are missing information or context.
The reason I bring this up is because they have divided the work into what they call “missions”, basically just categories of material to work on. They have a new one that’s just been made public (likely because they finally got the digitization completed) that is a large collection of pictures consisting of Native subjects, and they need help tagging them.
So if you feel antsy and need something to do or you feel down and you want something positive, consider helping out the National Archives. Because the work the citizen archivists do makes the materials more accessible to the public, and ultimately to any and all future researchers out there.
For the americans out there, 1kg is about 2lbs. Rewriting this bost gives:
"To answer a lot of people's question: this package is [4lbs] there's also, [10lbs] and [20lbs] ones (which used to be sold in most stores, but you can find them only in specialized ones nowadays). There are some tiny ones, like 1lb! Those are the ones you buy to carry when you travel."
Croatians apparently take a pound of toothpast with them when they travel.
China has a large variety of different rices, but did you know that not every rice is meant for the same dish? Here are some common types of rice used in China and some dishes you're likely to find them in.
籼米 - xiānmǐ - indica rice
Texture: lighter, less sticky, more separate when cooked
Grain shape: long-grain
Color: usually white
Region: usually more common in southern China and central China, in warmer regions
Most often used in: fried rice, claypot rice bowls, everyday meals
粳米 - jīngmǐ - japonica rice
Texture: softer, slightly sticky, tender
Grain shape: short- to medium-grain
Color: usually white
Region: more common in northern and eastern China, especially cooler regions
Most often used in: steamed rice, congee, egg fried rice, everyday meals, rice rolls (this rice is a personal favourite of mine, works really well as porridge)
糯米 - nuòmǐ - glutinous rice / sticky rice
Texture: very sticky, chewy, dense
Grain shape: usually short-grain or medium-grain
Color: usually white
Region: used across China in both savory and sweet foods
Most often used in: zongzi, Eight Treasure rice, sticky rice dishes, desserts, rice balls, festive dishes etc
黑米 - hēimǐ - black rice
Texture: slightly chewy and firmer than ordinary white rice
Grain shape: usually short- to medium-grain
Color: deep purple-black
Region: grows mainly in southern warmer regions
Most often used in: black rice cake, black rice porridges, desserts
紫米 - zǐmǐ - purple rice
Texture: chewy, sometimes slightly sticky depending on the variety. A type of glutinous rice
Grain shape: usually medium-grain
Color: deep purple when cooked
Region: associated mainly with Yunnan province
Most often used in: purple rice porridge, desserts, rice wines (Yunnan's Purple Rice Sealed Jar Wine - 云南紫米封缸酒 -yúnnán zǐ mǐ fēng gāng jiǔ)
红米 - hóngmǐ - red rice
Texture: a little firmer and chewier than polished white rice
Grain shape: varies depending on type
Color: reddish-brown
Region: grown mostly in southern China, in locations such as Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and other places.
Most often used in: to add some color to meals, popular in Fujian cuisine e.g. 红糟鸡 Fujian red wine chicken
糙米 - cāomǐ - brown rice
Texture: chewier and firmer
Grain shape: depends on the rice type, ranges from short to long
Color: brown
Region: used across China, though more common in health-focused contexts e.g. managing diabetes due to its low glycemic index
Most often used in: brown rice cakes, brown rice wine and other beverages
小米饭 - xiǎomǐ - millet (not to be confused with 小米 the brand)
Texture: soft, sometimes fluffy or porridge-like when cooked
Grain shape: usually small
Color: yellow-ish
Region: grown mainly in northern regions of China
Most often used in: millet porridge, mixed with steamed rice
Note: this isn't exactly rice but as millet is a slightly ambiguous creature, we will consider it as rice.
香米 - xiāngmǐ - fragrant rice
Texture: usually light, less sticky than japonica-type rice
Grain shape: usually longer, there are quite a few different variations of this type of rice
Color: usually white
Region: mainly grown in southern regions of China
Most often used in: souther Chinese and Cantonese dishes, fried rice e.g. 扬州炒饭 Yangzhou fried rice
大米 - dàmǐ - rice (this just refers to uncooked rice in general)
Texture: depends on the type
Grain shape: depends
Color: usually white
Region: used across China
Note: this is a general everyday term for uncooked rice grains, rather than one specific type
A War Symphony, by Chen Li, is one of the most beautiful and elegant poems I’ve ever read. It plays with words in a way that simply isn’t possible in any other language I know of.
The first character that appears in the poem is 兵 (bīng). It means soldier.
Then come the characters 乒 (pīng) and 乓 (pāng), onomatopoeia for “bang”, as in the noise. Notice that these characters resemble 兵 (bīng), but missing a “right leg” and “left leg”, respectively.
The last character to appear in the poem is 丘 (qiū). It means “mound” or “grave”. Notice that it resembles 兵 (bīng), but missing both “legs”.
It’s also worth noting that 乒乓球 (pīngpāngqiú) means “table tennis”.
To hear Chen Li read the poem, visit the link.
Sign-ups are now open for the 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange 2026!
As the name says, this is a reverse exchange:
You sign up with the kinds of things you enjoy creating.
You choose three writers/artists/fanwork creators via anonymised ads, and make a request of each of them based on what they enjoy creating.
You are assigned one request to create for, based on your offer.
You receive a gift from one of the creators you chose.
Rules/Info | Sign-ups part 1 (offers) NOW OPEN
This year’s schedule
Sign-ups part 1 - offers: closes 11:59PM UTC on Friday 27 March (What time is that for me?)
Sign-ups part 2 - requests: Saturday 28 March - Friday 3 April
Assignments out: Wednesday 8 April at the latest
Deadline: Wednesday 13 May
Works revealed: Wednesday 20 May (there is no anon period)
Sign-ups are on Dreamwidth, but you don’t need a Dreamwidth account to participate. Assignments will be sent by email. Your gift must be posted to the AO3 collection.
The Annual Interdimensional Haixing-Dixing 520 Day Reverse Exchange is coming back for 2026!
520 sounds like "I love you" in Mandarin, so May 20th is a bit like Valentine's Day. To celebrate, we're back with the eighth annual 520 Day Reverse Exchange. As the name says, this is a reverse exchange: instead of making your request and that request being assigned to a writer/artist/fanwork creator, here:
You sign up with the kinds of things you enjoy creating.
You choose three writers/artists/fanwork creators based on anonymised ads.
You make a request of each of them based on what they enjoy creating.
You are assigned one request to create for, based on your offer.
You receive a gift from one of the creators you chose.
(An updated rules/info post will go up before sign-ups open, but here is last year's for reference.)
This year's schedule
Sign-ups part 1 - offers: Sunday 15 March - Friday 27 March
Sign-ups part 2 - requests: Saturday 28 March - Friday 3 April
Assignments out: Wednesday 8 April at the latest
Deadline: Wednesday 13 May
Work reveals: Wednesday 20 May (there is no anon period)
This exchange is run on Dreamwidth and AO3, but you don’t need a Dreamwidth account to participate. We’d love it if you filled out or anon-commented on the interest poll on Dreamwidth, but that’s also not required. :-)
Guardian Auctions for Fandom Trumps Hate 2026
4 different creators are offering 6 Guardian auctions for @fandomtrumpshate this year! ♡
As of March 3rd, bidding is open! It closes on March 7th, 8pm ET.
facethestrange: auction #1 | auction #2 | auction #3
(All auctions are exactly the same.)
type: fanart: drawing/painting
highest rating: E
minimum bid: $20
drama or novel? both + RPF
goodblye_blue: auction link
type: fanfic (new or remix), 5-10k words
highest rating: E
minimum bid: $5
drama or novel? unspecified (likely novel)
milo: auction link
type: fanfic (new), 5-10k words
highest rating: E
minimum bid: $5
drama or novel? unspecified
tinypinkmouse: auction link
type: fanfic (new), less than 5k words
highest rating: E
minimum bid: $5
drama or novel? drama (novel influences welcome) + Weilan derivatives
Me, naive: Oh that’s so funny, fans calling a Harper’s Bazaar China photoshoot “the wedding photos,” probably because they always make everyone look so good.
NOPE
Damn.
Bless you Harper’s Bazaar, you treat us so good.
Also I assume this one is photoshopped to include the flowers but honestly seems like it could go either way.
amandla
blakekathryn
izzy806
2087
ellievsbear
gracieabrams
jimmyeatworldofficial
dailybridgerton
prguitarman
