It's done! I am so freaking thrilled with how this came out. It was immensely fun taking the old poster and trying to figure out a balance between the old art and a modern take on fire management, as well as how to make it my own while retaining as much of the original style and color as possible. And I'm not normally one to stick my whole logo on my illustrations, but I wanted to match the original poster which as the USFS logo there, so!
Shout out to @vaspider for helping me puzzle out better wording for the bottom chunk of the poster.
You can get prints and shirts with this design in my Printful shop! If there's another product you'd like to see it on, let me know!
Some more thoughts and ramblings about this piece below the cut, including a side-by-side with the original poster.
The Death Rides poster was produced in 1933 by the US Forest Service, but I've sadly never seen the specific artist named anywhere. It reflects the pretty typical attitude of the time that fire=bad, that it leads to death as a negative thing. It's also one of the most popular pre-Smokey Bear fire prevention posters. This thing is EVERYWHERE, especially in wildland fire circles. It's on posters, shirts, even a few logos.
I have never seen a GOOD reproduction of the thing. I feel like there's got to be a good quality one sitting around somewhere, but it sure doesn't seem to have made its way onto the internet. They're all grainy with strange color splotches, but that's never seemed to effect its popularity.
I do really love the concept of the original poster, and the simple phrasing that drives home the clear message. For my redo, I wanted to keep the overall look and feel, and the simple, clear message, but changing it to match modern understandings of fire and its place in the cycle of life in forests. I set out with the following goals:
Show fire as a part of the natural cycle that helps keep landscapes healthy.
Make the horse less distressed looking.
Remove the gendered language from the messaging.
Keep as much of the original posing, composition, and colors as possible.
Showing the renewal cycle was the trickiest part, because the composition really didn't leave a lot of room to show the regrowth portion. I think I came up with a good balance, though, by having the forest very overgrown, dark, and unhealthy, then having the strong dividing diagonal/arrow of fire bringing light into that dark overgrowth, and the open, regrowing portion behind the smoke and flames. I also had the regrowth coming from the horse's hooves so that the horse is more of an active piece of the story, rather than being forced through the whole affair.
The regrowing plants in the background are fire poppies and fireweed, as well as a few distant aspen saplings, all of which are some of the first plants to come back after wildfires move through. Death also got a fire poppy as the clasp of their cloak.
For the phrasing, I came up with "Death Renews the Forest" almost immediately, but I had more trouble with the bottom portion. I wanted the phrase to not be gendered anymore, so switched it to "we." Initially I thought about something like "When we are educated in its use." But I wasn't a big fan of "use." While the poster does feature Death doing an intentional prescribed burn, I also wanted the phrasing to apply to letting naturally lightning caused fires burn. So less "use" and more embracing fire overall. This is especially true given that in the US we have, unfortunately, gone back to a full suppression strategy as of 2026 thanks to an executive order from the orange menace. So, despite decades of research showing how much harm that causes, we've been ordered to start doing it again. Which, to me, just makes this redo of the poster even more relevant right now.
Spider helped me puzzle out some other phrasing ideas, and I really liked this final one. I think it is balanced really well with the top portion of the text, and the overall message of the poster.
So yes! Had a lot of fun with this. I probably will do some more redos of other famous prevention posters at some point, but I'm not sure when or which ones.
while the beverage is derived from the botanical cola plant, which would make the "x of y" nomenclature appropriate, "coke of" would most reasonably translate as "solid produced from the distillation of", and alchemists were generally pretty big on their solid-liquid distinctions - assuming they'd use "coke of" at all, as coking as a process by that name only really came into use with 19th century industrial chemistry. I'd suspect a more accurate alchemical name would be "spirit of cola", though it'd depend on the exact process used to get the extract out of the nut.
"Sewing is a gateway drug to thinking through complex problems. It seems really simple; culturally, we make it women's work. Let me tell you: real sewing at any kind of level of proficiency is a bloody magic trick. Sewing, like mold making, involves mental frames that require one to think inside out and backwards. It requires one to work on an order of operations that is often taking into account the reverse. It's a really, really important skill, and if you learn how to sew, you're mostly on your way to carpentry and welding and sheet metal work. I'm not kidding: these are planar forms meeting under rules and conditions. And if you can make a sleeve work, I swear to God, you could build a house."
The thing is, even if you were lucky and your parents taught you how to clean, they probably didn't teach you how to clean the stuff you clean stuff with, like brushes, mops, sponges, rags, and so on. Or how to clean your cleaning appliances, like a dish washer, clothes washing machine, and clothes dryer and its ducts (if you have a ducted dryer), or a carpet cleaner, vacuum, Or how to clean up clean messes, like spilled bleach or detergent.
My parents threw away all of these things (even the vacuum cleaners and the dryer) when they got too dirty to function, because no one even told them THAT they could be cleaned. Cost them thousands of dollars over the years.
All I'm saying is that cleaning is not intuitive, and not knowing how to clean is not a moral failing, but it is something you can learn.
I'm going to reblog this post with resources for learning how to clean things and how to clean cleaning things (I'm not at my desk at the moment). If you have any favorites, please feel free to add them in too!
I like this video because it does a great job of introducing the basic foundations of house cleaning (and because he doesn't use bleach, which is a common allergy in addition to being awful to inhale). He also talks a little about how to clean a vacuum. And why you shouldn't put grease from your pots and pans down the sink drain. I also love that he mentions that different houses and different people have different needs and different versions of what clean and cleaning looks like.
He doesn't mention though that the toilet seat comes off. I take my toilet seat off to clean under the hinges and clean the seat more thoroughly once a quarter.
This is another video from the same guy about cleaning and depression. This advice, especially at the beginning, can feel really really difficult and oppressive to hear. However, I find that it's generally pretty solid. But I'm autistic and so is he, so that gets a massive Your Mileage May Vary stamp on it.
I have a favorite part of this video. It's from 10:52 to 12:36. I think we could all use to hear that. There's a HEFTY pause after that one. I promise the narration does come back.
I'm also going to recommend KC Davis' book "How To Keep House While Drowning"
This is a pair of videos about how to correctly load and use a dish washer.
The first one is a quick 1 minute 30 second overview on loading. I can't find the exact video I'm looking for, so consider this a substitute for that. If I can find the one I'm looking for, I'll swap it in.
The second is a half hour deep dive on dishwashers and detergents. The short form of that is you shouldn't need to pre-rinse anything, detergent pods are overpriced and can cause problems, some dishwashers have a filter in the bottom that needs to be cleaned (but most don't), run your sink until the water is HOT before starting your dish washer, and put a little detergent in the pre-rinse dispenser when you're washing extra dirty dishes (or on the inside of the door if your dishwasher doesn't have a pre-rinse dispenser).
How to clean a front load washer (with bleach). This should be done monthly or every time you wash really soiled clothes.
With expert tips and tricks for all types of washers.
How to clean a top loader (without the removable agitator thing). This should be done every 1-3 months depending on you unit, or every time you wash really soiled clothes.
Regular cleaning of a top-load washing machine will prolong the life of the appliance and leave your laundry cleaner and brighter.
How to clean a top loader (with the removable agitator thing). This should be done every month, or every time you wash really soiled clothes.
These carpet brushes are a LIFE SAVER if you have dogs. This thing allows me to go from vacuuming about 4 square feet before my vacuum is full to vacuuming half the living room (I don't vacuum often enough. You should vacuum weekly, and I just can't.). I have to unclog the vacuum less often. It fluffs up some of the flat spots in the carpet. And I also use the brush to shampoo my rugs in the spring.
A spot cleaner (or a carpet cleaner with a spot cleaner attachment) is another life saver, ESPECIALLY if you can afford to splurge on a heated one. I see them at Goodwill or at yard sales occasionally, and they're worth picking up. The shark one in the video is great too.
This channel is gold. There's tutorials for cleaning EVERYTHING on there. Just go subscribe!
Gonna throw another potential resource at the end of this very long list, which may be potentially helpful for others like me who loathe videos. It's... the weirdest thing that has genuinely been helpful to me in housekeeping. Absolutely full of useful advice, and bizarrely still relevant in large part. (Though, caveat, research ANYTHING to do with chemicals or cleaning products more complicated than vinegar + lemon + water for modern information.)
It's America's Housekeeping Book (1941). Available for free download on the Internet Archive. (Large PDF file at the link here).
The LISTS y'all. The step by step lists. The emphasis on efficiency and arranging spaces for the least resistance possible. The basic concept of "take a tray or basket into a room when you are tidying up so you can put things that belong elsewhere on it and take them out LATER in ONE GO".
Another tutorial I‘ve made, about digital brushwork this time!
You can find more tutorials for a few bucks on my Ko-Fi Shop if you've found this helpful and would like to support me in making more resources like this🙏 ☀️🍃
weirdly enough i think it's easier to accept non sexual nudity if you're a bit of a a pervert. like people think "boobs are too sexy, people can't be normal about them", and it seems like a compelling argument, boobs are sexy. but when you realise that other things are sexy as well, things like stomachs, thighs, feet, back muscles, and you can normal about them in a non sexual context, so there's no reason anyone can't be normal about any other part of the body.
So I was thinking about unicorns a lot a while back and now I've got at least 4 subspecies inhabiting the headworld and now you're going to get to learn about them!
Most common and what most centaurs think of when you say unicorn is the above, the Common or Dwarf unicorn! They were made almost entirely from goats and they remain essentially goats with a single horn, usually fairly straight and curving backwards, but there are many different varieties as they are treasured as fine pets and decent livestock, kept for their company, milk, and meat just like goats. Thankfully their attitudes are closer to mini horses than goats, adding to their favor as pets, but they're still quite mischievous as opposed to their more capricious goat cousins.
Next most common, but still fairly rare, is the "True" unicorn! These ethereal beasts are known bastards! Long, fine boned, strong and tough as nails despite their delicate looks these war mounts are visually the closest to a traditional unicorn other than the sparse mane and tail - thought to be owed to the clear base of the breed being Akhal Teke horses. Unfortunately their attitudes do not match their beauty as they are through and through war horses. Used almost exclusively in the eastern kingdom as nobles and knights mounts in their neverending skirmish wars these beasts bond to exactly ONE person at a time and everyone else is liable to be bitten at best, run through with that horn at worst. An absolute nightmare to stablehands throughout their range, they are finicky and aggressive to horses and humans alike making them difficult to keep. They are shockingly intelligent and KNOW how to use that horn to its greatest effect, leading to the nickname of 'Fencers'
Even in their native range they're not super common due to the aformentioned difficulties in keeping them and the fact that they frequently prefer to fight one another than breed.
Most rare and least understood is the 'Heraldic' unicorn, these stately but wild creatures are as beloved as they are dangerous. They tend to just appear out of the wilds to those they choose as riders, and are well known for their loyalty and gentle dispositions in times of peace and as deadly war mounts in battle, leading to an enormous amount of legends around them.
They are the mounts of kings and explorers, nobles and common adventurers, most who wind up with one of these creatures live extraordinary lives.
They also require a significant amount of protein in their diets, and if it is not provided they will acquire it.
Last, and also kind of least is the 'Wild' unicorns. These are clearly the remnants of some rogue genetics that pops up in primarily wild horse herds for some reason. They are just horses that grow a horn, usually of a roughly spiraling nature. It is fairly fragile, and so not very useful but they're still favored as a novelty mount to many and often passed off as one of their more unique cousins to the uninformed.
Because of the edge the horn gives them in herd dynamics, if a wild unicorn makes it to adulthood with the horn intact, this can often form pocket herds of unicorns as the gene briefly proliferates- but it never seems to last more than a few generations.
dwarf unicorns exist(ed? Oberon Zell made some, so did W Franklin Dove, they've been made out of goats since at least Pliny) and I do NOT think it should be overstated how bad an idea it is to give a GOAT a single pointy horn, given what goats spend their entire lives doing to everything.
Oh hey! Yeah! Their goat Lancelot is ABSOLUTELY where the inspiration for the dwarf unicorns to be goat-adjacent came from! (Mixed with some extra tweaks to make them more like mideavil/classical tapestry unicorns)
I remember reading about them WAAAY back as a wee fantasy obsessed babe that subsequent 'unicorns' they made IMMEDIATELY had to be separated from each other because yeah.. goats being goats should NOT be trusted with a superstrong forward facing point 😅
That also was a large inspiration for my true unicorns' bad attitudes! i dont think a horse would be much better at being given a weapon on its face- much less if they were hotbloods then trained for battle on a generational scale.. that and I just like murderous unicorns as much as i like the gentle symbols of delicate purity. They can have the RANGE!!
Merry Christmas as always to the gas station attendants, hospital sanitation workers, wastewater management technicians, and everyone else doing an unseen/undervalued job on Christmas. You're literally the backbone of our society and you undoubtedly need a raise <3
*cracking open your moral intuition systems* ohhh i see, there's the issue, you're running secularism on a kernel built for protestant morality.
Tricky one cause the kernel's built around creating the need for salvation from a higher power, and you'll have to change up a lot of the systems for evaluating your own and others' moral worth to avoid operating with a deficit when there's no inbuilt release valve.
You haven't been going around making up ad-hoc solutions for redeeming sinners instead of trying to patch out the notion of sin, right?
As more and more people are being forced to switch to Windows 11, Microsoft's most AI-malware-ridden OS yet, I've been putting together articles and links for how to undo the damage and save your battery, your RAM, your disk space, your privacy, and your sanity from this bullshit.
FIRST:
The easiest way to get rid of the majority of the bullshit that Windows is forcing on us, as of October 2025, is this one-stop-one-click debloat solution from a modern day hero:
A simple, lightweight PowerShell script to remove pre-installed apps, disable telemetry, as well as perform various other changes to customi
It's very easy, even if you're not tech savvy or get scared of pop up windows saying "ARE YOU SURE?" Yes, you are sure, I promise. This program takes maybe two minutes and will save you SO MUCH pain, time, and money (and exploitation).
Now that you've done that, here's the cleanup, to catch the little shit that the debloat might have missed (most of this will already be done by debloat, but hey, it's good to double check).
Microsoft wants to put AI everywhere on your PC, but you can take back control.
Even just reading about some of these features makes me angry. Fucking Copilot and "Discover" AI scrapers are in Notepad. NOTEPAD. And then there's this uncanny valley garbage:
No uncanny valley video calls for me, thanks! (Also, what else is it doing while it scans your face and listens to your calls? What else, microsoft? Because there was a lot of memory being assigned to this program for a simple "smooths your skin" add on).
Tired of Microsoft pushing ads throughout Windows 11? Here are the settings you can tweak to turn them off and reclaim some privacy.
The truly insane number of places they have stuck ads on your own home computer is sickening. Become Unmarketable.
Bonus:
Some background programs you probably don't need that are taking up space and how to remove them (Microsoft forums, 2024)
Your Samsung Galaxy Phone comes with 22 apps you don't need (Android Police, 2025)
How to disable the AI in firefox (still the only browser that lets you do this permanently) (Windows Report, 2025)
if the nozzle on the Tap on your sink is Made of stainless steel, you can get rid of garlic smell on your Hands by running it between the dmelliest parts of your Hands WHILE the (cold) water is running, after you've rinsed of the soap.
You can also do this with a stainless steel knife. I have a stainless steel "bar of soap" that sits on the side of my kitchen sink, which makes it easy to rub all over your hands under cold water. Takes onion smell off your hands, too.
The chromium oxide surface of the stainless steel attracts the sulphur from the garlic and onion, which is what makes it stinky, and binds to it. The metal acts as a catalyst, transforming the sulphur into less odiferous compounds.
"But if it binds to it, doesn't that mean that over time, something will happen?" Yes, your stainless steel will become less rust resistant. That's why you should use your butter knives or a steel "bar of soap" and not your much more expensive kitchen fixtures.
My friend Colin Gorrie, a professional linguist, has posted a brief, straightforward guide to writing accurate-sounding Elizabethan English on his Substack. Useful for everything from Hamlet fanfic (as Colin suggests) to doing a bit on Tumblr!
How to sound like Shakespeare
This is just so I don't clutter my bookmarks @whimsilicium - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
