wafflelate | Reading

https://sawbones.simplecast.com/episodes/sawbones-sauna-UMMy3Z8t

Even though it's associated with Nordic countries, the Sauna has been around in many different cultures for as long as people have been trying to get warm in a hot box. But how about health benefits? Dr. Sydnee talks about the history of saunas and spirituality, as well as the association between sweat and the perception of health – and that even though actual studies don't say anything definite, sometimes it is just nice to get in a warm, steamy room.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: https://www.ilcm.org/donate/

https://sawbones.simplecast.com/episodes/sawbones-sauna-UMMy3Z8t

taichara

The universe continues to be a pile of Something.

On a brighter note, Yoroi Shinden Samurai Troopers continues to be fucking amazing so far.

This is the part where I'd normally be making Iiiii neeeeeed icoooons noises -- but I actually need to prune icons so I can transition from premium down to paid on here. First steps and all.

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Rachel: Done with this shit. Would have moved with her dad to Star City ages ago, if not for the fact that her friends all live here. She doesn't want to get fear gassed, she doesn't want to avoid manhole openings, she doesn't want to have to step off the sidewalk for some overpriced piece-of-shit "bat""mobile" to come roaring through at 400 MPH. Normal kids in normal cities don't have to carry bricks in their purses and beat up Joker goons — and then beat up the guy in spandex who showed up too late to beat up the Joker goons — twice a week on their way home. She is DONE.

Tobias: The weird fanboy obsessed with proving that Batman and Robin actually exist, and with documenting the fact that — he insists — there have been at least three different Robins since the Batman got started. He probably wouldn't bother trying to figure out their real identities, just which Robin is which. And he'd definitely never, under any circumstances, attempt conversation with them. But he'd have tons of trivia about their habits and movements.

Cassie: Still regretting the time she yelled "ACAB" at Red Hood in response to him firing live rounds at a guy who was just stealing a TV from a store. Okay, she doesn't regret it that much. But they're all pretty sure that Red Hood only didn't take the time to murder her too is because she lives way on the outskirts of town and he never leaves Park Row.

Marco: Has been trying to ignore for years that his mom is mind-controlled and running a secret crime empire, but at some point you gotta do what you gotta do. Hence: the mask. The name Silverback spray-painted on his shoulders. The leather jacket and leather pants, which is the best he can do for armor. He is not a superhero, he's not that stupid; he's not out here to fight crime, just to sabotage everything his mom tries to do. And if he ends up getting in the way of random muggings and assaults, that's a coincidence. Hopefully soon he can put a stop to this all, and his mom will be like she was before.

Jake: Marco's sidekick. Accidentally stumbled on Marco's vigilante costume, thinks it's awesome, and wants to do what he can to help. Goes out Kenny-style incognito, in a hoodie so big it's basically a duvet, and provides Marco with everything from snacks to diversion fireworks to getaway bicycle to common sense.

Ax: Finds Batman to be actually quite annoying. The man keeps showing up in Ax's living room to declare "no metas in Gotham," and then "I thought I told you I don't want anyone with shapeshifting powers in Gotham" and then "how do you keep getting back into Gotham, you damn alien?" Ax has put sticky tape over the windows, which doesn't keep Batman out but does cause him to produce loud crinkly noises every time he gets in, which usually gives Ax the chance to hide in the bathroom until Batman gets bored and goes away. Oh, and don't even get Ax started on the time Batman showed up and asked for his help with a case, because "the fate of our entire world hangs in the balance." It took over an hour of Ax standing there eating anchovies and pointing out that Batman saves the planet twice a week without help before the guy finally gave up and left.

Ask me a question

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My attempts to search The Flavor have returned:

The Flavor (hip-hop magazine)
Flavor Flav (hip-hop artist)
The Flavor (2020) (rom-com about restaurant work?)
"The Flavor" (pop song by Tori Amos)
The Flavor (pretentiously named Linux flavor)
Flavor (its own programming language not in Liux)
"The Flavor" (funk ballad by Sandhja)
The Flavor (book about Superman ice-cream)
The Flavor of Corn (Italian movie about a creepy teacher)
Flavor of the Month (Disambiguated) (Wikipedia article)

And then I had to give up because I'd read the word "flavor" too many times in a row and it'd lost all meaning. Which flavor does this refer to?

Ask me a question

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It's our 800th Episode, and it's about time we show our real face. For 16 years, you thought we were Da Gooberman, but really we're Monica Angela Rita! But don't worry, we're still full of great advice even though our souls are spread out across eighty-eight haunted piano keys.

Suggested Talking Points: Da Man in Da Goobermask, Be Gentle About Deck Size, Trade Your Brother for a Website, Hone Your Brain and Ditch Your Shame

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: https://www.ilcm.org/donate/

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taichara

Title: At The Edge
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon And The Blade Of Light
Characters: Navarre, Caeda
Content Notes: CNTW
Summary: The Soothsires are dead, and now --

( The battle was over )

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theonion:

Suddenly appearing at the lectern after emerging from a hole in the floor, a limbless, slippery Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced at a White House press conference Friday that “becoming an eel is a sign of good health.” “Big Pharma may have brainwashed people to think otherwise, but a healthy human body should be one long, even tube with a fin running down its back,” said the health and human services secretary, who warned that the average American child is now so full of chemicals and preservatives that they no longer secrete enough protective mucus to cover their skin.
Full Story

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Peter: The best morpher. He understands how the technology works, better even than Ax does, and he can follow orders like a champ. Though he's no andalite when it comes to tracking time, he seems to have better numerical estimation abilities than the others and that'd serve him well. On the parents' auxiliary team, I could see him in a role similar to Cassie's (being able to do partial morphs) or Tobias's (the first one to try the weird alien morphs).

Naomi: The diversion expert. She's good at getting and keeping attention, and pretty dang fearless. So she'd take on a role like Tobias does sometimes where he flies around drawing fire from the others by keeping just out of range. If she could find a bird of paradise morph that might suit her, but I could also see frilled lizard or blue-spotted monitor working well in that role since reptiles can be a little hardier than birds and survive a hit or two.

Michelle: The one evacuating civilians. She abhors violence, but she's also hard to scare. So I could see her morphing elephant, or another people-mover giant herbivore, and rushing in to grab bystanders out of the line of fire and carry them away. If she grabs a few human-controllers in the process, that's fine; once word gets around that she is actually willing to return any surrendered yeerk to the pool in exchange for keeping the host, lots of yeerks would be willing to work with her after being accidentally captured.

Eva: The leader. She'd acquire the biggest baddest hork-bajir whose permission she could get, and she'd put herself at the vanguard of the team. She'd also default to leading the auxiliary family team due to wealth of relevant knowledge and tactical experience. This would naturally lead to a lot of clashes with Michelle, but I think they'd be able to find common ground on wanting to save humanity more than any other priority. Plus...

Walter: The peacekeeper. His role would be sort of like Jake takes on during the downtime, working to smooth over conflicts between teammates and make sure they all keep their eyes on the ball. If Eva's the tactician then he's the strategist, thinking long-term about what kind of Earth they want to have left when all the dust clears. In terms of fighting style he'd be the versatile support person, maybe elephant morph as well since it can serve as a diversion or a people-mover or a tank depending on who must needs backup at any moment.

Loren: The tank. She's got that "throw rocks first, ask questions later" attitude that helps her charge into battle against pants-wetting odds, and she's proven to be suicidally brave (or just suicidal) under fire. Depending on what the Gardens has, I could see her getting cassowary, gharial, orangutan, something else that gets a what the fuck reaction from Californians in the second between seeing it and it fucking you up. She's also known to have really good aim, so post-re-ensightening I could see her literally just picking up a dracon beam and blasting away at her enemies.

goodgrammaritan:

Thank you for making me look up gharial:
Look at that snout!

Yes! I bet most suburban Americans would go "um, WHAT?" if they saw one of those running at them. And then they would die.

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If you think reading #54 would ruin your week, then fair. Life's too short to read books you don't enjoy. BUT. I'd also say: don't judge a book by someone else's opinion.

Like, the last Animorphs book has silly moments with Marco talking about andalite tourists' obsession with Krispy Kreme and doing silly impressions of his fellow Animorphs and turning into a lobster to get his car keys from the bottom of his pool. (Jake: "Well, then it's a good thing you have the ability to turn into a lobster, because otherwise what would you do? Normal people, they drop their keys in the pool... Those keys stay down there. Forever.") It has real moments of healing, like Cassie helping to establish a semi-independent nation of hork-bajir. It has Tobias recognizing, however reluctantly, that he really does want to spend more time around his fellow humans. It has Ax baffling his fellow andalites by leading a team more like Jake than like a "real" war-prince.

It's a sad story, but the whole series is sad. It raises tough questions, but not all of the answers are bad ones: Jake says he wishes he knew how to live in the world Cassie is building, Cassie says that Jake is one of the best people she's known. They all carry Rachel's love with them, every one, through their lives going forward. The kids move apart from each other, but the millisecond Tobias and Cassie and Marco find out that Ax is in trouble, they scramble to drop everything and help Jake rescue him — the Fellowship isn't broken, it's just growing up.

So like, it's not a comedy. But it's also not bleak like Hork-Bajir Chronicles. More than anything, it's bittersweet.

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I just realized that the thing about that woman being in her 70s was my headcanon and not confirmed one way or another. Which I only realized after living for several seconds in a reality where Jake Berenson is a GILF chaser and everyone knows it but me.

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https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34236

International Fanworks Day

February 15 is almost here, and it’s time to get ready for the 12th annual International Fanworks Day (IFD)! This year’s theme is Alternate Universes (AUs), and in honor of #IFD2026, the OTW has quite a few activities planned to celebrate with all of you. Check out the list below to find out how you can get involved!

Feedback Fest: It wouldn’t be IFD without our annual Feedback Fest! This is your chance to share your favorite Alternate Universe fanworks and get some great recommendations for yourself in return. Look for our Feedback Fest post on February 13, and leave a comment with 10 fanwork recommendations for your fellow fans. On social media, use the tag #FeedbackFest when posting.
Share your fanworks: Tag your own AU fanworks on AO3 with International Fanworks Day 2026, or share them on social media using the #IFD2026 or #IFDChallenge2026 tags!
Fanlore Challenge: The festivities aren’t limited to AO3! Fanlore, the OTW’s fannish history and culture wiki, will be celebrating as well! From February 14-20, join Fanlore for a new editing challenge to complete every day. To participate, refer to the IFD 2026 Fanlore Challenge page for more information.
Games and Fan Chat: On February 15, we’ll be opening the gates of the OTW's once-a-year Discord server. Join us between 21:00 UTC February 14 (What time is that for me?) and 03:00 UTC February 16 (What time is that for me?) to play games and chat with other fans! The chat room will be moderated in English, and we’ll post a detailed schedule on the 15th.

We also invited you to send us your community events for this IFD, so in addition to what we're doing, here are some fan-led events:

The Fandom Melodies, Intertwined Edition

(in English, some small parts in other languages allowed)

This event is already running, and ends on February 28. You can submit entries in any form, though written material is preferred.

You can learn more on their event information page.

Hey, Sweetheart

(in any language)

This all-fandom fic & art fest will run from February 13 to February 15, and you can submit works in any language.

You can learn more on their event information page.

FebUcomment

This event will run from February 1 to February 28. It's meant to motivate people to comment more on fic (new and older!), especially since February is the month with the lowest amount of commenting! There are multiple challenges and there are also fun things one can do to spice up their comment a little!

You can learn more on their event information page.

Lov bobříků s Fanpolis

(in Czech and Slovak)

This event will run from February 16 to February 22, and is all about editing Fanpolis' fandom encyclopedia.

You can learn more on their event information page.

Glory of the Fanworks

(in any language)

This event will run from February 15 to February 28. You can participate however you like, and there will be a set of questions provided for people to reminisce about and share their fandom experience!

You can learn more on their event information page.

Thank you so much for being a part of our fan community throughout the year. See you at #IFD2026!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34236

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This is the truth. He would never ever recover if he somehow became aware of this knowledge.

His solution, of course, would be to remove #30 from the lineup and pretend it never happened, replacing it with #51, and to insist forever after that there have only ever been 53 Animorphs books.

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Sorry @discar I couldn't get Jordan in there, but I didn't think she'd work. If it's a team of six adults and one 13-year-old, she'd risk everyone giving her nothing to do or else being distracted by trying to protect her. Even if Jordan can morph, I think even Eva would hesitate to let her fight. And Naomi would DEFINITELY object to having a second daughter in combat.

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lilacnothlit:

severalsquirrels:
abbatoirist:

this is like . 2yrs old ? LOL
i remember going on multihr rants in discord servers on how the graphic novels’ dialogue is book accurate and somehow still mischaracterized. good times
Don’t make me long for what could have been …!! 😭
Squirrel, “Social Studies Textbook Cartoon Look” is exactly what they have.
Grine is many things, but one of them is “safe,” and I think that’s why Scholastic tried thirty people and picked him. It wouldn’t get your blood racing or offend someone or be controversial. Glad he has the work, though.