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Hellooo! I finished my handmade mistcloak the other week and just threw together some stuff I have collected for Ren faire over the years. My Vin cosplay is about 80% complete, I plan to change out everything that has metal to just leather so I have to craft that myself, and I will be adding some bandages to kind of represent Vin more so in book 2. But overall I am super happy so far with how it looks! In action: https://imgur.com/gallery/ZS2n2cI

We had to make a poem imitating the rhyming scheme and rhythm of The Raven. I made mine about the Cosmere. Also I got to go on The Coppermind for homework. Which was fun.

So, does anyone remember that time I went to a regional science fair and won there and then went to a state science fair and won again and then went to a national conference? Yeah, today's the second iteration of that regional science fair. Except this time I'm present my senior research. Let's see how far up the ladder I get this time.

I have an idea. My dear Sharders, My dear Radiants and Allomancers, and my dear socks and bookies, and writers, and cyborgs, and snake monsters, and hobbits, and Fremen, artists, rangers, writers, and nerds. *Eddie stands up "Not Nerds!"* and nerds. Today is my third shardiversary: I am three years on the Shard today! I hope you are all doing well as much, or perhaps more than, I am. I shall not see you long. I have written this post to bring you all together for a Purpose. Indeed, for Three Purposes! First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that three years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable sharders. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. Secondly, to celebrate my shardiversary. I should say: OUR shardiversary. For it is a group effort. My time here has been one of joy and fun thanks to all of you. Together we are a community of great people. It is also, if I may be allowed to refer to ancient history, the anniversary of my second Shardiversary post; though the fact that it was my second shardiversary post slipped my memory on that occasion. I was bad at math then, and keeping track of time did not seem so important. Then I said "My third shardiversary and to more to come!" I now repeat it more correctly: thank you very much for collaborating with me on three years of the Shard! I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT I regret to announce that - though, as I said, three years is far too short a time to spend among you - this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE! Okay, I'm not actually leaving. I don't think it's the right thing right now. It is 100% not the time to leave the Shard. I just really wanted to make that joke. Come on, you gotta admit it: that was funny. I joined the shard 3 years ago. Three years! can you imagine it? I was so much younger then... I hadn't even started MC role-play, I was a smol child, fresh with the opinion that I knew a lot about fantasy when I was and still am clueless. Ahhh, yes, those were the days... I can still remember exactly when I started. I was sitting in my breakfast nook, having just received my mom's permission to get an account. It was bright outside. Ahhh, to go back to that house with the old furniture and sit there while going onto the Shard. My life changed that day. I'd like to think that it was for the better. This community provided me with different perspectives. This community has helped me to realize a fundamental fact. "People think different than I do and that is entirely okay." I thank all of you so much for helping me to realize that and other things about the world and the people who populate it. All of you are wonderful people and I can't name everyone who means a lot to me. I love all of you so much (yes, even you). My PMs are open to anyone who needs to talk! Just know that I may ask that we wait for a little bit before talking because I'm an idiot who has terrible priorities. (Ie, watching strongbad instead of soldiering through Inheritance so I can read more Terry Pratchett and Brandon Mull). *raises jar of Root and slice of pumpkin pie* I have no idea how long I will be on the Shard, nor how long any of you will be, but this I do know. I lost the game. *Eats pie and downs Root*

RoW

When you very nearly start crying because the video for the new secret project won’t load at school …when you have a teacher who loves Brandon and he sees you almost crying in class and asks what’s up and you wordlessly turn around your phone to show the video that won’t load and he says “go to the doors at the end of this hall, that’s where you get the best service” and he suddenly becomes your favorite teacher.

I got my mission call today Brazil Curitiba South Mission, Portuguese speaking! Reporting to the Brazil MTC on July 31. Incredibly excited and grateful

WoK/WoR spoiler

HoA I drew this in like 2021 so big shift in style, I was still using a mouse to draw back then lol

RoW:

Name the character: Is depressed, can fly, is blue, glows, gets locked up.

“Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive, today.” —Mat Cuathon, Wheel of Time Find the moments of joy, mkay? In a sky of darkness and despair, find the stars. (If you’re @The Bookwyrm, find the giant balls of burning gas and admire the science behind them) I don’t have time to respond to everyone’s SU’s, but I see so many people who are so alone, and so lost, and sad. I see you. I remember you. I hear you. If you need me, I’m here. Keep laughing, ok? Find reasons to smile. Sometimes, we just have to take advice from the Lord of Scars. If we can laugh, we are winning.

Ok ok so last night AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH To those of you who don’t know, my story was chosen to be featured in this years teen anthology (through teen author boot camp and owl hollow press). So last night I got to go to a release party and gala for that. I met all the other authors, which was super cool. BUT the person who wrote the foreword for it is none other than Christopher Paolini. So I got to meet him. And he signed the book. And then we had a very long conversation about books and beautiful prose and he gives Dune 10/10 and then gave me book recommendations And anyway AAAAAAHHHHHHHH that was so cool

For safehand use only

Guys guys guys guys GUYS Hadestown… On Broadway… It was unreal. The Eurydice and Hermes are leaving soon, and it was amazing to see them. And the Persephone was the original one from the concept album when it originally released in 2006. I sobbed through the entire thing AND OH MY SCUDDING CHASMS JORDAN FISHER AS ORPHEUS I LOVE HIM Guys theatre is art. Go see a show. It’s like interactive reading. With music. I saw it two days ago and I’m still emotionally…uh…

Stormlight spoilers up till Oathbringer

@Everyone Wit here, if you want to ping people you think would be interested in seeing this, please do. I simply can't name all the people I am grateful for here. I am taking a break of the shard for a bit. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Maybe a few weeks. Maybe longer. Maybe a few months. Maybe forever. I don’t think I will be gone forever though. I’d like to ask these things. @Just-A-Stick, I won’t be there for the therapy rp. Act as if he just hung up randomly. @justice magician, @Invisible, @TheRavenHasLanded, @Scars of Hathsin @RoyalBeeMage, on the Everything and Anything rp, I really want you guys to continue it. I have no claim in any random people besides Dragon. I would say that he had to spontaneously leave to check on something you don’t know about. He said he would be back shortly. Don’t let it die. Do a heist! I look forward to reading it on return. I have no other pans beyond that. Elan, I summoned you, because I hope you can return to do the One of Worlds and all that drama, as we try to lure her there. The room. Piling is currently on the North wall, someone…never mind. TLT, not a ton of action there right now. Yeah. Insanity Clinic. Technically Wit is in there somewhere. Ignore that like it has been for the past months. HG, well, mage, I appreciate you doing that with me. The pirate one is kinda dead… Remember that httyd interest thread? Well, I did fully plan on starting that as soon as HG ended. I didn’t have any specific idea for that, but make it happen! I was going to make a planning doc though. On the topic of planning docs, the one that JM made, the rp, unfortunately I won’t get to participate in. I will be still on the doc. Also, if there is anything new or idk, on docs, I will be active if you want to ask me something I’ll be there. Why? Well, I was thinking. I feel like I am at the point in my life where what I spend my time on now will ultimately be my skills for the rest of my life. I’m the broad spectrum of it, the shard, while great, is not something that I can cultivate into what I want to define me. Things that I have spent my whole life and things that I feel are more substantial are what I want to focus on. The shard is great. A community of tight knit people who will never stop their support. Role plays also are technically helping me be a better writer. However, I want to focus on the real substantial things. Things that I want to be. I am also cutting a lot of my things down in my life. Anyways, I hope you guys continue in your awesomeness. Be good. Stay strong. Anything I forgot… I don’t know. Favorite hymn: A Poor Wafering Man of Grief Favorite scripture: D+C 122: 7-9 Favorite Quote: Well, that's complicated When I made that long list of quotes, I maintained one constant. My favorite quote is this: "Somebody has to start. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right." -Brandon Sanderson. But I'd like to ask Brandon if I can alter it. I actually slightly disagree with this century old notion. "Someone has to start. Somebody has to step forward, even when it is hard. Even when all the world is against you. When the popular decision is to be with the unrighteous. When all seems to be lost, when there seems to be no hope, when you are lower that you thought anybody in the world could be. When you feel so unloved, so unknown. When you find yourself stuck in the same place, the same endless circle of sin that you thought you could make it out of. When you lack purpose. When you feel like the world has done nothing but hedge your way to what you feel in your soul to be the things of life. Somebody has to start. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, not only because it is right, but because there is a God who knows you. Because, out there, watching and smiling at you, is a God who Loves you. Step forward and do what is right because it is the way of Him. Step forward and do what is right because it is right. Step forward. Do what is right, and carry along those who have yet to find the strength to join you. Step forward." God be with you till we meet again.

Cover concept tease pt 2! It feels kinda muddy to me and it’s driving me absolutely mad

Well, I’m home. NYC was incredible, life changing in some ways. But I missed my mountains. And I don’t know how you big city people do it, I don’t think I could ever live in a city bigger than like…Provo. Nah, Provo’s too big for me. Anyway, it was so fun, and now I have like 4 F’s and I perform Saturday but that’s not important! Life is good ALSO, I decided I wanted a place to put my pins so I did that. I forgot to iron the fabric first though…oh well.

Can we just acknowledge for a moment how much of a good song Pigstep is? Like, genuinely. It's good writing music, it's good gaming music, it's just good music in general. Imo, it is the best Minecraft disc we have gotten, though not necessarily the best Minecraft music as a whole. It's good music, but not necessarily good Minecraft music. That's a whole other thing though.

MAJOR bands of mourning / secret history (original work I drew it)

chat what do i do if it’s all becoming Too Much? if im dissociating and the world just feels Off like why is everything just Agh like why do i want to go to sleep and never Wake Up Again like bro everything is just No right now

You guys. You guys. THERE'S ONLY 39 DAYS UNTIL SUMMER. THAT'S 29 SCHOOL DAYS. I'M SOOOOOOOO READYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Also, story time! My little sister told me earlier today that she's concerned for me, because apparently I say a lot of my intrusive thoughts out loud. And I get a lot of those. She also said that she doesn't want me around her while I'm holding potentially dangerous objects, which I guess is valid because I was chopping some branches earlier with a giant pruner and I told her that if there was ever an intruder in the house to grab it and go for the jugular. -- "Boom, dead. And if that doesn't work, you can always go for the other major arteries. Femoral, brachial... basically any of those will make them bleed to death." She looks at me with mild confusion, mixed with slight horror. "...Why do you know this??" "A girl's gotta be prepared, [name]. You never know when you might need to kill someone out of self defense, or at least mortally wound them. Also," I add hastily, noticing the expression on her face, "I write fantasy books. With sword fights. You know this." My sister pauses, studying me, then reaches for the pruners, which I immediately pull away. "Okay, true. But maybe I should..." "No! ...Hey, do you think if I threw these hard enough, I could shatter the window?" "Honey, that's called an intrusive thought. We don't say those. Just give me the--" "No, Dad gave me these! It's my job! Give me that branch." She begrudgingly obliges, and I cut the branch into a few different pieces so they fit in our black trash can, then I pack them down into the tangle of other branches using the long wood scraps my dad left for us. -- Random comments like these aren't rare from me, but I probably have extra today due to the fact that I got less than five hours of rest. I couldn't fall asleep until about 5:45 (am) and woke up around 10. It was rough. Terrible, actually, but whatever. Hakuna Matata, right? Lol. Anyways, I'm gonna go eat a snack and then do my homework that I totally neglected for the whole of spring break. Wish me luck

*SIGH* I'm back after almost an entire week when I wasn't caught up enough on schoolwork to be online. *cues sobbing noises* Anyway! I'm back! I'm alive! I'M GOING TO THE NATIONAL ZOO SOON!!! WITH VEILLL No idea what else to say... I'm failing school so that's fun... I have a bunch of quotes to dump so ima go do that. Love Y'all! ~ Stick

Help I just listened to a recording of me singing two years ago and I’m dead. Absolutely dead. ain’t no way I’m posting it but like you guys you can improve on anything SO MUCH in two years. Stick with it, because you’re amazing and you can do it!!!!!!

GUYS please read this I’m in love with it and I don’t know why. Between:

A little over 2 years ago I posted a "Roshar Reimagined" HD map that I created in Photoshop and it was really well received. The 17th Shard even went on to use it in their Interactive Map of Roshar project, which was really cool to be a part of even in a small way. I got to looking at the old map a month ago though and I felt like perhaps I could do a bit better... so I gave it a fresh coat of paint using some new graphic design tricks I'd picked up in the past 2 years, and I was really happy with the newest version! So I wanted to share it with the rest of the fanbase, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. I love to hear feedback as well, so lay it on me

Well, it took a lil bit for me to decide what I wanted my "I'm back" post to be... But! I decided to post more Watercolor Art So, here we go! I did 3 trout for an environmental science thingy for school. IT TOOK HOURS- BUT I DID IT!! (yes, i KNOW the brookie doesn't look right! i was rushed and I messed up a bunch) And, my Mom's birthday is on Saturday so I painted her a flower. It's supposed to be a ranunculus, but it looks more like a rose. Not the best, but it was okay. Anyway, I'm still alive, even if I don't feel like it. Love y'all, Stay safe, My PMs are always open. ~ Stick

Huzzah! Please excuse my excitement. I've just recently been caught up enough on Cosmere to hazard a guess at something coming so I'm happy I got it It may not be exact if we're being pedantic, but I'm counting it as a win!

I've seen more on Discord, that's where a lot of memeing (with, well, activity in general) has migrated these days. There are also some on Reddit. Here's a favorite of mine from AdoWillRemOurPlightEventually:

Alright so today, I’m wearing the Harmony hat (check Sanderson’s store if you don’t know what I’m talking about), my denim jacket, a t-shirt, and sweatpants, and my mom says bye to me by telling me: “You look like you’re gonna go catch Pokémon.” I cannot tell y'all how great my mom is.

Hey yall it’s my 5000th post (I think). For this post, it’s time for a genuine life update. I… I’ve been thinking about my life lately. My life this far has been quite the ride. I’ve met amazing people, I like to think I’ve helped others best I can, I’ve learned, I’ve progressed, I’ve changed. the one thing… the one thing is that I don’t know if where I am going is where God wants to go. Before this point, I’ve had a weird look at priorities and what I do and how I do it. I’ve put certain things higher on my priorities than others when they certainly shouldn’t be that high up. The Shard and YouTube for example. the main thing is that I feel lost in some ways. I don’t know what I’m doing in a way. I could continue doing what I’ve been doing, approaching being a writer. I don’t know if being the best writer I can be, writing in ways that explore the world and different views and experiences in the ways I have before, is what I need to do. I don’t know if this is the right path for me. I don’t know if this is the path God wants for me i think I’ve known this for awhile now, but I’ve ignored it. (This next bit is a lot about me and my relationship with god. I ramble a lot lol.) i can’t anymore. I really, really, really can’t. I’m gonna be real with y’all here, I’m really, really, really am scared of the eventuality that I am asked by God to do what I don’t want to do. I really don’t want to be asked to sacrifice what I love, even if it is required to become what He wants me to become. I want to be what he wants me to be, but I also want to be who I want to be. And yet And yet what all this comes down to, what all this is about, is that I seriously am in need of reevaluating my life and my priorities. I need to discover what god wants me to do, where God wants me to go, who God wants me to be. I need to remove things out of my life that would stop me from getting closer to what God wants me to be. I’m terrified what those things might be. Sometimes I wish that I didn’t know as much that I do so I wouldn’t be required to do more. then I remember yall, conference was amazing. God is real, I promise that. You might not believe me, but I testify that he is real as you and me. There is something I said once in a discussion with a dear friend of mine. I said “What is religion if it does not require anything of you?” I said that to mean that God requires us to sacrifice, even things and ideas which we hold dear. Am I a hypocrite? yeah. But, our friend Dalinar said something once. A hypocrite is a man in the process of changing. I’ve resisted it, I’ve fought it, I’ve plead against it, but… but maybe it’s time to change for once. Maybe it is time to let my life be changed for the better, no matter how painful it is. i don’t know how long it will take, what I will sacrifice, what my new goals will be, but tonight and over this next week, I will be trying to figure my life out. I will be trying to let go of my own desires for once in my life. So why have I talked about all of that? Why did I drone on and on in agonizing detail? because I have an itch that the shard might be one of the things I have to sacrifice to change and be the better person than I have been before. If I have to leave, I will make a post, hopefully on my shardiversaey, explaining it all and what things will happen regarding a few things. I plan on staying sfrrr that post if this truly goes down for a week or so. Then I’ll be gone. I’m sorry if that was a confusing post, I don’t know anymore lol. Y’all are great folks and I love y’all. Please send me prayers. I rarely ask anyone for these kinds of things, but… it would be appreciated. God be with you. I love y’all. Y’all are wonderful people. Sorry if I bored yall with that long, rambley post. good night.

*inhale* Hi guysssss How's it going?? I'm mostly alive I thinkkkkkkkk so that's funnnnnnnn I wrote a poem and I reallllllly wanna post it but I'm not supposed to because I'm trying to get it published in a magazineeeee but it's really goooooooddddd Oh my brain is in a WEIRD place not gunna lie... Uhmmmmmmmmmm Yeah I have no idea what I'm doin anymore so that's fun I won't be on at all this weekend cause I have a youth retreat thingy I'm doing Anyway... I don't know what the point of any of this was, but life is lifeing right now so this happened. See y'all around... Love, Stick

MY FINALS ARE OVERR I HAVE TWO MONTHS NOW TWO MONTHS TO READ AND LISTEN TO THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES (and others, cause let's be honest I'll finish magnus archives within the week) TO WATCH MOVIES AND INDULGE IN MY HOBBIES

Okay, I know this isn't relevant at all, but I'm bored and feel like my interactions with the Shard have waned of late. So here we go. I get irritated whenever I hear people loudly proclaiming that Pluto should be a planet. It shouldn't. Now, before you grab your torches and pitchforks, just hear out someone who probably knows more about space than you. The accepted requirements for what makes a body a "planet" are as follows: It must orbit a star. It must have enough mass that it's gravity forces it into a spherical shape. It must have enough gravitational influence to "clear" it's orbit, removing all other objects from its area whether by absorbing them or ejecting them. The reason Pluto was taken off the list of planets was because it failed to meet that third requirement. If you dig a little bit that's the first thing you find. Pluto doesn't have enough of a gravitational presence to bully everything else out of its area, and so it's not large enough to qualify for full planethood. That's the official reason it's not a planet. And while it's technically true, I've never really been satisfied with that reasoning. But, you might ask, if I'm not satisfied, why do I still think Pluto shouldn't be a planet? As anyone on the street can tell you, Pluto is now classified as what we call a "dwarf planet." It's basically what it sounds like. It's a body that's similar to a planet in many ways, but doesn't have enough mass to meet that third requirement. They're little baby planets. Here's the thing; as time goes on, we are finding a lot of dwarf planets. Eris, Haumea, Sedna, Makemake, Quaoar, Gonggong...you probably don't know about most of those, but they exist. The space beyond Neptune's orbit contains a huge collection of orbiting bodies called the Kuiper belt, and beyond that is an unimaginably huge sphere of orbiting icy rocks called the Oort cloud. We keep finding these dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, and it's highly likely there are dozens more to be found, and maybe even more in the Oort cloud. There could be hundreds of worlds just like Pluto orbiting our sun. If we make Pluto a planet, we'd have to make every single one of them planets as well. And that, to me, seems like overkill. These aren't planets, they're something else...their own family of worlds, with their own characteristics and quirks. I want to talk about another little world you may not have heard of; Ceres. Ceres is a rocky body in the asteroid belt. It's smaller than Pluto, but it is massive enough to form into a sphere. It obviously hasn't cleared it's orbit, though, it's in the asteroid belt. So it falls into the same category of dwarf planet, though it's also actually classified as a very large asteroid by some. But for the longest time, Ceres was considered a planet. Bet you didn't know that. In fact, the reason it was discovered was because astronomers in earlier centuries had various theories about hidden planets in the solar system based on the hypotheses and theories of their eras. Ceres was just lucky enough to be discovered early. Pluto has a very similar story. It was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, who was looking for a predicted planet past the orbit of Neptune. He photographed various patches of the sky at different parts of time, comparing the photographs in a way that would cause objects that moved to stand out. And after searching and searching, he found it; a small dot that seemed to move slightly from photo to photo. That was our friend Pluto. Remember that children's book Ferdinand? They made a movie adaptation that I haven't seen. It's about a young bull who wants to stay home and smell the flowers, live a peaceful life. However, he's accidentally caught by people looking for bulls for bull fights at just the wrong time; a bee had stung him, making him go crazy. They thought he was perfect, and took him out of his home and put him in an unfamiliar, loud, uncomfortable place, filled with large, scary bulls that he didn't belong with. I think Pluto was in a similar situation. We now know that there is a whole family of dwarf planets out there, unique worlds with their own beauty and mystery. Pluto lived among them, hiding from astronomers for millennia. Until he was accidentally found at Tombaugh at just the wrong time, namely a time when the understanding of what being a planet really meant was incomplete. We didn't know about Pluto's family, the dwarf planets. We just found something orbiting past Neptune and were like "it's a PLANET!!!!" And with no regard for poor Pluto's feelings, we lumped it with a group it didn't belong with. Can you imagine being as small as Pluto and having to live with Jupiter? So, I'm sure Pluto was very relived when in 2006, scientists decided to finally take him home, and put him back where he belonged. Now, I know I'm anthropomorphizing here, but people do it enough with Pluto anyway to say why it should be a planet, so I think I'm justified. And it nicely illustrates my point. Pluto has its own classification, its own family of worlds it belongs with, and saying we need to make it a planet again is overlooking its very nature. You're ignoring what makes Pluto Pluto and assuming that being a planet was what made something cool. Planethood doesn't matter; Pluto is awesome. It has a heart shaped plain of nitrogen ice covered in convection cells due to constant resurfacing, suggesting geologic activity spurred by internal systems. It has a thin blue atmosphere, beautifully captured by the New Horizon's probe as it flew by (look it up, it's an awesome photo). It might have a subsurface ocean, which, if heated due to the internal systems mentioned above, could even harbor life. And it does all this while still being a dwarf planet. In the end, it doesn't matter what we call something; we should recognize it for the beauty that it holds, the mysteries for us to unlock. ... ... ... In fact, should we even use the term "planet" at all? I mentioned above that the original reason Pluto was removed from the planet list was not very satisfying to me. And the reason for that is because the rules for a planet are not very satisfying to me. I don't know why, but it feels like they lack something, feels like they don't consider the edge cases or would be too easy to subvert. Even now, astronomers still debate about what the true definition of a planet should be. The most satisfying answer for why something should be a planet is because "it looks like it should be one." Planethood is something you just kind of know when you see it. This ambiguity could be used to argue why Pluto should be a planet, but for me, it calls into question whether we should be using the term at all anymore. Consider Jupiter and Saturn; in size, structure, and composition, they are way different than Earth or Mars or Venus. In fact, Pluto is far closer in characteristics to the rocky planets than the rocky planets are to the gas giants. And yet we lump the inner worlds with the outer gas giants and call them all "planets." Is that really fair? There are bodies in the universe known as brown dwarfs. These are large bodies, made of gas, but far larger than Jupiter. However, they are not massive enough to facilitate full nuclear fusion in their cores, and so they are not considered full stars. These are the "failed stars" of the universe, the ones whose parents are dissapointed in them, as Kurzgesagt put it. Some of these brown dwarfs have orbiting bodies of their own. And herein lies the confusion. Are these planets? Some might say yes, but wasn't one of the qualifications of a planet that it has to orbit a star? Brown dwarfs aren't stars. So are these orbiting bodies moons? Well, don't moons have to orbit planets, which have to orbit stars? Most brown dwarfs don't orbit anything. So if they aren't planets, or moons, what are they? If brown dwarfs aren't planets, but they aren't stars, what are they? The more you look, the more confusing it becomes. We've discovered as of now at least 70 rogue planets planets, worlds drifting through space without parent stars to orbit. They likely formed in a solar system, like normal, and then were ejected due to gravitational interactions with other bodies. It's likely there are billions more throughout the galaxy. These lonely wanderers clearly fail to meet the first requirement, and yet we still call them planets. Theories have even suggested that the moons of a rogue gas giant in specific cases could harbor life. These worlds are still planets, right? There's a gas giant in another solar system called WASP-12 b. It orbits so close to its star that it's year is only 1.1 days, and has a temperature of roughly 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Tidal gravity from it's star is so strong that it is actually pulled into an egg shape, with the tip of the "egg" pointing to the star. It fails to meet the spherical qualification of the second requirement. But it's still clearly a planet, right? Right? The more I think about these rules, and the wondrous worlds out in the universe, the more I think that maybe it's time for the general term "planet" to retire. The word planet comes from the greek word πλανήτης, meaning "to wander". (Or something like that. Etymology isn't my strong suit.) In the old days, a "planet" was just a star that moved from night to night. It wasn't fixed like the rest. When the word was invented, they didn't know what these "wanderers" really were. They didn't know that the Earth itself was one of them. As astronomy evolved, we've simply clung to that old term, trying to update it as new science comes in. But maybe that's not the best tactic. Maybe it's time to let the word go. The types of individual bodies in the universe exist on more of a scale; on the smallest, you have tiny dust particles, on the largest, huge supermassive black holes. But along that scale are rocks, asteroids, dwarf planets, rocky planets, gas giants, brown dwarfs, stars of all types...there are a a few clear boundaries between these types of bodies, yes, including some that baffle astronomers today (remind me to talk to you about IMBHs sometime...), but in many cases it seems like these are on a sliding scale. Brown dwarfs are the missing link between gas giants and stars, for example. There are other sliders you can use to further define these bodies (rocky planets come in many varieties...look at Venus and Earth. How different are they?), but they all fall along a similar spectrum. If we take a wider and more open minded look at the classification of astronomical bodies, we can abandon the whole planet debate and headache altogether. Like I said before, it doesn't matter what we call them, in the end. The universe contains countless worlds for us to explore, each with their own beauties and mysteries and secrets and wonders...but when we let definitions get in the way of our understanding of them, it does matter. Maybe it's time to rethink the way we think of these worlds. Leave behind the era of "planets", and come to a greater understanding of what these worlds truly are, by giving them names that highlight what makes them what they are. I don't know what those names would be. But, when found, they'll help every world, little Pluto included, find the family they belong with. ... ... ... This has been another completely irrelevant Fadran-style astronomy rant with The Bookwyrm. Assuming you were brave enough to read all that, thank you, and I hope to talk (write?) your ear off again in the future.

Morning everyone. I'm not okay. The last kitten died.

Just saw that they add this in the project update: All his life, Sixth of the Dusk has been a traditional trapper of Aviar—the supernatural birds his people bond with—on the deadly island of Patji. Then one fateful night he propels his people into a race to modernize before they can be conquered by the Ones Above, invaders from the stars who want to exploit the Aviar. But it’s a race they’re losing, and Dusk fears his people will lose themselves in the effort. When a chance comes to sail into the expanse of the emberdark beyond a mystical portal, Dusk sets off to find his people’s salvation with only a canoe, his birds, and all the grit and canniness of a Patji trapper. Elsewhere in the emberdark is a young dragon chained in human form: Starling of the starship Dynamic. She and her ragtag crew of exiles are deep in debt and on the brink of losing their freedom. So when she finds an ancient map to a hidden portal between the emberdark and the physical realm, she seizes the chance at a lucrative discovery. These unlikely allies might just be the solution to each other’s crisis. In their search for independence, Dusk and Starling face perilous bargains, poisonous politics, and the destructive echo of a dead god. I guess this would explain why Xisis is in such a bad situation.

Shadow of self

My little brother is the sweetest little thing so as most of you know I’ve been pretty sick over the past couple of days (started feeling bad on Wednesday, it was the worst on Saturday and Sunday and I’m still feeling under the weather), so I took school off yesterday and didn’t have it at all today cuz reasons. So my mom and lil bro and I (he’s preschool age) just chilled for most of the day, which isn’t really important. Anyways, everyone’s home from school and work now, and we went out to the chiropractor and picked up some groceries, but my mom didn’t want to make a whole dinner for seven people when we got home tonight (which is totally understandable) so we just went and grabbed some McDonald’s and took it home to eat. I got a McChicken but somehow ended up with two (my older brother was the one who ordered so uh that’s prolly what happened—) and I ate the first one fine and ate the second one partway and halfway through I just started to feel pretty gross so I laid down across my chair and my older brother’s (he’d left at this point) because it would help me feel better blah blah blah. And then I see this little 3.5 year old ADORABLE face with big blue eyes and rosy cheeks and aaaah he’s adorable just pop over the corner of the table which means he’s laying across it so obviously I’m like “hey buddy can you sit in your chair please? I want you to be safe because you could fall and get hurt” And my dad’s tryna get him off the table lol and he just reaches out his arms and says my name and I realize he’s tryna hug me so I give him and hug and he sits back down lol and it made me feel so much better not less sick but like I was totally overstimulated today and it just was like awesome. GO HUG SOMEONE! It increases dopamine. True fact.

When your teacher starts talking about cattle branding and you uncomfortably turn your shash phone case over to hide it

I will remember those who have been forgotten. Who remembers me? I will listen to those who have been ignored. Does anybody hear me? I will love even those who look past me with indifference. I want to be loved. One Family.

THERE WAS WATER LEAK IN MY CRAFT ROOM!!! WATER EVERYWHERE!! By some miracle we caught it early enough that nothing was ruined besides maybe the rug. We still had to take everything out and are waiting for tomorrow for the plumbers to come Enjoy the the cameo of my grandfather who help save my stuff

WE DID IT!!! WE MADE FINALS!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH