#which is awesome bc i live in the valley

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[batri-jopa]

Greetings from Tbilisi!!!

OMG my dream came true I'm finally in Georgia! I was so worried that in the end I would not like being here as much as hoped but then it turned out it's getting more beatiful with every next hour of the day, no photo could ever tell you how incredible this valley landscape is!!!😭

And the food I already knew and loved in georgian restaurants before but it somehow tastes even better here! and there was live music, I recognised Ratchuli! and there were dances!❤️❤️❤️ I could not see their legs well enough but OMG one obviously can't get enough of this!!!

I so love the Old Tbilisi architecture, as ATWD fan I can't get tired of these wooden verandas, savouring every another building🫠

there's also is some cool local street art

There were surprises like this awesome tree sculpture made with doors of old tiled stoves, of which many were made in Warszawa (Warsaw)

I enjoyed buying some cute souvenires (for myself obviously bc who else might appreciate little kvevri-shaped saltshaker or chokha socks?).

and I was holding an eagle

[llondonfog]

Hi!! I was an anon from quite some time ago, saying that Mr. Plover would be a cute name for Sebek's dad :) Your response definitely raised some really fun questions, and I had some thoughts to share if you'd like to entertain them :) but also, feel free to ignore! I dont wanna bombard you lol. Your posts are so fun to see, and are awesome for world building. Thank you for your little corner of the internet <3 Anywho, I wrote a little thingy...

To be a Zigvolt is to love bravely.

Truly.

Unafraid, and without condition.

Who is Sebek to contest his exalted family legacy?

And the Zigvolts, mother and father, hold tight with conviction. Not the conviction of heavy-fisted mandates, nor the snarl of battle-torn declarations. Not the conviction of a judge, or a king, or a soldier. Their conviction is of tea-time weather observations, of the kiss of tide at sea, the fact that is sunrise, and the moon that trails after. Something simple, and mundane, and unfailingly honest. And above all else, above murmured insults, and booming jabs at rounded ears and smaller magics, the Zigvolts believe, know, that their son loves them.

Truly, bravely, and without condition.

It follows in him placing away the mugs after washing, and knocking on the dentistry's door with that huff of his. In the glances behind an unsheathed sword, eyes searching for a familiar truth.

And the Zigvolts smile, for he knows.

And Sebek turns his face, embarrassed.

Emboldened.

Dude. Sebek as a character????? MUWAH. His inner conflict of human vs fae is so complex and compelling. That type of conflict, obviously, doesn't arise just out of nowhere. The Valley of Thorn's general society obviously had a heavy impact, and I believe that Sebek's grandfather was a primary influence as well. So Sebek's parents, OOUGH. It really gets you wondering about how they feel, especially his human father. But? His parents? Are just so? Loving? They truly, and deeply love their son, and I think that they know Sebek loves them back, even if he himself doesn't really understand his own feelings. This manifests in a variety of ways, but a definite drawback is that because they know that their son loves them, they don't really adress the antagonism he holds towards human kind? Towards himself. I think that the Zigvolts believe that Sebek will come to understand with time, and that their love for each other is enough. Especially with fae culture, their lives long and full, learning and growth seems to be something that also develops over time. (Mr. Plover is someone who seems to adopt fae culture, and wonderfully open minded, so I think he adopts this kind of attitude towards Sebek as well?) There is no rush to correct Sebek, and maybe with fae culture, a lesson learned by oneself over time is more valuable than a one forced upon them. If that makes any sense. So his parents belief in his love and intelligence and future, almost feeds into this conflict? But it's... fine bc he's half fae? Obviously not fine, but, ya know? Anyways😂😂😂 I love their family so much😭😭😭 if you made it here, thanks for listening to my ramble! :) Especially with the Silver stuff coming up WHICH I AM STOKED FOR I AM EATING YOUR WRITING I AM CRYING😭😭😭

I hope you have a wonderful day :)) <3

@estcaligo // i felt morally obligated to tag you in the most wholesome sebek ask i've ever received

first things, oh my goodness, hello again!! i'm so glad you enjoyed that response and you're more than welcome here anytime to share your twst thoughts and questions, i really enjoy answering them and interacting with you guys!! it means so much to me that you enjoy my silly content corner!! <3

secondly, YOUR LITTLE PROMPT HAD ME TEARING UP OH M YGOD. i don't know if you guys understand how much i adore the trope of big huffy characters showing their love and affection through small gestures of care and intimacy rather than grand displays and the way you described that!! sebek's little grumpy noises that even if he says he doesn't understand his father, he's still going out of his way to be with him at the office!! the way he goes to put the dishes away (most likely on the tallest shelves!!) for his family aaaaaaa

and just the overwhelming theme that the quality their family prides themselves most on is their conviction WHICH IS SO TRUE OF SEBEK AS A CHARACTER AND WHAT WE KNOW OF HIS MOTHER AND FATHER!!! conviction to their love, conviction in his liege i literally am obsessed with the mundane little observations that when placed in this context ARE SO INSPIRING AND MEANINGFUL!!!

i really hope we get to understand more about sebek's life and past, especially in ch7 if we get the backstory on lilia and baul (sebek's grandfather) and how he views humankind. and if not there, then i really hope we get a briar valley event where we can see the zigvolts in all their glory!! the dentist office, sebek's siblings, the home where he grew up!!! but you raise such a good point about how their belief that he will mature with time could also be a hinderance since they're not stepping in to facilitate his personal growth BUT I HAVE FAITH IN SEBEK!!! from what we've seen so far in ch7, he's had his foundations shaken considerably, and how he comes out of this is going to be a huge testament to his love for diasomnia

[reckling-turtle]

i love this new fic trope of “character is moving to a new state” and it ends up being oregon/washington

not sure if fic writers actually live in northwest or just like the aesthetic but its nice and i love it

[luci-cunt]

im about to go to sleep but when i awaken i hope to find an essay from you on how i get into hermitcraft

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (just got home from work and I have a new puppy so I will be dead for the next week but here's this very quick overview bc I love you and also Hermitcraft)

SO--YOU WANNA FALL DEEPER DOWN THE MCYT HOLE BC DSMP WASN'T CONVOLUTED ENOUGH???? TIRED OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE LORE AND HARD-TO-FOLLOW PLOTLINES FILLED WITH ANGST AND TRAUMA??? WANT SOMETHING A BIT MORE LAID BACK????

OH BOY DO I HAVE THE ANSWER FOR YOU!!!

First of all: Hermitcraft is essentially a series where a bunch of super talented and pretty longstanding mcyt-ers play on a single minecraft server for a period of a "season" and build absolutely fucking insane bases and vibe together. It's all very structured and organized so on every member's channel u'll find playlists for each season.

(oh and by longstanding mcyt-ers I mean literal pioneers in the mcyt community, people who have redstone inventions named after them bc they've been around longer than the redstone itself--etc)

The server is super chill!!! Everyone is very nice and they all get along super well and coordinate things on a discord server so that everyone's got all the info and they also prioritize building over basically everything--which means like, fire tic is off (meaning fire cannot spread), you do not steal anythign unless you will pay it back at least like twice over (once Grian accidentally killed ppl so he grinded them out full enchanted netherite armor/tools + some blocks and this is literally just like, what everyone does)

But!!!! besides all that!!!! where do you start *watching*!!!!

There are something like,,, 30 members on teh HC server??? more??? I cannot remember. Every one of them posts Hermitcraft episodes to their youtube channels, but there's also a HC recap youtube channel dedicated to weekly recaps of all hermit activity which you can find here!!

The thing about HC is that everytime there's a new update to MC, or even just the server starts to get stale--they throw out the world and start a new, completely empty one from scratch and thus is a new "season." Currently we're only a few episodes into the 8th season!

I watch a very limited scope of HC but--here are my limited reccomendations

GRIANNNNNNNN: because of course, we love grian, we stan grian, he has cats--what more could you ask for? Yes you've seen him gracing your screen in MCC and killing it, and you've also most likely seen him in fanart comparing him to Philza bc both are badass MC players with ✨wings✨he's chaotic and super creative and very kind! he also builds lots of mega builds and they are *incredible.* You're gonna wanna watch him if you want some good, lighthearted gremlin content.

Goodtimeswithscar: my BELOVED!!! This man is like, chaos but make it absolutely harmless. He is Dr. Doofenshmurtz levels of unfunctioning in the best ways possible. Mans tries so hard to be a villain and he just akjsd;lfja;sldfkj cannot pull it off and I adore him so much for it. Also he's got a new vibe every season--last season he was a wizard who lived in a giant snail before moving into a massive mining-construciton-thing??? And this season he has very much Howl's Moving Castle vibes. He also streams on twitch!!! Which I would totally recommend bc he's very chill and fun to listen to. You're gonna wanna watch him if you want a little bit more spice to your episodes--what is that spice exactly? Just watch and you'll see >:))

Some honorable mentions of ppl I don't really watch but love:

Pearlescentmoon: she's a new member to the HC server this season and I love her!!! I've only seen her a bit in Grian and Scar's vids but she took down an entire build just to rotate it like 90 degrees we stan an icon.

Mumbojumbo: a redstone fucking madman--also like--posh?? but in an unoffensive way?? I have no idea this man is so white but also I love him?? that doesn't describe him right just--just watch something of his and you'll understand.

Bdubs: my BELOVED!!! he's just aslkjd;flajsdflk everything, idk man just watch a vid and you'll be in love he's just aslkjdf;lasjkf everything. His starter house is a massive moon with a clock hanging from it it's so pog I love him so much watch his videos

OH AND WHAT'S THAT???? YOU GET HOOKED ON HC CONTENT BUT THINK,,,,,,, 'HM--THERE'S NOT QUITE ENOUGH MURDER IN THIS'???

BRO I"VE GOT THE ANSWER FOR YOU!

(also it's very short--I think there's only like 8 episodes cuz there was only 8 sessions--it's complicated but Grian explains it in the first ep dw)

3rd Life SMP

(everyone has 3 lives--losing the first 2 means nothing, but once you die 3 times you goal becomes to kill every other player on the server. It does not go over like this. Roleplay ensues. Gays are had. What the fuck why does Ren have a scottish accent--why is he dead--MARTYN WHAT--)

You want wholesome gays with a bit of angst but an overall happy ending that will make you cry???

Watch Mr. Gaming and Scott Smajor's POV

(they live in a flower filled valley in little hobbit holes and they are husbands and they are not going to murder people bc that is not what nice people do and--oh my god did you just fucking kill my husband alright murder is ok--)

You want lighthearted, roleplay light hilarity???

Watch Grian and Scar's POV

(there's a llama named pizza, grian is bloodthirsty and not even on his red life, and scar really just would rather steal cookies and scam ppl out of their nice clothes than kill ppl)

You want somethign I can't even really describe but there's royalty involved?? and people dying for one another and very dramatic rp??

WATCH THE RED KING AND HIS HAND BRING UPON THE RED WINTER

(there's not even an explanation I can give here, I love them, they're killing it)

(there are other awesome ppl on the server but that's who I was mostly watching, also--Maj--to get you invested here's some mostly spoiler free cool fanart to hook you and some shitposts that are hilarious and very accurate <3 XDD)

Be warned tho man,,, that last episode--on anyone's POV alk;jsdf;lajsd it's ajlsd;fkjsad;lfkj just

Ok sleep time now, I had to cuddle a needy puppy like, throughout this whole thing and typed most of it with one hand you would not believe how hard it is to find and link this many things with one hand if you do not click on every single link I will know and I will stab you <3

[infinites-chaser]

I saw your tag on the demolished buildings post and I was interested in something - I just visited Seattle for the first time (from NYC) and everything felt creepily... new. And like, polished and fancy. If that makes sense. Did that all happen recently?? I was getting a weird feeling and I couldn't pin it down.

hi omg thanks for stopping by my inbox!!! FELT. SEATTLE MY BELOVED AND DETESTED CITY. ive lived here for eight years and I experience that on the daily lmao,,,I devoted a whole year of college to unpacking my love/hate relationship w seattle (city of the future? more like city of gentrification,,, disregard and active destruction of the past...)I wiLL rb this later w links to my sources cited and recommendations when I can find all the articles and pdfs !!! I have sm feelings abt seattle thank u for giving me the chance to scream !

So as far as I know gentrification has been happening ever since amazon and all the big tech companies moved their headquarters here in 2010-ish tho covid forcing the closure of many small and local businesses has made it Even Worse. idk if u visited south lake union (which is, imo, the shiniest and most disconcerting part of seattle) but that's where Jeff bezos' balls are + the Amazon campus + Google + other tech companies I don't remember off the top of my head, but the majority of the land all these campuses are on was supposed to be a public park before jeff et all bought the land up!!! head in my hands...we could've had a giant beautiful free park instead we got the uncanny valley of shiny polished instagram aesthetic buildings...

Also. ever since tech came to seattle the historically majority black district of Seattle have seen Massive drops in the proportion of the population that is black (specifically the central district, beacon hill and south seattle) and the white population in South Seattle (historically minority-majority) has been growing faster than any of the minority populations. lmao. which is awful bc seattle used to allow discriminatory clauses in property leases (like u cannot own this property if ur black, asian, etc) and black + other minority populations had nowhere to go except south seattle! and now they're getting priced out of their own homes argh north beacon hill in recent years has been one of the Most Gentrified districts of Seattle...

also (disclaimer I don't know as much abt this) smth similar is happening w cap hill and the lgbtq+ population and already happened w them Before bc the community used to be in the pioneer square area. and had to move to cap hill! now they might have to move again :/

anyway to focus on beacon hill specifically (which I did a community research project on for one of my classes), the local light rail's opening in 2014 (beacon hill station is in north beacon hill) also seems to have contributed to rising housing prices (and subsequent gentrification as local businesses shut down).. bc now South Seattle is convenient! accessible! if u ride the link south u will see sO many new businesses and modern apartment buildings right by the stations. and in beacon hill specifically a historic Chinese restaurant was demolished so the station could be built (anD this might. haha. happen again in 2 years?? bc the city transit wants to expand the station in the international district. once again my head is in my hands).

and like I said in my tags I got to interview a local chinese american historian! his name is Ron Chew and he's awesome! go read his memoir My Unforgotten Seattle!! it talks abt the history of chinese americans in seattle and also the districts he lived in. he lives in beacon hill rn and he talked to me abt how much it's changed since his childhood... like there's sm he and his generation remembers that was never written down + won't ever be remembered if no one writes it down! for example he said his mom worked in the linen factories along w a lot of native American women and his dad worked at the docks alongside a lot of black men! things u wouldn't ever know from the history books. how the history of Seattle is sm more than the story of the Denny party. white settlers. etc.

lastly I've just been thinking. a lot. about these passages from michel de certeau's essay walking in the city:

"[In the city] there is only a pullulation of passer-by, a network of residences temporarily appropriated by pedestrian traffic, a shuffling among pretenses of the proper, a universe of rented spaces haunted by a nowhere or by dreamed-of places.

"Here, there used to be a bakery." "That's where old lady Dupuis used to live." It is striking here that the places people live in are like the presences of diverse absences. What can be seen designates what is no longer there: "you see, here there used to be..." but it can no longer be seen. Demonstratives indicate the in visible identities of the visible: it is the very definition of a place, in fact, that it is composed by these series of displacements and effects among the fragmented strata that form it and that it plays on these moving layers.

"Memories tie us to that place.... It's personal, not interesting to anyone else, but after all that's what gives a neighborhood its character." There is no place that is not haunted by many different spirits hidden there in silence, spirits one can "invoke" or not. Haunted places are the only ones people can live in-and this inverts the schema of the Panopticon. But like the gothic sculptures of kings and queens that once adorned Notre-Dame and have been buried for two centuries in the basement of a building in the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, these "spirits," themselves broken into pieces in like manner, do not speak any more than they see. This is a sort of knowledge that remains silent. Only hints of what is known but unrevealed are passed on "just between you and me."

Places are fragmentary and inward-turning histories, pasts that others are not allowed to read, accumulated times that can be unfolded but like stories held in reserve, remaining in an enigmatic state, symbolizations encysted in the pain or pleasure of the body."

[tomatoluvr69]

1, 4 & 22?

Song of the year?

I think my song of the year award would have to go to Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed. I discovered it literally New Years Day and it took over my whole entire brain body & being for six months. It was definitely more of a beginning of the year obsession, but no other song had me in its grip like this one. How lucky I feel to live in a world of songs <333333

4. Movie of the year?

I had to really think about this one!!! I don't use Letterboxd or keep any sort of list, and movies definitely took a back burner as I finished my undergrad degree & spent the summer backpacking...never quite got back into it. I think this might have to be a tie between Dog Day Afternoon, because it's fucking awesome, and All Quiet On The Western Front (2022) not because it was like a particular paragon of outstanding filmmaking (though the war scenes were pretty stunning) but because it lingered in my head for days upon days afterwards, filling me with a sort of unease and sorrow that rarely happens to me. I watched it and didn't think it really had an effect but god was I wrong-- so I'm giving it a tie for first because of that. The only other movie that I lingered in for days afterwards this year was The Northman-- which I didn't even particularly like, but I dwelled heavy in its setting for a loooong time afterwards. This answer is definitely biased towards movies I watched recently bc I cannot for the life of me remember what I saw before the summer LOL.

22. Favorite place you visited this year?

I went solo backpacking on the North Country Trail for awhile this summer-- I could try to sum up the way it feels to have seen no one for two weeks and pass alone through the most unbelievable Appalachian valleys, thick with mist & unbelievably verdant, turning a corner on the trail to be unexpedtly and unceremoniously met with some of the most stunning vistas-- but you'll just have to take my word for it. Other than that though I didn't really go anywhere whatsoever except for to & from college, and then around my city. But wait I also spent my Wilderness First Responder intensive training deep in an appalachian holler in the dead of winter-- that was absolutely STUNNING as well. so I guess the TLDR is APPALACHIAN WILDERNESS <3333

Cannot recommend it enough but you gotta have the chops; unlike the AT or something there was no one around except occasionally on weekends near trailheads lol

And some winter pics. Sorry for the pic dump but eeeeeeeeeeeeeee I just love this region to death

[gumy-shark]

this is Emmyn yes she is sideways its a hazard of writing all my thoughts in the margins of my writing notebook.

n e ways she was a magibiologist for a researchers guild who went to a remote island to study the magically-charged megafauna (read: cute friendly giant bugs), and while she was there she found these crystals (lumina) which give the island its magical properties but at a close range emit basically magical corruption radiation.

she spends all her time studying these crystals, losing the need to drink, eat, sleep, or even breathe due to the crystals’ magic (aka she’s basically undead at this point). she invites a geologist friend to come look at her research, and they have an argument over her safety in which the friend begs her to stop. Emmyn, in a fit of rage, encases her friend in a block of crystal (also discovering she has the ability to grow crystals at will). already unstable from the magical corruption, this is the point where she snaps and decides to spread the lumina crystal’s bounty to the rest of the world.

she can control bugs (within a limited radius), is immortal (bc undead), can grow lumina crystals at will, can encourage nearby fungus to grow, and has limited levitation/flight.

in conclusion here is the weird bug lady oc whos been living in my head for the past week or so. she’s a wet cat who eats dirt and kills on the regular. i lvoe her

also this is a picture of her drawn by my very awesome and talented younger sister. important addendum since it highlights the uncanny valley

[kyidyl]

Kyidyl Does Archaeology - Part 1

About me, and about the site.

I’m gonna have to do this in parts because I tend to be, uh...wordy.  Actually...ok, so I believe very strongly that knowledge does no one any good behind a paywall, but I also have a hard time parsing it down for social media because, well, people are complex but also ADHD.  So if you guys have any feedback for me that’d be awesome.  I’ll probably do these as a series so they don’t get overwhelming to read.  Tag for ‘em will be kyidylCL

A caveat to all of these posts: archaeologists walk a fine line between “I’d love to tell you about this and here look at this cool thing” and “I don’t want to share a colleague’s forthcoming paper on social media before they publish it and also fuck looters”. We classify anyone who *isn’t* an archaeologist as a looter.  Because even when you find artefacts just lying around, as soon as you pick them up they’re removed from context and become near-useless for scientific research and data.  When we remove them we capture all that information via a prescribed methodology.  When other people remove them they tend not to.  And you can tell how legit someone is by how much they care about the context.  Context is key, that’s why we’re so meticulous.  Anyway so I can’t tell you where the site is specifically because I’m not allowed.  I also, though, have been heavily involved in this project so I’m mostly going to be telling you about my own research so it’s ok to publish it on social media.  Anyway, that’s why if you show an archaeologist something you just like found they’ll be like “gee...thanks...well...I don’t want to squelch your curiosity, buuuuuut...” 

A little bit of background on my involvement with this site: I’m a newly minted archaeologist.  I’ve had my MS a little over a year, and I’ve been doing things in that time to keep up my skills and get the field hours I need to be a registered state archaeologist (it’s basically just like a professional license for archs.) bc I didn’t get enough in school and my dissertation is on genetics and cannibalism (and if you want to know about *that* I’ll tell you, but in another post.), so yeah.  Anyway.  I’ve been volunteering with the local archaeology society, and they’re great.  They found this site because two of the members grew up in the area and just knew of its existence.  So I volunteer with them and am one of like 3 people they know who have a degree so I get to be really involved - probably more than I would be otherwise just cause people with my credentials are in short supply for them.  I’m basically the only member with a degree, and the rest are consultants they bring in for stuff like this (including the RSA who works the site - the site director.).  

Before a site can be dug there’s a lot of prep work involved.  It varies based on what kind of money you’ve got and access.  We have lots of access - it’s on private land owned by someone who is childhood friends with a member of the arch society - but almost zero money.  Before I showed up, in summer 2018, they did a series of what are called shovel tests.  Basically there’s a grid laid over the site and where the grid lines intersect they dug a round pit down to what archaeologists call “the sterile layer”, IE, where there’s no evidence of human activity.  Basically, you dig small holes to see if it’s worth digging big holes and in this case it was worth it.  

When I started working with them, I took all of the material from the test pits and sorted and catalogued it.  We’ll come back to this in the next post, so remember this.  Pause.  

I forgot to tell you where the site was.  Like not specifically, I can’t do that, but I CAN tell you that it’s in the Shenandoah valley.  Wanna see pics? Yeah, you wanna see pics (I took all of the images I’m gonna be posting so I give myself permission to post them. :P): 

The site is too big to get in one pic, but this is the far end looking towards the mountain.  The field continues off to the left of the shot.  

Here’s a nicer pic of the mountain: 

And another one cause it’s super pretty: 

And here’s my view when we’re eating lunch:

And here’s an artsy shot of the cows I pass on my way in, because who doesn’t love cows? ;) 

The site has been occupied for a long time (how long? Well, that’ll happen in the pottery post soooorry. ;), and I think you guys can see why.  It’s also on a slight ridge overlooking a river so it’s near fresh water, easily defensible, and is fertile.  Speaking of which... 

It’s also what archaeologists call “highly disturbed”. See, after the colonizers drove the natives out of the Blue Ridge mountains, they started farming the fertile land in the valley.  This site was farmed for several decades, and not only that but during the civil war they dug a big ‘ole defensive trench through the middle of it.  So whilst farming disturbs the finds, it tends to a, only be a max of 15 inches deep and b, keep the finds in the same relative area they’re pulled out of.  And we can tell where that layer ends (I’ll show you that in the post about our pits bc I don’t think Tumblr will let me add more pics.), so even though it destroys features and damages things it’s a lot less destructive than, say....building a giant war trench and shooting at each other.  

The site is an entire settlement.  It’s...several acres in size.  There are burial cairns in the woods around it, and some rumors that human remains have been found there in the past - although we have not, as of yet, found any (much to my personal dismay because, well...bioarchaeologist.). 

So who lived here? Well, when the colonizers drove out the natives they didn’t exactly keep good records about who lived where, but generally speaking the site is on both Massawomeck and Manahoac land. We don’t know which group lived there, and there were other groups coming and going in the general area so it could have also been Piscataway or Potomac or even one of the later nations that formed the Iroquois.  Based on the age though I think the best candidates are the Massawomeck or Manahoac.  

Next up, the prep work I did for the site and dig! 

(aaaahhhhhh hopefully I didn’t forget anything. x.x)

[olderthannetfic]

Living in latin america and seeing all the mostly usa & european people who dont get that in things like copyright the Most Important Factor isn't if it's illegal but if it is Enforced and if it is, if it'll get you in real trouble or you'll just get told to stop is wild?? And that Legal isn't Good or Fair or whatever

Like equating what's legal to what's "allowed" (bc you can get away with it) is weird. There's tons of bootleg shit here though, pirating stuff is commonplace, and people straight up sell disney merch (t-shirts, hoodies, etc) with no consequence, and everyone knows this is illegal! It's not suddenly more legal to make money this way just because you're in Latin America! but we also know disney doesn't perceive us as a threat and would only go after you if you were a big company trying to do this, so who cares

The Law and how it's applied not being "fair" is just a given? Of course all paid fanwork can get you in legal trouble, even if you can argue that technically it's not illegal, it's a very grey legal arena. It's on an individual level that you've got to research precedent and decide how far you're willing to risk it. Like, of course it's not fair that fanart can be profitted from a lot easier and with less potential legal issues than fic, but the people telling you straight up admitting you're doing fic commissions is a bad idea aren't being unfair or devaluing writers, they just know ips are more likely to hunt you down for it (and potentially cause the hosting site to decide they're not dealing with this bullshit and taking down unrelated fanworks)

(Also seen the "ao3 is being so mean and unfair not allowing you to profit off fic" argument which. ??? They're certain they can defend fanworks as long as they're free, and not if they're paid. I dont get how a pragmatic policy that protects all their fanworks with 99% certainity is unfair. If they tried defending paid fanwork and failed, as they'd likely would, it could cause a fuckton of legal trouble even for the free stuff??)

--

Yes. When someone asks me about the law and doesn't specify, I generally assume they're from the US because we're the worst about thinking you don't need to say... But I've also seen too many fans from elsewhere listing off US legal concepts like fair use, which don't even exist in their countries. It all depends!

And like you say, enforcement is the real issue. Offline? Online? Website mostly in English? In Spanish? Malay? Hosted on whose servers? etc. etc.

I laugh at the idea that writing is so oppressed. Do people understand just how many fandom writers go on to sell trashy romance novels? Yeah, sure, you have to do a find and replace on the names, but some of the stuff I've read on Kindle Unlimited is only that. The better stuff was original or fully rewritten, but man is there a lot where the serial numbers have barely been filed.

You know what's really not fair? I and many other people have this visceral reaction where fan art is either good enough to feel semi-pro or it's a squick. Meanwhile, writing can be anywhere on a sliding scale from awful to awesome, and if it hits our kinks we'll put up with a lot. There's no hard line of uncanny valley/squick. So, sure, you have to change the character names on that a/b/o fanfic, but as long as you do, you can sell it even if you can barely string a sentence together.

I'm not trying to be mean to newbie artists. I just have this binary on/off switch when it comes to visuals. Good Enough or... not.

I've seen at least as much wank about this double standard as about the monetization one. So really, people need to just accept that different mediums are different and get on with their lives. Writing is extremely easy to monetize as long as you do it right.

[revive-the-fandom]

Was there ever a popular consensus on Jack's sister's name? Or does she have a name in the book's canon? (i've given up trying to get into the book's storyline, so 😅)

Oh! Yeah I know this!

The short version is: she’s called Mary because William Joyce said so.

The long version is: it literally doesn’t matter because there are so many conflicting theories and pieces of evidence. The movie was made years before the book, Sandman’s book came out in 2013 and Jack’s book came out in 2015. Rotg was released in 2012. Movies take years to conceptualise, plot, cast, act, animate and produce. It’s safe to say that even Joyce wasn’t 100% on what would happen in the book when he worked on the movie, plus it seems there was a massive rewrite for Jack’s book which delayed its release.

But if you’re looking for options:

Mary is the name that Joyce gave her over on Twitter/Instagram. I believe that she’s named after his daughter, who died in 2010 (I believe she was 18 and died of a brain tumour but I haven’t fact checked that so I may be wrong!). Her name was Mary Katherine Joyce and the movie was dedicated to her and the books were inspired by/written for her. Joyce claimed that a version of the script had her named Mary (me thinks we were supposed to see more of her).

It’s possible she was the movie equivalent of Katherine. (Though the books take a more romantic take on Nightlight and Katherine’s relationship.) Katherine’s character may have been split between Jamie and Jack’s sister, with Jamie providing the ‘first believer’ role as well as the apparent easy friendship with Jack and Jack’s sister providing the familial role and Jack’s motivation and/or key to his Guardianship. Either way Katherine was also named after Joyce’s daughter so it’s a strong possibility. (Joyce also has a son named Jack, so having Jack and a variant of Mary Katherine makes sense.)

Jack does have two adoptive siblings in the book. But bear in mind that there is no perfect match, the family he ends up with meets him when he is already an adolescent and I’m like 99% sure they’re Russian and living in Russia or adjacent to Russia. And also the Dad is very much present. Jack has a brother named Jacklovich and a sister named Ana (both younger). They act as his introduction to the nuclear family archetype and along with their parents provide a stable and safe environment for Jack to learn about people and how to live as a human. Because in Jack’s book, before he meets his family, he says that he has become something similar but not exactly human and expresses a desire to be human or normal. Jack does lose them rather quickly as they take up a whopping 30 pages out of 367. That’s less than a chapter (as a single chapter can take up over 100 pages).

Back when Rotg came out a few people noticed that the credits said “Jack’s sister/Pippa” and jumped to the conclusion that her name was Pippa. This was actually referring to two characters voiced by the same actress, Jack’s sister and the Burgess girl with the beanie who hits Cupcake in the snowball fight, tells Jamie that “there’s just no Easter anymore” and is the second to join Jamie in defending the Guardians.

Joyce had also at one point claimed on instagram that Jack’s sister was nicknamed Flee because she ran so fast after Jack fell into the ice. I find this strange and extremely morbid. Very few people use this to my knowledge because he released this knowledge years after the movie was released and the fandom had dwindled considerably. Also it’s... weird and mean.

Joyce also claimed that she was called Vanish on Instagram but then he retconned that and she turned out to be Tooth’s little sister?? Who never appeared in the books??? And also when did Tooth have a sister? We got told her story back in book 3 and there was no mention???? Her parents died and Tooth barely escaped how tf did this sister fit in??

The most popular name was Emma, back in the day. I also used to use this name. There wasn’t much reason to back this name other than it was short and simple to match Jacks name, and it fit the time period. If you’re looking for the most widely accepted name though, this would be it.

I’ve seen several people just pick any name for her because there isn’t really a solid yes or no answer on what her real name is. Jill was rather popular, presumably because Jack and Jill went up the hill. (I don’t like Jill bc my Nana is called Jill but that’s a personal preference.) Margaret or Maggie was the one used in the awesome fic My Stars and Your Valleys.

I think this is also a good opportunity to explain my choice of name. Personally I choose to call her Molly, for no other reason than that my Grandmother is called Mary and it makes me uncomfortable to constantly compare the two in my mind. However, Molly is a nickname for Mary and I find it a cute substitute. Molly and Polly are both nicknames for Mary, and considering that Jack is a nickname for Jackson I think it’s appropriate. So I keep their canonical names as Jackson and Mary but they are called Jack and Molly within the story.

And yes, the books are an absolute mess! The first four are meeehh, kind of okay to follow and kind of samey but the fifth is horrific! I love the concepts it introduced but there was no need to time-skip every other chapter and the plot seemed non existent as most events of relevance happened in the past. I also think that the tone of the book doesn’t match the ending at all. The final battle feels like this grand battle of epic proportions but the rest of the book feels like following a socially awkward highly charismatic kid who sometimes gets into deep shit. A Peter Pan with anxiety if you will. And if I’m being honest the plot is kind of hard to follow throughout the series, I tend to just live in the moment throughout the books because God knows what happened ten pages ago.

Anyway, I hoped this answered your question and wasn’t too confusing! 💛

[corona-extra-newsletter]

3/16/20 corona extra: cracking open cold covid facts

Announcements & Thank Yous

Thank you to everyone who’s messaged me or sent asks! Specific thanks go to:

@hoothootmotherf-ckers​ for checking my math on California

@ainwesley for sending me a source for more up to date information about Norway

@sister-cna-reader​ for sending me a source for Washington State and for suggesting I put closure information in here

Several people for correcting the misinformation I had about Vietnamese tests being ~1 hour, this is not true unfortunately. I apologize for the mistake and will keep you posted on testing developments as they occur.

@halcyonhowl​ for sending me sources and tips on North Carolina

Twitter users @molly0xFFF and @goblinartificer for helping me with the Wordpress site

Wordpress staff for support

To several other anons for suggesting I include closure/group restriction information, positive news of the day, and numbers of recovered patients. I’ve implemented all of these as much as possible.

If you have reliable information from a good source that I don’t seem to have, please shoot me a message/ask/pigeon!

Places now included in the newsletter are: Montana, Vermont, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC, Greece, North Carolina, South Carolina, Connecticut, Alabama, Tennessee, Arizona, Ireland, and Switzerland. Please send an ask or a message if you would like a place included!

There is now good news at the end of the newsletter because this is a lot, all the time. Please take care of your mental health. I am being one with the numbers so you don’t have to follow every minute, panic-inducing development. Also, there is good news related to the pandemic!

I have started a website for the newsletter, which I may be able to update in real-time? Uncertain. At the very least it’ll be a mirror of the tumblr content so you can skip around and not be stuck in scrolling hell since these are all mega chonky. Find it at coronaextranewsletter.com. If you know me from fandom, please be chill about my meatspace identity. Please.

Asks are now on for this blog, which should help things. Please send asks to this blog in the future, thank you!

Just The Numbers

Case numbers

Total cases: 167,511 (13,903 new)

Total deaths: 6,606 (862 new)

Mortality rate: 3.9%

China: 81,077 (29 new) cases, 3,218 deaths (14 new)

Mortality rate: 3.97%

Excluding China: 86,434 cases (13,874 new) and 3388 deaths (848 new)

151 countries/territories reporting cases, 4 are new today including: Uzbekistan (4), Uruguay (4), Rwanda (5), and Seychelles (2)

Rwanda is confirming local transmission at this time

Italy is reporting over 24,000 cases (3500 new) with over 1800 deaths

Iran is reporting approx 15,000 cases with over 800 deaths

South Korea, Spain, and Germany are reporting over 5,000 cases

SK reports 75 deaths/8236 cases

Spain reports 288 deaths/7753 cases

Germany reports 12 deaths/4838 cases

International/General News

Please stop buying toilet paper unless you are actively out of toilet paper. My butt thanks you in advance.

Vaccine testing began today in Seattle, Washington. This is the first phase of vaccine testing, where healthy volunteers take the vaccine to make sure it is safe.

The World Health Organization will stop separating Chinese cases as today is the first day that cases outside China outstripped cases inside China

France is now on lockdown

We are seeing the difference that social distancing can make in this epidemic: look at the difference between European countries that have and have not shut down.

Virology Corner

Today’s topic is recovery from COVID-19: how do we know that you’re recovered and that you’re no longer shedding the virus?

We know from Chinese studies that in people who recover clinically (i.e. when they stop feeling like death’s ass) they can shed virus for up to 20 days from the onset of symptoms. People who die shed virus until after they die.

Fortunately, we have a way of testing for active virus shedding: the same tests we use to detect viral genes at the start of an infection work to show that you are clear of infection!

This is super useful to know because we do not always test for cure in infectious diseases - for example, we don’t usually test flu patients for cure.

It’s pretty clear that when people have two negative tests separated by 24 hours, they are considered “recovered”. That’s the definition the WHO uses, and the one I will use here unless I specify otherwise.

Question Tuesday

Today’s question comes from @dasyuridae: “does the UK’s response make sense?”

HELL NO it does not

That’s the short answer

The long answer is that herd immunity works as a prevention strategy in certain types of infections, and this is not yet that kind of pandemic.

We use herd immunity to prevent against diseases when we have a vaccine for them. By immunizing everyone who can be immunized, we prevent those who cannot be immunized from getting and/or spreading the disease. This is essential to protecting people from things like measles and the flu.

If humans are the only host for a particular virus, we can even use herd immunity to totally delete the disease from planet earth. Ask smallpox. Oh wait. You can’t. We deleted it. (except for the highly secure samples in Russia and the USA, shh)

COVID-19 likely has a reservoir in animals so we can’t delete it, but once we have a vaccine, herd immunity will be awesome for preventing further outbreaks.

To have herd immunity now, likely upwards of 90% of the UK would need to get the virus and recover, thereby developing immunity. That is a bad idea because no health system can handle that.

A better way to do this is what most other countries are doing, mitigating spread by isolating affected people, offering lots of testing, and quarantining areas with lots of asymptomatic spread.

In conclusion, fuck Boris Johnson, he doesn’t understand how epidemiology works and that’s gonna hurt/kill a lot of people.

I have two elderly grandparents in the UK. Fuck Boris.

If you have questions, ask them and they’ll appear here in the next issue of corona extra!

Regional News (if you want somewhere added just let me know. Don’t be shy!! I highly recommend you just skip to your area if you don’t wanna be overwhelmed.)

Canada: last updated 3/16/20 at 9 AM EST

Total cases: 324 confirmed (+75), 17 presumed (+13), 1 death (3/9/20, no change), 5 recovered

Symptoms began for these cases between 1/15 and 3/13

13% of cases have required hospitalization (up from 12%)

74% (down from 79%) of cases are in travellers, and a further 6% in their close contacts

Affected provinces include: Alberta (56, +17), BC (73, +0), Manitoba (7, +3), New Brunswick (6, +4), Newfoundland and Labrador (1, +0), Nova Scotia (5, +2) Ontario (172, +69), PEI (1, +0), Québec (50, +9), and Saskatchewan (6, +4).

Totals here include confirmed and presumptive positives

4 cases in repatriated travellers (no change)

Restrictions/Closures:

No formal restrictions/closures at the federal level

Recommendation to avoid non-essential travel, particularly cruise ships

All international travelers directed to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival

Alberta: last updated 3/15

56 cases, 17 new, 0 deaths

Community spread confirmed in Calgary

Restrictions/closures

K-12 schools and in-person post-secondary classes/training are closed

Licensed childcare facilities, out-of-school care programs, and preschools are closed indefinitely

British Columbia: last updated 3/14

73 cases, 9 new, 4 recovered, 1 death

Affected public health units include: Fraser, Interior, and Vancouver Coastal

Vancouver coastal has the most cases as far as I can tell

Clusters of infection have been reported at Lynn Valley Care Centre, Hollyburn House Retirement Residence, and Lions Gate Hospital (admin staff).

Manitoba: last updated 3/16 AM

7 cases, 3 new, no deaths

Visitor restrictions for hospitals are in effect

New Brunswick: last updated 3/16 1 PM

6 cases, 4 new on 3/15, no deaths

Affected areas include Zone 3

I don’t live in NB so I have no idea what this is beyond one of at least three zones

Schools are closed starting 3/16 for two weeks

Newfoundland & Labrador

1 case

Sorry that’s all the info I have

Nova Scotia

5 cases

Gatherings over 150 people are disallowed

Casinos are closed starting 3/16; VLTs are not allowed in bars

Childcare facilities are closed starting 3/17 through 4/3

Public schools are closed until 4/6

Long-term care facilities are closed to visitors until further notice

Ontario: last updated 3/16 at 10:30 AM local time

177 cases, 69 new, 5 recovered, no deaths

Affected public health units include: Durham (1), Halton (1), Hamilton (4), Niagara (1), Ottawa (3), Peel (4), Sudbury (1), Toronto (11), Wellington Dufferin Guelph (1), York (5)

Only cases from 3/16 on will be counted under here based on how the site works

P.E.I.: last updated 3/16 AM

1 case, in Queens County, connected to a cruise

Closures/restrictions

Libraries and community events are closed/canceled

Child care facilities are closed for two weeks starting 3/17

Public schools are closed until April 6

Québec: last updated 3/16 AM

50 cases, 9 new, no deaths

Affected regions include: Capitale Nationale (2, +0), Mauricie - Centre du Québec (3, +0), Estrie (3, +0), Montréal (18, +5), Chaudière-Appalaches (4, +1), Lanaudière (3, +1), Laurentides (3, +0), Montérégie (10, +1), and undetermined/outside Québec (4, +1).

State of health emergency as of 3/13

Closures/restrictions

Indoor gatherings of >250 people prohibited, many public buildings closed until further notice

Daycare/childcare facilities and all schools closed until 3/27

Elections scheduled for 3/15 have been rescheduled to after late April

Non-essential visits to hospitals and long-term care institutions are prohibited

Saskatchewan: last updated 3/15

6 cases

Sorry this is all I have right now

Greece: last updated 3/16 at 1:45 pm local time

Note: I do not speak Greek, and I therefore am struggling to find official data from somewhere more granular than the WHO. I’m sourcing most of this from the WHO and from Ekathimerini, but if you know where I can find better/more up to date info, please let me know. Thank you!

331 total cases, 141 new

4 deaths total (1 new on 3/15)

Restrictions/Closures:

All arrivals to the country are required to isolate for 14 days

Parliament has suspended all committee meetings and restricted each party to one MP in attendance at a time

Businesses are closed starting Wednesday 3/18, with the exception of gas stations, pharmacies, and groceries

Supermarkets are restricting the number of patrons to allow 1 person per 10 square meters

Ireland: last updated 3/15

169 total cases, 40 new, 2 total deaths

Deaths occurred on 3/11 and 3/14

Community transmission is confirmed

The following regional breakdown is available of the new cases: 25 eastern, 9 western, 6 southern

Restrictions/Closures

All pubs & bars are closed until March 29. House parties are strongly discouraged.

Schools, colleges, and childcare facilities are closed until March 29

Indoor gatherings of >100 people and outdoor gatherings >500 people are prohibited

State run cultural institutions are closed until further notice

The Netherlands: last updated 3/16 at 2 PM local time

I still do not speak Dutch, please please correct me if I get something wrong!

Seriously this is all run through Google Translate, I won’t take it personally

1413 confirmed cases, 24 deaths

278 new cases, 4 new deaths

Average age of decedents is 79, with a range from 59 to 94

Provinces affected include: Drenthe (16, +1), Flevoland (22, +3), Friesland (13, +3), Gelderland (135, +35), Groningen (10, +1), Limburg (149, +20), North Brabant (554, +108), North Holland (115, +25), Overijssel (36, +8), Utrecht (140, +31), South Holland (136, +26), and Zeeland (17, +1).

I think this is all of them based on a quick Wikipedia investigation?

There are 70 non-residents/unknown location patients

Restrictions/Closures

Schools, restaurants/bars, sports and fitness clubs, sex clubs, saunas, and childcare facilities are closed until April 6

Tae Bo is about to undergo a renaissance, I can feel it. Bring on the 80s outfits and the Jazzercise too!!

New Zealand: last updated 3/16 at 2 pm local time

8 confirmed cases, 2 probable cases

NO NEW CASES, YAY!!

The new patients from 3/15 are doing well and remain in quarantine; one was not hospitalized and the other has been released from hospital

Travel into and out of the country is restricted and those returning from overseas are asked to self-isolate for two weeks.

The Golden Princess has left port and the passenger in question tested negative.

Norway: last updated 3/16 at 8 pm local time

I still don’t speak Norwegian so if I screwed up lemme know

Everyone is still on lockdown, and apparently salty about being banned from their rural cabins 

1332 cases, 3 deaths

53 hospitalized, 11 critical

96 new cases during the 24h of March 15

359 cases acquired in Norway, 752 acquired outside of Norway, the rest are undetermined. Community spread is confirmed.

Locations where people became infected include Austria (513), Italy (148), Switzerland (18), UK (14), Spain (14), France (10), USA (7), Iran (5), Germany (5),  other countries with more than 3 cases (18), and other countries with less than 3 cases (58).

Breakdown of cases by area: Agder (87, +32), Innlandet (88, +16), Møre og Romsdal (20, +0), Nordland (11, +3), Oslo (292, +11), Rogaland (164, +37), Troms og Finnmark (23, +3), Trøndelag (74, +24), Vestfold og Telemark (69, nice, +21), Vestland (131, +13), and Viken (373, +95)

Yay no new cases in Møre og Romsdal!

Switzerland:  last updated 3/16 at 5:45 pm local time

Whole country is on lockdown as of 3/16: no entry or exit until further notice (maximum of 6 months), schools are closed until 4/19, all events are canceled, and all personal service establishments are closed.

1,680 confirmed cases

14 deaths

United Kingdom in general: Last updated 3/16 at 9 AM local time

Boris is still a stupid shit, surprise surprise.

Fuck Boris

He’s ~encouraging~ people to stay home, which is kind of laughable given the severity of the pandemic and how strict other countries are having to be

1,543 total cases (+12.4%), 152 are new today

55 total deaths, 20 new today

England

1,196 total cases, 97 new

Affected UTLAs with at least 10 cases are as follows: Hampshire (55), Kensington & Chelsea (43), Westminster (37), Southwark (33), Hertfordshire (29), Lambeth (26), Barnet (25), Surrey (25), Oxfordshire (23), Camden (22), Hammersmith & Fulham (21), Brent (20), Hackney & City of London (20), Wadsworth (20), Devon (20), Essex (20), Ealing (18), Greenwich (18), Lewisham (17), Haringey (16), Sheffield (15), Birmingham (15), Leeds (14), Harrow (14), Nottinghamshire (14), Hillingdon (13), Hounslow (12), Merton (12), Tower Hamlets (12), Buckinghamshire (12), Cambridgeshire (12), Derbyshire (12), Kent (12), Northamptonshire (12), Walsall (11), Wolverhampton (11), Bromley (11), Islington (11), Sutton (11), Nottingham (10), Brighton & Hove (10), Oldham (10), Barking & Dagenham (10), Cumbria (10)

As things continue to escalate I will figure out a better way to display this

Deaths are not being reported by the PHS but I will do my best to split these out in the next few editions using news reports etc. It will hopefully be included by the 3/18 edition but no promises? If you have a good source for deaths by county/area, please let me know.

Scotland: last updated 3/16 at 2 pm local time

171 cases, 18 new, 1 death

Affected health boards are as follows: Ayrshire and Arran (7, +1), Borders (7, +0), Fife (7, +0), Forth Valley (10, +0), Grampian (12, +0), Greater Glasgow and Clyde (44, +5), Highland (2, +0), Lanarkshire (20, +4), Lothian (29, +1), Shetland (15, +4), and Tayside (17, +2)

Clearly the ones I listed yesterday were not all of them because…

Newly affected health boards are as follows: Dumfries and Galloway (1)

Wales: last updated 3/16 at 11 am local time

124 cases, 30 new

1 death (3/16)

Affected areas include: Blaenau Gwent County (5, +1), Bridgend County (1, +0), Caerphilly County (14, +3), Carmarthenshire County (7, +0), Ceredigion County (1, +0), City & County of Swansea (23, +1), City of Cardiff (11, +3), Conwy County (1, +0), Flintshire County (1, +0), Isle of Anglesey (2, +1), Monmouthshire County (7, +2), Neath Port Talbot (11, +0), Newport City (14, +7), Pembrokeshire (2, +0), Powys County (3, +0),  Rhondda Cynon Taf County (2, +0), Torfaen County (2, +0), Vale of Glamorgan County (1, +0), and Wrexham County (2, +1).

Note that some of these numbers have changed more than you might see from looking at yesterday’s report; this is because residential locations of patients are being confirmed. 12 cases remain unlocalized and 2 are residents outside of Wales.

Northern Ireland: last updated 3/16 at 9 am local time

52 cases, 7 new

Health dept is not providing more detail than this at this time as far as I can tell

US in general: updated 3/16 at 4 pm local time (EST for CDC numbers)

3,487 total cases, 1,858 new with 46 states and DC reporting cases.

This is the start of the explosion of cases I’ve been expecting because of increased testing. This is a good sign that we’re catching more cases. It also indicates that there’s been spread going on for a while.

68 deaths, 27 new (1.95% mortality rate)

53 jurisdictions are reporting cases: 49 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, and US Virgin Islands

Only West Virginia continues to not have cases. Impressive.

CDC is now recommending all in person gatherings with more than 50 people be canceled for the next 8 weeks. This sucks for me personally and probably a lot of you all too. Hang in there.

Trump told states that they should “try to get” ventilators and other critical supplies themselves. Fuck him too.

Not that it’s not the states’ jobs too, but also the federal aid and stockpile is like, a huge thing in disaster response (wait, oops, Trump cut that too)

Alabama: updated 3/16 at 1 PM local time

28 cases, no deaths

Affected counties include: Baldwin (1), Elmore (1), Lee (1), Jefferson (17), Limestone (1), Montgomery (1), Shelby (3), and Tuscaloosa (3).

Arizona: updated 3/16 at 11:36 AM

18 cases, no deaths

Affected counties include: Graham (1), Maricopa (8), Pima (4), and Pinal (5)

California: updated around 10 AM PST, 3/15/20

The Governor has recommended the following:

Those with chronic health conditions and those over 65 should shelter in place.

Gatherings over 250 people should be canceled.

Drinking establishments should be closed but restaurants can operate at 50% capacity.

Hospitals and long term care facilities should prohibit visitors except for end of life situations

Total cases not including the ones at Miramar (discussed below): 363, with 6 total deaths

Deaths have occurred in the following counties: Placer (1), Sacramento (2), San Mateo (1), Santa Clara (2)

The following counties report recoveries: Humboldt (1), San Benito (2)

The following counties report numbers of hospitalizations: Los Angeles (2), San Diego (8), Santa Clara (52)

Affected counties include: Alameda (18, +11), Calaveras (2, +0), Contra Costa (34, +5), Fresno (2, +0), Humboldt (1, +0), Imperial (2, +0), Los Angeles (94, +25), Madera (1, +0), Marin (9, +4), Orange (17, +3), Placer (8, +0), Riverside (15, +5), Sacramento (33, +4) San Benito (3, +0), San Diego (33, +25), San Francisco (40, +12), San Joaquin (8, +0), San Luis Obispo (3, +2), San Mateo (41, +9), Santa Clara (138, +47), Santa Cruz (9, +2), Shasta (1, +0), Solano (9, +3), Sonoma (5, +1), Stanislaus (3, +1), Tulare (2, +0), Ventura (5, +0), Yolo (2, +0)

Note regarding San Diego: The four federally quarantined people are not included in the county statistics.

Unaffected counties include: Alpine, Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yuba

Counties with confirmed community transmission include: Los Angeles, Marin, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Sonoma

Ventura County retested a possible case of community transmission and did not find evidence as of 3/16/20.

Newly affected counties include Amador (1), Nevada (1), San Bernardino (1), Santa Barbara (1)

Closures/Restrictions by County

Alameda: Shelter in Place until 4/7

Contra Costa: Shelter in Place until 4/7

Del Norte: Schools closed through 4/20

El Dorado: Schools closed through 3/20

Marin: Shelter in Place until 4/7

Mendocino: Modified schooling starting 3/17

Mono: Schools closed through 3/30, Alterra Mountain closed

Nevada: Schools are closed until 4/13, libraries closed until 4/12

Riverside: Schools & daycares are closed, gatherings >250 people prohibited

San Benito: Schools are closed

San Francisco: Shelter in Place until 4/7

San Luis Obispo: Alcohol sales on site are banned through 3/18

San Mateo: Shelter in Place until 4/7

Santa Clara: Shelter in Place until 4/7

Santa Cruz: Schools are closed until 3/20

Stanislaus: Gatherings of >1000 people are prohibited indoor and outdoor from 3/16 to 3/31

Tuolumne: Schools are closed from 3/16 to 3/30

Ventura: All schools and public libraries are closed starting 3/16 until further notice

Yolo: Many schools are closed at the local level. The County website has a list of closures: https://www.yolocounty.org/health-human-services/adults/communicable-disease-investigation-and-control/novel-coronavirus-2019

Counties with no closures/restrictions beyond those mandated by the state: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Merced, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Placer, Plumas, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, and Yuba

Drive through testing is available in Marin County

Colorado - last updated 3/15 at 145 pm local time

131 cases (+30), 1 death

Counties reporting deaths include: El Paso (1)

Affected counties include: Adams (6, +0), Arapahoe (15, +5), Denver (24, +4), Douglas (8, +4), Eagle (22, +4), El Paso (4, +1), Gunnison (8, +2), Jefferson (12, +3), Larimer (1, +0), Mesa (1, +0), Pitkin (2, +0), Pueblo (1, +0), Summit (1, +0), Weld (5, +2), with one case reassigned from Summit to unknown status

Out of state visitors who have tested positive are tallied separately, 15 in total (+0). They are located in the following counties: Pitkin (9), Eagle (2), Routt (1), Denver (1), unknown (2).

Confirmed community spread

Newly affected counties include: Boulder (3), Clear Creek (1),

Drive through testing is available in: Denver and Lowry

Residents of Gunnison, Eagle, Summit, Pitkin are recommended to minimize social contact

Anyone who visited the Colorado Springs Bridge center in late Feb-early Mar may have been exposed, call the DPH for more information

Events of >50 people are “strongly encouraged” to be canceled

Schools are closed in many places, local news is your best bet for this. I’ll try to include this eventually but it’s too much today.

Connecticut - last update 3/16 at 5 pm local time

41 cases

The following counties are affected: Fairfield (29), Hartford (4), Litchfield (4), New Haven (4)

Connecticut’s small, right? You can’t have more than 4 counties?

Restrictions/Closures

Gatherings >250 people are canceled through 4/30

No gatherings >50 people until further notice

Nursing home visits restricted

Schools closed through 3/30

Restaurants are carryout/drive through only through 4/30

Fitness/recreation centers and movie theaters closed through 4/30

Delaware: last update 3/16 at 1:40 local time

8 cases, 0 deaths

Affected counties include: New Castle (8)

Do you guys have any other counties?? This is gonna be another Rhode Island sitch, I think.

Restrictions/closures:

Events over >100 people are encouraged to cancel/reschedule

Schools closed through 3/27

District of Columbia: last update 3/16 AM

17 cases, no deaths

There’s no counties in DC, you can’t trick me

Restrictions/Closures

Food service/drinking establishments are restricted to <250 people, <6 people/table, no standing or bar seating, and tables separated by 6 feet

Nightclubs etc are closed

Florida - last updated 12:38 pm local time 3/16/20

155 (+40) cases and 4 deaths (+0)

Florida has not yet confirmed community transmission but it’s almost certainly happening. I’m no longer separating counties with and without confirmed community transmission because of that.

Affected counties  include: Alachua (2, +1), Broward (39, +3), Charlotte (1, +0), Citrus (1, +0), Clay (3, +0), Collier (6, +1), Duval (5, +1), Hillsborough (5, +1), Lee (4, -1), Manatee (5, +1), Miami-Dade (23, +10), Nassau (1, +0) Okaloosa (1, +0), Orange (3, +0), Osceola (4, +2), Palm Beach (8, +3), Pasco (2, +0) Pinellas (4 +2), Santa Rosa (1, +0), Sarasota (3, +2) Seminole (4, +3), St. Johns (2, +1) Volusia (7, +2)

A case was removed from the record of Lee County. Since FLDPH changed their website, I don’t know where it was reassigned.

Newly affected counties include: Escambia (1) and Lake (1)

Georgia: last updated 3/16 at 11:21 AM

121 cases, 22 new, 1 death

Affected counties include: Bartow (9, +0), Charlton (1, +0), Cherokee (7, +1), Clayton (5, +3), Clarke (3, +1), Cobb (22, +3), Coweta (2, +0), Dekalb (10, +0), Dougherty (6, +0), Fayette (5, +0), Floyd (4, +0), Fulton (27, +7), Gordon (2, +0), Gwinnett (5, +1), Henry (2, +1), Lowndes (3, +1), Lee (2, +0), Newton (1, +0), and Polk (1, +0).

Newly affected counties include: Forsyth (1), Hall (1), Paulding (1), and Troup (1)

Illinois: last updated 3/14/20

105 confirmed cases, 16 new

Confirmed community spread

Affected counties include Champaign, Clinton, Cook, Cumberland, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Sangamon, St. Clair, Whiteside, Winnebago, and Woodford

ILDPH is not publishing numbers per county. I will try to include this for tomorrow’s update.

Newly affected counties include: Peoria and Will

Closings/Restrictions

Bars and restaurants are closed (except for carryout and drive through) until 3/30

All gatherings >50 people prohibited

Gyms/fitness centers/clubs/theaters are closed

DMV is closed! I personally hate the IL DMV so this isn’t like, sad news in particular…..

Community colleges and public schools are closed - like in other places I will attempt to include county-by-county news soon.

Iowa: last updated 3/16

Total cases: 22, 4 new

Affected counties include: Carroll (1, +0), Dallas (1, +0), Harrison (1, +0), Johnson (15, +1), and Pottawattamie (1, +0)

Newly affected counties include: Allamakee (2) and Polk (1)

Community spread confirmed

Closures/restrictions

Schools closed for 4 weeks starting 3/16

Kansas: last updated 3/16

11 confirmed cases (+3), 1 death

Affected counties include: Johnson (8, +3), Wyandotte (1, +0), Butler (1, +0), Franklin (1, +0)

Closures/Restrictions

Schools closed through 3/23

Kentucky: last updated 3/16 at 4 pm local time

22 cases (+4), 1 death (+1)

Counties reporting deaths: Bourbon (1)

Counties reporting recoveries: Harrison (1)

Affected counties include: Bourbon (1), Clark (1), Fayette (5), Harrison (6), Jefferson (6), Montgomery (1), and Nelson (1).

Closures/Restrictions

Restaurants and bars closed to in-person service

State Capitol closed to nonessential personnel

Schools are closed statewide

Louisiana: last updated 5:30 pm 3/16

136 cases reported, 45 new

3 deaths, 1 new

Parishes affected:  Bossier (1, +0), Caddo (3, +2), Jefferson (21, +9), Lafourche (2, +1), Orleans (94, +29), St. Bernard (2, +1), St. Charles (3, +1), St. John the Baptist (1, +0), St. Tammany (6, +2), and Terrebonne (2, +0)

New parishes affected: Ascension (1)

Maryland: last updated 10 AM 3/16

37 cases, 0 deaths

Counties affected: Anne Arundel (1), Baltimore (4), Baltimore City (1), Carroll (1), Charles (1), Harford (2), Howard (1), Montgomery (15), Prince George’s (10), Talbot (1)

Community spread confirmed

Exposure risk advisory for Lorien Elkridge

Closures/restrictions

Casinos, racetracks and other gambling situations are closed

Gatherings >250 people prohibited

All schools closed through 3/27

Senior centers closed until further notice

Massachusetts: last updated 4 pm 3/16

197 cases (59 new)

Affected counties include: Barnstable (1, +0), Berkshire (11, +2), Bristol (2, +1), Essex (8, +3), Middlesex (83, +18), Norfolk (36, +8), Suffolk (36, +9), and Worcester (6, +4)

Newly affected counties include: Hampden (1) and Plymouth (3)

10 cases are undetermined location

14 hospitalizations (+3)

They finally stopped making me download a goddamn word doc, thank you Massachusetts <3

Michigan: last updated 3/16 2 pm

54 cases (+21) 0 deaths

Affected counties include: Bay (1, +0), Charlevoix (1, +0), Ingham (1, +0), Kent (5, +2), Macomb (6, +4), Monroe (1, +0), Montcalm (1, +0), Oakland (14, +5), St. Clair (2, +1), Washtenaw (7, +3), and Wayne (14, +6)

Wayne County includes Detroit (6 cases)

Likely community transmission

Closures/Restrictions

Bars and restaurants are carryout/drive through only

Public spaces (casinos, theaters, etc) closed

Public offices open by appt only

Minnesota: last updated 3/16 at 12:00

54 cases (+19)

Affected counties include: Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmstead, Ramsey, Renville, Stearns, Waseca, Washington, and Wright

Newly affected counties include: Benton and Blue Earth

County numbers are not currently being provided by MN dept of health, just ranges. Hennepin county has >20 cases.

I will start working on these numbers for tomorrow’s edition

Drive through testing available in Olivia

Montana: last updated 3/15 at 7:45 pm

6 cases

Affected counties not being reported at this time, I’ll try to untangle that tomorrow

Closures/Restrictions

Public schools closed until 3/30

Many counties have closed libraries, these will be included tomorrow

Nebraska: last updated 3/16

Community transmission confirmed: many locations in Douglas County are potential places where transmission has occurred; if you live or have traveled to Douglas County (Omaha), please check the Douglas County COVID-19 monitoring site at: https://www.douglascountyhealth.com/latest-news.

There were also two exposures in Knox County on March 5, at basketball games at Lincoln Southwest HS and North Star HS.

18 cases (+1), no deaths

Affected counties include: Cass (1), Douglas (15) and Knox (1)

New Jersey : last updated 3/16 at 2 pm

178 cases (+109), 2 deaths (+1)

Affected counties include: Bergen (61, +36), Burlington (5, +2), Camden (3, +1), Essex (20, +13), Hudson (19, +14), Mercer (6, +5), Middlesex (17, +7), Monmouth (14, +6), Morris (6, +3), Ocean (3, +2), Passaic (8, +6), Somerset (5, +4), and Union (8, +7)

Newly affected counties include: Hunterdon (1)

Closures/Restrictions:

No gatherings >50 people

New York: last updated 3/16 at 3 PM

950 cases (+337), 2 deaths

Affected counties include: Albany (12, +7), Broome (1, +0), Delaware (1, +0), Dutchess (10, +6), Erie (6, +3), Herkimer (1, +0), Monroe (10, +8), Nassau (109, +30), Orange (11, +5), Rockland (16, +4), Saratoga (5, +2), Schenectady (4, +3), Suffolk (63, +22), Tioga (1, +0), Tompkins (1, +0), Ulster (7, +2), Westchester (220, +42)

NYC has 463 cases (194) as of 3/16 at 11:30 am

Areas/counties reporting deaths are: NYC - Brooklyn (1), Rockland (1)

Newly affected counties include: Allegany (2), Greene (2), Montgomery (1), Onondaga (1), Ontario (1), and Putnam (2)

Drive through testing in New Rochelle, Long Island, Staten Island, and Rockland County

Closures/Restrictions

Bars, restaurants, entertainment venues closed

No gatherings >50 people

Public schools closed until 4/1

Village elections delayed until 4/28

The governor dunked on the federal response hard in his press conference, which was great tbh

North Carolina: last updated 3/16 at 10 AM

33 cases, 0 deaths

Affected counties include: Brunswick (1), Cabarrus (1), Chatham (1), Craven (1), Durham (1), Forsyth (2), Harnett (2), Johnston (2), Mecklenburg (4), Onslow (1), Wake (14), Watauga (1), Wayne (1), and  Wilson (1).

Advisory for an exposure at Raleigh convention center on March 8

Please call Wake County if you were there, they are tracking exposures

Closures/Restrictions

Schools are closed statewide until 3/30

Events >100 people canceled

Ohio: last updated 3/16 at 2 pm

50 confirmed cases, 14 new

14 hospitalizations

Affected counties include: Belmont (2, +0), Butler (6, +0), Cuyahoga (24, +10), Franklin (3, +0), Lorain (3, +1), Lucas (1, +0), Medina (2, +1), Stark (3, +1), Summit (2, +0), Trumbull (2, +0), Tuscarawas (1, +0)

Newly affected counties include: Geauga (1).

Closures/Restrictions

Bars/restaurants are closed

Gatherings >50 people canceled

Oregon: last updated 3/15 at 12 PM

39 cases (+3), 1 death

Counties reporting deaths: Multnomah (1)

13 hospitalized at time of positive test

The following counties are affected: Clackamas (1, +0), Deschutes (4, +1), Douglas (1, +0), Jackson (2, +0), Klamath (1, +0), Linn (10, +1), Marion (2, +0), Multnomah (1, +0), Polk (1, +0), Umatilla (2, +0), and Washington (13, +0).

Newly affected counties include: Yamhill (1).

Pennsylvania: last updated 3/16 at 7 pm

Gritty continues his dark work.

76 total cases (+13)

Counties affected include: Allegheny (5, +2) Bucks (5, +1), Chester (2, +0), Cumberland (5, +0), Delaware (7, +0),  Lehigh (1, +0), Luzerne (1, +0), Monroe (8, +2), Montgomery (30, +6), Northampton (1, +0), Philadelphia (8, +2), Pike (1, +0), Washington (1, +0), Wayne (1, +0)

Newly affected counties include: NONE TODAY! \o/

Closures/restrictions:

Restaurants and bars are closed in the following counties until 3/30:  Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery

Presumably this will deter Gritty

Rhode Island: last updated 3/16

21 confirmed cases (+1), no deaths

Chanston High School West had an exposure; 1700 people are currently quarantined after this exposure

I will attempt to sort out county level data soon, since apparently y’all have counties

South Carolina: last updated 3/16 at 3:50 pm

33 cases, no deaths

Will try to find more granular data for tomorrow’s edition

South Dakota: last updated 3/16

10 confirmed cases (+1),  no deaths

Affected counties include: Beadle (1, +0), Bon Homme (1, +0), Charles Mix (1, +0), Davison (1, +0), McCook (1, +0), Minnehaha (4, +1), and Pennington (1, +0)

No community transmission

Tennessee: last updated 3/16 at 2 pm

52 cases, no deaths

Affected counties include: Campbell (1), Davidson (25), Hamilton (1), Jefferson (1), Knox (1), Rutherford (1), Sevier (1), Shelby (2), Sullivan (1), and Williamson (18)

Texas: last updated 3/16

57 total cases, 1 new.

Highly likely that there has been community transmission, unconfirmed currently

Affected counties include: Bell (1, +0), Bexar (3, +2), Brazoria (2, +0), Collin (6, +1), Dallas (8, +0), El Paso (1, +0), Fort Bend (9, +0), Galveston (1, +0), Gregg (1, +0), Harris (10, +0), Hays (1, +0), Lavaca (1, +0), Matagorda (1), Montgomery (3, +0), Smith (4, +1), Tarrant (3, +0), and Travis (2, +1)

Newly affected counties include: None today!

Utah: last updated 3/16

29 total cases

Affected health districts include: Davis County (4, +1), Salt Lake county (18, +2), Southwest Utah (1, +0), Summit County (11, +9), and Weber-Morgan (2, +1)

Newly affected districts include: Tooele (1), Utah County (1), and Wasatch County (1)

First case of community spread identified on 3/14/20, in Summit County

Exposure at Wasatch High School identified

Schools: canceled

Mormons: canceled

Skiing: canceled

Public places in SLC: Canceled

Vermont

12 cases total (+4)

Affected counties include: Bennington (3), Chittenden (4), Orange (1), Springfield (1), Washington (1), and Windsor (3)

Hospitalizations are reported in the following counties: Bennington (3), Chittenden (1), Springfield (1), Washington (1), Windsor (1)

Closures/restrictions:

No gatherings >50 people or >50% capacity, whichever is lower

Schools are closed starting 3/18

Virginia: last updated 3/16

51 cases total, 6 new

Affected counties/cities include: Alexandria City (2, +1), Arlington (9, +1), Chesterfield (2, +1), Fairfax (10, +0), Hanover (1, +0), Harrisonburg City (1, +0), James City (10, +2), Loudoun (5, +0), Prince Edward (1, +0), Prince William (3, +0), Spotsylvania (1, +0), and Virginia Beach City (4, +0)

Newly affected areas include: Stafford (1) and York (1)

Washington: last updated 3/16 at 3:45 PM

Things are still super rough. Hang in there.

904 total cases (+262), 48 deaths (+8)

Current mortality rate: 5.3%

Deaths have occurred in the following counties: Grant (1, +0), King (43, +8), and Snohomish (4, +0).

Affected counties include: Clark (4, +1), Columbia (1, +0), Grant (3, +1), Grays Harbor (1, +0), Island (7, +1), Jefferson (3, +2), King (488, +101), Kitsap (7, +4), Kittitas (3, +0), Pierce (38, +12), Skagit (7, +3), Snohomish (200, +46), Spokane (3, +0), Thurston (4, +1), Whatcom (3, +1), and Yakima (4, +0).

126 cases are currently unassigned to a county. These are expected to resolve in the coming days, hopefully.

Newly affected counties include: Lewis (1) and Lincoln (1)

Closures/restrictions: widespread, will have county-by-county info soon.

Wisconsin: last updated 3/16 at 2 PM

47 total cases (+14), 0 deaths

Recovery is being reported by the following counties: Dane (1)

This is updated every Friday, next update expected 3/20

Affected counties include: Dane (10, +4), Fond du Lac (11, +0), Milwaukee (13, +6), Pierce (1, +0), Racine (1, +0), Sheboygan (3, +0), Waukesha (3, +0), and Winnebago (3, +2)

Newly affected counties include: Outagamie (1) and Wood (1)

Closures/restrictions

Schools closed starting 3/18 for minimum of two weeks

Today’s Hot Tips

Social distancing can be really crappy for people who are prone to feeling isolated. Try to schedule time to hang out virtually, especially if you’re stuck at home alone. I highly recommend the Jackbox party games to stream over Discord, or tabletop RPGs played through a service like Roll20. My friends and I have been doing all these things and it’s helping a lot!

If you have a favorite quarantine activity, let me know and I can include it in the next issue!

Everyone knows that sex is an option, there’s gonna be a lot of November, December, & January babies

That said, make sure your quarantine supplies include contraception and condoms and stuff. If you have a uterus, you can buy emergency contraception (plan B) online and it’s real handy to have around in a situation like this.

Hand washing is so hot right now

Hand Washing Song of the Day

If you hate singing happy birthday while you wash your hands, I certainly do, try Barrett’s Privateers!

Sing the first verse and chorus to feel like a pirate and follow CDC handwashing guidelines! Use soap and water for maximum virus-murdering.

Good News, Everyone!

The Shedd Aquarium took its penguins around to explore the whole aquarium since there were no people, and boy were those lil guys fascinated by everything!

Check it out here: https://twitter.com/shedd_aquarium/status/1239248971006185478?s=21

Chill Cat Corner

This one’s a classic: “where’s the babies???”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rELs4jl64k

I wish I could summon a bunch of smol kittens to scream at me like this

About this newsletter

I’m Emily, I’m a 4th year med student w/ a degree in molecular biology. I started this because I’m an infectious disease and epidemiology nerd and also all my friends have questions & anxiety. Hi internet!

The archive/proper website is located at coronaextranewsletter.wordpress.com.

All this info is sourced from regional & national public health organizations, plus the WHO. It’s as up to date as humanly possible. I’ve been beaming information about this outbreak directly into my brain 24/7 but I still miss stuff. Please let me know if I miss something!

Most public health departments stop updating their information around 4-5 PM local time on weekdays. That means that the earliest this will come out is around 6 PM Pacific time on weekdays going forward. On weekends things update more sporadically and earlier, so who knows what I’ll do then, but I’ll do my best.

The excellent title is courtesy of @marywhal​ and the Wordpress site is courtesy of @molly0xFFF and @goblinartificer on Twitter, thank you all!

For More Information

JHU COVID-19 data center: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

List of peer-reviewed publications: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/publications.html

WHO daily sitrep: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200316-sitrep-56-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=9fda7db2_2

WHO FAQ: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

CDC cases in the US: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html, this also has links to each state’s health dept

[flyingcarpettours]

Luxury Vacation to Cairo, Luxor and Sahl Hasheesh

Take a journey back in time to the days of Ancient Egypt and explore the magnificent monuments in the current capital of Egypt, Cairo which includes a rich woven artwork of antiquated relics, world-well known exhibition halls and brain resisting landmarks making it a cradle of civilization via Luxury Vacation to Cairo, Luxor and Sahl Hasheesh, then visit Luxor temples, amuse your eyes with amazing sahl hasheesh and more. Enjoy Luxury Vacation to Cairo, Luxor and Sahl Hasheesh, Flying Carpet Tours takes you to the must see sightseeing in Egypt so don't miss the chance to enjoy one of unforgettable Luxury Package in Cairo, Egyptian culture is very rich and have many secrets from the ancient live in Egypt and other civilizations, if you are interested to know more about Egypt history I suggest to enjoy Luxury Vacation to Cairo, Luxor and Sahl Hasheesh and visit Giza Pyramids, Egyptian Museum. Start your trip visiting Memphis City was the kings' primary residence and the ancient capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom (2686—2181 BC), constructed by the Pharaoh Menes approximately in 3000 B.C. Memphis city is 20 km far from Cairo and considered a beautiful open air museum in Cairo. You will have the opportunity to watch the beautiful streets, buildings, gardens and of course temples, you will also get delighted by many monuments such as the stated of Rameses II which weights approximately 29 tons ,visit Saqqara watch the glory of The Step Pyramid of Djoser was the first pyramid constructed by the Ancient Egyptians around 2700 B.C. Explore the countless attractions in the East and West Banks of Luxor that have made the city one of the most famous cities in the world. Experience Luxor Tours and get the chance to discover the world’s biggest open air museum with stunning archaeological sites. Wonder at the astonishing temples and sightseeing located near the city. Enjoy the stunning coral reefs and turquoise waters that have made Sahl Hasheesh one of the amazing beach resorts in Egypt, enjoy the best safari trips and get a real adventure in the desert, try windsurfing, sailing, deep-sea fishing, swimming, snorkeling, and diving. Get the best tours to discover the underwater word full of colorful coral reefs and amazing exotic types of rare fish. Explore Luxury Vacation to Cairo, Luxor and Sahl Hasheesh Day 01: Arrive Cairo At the time your flight touching Cairo Land, one delegate from Flying Carpet Tours will be holding a sign with your name, transfer to hotel, relax from the inconvenience of your travel, overnight in Cairo.

Day 02: Pyramids, Memphis, Sakkara Taste the flavor of your breakfast at hotel, then Flying Carpet Tours guide will escort you to a flourishing day tour toMemphis City at Mit Rahina, beguile your eyes with the huge Statue of Ramses II at the Open Air Museum in Memphis City, Next tour to the step Pyramid of King Zoser, Sakkara Pyramid, relax by having Lunch at local restaurant, Next Excursion to Pyramids of Giza, Explore Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinus, then your tour guide will take you to panoramic view of the pyramids, memorable photos available to the three pyramids together, next move to the Sphinx, scout the valley temple, your guide will give you some time for shopping to buy whatever you prefer, at night optional to the sound and light show at the pyramids, finally Flying Carpet Tours Guide will transfer you back to your hotel in Cairo.

Day 03: Egyptian Museum, Citadel of Salah El-Din, Old Cairo Taste the flavor of your breakfast at hotel, then Flying Carpet Tours guide will escort you to an awesome day tour to explore the Egyptian Museum, which contains the world's most extensive and rare collection of 5000 years of Pharaonic antiquities, beguile your eyes with King Tut Ankh Amun amazing treasures, extra fees to enter the Mummy room, then move towards Citadel of Salah El-Dein, which was built to defend Cairo from the armies of the Crusaders, scout the glory of the Alabaster Mosque, Called Mohamed Ali Mosque, relax by having lunch at local restaurant, next tour to Old Cairo, visit the Hanging Church, Abu Serga Church, and Ben Ezra Synagogue, at night optional Dinner Cruise with Belly Dancer, finally Flying Carpet Tours Guide will transfer you back to your hotel in Cairo.

Day 04: Cairo to Luxor Taste the flavor of your breakfast at hotel, then Flying Carpet Tours delegate will lead you to Cairo airport, fly to Luxor once your flight arriving Luxor transfer to Your Luxury hotel, then discover the essence of Luxor, beguile your eyes and visit the fabulous Karnak Temple with its huge Pillars hall, next tour to Luxor temple, at the end of your tour, back to hotel, at night optional to karnak sound and light show, overnight in Luxor.

Day 05: Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Colossi of Memnon Taste the flavor of your breakfast on hotel, beguile your eyes between Valley of the Kings ( visit 03 Tombs Only ), Next visit to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, known now with the name of El-Deir El-Bahary, your last visit will be to Colossi of Memnon, Watch the glory of the two huge statues, finally your tour guide will escort you to Sahl Hasheesh by air-conditioned vehicle, arrive Sahl Hasheesh, check in at your 05 stars luxury hotel and overnight in Sahl Hasheesh.

Day 06: Sahl Hasheesh at Leisure Taste the flavor of your breakfast at hotel, it is your leisure day in Sahl Hasheesh, try a lot of Water sports, Swimming, Snorkeling, Diving, bask under the gleaming Sun, beguile your eyes with the awesome Red Sea, Or choose between the splendid Excursions, overnight in Sahl Hasheesh.

Day 07: Sahl Hasheesh at Leisure Taste the flavor of your breakfast at hotel, it is your leisure day in Sahl Hasheesh, try a lot of Water sports, Swimming, Snorkeling, Diving, bask under the gleaming Sun, beguile your eyes with the awesome Red Sea, Or choose between the splendid Excursions, overnight in Sahl Hasheesh.

Day 08: Sahl Hasheesh / Cairo Taste the flavor of your breakfast at hotel, then Flying Carpet Tours delegate will transfer you to Hurghada Airport, fly to Cairo, at the time your flight touching Cairo land, one of Flying Carpet Tours representatives will be holding a sign with your name, transfer to hotel, relax from the inconvenience of travel, overnight in Cairo.

Day 09: Final departure Today is the valediction day, taste the flavor of your breakfast at hotel, then one of Flying Carpet Tours delegates will lead you to Cairo International airport, for the final departure.

For More info about Luxury Vacation to Cairo, Luxor and Sahl Hasheesh E-mail: Sales@flyingcarpettours.com Website: www.flyingcarpettours.com Tel.: +201099906242

[pretty-pendragon]

10. What's your current job like?/What job would you like to have? 30. Any cool places in your area? 50. Favourite colour to wear?

10. What's your current job like

Well I don't have my job rn bc of corona (I'm a waitress)

30. Any cool places in your area?

I'd say so, the area around where I live is a valley and it's beautiful down by the river and we have a lot of the area conserved as state parks. Also the beaches are 2.5 hours away so that's awesome 😄

50. Favorite color to wear?

Honestly..... black. HAHAHAHA cause it's slimming and I'm fat (I mean that in the most I'm-a-bad-bitch way possible). Also I LIVE in yoga pants, which are usually black, so 🖤

[thelastspeecher]

eregyrn-falls replied to your post: a quick Google search confirms the Grand Canyon...

1. i agree with you about Four Corners; we stopped there because I couldn’t NOT stop there, but we spent like 10 minutes, really. 2. also YES, i have this same impulse when planning road trips. when i did a big SW trip with friends we drove over 2100 miles in 2 weeks (Vegas > Death Valley > Zion > GC North rim > Antelope canyon > massive detour because of landslide > GC South rim > Monument Valley > Four Corners > Mesa Verde > Gallup > Petrified Forest >…

and I want to get out there again to see bits in NM that we didn’t fit in, and frankly, if I haven’t done Yellowstone by that time, I would TOTALLY put Yellowstone on that itinerary, because think of all the great places to stop between the two! (Also I have friends in Denver. It’s quite likely I’ll get out there to see RMNP and just continue on up to Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

And heck… is Glacier REALLY that far from Yellowstone? I mean… when you get right down to it? lol )

oh man that trip sounds AWESOME.  it’s been years since my family has gone on one of those fun trips to see National Parks out west (last time was in high school when we saw the Grand Canyon for the second time, and a couple other things I can’t remember off the top of my head), sadly, but it was SO GREAT and I even had one of those Park Passports where you get stamps from every National Park you go to.

I haven’t been to Death Valley, but I’ve been to most of the things you listed, lol, including Zion and Petrified Forest.  I honestly can’t remember how many National Parks or Monuments I’ve been to, since it’s so many and we started going when I was so young.  supposedly, I’ve been to Craters of the Moon and really liked it, but I can’t remember it.  Glacier National Park, I would love to go to, as well.

my roommate and I want to go out west so I can show them all the National Parks I went to when I was younger, and we can ogle nature and I can explain the science behind the nature (being a geologist means I get extra out of most National Parks, lmao).  

anyways, my two cents: ABSOLUTELY stop by Grand Teton.  it’s GORGEOUS.  I took a million pictures when we went there during Field Camp.

(Field Camp is a required field work class for a geology degree.  I hated most of it bc there were a few people who hated my guts and a few rotten apples spoil the barrel [VERY LONG STORY], but we also stopped by some National Parks to talk about geology of those places and I actually enjoyed that bc NATIONAL PARKS.  most of the places we stopped were repeats for me lol)

Yellowstone is SO UNIQUE and my ALL-TIME FAVE, including the Grand Canyon, bc it’s the epitome of my field of research.  like, the classic site to study geomicrobiology is Yellowstone.  the geysers are cool, but the hot springs, man.  THE HOT SPRINGS.  you NEEEEEED to go there.  I’ve been there twice and I aim to go there a third time sometime soon.

also good to look for is Devil’s Tower.  I think it’s a National Monument, not a National Park, but it’s wicked cool.  Jewel and Wind Cave (National Monuments) are also really cool, but if you get claustrophobic, probably should be avoided.  oooh, and the Badlands!  the Badlands are SO COOL.  that’s one I’ve been to twice, first when I was smol and second for Field Camp.  and even tho I only really remember the Field Camp visit, I am more fond towards the vague memories of the trip when I was smol.  I think we saw wild horses, which....would explain why I loved the Badlands so much when I was smol.

RMNP is a good one!  I have many fond memories of it, since it was the one we went to multiple times when I was younger while we visited my relatives in Denver.  like I said, it’s been a while, but I remember going up this long, winding mountain road, and snow outside even tho it was summer (bc mountains be like that sometimes).  and we stopped at the visitor’s center (?) at the peak, and drank hot cider, and I looked at the polished rocks they had.  and my dad played John Denver nonstop, naturally.

in general, there is SO MUCH great stuff out west and I am SO JEALOUS of the people who just.  live near that stuff.  like, I love being in the Midwest and don’t see myself ever living somewhere else, but damn we basically just have cornfields and pastures.  there are some exceptions, like the Loess Hills in Iowa (which are...some sort of National Something but idk what), or Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin, but nothing’s gonna top the majesty of the Grand Canyon or the landscape of Grand Teton or the awe-inspiring geysers of Yellowstone.  nothing’s gonna top that.

two side notes: have you tried bison?  TRY BISON.  they serve bison at like ALL the parks out west, and I lose my shit every single time, bc bison is SO GOOD.  and the huckleberry stuff, too!  I had a huckleberry flavored pop at Grand Teton that was way better than it had any right being, tbh.  for me, the western National Parks are: come for the nature, stay for the nature, and enjoy the shit outta the food.

I couldn’t find anywhere to put this side note so that it would mesh with my ramblings, but if you’re a National Parks junkie like me, you should go to Voyageurs!  it’s in Minnesota near International Falls and the Boundary Waters.  I’ve only been there once (...I think), but I am very fond of it bc I actually have a great-aunt and great-uncle who live there.  like.  their house is literally inside the park.  I don’t know how they got permission for it, but they’re there.  it’s so gorgeous and peaceful.  the wildlife is really something else, imo.  there’s a specific kind of lady’s slipper that is very rare and found most frequently in Voyageurs.

....anyways, in case you couldn’t tell, I am very fond of the National Parks.  my parents took me and my sisters on long trips to National Parks and State Parks and National Monuments when we were younger to instill in us an appreciation for nature, and to broaden our horizons, and educate us, and give us a taste for the outdoors.  and damn, did it fucking work.

[mbrainspaz]

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So how do they make that?

This just raises more questions for me 🤦🏾‍♂️

what the ****

this is whats called a ‘coffer dam’, you basically build some walls, drop them in the water, tie them together, and then pump out the water from your new hole in the water so you can build while staying dry its oddly not that hard- the flippin ROMANS were able to do it with logs and mud

occasionally particularly devious people would use this to hide treasure or tombs underneath the river so its not only impossible to find but impossible to get to without an engineer division

that last part gives me ideas for campaigns

“Not that hard - the ROMANS were able to do it” - people seriously underestimate how advanced some ancient cultures were and the organized effort it takes to come up with something like this and actually implement it. The Romans had heated floors, glass windows and ceilings that could be rotated to reflect what you were eating (forests for game, sea landscapes for fish). Hell, the Greeks built cameras and moving robots. The Minoans, who lived four thousands years ago and were wiped out by a tsunami three times as powerful as the one which devasted Japan in 2011, had running water and modern toilets. And let’s not get into how China basically invented everything centuries before anyone else. 

Bottom line: just because someone was already doing it thousands of years ago, doesn’t mean it’s not very difficult and an extraordinary feat of engineering.

someone: you build how many bridges on a single military campaign…?

Caesar: what, like it’s hard?

The Indus valley civilisations (one of the cradles of civilisation) had a covered sewer system. The first urban sanitation system might have been Harappa around 4 500 years ago. It included baths. The people in Lothal had a toilet in every house around 4370 years ago. They also had normed brick sizes to make building easier.

While we’re on industrial norms: Mesopotamia (another cradle of civilisation) had mass-produced bowls. They were traded with other city-states (read: internationally). They also had a writing system, schools (at least for the upper class), and exercise slates. The Sumerians and Akkadians in Mesopotamia formed a sprachbund that meant many people were bilingual in the 3rd millennium BC.

While we’re on the topic of literacy in ancient civilisations: Signboards were a thing. Enough people were literate to have signboards and inscriptions on houses. The oldest known inscription is on a lintel in Dholavira, Indus valley from 5000ish years ago (We have no idea what it says though.).

That’s just my five cents to people have always been people, and people have always been awesome. Sorry for the rant (but do tell me if you want to hear more about awesome in the other cradles of civilisation; or the proto-communism debate; or the “mother-goddess” debacle; or egalitarian values in ancient cultures (I might have to re-read Plato to go into full detail on that one and include the Greeks).

Please never apologize for adding cool info to posts! And feel free to add more :)

The real reason we’re scared of the technological capabilities of ancient civilizations is because they were just as good as us, and now they’re gone