Ok.  Completely New Post Because The Other One Keeps Reverting To The Cut Off Version.  This Is My

I live near Atlanta and Labor day weekend is approaching, aka that time of year that Atlanta turns into nerd central - we get both Dragon Con and the Decatur Book Festival on the same weekend.

I love the idea of Dragon Con. I love seeing all of the amazing costumes people make for it. But as a person who is easily overwhelmed by large crowds and who has a distinct preference for books over tv and movies, the Decatur Book Festival is much, much more my speed.  Sadly, there is a distinct lack of anything fantasty/scifi on the book festival talk schedule this year. And Sanderson is going to be at Dragon Con... It makes it tempting to consider...

Realistically though, I’m going to be happier at the book festival. 

If anyone else is going to be hanging out in Decatur that weekend looking at books and wants to meet up for ice cream (there are a couple of great ice cream shops in Decatur) or tea or something and chat about the Cosmere, or Imperial Radch, or Wayfarers or... let me know :-)

mmm..  I distinctly don't need more projects right now, but I can tell you what would help get stuff that I have already drawn (and likely that other people have drawn) or am planning to draw anyway onto the wiki. 

 Make a "Welcome Fanartists!" page (or something like that)  that is easy to find from the main page. This page should first and foremost have simple detailed instructions for how to add art to the wiki.  These instructions should assume that the person has no idea how to edit the wiki at all.  If there is someone who is willing to add art that they are pointed to, you might include instructions for how to tell that person that your art is available to be added.  If there are any ground rules for what kind of art should/shouldn't be added, include it here.  

After that section, it might be useful to have a list of "things it would be nice to have art of" that fan artists can go look at when they feel like arting but aren't sure what they want their subject to be.  If you wanted to, you could have these grouped into a couple of different priority levels (perhaps: It's a disgrace that there is no art on this page, it would be helpful to have art on this page, this page has some art but could use more, this page could use art if it happens to be something you are excited about drawing).  If there is a way to have them in a table so they can be sorted by priority level, planet/book, or type of thing (maybe: people/plants/animals/things/other) that could be useful. That way if someone is thinking "mmm I want to draw a Mistborn character" or "I want to play with the plant life on Roshar" they can look to see what we could use.

Once you get that page functional, throw it to tumblr with a short list of pages that could use more art.

Cosmere artists! I seek your opinion!!

If there were some notice/notification on wiki pages which pointed out or asked for art to be given for a particular topic or section. EG the Shardplate page has no art, and would probably very much benefit from some, to help describe it. 

Would people be ok with requests like that, and would artists actually contribute more than they already do?

I just want to increase the contributions and make it a more informative source and make editing and helping out more attractive and easier? I don’t know what I’m doing tho really. Please help XD

My sister @neranishin and I have projects. She got me a piece of faux fur so we can figure out to make a Soonie pup and I found her fleece that I figure would make good skyeel wings. So there are going to be Cosmere plushies :D

Yahoo Groups Will Be Shutting Down - What Each of You Can Do

This post will be frequently updated - check the Google Doc linked here for the latest version. Follow this Tumblr for more information in the days ahead.

Yahoo Groups will be shutting down key features and restricting access to Groups, with user-uploaded content being deleted on December 14, 2019. With this shutdown, decades of fandom history will vanish. But there is something that every member of the fandom community can do now - whether they’ve ever used Yahoo Groups before or not.

I am a member of a Yahoo group - what can I do?

Immediately contact the admins to find out what their plans are.

Download PGOffline, a Windows tool to save the files and messages. Any member of the Yahoo Group can use this tool - you do not have to be an admin to save the mailing list. 

Since many admins are busy or inactive, install the free Windows software program yourself and start downloading - focus on Files, Photos, Links, and Messages. A step-by-step walk through is available here and a video tutorial here.

Submit your plan to download here.

 Export the messages and backup up the files and photos by copying them to another folder on your computer. Then contact Open Doors, the OTW preservation program. The OTW is open to providing storage of Yahoo Groups backups that are assembled by moderators and non-moderators alike. Details are here.

If you are a member of a Yahoo Group and have downloaded the files and messages, and the admins do not respond, please contact your fellow mailing list members. Remember, anyone can save a mailing list messages, files and photos and submit them to Open Doors.

Click here for instructions on how to use the Chrome plugin

If you need help from fellow fans, try asking on the “Save Yahoo Groups” Discord Channel

Mac Users: try this Chrome based plugin

Instructions on how to use the Chrome plugin

Alternatively, if you are familiar with Python, please experiment with the tools found at https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Yahoo!_Groups

I am Admin - what can I do?

Communicate with your Group members - let them know your plans

Download your Group messages, files, photos, and links using the tools above. Don’t forget to download your members list.

Decide if you want to simply archive the old posts and disband the mailing list or start up somewhere else.

Please take a look at setting up a Dreamwidth community - it allows explicit material, threaded conversations, privacy locks and is free. Image uploading is limited to 500MB for free accounts and 1.5GB paid accounts. Also, if you are considering Groups.io as an option, please note that it does not allow any material that depicts sexual activity, even implied sexual activity or anything that could be considered a fetish.

I am not certain I have time to help download? Is there something else I can do?

If you are a member of a mailing list, submit the mailing list for consideration. It will help volunteers focus their efforts. Don’t forget check here to see if your group is already being downloaded.

Even if you are not a mailing list member, consider creating a page for the mailing list on Fanlore, so that there will be a place for people to talk about the mailing list, its history. Details here.

Login Problems?

Has your “inactive” email been purged? Is your email email address not linked to a Yahoo Group ID?

An “inactive” account is one where you haven’t sent an email or logged in for the past year. Receiving emails does not count as activity. The email address is then released, and can be used by someone else.

If you used your Yahoo email to subscribe to a mailing list, your access to the Yahoo Group is gone (along with all your emails). If your account was deactivated within the past 90 days, you may be able to reactivate it. (more here). Alternatively, you can try contacting Yahoo Mail support.

Outside the 90 day window: you can try creating a new Yahoo email account using the same screen name as long as no one else has snapped it up. Simply sign up as you would for a ‘new’ email account. Reclaim an inactive mailbox. Then log into your Yahoo Group.

Pixely critters from hanging out in the Steel Ministry on iscribble.

Gunnerkrigg Stormlight Mashup

Because I saw the first panel of today's Gunnerkrigg Court update and my reaction was "Dude!  When did Paz become a Windrunner?" I don't think Paz is actually a windrunner though.  She would hang out with Shallan and they would go meet all of the creatures.  Paz would absolutely be up for tracking down a chasmfiend for a chat. (Oh man, Shallan in Gillitie Wood.  She would be so excited.) 

More below the cut, but it kinda got long.

Eglamore, on the other hand, would totally be a Windrunner. Parley might be as well, but she also might be a Willshaper.  I'm not sure. 

Kat would hang out with Navani and they would be awesome engineers turning magic things into technology together.

Annie is half Horneater and inherited the ability to see and interact with all of the spren.  She discovers she is a Lightweaver (I guess, unless she finds a way to get transportation and illumination, but that doesn't appear to be a thing) and quickly learns to navigate Shadesmar.  (Blinker stones are totally infused spheres).

Zimmy is a Lightweaver who didn't have a mentor to teach her to navigate Shadesmar and sometimes she gets sucked in unintentionally and sometimes she accidentally pulls other people in with her and sometimes she managages to only get partway pulled in and accidentally projects an image of Shadesmar into the physical realm.  The whole situation is a mess. She finds it relaxing to stand out in the riddens after each highstorm. It helps to ground her.

Ysegrin would be one of the Parshendi leaders.

Coyote is Wit. Or...no... maybe Jones is Wit and Coyote is the Stormfather.  Yes, I think that works better.

I can't decide where Reynard would fit in and it's bugging me.

EDIT: I figured Reynard out.  He is totally a Kandra.  

I finally got around to reading Sanderson's Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (I've had the anthology checked out from the library for a couple of weeks). It has a lullaby. My brain provided a tune for the lullaby (I do not know where the tune came from, I don't recognize it and if it sounds like anything it was unintentional).  Getting this file into a form tumblr would take was a stupidly convoluted process and I'm not entirely happy with the recording quality (I really don't know what I'm doing with recording), but, here, have a cosmere lullaby.

Elendel, during the Wax and Wayne era

Your questions got me thinking and realizing that I have additional questions:

Szeth is likely going to summon his spren as a sword eventually. Is it going to make Nightblood jealous? Will they see it as a way to destroy twice as much evil? Szeth dual wielding blades? Or Nightblood getting frustrated because Szeth really needs a long spear for a sky battle right now and he is using the sprenspear instead of a sword?

Or, would Szeth summon his spren as a shield while using Nightblood as a sword?

What is the conversation going to be like when Nightblood and the spren talk?

Or, y’all, Szeth and Nightblood and the spren in a sort of threeway poly nahel bond. Maybe the bond could dampen the spiritual cracks in Nightblood so that they don’t automatically suck all of the investiture out of anyone holding them? 

I wonder what it’s like to be Szeth’s spren.  Like, the only thing they have to do is stick close enough that he can surgebind.  Nightblood takes care of everything else.  Did some Highspren just go: “This is gonna be the easiest assignment ever heck yeah” and then sleep through the rest of the book?  Are they annoyed at not having anything to do?  Were they tired of working with more conventional Skybreakers?  What do they think of Szeth siding with Dalinar over Nale?

I have questions guys

I have exactly one (1) lifehack for every adult thing and that is “admit your ignorance to customer service people”

no, seriously! I know how nothing in adult life works, but I have learned it by calling up the customer service division of whatever agency I am having a problem with and then just asking about whatever the problem is, emphasizing my complete lack of knowledge about the thing.

my actual literal script for these interactions: “Hi, my name is [name]. This is my problem: [problem]. I don’t know how [adult thing] works. could you explain how [adult thing] works?” it fucking works every time.

me: I keep getting conflicting information as to whether my therapist is covered by my health insurance. I don’t know anything about health insurance, so this is very confusing to me. could you explain why this might be happening? health insurance customer service: it’s because your normal health insurance is X company but your mental healthcare is subcontracted out to Y company, and Y covers your therapist but X doesn’t. just always bill Y when you go to your therapist and you’ll be fine.

me: I accidentally put the wrong date to pay my credit card off and I’m afraid it will post before I get paid. this is my first credit card so I don’t know what I’m doing. could you tell me when it will post? customer service person: it will send a message to your bank today, but your bank won’t respond to it until tomorrow when you get paid, so you’re fine. and even if it does bounce, the fee is only $25 and you qualify for a waiver.

me: I went to an urgent care place that said they’d take my health insurance, but now i have a big bill. I don’t know how billing works: can you explain why the amount is so much for such a routine trip? customer service person: it’s because you were out of network at the time. however, since your insurance hasn’t covered the cost of care, the urgent care people should refund you for the cost of the services you paid for. me: [gets actual check in mail for the $200 I spent on testing my pee]

I would not recommend this method for retail (for the love of god, do not tell a sleazy car dealer that you don’t know how cars work), and sure, sometimes you have to speak to the manager or threaten a credit card chargeback or whatever you need to do. but 99% of the time, speaking nicely and admitting to needing help has worked wonders for me, and means I don’t have to stew in terror over doing some adult thing Wrong.