If you haven’t started already, start archiving/downloading everything. Save it to an external hard drive if you’re able. Collecting physical media is also a good idea, if you’re able.
Download your own/your favorite fanfics. Save as much as you can from online sources/digital libraries. Recipes, tutorials, history, LGBTQ media, etc. It has been claimed, though I can’t find the exact source if true, that some materials about the Revolutionary War were deleted from the Library of Congress.
It’s always better to be safe than sorry and save and preserve what you can. Remember that cloud storage also is not always reliable!
Library of Congress - millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, manuscripts.
Internet Archive - millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Has been taken offline multiple times because of cyber attacks last month, it has recently started archiving again.
Anna's Archive - 'largest truly open library in human history.’
Queer Liberation Library - queer literature and resources. Does require applying for a library membership to browse and borrow from their collection.
List of art resources - list of art resources complied on tumblr back in 2019. Not sure if all links are still operational now, but the few I clicked on seemed to work.
Alexis Amber - TikToker who is an archivist who's whole page is about archiving. She has a database extensively recording the events of Hurricane Katrina.
I'll be adding more to this list, if anyone else wants to add anything feel free!
Thumbless Bat Skull (Furipterus horrens)
Since there weren’t many good reference photos of the thumbless bat available (a tragedy!!), I took a shot at its bizarre-looking skull. Evolution has done to many bats what man has cruelly wrought on domestic dogs- though the difference is that it actually works for the bats.
The thumbless bat, as you might imagine from looking at this skull, has a very squished-in face, with fur and skin obscuring the extreme bend above the eyes. This might aid it in echolocation by turning its head into a radar dish, similar to an owl’s. There are definitely a lot of bats that seem to have converged on the flattened-face design. But that isn’t an Official Scientist’s Opinion, just mine.
I should mention that despite their common name, thumbless bats actually DO have thumbs, just reduced ones with tiny, functionless claws. This brings up the question of how they crawl, since most bats use their thumbs like pitons while moving around on their roosts. The answer may be that they just don’t crawl that much- a creature thoroughly adapted to life in the air.
Another fun fact about thumbless bats: their nipples are located on their abdomen, rather than under their armpits like most bats. This means the babies have to orient themselves head-up on their mothers (who are hanging upside-down, of course) to nurse. But how do they do this without functional thumbs to hold on with? I have so many questions that the internet cannot answer.
Finally, please enjoy this thumbless bat art by famed naturalist Ernst Haeckel, circa 1904:
A comic (?) about my love of weird little bats for this halloween
that's a potato with wings and nobody can convince me otherwise
ah, this bat
this particular species has such a wide range of visual appearances it's nuts. from various shades of brown with mild frosting to extra value-brand hoary or red bat.
aaaaaah I love this concept, just... everything about this. Especially since big'ol'bat'bro ought to have had even just *one* night topside.
On the other wing, however, the process of even getting Ares to the Overland... it's complicated. More so than with most canonically-known fliers, given Ares' above-average size. Ares even outright states he won't fit up the staircase leading to the concealed stone (and even if he could, getting a giant bat up all those stairs... well, it's doable, but there's gonna be a lot of cursin' involved), and if he can't fit there, then the laundry grate is similarly an unlikely surface access point. And that's without factoring in the possibility of others intending to use the laundry room during this process... and then the duo would have to scramble back down lest they're still in the building when Animal Control inevitably arrives on scene.
And then there's the decision of how to go about 'bring your pet cottonball companion bond to school'. > Bring Ares into the building? > Ask him to stay up on the roof and somehow convince the teacher to allow the class out to the yard so Ares can do some kind of dynamic entrance? (Assuming there's even an outdoor space on the complex...) > Open the window to let Ares stick his big fluffy head in?
But, aside from all the above... I still very much love everything about this hypothetical scenario.
imagine it’s bring your pet to school day and gregor shows up with ares.
I'm not well. But this voidbat helps keep the other void at bay.
He hopes you're well
I love everything about this concept. Although my mind goes in the direction of then informing Mr. Heuristic about some of those absolutely wonky esolangs.
...tmw dude just starts coding exclusively in malbolge and it's just... how?
I feel like nibblers would absolutely LOVE computers if they ever got the chance to try one out
So I drew a nibbler trying to learn how to code on a Macintosh plus. His name is Heuristic