Family Portrait

Mississippi Masala (1991)

Skip Google for Research

As Google has worked to overtake the internet, its search algorithm has not just gotten worse.  It has been designed to prioritize advertisers and popular pages often times excluding pages and content that better matches your search terms 

As a writer in need of information for my stories, I find this unacceptable.  As a proponent of availability of information so the populace can actually educate itself, it is unforgivable.

Below is a concise list of useful research sites compiled by Edward Clark over on Facebook. I was familiar with some, but not all of these.

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Google is so powerful that it “hides” other search systems from us. We just don’t know the existence of most of them. Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information. Keep a list of sites you never heard of.

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free

From Star Wars: The High Republic - Trail of Shadows #001

Art by David Wachter and Giada Marchisio

Written by Daniel Jose Older

maybe???? shrugs

I mashed up some old art, and a little new, and a little borrowed from the game, to make a poster for my OCs :)

The annual tradition of harassing Jorgan has returned

meeting the jedi council can be scary - better hide under your future master's spare robe!

Taglist (dm to join)!

@babygirl-leon-kennedy @clone-bar-79s @laz-laz-ace-pilot @alexeithegoat @lo-om @meerlichts @milf-maul @unlightsabered @queen-breha-organa @thechaoticfanartist @thecodyagenda @puirell @suborbitalrailgun @british-hero @jekyllnahyena @spacehorrors @kohtoyah @theywontfindmethistime @beroyas  @canichangemyblogname @spacerocksarethebestrocks @milfglupshitto @sewingmonster @txtalnyx @aaylasecurasupremacy @veradragonjedi @iamthespacegeneral @moobrvoobl-moobmoob-oobmpoobroom @royalhandmaidens @sam-not-so-wise @ash-soka @kick-a-droid @isorottatime @mwolf0epsilon @templarhalo @orionsoutpost @ladyofthelands @theclonewarsbrokeme @modernepimetheus @milk-and-honey3 @stryxiere @kiwikipedia @tookatanks @fordo-kixed-rex

Inktober day 7; Trip.

This was an immense amount of work - I really underestimated how much work multiple scenes would add lol.

 This one’s dedicated to all of the trips my husband & I want to go on someday. ✈

🖊 for your pretty green boy please?

Donnick babble here we go

I love writing/thinking about/RPing/drawing Donnick. Of all the Jedi characters I've made he's the one that's really been through the ringer and stuck the course. He's not a famous and renowned figure like his mentors, he didn't even start out as a full Jedi when I made him! Back drawing those yoga-loving scrub boy doodles I really wanted to make an OC that had fucked up, run away from his responsibilities and was trying to do a little good where he could. I found it very satisfying to think through his arc of returning to the Jedi Order after his self-imposed exile and rise up to meet the challenges of protecting a galaxy from evil. Exorcising some of my own self-confidence foibles through this OC was very gratifying.

He's also a character who landed some BALLER friendship ties with other people's OCs, foremost of which I have to shoutout to @sotc and her character Cahira for bouncing some of the funnest headcanon and memes around with me.

An honourable mention too to parttimedragon and their character Carter, who some followers of this blog might remember. RPing with them helped form some of Donnick's core values and his openness to love people that he maybe shouldn't! Not sure where PTD went after suddenly quitting tumblr but hope they're thriving, peace and love.

The trait of Donnick's that I like best is his empathy. His Force senses are extremely astute and he feels the emotions of others so deeply that it's a conscious effort to not affect or be affected by those around him (thank you KOTOR 2 for the inspiration there). But it's a trait he'd hold even if he wasn't a Jedi, it's the keystone to everything he does. He trusts when it seems bonkers to do so, he opens his heart and compassion to anyone who asks for help, and fights like hell with his whole heart.

Of course it's gotten him in trouble, a heart on the sleeve is antithetical to the prevailing Jedi mentality, but I like to build casts of characters that support each other so he's had understanding masters who helped him hone his empathy and protect himself from strong influences that otherwise might sweep him away.

Strong influences, such as Jacob. Forbidden or star-crossed love is one of my all time favourite tropes so when I came back to my characters after a break I saw no reason not to indulge in putting together the Hero of Tython and the Emperor's Wrath. A Jedi with the willingness to see the good in a heart that had found its own way to the Light? A Sith that recognised balance and harmony as the only way to build something good in his life, meeting one of the only people with the patience to take his hand and help him rise? Tasty stuff.

I LOVE TO THINK ABOUT HIS FAMILY! The Caya clan, mama Andora and brothers Karo and Donnick estranged for twenty+ years and reuniting again fills my heart. They get to find each other again and CHOOSE to be a family. By all rights Donnick should reject his Jedi-hunting brother but he can't do it. These are the people who passed on their hearts and hoped for him to come home more than anything. The biggest secret Donnick keeps from the Order isn't his romance with Jacob, but that he wants all Jedi to feel how fulfilling it is to be loved unconditionally the way they have to love and protect the galaxy. It makes him stronger, drives him onwards, and gives him something to hold onto in the whirlwind of burdens he lives in. That's true love babyyyyy.

But I also really enjoy that Donnick is a mess! He's imperfect, he's fallible! He constantly wobbles between his own desires and the expectations placed on him. He really wants to believe that he'll choose duty and responsibility above all else, but he just doesn't know! He's got bad habits (still smokes sometimes) and he relishes a fist fight more than he cares to admit, but he tries his best. That's what I like thinking about most, that Donnick will always Try.

I have some playlists and the piece of SW music I like most for him is Eno Cordova's theme from Fallen Order, heroic and melancholy.

I love to redesign his tattoos every time I come back to swtor.

I love his lil hair curls.

Arms.

Ok that's it for now.