“ Suddenly the great beast beat its hideous wings, and the wind of them was foul. Again it leaped into the air, and then swiftly fell down upon Éowyn, shrieking, striking with beak and claw.

Still she did not blench: maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings, slender but as a steel-blade, fair yet terrible. A swift stroke she dealt, skilled and deadly. The outstretched neck she clove asunder, and the hewn head fell like a stone. Backward she sprang as the huge shape crashed to ruin, vast wings outspread, crumpled on the earth; and with its fall the shadow passed away.

A light fell about her, and her hair shone in the sunrise.”

I have several Tolkien prints by Angela Rizza (purchased on etsy), and this is one of my favorites.

This book is long out-of-print, although used copies do not seem that hard to come by. I checked this book out from the library dozens of times in the early 90s.

The miniatures in this book are wonderful, and there are no shortcuts. She teaches how to carve sandstone for a fireplace, dip candles, solder copper for copper pans, weave baskets, and more.

I noticed a few weeks ago that I had been made a moderator of [email protected], which was not something I asked for. I assumed it was a mistake, so I clicked “leave the mod team”. A week later I was a mod again, so I left again. I noticed it again tonight, but when I tried to leave it didn’t do anything.

In the mod log it shows my attempts to leave, but in the photo I’ve attached it shows that I am removing someone else. I don’t think that person was ever a moderator, but there seem to be some wires crossed somewhere. Can someone help me out? Thanks.

7/28/23 - I noticed there had been a new release, so I tried again and was able to remove myself successfully this time.

Genuine suggestion made by my iOS photos app. Don’t ask why I have Frodo Baggins as an identified person.

Brachypelma auratum a few days after she molted. I usually leave the molts in with my tarantulas for a while to see what they will do with them. Stashing them in the water dish is very popular and it is always hilarious. This spider tends to ignore them, so I will pull it out soon and add to my collection (the one I usually hide when I have guests).

I’m looking for sunscreen recommendations - specifically for outdoor activities (hiking, etc), but if you’ve got everyday sunscreen recs, I’ll take those too. I generally prefer mineral sunscreens and I’m in the US, but feel free to share whatever sunscreens you like and hopefully others will benefit also.

Bonus points if it doesn’t burn your eyes when you get really sweaty.

I just started playing Pokemon Go so I could play with my brother’s kids and I know very little.

I took over my first gym and then was wracked with guilt picturing small children crying their eyes out over their pokemon, so I started googling to see what the consensus was on player etiquette.

From what I understand, as long as a pokemon has been in a gym for 8.5 hours the owner will get the full 5o coins for the day. But I also keep seeing something about the coin reset at 12:01 and read that you shouldn’t take a gym between 11 pm and midnight and I really do not get it. Can someone enlighten me? I did see there had been changes to the game over the years so maybe the stuff I’m reading is not all up-to-date.

I think this is Hyles lineata? I don’t know a lot about moths, but the poor guy could use a lint roller.

I saw this on birdspidersCH youtube channel. It’s a little bit of a tongue-twister for me, but it means “hairy blue” so it’s definitely descriptive.

World Spider Catalog (You’ll need a login to view)

I have an A. seemanni that has molted 3 times in my care, but she never brings the molts up to the surface. Instead, she shreds them into tiny pieces and buries all the pieces deep within her burrow. With her most recent molt, she was finally ready for a rehouse and, amazingly, I was able to recover some intact spermatheca. She is one of my favorites, so I am very pleased.