This is the sorta segment I wish still existed in kids’ shows. Soothing voiceover, mellow music, no flashy graphics. Just a calm behind-the-scenes look at something you might call mundane but that most of us would never have a clue about if no one pulled the curtain back to reveal its inner workings.

Okay but imagine being in kindergarten and seeing something like this, you would absolutely change your mind about wanting to be a fire fighter or teacher or whatever Job you've been told is cool and possible to grow up to do because wait a minute it's just like play-doh, there's so much it's kept in trash cans, you can use your hands to smear icing everywhere? It smells like cinnamon buns all the time?! Yes please!

I vaguely remember having a field trip to a bakery in kindergarten and thinking croissants were magical and that I wanted to make them in the future cuz kneading dough looked fun.

This is way more engaging and easier to watch than those sped-up videos with no voiceover and trashy pop music playing over the top.

It actually does make me remember similar segments in shows I watched growing up, like that one program. I don't remember what exactly the segment was about but it followed a young boy, and he briefly mentioned stopping at a friend's house and trying goat milk for the first time.

Very little else stuck with me but it sure made me curious about goat milk.

A little discussed tumblr experience is that when you add a new gif to a post, it goes into the gif library that everyone has access to

Every now and then you get a notification that a user has added your gif to their post and you are treated to a glimpse of a user you have never seen before in a fandom you have never heard of talking about something you will never see again

And it feels like

10/10 experience, keep it coming

Exhibit A

A little discussed tumblr experience is that when you add a new gif to a post, it goes into the gif library that everyone has access to

Every now and then you get a notification that a user has added your gif to their post and you are treated to a glimpse of a user you have never seen before in a fandom you have never heard of talking about something you will never see again

And it feels like

10/10 experience, keep it coming

Exhibit A

hang ten indeed friend

That's too many types of blade to be good at throwing

average karlach gameplay

A Beginner's Guide to Making Podfic by EmilianaDarling

So you’ve listened to a few podfics. They’re something new and different, an exciting way to experience fandom. They’re engaging, and exciting, and you’re really getting a taste for them!

But you can’t help thinking to yourself: “God, this fic would make such a good podfic!” or “why is there so little of this for me to listen to?” Or, best of all: “I think this is something I could maybe do.”

Although some fandoms are absolutely teeming with wonderful, beautifully-made podfics, others can be quite bare when it comes to the amount of these gorgeous audio gems that are available. For anyone who’s ever been curious about how to go about the process of making podfic, here is a little beginner’s guide. 

Feel free to reblog and share!

What is podfic?

Podfics are audio recordings of fanfiction that have been read out loud, recorded, and made available for download for other fans to listen to. It can be all lengths, all ratings, all fandoms. 

Where can I find them?

All over fandom! For specific archives, however, the Audiofic Archive and Amplificathon are wonderful places to start. Search by tags, find a fandom/pairing/genre that suits your fancy, and download away!

What do I need to start making podfics?

There’s a general rule of three regarding what you need in order to make podfic:

1. A Quiet Place:

You’ll be shocked at how much noise gets picked up by that tiny little mic. In order to record, make sure that you have a quiet space to yourself for a good chunk of time. I personally find that a smaller area - like a bedroom, or even a closet - works better in terms of getting good tone. Make sure you have the space to yourself, without any loud roommates or honking traffic noises outside. The quieter the space, the better the recording. 

2. A Microphone:

Mics are a bit more complicated. Some people record quite happily with the microphone that comes ready-built into their computer, and others begin this way and then branch out into a separate microphone later on. Others even use their cell phones! This is totally fine, although I personally admit that I find the quality of my recording infinitely better and more listenable with a separate mic. 

It’s possible to buy a perfectly serviceable recording mic for $30-40. (When I started recording, I took a gamble and went out and bought one right at the beginning.) Some people use headset mics and others use standing mics. Personally, I prefer the latter because it allows you to construct and use a homemade pop screen. These can help remove syllabants and plosives from your speech, and they’re a fun little project once you’ve decided you enjoy making audio recordings. 

3. Software:

The two main types of editing software that I see used vary depending on your type of computer. Generally speaking, PC users use Audacity while Mac users use Garage Band. Although Macs come with Garageband already, PC users must download Audacity along with the LAME MP3 Encoder. As a PC user myself, I’ll be describing Audacity. I’ve included a tutorial for Garageband at the bottom of the guide. 

Audacity is a fairly intuitive program, although there are loads of video guides out there for the technologically-impaired. It really is as simple as downloading the program, plugging in your mic, and starting to record. I suggest downloading it and playing around for a little while! (An awesome tip for Audacity is that when you stop recording and want to start again, hitting Shift + the big red record button will allow you to continue on the same audio track!) It looks more intimidating than it is, I promise. The Podfic Tutorial by pakara has some wonderful images of Audacity to help you along, and Podfic_Tips is another great place to go looking for more information. 

–

How do I choose a fic?

Go for something that really captivates you! Recording podfic is a long, drawn-out process, and there’s nothing worse than spending ages on something that you only kinda like. Keep in mind that, depending on the speed at which you speak, 10,000 words is roughly equivalent to one hour of edited podfic. For your first podfic, it’s usually advisable to start with something fairly short. Perhaps something between 2,500-7,500 words or so!

However, you do need permission to record something that you didn’t write, so be prepared to send a message to the author politely asking whether or not you can record their fic. If they say yes, play it safe and keep their message or a screenshot of it stored somewhere just in case. If they say no, let out a disappointed sigh and look elsewhere. Make sure to let each author know what podfic is, just in case they aren’t aware: it’s best that everyone’s on the same page right from the beginning. 

If you’ve written something yourself, sometimes it’s nice to start with that because the writing style should be similar to your speaking style. Or maybe ask a friend if you’re too shy to ask a stranger at first. 

If the fic you choose has sexy bits in it, don’t worry! It's embarrassing for all of us to record explicit scenes at first, but you do get used to it. After a while, those scenes become the same as any other scene!

–

I’m ready to start. What now?

Get yourself ready. I’m guessing you’ve read the fic at least once if you decided you liked it enough to record it, but give it a skim through. Get your head around the mood, the pacing, any tricky words you might have a hard time with. Have a glass of water nearby if your throat gets dry. (Coughing doesn’t help, and just dries you out more!)

And get started! When I record a fic, I begin by stating a phrase much along this line. “[Title] by [Author], read by [Your Name]”, and I finish the recording with “The End”. :3 It makes it easy to follow!

There are many different techniques for when you’re recording, and none of them are bad. Some people record the whole thing through and edit out mistakes later, others fix mistakes as they go. It’s a personal preference! Some people find it easy to hear when they’ve made a mistake; others need to listen to the recording to spot the error. Don’t worry about not knowing which kind you are at first: that’s why you’ve chosen a shorter fic to record for your first time. It’s usually best, if you make a mistake, to repeat the line that you messed up immediately so that you have a solid recording of it on record. 

(I do have a super awesome method that has quite literally saved me HOURS of editing time. I call it the clapping method: every single time you make a mistake, clap loudly, and then repeat the line. When you’ve finished the audiotrack, tada! Every mistake is marked with a large spike of audio, and you don’t even have to listen to the whole thing in order to see where your errors are. :3 However, some people find this method confusing the first time around. Do your first podfic however you like, but I do suggest giving this method a try at least once.)

Some people have a podfic beta that they send their completed files off to once they’re done, which is awesome!

–

What about technique?

Everyone has a different approach to podfic, and that’s a-okay. In general, try to speak at a pace at which your reader can understand you. (Listen to this recording of Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter if you want a simple example of a nice reading pace, although obviously depending on the mood you’ll vary your speed.) Clarity and enunciation are important, as well! You’ll soon become very aware of the way you speak, and things you have to watch out for. Spacing is a wonderful creature, too. Remember to give your listeners time for the words to sink in. 

Also, look up the pronounciations of words you don’t know, and make sure you pronounce the characters’ names correctly! (Otherwise that could be embarrassing later.)

For me, the most important thing is to perform. It’s a one-person performance, in many ways, and things like tone, inflection, and mood all go such a long way to create an interesting and captivating listening experience! Try to get engaged with your story, and not to speak in a monotone. I also personally like to distinguish my character voices from one another, but not everyone likes to do that. Have fun with it!!

–

I feel awkward about my accent

Don’t! Just remember that everybody has an accent. No matter what your accent is like, a great podfic is a great podfic! Even if your accent doesn’t match up to the fandom you’re recording in (an Australian accent and recording Supernatural, a Canadian accent and recording Doctor Who, etc), don’t worry! People will love to listen to it anyways: the recorder’s voice melds into a seamless story after the first few minutes, I promise. 

–

I’m done recording! Now how do I edit?

Editing is, without a doubt, the most tedious part of making podfic. But don’t lose focus! Everyone edits differently: some people listen through the entire file multiple times and edit and re-record as necessary, others use things like the clapping method to quickly edit without having to listen to the file again. Some methods take more time than others, and it’s best to find the one that works best for you. This is another reason why choosing a shorter story is recommended for your first podfic!

If you’re recording a multi-chapter fic, I recommend recording and editing one chapter at a time before moving onto the next, just to keep things lively. There are loads of wonderful editing tips to be found at podfic_tips, too, if you need any help. 

Not everyone chooses to add music to the beginning and the end of the recording, but I find that it makes for a wonderful segue in and out of your performance. Find a good song and import it into Audacity/GarageBand, making sure to adjust it so it’s at a comparable volume to the recording itself. I usually put about 35-50 seconds of the song at the beginning and then fade out, and the whole song fading in at the end. Again, though, you can finagle this however you want or choose not to at all. 

–

It’s done!! How do I share it?

Export the file into Mp3. Garage Band can do this inherently, but you’ll need to download the LAME MP3 Encoder to do it with Audacity. Once you have the completed Mp3, back it up somewhere just to be safe! Then go create an account with uploaders such as Mediafire and begin to upload the file to the internet! (Keep in mind that some countries block the use of some of these programs, so it’s usually best to use at least two.)

When the file is on the internet, now all you have to do is post it! Definitely post it at Amplificathon, as well as at AO3, in your fandom/pairing communities, and on tumblr. And voila! You have created your very first podfic! :D It’s an incredible feeling of creation, staring at your mp3 library or listening to the story and knowing that you made it happen. That people all over the world will download your podfic and listen to you tell them a story, maybe over and over again. 

–

This guide is very much for beginners, and once you start recording you’ll probably have more questions as you start to become more confident. Feel free to ask questions at Podfic_Tips, or even to ask questions of your favourite podfic recorder if you feel comfortable! Those of us you love podfic? We LOVE podfic with all of our hearts; it’s always a wonderful thing to help people create more of it. 

Good luck!

Other Podfic Guides:

Podfic Tutorial

by

pakara

 (Audacity)

Garage Band Tutorial

by

lunchymunchy

Podfic_Tips

Department of HHS Document 2025-23465

On Thursday December 18th, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services under Donald Trump and RFK Jr. announced a proposed rule that would create an unprecedented attack on gender affirming care. In regards to this specific rule it would apply to care for individuals under the age of 18, but if passed it would open the door for further regulation that restricts care for all transgender people and enforces policies that further encourage non-consensual treatments for intersex individuals. Before this new regulation can go into place, though, it is required to undergo a 60 day public comment period. Then, the DHHS must sift through, categorize, and consider all unique comments before it can begin to institute this policy. Public comment periods can get proposed rules and regulations nixed entirely, but they can also delay them. Some proposed regulations have been delayed by an entire decade before by the quantity of unique and relevant comments the departments had to sift through. The comment period for this proposed rule is open now, and it will remain open until February 17th of 2026

(Apologies for any formatting errors, this was copy and pasted between Tumblr and a separate document several times due to technical difficulties. I believe I found all of the links it removed, but if anyone notices locations where I say I am going to link something and nothing is there, please let me know)

I'm going to put together bullet points for people to draw inspiration from with relevant comments that include contradictions and current laws that go against this proposed rule. I will also include a sentence-long copy-paste intro that has the information required for your comment to be counted.

Copy/paste: Regarding Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 42 CFR Part 482 CMS-3481-P, RIN 0938-AV87

Here is a step by step guide on how to write effective public comments. I've seen a lot of disagreement from people familiar with public comment periods on whether you should make an effort to write a formal comment or not, but my personal philosophy on this is that if all you can do is throw something simple together, that is what you should do. If you have the time and energy to do something more intensive then there is a chance that that will be more likely to be heard and seen, but if you would be able to submit nothing at all otherwise it's best to submit something that is informal, quick, and simple. Something is better than nothing, essentially.

Posted January 6th, 2026

it me

Hey! I'll be documenting the creation of Check, Please!: Year Five on my Patreon this year! Definitely subscribe for updates—

And sign-up for the Check, Please! newsletter for more info. (Check that spam!)

Here's your unscheduled reminder that vaccines are proven, safe, healthy, and vital for our survival.

It's also a reminder that ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield was a scam artist who was trying to discredit specifically the MMR vaccine so he could make money off his own variation, and had conflicting interests re: being paid to find problems with it. To do so, he invented a new condition that does not exist, and subjected numerous children to painful testing that had no benefit to their quality of life.

It's also a reminder from an autistic adult that a happy healthy autistic child is a lot easier to achieve than one who died of completely preventable causes. And that it's a lot harder for people like me, who work directly with children to enrich and educate them, to do our job and ensure a happy healthy future generation, if you get us killed by refusing to do your part eradicating known horrible diseases.

I cannot really be unbiased or friendly about this, because, again, as an autistic adult, the antivax movement boils down to using my existence as a boogeyman to hurt children.

If you wouldn't play russian roulette with your baby, don't deny them vaccines.

If you refuse to vaccinate kids specifically because you think vaccines cause autism, you are telling me to my face that you think that I would be better off dead than alive the way I am. And to that end, I would cordially invite you to get off my blog, because if you don't want me in the world, you don't get to enjoy my civility or creative efforts.

If you need a source for Wakefield's garbage, I would recommend Brian Deer's MMR What They Didn't Tell You which is available free on youtube.

No need to go to YouTube, Brian Deer's takedown is also written up in one of the world's oldest medical journals:

See also The fraud behind the MMR scare

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how the topic adoption is addressed when it comes to the batfam in both cannon and in fandom. This isn't meant to be like a call out to any writers or fans, I just think this is part of a larger cultural discussion of adoption. I will be discussing things I dislike personally when it comes to how it's represented, but there's a lot of nuance here. This is also my personal feelings on this, as someone who was adopted and knows other people who were adopted. I think adoption in the US is pretty misunderstood and often glorified. I think that the cultural understanding of adoption, raising a kid that wasn't born to you, and the legal process of adoption get lumped together.

I think a lot of people don't really know how adoption in the US exactly works. Adoption is when your birth records are changed to being the legal child of the adoptive parent. You are issued a new birth certificate with the adoptive parent listed and your previous records are sealed and can only be accessed by petitioning the court, and they can say no. It also severs all legal ties to your biological parents. This does give you the legal rights of a biological child, like being automatically included in inheritance and being next of kin without additional paperwork.

A legal guardian is someone who is given temporary or permanent custody of a child, is fully responsible for the child, and has all the same rights as a parent other than legal recognition of parentage. Also inheritance and next of kin assignment is not automatic and needs to be handled separately.

A foster parent is in charge of caring for a child, but does not have legal custody. The child is considered a ward of the state but you are in charge of there daily care and housing. Also the goal of foster care is supposed to be reunification. There's also a lot to talk about regarding the foster system, but that'd be a whole other long post.

I clarify these things partially because I see them mixed up in discussions often, but also to get into the matter of adoption records. So as I stated previously when you are legally adopted your original birth certificate, medical records, and many of the documents from the adoption process are sealed and cannot be accessed without petitioning the court and proving "reasonable cause" for unsealing them. Apparently them being your personal records is not reasonable cause enough. All of your legal ties to your biological parents are severed, in some cases they are given visitation if it's an open adoption but they don't have custody or even legal ties to the kid, they're just allowed to see them sometimes. Many adopted people, including myself, disagree with this process and want the legal process to change so that we are not deprived of legal documentation of our own history.

A lot of us feel that the right to these records is a human right, and sealing them is another instance of the system treating us like property.

(There is also a lot to be said about infant adoption, and how adoption agencies prioritize them, and neglect older kids because more people want babies and are willing to spend more money to get a baby. This leads to struggling mothers of new borns to be pressured to give up their kids rather than being given help, as well as instances of human trafficking because there are several adoption agencies that have been caught buying babies from traffickers overseas. Also the amount of money people pay for babies kind of makes it feel like human trafficking anyway. This is a huge issue in the US right now, not really related to this topic, but as someone adopted as an infant I just wanted to get this tangent out, and also I think it's something more people should learn about.

I'm not calling all the parents who have adopted infants human traffickers by the way, this a critique of US adoption agencies and the system they built.)

Now onto actually talking about bat media, one thing I always see talked about is how Bruce didn't adopt Dick until he was an adult. This is usually explained in comics as either the courts wouldn't allow him to adopt Dick as a single man, which was the case in the 40's comics as that usually wouldn't be allowed in real life, or Dick didn't want to be adopted because he was still grieving his parents. The latter is actually very common, especially nowadays, most grieving kids don't necessarily want a new birth certificate that says their dead parents never existed.

I think that the treatment of this in both fannon and cannon as a mistake Bruce made that needs to be rectified is weird because it is a very real and valid decision, and treating it as something bad implies that adoption is inherently better than legal guardianship. The only difference between a legal guardian and an adoptive parent is the process of sealing records and cutting legal ties with the birth parents, as well as automatic inheritance. A legal guardian has all the parental rights of an adoptive parent, and the legal status doesn't say anything about the relationship with the child. Also Bruce did in fact change his will to include Dick.

Batman #20 1940

Bruce adopting Dick later us usually seen as formality, often because he adopted Jason as a child, but I think we should start considering legal guardianship as a completely valid route to go, without putting adoption on a pedestal as a better option. This isn't to shame anyone who writes this plot point in comics or fan fiction, most people don't know the nuances in adoption and the struggle for adopted people's rights, but I think glorifying adoption often just silences these conversations about the downsides of adoption in the US.

(Here's some panels of Bruce talking about not adopting Dick as a child and adopting him as an adult)

Tales of the Teen Titans #50 1984

Gotham Knights #17 2001

I was gonna talk about instances like Cass and also Clark who's in the same boat with not really having previous records, Clark coming from a planet that blew up and Cass being raised in isolation (considering she had to threaten David Cain into telling her when she was born, I'm gonna assume she wasn't legally documeted.) and not having a legal identity for a good part of her life. That being said I don't have a lot of experience with kids who don't have legal records before being adopted. So if anyone has anything to add on that topic feel free to. I think this is a very case by case thing.

I think media as a whole conflates the actual act of raising a kid as your own with the legal process of adoption. There has been a lot of push to change how the legal process of adoption works and to regulate the adoption industry, but it's still an ongoing fight. Most media doesn't portray the ugly side of adoption which skews people's view of it. I hope to see more media in the future begin to explore the nuances as the cultural perception of adoption is very limited. I also highly encourage anyone to do further research into this topic, so I'm leaving some sources here at the end of the post. After all there's a lot I didn't talk about, and I am just one adopted person sharing my experience not the all knowing adoption god. I hope that this post inspires some people to do more research into adopted people's rights, and begin thinking more critically about how it's portrayed in media.

(Resources in the Reblogs because tumblr hates links)

(Also this is the third version of the post, the first one I decided I didn't like so I deleted and re-wrote it, and then tumblr ate my next draft)

traits turned sour

Saw this and wanted to try some more:

• independent – isolated/commitment issues

• nurturing – smothering

• intuitive – paranoid

• protective – controlling

• curious – intrusive

• driven – obsessive

• patient and lets you decide – passive

• spontaneous – reckless

• self-aware – uses it as an excuse

• visionary – unrealistic

• stoic – emotionally numb

• charismatic – fake and performative

• generous – self-sacrificing

This is one of my favorite things when creating characters (having their core trait/s be something like devotion to the point of obsession)

in 2022 may you find many seeds, nuts, berries, etc

I didn’t even look at the name I was just like damn I hope so too thanks

it’s 2025 now i hope youve accumulated many seeds, nuts, and berries

i may have eated them all

in 2026, may you begin to once again find seeds, nuts and berries

doing perspective box exercises but then some cat loafed in them

Roman aqueducts

so i'm no huge fan of rideshare and delivery apps, but this? this post?

completely fake. the article linked above thoroughly debunks it.

he's not wrong