Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids

"Businesses naturally require hard decisions, and having your career damaged by someone who you admire can really be soul-destroying." The Right Opinion channel's take on Mike Michaud and Channel Awesome.

And apparently the channel isn't changing, even though they've lost thousands of subscribers and nearly every content producer on the site. So...they're just that clueless? Or no one in management cares, and I have to toss Doug Walker into that callous, uncaring sector, because he hasn't seen fit to make any sort of response.

In the meanwhile...

[15:33] pxxxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx): does this group havea favcebook if soo can u pass me the link ?

So, it doesn't matter what group this was posted in--according to chatter after in the group, she posted this exact line, typos and all, in several groups. What is important is why ask this question at all? Maybe it's just me, because I don't have Facebook (and never will), but why is this important at all? I don't get the reason for the question.

And maybe it's also just me--not having Facebook--but I don't understand why said copy-pasting person stuck in the wilds of Typonesia can't just go to the main store and check. You know? Like, I never think of checking social media sources in any way in group chat, unless a link's posted from Flickr, Tumblr, or the like, but if the logos of those same social media sites are found in the store, I notice. So again, why didn't she just port to the main store and check there? Why didn't she port to all the stores she pasted this one terrible line in and check? Just too lazy to bother?

Lastly, I got a letter from someone with an autism interest, with a bunch of links, and I admit, I dismissed it. I get a lot of 'cause' letters, and they're all pretty much the same. "Hi, I noticed this great entry on [thing] you had on your blog, I was wondering if you wanted to link to my blog/have me write a blog entry for your blog/buy [X] product/join our network." Generally I dismiss and delete, I won't lie. They're rarely relevant, in the end.

Case in point, this is the opening paragraph of the first letter she sent:

"Hi there,

I just love all of the helpful information you've shared on your site in support of individuals and families with autism. (This page is especially wonderful.) As an educator, I’ve worked with people of all ages who have autism, and I’ve found a lot of resources to help my students along the way."

And this is the opening paragraph of the second letter:

"Hi,

"I'm following up on an email I sent you last month, which included some fantastic information that is helpful to individuals and families living with autism. I initially reached out because I saw this page on your site and thought you may want to update it with some more info, and I’m reaching out once more in case you missed my last email."

Since normally it's a one and done thing, and she actually wrote a second time, I thought I'd check the links out, but this isn't--and has never been--an autism blog. The sole entry under the 'autism' tag she linked both times--this entry will make all of two with the tag--only mentioned autism in regard to the charity for that year's Lovecraft Festival.

The first link is obviously written more for educators than parents, but it does lay out good behavior strategies for dealing with children on the autistic spectrum, without making it sound like autism is an inherently "bad" thing to have.

The second link isn't targeted to autism, being a general primer on how to create a (relatively) safe space for children with disabilities, with many opportunities for general sensory play.

The third link is a .PDF file, and is also written for educators, with emphasis on the importance of structure and routine. Pretty basic, but it has some useful tips.

The fourth link is designed for parents of teenagers with Asperger's syndrome, or with high-functioning autism. It does seem to weigh heavily on the "Asperger's teens are just regular, normal kids who are just socially devolved", which...is not the best message, but it may be useful for some.

And the last link is geared towards autistic adults, or caregivers of same, who own their own homes. Most of the tips critically fail when applied to apartments, but in case they might be helpful to some, I'm offering them here.

{Note from the Editrix: In 2020, I was sent this link by someone unknown. I'm not crazy about the domain it's on, but I read through it and it doesn't seem to be actively malicious, so I'm including it. It's a basic text on how to set up a playroom, or, including space concerns, a 'sensory space' in one corner of a larger room, for the autistic child. There you go.}

If anyone needed these at all; as I said, I'm not an autism blog and it's not my main focus. But there you go.

but that's okay, because I know you'll eat the cultists like me first

Etienne Meneau has released a wine carafe shaped like oversized blood vessels. I'm impressed that each one holds a full-sized (750mL) bottle.

Wonder how it looks with rosé...

Oh, and Desert Bus for Hope 7 has launched! If you don't know anything about the craziness that is Desert Bus, here's a brief explanation: the cast of Loading Ready Run, in cooperation with the Child's Play charity, gets together members and friends to stay up as much as they can while playing the worst video game in existence. (There's no question on this; Desert Bus is universally acknowledged as the worst game to play, ever, mostly because it takes place in real time--to drive the bus for an hour of game time means you're driving the bus for one hour real time. And to gain one point, you have to drive to Tuscon from Las Vegas and back. Which takes twenty-four hours.) They also do skits, sing songs, and try to keep each other awake, and they broadcast all of this live. People watching can chime in with comments on live chat, suggestions of what to do, and make challenges--where they offer payment towards Child's Play if their challenge is completed on the air.


How'ver, I want to talk a bit about the LoveFest, the LoveCraft Festival, which this year benefits autism awareness. I will freely and openly acknowledge that I signed up to help with a build, and with the festival itself, and then got sick and basically flaked for two weeks prior to opening.


In fact, I was thinking seriously of just apologizing to the organizers, and withdrawing, but a random impulse saw me on the reserved plot, and once there, well, I had to do what I could.


While I don't normally identify people by name anymore, I have to give my great and humble thanks to Felice Nightfire, Sphynx Soleil, and mbeatrix, who helped me decorate, sink the land underneath the build for the basement level, and generally kept me going until it was done.


Without your help, gentle souls, trust me--the Shunned House build would not have seen the light of day.

And with that, I should tell you tomorrow is the last day of the festival, so hurry down!

It's an amazing set of builds, and a great group of vendors, and it benefits a wonderful charity.

Help if you can but do try to wander at least, because...it's very much in the spirit of Lovecraft.