u kno i had to do it to em

also anyone got a neocities? it's like geocities but for the 2020s since geocities died a few years ago

i made my own site and it's pretty sick tbh

i passed my oral qualifiers and now i'm a phd candidate pog

inkblot invite list

for anyone who's interested, the inkblot invite list is opening tomorrow for an entire week! not sure when it'll open, but last time it opened at 6:30pm EST

linky link to the page

me: i'll be graduating in like 1-1.5 yrs

my advisor: of course
my advisor: also here's 2348023984903 tons of work btw

gonna try out inkblot.art since they're opening invites for closed beta this weekend

might be interesting

got my invite today, used it for a couple of hours, here's my ~review~:

general info:

• visually, it's a mix of dA/instagram/tumblr (you have "latest" and "explore" pages like dA, posts themselves look instagram-esque, your personal page is like a blend of tumblr and instagram)
• you can like, reblog, and comment on posts and use hashtags for discoverability
• meant for ages 16+
• you can upload nsfw stuff but Bad Shit (hateful art, sexual crimes, etc) is prohibited

pros:

• reblogs only show up on your timeline/dashboard and don't clog up your gallery
• there's a bit of customization for your page, you can upload a banner pic and change the color if your buttons/background/text color (there's also widgets but right now those are for pro members only while they debug it)
• there's a dedicated comics upload section
• can mark your account as mature (for 18+ ppl only)
• works on mobile (no app tho yet)

cons:

• user engagement feels a little low (people tend to like but not reblog posts), might be because user count is still low while they're in closed beta
• still some bugs to iron out with the UI
• some parts of the site are confusing and not explained well (there's a way to mark your stuff as having a cw but i don't know how to do it, i only see the nsfw/gore toggles; people not knowing you can add hashtags, etc.)

if you wanna try out this site for yourself, they open their signup list on the 3rd weekend of every month (friday-sat US time). signup slots are unlimited but they send invites in batches of 100 spaced out every 2 days to make sure servers aren't super strained.

@mier commented on this post:
oh nice i still havent got mine but im waiting for it

definitely check your promotions tab if you use gmail, mine landed there instead of the normal inbox (probably because of the word "invitation" ) so i didn't see if for a while rip

gonna try out inkblot.art since they're opening invites for closed beta this weekend

might be interesting

bruh what

i got a bill from a medical testing lab for a test they did in... 2020??? literally 1.5 years ago???

kind of want to revive my Hellsite art blog but the last time i posted was like 2020 and my art doesn't look the same anymore and i want to purge the entire thing

lowkey interested in starting a blog for my nail polish but also that's like so much work on top of doing a phd

2021 is cursed, both my grandpas died this year and one of the outdoor strays i was feeding disappeared :(

got a new tablet for black friday, testing it out rn

promise i'm alive i just got destroyed by grad school

oh and some asshole who got into a fender bender with my dad 2 years ago is suing us for emotional/physical damages that have caused him great emotional distress and basically ruined his life even though his car didn't get a dent on it

venom 2 was amazing

POGGY my academic review article got accepted for publication

help it's 4 am and my brain keeps wanting me to contact my ex-best-friend (our friendship blew up in 2019)

basement is flooded from hurricane/tropical storm ida

submitted my first manuscript, can't wait to get absolutely SHIT ON by the reviewers

someone ask me about my favorite fungus so i can ramble about it

thanks to @marpleblarp, @saewulf, and @jasvinfellover for asking about my favorite fungus

it's not one fungus, but the genus Gymnosporangium, also known by the common names of apple-cedar rust and quince rust. what's cool about this particular genus of fungi is that they have 2 sets of hosts - in the spring and summer, it infects rosaceous plants (like apple, juneberry, chokeberry, pear, etc.), while in the fall and winter, it infects junipers.

after overwintering in the junipers, they'll produce these weird jelly-like appendages called telial horns from either from the branch of the juniper itself or from a gall on the branch. they're really cool looking

spores from these telial horns then infect the rosaceous plants. during the late summer/early fall, the infected rosaceous plants will have these bright orange spots on the leaf. the top of the leaf looks fine aside from the orange spots, but the undersides will have these weird reproductive growths (aecia) coming out:

the spores from the aecia will then infect the juniper, starting the cycle all over again.

the unique thing about these fungi is that their spores are this bright cheeto dust orange color. if you collect some aecia from an infected leaf, you'll almost always get the cheeto dust spores on your hands. most spores tend to be brown, black, or white/clear, so these orange spores really stand out.

another cool thing is that Gymnosporangium fungi have multiple sexual spores! most fungi that produce sexual spores will only have 1 type of sexual spore, but true rusts like Gymnosporangium can have up to 4 types sexual spores (aeciospores, teliospores, basidiosporse, and urediniospores). i'm pretty sure Gymnosporangium itself only has 3 out of those 4, in addition to an asexual spore stage.

someone ask me about my favorite fungus so i can ramble about it

there's this one dude that i cannot stand in my lab (because he's ! TOXIC !) and he keeps "making friends" with everyone, probably spreading fake news to all of them. can't wait for the new grad students and undergrads coming in to be corrupted by his lies 🙄

i am now a quarter of a century old

going to the fair on thursday for my birthday 👀

@naiad commented on this post:
OH nice :) I hope you have a good day!
And happy early birthday! Mine is today c:

ohhh happy birthday!!! (unless i'm late, in which case, happy belated birthday)

going to the fair on thursday for my birthday 👀

hi yes im still alive i just have so much going on rn skdjfslkdfjd

don't go to grad school tbh, it's ! TOXIC !