Humble Bundle 13

A couple months ago, I found out about a sale of all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels in a digital format. Which is something I had wanted for a while. I jumped at that. 

Ever since, I've been getting the emails from the company, Humble Bundle. Mostly they bundle up video games, but they do digital books and comics, too. You get a bunch of media at a great price, and they donate the proceeds to charity. 

Since it is spring break (so I'm on the summer schedule), this is a Thursday 13. Since this is April, well, Humble starts with H... Here are 13 bundles you can get right now from Humble Bundle:

1. The Collected Peanuts: 43 books of Peanuts comics. Pay at least $25. Sale ends April 15th.
2. Valiant Classic Omnibuses: 7 comic omnibuses for at least $18. Sale ends April 27th.
3. Guitars and More for Dummies: 18 books for at least $25. Sale ends April 21st.
4. The Dark Worlds of James Herbert: 17 books, for at least $18. Sale ends April 13th.
5. The Best of Ellen Datlow's Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Anthologies: 29 books for at least $18. Sale ends April 28th.
6. Linux the Good Stuff: 17 books for at least $60. Sale ends April 19th.
7. Strategic Minds Collection: 7 battle games for at least $18. Sale ends April 22nd.
8. Avatar 20th Anniversary Physical RPG Bundle: 6 physical items for at least $49. Sale ends April 24th.
9. Humble Heroines: 6 female-fronted games for at least $18. Sale ends April 15th.
10. Spring 2026 15 for 15: 15 games for at least $15. Sale ends April 15th.
11. Dungeon Master's Adventures, 3D Printable Miniatures & Scenery: 91 item software bundle for at least $25. Sale ends April 20th.
12. The 2026 Certification Bundle: 45 item curriculum bundle for at least $25. Sale ends April 12th.
13. Realer than Reality Scanned Material Bundle: 22 items for at least $30. Sale ends April 20th.

Sometimes they have good stuff, sometimes not. Check out the website and sign up for the emails. You might be surprised at what they have on offer.

Have you ever bought from Humble Bundle before? Jealous of my acquisition of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels? See anything you might be tempted to buy?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Good Blogging Manners

It is spring break. As is my habit for off-times, I go into my "summer schedule" here on the blog. (My subbing stories from last week will appear next week.) Wednesdays are for blogging minutiae. 

Since it is A to Z Challenge time, I thought I'd talk about commenting. Especially commenting as a return visit when someone new visits your blog. It is considered good manners, and most of the bloggers I encounter do engage in the practice. 

But there are times when I fall down on the job. That's when I can't find the blog of the commenter. 

These instructions are for Blogger. At some point I created a reader profile on WordPress, so when I comment there there's also a link. It seems to work... 

If you click on your name after you've commented on a Blogger blog, you'll get your profile page. Under "My Blogs" should be a link to your blog. 

My problems stem from when there is more than one blog listed. And/or that link goes to a blog that hasn't been updated in a long time. Or it goes to a landing page where the blog is not obvious. 

Sure, I could go to the A to Z Master List. Now. But in non-April times, or really now, as I don't have a lot of time to go blog searching, if I can't figure out where the blog is fairly easily, I won't return visit. (And I'll feel guilty for this, but at a certain point it's more trouble than it's worth.) 

If your profile works, there's a big "Edit Profile" button in the upper right hand corner. Making it clear which blog you want return visitors to find makes things so much simpler. 

But what if your profile doesn't work? What if the only way to you can comment is via "Anonymous"? 

(This happens. Sometimes it's a system glitch. Sometimes I can't get the right Google profile to load. And sometimes it's a problem I can't figure out, and who has time to mess with that, especially in April?)

This is where using some HTML in a comment is fine. 

I usually type something like "Liz A. from Laws of Gravity" as a signature. (If you've seen my "Some Basic HTML" post, you know how to do this.) I have this saved on "Notepad" on my Windows desktop so all I have to do is copy/paste if needed. 

And you can do that, too. 

In HTML, my signature looks like:

The highlighted parts are the important HTML that you'll need for your signature. Or:

You can omit the spaces. (I did it that way to make it stand out.) The red is what you'll replace with your information. (Sorry it's an image. I tried to get one of those boxes things that you can copy, but I couldn't make it work. At least, since it's an image, you can click on it to make it bigger.) 

If you add that to the end of all your comments, there's no question where you want return visits to go. 

I've been bad about this, though. I've been trusting that my links work. And they seem to? That's the problem, of course. If the links don't work, that's the blogger who isn't returning the visit. 

So, how about you? Are you getting return visits? Do you put in a blogging signature? Has anyone figured out how to not have to do an anonymous comment? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Fascist State?

Fascism: a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition. 

Last week I covered a world history class, and the above poster was on the wall in the classroom. 

The term fascism has been bandied about a lot as of late with regards to our government. Have we gone full fascism? According to that dictionary definition, no. But, we are headed that way. Especially if those in charge get their way. 

I mean, if you look, you can see all the awful things that are happening: 

• ICE Violence Is Fueled by Misogyny and White Nationalism
• Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly changed content after Trump returned to office
• Donald Trump and the Deconstruction of America
• Wormy Food, Intimidating Guards, Sick Kids: Inside ICE’s Only Family Detention Center
• Worms in food, poor medical care, lights on 24/7: Families tell of life in Texas detention center
• Trump Admin Confirms 91 Wrongful Deportations of Asylum Seekers
• Fear Is the Goal: Trump’s anti-immigration push is backed by intense propaganda for a reason.
• ICE agents seen 'terrorizing' woman and child at SFO, Calif. senator says
• Hiding out with an immigrant family in ICE-occupied Memphis
• Musk Endorsed White Nationalism And the silence is deafening
• Is empathy a sin? Some conservative Christians argue it can be
• Immigrant truck drivers were supposed to get their licenses back. Why California’s DMV is stalling

Enough. For today. There's more, if you look. 

I'm so tired of living in interesting times.

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Eldest Nephew Models His Sweater

It was July in Ohio. I asked my brother, his wife, and their children what they wanted for Christmas. Eldest nephew (after a reminder from his mom) asked for a heavy winter sweater in forest green. Okay, then. 

The last Thursday of the year I do a recap post, "This year in 13 posts", and every year I link to a post of a major knit/crochet project. But that post rarely is more than a post-of-the-week on the in-the-minute of where the project is. So, since April, I might as well let newer visitors get a better idea of the full picture.

I found a pattern on Knitty: When Harry Met Lucy. Heavy winter sweater means cables to me, and cables are easy enough. Cleared with eldest nephew, I ordered the yarn, and waited. 

For new visitors, my brother has five kids. On the blog their names are niece (who is now 24), eldest nephew (who is 20), middle nephew (15), and the twins (who will be 13 on V-day).

I started the project at the end of July. I had hoped to get the back finished by the end of August, but work... (I started the school year in a vacant art class, so I got kinda busy the last couple weeks of August and into September.) 

While I wanted to have the sweater done in time for Christmas, well, nope. I had the front and back done, but I had just started the first sleeve. 

The family came to visit, so I showed eldest nephew where the sweater was. I'm not sure if he was disappointed it wasn't finished as he spent the first couple days of that trip (the day I saw him was his birthday) with a miserable cold. But I had warned him it might not be done in time. 

In February, with one sleeve done and one in progress, I planned to get the thing done in time to mail it along with my brother's birthday gift. (Brother's birthday was the end of March. Last Monday, to be precise.) 

I just barely made it. 

I mailed the package the Thursday before. It arrived ON my brother's birthday. Phew. 

And the main purpose of this post? Would you like to see the sweater ON eldest nephew? 

All done. And delivered. Just in time for spring. 

Now it's time to start the sweater that sister-in-law requested. For last Christmas. Sigh. 

Have you ever gotten a late Christmas gift? (Not March late, necessarily.) Anyone started for this coming Christmas? (Yes, I know it's eight months away.) 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One
• Sleeve Two!
• Continuing Sleeve Two
• Setting a Deadline
• Almost There
• How I Keep Track
• Some Assembly Required
• Missed Winter
• Seamingly On Track
• Just the Collar
• And That's All She Knitted

Duck, Duck, Goose

Duck.

Duck.

GOOSE!

I don't normally post on Saturdays, (and I'm normally not online on Saturdays), but for the A to Z Challenge I check in with a quick picture. So, while planning for D, I thought "duck", because we have dozens of ducks that live in the complex. 

So, I went to take pictures of said ducks last Friday only to find that all the ducks had disappeared. Poof. Gone. 

Considering the timing, I suspect that they're nesting someplace, and in the next week or so, there'll be way more ducks because they'll have ducklings. 

On Sunday while walking the dog, I found a few ducks out and about. Phew. Notice, males. And the pictures aren't great. Usually the fowl creatures are underfoot, but not then. But that's good enough for me. 

Do you see ducks near where you live? Got any critters that are just always underfoot?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

College Orientation

Wednesday. Twelfth grade English. 

I unlocked the door to the classroom, and I walked in to find the teacher there. She was just getting ready to leave. She'd be on campus reading essays (as they do once a quarter). So, while she said I could call if I needed her, it'd be unlikely as counselors and administrators from the nearby Cerritos College would be in class to help the kiddos register for classes. 

I do love a day where outside presenters are there to take over the class. 

First period. As the kiddos were arriving, an entourage of eleven arrived to present. Cerritos College is one of the local community colleges. I'm not sure of details, but the local high schoolers can get reduced (or free) cost tuition if they meet certain qualifications. (Being a local recent grad is the main one.) 

We are at the point in the year where the seniors are just about done. And so, the community college is ready to welcome them. 

In previous classes, they had gone through the application process, and they had done the FAFSA. This day the counselors and such were there to explain things like getting into a program that would give them priority registration and how to register for classes. They made sure they could access the college's student portal and that they had their new student ID numbers. 

Not all of the kiddos are going to go to that college. There are several community colleges in the area. (Off the top of my head, I know of Long Beach, Goldenwest, Fullerton, and Cypress. I just did a Google search, and found something like seventeen.) Some are going to universities (we also have a few of those in the area). Some may be joining the military. Others might already have jobs or apprenticeships lined up. And others might not have any plans yet. 

But, as it is close, and many will go, they found it worked better to just do an orientation for them in their high school. Very convenient, that. 

I wish I had had something like this when I started college. I don't know if the kiddos realize how nice this is for this transition for them. 

It made for an easy day for me. My biggest challenge was staying awake. 

But it was a little bittersweet. I've had many of these kiddos in various classes over the last several years. They're growing up. And they'll be leaving. 

Did you go to college? If your high school had done something like this, would you have been more likely to (if you did not)? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Behaved Well, Actually

While I was happy to work, I kind of was dreading the day. 

Friday. Eighth grade science. 

Science is my jam, but eighth graders... My tag for days with the eighth graders (8RE) is code for "eighth graders are evil". Because they can be. 

And then... 

They went and surprised me. 

The day's assignment was an animal adaptations project. They picked an animal. Then they were to find three adaptations that help the critter survive... 

Student: Can I pick a unicorn?

Me: No mythical creatures, please.

They were to draw a picture. Write about three of the critter's adaptations. Illustrate the critter's closest relative. And they had the whole period to do this. 

And you know what? They actually did the work. 

(Well, mostly. I had a couple kiddos who played more than they worked. But that happens everyday. It would have been weird if I didn't have a couple of those kiddos.) 

There was a good selection of animals picked. They went from axolotls to sharks to sloths to horses. Orson had a meltdown until I calmed him by mentioning different animals he could pick. And most of them finished or nearly finished the project in class. 

Now, can all my days with the eighth graders be like that? Please? 

If you could do a project on a mythical creature, which one would you pick? I think I'd go with a dragon. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...