Reasons Not To Put Image Descriptions Under Readmores

ATLA writers, let’s talk about steel ships and what can go wrong with them

So, I live on a steel boat. It’s pretty cushy for the most part because it has a permanent mooring on a canal (so no currents and no tides), but guys, there are things to consider when you write your Zuko’s crew fics.

In no particular order, bearing in mind that I am not an engineer:

Steel + water = rust; steel + salt water = super fast rust.

Boats like mine are traditionally lifted from the water or put in dry dock to be painted with bitumen every 2 years to prevent that.  And that’s with fresh water and only the occasonal bump against another boat to worry about.

Anywhere water pools on the deck can have a rust issue (we don’t see any drainage holes on that deck with its solid walls.  Let’s pretend they exist.)  Anywhere that can get hit with salt spray can have a rust issue

The deepest pitting (rust pockets) will be around the waterline, places that get both water and oxygen. If one of those gets deep enough it can actually rust through and you are in a world of hurt.

Coal smoke is acidic. That’s also not great for steel.

Chimneys are another place that rust through pretty quickly, which can put you in a world of hurt because smoke kills, and so does carbon monoxide.

The second deepest pitting  on a boat is generally found on the steel close to the chimney.

If water (rain or salt spray) can get in your chimney you’ve just accelerated that process.

Talking of coal fires…

Anywhere you’ve got a source of fire you’ve got problems if it isn’t well ventilated.  Where is the boiler room? Does it have windows? Does it have vents in the door? How do they control air flow to the coal (and hence the temperature of the resulting fire)?

Where you have coal you have ash. Leave ash sitting too long and it will choke your fire. Leave hot ash in a confined space and you have another carbon monoxide problem.

They’re probably having to chuck ash into the ocean like, every day.

Historically there have been chemical carbon monoxide detectors, which is one possible way you might stop your entire crew dying of a deadly undetectable gas – if Zuko has access to it.

Let’s also talk propulsion

The engine is typically the heaviest part of your boat or ship. It’s normally positioned closer to the stern, which as a result will sit lower in the water than the prow.

Fire nation ships use propellors, which we know because Hakoda’s stink & sinks targeted them.  Where the prop shaft exits the ship is another point where water can get in.  There’s a thing called a stern gland which prevents this by forcing grease into the  area where the prop shaft comes through the hull. This minimises the amount of water that can get in.

Minimum water is still not no water though! There will be a wall to contain water that gets in like this, and modern boats have a bilge pump next to the prop shaft to get rid of it.

This is another point particuarly at risk from rust! Break out the paint again.

If the bilge pump breaks and doesn’t get fixed you quickly have big problems (a neighbour actually sank because of this).

Dark paint + steel + sunlight = surfaces too hot to touch.

Also, interior temperatures that are way, way too hot for comfort.

However, the temperature drops rapidly below the waterline. I spend six months of the year wearing thick woolly socks and legwarmers and the other six months wanting to lie on the floor all the time. And I only have a 2 foot draft.

Cold water + hot boat interior = condensation, which represents guess what? – another rust risk!

Talking of bitumen paint? That stuff gives off fumes that stink and aren’t great for human health.

More to follow when I think of it and have time. I’d love to hear from actual ocean goers on this one because that’s the side of things I know absolute zip about.

Who takes Middle-Earth-born Celebrian under their wing and make her feel at home in Valinor, and why is it Finrod?

Before any Finwean family dinner can commence, all seatinging arrangements must be approved by the Councle of Eldest Sons (Maedhros, Fingon, and Finrod). This is a really serious matter of safety. Without them the rate of kinslaying among the Noldor could easily have tripled what it was.

This sword was made by the Elves and will glow blue when orcs are around. Green means it's fully charged, red means it needs a recharge. Blinking red means there's a software update.

i know there are the 5 love languages but what about hate languages

do earthquakes exist in middle earth. do they have tectonic plates

god i hate how aesthetic-obsessed we have become. i'm not talking about cottagecore or dark academia or any of the other -cores, i'm talking about everything being so glossy and pretty and perfect and smooth and one-liner hot takes and feel-good own-the-conservatives progressivism and Top 10 Company Tweets We Laughed At and ring lights and young vloggers with pastel-perfect colour-corrected lives and carefully curated messy title cards and perfect montages being called "photo dumps" and bookstagrams or booktoks or bookblrs who buy every book they read, not a library edition in sight and "that girl" and this is how you age when you're unproblematic and glow ups and "clean" "inclusive" beauty and earth tones and minimalism and filming random people without their consent and definition of the self through consumption of goods and ggrgehwrgehrgehrgehrgehrrerg

Ok but autistic Tolkien elves.

Elves who get so easily overwhelmed by all they can hear and see and sense.  The Lord Elrond teaches them how to focus themselves on the waterfall of Imladris, and a small number of them go to its base every morning and close their eyes and focus in on just the rushing water.  The Lady Galadriel teaches another approach–to climb the tallest tree in the Golden woods and sit in its high branches and watch wordless Arien or Tilion glide through Varda’s silent realm.

Autistic elves who stim with tree bark, tracing its intricacies and seeing how deep they can sense the textures.  Elves stimming in the rivers and teaching the allistic elves how best to move with the water, and Ulmo blessing their dancing because while the allistic may have a connection to the waters, the autistic elves in their hypersensitivity discover new ways of moving that mimic the musics Ulmo still remembers in the Creation of the World.

Autistic elves finding a special kind of kinship with autistic humans and even dwarves, and wanting to help teach them how to be good and kind to themselves.  Autistic elves whose special interests are language or autism itself writing tomes in human languages for doctors on what they’ve found makes them happiest and healthiest throughout the ages.

Autistic elves with special interests in orc and goblin culture helping travelers learn how to spot the signs that they could be walking into a dangerous area and using their knowledge to help keep travelers safe.  

Autistic elves being a deeply positive part of elven society.

Me: why do my intestines hurt?

Me: *remembers that I drank a large milk tea and I'm lactose intolerant*

Me: oh

new headcanon unlocked: Melkor killing by accident one of estë’s rabbits, trying to bring it back to life and accidentally creating a platypus