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deleting files makes me so scared what if i Needed That

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Posting this because I reblogged something about Usborne Books and apparently most people seem to associate Usborne with lift-the-flap books for preschoolers.

Which is weird because to me as a child Usborne books were some of the spookiest books I could get my hands on. They filled the same place as Dorling Kindersley - colorful, creative, informative books that were educational as well as fun to read. And their approach to myths and legends was, not going to lie, very formative for me. If it wasnt' for Usborne, there might not have been ABC.

And much like Dorling Kindersley, Usborne went through a phase of extreme creative experimentation before stagnating into safer forms of publishing. But for a while, Usborne books were mindblowing.

So what has Usborne done then that aren't lift-the-flap books for preschoolers? Well, a lot. Puzzle Adventures. Extreme map and code puzzles. How to Draw Books. Cut-out and build houses, Trojan horses, and dinosaurs (by Luis Rey no less). How to Be A Detective. Nature spotter's guides. Nature Search books. Facts and Lists books that instilled cosmic horror in me years before I knew what cosmic horror was. I could go on forever.

There was a series of excellent myths and legends books which I posted about before.

These were illustrated by Rodney Matthews and were every bit as metal as you'd expect from something by Rodney frickin' Matthews.

Then there were the Quest books which were Where's Waldo-esque books that followed a storyline in a fantasy world.

In this case, they showcased lush art by Nick Harris in which you find various items or characters to make the story progress, as well as other random things (find 10 rats, find 8 clownfishes, etc).

The Tabloid Histories books, oh my gosh.

Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Medieval, etc. history told through tabloid articles and ads.

More about monsters though! There were books about folktales and legends illustrated by Stephen Cartwright.

For me it was my first time hearing of a lot of them, such as the Lambton Worm!

The Haunted World, now that was spooky! With lots of colorful, dripping art by Graham Humphreys.

Introduced me to a lot of ghosts, vampires, and monsters from around the world. Such as the story of Arnold Paole!

And there were maps and diagrams...

... and lindorns [sic] and mokele-mbembes!

The Supernatural Guides had denser text but sadly have not been reprinted anytime recently.

The World of the Unknown series, though... ohohoho those were good.

Of course (no offense to fans of ghosts and UFOs), I had eyes only for the Monsters book. With such gems as the Velue...

... the Lambton Worm...

... and cryptozoological rubbish such as the Monongahela sea serpent (below), the Loch Ness Monster, the Abominable Snowman, and their ilk.

You know, the sort of thing that would keep a 7-year-old fascinated (and perhaps scared under the blankets) for weeks.

Anyway, yeah I just really love Usborne books. Or at least what they used to be.

#!!! that’s SO cool #also that Greek gazette thing looks fascinating #I had a few usborne books as a kid and yeah they were like this they were so fun

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in fics where luke gets plopped into the prequels i want every jedi within ten metres of him to think hes the weirdest jedi theyve ever seen. he has negative lightsaber form. he doesnt know what a kata is. he handstands when he meditates. his solution to sith is to try and have a chat. hes a political radical who keeps suggesting revolution. you ask him what the jedi code is and he says "kindness and compassion and helping those in need :) ". you ask how he used the force like that and he says some shit about how you are a luminous being limited only by your mind. the councils authority is just a suggestion. he is somehow the new favourite of both qui gon and yoda

#I haven’t read any Star Wars fic #and it’s been a solid four years since I watched the movies #but this is funny

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Because folks liked my latest pigeon comic so much, here's another pigeon piece!

I made this a couple years ago for a sadly now defunct publication called Pipe Wrench. I hope this piece helps spread more pigeon love.

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Snoopy's first thought

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I’m so emotional about dinosaur stuffed animals,,, there are these creatures, extinct long before any of us were alive, but we found their bones and their eggs and their footprints. And we made drawings and models of what they could’ve looked like. And we made them into stuffed animals so we could hold them. We made them soft so we could love them. I’m sobbing

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i like the spinosaurus

#:0 whoag #prebby design

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little cretaceous guys + guest appearance of our even older friend the gorgonpsid (triceratops, pteradon, carnotaurus, parasaurolophus, deinonychus, ichthyosaur, gorgonopsid, repenomamus)

#guys!!!! #love themb

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(for the purposes of this poll, there is no monkey's paw situation: the chore you pick stays the same level of difficulty/grossness/etc. as it normally is for you, and you only have to do it as often as you want to. the chores you don't pick are magically done for you exactly the way you'd want them to be, just with zero effort on your part.)

#dishes 100% #I like doing dishes!! #it’s nice it’s chill I can just put on a video essay or podcast #it’s repetitive and soothing and I Like It

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#oh it’s a blue heeler #yeah that checks out #crazy dogs I love them dearly

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Every summer I forget how much I fucking love spiders I’ve drunk one every day this week

#hey #hey australia What

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can you draw scourge 🙏

#warrior cats #scourge #ohohohoho tasty art tasty design #I like that I like that a lot

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"if you're going to eat that rotisserie chicken please do it in an area where none of us can see" you hate me. you hate me because i have different eating habits than you and you want me to STARVE

#I am Afraid #but also intrigued #lowkey wanna try this now

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This is so wholesome

#excellent very good best thing I’ve seen all day #all hail cat dad

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Jaz is the chemistry major so this chart is really just more of a bingo sheet for him

#he’s on a mission to lick every element #nobody can stop him and nobody should #wind’s blorbos

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this Conversation pit is ruining my life

#nah this kinda slaps I’d love that #looks like it would be a pain to clean but #cozy!!!!

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Sometimes adhd is like using a reminder app where you set a reminder to do or remember something but then when you save the reminder it just disappears and you can't see or edit it again until it goes off at a randomly appointed time in the future

#oh yes #and also it goes off Later when you Physically Cannot Do The Thing #it once took me two weeks to do One google search #TWO WEEKS #because by the time I’d go find my phone and unlock it and open the browser #what I wanted to look up was Gone #I would only remember it when I couldn’t immediately check it #torture and torment I eventually resorted to chanting it to myself until I managed to type it in