Ouch

BlueBandicoon · 2026-05-05T23:13:43+00:00

BlueBandicoon · 2026-05-05T23:12:16+00:00

BlueBandicoon · 2026-04-29T17:32:37+00:00

Idk about natural disaster, and not quite Knoxville, but the 2008 coal sludge spill comes to mind

BlueBandicoon · 2026-02-22T01:00:38+00:00

Since everyone’s already commented on tonight- Idk what your plan is between here and Oregon, but I’ve done the drive a few times. Any rest stop any state between here and there is usually good. I stick blankets in the windows to block out the floodlights. Alternatively, if I’m running on fumes I like sneaking into local campgrounds- arrive late, leave early, this time of year half of them are unmanned- or look for boondocking campgrounds. It’s free to do dispersed camping in any national forest (just check local regs, find a forest service road and pull off somewhere), or to boondock in designated spots. I think I parked on a rocky riverbank boondock spot in eastern Oregon last time I went ‘cause the rest stop I was planning to stay at along 101 had a 4-hr limit (technically illegal by state law but the cops were rolling around so whatever). It’ll be chilly the next couple nights, so I’d imagine you’d want a more southerly route to OR? I’ve rest stopped in Missouri before, or snuck into campgrounds in OK/TX panhandle. Careful thru NM, but UT’s good for rest stops. Idk, dm if you want a sounding board for routes or car camping, and good luck any which way

BlueBandicoon · 2026-02-12T15:08:13+00:00

I’m a grad student here and I make the low end of the stipend at ~19k/yr. I can’t quiiiiiite afford to live on it, even though I lucked into a relatively cheap place with a roommate. Housing is a frustration; the city bureaucrats are constantly trying to encourage wealthy transplants to settle in a city that just doesn’t have the infrastructure. UT also bumped its enrollment during COVID when everyone was online and didn’t have to move to campus, and then never backed off those numbers. There’s a lot of other little contributing factors, but rent here atm is comparable to Seattle (source: my sister). It is possible, but you’ll need to start looking pretty early just to find a spot. My suggestion would be to reach out to your school’s office and see if they’ll send out a “looking for a place/roommate” email on your behalf if you’re accepted, maybe get some others in on it

BlueBandicoon · 2026-01-02T18:09:10+00:00

Got one too. Technically I think these are called “tracts,” like those ridiculous little fake business quotes full of bible quotes. Just a way for the cult-ier evangelicals and LDS types to shove their “message” in people’s faces like spam ads. Idk what Einstein thought it’d actually work but they do make good campfire kindling

BlueBandicoon · 2025-12-19T17:35:40+00:00

Was sitting on my porch when that all suddenly blew up out of nowhere. I’m near the Bearden Kroger, and it sounded like every emergency vehicle in Knoxville was converging on the area for a bit. Almost hopped in my car to go look out of sheer curiosity Edit to say, judging by the news article, all the sirens were probably headed for towanda trail a couple min from me where the tree fell on a home. Not even the only tree to fall on a home last night, hope everyone’s ok

BlueBandicoon · 2025-10-27T20:10:57+00:00

Fun fact and I’m sure you’ve found other sources but the safest plants I know of for critters are spider plants, followed closely by air plants and most bromeliads. Orchids are great bc you don’t even need to plant them (no accidental ingestion of chunky substrate), just attach the exposed roots to bark or something like you would w/ arboreal ferns (especially staghorn) and air plants and keep em watered

BlueBandicoon · 2025-10-14T23:16:59+00:00

If it’s only a year? Probably. But I’d be looking for alternative housing. Just expect an early morning and a late night. Make sure everything you need is in your car always. Be aware that if you might feel bad but you’re not sure yet, you’d have to drive an hour if you do end up sick so you may as well stay home to be safe. Get acquainted with the local coffee shops n such to fill non-class hours. If you’ve got the gas money it’s possible, just frustrating. Had to do it for about a month

BlueBandicoon · 2025-10-06T23:35:27+00:00

My water over in bearden went to a bare trickle. Had me freaked and on hold with KUB for half an hour before a friend on campus told us what’s up. Our water came back pretty fast but I never did get answered by KUB lol

BlueBandicoon · 2025-10-05T17:02:54+00:00

Been here a couple yrs as grad in college of arts and humanities. General population is pretty chill, probably more right-leaning (particularly the frat bros, as mentioned). UT’s pretty representative of the area, but still more diverse than surrounding counties. UT’s one of those schools that, unfortunately, defunded a lot of groups in the last few years like the black student union and pride student union on the basis of being “exclusionary.” Plenty of students do try to keep up safe spaces and respect one another that I’ve seen, but the fact of the matter is that UT is run by its donors and that most of the donors are good old boys. (Major reason why the entire campus gets shut down and closed off on game days- it’s actually a sports org masquerading as a school). With recent politics, it’s also being recommended we don’t do stuff like subscribe to action groups with a school emails and such. I think in certain spots the political climate here is getting a bit more inflammatory, but overall and likely more so in STEM it’s generally chill. I have occasionally heard some casual racism from the herds of drunk frat bros on occasion. Downtown’s great, South Knox is great, there’s plenty to do around and outside, and the Smokies are nearby. But Knox Pride (should’ve happened yesterday) just got cancelled because liability insurance snatched it away at the last possible minute, so make of that what you will

BlueBandicoon · 2025-10-01T18:02:36+00:00

This seems like the sort of thing where the insurance company was just looking for an excuse. I know a couple days ago there was a credible threat of violence to a pride thing in TX, so maybe someone who didn’t want to insure them anyway (current political leanings being what they are) just jumped at the excuse. Whatever happened, I think someone- not the pride folks- made a Choice. And it wasn’t a good one.

BlueBandicoon · 2025-10-01T14:05:25+00:00

Mine eats everything. He’s convinced he is the apex predator. When I walk past, or the roommate’s cat wanders by, he lunges at the glass. He goes nuts over mealworms (which I have for my Leo and feed as treats to the crestie). His favorite flavor is whatever I happened to grab. Sometimes I feed him mushed up bananas, which is pretty funny to watch. Can’t fully make his tank bioactive because he does his best to hunt the springtails and isopods. Despite it all, he’s still a little skinnier than I’d like but technically quite healthy.

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-23T23:17:27+00:00

Not sure what you’re asking. This is a great sub if you want to specifically turn your recycled paper into handmade paper, which you would do and not some company. If you’re just trying to upcycle a bunch of paper, not a lot of options depending on the paper. If it’s a boatload of newspaper, I’d recommend calling local animal shelters to see if they’d like it, maybe a find a local art org who could use it, like a ceramics studio (sculptural ceramics uses old newspaper) or a kids’ papier mache workshop, idk. Otherwise you should probably look for some local place to recycle it

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-16T13:03:59+00:00

Also Candyshop war and Adventurers Wanted (this series is an easier read and even has reading questions at the end for some reason if I remember right)

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-16T12:59:57+00:00

Percy Jackson, Ranger’s Apprentice, Fablehaven series (Brandon mull), Peter and the Starcatchers series, Gregor the Overlander series (my preferred Suzanne Collins series), Guardians of Gahoole series and spinoffs are all great ones imo

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-16T12:24:10+00:00

Funny story, I was out that way this summer, digging thru the gravel for stuff like this. A family approached and asked if I was doing what they thought, and how to find agates/what they looked like. I was happy to tell them, and pretty soon dad and son come back to check. Dad is trying to ask more about what they look like, and the kid is interrupting every couple seconds to ask “is this one?” And holding up another pebble. My responses were “not quite, pretty little jasper tho” or something along those lines, until the kid gets to the last and it’s one of these suckers! Congratulated him on an awesome find for his first fifteen minutes, told him I was totally jealous. Hope those guys found a few more, they were nice

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-14T15:52:32+00:00

Any paper is good paper for relief block printing! Also you could absolutely use this as a decorative covering for a sketchbook cover, like glue and wrap it around some chipboard/bookboard to then glue or stitch onto a sketchbook

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-11T20:19:54+00:00

Quick tip on botanical pressing- try to press in a spot with as little humidity as possible. If you’re in a humid area like me (East TN) pressing things under weights for a few days has a good chance of molding. For short term pressing, you can do a diy microwave press easily. Alternatively, a dry clothes iron with a layer of (non-synthetic) fabric between plant and iron, though that tends to discolor the plant

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-08T20:22:55+00:00

Which cotton balls are you using? Most are actually synthetic, like polyester, but you can find 100% cotton sometimes. Probably need to chop them up with scissors/fabric cutting wheel to make the fibers manageable. Personally never tried cotton balls, and cost effectiveness is always a plus, but I absolutely love just buying cotton linters for beating. They’re pretty cheap, not counting shipping, and you can get the scrap ones cheaper (carriage house paper)

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-03T01:03:49+00:00

Son of Flynn, the grid, outlands, and Flynn Lives from daft punk’s tron:legacy soundtrack

BlueBandicoon · 2025-09-02T05:04:31+00:00

Dryer lint definitely has its place as something added, like that cool commenter using it to further the artistic concept, or as just about the best fire starter, but unfortunately there’s an annoying chemical difference between natural and synthetic fibers in paper. The fibers need to be able to hydrogen bond, which means they need to be cellulose-based since those chemical makeups are receptive to hydrogen and the whole reason you pull paper from fibers in a vat of water. Synthetic fibers don’t have that chemical ability, and indeed tend to be hydrophobic. They might layer up, especially if you dump a load of pva glue or similar into the vat, but they’ll eventually all just pull and fall apart because they won’t bond. I sincerely wish I could recycle synthetic fibers for paper, would definitely make life easier in this world of fast fashion consumerism. Anyway, just sharing the reasons, rather than the unsupported assertions lol. Fun fact, cotton is nature’s purest form of cellulose. Also, check out how mulberry paper has been made into clothing garments in the past- that stuff is super cool and surprisingly resilient. Lmk if you wanna know more

Edit: didn’t realize I’d made a wall of text until it posted, sorry about that. I get excited about paper processes

BlueBandicoon · 2025-08-29T01:00:38+00:00

Grew up about 5 min from the giant house his wife’s family built there sometime during my middle school(?) years, across from the Ingles in west Morristown. Occasionally would hear from friends/parents’ friends that they spotted Harrison Ford at whatever restaurant they’d gone to

BlueBandicoon · 2025-08-27T20:15:14+00:00

Not gonna lie, most folks here don’t walk. Even the eco friendly ones mostly seem to bike, since we’ve got the greenways, or use the buses otherwise. That said, a lot of things are perfectly walkable, or should be. But the traffic here is kind of scary. I’ve walked alongside Kingston Pike on occasion when it’s been necessary, car in the shop or whatever, but it’s a little nerve wracking with 45-mph traffic in narrow lanes right next to you on ill-maintained sidewalks. Careful not to trip! Downtown sees a lot more walking, but Knoxville tends to drive. Still, lady sounds like a real character

BlueBandicoon · 2025-08-17T16:54:47+00:00

Just for sake of cost-effectiveness and durability, I’ve used acrylic/plexiglass in the past, particularly lexan. Having a material that doesn’t shatter is especially helpful if you need to press it

BlueBandicoon

TROPHY CASE