Honestly, My Favorite Part Of This Post Is How There Are Citations For The Data, But Ea-Nasir Does Not

Honestly, my favorite part of this post is how there are citations for the data, but Ea-Nasir does not need any explanation beyond his name and I immediately knew who OP was talking about.

item: the global population at 2000 BCE has been estimated, with necessarily large (and indeed unquantified) uncertainties, at between 27M and 72M (wikipedia has references)

item: as of 2020 CE, one estimate of the number of tumblr users was ~29M in the US alone (Statista; tumblr does not release its own statistics)

conclusion: it seems entirely plausible, given the migration of Popular Tumblr Posts™ to other social media sites, that more people know about Ea-Nasir today because of tumblr than were alive on the planet during his lifetime

On a more pride themed Tolkien note, I would like to share the fact that Legolas and Gimli wound up such good friends during the events of LotR that Legolas - whose heart was forever longing to travel across the sea from the moment he first laid eyes on it - stayed in Middle-earth until Aragorn died many years after the events of LotR, and then he took Gimli with him when he sailed to Valinor. To quote Tolkien's own words, "Legolas took Gimli Gloin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it."

That last bit referring to the fact that literally no other Dwarf had ever sailed across the sea or ever sailed across the sea again. Just Gimli, who was taken to Valinor by his good pal Legolas, in the boat that Legolas built himself when he was finally ready to depart from Middle-earth and follow his heart's desire. Just two good pals in a boat sailing over the sea together. Two great friends from peoples who were historically Not Friends, leaving behind the mortal world side by side, heading out together in the boat that one of them built by hand for the two of them to travel in.

And anyways I've always kind of loved that Tolkien wrote one of the best romances in literature apparently without even realizing it.

THE FOUR ELEMENTS

Writing up Zuko meta about his character arc has really reminded me just how well written Zuko is.

It has also been serving as a good reminder that myself and/or fandom failing to recognize certain plot beats (foreshadowing, reliable vs. unreliable narration, etc) isn't always an indication that those plot beats aren't there.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Rewatch: The Warriors of Kyoshi—► {Zuko}

Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now, whatever you have to say, I’m sure I can take it. Okay then. We have no idea where he is. What!?

I love them (and need more fancy disguise hijinks in season 2)