thank you. Literally just thank you for the work that you do because I know sometimes minimum wage doesn’t always pay the bills and isn’t always enough and is certainly way less than you deserve. I’m sorry that you’re on your feet for hours at a time and you have to deal with snotty customers and annoying bosses and people who look down on you because you work in a McDonalds or Taco Bell or wherever. I’m sorry if you’re an adult and people make you feel bad for working at such places at your age but I’m so proud of you for having a job and working so hard.
I promise I will never make you feel bad for getting my order wrong or not giving me the right change or forgetting to put something in my bag. I promise not to snap at you, look at you badly, or get angry if you’re not moving at the extremely fast pace everyone expects you to. I will have a smile on my face when I talk to you and I will appreciate everything you do for the customers. Because even if people don’t realize it, you guys work so fucking hard.
Also thank you to everyone else who works a similar job because I know there are so many of you. I love you.
if anyone ever tells you that english isn’t ridiculous remember that the reason why we have a silent b in debt is because a group of guys got together to standardise english spelling and got to the word debt, which at the time was primarily spelled either ‘dett’ or ‘det’. so they basically went:
‘everyone speaks latin, right? so let’s put a silent b in debt. like debitum, which is latin for debt. problem solved.’
also the reason why there is a h in ghost is because when the printing press first came to england the only people trained to operate it were flemmish speaking, and they put a h after g because that’s what you do in flemmish. they put shit like ghirl and ghoose, but the only reason why ghost stuck is because people saw ‘the holy ghost’ in the bible and were like ‘well, that MUST be right’.
so yeah english is a really stupid language with some of the most ridiculous spelling
white dude in this horror movie : *translates old arabic text* *somehow it rhymes perfectly in english*
Now I really wanna see a horrible faltering translation from one of these movies, like “Whomsoever enters this room, they shall… well, this word is like… literally it means ‘unbecome,’ but it was used as a euphemism for death, pooping, and—wait, when was this carved? was it 15th century? Cuz it was a euphemism for sex too in the 15th century. This is either a cursed crypt, a bathroom, or a royal bedroom. Who wants to roll the dice?”
“You guys, I’ve gotta be honest, okay? This thing’s written in some kind of weird localized dialect, and I’ve only ever studied the standard form of the language. I mean, this part right here…I can’t even tell if it’s some kind of error, or an obscure slang phrase…whatever it is, I have no idea what the fuck it means.”
‘this is written in ancient sumerian. it’s about… uh… well that word is… uh. okay this is either a poem about farming, or straight-up a nasty sex guide. it might be both. i want a shower.’
“okay see the thing is in one dialect this word is the name of a terrifying Demon but in a completely different language from the same area that has the same writing system and gave a lot of loan words to the first, it means ‘horse’ - and the context is really not helping”
“You know what? This thing is bound in human skin and the walls are bleeding let’s just leave.”
I just went to deathtocapslock and I'm reading sistermagpie's ridic reread and I'm boggling at this. "Lupin continues to impress me with how smoothly he polishes up the story dishonestly on the fly. (Seriously, I love Lupin.)... he adds that James pulled Snape back from the tunnel at “great risk to his own life.” Except James is an animagus, as we’ve already learned, and werewolves are only dangerous to people." Is she suggesting that James saved Snape as an Animagus? Wow. The illogic is scary.
If Snape had seen James transform into a stag to save him, I find it very difficult to believe that he wouldn’t have told anyone. He’d certainly have told Dumbledore at the very least. And if Dumbledore had known that James was an Animagus prior to the end of POA (I’m assuming that he had a conversation with Sirius while Harry was unconscious), people would have been a lot more careful come POA to keep Sirius out of Hogwarts, because it was known that James and Sirius were inseperable (though many would still not think to include Peter) and that Sirius was likely one as well. And since we know from POA itself that Snape will drop hints and try to find ways to tell people something about someone he dislikes even if he’s been told to keep that a secret, I find it unlikely that Snape would have never dropped any stag hints to Harry in those first three years if he’d known and Harry didn’t.
The simple fact of the matter is that a certain segment of Snape fans will shit relentlessly on James, jeering at the idea that he matured and changed from his bad teen behaviour and stopped being a bully, preferring to think that Lily was just too gullible and stupid to know James’ true self (or else selfish enough to not care because he’s rich). They sneer at the idea that James spent three years working his ass off to become an Animagus for Remus, because somehow that counts as a selfish act, not a brave compassionate one. They discount that he saved the life of someone he hated because oh, he wasn’t really putting himself at risk, and anyway he didn’t do it for the sake of the person he hated (who he also bullied, did we mention that?), he did it for the sake of someone he liked so it just doesn’t count. And any character who says anything that contradicts that view of James (no matter how well they knew James and the sort of things he’d be likely to do) must be ‘polishing up the story dishonestly on the fly’.
And okay, fine, they’re free to say so. But then they seem really confused and even genuinely hurt as to why people apply those exact arguments to Snape. They’re bewildered that anyone would even dream of pointing out that Snape’s adult behaviour involved bullying others and that there’s not much to admire there, because to some of them Snape wasn’t a bully at all. They can’t get why people aren’t swooning over Snape risking his life to save Harry for Lily’s sake (which suddenly becomes admirable and romantic as fuck) by… sitting on his bum and staring at Harry and his broomstick really really hard while mumbling under his breath, because gosh, such a risk he was taking! His clothes caught on fire, doncha know? Also, Hermione is bad for daring to set said fire in an attempt to save Harry’s life, because she should have somehow assumed that Snape was trying to save the life of a kid he hated and bullied (and continued to bully afterwards). But Snape is totally kosher in thinking that James was in on the attempt to get him killed, because he’d been bullying Snape and continued to do so afterwards.
Most folks know that Fox News is not reliable despite, somehow, being a genuine news broadcaster but I’m always seeing The Daily Mail articles being passed around so keep in mind that TDM is just as bad as Fox News.
When it comes to science news try to avoid general news, they usually either get it completely wrong or are very misleading. Try to find the journal it was originally published in or, at least, somewhere with the abstract. Science Direct, the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and the Wiley Online Library are good databases.
When you see social media screencaps make sure a link is included, if there’s no link try to find the source for yourself and if you can’t find it than don’t put any stock in it. It’s incredibly easy to falsify facebook, twitter, and even tumblr posts.
I’ll admit to being occasionally frustrated with Tumblr’s penchant for taking a myth and running with it. But to be fair, this is hardly exclusive to this website.
All of these tips are sound, I just want to add a few more:
Donation drives for bloggers in need: check to see if (1) the original blog post still exists, it might have been deleted because the OP voluntarily put an end to the drive, (2) the original blog still exists, (3) the original blog is just a couple days old, in which case err on the side of caution and either move along or investigate a little more (even if they give a reason)
Missing person posts: check to see if
the OP gives details such where and when was the person last seen,
what clothes they were/might be wearing, whether they have access to
a car, etc. Contact info for their relatives or Amber Alert
details/police contact info is always a good sign that it is a legit
cry for help. Also check to see if the original post/blog still
exists, the person may already have been found or it may be a fake
post. Double-checking on Google to see if it’s a legit or recent
disappearance may also help Please remember that SOMETIMES ABUSERS
TRACK DOWN THEIR VICTIMS RESORTING TO FAKE MISSING PERSONS POSTS and
that there are people with legitimate reasons to want to not be
found!!!!
Lifehacks: Snopes it before you reblog
– most of them are bullshit or ineffectual. Still, reblogging bogus
lifehacks is not as serious as reblogging fake missing persons posts. Some lifehacks, however, are famously illegal or harmful to a person’s health (eg Oreo mascara)
Rape prevention tips – DO NOT REBLOG.
These are 99% of the time just CLICKBAITING SCARE TACTICS who won’t
save ANYONE from harm and will only result in contributing to a
culture of fear, chiefly among women.
Crime reporting signal boosts – this
includes: letters from a company that is purportedly a front for a
human trafficking operation, needles infected with HIV scattered
around public places, and other chainletter fare. These are most
often than not bogus. In any case, Snopes is your best friend. Check
to see if they give a date or a place for said crimes being committed
– if they don’t, it’s the first sign it might be fake.
Call-out posts with Twitter/Facebook
screengrabs – check to see if they provide a link to said postings.
If not, it might just mean that the person deleted them but BE AWARE
THAT INTERNET TROLLS OFTEN DOCTOR SCREENGRABS to make it look like
other people (usually women) have said hateful things that they NEVER
SAID. They do this to try and get them attacked by social
justice-conscious people.
Please remember that for every bogus
missing persons post, fake donation drive and poorly fundamented
problematic screengrab you reblog, you’re making it a little hard for
people who are actually in need to get the visibility and help that
they need. I don’t blame you for being trusting, but it would be in
everybody’s best interests to exercise some caution in what you
signal boost. <3
ED: someone mentioned this and it’s very much worth adding: also please be warned that the internet is full of assholes, and sometimes if you ask for assistance (especially technical assistance) in some less reputable forums and internet communities you might get people intentionally feeding you bad info that will damage your property, because they’re dickheads who get off on tricking gullible people into breaking their own stuff. Do NOT immerse your iPhone in water or put it in the microwave to “charge” it!!!!
Let’s play a game. Type the following words into your tags box, then post the first automatic tag that comes up. you, also, what, when, why, how, look, because, never
Normal show:
“Save the cheerleader… save the world”
Sense8:
“Save the genius transgender hacktivist girl who has the hottest girlfriend on the show… save the world.”
Normal Show:
Gay Boyfriend: “If you don’t get that skanky champagne soaked slut outta here I’m gonna throw a BITCH FIT! ”
Sense8:
Gay boyfriend: “…Eh, you know I never say no to bubbly.”
Normal Show:
Characters that suck.
Sense8:
SUN.
Normal Show:
*stereotypical portrayal of an Indian father who puts traditions or religion above the happiness of his children*
Sense8:
*An Indian father who cares about nothing but his daughter’s happiness*
*Another Indian father who finds no value in tradition or religion*
Normal show:
Gay guys.
Sense8:
GAY GUYS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS.
No offense but “fifteen” is one of Taylor Swift’s most important songs bc it addressed what it’s actually like to be a 15-year-old girl and looking back on it from an older perspective without being condescending and lets young girls know we’ve all been there and we’ve all survived and it makes me mad that the media ever singled out the line “Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind” as a bad example for young girls because not once did they ever address that line in context and how at 15 getting your heart broken literally does feel like the end of the world and how the line literally right before it was “back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday but I realized some bigger dreams of mine” and I know the media has become a lot nicer towards Taylor but I’m still pissed about all those years they held that one line in fifteen against her and tbh I trust no one bc of it.
My choir director loved to tell this story where she was in Italy singing in an Italian opera, and totally forgot the words, knowing that a horribly mean critic was watching. She just spewed a bunch of random Italian, and at one point ordered a pizza in Italian. The critic commented on her beautiful diction and connection to the text.
That is the most amazing diction substitution I’ve ever heard.
Still, [Junot] Diaz admits that writing in a woman’s voice comes with certain risks. “The one thing about being a dude and writing from a female perspective is that the baseline is, you suck,” he told me. “The baseline is it takes so long for you to work those atrophied muscles—for you to get on parity with what women’s representations of men are. For me, I always want to do better. I wish I had another 10 years to work those muscles so that I can write better women characters. I wring my hands because I know that as a dude, my privilege, my long-term deficiencies work against me in writing women, no matter how hard I try and how talented I am.”
For one of the most lauded writers of his generation to say he needs another decade of practice to write better women is no small thing. But Diaz told me that he’s often appalled by the portrayals of women in celebrated novels.
“I know from my long experience of reading,” he said, “that the women characters that dudes [write] make no fucking sense for the most part. Not only do they make no sense, they’re introduced just for sexual function.”
He gave a high-profile example, though he wouldn’t name names.
“There’s a book that came out recently from a writer I admire enormously. A woman character gets introduced. I said, ‘I promise you, this girl is just here to throw herself at the dude, even though the dude has done nothing, nothing, to merit or warrant a woman throwing herself at him.’ And lo and behold. This brilliant young American writer, that everybody sort of considers the god of American writing, turns around and does exactly that. When I asked my female friends, we all had a little gathering, and I was chatting. I was like, ‘Have you heard of a woman doing this?’ They’re like, ‘Are you fucking nuts?’”
On the other hand, Diaz said, “I think the average woman writes men just exceptionally well.” He cited Anne Enright, Maile Meloy, and Jesmyn Ward as examples of younger writers who write great male characters—and pointed to two of his idols, Jamaica Kincaid and Toni Morrison, as timeless masters. But he also detects an across-the-board improvement even in woman-penned books that are less than high-brow, especially in Young Adult fiction. “Look how well the boys are rendered in The Hunger Games,” he said.
It’s come to my attention that I have not yet made a post
about Farmer’s Market Hot™.
Farmer’s Market Hot is a specific kind of aesthetic that is
the result of me watching Orphan’s Black and trying to describe the hotness of
Cal to others.
See my point?
Farmer’s Market Hot is a wholesome kind of hot. Rugged but approachable.
It’s not the kind of hot where you immediately go, “Oh my god they’re so
perfect, I want to take them home and photograph them/tear their clothes off.” That’s
for later.
This is the kind of hot for people who would visit the farmer’s
market to buy some organic cheeses on their way to pick up their kids from
their Creativity Through Music class. It’s the look that says “I’m here to
support our local beekeepers.” You see them and it makes you want to settle down.
You want to do your taxes with them, raise dogs together.
It’s borderline hipster without the elitism and irony,
borderline country without the sound of Tim McGraw. If they’re white, racist
shit like dreads automatically disqualifies them.
Guys will most likely be stubbly, or bearded, but not to the
point of lumberjack. Think Chris Evans in between Marvel movies.
Pictured: a man who wants to buy artisan bread from a stall
and be polite to the merchants.
Imagine a woman with a sunflower tattoo, wearing a high-low
dress and clunky dependable boots, holding a dog’s leash while she waits at the
knife sharpening booth. Imagine a man wearing flannel and holding a baby while
talking about ethical alternatives to quinoa.
okay, listen…corn flakes are the best cereal b/c they’re driven by some mysterious higher power. like, you eat some and they taste like cardboard and you’re appalled, but the box is right there so you have a few more and maybe it’s not that bad? and then you’re zoned out sort of, watching netflix or reading a book or whatever, and then you realize they’re just the right amount of sweet without being overpowering and that they’re probably the best damn thing you’ve ever put in your mouth, but then you stop eating them for like ten seconds, you gotta go to the bathroom or something, and by the time you come back you have to start the process all over again. corn flakes make you work for it, but that’s part of their charm
I, your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian absolve you from all literary sins and encourage you to go and read what you like on the platform of your choosing.
Never feel guilty for reading fan fic at 3am. Everything is fanfic in the end. From fanfic you were made, to fanfic you shall return.
Read that which has been panned by literary snobs. Read novels churned out by the dozen by authors with a dozen pseudonyms.
Read your US and People. Flip through Popular Science just for the gadgets section. Read articles about the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
Read books outside your comfort zone. Don’t finish them if you don’t want. It’s the book’s fault, not yours.
Read in your comfort zone. Read a YA and romance and science if and fantasy.
Skip over the boring bits. Read it because you heard about it from Oprah or because everyone else is reading it.
Giggle yourself silly at something so poorly written and full of author wish fulfillment that you just can’t stop reading it.
Don’t listen to the keepers of taste and culture. Their reward comes every time they pat themselves on the back for their superior taste.
Don’t listen to the academics that bemoan the downfall of society and learning. They have been doing that since Socrates’ time.
Don’t listen to the tv presenters who insist you are not cultured if you haven’t read from this list of books.
Audio books count as reading. Ebooks count as reading. Fanfic of questionable quality counts as reading. Rereading books for the third time counts as reading. Reading to your child counts as reading. Reading from the back of the cereal box (and doing the puzzle) counts as reading.
TL;DR: read what you want. Don’t be ashamed. Never let someone try to make you feel bad for how or what you read and enjoy. Tell them that I, your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian have absolved you from your guilt and have given you special blessings. Go forth and read, my child.
But still interested in feeding yourself? What if I told you that there’s a woman with a blog who had to feed both herself and her young son…on 10 British pounds ($15/14 Euro) per week?
Let me tell you a thing.
This woman saved my life last year. Actually saved my life. I had a piggy bank full of change and that’s it. Many people in my fandom might remember that dark time as when I had to hock my writing skills in exchange for donations. I cried a lot then.
This is real talk, people: I marked down exactly what I needed to buy, totaled it, counted out that exact change, and then went to three different stores to buy what I needed so I didn’t have to dump a load of change on just one person. I was already embarrassed, but to feel people staring? Utter shame suffused me. The reasons behind that are another post all together.
AgirlcalledJack.com is run by a British woman who was on benefits for years. Things got desperate. She had to find a way to feed herself and her son using just the basics that could be found at the supermarket. But the recipes she came up with are amazing.
You have to consider the differing costs of things between countries, but if you just have three ingredients in your cupboard, this woman will tell you what to do with it. Check what you already have. Chances are you have the basics of a filling meal already.
Bake your own bread. It’s easier than you think. Here’s a list of many recipes, each using some variation of just plain flour, yeast, some oil, maybe water or lemon juice. And kneading bread is therapeutic.
She has a book, but many recipes can be found on her blog for free. She prices her recipes down to the cent, and every year she participates in a project called “Living Below the Line” where she has to live on 1 BP per day of food for five days.
Things improved for me a little, but her website is my go to. I learned how to bake bread (using my crockpot, but that was my own twist), and I have a little cart full of things that saved me back then, just in case I need them again. She gives you the tools to feed yourself, for very little money, and that’s a fabulous feeling.
Tip: Whenever you have a little extra money, buy a 10 dollar/pound/euro giftcard from your discount grocer. Stash it. That’s your super emergency money. Make sure they don’t charge by the month for lack of use, though.
I don’t care if it sounds like an advertisement–you won’t be buying anything from the site. What I DO care about is your mental, emotional, and physical health–and dammit, food’s right in the center of that.
If you don’t need this now, pass it on to someone who does. Pass it on anyway, because do you REALLY know which of the people in your life is in need? Which follower might be staring at their own piggy bank? Trust me: someone out there needs to see this.
i taught the cats to high five for treats, but now nova thinks highfiving will get anything he wants. i just tried to eat some pringles, he tried layin a sick five down, but no these are my fukkin chips cat! i hid my hands to stop him…. and the little fucker climbs on my lap, looks deep into my eyes, and slowly, gingerly, lifts one paw and boops me on the fukkin nose what the fuck even are cats
I swear Fury Road is made up of 90% dramatic/ironic/painful echoes by volume.
For instance, Max and Angharad both fall off of the Rig after rescuing the driver (Angharad using the boltcutters on the harpooned wheel, Max body-checking multiple polecats away from Furiosa).
And both times Capable and Dag try to save them by reaching out from the backseat. They only succeed once.
It occurred to me the other day that Angharad dies in the back of the Gigahorse, where the Organic Mechanic does his impromptu c-section. The same place where Furiosa almost dies but is saved by Max.
one thing though - what the Organic Mechanic does is not a c-section imo. a c-section is a surgery during which the woman/pregnant person is treated as a person/a patient. what the Organic Mechanic did was cut a woman open like breaking open a Christmas cracker to get the goodies inside. He’s treating her as a thing, an incubator whose only worth is to create a male heir.
It’s dismemberment, not surgery.
The reason why I’m pointing this out is that it’s not just that Angharad dies in that palce and Furiosa lives, but that Angharad is treated as a thing by OM whereas Max… revisits his own physical exploitation and being treated as a thing to treat Furiosa with infinite care.
The thing that remains the same btw is that a woman/women are with both Angharad and Furiosa, loving them and grieving them. Miss Giddy holds Angharad as she passes away, always seeing her as a person; the Vuvalini and the sisters comfort/hold Furiosa.
The major difference is the definition of humanity/masculinity the man involved is working from - are you capable of giving life of yourself or do you just take from those who can, ripping it out of them?
The final note is that OM is the man that violated Max’s body, though it’s Max’s choice that makes him different/in community with the women there not merely having been victimized.
AND ANOTHER THING
The 3 people helping Max save Furiosa are the Dag, Capable, and the Vuvalini played by Melita Jurisic. Each of them lost someone they were particularly close to during the final chase–Dag lost Keep, Capable lost Nux, and while I’m arguing Joy Smither’s Vuvalini was ‘Melita’s’ BFF we might, even if headcanon fails, say she’s lost her sisters as a whole (Valkyrie and Maadi, too!). And I’m very into the symbolism and emotional punch of having the people who are grieving most being the ones to keep Furiosa from dying, too.
I really loved that bit about Angharad being treated like a thing but Max revisits his own exploitation. Like you know when Slit throws a lance past Max’s face at the beginning, kinda using him to aim and later Furiosa uses the same side to make that awesome shot? This reminded me of that. But seriously there is so much deep thinking going on and my thoughts are just ‘I wonder if the war pup at the beginning is taking Max’s hair so he can make some kinda cuddly toy for himself’.
Okay but imagine women in Jurassic World like there actually being women soldiers and a woman in Pratt’s role who’s the raptor alpha and action hero and a little girl obsessed with Dinos and her and her sister surviving the island imagine women in movies wow