runetarot

[runetarot]

[runetarot]

KNUCK-TAT GENERATOR

Use your birthday to figure out your own personal knuckle tattoos!

January: DRUG February: HATE March: DICK April: REAL May: DIRT June: THUG July: CASH August: GIRL September: FIST October: SHIT November: BUTT December: KILL 1st: CITY 2nd: RIOT 3rd: FACE 4th: FEAR 5th: GRIN 6th: WOLF 7th: PISS 8th: RASH 9th: DOGS 10th: TITS 11th: LUBE 12th: SAND 13th: FIRE 14th: KIDS 15th: BIRD 16th: NERD 17th: BOYS 18th: MOMS 19th: DADS 20th: VEIN 21st: WURM 22nd: FART 23rd: TRAP 24th: MOAN 25th: HOLE 26th: KING 27th: FUCK 28th: EYES 29th: LIFE 30th: LOVE 31st: STAB

[runetarot]

🎉commissions are open!

i’m moving house soon, so i thought it’s probably about time to open commissions since we urgently need cash! slots are unlimited and will be for the foreseeable future! 

✍️rules

➤my commissions are paid via paypal only! i will send you an invoice when it comes time to pay for your commission. ➤what i will draw: original characters, ships, animals, anthro, fandom, light gore, partial nudity ➤what i won’t draw: hard nsfw, extreme gore, mechs, underage ships ➤payment is upfront or half and half! you may choose to pay me the full commission price upfront, or you can choose to pay half before i begin and the rest of it once i’m finished.  ➤ prices are in GBP. if you’d like a conversion to your local currency it can be given upon request!

💌contact me

my contact email is heypilots@gmail.com, or if you’d prefer you can send me an IM here on tumblr or on twitter at plainpilots!  

if you’d like to support me some other way, reblogs are a good way to do that! i also have a ko-fi, tips aren’t necessary but much appreciated! thankyou!

[runetarot]

hey tumblr! i move out of home for the first time next month to go to uni. unfortunately it’s likely that im gonna have to leave my job as i havent been able to transfer and im moving around 2 and a half hours away in the opposite direction of where i work. this means i dont have enough money to pay rent and live until saas comes in which is why im opening commissions! even if you can’t afford to commission me reblogs/sharing this around is greatly appreciated <3

[runetarot]

pike on the island of renewal ☀️✌️

[runetarot]

I'll just add on what I've learned since moving out: - Absolutely slowly grow your spice cupboard, but pay close attention to which ones you use the most. When you go to restock, do not buy the little spice jars you get in stores! Buy your spices online in bulk - it's way cheaper, and it'll last you longer too. Plus, it makes it easier to measure out a tablespoon of whatever you're trying to use, because those jars are impossible to work with - the bulk spices come in bags so you can store them in containers of your choice! If you live in the UK, shop at Lidl or Aldi. Lose any 'ohh but it's not good quality' notions you might have. Seriously. Lidl is love, lidl is life. The food there is just as good (sometimes better) as anything you'll get from tesco, asda and sainsburys, and it's way cheaper. Buy your pasta and rice in bulk from here, it's like less than 60p for a bag of 500g, I'm sure. Flour is also extremely affordable, along with other baking essentials. If you live somewhere with a farmer's market, check it out sometime. The fruit and veg might be cheaper than what you'll get in stores, and if it isn't, you can still talk to the folks running the stalls to get an idea of when certain things are in season. Plus, you might even be lucky and get free samples! And everyone likes free samples.

How to Eat Healthy When Money’s Hard to Come By

For quite a while, I was on food stamps/SNAP. I also have several chronic health conditions that, if I didn’t eat an extremely healthy diet, I probably wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. 

This forced me to do some problem solving. How could I eat healthy, stay full, and enjoy the food I ate while spending less than $180 a month? Whole Foods was the only accessible grocery store–not a cheap place! I’m also gluten intolerant, so I can’t rely on affordable staple wheat products. All additional dilemmas.

I was able to do it (at least darn close to it each month!).

Here’s how: 

Look up inexpensive recipes! Here’s one of my favorite websites.  This tumblr is great for easy recipes too 

Pick three recipes every week and double them, then put them in the fridge and put the portion you need in a pot or microwaveable bowl to warm up when it’s meal time! This also saves time and energy (as someone with three disabilities and running two businesses, this was crucial.)

For these three recipes, I’d recommend making one pasta dish, one rice-based dish, and one vegetable based dish (stew, salad, soup, etc). Rice and pasta are affordable staple foods that are easy to make many diverse recipes with. (Brown rice, btw, is healthier but a tad more expensive.)

When shopping, aim to have 80-90% of the food as produce (veggies, fruits) or canned ingredients (like canned beans). This is a win-win intention: you increase health and decrease grocery cost (fresh food is, actually, quite inexpensive.)

Don’t hesitate to buy frozen veggies and fruit. Really the only time you need fresh is when you’re not cooking it at all. Most cooked dishes work just fine if you use frozen food. It’s cheaper and often pre-chopped too! 

Look for the cheapest version of the food you’re buying and make logical substitutes. For instance, most stores sell bagged yellow onions (about 5-6 of them) for less than $2. If a recipe called for Vidalia onions, I’d just buy these instead of spending $4 bagging the same amount of the specific type. I’ll even swap out red onions for white bagged onions! It barely makes a difference (not enough to matter when budgets are tight).

Skip dessert foods. For a while, I went without treating myself at all because I couldn’t afford to, but a cheap dessert option is frozen fruit and almond milk smoothies! Explore inexpensive desserts when you do feel a need to treat yourself (like batches of cookies, bulk candy, etc).

Go to the store with a shopping list. Plan your recipes ahead of time and buy only what you need. Impulse buying or not having a clear idea of what to make are two of the greatest cost-inducing activities. 

Bean-based meals are a great staple! Two cans of beans (about $1.50-2) can make a delicious and filling chili, rice and beans dish, etc. Dried beans are even cheaper than canned ones. 

Make sure to eat breakfast! It’s crucial for health, but it will also help prevent overeating or persistent hunger later in the day that can make your meals not last as long. 

When preparing foods, take the cut ends of carrots, onions, celery, parsley stems, leeks, scallions, and similar veggies and keep them in a freezer bag. When the gallon bag is full, add about 16-20 cups of water to it, some spices (salt, pepper, basil, oregano, garlic powder) and boil for around two hours. Strain the liquid and you’ve made like three quarts of veggie broth! This is totally free (you just save your kitchen scraps). Typically, one quart costs $3-4. This saves a TON of money. (To do this, you need at least carrots, onions, and celery scraps–these are an essential broth base.)

Focus on cooking, not baking. Baking can be pretty costly, but cooking is much cheaper. 

Buy store brand items. For instance, Whole Foods canned beans are like 99 cents, but another brand is like $2-3. The little costs add up when it comes to food. 

Plan in-season recipes. Produce is often cheapest when it’s in season. Also, if you like a particular food, try hitting the sales right after it goes out of season (I love oranges, and April-May is when all the ones produced and stored during winter start to go bad so the stores sell them really fast, for like 25 cents an orange.) Buying on-sale fruit can be a great dessert substitute. 

Cut down on meat consumption. Medically, I can’t be vegan/vegetarian, but limiting meat has been really helpful! For instance, if a stew calls for meat and I’m doubling the recipe, I won’t double the meat. It saves a ton on cost, is still super filling, and is better for our own bodies and the environment too! Think of meat as a side component, more for flavor, than the bulk of what you eat. You can also buy meat on sale and freeze it for up to six months.

Slowly invest in spices. When you purchase spices, they can seem expensive, but they last a really really long time. They will also help you make every recipe absolutely delicious! 

If you’re making a meal that requires a specific less-common spice mix (i.e. Garam Masala), try seeing if you have spices that can make a substitute. I do this a lot, by just looking up substitute spices on google and making a very similar spice mix. It works in a pinch (no pun intended). 

Bookmark recipes based on cost. If you had a low cost grocery shopping week, save those recipes in a low cost folder! 

Grocery shop every week (this makes sure the fresh and affordable produce you buy doesn’t go bad!).

Whenever possible, don’t buy pre-prepared things. It’s always cheaper to do the work yourself (like using dried beans, cutting heads of lettuce yourself, etc.).

If you haven’t usually eaten a produce/veggie heavy diet, it may take you a couple weeks of feeling a bit like you haven’t eaten enough (not real hunger, but like a strange almost hunger). This will subside after a couple weeks, since fresh food actually fills our stomachs up the best! 

These are tips based on living alone and being able to cook, for reference. Hopefully they can be adapted to be more accessible. 

Best wishes with this! 

Please share and feel free to add on your tips too. 

[runetarot]

ok tumblr, you seem interested in political activism, so we’re going to have a little lesson in administrative law and how you can force the Trump administration to listen to you for the next four years. 

To condense a semester-long law school course into a blog post: Congress delegates significant quasi-legislative power to administrative agencies, e.g. the EPA. These agencies have a great deal of power to shape your everyday life, but our system of civics education is so abysmal that, chances are, you have no idea what kind of power you hold to shape their decisions.

Administrative agencies have to navigate a maze of laws and procedures in order for the rules they make to be effective and binding. These laws and procedures mean that there plenty of ways the agencies can mess up, and when they do, opponents of a rule can bring legal challenges and invalidate it. (This is frustrating for agencies, but delightfully fun for antagonistic nerds like me.)

When an agency wants to create an informal rule, it has to go through a process called “notice and comment.” Basically, the agency announces a proposed rule and permits the public to submit comments on it. The public includes you. 

When the comment period is over, the agency has to take the comments into account and justify its ultimate decision on the proposed rule in light of the comments. If you submit substantive, meaningful comments that challenge the policy or evidence behind a rule, and the agency fails to acknowledge them and explain its reasoning for its final decision, the rule can be challenged and invalidated.

So how do you comment on proposed rules? This lovely little site called regulations.gov. Really, it’s that easy! You can search for topics that interest you and submit your comments online. And you can do it anonymously! 

So please, check the website frequently and comment when it matters to you, so that your voice can be heard and Trump’s agencies have to acknowledge your perspective. If they fail to take your comments into consideration and disregard the American people, they’ll have to answer for it in court.

Keep calling your representatives and senators about Bannon and the policy issues that concern you, but remember this little lesson in admin law when he takes office.

[runetarot]

“Don’t call it a comeback; I’ve been here for years.”

#BillBillBill

[runetarot]

An Important Note on the Environment, Science, Education, and the 2016 USA Election

We have work to do. This election could mean disaster for our country and the entire world, in terms of climate change and the environment, as well as scientific literacy. And this needs to be treated with the same importance as any social justice issue. 

Why are scientific research and environmental protectionism important?

We all have heard that the environment is important. But why? Well, there are a few reasons.

One such reason is that, as one of the most influential organisms in Earth’s history with a sense of introspection and ethics, we have a responsibility to the world around to to not destroy it. Sadly, we already are. According to (Ceballos et al., 2015), we are currently experiencing rates of vertebrate extinction up to 100 times more than expected background rates. 

(Figure 1, from Ceballos et al., 2015. Rates of extinction in vertebrate groups compared to normal background extinction rates. (A) Highly conservative estimate (B) Conservative estimate.)

Note in Fig. 1 that even between the conservative and very conservative estimates, the rate of extinction of most groups are doubled. If we hope to preserve species and keep ecosystems in place, we must act now.

“So what,” you say. “Who cares if some dumb animals and plants die? I’ve never seen them and never would, so why should I care if they go extinct?” Well, if ego/anthropocentrism is your thing, I have you covered. We are quickly approaching the climate point of no return. At a 2°C change in climate, humanity is at a critical point. Sea levels begin to change to such a degree that many cities will become submerged in water. Hurricanes will become more intense. In fact, 2015 had the second most intense hurricane in recorded human history, the category 5 Patricia. It was on the upper end of possible hurricane intensity on earth, and huge hurricanes are becoming more likely. Global warming is changing the game, in terms of natural disasters. And the people most likely to be affected are those without the money to adjust and change their lifestyle in response to it.

This ties in with the absolute need for scientific research. It is imperative that we continue to promote science in all forms, especially in the face of a looming threat such as global climate change. We would have no idea of the climate change threat without science, nor would we understand a wealth of other issues without it. It is vital to the continued wellbeing of humanity as a whole to promote science and support scientists.

Why are scientific research and environmental protectionism now in danger?

So first, we gotta do a rundown of how the United States government is supposed to work, especially with regards to lawmaking and funding decisions.

There are three branches to the government: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches. These branches each have different powers available to them in order to create laws that govern on a federal (nationwide) level. The executive branch consists of the president and their cabinet (heads of various national departments that report to the president). The legislative branch, also called congress, consists of the House of Representatives (who represents each state based on population: each representative accounts for about 700,000 people [Walberg stat]) and the Senate (which represent each state based on being a state: there are two senators for every state in the union). The judicial branch on the national level is made up of the Supreme Court (nine judges, who are chosen by the President and voted on by the Senate when there’s a vacancy in the court either by death or retirement), with federal courts and judges within areas of the United States that trickle down and handle more local legal issues.

Essentially, the ways in which the branches interact with each other are supposed to check and balance each other, in order to make sure that one part of the branch doesn’t completely dominate the dialogue of politics in the United States. The legislative branch is what births bill proposals for the President to sign off on, the President’s cabinet informs the President on how well-guided (or flawed) the bill may be, and the judicial branch determines whether the bill is constitutional or not through either direct checks as bills pass into law, or through people breaking law and arguing that a law is unconstitutional. In a relatively perfect world, these balances would be enough to keep the government in check from totally controlling the citizens of the nation. However, this isn’t always the case, and is definitely reason for concern with this election.

Currently, the majority parties in the House of Representatives and the Senate are Republican. [House stats Senate stats] This means that in House-wide votes (where bills either pass or fail their first vote), the majority is going to be biased towards whatever the Republicans vote for. This follows through with bills that make it to the Senate. And, with the Supreme Court judges currently in a bipartisan equilibrium that will likely be tilted by whoever Trump picks to be the new justice, Republican party values will be at the forefront of what will be upheld in the lawmaking system.

Now, while it’s nice and optimistic to believe that, regardless of party majority, there will be non-partisanship in practice, it’s not usually what has happened in the past 40 or so years. Political polarization has been steadily increasing both in and out of congress, and an analysis done by Pew Research in 2014 has shown that 2014’s congress was the most polarized it had been. And while not all that the Republicans do is purely evil, the fact that issues like climate change and education are not among their major concerns (link to the Speaker for the House’s site for the current Republican platform) and that they push current climate change science to the side as scare tactics (link to the Republican platform on agriculture, energy, and the environment) does not bode well for Congress actually passing legislation that will help our current climate situation. And given that the Senate cut NASA out of the NSF budget earlier this year, we’re going to be facing a world of potential hurt with what many are calling an anti-science president.

On top of this, Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to make huge cuts to the Department of Education and, if possible, eliminate the department all together. Although it is safe to say that hardly anyone knows what his education policy is actually made of, the potential for Betsy DeVos to be head of the Department of Education is frightening, considering that her version of “fixing education” involves promoting private schooling that doesn’t have to follow national convention and can teach both historical and scientific inaccuracy without any real repercussions.

In essence, the political climate we have created is fueled by and promotes an anti-science sentiment, in funding, action, and education.

So what can we do?

First things first: Donate to charity, or volunteer for charities. I’ve seen a lot of charity posts going around to try and keep civil rights and social justice causes going even during the Republican takeover. This is great - but we need to keep the environment and science in mind too. Some great charities to donate too include

Environmental Defense Fund: https://www.edf.org/ This charity got a 94.48 rating (out of a hundred) on Charitynavigator.org. It was extremely accountable, spending 79.1% of its donations on the programs and services it delivers, and 10% of the rest was used to grow the program. It spends most of its time working to help the climate and to fund renewable resources, with other major sources of funding being ocean preservation and land ecosystem preservation. It wants to try and make global carbon emissions fall by 2020, and wants to promote food security that will help feed the world in a sustainable manner.

National Center for Science Education: https://ncse.com/ This one didn’t get as high of a score but still a ridiculously high one: 88.51. It spent most of its money on the programs it supports (74.2%) and a good chunk of the rest on administrative expenses. Most of its programs are in public information, teaching people about evolution, climate change, and other scientific concepts. They also support science teacher and pairs scientists with teachers to collaborate within the classroom itself. They also do outreach to students and promote scientific communication.

Union of Concerned Scientists: http://www.ucsusa.org/ This got an 88.49 on Charitynavigator. It spends most of its money on program expenses, like the others (78.4%) with the second biggest group being administrative expenses. Most of its programs are focused on climate and energy sustainability programs much like the Environmental Defense Fund, with other major programs being engaging scientists with the public to increase scientific literacy in the voting process (which is something we desperately need, I’d say). They also work hard on cleaner vehicles.

Southern Environmental Law Center: https://www.southernenvironment.org This got 100.00 on Charitynavigator due to their financial accountability and transparency. They work specifically for the Southeast and its environmental concerns but it still does a lot of great work. They’re fighting against hydraulic fracking projects in southern states as well as oil pipelines which are set to disturb much of the environment, and these states are likely to discourage against use of cleaner energy sources.

Environmental Law and Policy Center: http://elpc.org/ Another high scorer with a 98.41 on CharityNavigator. It works in the Midwest (as opposed to the South), turning the region into a center for solutions especially about climate change and pollution. One of its biggest goals is working on clean energy, which leads to both job creation as well as elimination of major pollution sources. Most of its projects involve making transportation in general cleaner.

Environmental and Energy Study Institute: http://www.eesi.org/ This one received a 94.24 on CharityNavigator. Once again, most of its work is in energy and climate change programs, as well as green buildings and sustainable biomass programs. It’s also focused on developing the economy along with better environmental practices, and to emphasize the true cost of utilizing fossil fuels as energy resources.

E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation: https://eowilsonfoundation.org This is a smaller charity (less than 1million USD in revenue) so it doesn’t have a rating, but it still does extensive work. Specifically, it works hard in biodiversity research and education on biodiversity in order to promote its preservation and formation. This connects both environmentalism and an understanding of evolution, two of the areas in which our country is lacking thanks to scientific illiteracy. They aim to track the majority of the Earth’s biodiversity and populations and look deeper into target areas of conservation.

World Wildlife Fund: http://www.worldwildlife.org/ I have some issues with this charity, especially in its focus on “cute” or “charismatic” animals rather than things such as keystone species (which will have more of an impact when they go extinct due to their focal point within an ecosystem). However, these are dark times, and anyone working towards this goal must be acknowledged. They do have a fairly decent score on CharityNavigator, an 86.04, and they spend most of their funds (74.2%) on their programs, with most of the rest going towards fundraising. It works on a lot of projects involved in preserving the climate, sustainable food, preserving forests, providing fresh water, protecting the oceans, and supporting scientific research.

Carnegie Institution for Science: https://carnegiescience.edu/ This charity got a good score on CharityNavigator, 95.34. Most of its funds were used on its programs, 84.8% thereof, with much of the rest used on administrative expenses. Carnegie focuses on funding research in botany, developmental biology, earth sciences, planetary sciences, astronomy, and ecology, answering questions about how our universe and planet formed. Its grants help to kickstart research and promote the gathering of new knowledge in these fields, which then further helps to understand our environment and how to preserve it. A major source of funding that is necessary to aid, now that other sources of funding may dry up.

Jurassic Foundation: http://jurassicfoundation.org/ This charity isn’t rated on CharityNavigator becuase it is primarily privately funded, however I am in direct contact with the organizers of the charity and they’re hoping to significantly grow (and will take public donations). The Jurassic Foundation works to fund research in Mesozoic-age Dinosaurs (so no Cenozoic birds) but the research actually extends beyond that. Many questions that they seek to answer about dinosaurs often require modern animal analogues, and these questions haven’t been asked about them either - much of this research has lead to, say, research on the limb position of mammals, or sensory organs of crocodilians. In addition, the extensive work in the anatomy of extinct animals does translate to modern ones, including humans. Furthermore, the increased understanding of how life has adapted to climate change in the past will aid in understanding how life will adapt to current climate change. In addition, this is a global charity - much of the scientific grants go to economically developing nations. So, it’s a smaller charity, but still an important one.

Second off - Citizen Science! You can help participate in scientific research and expand the ability of research projects to cover more ground and gather more data. Seriously. It is not hard to do scientific research - especially a lot of the naturalistic work that will be majorly impacted by the decrease in funding, but is exceptionally necessary in the face of climate change. There are plenty of projects to help with and investigate listed here: http://www.citizensciencealliance.org/ And in addition, you can suggest your own scientific projects which require help. A particularly good avenue is iNaturalist, http://www.inaturalist.org/, which helps to collect observations about the natural world between non-scientists who are just observing and scientists who require the data.

Third off - CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES. I’m serious. You have to phone them, you have to call them, and you have to tell them why scientific research and environmental preservation is important - nay - why it should be a top priority for legislation. They won’t respond to tweets, they won’t respond to emails, they probably won’t respond to letters. You have to call. We all have to call, as much as humanly possible. You can find information about how to contact your local representative by looking into your state government websites. There is a lot of work to do on this front.

Fourth off - Don’t leave out the environment from your activism. Mention it in tumblr posts. Talk about it on facebook. Emphasize its importance and effects on all of us - and worse effects on those who are without monetary privilege - while you protest and attend town hall meetings. Become involved in the political process and look up the environmental policies of the people you’re voting for, and be sure to make your voice heard. The point of activism is to give a voice to the voiceless; no one in our society is more voiceless than our planet.

Fifth Off - Make your life as green as possible. I know, this is what people shout at you all the time - and to be honest, most of the environmental problems are caused by wide-scale governmental policy and lack of conservationist practices in big businesses. But that doesn’t mean you can avoid doing your part. Have as energy efficient of a car as possible. Try to buy used cars, and have as few of them as possible (if you can stick to public transit and/or walking and bicycling, do it.) Switch to Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs instead of Incandescent Bulbs. Take shorter showers, and use less water while doing most of your day to day activities. If you have a lawn, don’t fucking water it. I don’t care about your neighbors. Try to switch your grass, if you’re financially able, to plant life native to your region. Buy local produce (GMOs aren’t actually bad for you. I could expound on that but just trust me, you don’t need to buy organic. Buy local). Get a water bottle with a filter and use it for your water; don’t buy plastic water bottles. Recycle everything you can, and compost if possible. Don’t use styrofoam, it’s difficult to recycle and it can’t really be made into new materials. Use a microwave instead of the stove whenever possible, given the oven generates more CO2. Get recycled tissue paper (rather than fresh paper). Choose the lowest setting on your washing machine. Use as little electricity as you can - unplug your TV and electronics when you’re not using them. Use less heat this winter - bundle up instead. I can go on, and on, and on.

Sixth Off - Do not be silent. Promote scientific literacy wherever you can. Don’t shout at people for ignorance or not understanding how science works. Talk to the people in your family who don’t understand it. Have discussions. Remember: science is a process, not an ideology. It is simply coming up with an idea, and then testing that idea - and then continuing to test it. If data comes up which disproves the hypothesis, you throw it out or modify it. If you never find such data, then you keep developing your hypothesis. A theory is a hypothesis with so much data behind it that it is highly unlikely to be disproven. Human-made climate change is a theory. Evolution is a theory. Gravity is a theory. The fact that vaccines don’t cause autism is a theory. These are all well supported, well substantiated ideas. They are not things you get to pick and chose to believe in. They just are, and whether or not you chose to accept them as truth depends on your ability to deal with reality. Emphasize this. Emphasize this until the cows come home. Young Earth Creationism isn’t valid because it isn’t what happened. You simply don’t get to believe in it, because it isn’t true. Same goes for denying climate change. We have to change our language and rhetoric. It isn’t a belief - it’s knowledge in the truth.

We have work to do. We have to teach people that science isn’t the enemy. That it’s rigorous. That it isn’t being funded by some sort of business or industry - that it just exists on its own. It simply tells what it knows, and we have to be the ones to deal with that knowledge. A better way to test our understanding of the world and sort our understanding of the world is necessary. Ignorance is not a virtue.

We have to stop ignorance in all its forms. This includes science.

Let’s get to work.

~ Meig, @bruh-i-nevre-seen-a-cooler-dino, and @verybadpaleontologyjokes

Please reblog this to spread it around. Thank you.

[runetarot]

hey kids we’re living in a fascist regime

[runetarot]

I want you to do something for me in 2017.

Maybe knock it off with the constant self-deprecation.  It’s become a pretty pervasive meme and it’s the worst one we have going because it’s just so insidious in how destructive it is.

It’s good to be realistic about yourself and the things you like and a little self-deprecation can be a funny way to keep yourself grounded, but if you make it a habit, all you’re doing is externalising the voice that says you’re not good enough, that you can’t do and achieve what you want.

Every time you say “I’m trash” or “I’m such a loser” or anything like that, it becomes a little less of a joke and is more just you saying it.  Instead, you should be positive about yourself.  Take some time to appreciate the good things about yourself, accept that you can do better where you fall short, and be earnest about the things and people you love.

I probably don’t know you, but you definitely deserve better than to be your own worst enemy.

[runetarot]

IT FIRST DECMEB MERRU CRIM

[runetarot]

How Best To Harass Your Local Civil Servant

Since @beesmygod​​ has been posting a lot about bothering your local elected representative, I thought I should help a little as someone who understands government work. I live & work outside of the US, but I suspect this is applicable to many local & state/provincial governments.

ALWAYS REQUEST A CALLBACK

If you want someone to actually look at your issue, to do more than write “Feedback noted” in a complaint system resolution field, ask for a callback. Demand a callback. You can ask for an email too, but I will be blunt: the effort that is put into returning an email is less than half of the effort you force me to put in when I call someone back.

Pick a phone number you will be reached at during 9-5 hours (b/c that’s when government workers do their callbacks). Calls are what I recommend simply because a call requires that person to put more effort into addressing your complaint even before they pick up the phone. They have to do more than send a pre-written email template to brush you off, and it allows you to actively engage back with them rather than starting from square one when you send a return email and end up in the system at the bottom of the queue again.

If you go with an email, pick an email address that you check regularly. You can even make a professional looking email address for your complaints, which is guaranteed to get better answers than if you ask someone to email xxbigdaddysephirothxx@gmail.com

When you make your complaint, ask what the time you can expect to wait is, and if you don’t hear back by that length of time, call back and raise hell over it. If there is a ticket system of some kind for tracking complaints (and there usually is when we’re talking government work and accountability), ask for your ticket number. Keep it on hand. Keep all of your numbers on hand.

Be prepared for a callback. Have your feedback/goals already written down somewhere you can easily pull up on the fly so you don’t get caught flatfooted. Don’t get sidetracked. Stay on point and have a clear end goal - you want to see your local representative support a specific bill, you want them to issue a statement on a subject.

Get a name. Get a phone number you can call them back at. Make them accountable for anything they say or promise.

DO NOT USE ABUSIVE LANGUAGE. DO NOT MAKE THREATS OF VIOLENCE. If you use abusive language, I don’t have to engage with you. In fact, if what you write is vile enough, I can refuse to answer future complaints from you. So be passionate, be angry, be uncompromising, but keep that language clean and keep it clear of threats. I can’t do anything to get rid of someone who is pissed but does not cross the line.

I answer a lot of dumb complaints in my particular field. After a while, it gets easy to start tuning complaints out and assuming that people are just mad for no good reason. Callbacks force me to engage. They force me to look into a problem before I call someone back - to actually investigate instead of assuming. It’s harder to tune someone out when you’re holding me accountable.

[runetarot]

Hey Roach, I want to follow the ideas you put forth of showing love and compassion in the face of Trump supporters (in order to help change hearts and minds, as another user put it). But I also want to hold said supporters accountable for their actions-- like you said, have the convo of how badly they fucked up. Do you have any advice for how to do both? Thanks

well, first off, i would not bother loving them. i think theyre dipshits at best and dangerous assholes on average and thoroughly contemptible murderous dickwads at worst. basing my treatment towards them on personal emotion would be pointless. i only have negative emotions towards them. i cant love people who hate me and im not going to try.dont follow your emotions in how you handle people. follow practicallity. be thoughtful and disciplined. it wont accomplish anything but making these fearful jackassea more convinced theyre right in trying to kill us if we scream and attack them. they kind of win if we do that– at the very least, we lose.

compassion CAN NOT rely on whether or not you like people. you are human. you will dislike people. you will be right to dislike people. instead practice it as a form of disarmament, of reparation, of redirection.

it’s like this: you can hate a bomb. but you’re dead if you run up and hit it with a rock. you dismantle it. you can hate a sword but you’d be smarter cutting the wielder off at the wrist then locking edges with them. you can hate hategroups but what takes them apart is getting the members to calm the hell down and grow the fuck up, not giving them a chance to play holy war. and for some reason, with people, patient nonviolent engagement to the tune of ‘look, asshole, i am just as human as you and you have no good reason to be an asshole’ is what works.

compassion is not aquiescing to a fight if you do it right. it’s not surrender. it is the best way to win.

[runetarot]

THERE IS A PETITION TO STOP THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE FROM VOTING FOR TRUMP

For those of you who don’t know, the Electoral College has the final say in December. It’s only happened once or twice, but sometimes they vote against a candidate who’s already “won”. Candidates can win the popular election and still lose the electoral college’s election. THIS IS OUR LAST SLIVER OF A CHANCE TO KEEP BUTT TRUMPET OUT OF OFFICE!

There’s been multitudes of posts going around, talking about fighting back, never giving up, doing what’s right.

ITS TIME TO WALK THE WALK:

https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19?recruiter=2107322&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-no_msg

[runetarot]

i haven’t seen this on tumblr yet so i thought i would put it here. maybe you’ll laugh at me, maybe it’s futile, but it literally cannot hurt to try. it’s fast and easy. enter your zipcode and it spits out the letters that you can email with the simple click of a button. please. try anything. i know this could go viral.

nationalpopularvote.com 

link to RT on twitter

[runetarot]

First, understand that the opposite of panic is not blithe acceptance of the situation – it’s clear-minded, positive, day-to-day action. Panic makes you do stupid shit or, even worse, curl up into a ball and do nothing. Don’t tell me you have reason to panic. You never have reason to panic. You have reason to act.

So yeah, be upset for as long as you want. Get drunk. Do whatever you have to do. After that, I want you to sober up, splash water on your face, and consider some facts.

Gay marriage has overwhelming support nationwide – 55 percent to 37 percent against.

Legal abortion is favored by 56 percent, with 41 percent opposed.

The vast majority of the population supports background checks for gun buyers – up to 90 percent in some polls.

A majority of Americans support some kind of universal health care, 58 percent to 37 percent.

64 percent of Americans are worried about global warming. Only 36 percent are not.

And – get this – Americans overwhelmingly agree that immigration helps the country more than it hurts, by a 59 percent to 33 percent margin.

Okay?

Your country didn’t go anywhere. It’s right here where you left it. America is nothing more than a big ol’ collection of people, and those people are more diverse and progressive than they have ever been. That train won’t be stopped. Donald Trump’s supporters are by and large an aging and shrinking demographic. We didn’t see the backlash coming, but that’s on us – a look at our history would have taught us to expect it.

In light of that, there are a few things to understand going forward.

Don’t Panic