#11/14/2022

[myloveonherknees]

@/mothercain. "moving out proving to more complicated than i expected" tumblr, 14 nov 2022.

[blyszczopies]

aasot the shapeshifter doing what they were created for: shapeshifting

[everyakipanel]

Chapter 14: French Kiss

[archiveofcanvas]

Emily Sundblad, Miramar, 2022, Oil on canvas, 14 × 11 in (36 × 28 cm

[cinemgc]

The Walking Dead (11ª Temp.)

Episodio 14: ''The Rotten Core''

• Dirección: Marcus Stokes

• Guion: Jim Barnes, Erik Mountain

• Cinematografía: Duane Charles Manwiller

• Cast: Christian Serratos

[lvbrdz]

ਕੱਲਾ (Lonewolf) English translation below

ਦੁਨੀਆ ਲਈ ਜੋ ਬਹੁਤਾ ਸਿਆਣਾ ਕਿਸੇ ਇਕ ਲਈ ਉਹ ਅੱਜ ਵੀ ਝੱਲਾ ਆ ਦਿਲ ਵਿਚ ਚਾਕੋ ਤਾਂ ਦੋ ਦਿਸਦੇ ਦੂਰੋਂ ਵੇਖੋ ਤਾਂ ਉਹ ਕੱਲਾ ਆ -lvbrdz

Klla

Duniya layi jo bahuta siayana Kise ik layi oh aj vi jhala aa Dil vich chako ta do disde Duro vekho ta oh klla aa -lvbrdz

Lonewolf

He maybe the inteligent one, for the whole world But for someone special, he is still a crazy head If you see in his heart, there are two living beings If you see from afar he is a lonewolf -lvbrdz

[shopsystem]

Orbyt Studio / Supply.Family / iPhone 14 Pro (11) / Mockup / 2022

 Download

[toytle]

masterpost of ALL my psych fanart EVER!!! (mostly 2022)

tip jar

[ID in alt + readmore]

IMAGE 1: psych fanart of shawn spencer holding a furby in his childhood bedroom, exclaiming, “dude! did you know i had a furby?!” on a red rotary phone.

IMAGE 2: shawn and gus sharing a pineapple drink. shawn is excited abt sharing it with gus while gus looks apprehensive/flustered about it.

IMAGE 3: gus showering, peeking an eye open as a question mark pops above his head. a shadow forms behind the curtain.

IMAGE 4: shawn pulling back the curtain and nonchalantly asking gus a question: “hey are we—stop screaming, it’s just me—are we out of cheetos?” gus shrieks and covers himself up.

IMAGE 5: shawn holding lassiter and gus’s heads in psychic concentration. annoyed, lassiter asks, “does he have to do this every time?” gus responds indifferently, “you get used to it.”

IMAGE 6: shawngus redrawn as twink boutta pounce meme. gus is infodumping about special interest #148, explaining what T-rexes used to sound like, while shawn looks at gus fondly, very much not listening.

IMSGE 7: shawn putting his fingers up to his temples, directing all of his energy at a floating slice of pizza. gus pretends to look shocked, holding the pizza up by a string behind his back. lassiter is taken aback, wondering, “how is he doing that?!”

IMAGE 8: headshot busts of lassiter looking annoyed, shawn and gus looking at each other with a knowing apprehension, and juliet looking serious. 

IMAGE 9: lassiter grabbing shawn by the collar and shoving a finger in his face, angrily saying, “now you listen here, spencer—“ shawn is distractedly looking down at his mouth and smiling like the cat who got the cream. a tiktok screenshot in the background reads: me instigating a fight becuase the guy was hot and i want him on me.

IMAGE 10: juliet, gus, and shawn redrawn as the powerpuff girls applebees comic meme. gus rambles about state capitals while shawn says exasperatedly, “stop talking about states.” juliet turns to gus and asks “do you wanna go to applebees?” gus responds, “sure, hang on,” then turns to point at shawn and says, “fuck you.” shawn crosses his arms petulantly.

IMAGE 11: various shawn doodles. the 1st looks unimpressed and says, “i could solve all of the unsolved mysteries myself. it’s not that hard.” the 2nd is a redraw of a screencap subtitled: [shawn meows]. the 3rd shawn has his hands up in unearned surrender, saying, “i’m staying out of this” while an arrow pointing at him reads: guy that started it. the 4th is a redraw of shawn covering his mouth in a laugh.

IMAGE 12: 2 shawn doodles. the 1st shawn walking in with a speech bubble of a textpost that reads: hi sorry for ghosting you im being tormented by psychic horrors beyond your wildest comprehensions. the 2nd shawn gestures to himself humble-braggingly with a speech bubble of a textpost that reads: talking about your feelings is SO important i won’t do it but you guys definitely should. an arrow points to him reading: local man w/ undiagnosed adhd + autism allegedly “proud of not having to go to therapy.”

IMAGE 13: 2 gus doodles. the 1st gus is leaning over as if to gossip and says, “heard about pluto? that’s pretty messed up.” an edited textpost above him reads: absolutely love it when gus goes “lately i’m obsessed with” and then says the most mundane thing ever. the 2nd gus points to a laptop agitatedly with a speech bubble of a textpost that reads: did it hurt? when i told you google it and i was right.

IMAGE 14: gus is obliviously typing on his laptop as shawn is staring at him in concentration with his fingers to his temples. brain wave doodles are sent in gus’s direction. shawn’s thought bubble is a textpost that reads: it’s so rude when someone doesn’t feel you yearning deeply for them… bestie how much more brain waves do i have to fire at you.

IMAGE 15: shawn is leaning on gus’s shoulder with an airy delight and says with a speech bubble of a textpost: love the way we finish each others sentences. it’s like we’re soulmates or the beastie boys. gus smiles at him fondly.

IMAGE 16: shawn and gus as furbys named shawnby & furgus. shawn is pineapple-themed with a pony bead necklace that says SIKE! gus is blue and purple with busines pinstripes and a purple-pink tie.

[myloveonherknees]

@/mothercain. tumblr, 14 nov 2022.

[everyakipanel]

Chapter 14: French Kiss

[fatliberation]

FAT LIBERATIONIST FILMS

I noticed that the handful of lists on letterboxd for fat positive films only had Hairspray, Isn’t It Romantic, and I Feel Pretty (🤢) with the caption “I wish this list was longer!”

So I have taken it upon myself to compile a real list of real fat liberationist films: films that either confront the issue of fatphobia or portray fat bodies in a liberating way. I will not be including films where fat characters exist neutrally, only films with a message about fatness that does not promote weight loss.

I haven’t seen a majority of these films yet, so if you see one that you believe is not worthy of being on this list, please let me know! additionally, if you have ideas on more films that should be added, please share!

Films (left to right)

1. How to Carry Water (2023) dir. Sasha Wortzel

2. Piggy (2022) dir. Carlotta Pereda

3. Your Fat Friend (2023) dir. Jeanie Finlay

4. Dumplin’ (2018) dir. Anne Fletcher

5. Empire Waist (2024) dir. Claire Ayoub

6. PattiCake$ (2017) dir. Geremy Jasper

7. Läski (2019) dir. Kirsikka Saari

8. Aquaporko! (2013) dir. Kelli Jean Drinkwater, Anna Helme

9. Fat Hiking Club (2018) dir. Layla Cameron

10. Fat Front (2019) dir. Louise Kjeldsen, Louise Detlefsen

11. Disfigured (2008) dir. Glenn Gers

12. Riot Not Diet (2018) dir. Julia Fuhr Mann, Kristina Kilian

13. Straight/Curve: Redefining Body Image (2017) dir. Jenny McQuaile

14. In Our Skin (2017) dir. Rosa Beiroa

15. The Fat Feeling (2019) dir. Talia A. Darling

16. Dangerous Curves (2016) dir. Merete Mueller

17. Well Rounded (2020) dir. Shana Myara

18. Fat Chance (1994) dir. Jeffery McKay

19. Tales of Ordinary Fatphobia (2020) dir. Josiane Blanc

20. Fattitude (2017) dir. Viridiana Lieberman

21. (Not pictured) The Fat Body (In)Visible (2011) dir. Margitte Kristjansson

[mostlysignssomeportents]

You can’t fight enshittification

Hey, German-speakers! Through a very weird set of circumstances, I ended up owning the rights to the German audiobook of my bestselling 2022 cryptocurrency heist technothriller Red Team Blues and now I'm selling DRM-free audio and ebooks, along with the paperback (all in German and English) on a Kickstarter that runs until August 11.

I need to tell you something unsatisfying: your personal consumption choices will not make a meaningful difference to the amount of enshittification you experience in your life.

Oh sure, you can tinker in the margins, and you should! Get a repairable laptop, like the Framework, which is the greatest computer I've ever owned, and run Linux on it (I use Ubuntu, which is easy to install). You'll spend two weeks looking around the UI for the thing you need to click on and then you'll stop noticing it altogether, forever:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/13/graceful-failure/#frame

Access the internet via RSS, and avoid all the algorithmic twiddling and surveillance that subjects you and yours to the depredations of the worst people on earth and their feral algorithms:

https://www.citationneeded.news/curate-with-rss/

Give preference to high-security, private, open messaging tools like Signal. Open an account on a federated social media service, like Mastodon, and make it a first-class home for your online social life:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/14/fire-exits/#graceful-failure-modes

Do all this! Do more! You'll make your life somewhat better, and in some cases, much better. But you're not going to fight enshittification this way. Enshittification is not the result of people making bad choices: it's the result of bad policies that produce bad systems.

Enshittification makes for a neat descriptive account, talking about how platforms go bad:

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

But the most important part of enshittification is its causal hypothesis: the answer it proposes to why this degradation is happening everywhere, right now:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/26/ursula-franklin/#franklinite

Here's why you're getting enshittified: we deliberately decided to stop enforcing competition laws. As a result, companies formed monopolies and cartels. This means that they don't have to worry about losing your business or labor to a competitor, because they don't compete. It also means that they can handily capture their regulators, because they can easily agree on a set of policy priorities and use the billions they've amassed by not competing to capture their regulators. They can hold a whip hand over their formerly powerful tech workers, mass-firing them and terrorizing them out of any Tron-inspired conceits about "fighting for the user." Finally, they can use IP law to shut down anyone who makes technology that disenshittifies their offerings.

You can take care to avoid enshittification, you can even make a fetish out of it, but without addressing these systemic failings, your individual actions will only get you so far. Sure, use privacy-enhancing tools like Signal to communicate with other people, but if the only way to get your kid to their little league game is to join the carpool group on Facebook, you're going to hemorrhage data about everything you do to Meta.

Likewise, you can use privacy-preserving adblockers in your browser, but the instant you've got to do business with a monopoly that requires you to use their app, you will be totally helpless before them, because anti-circumvention law felonizes modifying an app so it preserves your privacy. An app is just a webpage skinned with the right kind of IP law to make it a jailable offense to install an ad-blocker:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/treacherous-computing/#rewilding-the-internet

When all your friends are going to a festival, are you really going to opt out because the event requires you to use the Ticketmaster app (because Ticketmaster has a monopoly over event ticketing)? If so, you're not gonna have a lot of friends, which is a pretty shitty way to live.

If you turn your personal campaign to live an enshittification-free life into a set of rigid practices that isolate you from your community, you will be miserable – and you will undermine your ability to address the systemic roots of enshittification.

That's because systemic problems have systemic solutions. They are addressed through mass movements, impact litigation, political action, street uprisings, mutual aid, and other forms of solidarity and community.

The monsters who benefit from the status quo don't want you to know this. They want to brainwash you with Margaret Thatcher's mantra, "There is no such thing as society." They want you to think that you are a pathetic, atomized individual. They want you to die in a heatwave while gasping out your profound regret for not recycling more diligently and taking more care with your "carbon footprint." They want you to drive around for hours looking for an independent cardboard seller to make your protest sign with, convinced that it's more important to avoid shopping on Amazon than it is to actually show up at the protest outside the Amazon warehouse. They want you to curse yourself for failing to cycle and take the bus in your city where there are no bike lanes and the buses run every 45 minutes and stop at 8PM. If you wanted a livable city, you should have made better consumption choices! Perhaps you could dig your own subway, ever think of that, hmmm?

You, me and everyone we know have all been subjected to a 40-year blitz of anti-solidaristic propaganda, aimed at convincing us that we are only allowed to fight the system as individuals. Don't like your health care? Shop around! Don't like your boss? Quit your job! Under no circumstances should you advocate for either a union or socialized health-care. You're an individual, there is no such thing as society.

"There's no such thing as society" is what you say if you benefit from society (which absolutely exists) and don't want it to change.

To make changes, you have to exist in society. Yes, the Democratic Party is a weak and pathetic failed gerontocracy, but the Democratic Socialists, the Sunrise Movement, and other political groups that are independent of the Dems but still drag them into doing something good, sometimes, all deserve your support.

Yes, the union movement squandered the Biden years, refusing to spend its record-setting cash reserves on organizing, despite the millions of workers begging to join unions. But workplace democracy remains the only way that we ever have – or ever will – defeat capital, so join a union, form a union, support a union:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/29/which-side-are-you-on-2/#strike-three-yer-out

Yes, plastic recycling is a scam cooked up by the petrochemical industry and all the plastic you stick in your blue bin either goes to an incinerator or a landfill, but if you don't support (and join up with) real environmental activists, you're going to roast alive:

https://heated.world/cp/169762317

Yes, Israel is committing a genocide and Brown, Columbia, and other elite universities are capitulating to Trump, whose evangelical base believes that war in Israel will hasten the Second Coming, when all Jews will be cast into eternal damnation. But that doesn't relieve you of your responsibility to act to defend our Palestinian brothers and sisters from the death rained down on them with the weapons our governments send to Israel. That goes double for us Jews, in whose name the slaughter is being committed:

https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2025/07/31/miriam-margolyes-hitler-comments/

My book on Enshittification is coming out in a couple of months, and the early reviews are already coming in, and they are gratifyingly glowing. But there's a trend in these reviews, a caveat that reviewer after reviewer has raised: my book is "short on individual solutions."

You're goddamned right it is. Because this isn't an individual problem, it's a systemic one.

Sure, live the best life you can, making the best choices you can. But don't kid yourself that this is fighting enshittification.

The reason corporations spy on you isn't because you're too cheap to pay for media, so they must resort to surveillance advertising. Whether or not you pay a tech company, they will absolutely spy on you:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

The reason they can spy on you is that the US hasn't had a new consumer privacy law since 1988, when the Video Privacy Protection Act banned video store clerks from disclosing which VHS cassettes you took home. This is the last technological threat to our privacy that Congress has addressed. The reason you are spied upon is because there are no systemic consequences for this surveillance:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy

The reason gig work companies misclassify their workers as contractors in order to abuse them, steal their wages, and deny them workplace protections is because they can – not because workers are insufficiently choosy about their employment arrangements.

To fight systemic problems you need to be part of a systemic solution.

For 23 and a half years, I've worked for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the most enshittification-fighting organization in the world:

https://eff.org

EFF is a member-supported nonprofit. We rely on donors like you, and we squeeze our budget hard. For as long as I've been with EFF, I've heard smears about how we're secretly shills for Big Tech and dependent on them for our funding (hilariously I once heard that EFF's reps to a meeting were transported to it in a stretch limo paid for by Intel – except I was the rep at that meeting, and I took the bus). Here's all of our financial disclosures, see for yourself:

https://www.eff.org/about/annual-reports-and-financials

Donating to EFF is one way to fund the systemic rejection of enshittification. But if you want to join the fight – if you want to be part of a community that fights back – then you need to know about the Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA):

https://efa.eff.org/allies

EFA is a network of independent community groups that EFF helps coordinate and advise. When one group is in trouble, we connect it with other groups that have overcome the same troubles. When one group scores a victory, held other groups replicate its successes in their towns. Our organizers also help people in communities that don't have EFA affiliates start groups and join the network.

I get it: this is harder work than changing your consumption habits. But it's infinitely more rewarding. You're more than a consumer. You can aspire to more dignity than is afforded to an ambulatory wallet:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/16/through-the-meat-grinder/#hells-kitchen

No one is coming to save us except us. There is such a thing as society, and you're a part of it, and so am I, and so are the rest of us:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/they-are-going-to-take-everything

You can't fight enshittification. But together, we can.

Support me this summer in the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop! This summer, I'm writing The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI, a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux that explains how to be an effective AI critic.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/31/unsatisfying-answers/#systemic-problems

[afriblaq]

african.echo

Two Years of President Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso: A Report Since Assuming Leadership of the Nation 1. Burkina Faso’s GDP rose from around $18.8 billion to $22.1 billion. 2. He declined loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, stating, “Africa doesn’t need the World Bank, IMF, Europe, or America.” 3. He cut the salaries of ministers and parliamentarians by 30% while raising civil servants’ salaries by 50%. 4. He cleared Burkina Faso’s domestic debts. 5. He established the country’s first-ever tomato processing plants. 6. In 2023, he launched a modern gold mine to strengthen local processing capacity. 7. He halted the export of unrefined gold from Burkina Faso to Europe. 8. He constructed Burkina Faso’s second cotton processing plant, adding to the single existing one. 9. He inaugurated the National Support Center for Artisanal Cotton Processing, the first of its kind, to aid local cotton farmers. 10. He prohibited the use of British legal wigs and gowns in local courts, replacing them with traditional Burkinabé attire. 11. He prioritized agriculture by distributing over 400 tractors, 239 tillers, 710 motor pumps, and 714 motorcycles to enhance production and support rural communities. 12. He facilitated access to improved seeds and other agricultural inputs to maximize farming yields. 13. Tomato production grew from 315,000 metric tonnes in 2022 to 360,000 metric tonnes in 2024. 14. Millet production increased from 907,000 metric tonnes in 2022 to 1.1 million metric tonnes in 2024. 15. Rice production rose from 280,000 metric tonnes in 2022 to 326,000 metric tonnes in 2024. 16. He banned French military operations in Burkina Faso. 17. He prohibited French media from operating in the country. 18. He expelled French troops from Burkina Faso. 19. His government is building new roads, expanding existing ones, and converting gravel roads into paved surfaces.

[julianbashir]

A major hospital in New York City, NYU Langone, cancelled several appointments for transgender children following the executive order threatening to withhold federal funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming treatments. [wayback machine backup link]

Not only is this a gross violation of LGBT rights, the New York Attorney general has stated that this move would be a violation of state law. (letter published by the attorney general) [EDITED 4:14 PM EST]

There are many ways you can take action.

Contact Dr. Robert Grossman, the CEO of NYU Langone Health, and demand that they resume care for trans youth.

Call the following number: +1 (212) 263-3269, with the provided script under the 'read more'. Call from 9 AM - 5 PM EST on weekdays. Ask for the CEO's office, and leave a message.

You can email robert.grossman@nyulangone.org. You can also send an email using the linked website template.

If you are in the area, there is a demonstration at 6:30 PM at St. Vartan Park at 1st Ave & E 35th St. This demonstration is being endorsed by 16 organizatons, including the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, ACT UP, PFLAG NYC, and more.

[Updated as of February 3rd, 2025, 4:14 PM EST]

Hello, my name is [Name], and I'm a concerned [patient/parent/trans person/ally/New Yorker]. I'm calling about NYU Langone's reported cancellation of gender-affirming care appointments for trans patients under 19.

This preemptive policy change, in response to an executive order that is not settled law, is harmful and cruel.

I urge you to reverse this policy immediately and reinstate care for trans adolescents.

This decision directly contradicts your hospital's mission to provide exceptional care and your oath to do no harm.

It is very likely illegal under Article 1, Section 11 of the New York Constitution as amended in 2024 by the equal rights amendment.

The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics consider this essential care. Gender-affirming care is proven to be life-saving. A 2022 peer-reviewed study published by the AMA found that it reduces depression by 60% and suicidality by 73% among trans youth.

Canceling these appointments puts the mental and physical health of trans youth at serious risk.

As someone who [is trans/cares for a trans person/wants New york to remain a safe place for trans people], I want to emphasize how vital this care is. I urge you to act now to protect trans youth. I hope to see NYU Langone lead with integrity by reinstating these appointments immediately.

Thank you.