#Blog relaunch

[leedoobles]

:) may or may not be working on something @askperry

[purplehoover]

Are you still working on the cookie run eldritch au? I used to be OBBSESED with it. I I still wanna know if you're working on it and stuff.

Hi! Yes, there are still TONS of stuff planned for the Cookie Run Eldritch Au- but after having such a prolonged Hiatus, both mods have decided it would be for the better that we start entirely from scratch- and not be so afraid of having some Cookie Run OC interaction. Should I tell you to beware the rot? :)

[captivegod]

nari when lamb

[whalefactoftheday]

whale fact #52

humpback whales are gay

[metallicaislife]

OH MY GOD YOU POSTED AGAIN

I MISSED IT SO MUCHHH!!

Bass anon💙

Basssssss anon!!!!!!

Yes!!! I knew if I didn't sit myself down soon and try to write something I may not return, and I couldn't do that to you guys! 😭💙

I hope you're doing well!! and again thank you so much for your continual support!!!

Love ya loads!!💚💙

[hapivonnuvelle]

Someone needs to recreate the lesbian Totino's pizza rolls commercial parody on SNL but Constance is the wife without a name and Hapi is Sabine.

[hughlh]

Notes for week ending 25-1-4

These are weekly reflections (or weeknotes) on what I did, what I want to remember, and why and how I did it for this week. I stole this idea from lots of folks, but seeing the examples from Phil Gyford and Tracy Durnell finally put me over the edge. Eventually I will settle into a format. Worth noting Took the week off work from the day job, more or less. I was pretty busy last month, and…

[ms-demeanor]

I would like to address something that has come up several times since I relaunched my computer recommendation blog two weeks ago. Part of the reason that I started @okay-computer and that I continue to host my computer-buying-guide is that it is part of my job to buy computers every day.

I am extremely conversant with pricing trends and specification norms for computers, because literally I quoted seven different laptops with different specs at different price-points *today* and I will do more of the same on Monday.

Now, I am holding your face in my hands. I am breathing in sync with you. We are communicating. We are on the same page. Listen.

Computer manufacturers don't expect users to store things locally so it is no longer standard to get a terabyte of storage in a regular desktop or laptop. You're lucky if you can find one with a 512gb ssd that doesn't have an obnoxious markup because of it.

If you think that the norm is for computers to come with 1tb of storage as a matter of course, you are seeing things from a narrow perspective that is out of step with most of the hardware out there.

I went from a standard expectation of a 1tb hdd five years ago to expecting to get a computer with a 1tb hdd that we would pull and replace with a 1tb ssd to expecting to get a computer that came with a 256gb ssd that we would pull and replace with a 1tb ssd, to just having the 256gb ssd come standard and and only seeking out more storage if the customer specifically requested it because otherwise they don't want to pay for more storage.

Computer manufacturers consider any storage above 256gb to be a premium feature these days.

Look, here's a search for Lenovo Laptops with 16GB RAM (what I would consider the minimum in today's market) and a Win11 home license (not because I prefer that, but to exclude chromebooks and business machines). Here are the storage options that come up for those specs:

You will see that the majority of the options come with less than a terabyte of storage. You CAN get plenty of options with 1tb, but the point of Okay-Computer is to get computers with reasonable specs in an affordable price range. These days, that mostly means half a terabyte of storage (because I can't bring myself to *recommend* less than that but since most people carry stuff in their personal cloud these days, it's overkill for a lot of people)

All things being equal, 500gb more increases the price of this laptop by $150:

It brings this one up by $130:

This one costs $80 more to go from 256 to 512 and there isn't an option for 1TB.

For the last three decades storage has been getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper, to the point that storage was basically a negligible cost when HDDs were still the standard. With the change to SSDs that cost increased significantly and, while it has come down, we have not reached the cheap, large storage as-a-standard on laptops stage; this is partially because storage is now SO cheap that people want to entice you into paying a few dollars a month to use huge amounts of THEIR storage instead of carrying everything you own in your laptop.

You will note that 1tb ssds cost you a lot less than the markup to pay for a 1tb ssd instead of a 500gb ssd

In fact it can be LESS EXPENSIVE to get a 1tb ssd than a 500gb ssd.

This is because computer manufacturers are, generally speaking, kind of shitty and do not care about you.

I stridently recommend getting as much storage as you can on your computer. If you can't get the storage you want up front, I recommend upgrading your storage.

But also: in the current market (December 2024), you should not expect to find desktops or laptops in the low-mid range pricing tier with more than 512gb of storage. Sometimes you'll get lucky, but you shouldn't be expecting it - if you need more storage and you need an inexpensive computer, you need to expect to upgrade that component yourself.

So, if you're looking at a computer I linked and saying "32GB of RAM and an i7 processor but only 500GB of storage? What kind of nonsense is that?" Then I would like to present you with one of the computers I had to quote today:

A three thousand dollar macbook with the most recent apple silicon (the m4 released like three weeks ago) and 48 FUCKING GIGABYTES OF RAM with a 512gb ssd.

You can't even upgrade that SSD! That's an apple that drive isn't going fucking anywhere! (don't buy apple, apple is shit)

The norms have shifted! It sucks, but you have to be aware of these kinds of things if you want to pay a decent price for a computer and know what you're getting into.

[fandomtrumpshate]

FTH 2025 Donation Totals

Friends, this has been an extraordinary year for the auction. We know how and why this happened: like in early 2017, everyone is scared and upset and looking for a way to do something meaningful.

And—just like in 2017, and every year since—hundreds of us have stepped up to support our most vulnerable neighbors and the organizations working to protect them.

Except this year, we did it on a scale we've never done before.

Last year, our donation total was an incredible $67,776.28

This year's donation total...

are you ready for it....

(you're not ready for it. we weren't.)

This year's donation total is:

Yes, you're reading that right. $127,204.11

We're flummoxed too—and deeply grateful to everyone who has poured their time and effort and money and love into participating in the auction this year, and into the fanworks that will come from it.

If you're curious about how those donations were distributed across the different organizations, here is the breakdown (this breakdown doesn't include employer match donations, which is why the total is a little lower):

Bellingcat: $2,636.19

Congo Leadership Initiative: $2,842

Crips for esims for Gaza: $4,762.60

Disability Law United: $3,835.39

Environmental Integrity Project: $3,712

Fight for the Future Education Fund: $3,108

Freedom to Read Foundation: $7,139.50

Global Project Against Hate and Extremism: $6,473

Hope for Ukraine: $12,613.93

In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda: $3,626

Middle East Children's Alliance: $13,572.43

National Network to End Domestic Violence: $4,999.95

Never Again Action: $4,555

NLP: $3,745.16

Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights: $10,072.56

Umbrella: organizations serving vulnerable LGBTQ people

Brave Space Alliance: $2,558

Kentucky Health Justice Network Inc: $2,636

Sherlock's Homes: $7,780.77

TransFamily Support: $5,387.01

TransQueerPueblo: $2,949

Other local LGBT organizations: $10,696.71 Yes, you're reading that right again. Three orgs AND the cumulative Other local LGBT orgs broke five figures.

We're especially delighted because, for the first time, the umbrella category worked the way we've always hoped it would! As you can see above, significant numbers of people used the umbrella category as a way to connect to an organization local to them.

As we learned through people's comments on the donation form, some people donated to organizations they were already familiar with (and in some cases had already donated to, or even volunteered at); others used this as a reason to learn more about their local organization and support them.

We'll share more about the "other umbrella" donations over the next few weeks—some more detailed stats, as well as the names of some of the local orgs that people donated to—and we'll invite those of you who connected up with local orgs to share your stories. We love that so many people took this chance to support groups working in their own community, and we hope that we can keep that going next year and beyond!

And speaking of the future!

Now is a great time to follow @fth2025fanworks. We'll use that blog to share any auction fanwork that gets posted to tumblr.

We urge you to keep up with the organizations you supported this year (and the others on our list!) Follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletters, whatever works best for you. It will enable you to keep an eye on the good work you've helped support, and to find out quickly when these orgs need some extra support, financial or otherwise.

And if you're looking out at the world and feeling the itch to do more, here are some possibilities:

Follow @fthaction, the meatspace activism wing of FTH. We relaunched this project in the weeks between the end of signups and the beginning of browsing period, sharing some reading lists, an individualized activism bingo card, and an AMA with activist and organizer Kat Calvin. (We also did a test-flight AMA with ourselves, talking about the auction.) We'll probably need some time to recover from this year's auction, but we'll be back soon with more resources to share, more AMAs, and more tools for exploring all the different forms that meaningful activism can take and for figuring out which ones are right for you.

Organize your own auction! We've put together a detailed playbook that contains that contains as much information and as many resources as we can provide for getting an auction off the ground, including detailed guides. Almost everything in the playbook is fully public; there are a few forms that are access-locked because google has stupid ideas about sharing forms, but we're happy to give you access to those, too: just drop us an email.

Over here at FTH headquarters we are all in need of a long nap. But we'll be back in a couple of weeks, as promised, to share more about the umbrella orgs and to dig back into @fthaction to see what's possible.

Looking forward to a whole bunch of new fanworks! <3 your FTH mods

[theghostwthemost]

A glimpse of Hershel and Luke in level-5's latest post on x/twitter relaunching their development blog as "Five-Star Workshop Devlog"

No news for New World of Steam as of today tho...

[queerasfact]

Condoman

In 1987, Indigenous sexual health worker Aunty Gracelyn Smallwood and her team felt that safe sex advertising wasn’t effectively targeting people in Australia’s remote Indigenous communities. In response, they created Condoman - “The Deadly Predator of Sexual Health” - who spoke to Indigenous people in language they could relate to, and removed stigma from conversations about sexual health. 

Condoman became something of a cult figure in Australia, and in 2009 he was relaunched with a suite of comics, animations, and merch, including branded condoms. He was also joined by his “deadly, slippery sister” Lubelicious, who promoted consent, the use of water based lube, and women’s health, for her sisters and sistergirls (an Indigenous term analogous to trans women).

We covered Condoman in our podcast on the AIDS epidemic in Australia.

Keep an eye on this blog throughout the week as we continue highlighting queer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture for NAIDOC Week.

[okay-computer]

Okay-Computer Relaunch

I am reactivating this blog. Rather than having individual weekly posts sortable by computer type with screenshots of each computer for sale, I am simply going to make one weekly post listing each of the following:

1 New Desktop

1 New Laptop

1 Refurbished Desktop

1 Refurbished Laptop

The posts will have a description of each item with the specifications and a link to where you can find the computer for sale. None of these are going to be affiliate links, and I will not be linking to Amazon.

If you're wondering why I'm qualified to do this, it's because I am the entire procurement department for a small MSP and I've been buying anywhere between five and three hundred computers a week since 2011. This blog is an application of my professional expertise.

You can see posts with recommendations by clicking here.

I will answer asks to this blog once a week, any asks that I don't answer that week will be deleted. Do not send me time-sensitive asks. I will not answer all asks. If I haven't answered your ask, feel free to re-send; I'm not mad I just get a lot of asks.

If you want me to tell you if a computer you're looking at is a good deal, send me an ask (add spaces after the periods to break up the URL) and I'll give it a look (subject to the same rules as the other asks).

This is a US-based blog and I'm familiar with US-based pricing; unfortunately I probably can't help you with pricing outside of the US.

I don't know anything about gaming computers, I will not give advice on gaming computers.

If you want to know why the recommended computers are so low on storage, check out this post.

If you want my general guidelines on computer buying in case there isn't a recent link, here are the specs that I keep updated on my Wiki.

[fthaction]

calling progressive activists on tumblr!

We at @fandomtrumpshate are relaunching our action blog, which aims to help people get involved in progressive causes in practical, concrete ways. We've got thousands of fans who have been raising money for a host of progressive causes over the past eight years, and we know that many of these fans would like to go beyond fundraising to start doing some of the work themselves.

Making that leap can be hard, though, which is why we'd like to offer some examples. We're hoping to share stories -- your stories -- about how you got involved in activism and what it means to you.

If you're willing to share your story, please make a post that answers these questions (or some of them; no need to answer all of them!) and tag us -- @fthaction -- and we'll reblog it.

when did you first get involved in activist/community work, and what motivated you to do it?

how did you get started? how did you find your niche?

what was something you struggled with early in your activist work, and how did you learn to manage/overcome it?

what's a setback you've faced, and how did you make it through?

what is the thing you're most proud of?

what are the unexpected joys or benefits that activist work has brought into your life?

what's the one thing you really want to say to people who are thinking of getting involved?

[kjiscrawlingbackformore]

No Reservations : Chapter one

Restaurant Owner Lottie Matthews x Chef!reader

Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Summary: After graduating culinary school you have been building up your portfolio, to become a street level legend in the culinary world. And after years of hard work you get hired by a renowned michelin star restaurant Matthews’ kitchen to help design a new menu that’ll star in their new brick and mortar in New York. And there you behold the new heiress of the Matthews’ Kitchen, your boss, is your old situationship from culinary school…Charlotte Matthews.

Your eyes froze, as your fingers hovered over the box of old knives. It’s been at least two years since you walked out of the Culinary Institute with a expensive-ass certificate, this box of knives, and no clear plan other than: don’t go back to Staten Island.

You didn’t.

You followed Travis to San Diego instead.

His dad’s restaurant was on life support back then—decent bones, dead menu, loyal but bored locals. The kind of place that reeked of wasted potential and decades of fried fish grease.

You were supposed to help relaunch it. Three months, maybe four.

That was twenty-four months ago.

Now it’s one of those word-of-mouth spots that gets listed in travel blogs under “If You Know, You Know”.

The line wraps around the block on weekends. The cocktail napkins are stamped with a custom logo you designed on a napkin during a hangover. There’s a photo of you and Travis in the back hallway, mid-laugh, post-shift, covered in beet juice and glory.

You never meant to stay.

It was just an in between place before your big break. But what you and Travis built with his dad. You just can’t imagine leaving. Your heart felt heavy, pulling the box onto your lap.

New York City was always the plan. Build a restaurant that had your DNA and fingerprints from start to finish. It was your dream the second you realized you were kinda good at cooking. It only snowballed into more the deeper you got into the culinary world.

Have a successful restaurant, maybe a michelin star or two, get an apartment a block away from the restaurant, marry a girl, maybe have a kid, and have the restaurant be so successful you can retire after awhile and be a glorified private chef to your wife and kids and hopefully grandkids for the rest of your days.

You frowned, your fingers danced around the dull metal of the old knives. This set was a gift from one of your teachers Chef Scott. You hadn’t used them in over a year. They had lost their edge.

Maybe you can sharpen them back to life.

You set the box on the counter of your kitchen in your apartment. Sighing as you begin to lay everything out. You might as well start now if you’re going to use them anytime soon.

Yet your mind kept drifting onto your lost in translation plans. Shelved dreams, and the version of you in culinary school. The person you were when Chef Scott gave you these knives. That version of you was so determined and unstoppable.

You were one track minded in your pursuit of your dream. You took a step back as all the knives were laid out in front of you. You turn your back on them to grab your whetstone and return to grab the first knife.

You ran the whetstone over the blade with practiced precision. The rhythmic motion was almost meditative, each stroke a quiet conversation that kept coming back to why did you ever stop using this knife set? After a few moments the blade, once dull, handle a little chipped started to gleam, its edge sharpening under your touch.

You paused, wiping the blade clean, faced with the reflection of yourself in its polished surface. A glimpse of yourself. Maybe you needed to be sharpened? Maybe things shouldn’t be set aside to lie if they have life still in them.

The next work day was grueling. The last of the staff filter out through the side exit. You wipe your hands on your apron, twisting your neck until it pops. You’re not sore from work, you’re sore from holding your breath all day. You always are when the food critic rumors start flying.

You step out back. The night air smells like eucalyptus and fried shallots.

Akilah’s already out there, cross-legged on a patio chair, dark skin lit golden under the bulb strung overhead, reading something on her iPad and chewing on her bottom lip.

She was the sweetest person you’d ever met. You met Akilah second year of Culinary school when she visited Travis over one of the weekends. They had been freshly dating long distance after they reconnected at some party over the previous summer.

The second you laid eyes on her you knew you wanted her to be your friend. Came into your dorm holding a box of Vinny’s pizza, with a beaming Travis holding beers in his. After hours of talking and joking she made you promise if you moved to California to let her be your roommate. A drunken request that became a sober promise months into friendship.

Which is exactly what ended up happening, she also was patient enough to drive you to work almost everyday. She worked at the restaurant too but more hand in hand with Mr. Martinez in the bookkeeping. Whenever Travis marries her, you just know they’ll be a power couple in a Forbes cover.

She looks up when you settle next to her. “You got another email,” she says gently.

You sigh. “How bad is it?”

“It’s…good. It’s from a place in Austin. Upscale Filipino fusion. They want you to help consult on their menu. Two-month gig, full creative freedom, five figures. The offer is in bold. Which means they’re serious.”

You groan. Loudly. Lean your head back and stare at the sky like it owes you answers.

“I don’t know, Aki. It’s—It’s a lot. Like… if I go, that means leaving this.” You gesture around. “I helped rebuild this place. It’s feels like abandoning my child.”

Akilah pauses her reading, closes the tablet. “But is it still growing you?”

You blink at her.

“I mean…” she continues, softer now, “maybe this was always supposed to be your stepping stone. You and Travis did something incredible. But that doesn’t mean you’re supposed to stop now.”

You stare at the dark outline of the hills. Your fingers twitch, like they want to dice something. Cook something. Run.

She’s still watching you.

“Can I be real with you for a sec?” she says, voice low.

You nod.

“You’re… safe here. And I get it. I really do. After everything that happened in school, and with Nat—”

You flinch at the name but don’t stop her.

“—and how hard you worked to prove yourself. This place gave you a win. But you’re so much more than just one restaurant.”

You close your eyes. Her words hit too close to where you hide things.

She nudges your shoulder with hers. “You don’t owe anyone your stillness. If you wanna go, go. The people who love you will still be here when you come back.”

You breathe in. The air tastes like salt and citrus and burnt rosemary. The city murmurs around you.

“…What if I fail? And it blows up in my face.” you whisper.

Akilah smiles like she’s heard this before, maybe from herself. “Then you fail. Loud and bold and on your terms. But what if you don’t?”

You don’t answer. You just pull your phone from your pocket. There are three unopened emails sitting in your inbox, one of them marked Matthews Group: NYC Flagship Proposal.

You stare at it.

Then tap it open.

It was two weeks of mauling this over. One week of negotiations and one day sitting with the final offer. You knew you had to do it. It was too good to pass up. The only problem was Travis and his dad.

You stared at Akilah on the couch of your shared apartment. She had a face mask on and was nursing a mint tea. “Is he in a good mood?” You ask her.

Akilah shrugs, eyes focused on her book. “Trav sent me a picture of some herb plants, for his garden. So I think he is. But also whoever knows with him.”

“You should know. You’re his girlfriend.”

“Okay and? Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean I can read minds.” She argues, there’s no bite to it but you hear the sarcasm drip in her tone.

She had been pushing for you to set the meeting for literal weeks and today was the day. You were so nervous you made her text you every second of your walk into the restaurant.

You ask them to meet you in the breakroom. Travis is already suspicious. He raises an eyebrow like you’re about to reveal some deep secret, like you’re finally going to admit you’re the one who broke the immersion blender last summer.

Mr. Martinez just sips his café con leche and says, “Sounds serious.”

It is.

You sit across from them, heart hammering in your chest like it’s trying to beat the words out of you. They look so at ease. Travis is peeling an orange, and Mr. Martinez is tapping a pen against his knee like he always does when he’s relaxed.

“I got a job offer,” you say, your voice flat from holding too much emotion.

Travis’s fingers still. “Another consulting gig?” he asks.

You hesitate. “Sort of. It’s…in New York.”

That’s when Travis drops the orange peel.

“Wait—New York?” he echoes, as if it’s a betrayal. “Like moving-New York? Leave-us-New York?”

You nod. “It’s a flagship launch. Matthews Group. It’s big. It’s…huge, actually. And they want me to help build the menu from the ground up.”

Travis blinks at you like you just turned into someone else. “You’re seriously thinking about leaving? Just like that?”

You open your mouth, close it, then try again. “Trav… I wasn’t even supposed to be here this long. We were gonna be here a few months. We ended up making something incredible. I love it here, I do—but I can’t stay here. You know that, right?”

His jaw tightens. “Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d—you—would actually go. I thought we were building something together. A future. A brand. I thought this was—”

“A chapter,” you say, voice barely above a whisper. “Not forever.”

Mr. Martinez sets his cup down with a soft clink. The whole room stills at the atmosphere shift. Mr. Martinez had that kind of effect in any room. He demanded the attention of everyone even in small ways.

He’s quiet for a moment, then clears his throat. “If you don’t take the job…” he says, eyes sharp and serious, “I’m firing you.”

Both you and Travis whip your heads toward him.

“What the hell, Dad?” Travis says, stunned.

Mr. Martinez raises his hands. ���I mean it. If you stay, I’ll have Javi post your termination on the clock app.”

“…You mean TikTok?” you ask, stunned into laughing a little.

“Whatever,” he waves it off. “The point is—you’ve outgrown us, mija. You’ve done everything you could here. You made this place shine. But you’re bigger now. Brighter. And I can’t say I love you like my own daughter if I don’t let you go to grow to the fullest of your potential.”

You blink quickly, throat tight.

“I’ve watched you burn for this. Saw the fire in your belly every night after close. I saw it the day you told me to trash half the menu and trust you. You earned this. So go take it.”He nods once, firm. “Or you’re fired.”

Travis looks like he might cry. Or punch a wall. Maybe both. He rubs his eyes and mumbles, “This fucking sucks.”

You lean forward. “Trav-this doesn’t mean goodbye forever. It’s just-”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waves a hand. “Go make your Michelin star or whatever and forget about the peasants back here.”

You both laugh, watery and a little raw. But then he stands, and pulls you into a hug so tight it squeezes your ribs. “I’m proud of you,” he whispers into your hair. “Even if I hate this.”

You nod into his shoulder. “I’ll send you every new menu draft before it goes live.”

“You better,” he sniffs, pulling back. “And you owe me at least three guest chef invites and one named cocktail.”

“Fine. I’ll name a mezcal drink after you and call it Sad Boy Spring.”

Mr. Martinez chuckles, already writing it on the whiteboard under “Drink Ideas.”

You smile.

You’re really doing this.

You’re going back.

[neo-kosmos]

hi all, shelby here! sorry for the total lack of activity on this blog for the past few years. we have been working diligently behind the scenes on our discord server as we wrote the drafts of the novels

if you haven’t heard, danny broke up with me and brian. we are getting neokosmos in the divorce as it has always been my baby and brainchild and brian has done virtually all of the prose writing since 2020. danny has wanted to step away for quite some time, and we are super proud of him for following his own path in life. the two of us will always be best friends but our time as partners and creative partners has come to an end.

we will be changing the name of neokosmos because danny is no longer working on and it is just not the same project that it was back in 2015. its a lot more adult, its a novel, the story and world is so much more developed and honestly we need a fresh start. as soon as we can we will be relaunching everything with the new name and posting the first five chapters for free for everyone to read to see if you wanna join us and make it happen. both brian and i are too disabled to work normal jobs so we need to make writing and selling artwork as our main gigs or we will be kind of fucked.

thank you to everyone who has believed in us over the years and especially our loyal patrons. its been hundreds of thousands of words and concept art and prep over the last 9 years and im so stoked to finally share what we have been cooking with more people. i started this project as a 23 year old recent grad with no idea what i was doing in life, and now at 32 i finally feel confident enough that what i am making is ACTUALLY GOOD????

so yeah, stay tuned, the whole project is about to enter Phase 3. love y’all

-shelby

[living-in-the-pokemon-world]

Hiya! It's, uhh, it's been a while. A little under three years to be exact. How's everybody been?

Anyways, I've been kind of missing this blog lately, so I figured I'd take another swing at it!

I can't promise the same activity as before, where I was updating multiple times a day almost every day, but I do have some posts sitting in my Drafts as well as some unanswered Asks that I'm hoping to get out there. Hopefully I'm not too rusty!

But yeah, thank you to everybody who's stuck around (even if it's just because you forgot you were following), and I hope you all enjoy this kind of soft relaunch of LitPW!

— Laur