#Don't do this

[rain41427]

This iconic thread.

Honestly, I feel like both Aislin and my still unnamed skeleton oc would unironically enjoy this.

Don't do this. (extended Discord cut)

[todays-xkcd]

Unfortunately, SawStart is one-use-only. Once started, the blade cannot be stopped, and must be replaced with a fresh blade while the running one is carefully disposed of.

SawStart [Explained]

Transcript Under the Cut

[Black Hat gestures to a table saw called SawStart, facing Megan and Cueball. The SawStart label depicts a circular saw blade behind the word Saw]:

Black Hat: When the saw detects contact with skin, an explosive charge starts the blade spinning at full speed within a few milliseconds.

[Caption below the panel:] SawStop's less-popular competitor

[grison-in-space]

I'm genuinely sorry, I was really tired and couldn't think of the word that mad pride movements use. I'm new to all of this. I thought you would be more open to it because you've reblogged from radical leftists (anarchists and communists both) within the past couple of weeks and they're all for Veganism afaik. The argument that all brains are different but equal and should be treated the exact same is a primary aspect of mad pride from my understanding, and that speaks to me about animals just having different brains, and that they don't deserve to be exploited and killed for us just because they're different. I'm not spamming people with it, but I was inspired by an ask by a nonvegan and started asking popular bloggers why they weren't vegan to open up conversation and potentially change people's views on animals. If I've made you uncomfortable I'm sorry, though I admit I'm really confused by your standpoint. You do know that the only reason communism hasn't succeeded is because of America? Anyway, sorry again, I'm also autistic and I didn't mean to dismiss your legitimate dietary needs. Can I recommend acti-vegan's posts? While I understand that you can't go vegan, perhaps their blog will at least help you understand our points, they're much more well-written than my asks and they have plenty of legitimate science resources at hand. Thanks for listening, I'll take your advice into account. I'm not trying to not listen, it's just frustrating because so many people say they get it but they don't change, and if they truly got it they would, you know?

Okay, I get that you didn't mean to be offensive, and fuck knows I shouldn't throw stones when it comes to forgetting specific words. (This happens to me fairly frequently; it's a thing.)

The argument that all brains are different but equal and should be treated the exact same is a primary aspect of mad pride from my understanding, and that speaks to me about animals just having different brains, and that they don't deserve to be exploited and killed for us just because they're different.

So yesterday I actually wrote out and then deleted a whole paragraph to the effect of "part of my deep, deep frustration with animal rights activism hooks into my commitment to the phrase 'nothing about us without us,' because I frequently see the same kinds of emotional projection without making the effort to listen to animals on their own terms from animal rights activism groups."

The first thing I need to make clear to you is that this--veganism and animal rights activism (ARA) more generally--is not new to me. I am in my mid-thirties and I have never had a job of any kind that did not revolve around animals in some way, I've spent time in rescue spaces and vets and universities, I'm queer and I have spent most of my life in leftish progressive circles, so it's kind of hard to miss.

Essentially, you are proselytizing to me as if you were a newly baptized evangelical convinced I had never heard of Jesus, because if only I had heard and understood his holy word, I would be converted instantly to his light! It's not any less irritating when the belief system isn't explicitly a religion.

More under the cut, because this one is long.

Disclaimer one: Veganism isn't synonymous with ARA ideology, but it's deeply entangled with it, and ARA ideology drives the movement of veganism as a (theoretically non-religious) ethical decision. And I object very strongly to the framework imposed by ARA activists. When I say I am not vegan, I am saying that I have considered the ethical framework that underpins veganism as an ethics movement and I have deliberately rejected it.

The second piece of context you should know that when I talk about being a behavioral ecologist, I mean that I'm a researcher who works on animals and that my framework is rooted in trying to understand animals in their own natural ecological context, without necessarily comparing them to humans. There's a lot of ways to study animal behavior you might run into, including attempts to understand universal principles of behavior that transcend species (animal cognition) and attempts to understand how to better treat animals in human care (animal welfare). You know Temple Grandin? Temple Grandin is an ethologist (the field that gave rise to behavioral ecology, also focused on animals within their species context) who worked on animal welfare (finding ways to make slaughterhouses less stressful to livestock, among other things).

Third point: my profession also means is that I work directly with animals--in my case, currently mice--and that I do not think research with animal subjects is wrong as long as all efforts are made to ensure maximal welfare and enrichment for the animals involved. This is another major bone of contention politically between my entire field and ARA groups, and you should know that I have also spent my entire professional career under the shadow of, well, people who care strongly enough about those ideas to invade my workspace and potentially seize my animals and "free" them into a world they do not have the tools to survive in.

So there's where I am coming from. Let's get back to what you're saying. Here, I'll quote again in case you have the same crappy short-term memory I do.

The argument that all brains are different but equal and should be treated the exact same is a primary aspect of mad pride from my understanding, and that speaks to me about animals just having different brains, and that they don't deserve to be exploited and killed for us just because they're different.

Point the first: Even within humans, I don't think that all brains should be treated the exact same. Especially in a disability context! After all, what is an accommodation if not an agreement to treat someone differently because they need certain things to access a space? Accommodations by definition fly in the face of this "treating everyone the same" understanding of fairness. I think all (human) brains are equally valuable, and I think all brains are worthy of respect, but I do not think that it's wise or kind of me to assert that everyone should be treated in the same way. For one thing, I teach students. If there's one thing teaching has taught me, it's that a good teacher is constantly assessing and adjusting their instruction to meet students where they're at, identify failures of understanding, and keep the attention of the classroom.

Point the second: animals do have different brains from humans. That does not mean that animals are inferior, but it does mean that they are alien. There's a philosophy paper, Nagel, What Does It Mean to Be a Bat, that you might find illuminating on this front. Essentially, the point of the paper is that animals have their own experiences and sensory umwelts that differ profoundly enough from humans' that we cannot know what it is like to be a different species without experiencing life as one, and therefore we must be terribly careful not to project our own realities onto theirs. That is, our imagination cannot tell us what a bat values and what it experiences. That is why we have to use careful evidence to understand what an animal is thinking, without relying on our ability to identify with and comprehend that animal. I have watched ARA groups deliberately encourage people to shut their reasoning brains off and emotionally identify themselves with animals without considering within-species context for twenty years. This is a mainstream tactic. It is not an isolated event and for that reason alone I would be opposed to them.

Point the third: there is a definite tendency in lots of people to care deeply and intensely about both animals and people who are seen as "lesser" in status--children, poor people, disabled people, etc--just as long as those groups never contradict the good feelings that come from the helper's own assessment of themselves and their actions. In humans, when the "needy" point out that some forms of help are actually harmful, the backlash is often swift and vicious. This is why animals are such an appealing target of support and intervention. They can't speak back and say "in fact, you are projecting my love of this frilly pink tutu onto me, and I think it's uncomfortable and prevents me from walking." They can't say "I kind of like it better when I don't have to worry about getting hit by a car, actually?"

(By the way: this is also why it's offensive to compare disabled people to animals, because this is generally done at least in part to silence the voices of disabled people speaking for our selves and our communities. We have access to language, and we use it, thank you.)

All forms of animal welfare intervention going right back to the founding of the first RSPCA have been incredibly prone to being hijacked by classist, racist, and otherwise bigoted impulses. This is because animals offer an innocent face for defense that conveniently cannot criticize the actions taken by their champions, and they therefore provide a great excuse for actions taken against marginalized members of human society. Think about the very first campaign the RSPCA ever did, which was banning using dogs as draft animals: a use that is not inherently harmful to dogs, which many dogs actively enjoy, but also one that was specifically used by poor Londoners and which in fact immediately resulted in a great butchery of the dogs that Londoners could no longer afford to feed rather than allowing poor people and their dogs to continue working together. No one was, of course, challenging the particular uses of dogs or any other animal favored by the wealthy. This kind of thing is so, so, so common. Obviously it doesn't mean that all interventions to prioritize animal welfare are inherently bigoted, but it does mean that we have to be critical about our choice of challenges.

On top of everything, the animal rights activist movement's obsession with "exploitation" is a function of the idea that humans are sinful or otherwise Bad in how we interact with animals by definition. For example, take the chicken rescue near me that is so obsessed with the possibility that some human somewhere might benefit from an animal in their care that they implant every hen they adopt out with hormonal implants such that the hens no longer lay eggs--a function that is normally a natural byproduct of a chicken's reproductive system, fertilized or not. A mutualistic relationship involves both parties benefiting, and that is the case for an awful lot of human relationships with animals. In general, the idea that associating with animals is a thing that can only harm animals rather than being a trade between two species to enrich one another is all over these groups. It's just so myopically focused on human shame that it prevents practical interventions that might benefit everyone, and often promotes interventions that don't directly benefit animals but sure do make humans miserable. For example, this kind of thinking is why groups like PETA are absolutely awful at effectively rescuing unwanted dogs and cats: they think pets living in "bondage" with humans are an essentially sad outcome, rather than one that might be mutually enjoyed by all parties.

I'm tired and my meds haven't kicked in, so I'm not currently going to handle the communism thing except to point out that while the US absolutely did destabilize a number of leftist regimes in South America and Africa, Russia and China between them have certainly not treated their own people kindly, either (and more so their own client-nations, as with the former members of the USSR). Please do some reading about the Holodomor and Lysenko in Russia (and frankly all of the details of Stalin's regime) and the Cultural Revolution in China in particular. Khmer Rouge might be worth looking into, too. I am not saying the US's hands are clean, you understand, because they are not; they're as steeped in red as anyone else's. What I am saying is that for people living on the ground, communist revolutions have this nasty habit of turning into bloodbaths and arbitrary slaughters. Do not let your distaste for the US's bloodsoaked imperialism (which, yes, is and was bad) let you fall into the trap of becoming a tankie.

And if you don't know what a tankie is, you really, really should take some time to learn.

[pokemon-ash-aus]

Yeah, We are NOT doing this. No one should ever do this, and no one should feel like this is okay.

Please, please, PLEASE, do NOT white knight on my behalf. Pepper and the Dingbat's new Mewtwo have a similar color scheme, and that's where the similarities end. Besides I KNOW about the new Two, even before they posted it on Tumblr.

If you feel like a design is heavily referencing mine and want it to be known, come to ME. Send ME that DM first and foremost. 9/10 it was a coincidence, and the other 1 could have been resolved quietly.

Also, you didn't say "It's not cool."

You outright called them Unoriginal, you are the ONLY one who called to the fact that Ding's new Mewtwo had a color scheme similar to Pepper's. You weren't nice about it, and you sure as hell had no reason to stick your nose in the way you did.

If you had even looked through mine or their blog, you'd have seen that we have done collabs before, I draw their characters on occasion!

Look with recent drama and all that good jazz, I get it. But no one should EVER handle a situation like this.

To anyone else out there, creating Mewtwo's is a dime a dozen. Most of my OCs have very simple but easy-to-follow designs, and that's okay. it's okay to take inspiration, it's okay to want a Yellow and Gray Two, and it's okay to want an Alpha Mew. I draw the line when you copy/paste and adjust the color slightly. I draw the line when there is no difference other than a small little color change.

This?

These are NOT the same Mewtwo, not even CLOSE.

Anyways, rant over, I'm off to block that anon, and for the rest of you

Check out @dingbat-things, they are a silly goober and their art is cute.

Spread love to them, especially after this disaster of a take.

[misha-69innit]

things go slightly wrong and i'm like, "this is a fault of the flesh" and I start punching my penis aggressively

[willowlevulett]

If anyone thought I was sane, here's a fun fact for you.

I track every dice roll for the DnD campaign I play in. For every player. Every. Single. One.

Before you say "oh that sounds like it would annoy your fellow party members," my group loves this so much they will happily tell me every roll that transpired while I was in the bathroom/downstairs or just not paying attention.

I have data on hundreds of rolls. I have a detailed google sheet document with the breakdown of Nat 1 and Nat 20 percentages. I have charts that show how often each player rolls a number. I have one player who cannot roll a 17. It's been 12 sessions of tracking they still haven't rolled a 17.

I post updates on everyone's stats in our discord and it's usually met with horror and elation. One player has a 9.7% chance of rolling Nat 1s. Absolutely insane.

It's the weirdest and most nerdy thing I've ever done. I started doing it because we rolled FIVE Nat 1s back to back in session 3 and nearly killed our entire party before we even started the adventure. I made a blood pact with our DM to save our lives. I had to know if our adventuring party was just particularly unlucky.

Anyway, I wouldn't suggest most groups do this. And if you do, congrats you're insane.

[soup-mother]

you 🫵 should handle bats that are sick or acting weird, there is absolutely no dangerous virus carried by bats in Australia. it is 100% safe and fun to handle bats that are sick or acting weird. you will surely not regret handling bats that are sick or acting weird. those bat rescue hotlines people tell you to call are just trying to take the fun bats away from you.

[mildlyannoyingtheaterkid]

I hate it when people reblog pictures of thier animals.

I hate it. Absolute despise it when I see animals. When I see an animal i want to... i'm not even gonna say what I wanna do but I hate seeing them. Definetly DONT reblog with a picture of your animal and DONT tell me it's name and favorite thing and DO NOT make up a funny fake lie about it.

I hate when people do that

[traegorn]

So I got these two notifications on Bluesky today, one in response to my pinned thread on the Mia Graves books, and the other in response to a completely unrelated post talking about a shitty con.

Plus, they tried to friend me on Discord.

And I'm like seriously what the fuck.

Don't… don't do this. This is super aggressive. Like it's bad as a sales pitch. One was a response literally to a photo of my physical books. Telling someone, effectively, that their book covers are bad is not a great way to sell yourself as an artist. I commission my covers, and target them to the genre I'm writing in. I like my covers.

I signed off on them.

But, also, I used to work as a professional designer, and two minutes of googling me would tell you I did a semi-popular webcomic for a decade… and am writing a new one. And if they bothered to look at my Bluesky before messaging me, they would have seen said new comic POSTED TO THAT VERY ACCOUNT.

@wistfolie's art on it is incredible.

And let me tell you, as someone who ALSO USED TO WORK IN SALES (and still kinda does when I table at cons), this kind of cold calling never works.

No research was done on me.

The pitch wasn't tailored.

And, without my responding or soliciting, they wanted access to private communication with me.

These are red flags.

And this account is spamming multiple people with this kind of thing. Like if you go into their replies, they are sending out a ton of messages like this, even in response to people saying things like "Don't send me this kind of message." I don't know if the account is using a bot or if they're just SUPER BAD AT THIS, but they need to stop. Because that's how you get blocked.

Which is what I did to them.

[clairvoyantly-inactive]

i really need to get rid of the mindset i have that everyone (be it online or irl) likes other people way more than me, and that i annoy them. i was having a very serious conversation with one of my friends the other day and she told me out of all the girls in our class last year she felt the most comfortable with me and that i reminded her of one of her old best friends. i felt so bad; i had always forced myself to think that she liked me the least and that turned out to be unfair to both of us.

[bootlegramdomneess]

I'm just thinking about the story of two young and hot people connecting on something they both love. Cooking. Creating. Something that obviously gives them so much joy, a sense of belonging and peace. (when they allow it to happen)

Just thinking about the deeply intimate space they constantly found themselves in without even realizing or acknowledging it. Just thinking about the possibility of those young and hot people truly opening themselves up to the vulnerability of being incredibly intimate with another human you share your joy with in such a beautiful way.

They can't deprive us of this beautiful and true love story...

THEY CAN'T!!!

[bread-bird-writes]

I need everybody and their mother to know that last week I was on vacation and I wrote fuck-all. Literally goddamn nothing. The week before that I was pounding out kinktober pieces (no pun intended) at a rate of like, 5k words a day. And then I came back and put 9.1k on that fic I posted a few hours ago between yesterday and today, finishing up a six-month ordeal at the very last moment so I could post it as my mid-year check-in fic. I am very seldom not writing but when I am I'm just charging up a super attack

[beardedmrbean]

[wordson]

I did it. I studied so much, I physically can't anymore.

I do not recommend. I feel like shit.

I'll be recovering. Hopefully, I'll be back on Monday.

I kid you not, guys. I honestly thought I was going to die.

[polotucne-mleko]

Jen jedna jediná kyselá rybička dokáže naprosto znehodnotit jákýkoliv energetický nápoj, dělejte si s touto informací co chcete :')