#a feature not a bug

[nosferatu-del-fanart]

I accidentally pressed down arrow and apparently you can input negative years. My age? I was not born. Now let me in. XD

[setokaibapetty]

Monday's Muse: Writing Prompt

Every régime needs its useful idiots.

[valentyn-the-mad]

I think there's a connection between not wanting to participate in activities that reduce harm without being a perfect solution to eliminate the problem - setting up safe places to do drugs, needle exchange, still masking to prevent covid spread, and even voting - and the pervasive cultural christianity of the US.

Many people just don't believe harm reduction is worth anything unless it perfectly removes the problem. And leaving aside the fact that imperfect is still better than no change at all, that it's in the name [harm reduction not harm elimination], that helping someone a little is better than not helping at all - I think this has to do at least in part with the very all-or-nothing viewpoint enshrined in many many many factions and denominations and belief structures that are informed by christianity.

I'm not going to get into a breakdown of each one, because frankly I am not a religious scholar, but I know that I have firsthand seen the way the whole country has been shaped by vocal religious groups demanding conformity to a certain set of standard beliefs and behaviors, slightly differing by group but overall policing behavior through fear of ostracization or retaliation.

I think that fear - inherent in the teachings of many of these groups, often especially in the ones most actively recruiting - of not being perfect, of not performing penance or dedication or conformity to the standard, which has dire consequences for those selective in-groups, has led to a sort of cultural decision paralysis.

In a world where your group - your support, family, community - will punish you for failing to perform to their standard, often emotionally hurtful if not physically damaging, why would you risk it? Why would you risk a solution that is not perfect? Why would you, under threat of disapproval and being marked as an outsider to those you hold dearest, ever try something that was not guaranteed to succeed in its entirety?

This is ignoring the fact that, culturally, socially, we as humans have decided that there are acceptable targets who deserve the suffering they get, no matter what luck of the draw put them in that position - we're not getting into how people made a bad choice and now should be just eternally punished I guess - although that is exactly the systemic thinking within those religious groups contributing, I believe, to their inability to actually do good for those who do not already fit their mold or want to break themselves to fit it. We won't get deeper into that.

I think, with so much of our society backed - quietly and not so quietly - by institutions that value this control and conformity, the need to be perfect to be rewarded spiritually, it has destroyed our ability at large to say "this solution is not perfect but it will help" and actually find value in helping. Helping, not solving, not permanently fixing an issue, but focusing on progress over perfection.

We're also in the midst of just truly unprecedented social and emotional burnout due to all the world events we have witnessed during the last 5-10 years, economic strain, the lot of it, so small steps don't feel like enough and long-term plans are exhausting to even think about let alone dig in and accomplish - but I think this feeds back into the unwillingness to compromise due to an ingrained social fear that many people harbor of being profoundly judged for making the wrong move, which leads them to then decide no action is the only right decision. Which then perpetuates the issues being decided on, because taking no action is still choosing to let things stay as they are, but that's not their direct fault so they won't be held responsible in the same way as making a Wrong Choice.

I don't have a solution here - I'm not going to start saying we need to abolish all religion or anything - but I do think that the pervasive cultural christian background[s] we have in the US is actually working against us due to the baggage it entails for so many people. I think the lack of value people put on making some things better even if it's not perfect, on reducing the harm done to other human beings regardless of whether they are just like you - I feel like it's connected. Caring is uncool, and worse, performing the wrong kinds of caring will send you to hell forever and ever. Amen.

[aethersea]

caiu :/

the name "theresa" is so funny like. theres a what

[onenicebugperday]

Rosy woodlouse, Androniscus dentiger, Trichoniscidae

Photographed in France by bvcruz

[aquamarinebling]

isafrin measurements comic based off this post of mine; bc someone asked, and I am a lady of my word (sometimes) <3

[aethersea]

#you think I’m winning against the horse????? #it is DEFINITELY reigning when I use it

@someoneelsemaybe with the only valid counterargument

Grammar PSA

the expression you're looking for is reining in. it is NOT reigning in. it comes from horseback riding.

you REIN IN your horse when you pull on the rein to tell him to slow down.

similarly, you GIVE HIM FREE REIN when you loosen your grip on the reins and let him run as fast as he likes.

that's where the metaphor comes from. you can rein in your evil vizier when he proposes a little too much child murder, or you can give him free rein when you need your enemies obliterated and only underhanded treachery will do. but unless he actually pulls off that nefarious coup he's plotting, the only one reigning here is you.

[lilybug-02]

Angry Bugs!

Bug Fact: The origin of the word "bug" is still unknown. Linguists suggest it came from the Middle English term bugge ("something frightening"). Likely connected to Scottish bogill ("goblin"), Low German budde ("louse, grub"), and Welsh bwg ("ghost").

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Volume 2 Masterpost

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[egophiliac]

hello! i wanted to say first that i'm a MASSIVE fan of your work hehe. but i'm curious if you've ever said it before-- who are your favorite twst characters and why?

thank you! 💚💜💚

honestly I like pretty much all the characters a lot, but diasomnia definitely holds my heart (and my art). all four of them are my special little guys. episode 7 has been such a delightful treat for me and me specifically. >:)

pre-episode 7 I would've said I couldn't choose between all of my beautiful morons, but getting Lilia's backstory did shoot him up into the #1 favorite-of-the-favorites boy slot! he's an old man who's done with all that war and tragedy business and is now focused on the most important part of life: playing video games and wearing cute outfits! he's 5'2" and built like a twig but he can suplex anyone in the room! he's really bad at pretending to be an Average Teen! what's not to love

also I just. really enjoy how main story Lilia is all:

and every-other-story Lilia is more like:

the duality of grampa. it's real good.

THAT SAID I am also extremely fond of our esteemed headmaster-slash-horrible bird dad. he's a fancy goth with the soul of a harried accountant. he might be the mastermind behind the entire plot, or he might just be an idiot. he might be both at once. he's awful. he's magnificent.

[keeskiwi]

Found a jerusalem cricket in my yard a few weeks ago and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. Have some sketchies.

[chirrups]

its a bug

[teaboot]

Any tips for being a suicidal 15 year old?

When I was a suicidal 15 year old everyone told me “it gets better”, and it sounded like bullshit. And frankly, it still sounds like bullshit. Like oh, what, I’m living in hell and you’re not gonna help me or *do* anything or give me any useful advice and I’m supposed to just hang in there on the nebulous, pithy promise that things are just gonna work out on their own? And you can’t tell me how or why, I’m just supposed to take it on the faith that I don’t have that something might change in ways I haven’t considered?

But yeah. It does. And it’s frustrating as hell.

Yes, things are gonna get better, and they’re gonna get better in ways I can’t describe even after experiencing it myself. Things you don’t even know CAN be different WILL be different. One day you’re just going to step outside and realize things got better somewhere and you didn’t even notice it happening.

And there’s really nothing I can say that makes that sound even a little bit believable.

I guess all I can tell you is that you have to want to believe it.

[self-made-purgatories]

We know how Spock feels about Kirk because we have t'hy'la.

But how does Kirk feel? Everyone talks about his absurd politician doublespeak in The Footnote, but what about this passage a few chapters later?

Spock has just appeared on the bridge for the first time and everyone is in shock (you know the scene). So what is going through Kirk's mind?

Although Kirk had been as dumbfounded as the others, he was please to note that he had recovered first and was now handling all this with some degree of command presence. But it still felt painful to be reminded so powerfully and unexpectedly of his friendship and affection for Spock--theirs had been the touching of two minds which the old poets of Spock's home planet had proclaimed as superior even to the wild physical love which affected Vulcans every seventh year during pon farr.

"See, guys, I didn't say we HAD sex, I said our relationship was BETTER THAN sex."

which could mean nothing

[aethersea]

corpuscular

If uppercase letters are capital letters then what the FUCK are lowercase letters

[penaltyboxboxbox]

seeing people on twitter complain about wags in rpf and not wanting to read about cheating on wife......take your sensitive ass back to not-real-person-fiction....

[celestialmacros]

Cherry Mining Bee (Andrena pruni)

April 13, 2025

Southeastern Pennsylvania