#solution-focused thinking

[animakis]

What Do You Complain About the Most? And How to Turn It Into Action

We all do it—whether it’s the weather, traffic, slow Wi-Fi, or that never-ending to-do list. Complaining is a universal human experience. But have you ever stopped to think about what you complain about the most? And more importantly, why? This blog post isn’t about shaming anyone for venting (because sometimes we need to get things off our chest). Instead, it’s about recognizing our patterns…

[pommancy]

Huevember 5 Solution Nine

[shallowseeker]

6x01

///

So, he HAS thought about this.

///

6x21

The only way for them not to be in danger, logically, is if the two of them not viscerally attached to Dean's head/memories. So, you'd think he'd have asked Cas to remove them from his own memories, too.

(And even that might not be fool-proof.)

But that's clearly not the case because...

[salty-we-never-got-mergana]

Ugh BBC Merlin tries to demean Morgana while trying to portray her as this great evil that Merlin has to kill through Killgarrah is just fucking disgusting. Like that laugh, "That witch does not have the power to wield the crystal", but Mordred does, the fuck?

Dude, in Arthurian legend, it is Morgana who is the sorceress, not Mordred. It is Morgana who is apprentice to Merlin, not Mordred. It is Morgana who is said to be his greatest of apprentices and his rival, and at times his enemy. It is Morgana who is his equal but apparently, she can't wield the Crystal of Neahtid, but Mordred could...

Morgana who is the only fucking seer we see in the show and who can see the future that for some reason fucking disappears in S4 of Merlin (I think).

God, I swear mainstream Arthurian shows like BBC Merlin and Starz Camelot is more misogynistic than the fucking legends themselves sometimes.

It's one of the reasons I was very into the Trollhunters cartoon series, especially the Wizards sequel arc... though I'll admit I haven't watch the entire series yet but I think I probably will.

Because at least Morgana there actually DID kick Merlin's ass. At least Morgana is acknowledged by Merlin and is claimed to be by he himself, the greatest wizards of all time, to be his greatest of apprentices.

Like okay make Morgana a villain but fucking don't demean her and say she can't wield powerful items especially items that can see through time and the future when you give her the powers to see the future and not the character, who in traditional legend, is supposed to be the prophet and seer, Merlin himself. And ESPECIALLY, don't say a character who isn't known to be a sorcerer in the legends, but just a knight, is meant to wield the powerful item more than Morgana herself, especially if you're trying to make her the main villain of the series.

Like omg, the villainy of Morgana in BBC Merlin is so fucking laughable that it's painful. I don't mind if she's a villain, if it's done right.

But they turn her into a fucking caricature and a joke. She's literally never on the same league as Merlin but supposedly the main horrible villain that we all have to be scared of.

The only substance is due to the actress herself and the fact that they wrote her as a benevolent heroine with good intentions in the beginning thus setting up a story of a villain who ultimately has good intentions but then resorts to extremes that later makes her a villain. That's a pretty great set up for a character who's supposed to be the villain and it's only due to the set-up of trying to write hero turned villain (but doing it terribly), her honorable motives of wanting to free magic kind, and Katie McGrath's wonderful acting in giving substance to the character, and depth.

Other than that, sorry Buzzfeed or whatever dumb fandom blog out there, I'm sorry Morgana is not the best character Merlin...or maybe she technically is. She certainly got more depth than the majority of the characters in the series.

Well aside from Merlin himself, but whether Merlin in BBC Merlin has depth is something to contemplate on a later date.

Feel free to offer opinions on that if you want. Do you think Merlin has depth in BBC Merlin. Is he well written? I actually kind of think he is, but I admit I'm not that invested in him like Morgana nor am I on his side on how he believes working within the system is the best way to help those with magic, because that kind of thinking sickens me. Maybe someday I'll get through the nausea and think about his motives and why he ultimately forsakes everything because he just happens to love Arthur more than his mission to free his people... even to the point of lying to Arthur and putting his people under the bus as "evil" and "liars" all so he could keep Arthur from killing his father due to the truth of how the ban on magic and the genocide on those who have magic was due to the fact Arthur's dad needed an heir and so decided to utilize magic to get his barren wife to produce a baby without actually thinking about the consequences of what bringing a life as a result of magic would lead too.

Ugh I'm sorry, I almost prefer Arthurian legend version of how Arthur was born and Arthurian legend version of Merlin over BBC Merlin because at least Arthurian legend Merlin had some fucking dignity and also he had a mission he followed through, or attempted to and truly did believe Arthur was the key to peace in Britian, that with Arthur's leadership, the Saxons and those abroad would be prevented from invading England.

The fact that ultimately it failed, is the tragedy, and in some ways BBC Merlin does somewhat mirrors this tragedy to an extend when it comes to Merlin's story because BBC Merlin does fail it's mission to in freeing those with magic.

The thing is...Merlin never tries. He never tells Arthur the truth until the very end and then Arthur dies, and the ban is never lifted to free magic. In fact, Merlin spends a majority of his time killing his own people who are trying to kill Uther for their own liberation and justice!!! All because he's afraid of Arthur hating people with magic! All because of WHAT ARTHUR THINKS! (as if the attempt itself isn't gonna really cement anything in Arthur? Like there's no real conversation on the why the villains do what they do. Hell Naruto does a GREAT job in exploring the why which is why the villains are so great. The hero sympathizes with the villain and yeah talk no jutsu is annoying, but you really get into the meat of the problems of the Ninja world, and it offers world-building in the sense that THIS is what the hero is up against, and he has to think, how to make the world better. This is what Arthur and Merlin should've done. Think about why magic people are killing Uther, and Merlin knows, I'm sure deep down if Arthur thinks about it, he knows too. But neither have this conversation. Arthur spends most of his time abusing Merlin, and Merlin takes is and just teases Arthur back and also comforts him about Gwen and all the ugh...nothing about magic. Nothing. Except lying about it being evil just so Arthur doesn't kill his own father when all he had to do was appease to Arthur's morality and tell him that if yes what Uther did was horrible but killing him isn't the answer and if he did, he would regret.

That's all you had to say Merlin!

The only one, the only one, who tries to talk to Arthur, and to UTHER about why the villians are trying to kill them, why the villians do what they do, is MORGANA! When she was good! She is the only one!

I swear to god, it's so hard to be a Mergana shipper when the centerpoint of the ship is this problem, the method in which to liberate those with magic by undoing the ban on magic. Morgana is the only one actually actively working on that. Yes, she goes to extremes, but what's Merlin doing beyond judging her methods? Huh? What?

He pisses me off so much sometimes that I truly truly wonder if he even deserves her at all.

He really doesn't.

Here enjoy this video that mentions how Merlin is against radicalism:

[stepswowdsen]

DO YOU THINK SAERU COULD BE CONSIDERED A MAMA'S BOY........ Is that even the right term...........

I imagine, in some AU where everyone lives a normal life, instead of pretty much everything that happens in kagepro, he could be a lot like Alastor from Hazbin Hotel..................

Fanon-verse Saeru as a "lazy bum" cat snake 🐈‍⬛🐍

OOOH I see!

I've definitely seen some fanon-verse takes of Saeru in the past with him chilling in the MekaDan's base like a cat ^^

So basically, fanon-verse Saeru begrudgingly helps with the MekaDan's chores and cooking when urged to help out.

I've mainly seen it in fanon-verse settings where it's just focused on the MekaDan's daily life shenanigans.

The idea of the Mekakushi Dan having fanon-verse Saeru lying around as a lazy bum type cat snek is so funny 🐈‍⬛🐍

Workaholic Saeru

I have canon-verse Saeru as a workaholic in my own interpretations, because I headcanon that he feels bored all the time and constantly craves stimulation.

So he tries to occupy himself by tinkering with tech, building robots, and making little gadgets and such.

Due to his knowledge, he's able to improve current existing human technologies by making his own upgrades.

He works on them in his own lab 🧪🥼🔬

Feila's Rambles

From my friend Feila:

"Maybe in an AU where he's more human-like, he'd definitely be a mama's boy 😭"

"Even when he's inhuman (AKA in canon), he's deeply devoted to Azami, I wouldn't say attached tbh, just devoted."

Me: Yeah same here. I think with canon-verse Saeru, I mainly see him as devoted.

I like the fact that this is his form of showing his devotion to his Master(s), even if in the most (misguided) and twisted way.

With fanon-verse Saeru, in a setting apart from KagePro's angst that takes place in a slice of life setting where he chills with the MekaDan, is generally an inconvenience, and generally causes them trouble.

So this kind of setting is a more lighthearted/comedic/fluffy slice of life setting

KagePro's Final Route (HCs)

I don't know much about HH, but I always imagined in my personal HCs that since Saeru is the creation of Azami, I like interpretations/takes where he's the Kozakura family's guardian figure in the Final Route of KagePro (post-canon)

It's not "redemption" (which I think he should never have - canon-verse Saeru should just stay as an irredeemable pure evil since he is more compelling that way), like he's very much the same (still very evil), but he just runs around like an unhinged gremlin instead.

And he still causes problems for the others but it's more contained.

So I still have him as evil and insane, but he's holding back his murderous tendencies and keeping them contained.

I tinkered with things a bit in my own setting, so that it'd keep with KagePro's core/central theme-ing of "The existence of hope in the presence of tragedy."

I imagined him possessing tech (via android bodies he makes) so that he can still exist.

I see it as his way of finally making up for his past karma, by finally doing good deeds this time for the sake of his Master(s), by putting his knowledge to good use (other than using it solely for his own selfish/self-serving desires lol)

(Ofc, he wanted to continue the time loop tragedy forever, and has no remorse about that fact. Like I imagine he didn't want to do this lol, but I imagined that it was the only option he could take for him to continue existing after being "defeated." If it means he can still live, then why not. So he begrudgingly took the offer.)

(Maybe Mary or Azami herself presented this option to him. At first he thinks that their proposal of 'finding his own meaning to life' is ridiculous, but since he can still live a more "quiet existence," he might as well take whatever offer he can get.)

[whitmore]

really actually kind of enjoy how the big lore moments are sort of quiet on a singular stream (or a small group!) instead of the events solely being the lore; i think there would be this hesitation to develop anything solo if the server reinforced this idea that Big Lore could only happen during scheduled events and days. instead the more narrative-progressing moments (take the baghera hybrid experiments revelation or the philza birdnapping for recent example) are very low-key and almost unhyped up— there’s no expectation for that kind of lore necessarily at the time which makes it more rewarding to experience as a viewer. big fan of how they do the events as player bonding time rather than serious narrative progression because it allows all the players (especially the ones who don’t engage in the rp side that much) to participate and get to know each another more; it’s very neat it’s really smart it’s nicely executed

[gay-artificer]

Okay I might not have anyone here whos able to contribute to this question but, in the past, I have used 'Hermaphrodite" as a purely scientific word, with heavy stressing that it is not to be confused with the definition of intersex or used to describe actual human beings under any circumstances. This is in part because I've never actually found a good term to replace it, as a lot of suggested terms are... unfitting or somewhat mismatched in a strictly scientific/biological sense. A lot of the suggested terms from more worldbuilding-focused individuals are used more (or strictly) for plants, or at least in 99% of contexts tend to be used for plants or describe slightly more specific things than just "Animal with both sexual systems at once." Plants as a whole have like... god, like ten different terms for various sexual setups because they can be stupidly complicated in a way that you just aren't likely to see with most animals, which tend to be more simplistic (at least slightly, lmao). There's also the slightly more niche issue that a lot of suggested alternatives address the topic from the strict goal of 'replace the word' and thus haven't yet spread to cover some of the specific forms that can apply too, although this would probably be a pretty easy fix if everyone can agree on a term, but at least as it is I still seems like everyone is split 5 different ways on which to use. In terms of fiction/casual use I've generally been defaulting to duel-sexed, which isn't an actual used term as far as I know, just because its pretty self descriptive and also wouldn't have some fringe specific scientific use- which is an issue I'd think you'd only really be bothered by if you were dipped in a lot of discussions about fringe animal biology- which is where I think a lot of suggestions from individuals more on the intersex activism side tend to fall when the terms they raise clash against niche situational biology things. Ive also used non-gonochoristic which is both clunkier and less easily picked up by less familiar individuals, but is also basically strictly 'animal' in use. Recently I've seen cosexual, which admittedly I seemed to have missed because yet again its a term where 99% of its use is isolated to plants, although it seems like there is a handful of uses cases that applied it specifically to animals (But still ultimately fall back on the other term in order to clarify the specifics). At least in terms of recent suggestions its probably the one I think would be most likely to pick up traction as a replacement, but its definitely still mired in the problematic terminology (In that basically everything I've seen use it only commits to using it alongside the other term, rather than attempt to replace it) and also still heavily plant related. Although not to the degrees of some of the popular suggestions like 'monoecious' which is a fairly common and well known word- but its specific relationship with other plant terminology makes it feel ill-fitted for the role when its not going to mixed with plant bullshit. Seriously look at this:

I've also seen bigenital suggested recently, which I frankly think is a much worse/weaker word both in terms of just, terminology and also its finer application. And then a handful of terms that just very blatantly have too much crossover with other things. Also a dozen other words that I've seen floating around over the years, but they definitely exist as mostly peoples personal suggestions/solutions and not ones with any real traction. It's a problem I've seen repeatedly brought up, but have yet to actually see any sort of formal correction take hold. And I think part of that is almost certainly a bit of a clash between nerds trying to maintain the specific definitions of things in an area where theres already a lot of confusing overlap, Activists who rightfully want get things changed but aren't clued in as hard to more niche scientific terminology concerns like "This is specifically for plants who have a specific type of reproduction system organization with their flowers, and thus doesn't quiet work for something that doesn't have multiple sets of genitals in different arrangements as most animals do" and well meaning scientists who want to avoid the word and try using alternatives but ultimately fall back on the one people know and that they know scientifically describes the thing they want to describe even if it also carries a historically negative connotation with it. Which is where I'm realizing I've kinda been sitting, because things really haven't shifted once you sit down and read the stuff that gets put out, and unlike some... other words its specific use case is a bit less easily swapped out with synonyms. So you just fall back in on the less ideal but accepted within the bubble youre working in term. So I guess the question is, has anyone here actually seen something make some ground past just sort of 'this would be a nice replacement'? I'd frankly love if I've just somehow missed a big shift in language in the scientific community, but so often I just see people claim that one term is the new standard when its like... standard in that its used heavily in botany, and there generally is a split between botany and zoology in terms of terminology that people would want to maintain. (God don't let anyone tell you 'male and female' are the only options or bring up that stupid 'its 1st grade biology' bullshit. The world is so stupidly complicated and this would not be an issue if it was so simple but unfortunately we need terminology for all the weird shit exclusively found in three species of cactus) Anyway, I typed this whole thing up kinda just to see if anyone else had yet more terms they've seen around or even used actually properly in a scientific paper, and its a whole mess thats been bothering me with specbio for years and at the end of typing this I'm honestly just hoping more that cosexed/cosexual catches on. I think it forms a nice trifecta with perisexed/intersexed/cosexed. And hey, maybe it has caught on more in the sex and gender side of things (let me know if so, if you happen to be more familiar with that) cause I certainly am more clued in to the non-human biology stuff which is where you get weird things one single species of rose has decided to do we now have to name. On a lighter note. God I hate plants. They give me headaches.

[neroushalvaus]

Girl help I have a fix-it in my head for My Shows, La Promesa, also known as Spanish Downton Abbey, a show famously only watched by middle-aged Finnish women

[theforestknowsmydreams]

didn't crochet all day... feels weird

[bbael]

Need someone to come fix my life for me because I can't look at things objectively and without feeling deeply ashamed/embarrassed of every decision I ever took and how everything currently is but also nobody is ever going to do that so 🧍

[i-exist-solely-for-fandom]

There are really brilliant and hardworking and caring individuals in this world and they care and are working really hard to improve and change systems and everything and I love college a lot. It doesn’t always stay that way but in the grand scheme of things I love it a lot. And a lot of my professors are so smart and hardworking and truly care. And I love my peers and my friends too they’re so fucking smart and dedicated and fighting against things like social media algorithms that want them to be addicted and people in power that don’t even want them to be alive sometimes and a lot of times older people think the younger generation is lazy and addicted to our phones or whatever but they have no idea sometimes the things we deal with and also people from other places sometimes which is mostly warranted but honestly some people take it too far and there are stupid cruel people everywhere don’t ever forget that. Every day I see them trying harder and getting back up and supporting each other and making art and getting involved with organizations like Planned Parenthood and being friends with people who are different than them and discussing voting information bc we’ve never had to do it before and sitting with each other watching the national election and getting involved with local communities and thinking how we can be better and putting the phone in the fridge or across the room and protesting and seeing local bands and going to the library and thinking of each other checking in and just being here

[velvetjune]

incredible to think that Alan Wake 2’s existence itself implies that maybe it’ll be about Alan finally leaving the dark place, directly solving the cliffhanger of Alan Wake 1, but instead now Saga, Casey, Rose, Tim, Alice, and (still) Alan are in the Dark Place. Genius subversion of expectations

[ebbpettier]

which is to say: in theory.

[ciswomenofficial]

No matter whether AI does a good job at what it does or not, rage against the technology isn’t going to solve the labor issues. It isn’t going to stop artists and writers from losing their jobs. Whether it’s able to do the job adequately or not, it will be used to replace that job if all we do is protest against the technology itself. It will similarly do so if we rally around liberal principals like “copyright” and “intellectual property.” Most of the “intellectual property” belongs to conglomerates, not to intellectual laborers. The same if you misrepresent AIs water and energy consumption. None of these will get you anywhere productive, and some of them (“intellectual property”) even show a petty-bourgeoisie outlook.

Of course we should be concerned about small independent artists having their lives be less stable—even if it’s not our chief concern. Whether someone is an artisan proper or has some semi-proletarian characteristics (that is if they are working a side hustle to get by while they work on their passion project) that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take their interests into account, but it does need to come from an industrial proletarian perspective first and foremost. Who will get laid off if AI technology is adopted? Who will lose their income? These are far more primary than independent artists.

The industrial proletariat is the most concentrated and unified force we have. It is this force with which we can fight and win. If we want to fight and win on the subject of AI, it must be fought with the organized industrial proletariat. Unions represent one lower form of this fight. The higher form of this fight is a political leadership that can lead to political reforms and regulations being adopted by the government as concessions, or perhaps even AI and other means of production being seized by the proletariat and regulated and technologically improved by the proletariat.

[fiepige]

The Venom!Hobie brainrot is real! Finally came up with a fic idea (that I can actually see myself write) while thinking about them all day at work lol

[anipgarden]

Ani Reviews: A Step-by-Step Guide to a Florida Native Yard

I promised you guys a review and here it is. I've never really done a book review before but I'm doing my best to make this Coherent and Helpful.

[Photo ID: a book, titled A Step-by-Step Guide to a Florida Native Yard by Ginny Stibolt and Marjorie Shropshire.]

Out of all the books I checked out from the library this round, I started with this one because it was the shortest out of all of them--if we don't count the appendix and index, its 101 pages long. You can read where I sort of live blogged a portion of this read here.

I think its a pretty good read! It's definitely a lot more relevant if you are the home owner and most directly in charge of landscaping decisions and such. It gives a bit of advice on how to handle making similar changes in an HOA neighborhood, and provides pointers and resources to other books that can also be helpful in the journey to make your landscape a wildlife-friendly habitat. It focuses on Florida specifically, as denoted by the title, and will frequently remind the reader that gardening in Florida is vastly different from gardening anywhere else. So whether you've been a Florida resident all your life, or are planning on making a move on down here, this book can be a helpful resource if you want to transform some or even all of your yard into a habitat.

After the introduction, the book is separated into seven major sections referred to as Steps. There's Assess Your Property, Plan for Drainage and Stormwater Sequestration, Install Trees, Plant Shrubs, Working with Herbaceous Plants, Build a Wild or Natural Area, and Create Spaces for Human Use. If you're more interested in one part than the others, you can definitely skip around to find what you're looking for. I will say, the Drainage and Stormwater section made my head spin a bit.

I will say this: I don't know if the writers ever fully decided if they wanted this book to be targeted towards those who are already gung-ho about native plants and itching to transform their landscape, or to people who are just beginning to dip their toe into the idea. Overall though, it was a nice and informative read, and the illustrations inside are lovely.