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me, sitting in the imperial palace in the middle of the Han dynasty, showing the emperor shit off my phone: ...So in the future, instead of having to keep your own council of eunuchs, there is a public one that anyone can go to for advice. They can't betray you because they're not loyal to you - hell, they don't even respect you, they are only loyal to their ideas of being right and correcting each other. They'll answer your questions unless they think that your question was stupid, in which case you're receiving a full downpour of their vitriol. No, they won't kill you if you offend them. The worst they can do is ban you from that particular subreddit.

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"kung pow penis," a phrase commonly used in reblogs to indicate utter disdain for OP, has twelve letters, each of which (traditionally) must be supplied by a different user. the unanimity of disdain indicated by these twelve unrelated users has strong parallels to the requirement of unanimity for a jury—also traditionally of twelve—to arrive at a verdict. in this essay i will

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underrated funny element of Lord of the Rings is that the prophecy about how “no man” shall kill the Witch-King, foreseen and spoken by a mighty elf-lord of old…is from Glorfindel. You know, our buddy Glorfindel, from Rivendell? Who picked the hobbits & Aragorn up for the last few miles to the valley, pursued by the Ringwraiths? Which he did because he is, yes, a mighty-elf-lord of old—but his primary and in fact only role in the story is as basically a high-stakes emergency uber guy. Also, when I say “mighty elf-lord of old”, I DO mean he’s a hero of the First Age, a lord of Gondolin ere its fall, famed for slaying a Balrog to safeguard the retreat from that grand city, now reborn & returned to Middle Earth to help fight evil…and he gave that prophecy about the Witch-King in like the mid-Third Age just ~2,000 years ago, like 5,000 years AFTER his epic Balrog duel. For the Men, this is a Huge Thing of Yore; for Glorfindel, it was, like, not just another Tuesday, but maybe a serious Saturday; and also he’s still here, just ubering lost hobbits.

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Personally I don't really understand why we are so anti-solidarity these days, but I don't like it.

"I relate to your struggle because it sounds similar to my struggle, therefore I want to help you with this the way I would have wanted to be helped myself" is pretty much the baseline of allyship. For whatever reason, though, it's almost become a matter of stolen valor and stealing the spotlight, and frequently I see it rejected outright.

I just don't get it. Personally I am thrilled when someone who Isn't Like Me reaches out to share help or even just an encouragement. I don't really see it as an out group "making it about themselves" if they're just trying to say they've experienced similar and sympathize.

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Thought I'd share this meme that has been developing on the r/lordoftherings subreddit over the last couple days. Enjoy!

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The idea that rural communities wouldn't benefit from public transit of some form is so fucking stupid. There was a guy in my hometown who would hitch hike 15 miles to the grocery store because he was blind that everyone knew and knew to offer rides to if they saw him. You know what else would have fixed this, been more efficient, and helped other disabled people, seniors, and people whose cars got repoed?

A fucking bus.

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kittens are amazing bc they're like what if a wayward ball of lint was also made of knives

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Are Pinky and the Brain still trying to take over the world? Because at this point, I'm willing to hear the Brain's platform.

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situation dire. i've been saying 'huzzah', 'alas', and 'tis unironically for like a year now. harmless so far.

however. i hath noticed i now mark half of my goodbyes with 'i must away'. it's spreading

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Random Rey Skywalker moments: 273/?

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Ketheric: my wife died-

Gortash: so did mine.

Ketheric: shut the fuck up. you were not married to the dark urge.

Gortash: yes I was.

Ketheric: you didn't have a family.

Gortash: we had gnolls.

Ketheric: you didn't have KIDS.

Gortash: do any of yours even talk to you

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This took a while!

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I love you fictional characters with mortal flaws. I love you villains that aren’t redeemable. I love you characters whose struggles aren’t pretty or palatable. I love you relationships that aren’t perfect. I love you characters who make mistakes and know it and know they can’t undo it. I love you!!!

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Jim Sterling - Second Best Detective.

Leverage S05E10 The Frame-Up Job.

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Jess Piper at The View from Rural Missouri:

I will turn 50 this September. I was born in 1975, and I represent the only generation of American women born with full rights that have been lost in the same lifetime. My generation has witnessed anti-progress. A cultivated backpedal. In the grand scheme of things, American women did not enjoy rights for very long. All of my childhood pictures are in color — not black and white. The movie “Jaws” was released a few months before my birth. President Ford announced the end of the Vietnam War and Microsoft was founded in 1975. Women were officially allowed to join the Coast Guard and Wheel of Fortune and Saturday Night Live both debuted the year I was born.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened in 1975. The biggest song of the year was “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. You are likely familiar with all of the trivia and events I just listed from 1975, because it wasn’t that long ago. I was born 50 years ago with the rights that my daughters and granddaughters are losing or have already lost. I was born six years after the right to a no-fault divorce was first established. This law allowed women to divorce based on "irreconcilable differences" without needing to prove fault on the part of either spouse.

I have always lived under legislation that allowed me to divorce. I was born two years after Roe. The case established a woman’s right to an abortion and medical privacy under the law. I have had reproductive rights for most of my adult life. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act became law one year before I was born. This legislation made it illegal for banks to discriminate against loan and credit applicants based on sex. Before the ECOA, banks could legally refuse to grant women credit or they could require a husband's co-signature. I have had the right to control my finances all my life. I have had certain rights even if they were constantly under siege in my red state. The rights that women have enjoyed for a full generation are being rolled back by Christian nationalists to support authoritarianism. A cultish form of Christianity to pave the way for the oligarchs to form an authoritarian government with Trump as the figurehead. Everything from no-fault divorce to abortion to women having a bank account runs afoul of Christian nationalism and Evangelicalism. Their religion subjugates women and is antithetical to feminism and equal rights.

The patriarchy in general, and the Christian patriarchy in particular, subsists on the submission of women — either with a woman’s consent, or by force. Women must bend to the will of laws and regulations meant to keep them under the boot and without certain rights that would make them balk at forced compliance. [...]

Throughout my life, I’ve heard the argument that young men have been “falling behind” for decades and that women’s rights must be pulled back to let the men catch back up. That women’s rights have limited men’s rights. That’s a lie. Men can progress just like women have. Men can and should be able to get educated and find a job and get a bank account and get married and start a family (if and when they want) just like women have been able to do for an entire generation. And if they can’t? Well, that’s their problem to figure out and it has nothing to do with women having equal rights. Human rights aren’t pie. Giving rights to others doesn’t mean you get less. Equal rights are guaranteed under the Constitution…even if Republicans hate the Constitution. I have lived my life with the rights my daughters have already lost. Many more rights are on the chopping block, but I am telling you, I will not go quietly and neither will the folks around me.

Jess Piper recounts the experiences of how the Gen-X generation being the only generation to enjoy their rights in full before it became a gradual erosion.