overfedvenison - Tumblr blog

[overfedvenison]

I just saw a person on this site complain about finding it hard to concealed-carry a gun in cute girl clothes.

My first thought was... "Man, the US seems like a frightening place to exist if people like that want to be armed." (Which is a stereotype after giving it a moment of thought, there are concealed-carry gun weirdos in other countries, I'm sure)

My second thought was "Wait, but it's literally not, have you not heard of a purse?"

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learning that apparently several hundred people have been pronouncing 'miette' as 'mighty' has actively worsened my day

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[overfedvenison]

Today, Eric Flint passed away.

I know I’m probably one of the only people on this whole site who really cares about that, but goddamn does this break my heart.

For those who aren’t aware, Flint was famous for being one of the best writers in the entire alternate history genre. His best work is the incredibly long-running (and genuinely well-written) Ring of Fire series, which chronicles the tale of Grantville, a West Virginian coal mining town which is magically transported back in time from the year 2000 to 1631 Thuringia during the Thirty Year’s War.

Flint was a genuinely fantastic writer, and not just among the (admittedly low) standards of the alternate history genre. Flint showed that alternate history stories didn’t have to be boring glorified textbooks full of unlikable characters constantly based around Nazis winning WWII or other tripe; he reminded us just how *vast* history truly could be, how storied, fantastical, and just plain fun it could be to explore, how you could included actually likable and interesting characters, how you can write genuinely interesting love stories, and have characters let their hair down and banter in a sci-fi setting.

Flint was the kind of guy to ask “What if the Serene Republic of Venice got access to magic and become an expansionist empire?”, “What if hyper-advanced A.I.s traveled back in time to the Byzantine Empire and tried to re-write history in the name of either fascism or democracy?” or even “What if the Cherokee and lots of freedmen formed their own republic in Arkansas after the War of 1812?” Flint was a writer who helped uplift and support other authors, had helped save the works of authors who have been out of print for decades, and pretty much single-handedly revolutionized how modern authors do electronic publishing.

Eric Flint was a writer who reminded the alternate history and sci-fi genres that your stories can be actual stories and not just bland explorations of potentially interesting ideas.

Eric Flint passed away today, and the world is all the poorer for it.

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[overfedvenison]

Mythbusters have 3 categories of myths

the general public doesnt know how physics works

the general public doesnt know how lying works

oh crap this ones real

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Idk this made me laugh.

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people born in 24 Are 2000 now

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in the latest cyber-news: the internet archive has lost their case against 4 major publishing houses (verge article). they’re going to appeal, but this is still a bad outcome. the fate of the internet is currently hanging in the balance because 4 multibillionare publishing groups missed out on like $15 of combined revenue during the pandemic because of the archive’s online library service. it’s so fucking stupid.

for those who don’t know what the internet archive is, it’s a virtual library full of media. books, magazines, recordings, visuals, flash games, websites - a lot of these things either don’t exist anymore or cannot be found & bought. heard of the wayback machine? that’s part of the internet archive. it is the most important website to exist, and i don’t say that lightly. if the internet archive goes down, the cultural loss will be immeasurable.

so how can you help?

boycott the publishing companies involved in this. they’re absolute ghouls, frankly, and don’t deserve a penny. the companies involved are harpercollins (imprints), wiley (imprints), penguin random house llc (imprints), and hachette book group (imprints). make sure the websites are set to your location as it may differ worldwide.

learn to torrent. download a torrent client (i recommend transmission), a vpn (i recommend protonvpn - sign up and choose the area that’s closest to your continent/country), and hit up /r/piracy on reddit for websites. with torrenting, you can get (almost) any media you want for free in high quality, with add-ons such as subtitles, and with no risks of loss. i would also recommend getting into the habit of watching stuff online for free. the less you can pay to a giant corporation, the better.

get into the habit of downloading and archiving materials. find a TB external hard drive, ideally the higher the better. it’ll probably cost around $60 for 1TB and continue to go up, but they’re so so useful. if you can’t afford a drive, look for any GB harddrives or memory sticks you have lying around and just fill them up. videos, pdfs, magazines, songs, movies, games - anything you can rip and download and fit on there, do it, because nothing is permanent.

donate to the internet archive. this is the most important option on the list. the IA relies entirely on funding, and it’s going to need more to fight this case. whatever you can donate, do it. i promise it’s helpful.

and finally…

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[overfedvenison]

lol i hate today’s era of absolutely zero nuance takes. a friend didn’t behave exactly as you’d wanted them to? cut them off. a guy didn’t text you back instantly bc he has his own life? he’s just giving you breadcrumbs. doing something makes you uncomfortable? don’t do it anymore. someone isn’t instantly available for you? disinterest. just absolutist statements that often don’t apply to the multilayer situations of everyday life. like. stop. literally just stop it

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