pike-the-laurels

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In 5-10 years we will see a major swing towards religiosity from a lot of people who seem like unlikely candidates now. I'm basing this off a marked increase in left-leaning individuals who are coping with the realities of the times by becoming obsessed with their own personal virtue, even if maintaining it requires inaction and withdrawal from the world at large. To them, it seems better than becoming a bad person by working with imperfect people and pursuing imperfect solutions; it's not ok to compromise yourself, even if you think it might be better for the community in the short or long term.

If you become convinced the world is too polluted, too compromised, too evil to be negotiated with, it's only natural that you will eventually be drawn in by the promise of spiritual realms or states where none of that matters anymore. It's tempting to submit to the narrative of a perfect savior who is coming to fix it all at once. It's not inherently bad to be religious, but if you're letting it fill a space in your brain where your own judgment should be, it's very dangerous.

We need to watch out for those close to us who are falling into this spiral and becoming vulnerable to predatory organizations and individuals. It's better to have both feet on the ground with the rest of humanity, even if it means you must get your hands dirty sometimes. Do not get bullied into self-monitoring so rigorously that you're afraid to act, or interact, or speak, or read, or have fun. Stop giving a shit about whether you're perceived as ideologically pristine yourself and focus on the well-being of your community and other people, whether on a small scale or a large one. It's the only thing that actually matters in the end.

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okay. listen. if you ever find yourself falling into a new ideological circle, pay attention. if you notice that you’re among people who define themselves as part of an “in-group” with a pre-prepared human “enemy” to constantly rail against—if everyone fantasizes about the mental state of these loathsome monsters, if they participate in witch hunts or (perhaps worse) poke bears and court harassment on purpose to comfort each other over—get the fuck out. you haven’t been enlightened to some grand conspiracy, there are no evil “enemies” or “degenerates” trying to rip apart the fabric of society, and you do not have the moral duty to “enlighten” anyone to whatever you think the “truth” is. it’s neither safe nor normal to spend hours of your day fighting with strangers on the internet

a lot of people wear this shit like a badge of honor, but it’s also not normal to hide your “in-group” status as a form of martyrdom, relishing when the “enemy” slips up around you. it’s comforting in the moment, but in the long run, you’re alienating yourself from the world outside of your bubble. the more you alienate yourself, the more vulnerable and lonely you become, and the harder it is to reject the comfort of belonging to the “in-group”

i’m writing this from the perspective of someone who grew up in a cesspool of awful, cult-like rural churches—which is its own situation—but i see similar shit happening in online communities all the time, both within and 800 miles outside of my own ideological principles. yes, every toxicass radfem i block seems to be trapped in a version of this vicious cycle, but i also see it happening in random queer circles and niche fandom communities. no one is immune, not even me. i’ve watched people fall into this shit and never make it out. be careful

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I’m gonna teach you to fix your dang pants

Alright are you DUMMY THICC with POWERFUL THIGHS that keep DESTROYING YOUR JEANS?  Are you super fucking broke and can’t afford new clothes?  Would you rather not contribute to disposable fashion, one of the MOST UNETHICAL industries of the modern age, on which I have many thoughts?  I’m here to show you how to keep your pants on unnatural life support until they literally disintegrate off your legs.

You’ll need some basic sewing skills and supplies.  If you don’t have a sewing machine, jump to the end, I’ll add an epilogue just for you.

Step one: look at this disgrace.  How did this even happen.  What was I doing.

Now you don’t need to do this next bit, especially if it’s a less extensive repair, but I’m going to show you how to make a nice pattern for this, if you like nice patterns.

Turn one leg inside out and put it into the other, so you can see the tear.

Put a piece of paper on the area and trace around the hole - it’ll take some guesswork, but you can figure it out.  You want it big enough to cover the hole, and extending far enough from it that you aren’t just sewing into places where the fabric is worn super thing.  I like to stop at the crotch and inner leg seams, both because the pants are shaped there so it’s hard to get a patch to span it without something puckering, and because it’s a good sturdy anchor to sew to.  Mine looks like this.  Yours will…probably be smaller.

Now cut that shape out of some fabric.  I cut two, because I have similarly shaped holes on both sides.  You do NOT need to add seam allowance.  For the fabric, I recommend cotton twill or canvas (not treated canvas, you don’t want anything plasticky on your crotch).  Twill is what most casual pants are made of (denim is a kind of twill).  Canvas is the same but heavier.  You’ll want something that roughly matches the color of your pants, obviously.  I did not have this.  I decided I do not care.  My pants will look DUMB but I am a GOBLIN.

I serged the edges of mine (because I’m the kind of goblin with a SERGER but not TAN FABRIC?? apparently) but that’s not necessary.  Turn your pants inside out and pin the patch in (one at a time, if you’re doing multiple).  Make sure the patch lies completely flat against the pants fabric, and isn’t bunching or bubbling.

Now shove it under the sewing machine and stitch around the edge.  I recommend sewing right on top of the existing seams where you can, since the pants are sturdy there.  The tricky thing is not accidentally catching other parts of the pants while you’re sewing around the patch, but you can do it, I believe in you.  If you mess up, just seam rip that bit and try again.

Once the patch(es) are in, turn them right side out.  The holes are covered, but there’s a bunch of loose, ragged fabric flapping around that’s just going to keep getting shredded.

So take it back to the sewing machine, and just…sew everywhere.  Start at the edge and make a big spiral to the center.  Or make a bunch of parallel lines.  Or start wherever you want and just go wild.  But fill the patch with stitching everywhere there are two layers of fabric.

This not only keeps the layers together but REINFORCES them, so your sad pants will be STRONGER THAN EVER.  It’ll look like this, and you’ll be like “ew, everybody’s going to see my butt stitching.”

But they won’t.  Trust me.  They won’t.  Because it’s all up in your butt crack, and if they’re looking close enough you’re legally allowed to kick them.  Even with my dumbass fabric choices, you can’t see it at all from the front (enjoy weird blurry shot of my crotch).

And you can barely see it from the back.

AND NOW YOU CAN WEAR YOU FAVORITE PANTS, AND NEVER BUY NEW CLOTHES EVER AGAIN.  I think I’ve done this to EVERY pair of pants I wear on a regular basis.  Some MULTIPLE TIMES.

My note for people without a sewing machine:  you can do this by hand, it’ll just take longer.  Use sturdy thread and sew with a prick stitch (or pick stitch, depending on who you ask).  That means that when the thread is on the outside of the fabric, make the stitches absolutely tiny.  That leaves less surface area to be abraided by the aforementioned slapping of your thighs.  It also looks nicer - so I would do that if you’re fixing some really nice dress pants whether you’ve got a sewing machine or not.  This is what a prick stitch looks like on the outside.

If you’re doing it by hand, and if you want extra reinforcement, I’d also recommend getting some Heat ‘n Bond (or Wonder Under, etc, there are a few different brands, any permanent iron-on adhesive will work) and affixing the patches with that first.  I only didn’t do that because I don’t have any.  I would not recommend putting the patches in ONLY with iron-on adhesive, even though the manufacturers say it will work.  It’s not strong enough for your powerful thighs.

Now go.  Stop buying pants.  End the disposable fashion machine.  The revolution starts with your ass.

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If you see someone with a really bad fandom take, I’m begging you to open your emails and write a strongly worded missive to your local government official about something bad happening in your community or country.

If you’re in Canada you could email a rep about concerns about Elon musk interfering in our next federal election.

If you’re in the US the list is endless.

If you’re in the UK you could email about trans health care.

If you’re in Australia, what about dental care in Medicare?

If you’re in Europe, look into some EU initiatives of particular concern. Perhaps something to do with nature and biodiversity? Idk

Just today I emailed my local mla about coal mining in the Rocky Mountains and tomorrow I’m going to pick something else and do it again

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Perfectly matching and replicating colors just by seeing them is an art, and, while it's also a very useful task, people who can do this are primarily artists.

Massimo / X

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I hate that thing some people do where it's like. "I left my wallet on the table to see if you'd say anything" or "I wanted to see if you'd wash the car if I stopped doing it"

Cause like

I dont know about anyone else

But I am perpetually hovering three inches above the strong subconscious belief that everyone knows what they're doing at all times except me, so if you change your normal patterns and I notice, then I will assume it is an intentional choice with a thought-out plan behind it and I will avoid interfering

And if I don't notice, because I won't, because why would I, because not much bothers me and if you don't say anything to indicate you are bothered then how would I KNOW

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If you can't cope with the reality of having been wrong, done something wrong, or hurt someone without melting down or having a crisis, you're not safe for anyone to be around, btw. Fucking up is an inevitability of being alive. You literally need need to learn to handle situations in which your actions caused someone else to be hurt, because this is never going to be a thing that just stops happening. Being able to just be wrong, or misinformed, or ignorant, or straight up the one who committed an unforced error to others' detriment while maintaining at least a thin veneer of decorum and reasonability is not optional.

You're not owed forgiveness by others, but you need to learn how to forgive yourself for running afoul of your own value system, otherwise you will render yourself incapable of internalizing when you actually have, thus rendering the value system itself utterly useless at guiding your behaviors, and rendering you effectively devoid of one, besides "I'm never wrong, I'm never the bad guy," I guess. And I'm sure you don't need me to explain how that can only go horrifically, catastrophically wrong.

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My Human is Not

Written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly

Art by Sonny Liew

Star Trek: Waypoint Special #1

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happy glorious 25th of may

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Getting married has been something I’ve always wanted and simultaneously knew I would never have. I’m not the easiest person to deal with. I’m particular as shit, ornery and I like my space, my independence, my solitude. But at the same time- well. Everyone wants to love. To know and say they have a family that loves them. And my birth family might’ve said they loved me. They certainly loved their daughter. 

It turned out they didn’t love how she insisted she was their son. 

You know how that kind of thing goes. It really doesn’t have too much to do with this story except giving me a complex about belonging to a family that wanted me for myself.

When I saw the ad on Craigslist, I was looking for used furniture. Scrolled too fast, accidentally opened up domestic gigs. The first listing caught my eye.

“Wanted: Compassionate man to marry our recently deceased daughter.”

The initial click was just out of morbid interest.

It read, simply enough, “Our daughter wanted to be married and we want to keep our promise to her that she would be. She has passed away, and we are seeking a kind and compassionate man to engage in a quiet, non-legally binding ceremony and become our in-law. 

“This is not a joke and we are in bereavement. Please keep this in mind when considering your reply.”

It got taken down within the next five minutes, either by the family or moderation, but I’d already texted the number provided.

Keep reading

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Download this easy DIY clothing repair guide (only 10 pages) from Uni of Kentucky

link to PDF

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murderbot is so relatable like

tell us your name murderbot: no

gender? murderbot: no

sexuality? murderbot: absolutely not

what about your past? murderbot: [redacted]

your mental state? muderbot: borked

do you have friends? murderbot: that would be embarrassing

tell us what you care about murderbot: [dissertation on media]

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you gotta understand that the logic behind "vaccination causes autism" and "gender ideology is making women and girls want to take testosterone and cut their breasts off" is the same basic thought process. and because of that, they can actually be refuted in the same ways. but there are two main arguments against those propositions, one of which is really flawed but favored by liberals and people who aren't actually good allies, and the other actually raises important questions about the unstated assumptions at play in the original statements.

1. no it doesn't

and

2. what would be so wrong with that?

we need to be on the same page that (1), while completely true and reasonable, is not a useful argument here. you can argue facts until you're blue in the face but if your opponent simply doesn't recognize the same set of facts you do, it will never work.

(2) is the argument you need to be making. you need to address the fact that using a group of people as a boogeyman (autistic people and transmascs, in these cases) because it presupposes that being one of those people is some kind of terrible fate. you need to actually acknowledge that we are not a fate worse than death. it is insulting to see "allies" stop short of actually saying we deserve to exist.

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PILOT ANIMATIC'S OUT NOW!!!!!!!!