#and dont even get me started on the hashtag system

[kokoasci]

has anyone else been getting like no reach on insta lately or is that. just me

[anarchy-flagz]

im coming back to the internet!

update post? im coming back to tumblr, insta, yt, etc again. soon i will be back to making up terms and posting the silly little flags.

anyway i need to talk about why a certain hashtag has been removed from many of my posts. and the reason i was gone in the first place. look, im not going to sugarcoat it, i was in an abusive relationship. im not going to go too much into detail but this person was very controlling over me and my system and was abusive to me and all our headmates. to people worried where me and all my friends went, this is what happened. i didnt want to say anything about it online while i was still with them because i was scared of them (and i still am.) i had purposefully not questioned our relationship until one of my headmates brought it up that their not going to change. which in all honesty they didnt. but looking back at the posts i made then, it was obvious something was wrong. firstly i had to break one of my blog rules of not giving credit to creators of terms/flags since terms belong to communities, not people. they always wanted credit for whatever they made, so i gave it because i didnt want to fight about it. also as sone may have noticed, my flags got very desaturated in color. they had this thing for really desaturated colors to the point where some of the flags they made couldnt even have the number of stripes counted because the colors was too hard to see. well he got mad at me for anytime i put even slightly bright colors in my flags. i know some of them are too bright, which is a topic for another time. but they was being somewhat ridiculous with it, making me change the colors on flags even if i already desaturated it. there was also one time they said my flag was ugly and remade it, which made me feel really horrible because i like the flags i make and for someone that i loved to say they hated it made me cry. i dont really care much if people want to remake my flags or hate on them, its just when someone that was close to me did it, it really hurt. also im going to keep this part short because i really dont wanna have to bring up other stuff they did but basically i never felt like they accepted me for who i am. it was not liking me because of i have too many genders and pronouns or because my orientation is uhh weird. like oh yeah make fun of me because my labels are stupid or becausse i put too many pronouns and shit on my personal google doc. also the um.. roleplaying (not going to elaborate on this.) they knew how much i care about making terms and flags but yet they ruined it for me. at one point i gave up on making terms and flags and even archiving flags or even adding things to my gender horad because i completely lost my confidence in all of it. shortly after that i started loosing my will to live. one day after something happened that pissed him off he quit talking to me and didnt break up with me. thats unrelated but it still makes me angry. i didnt want to leave them because i didnt want to admit to myself that i screwed up by getting together with this person. only reason i ending up leaving is because one my headmates did it. after that i realized something. i never loved them. dont go and find this person. just avoid them. if you see them out in the wild, just walk away. just please dont tell them i said anything or that im back online because im trying really hard to avoid them. i dont feel safe being anywhere near this person so i really dont want them slithering back to me. i know their not a very pleasant person to be around and that they do have a history of not only abusing us, but others to.. but please dont ask me for now atleast to make any type of call out post. its not safe me. hell, even posting this probably isnt safe. but im not going to hide this. because im not just going to suck up to them and cover for them forever. anyway have a good day/night everyone and thanks to anyone who read all the way through!

[wingwounds]

got kinda long maybe ? srry . system stuff and also religion but i put that part under a cut

okay i . know why . anyways im looking at old posts 🌿 made on this account and its so strange bc i dont remember making them / i feel so detached from them . but also theyre pretty relatable nonetheless . should i put this on our sys acct idk idc . we were all pretty confused wen 🌿 split tbh cause liek . dont i kind of have That Whole Thing covered 🧍🏽 . but apparently we're different enough . it feels liek a different person wrote that . this is so funnie but also hm lets not indulge too much . hes been around tho . you know , i didn't realize how religiously charged a lot of what he says is ndnxJJSMXMXMA the posts below are from back in may , and . religion warning

what else can you do but throw your head back and laugh. when everyone hates the sound of your name. aah, i want to hear someone crying. i want to laugh at them, you know? for begging. those who try to "save" me, i wont forgive them. just feel my heartbeat. can you feel it through a book? a thick one? can you even feel it pounding through a bible? i wonder what you could do to make my heart pound hard enough that you could feel it, even then. do you want to try it, now? i can disrobe

oh, am i too sullied for one so pure? i love to tilt my head. let me get you on your knees. we can start our own prayer group

^^^ its funnie wrt us being so similar bc these posts are SO relatable id definitely reblog them if i saw them on tumblr , theyre so hashtag me . but . that wasn't me zjxGSJJXMCMXMA i dont remember making those posts 🧍🏽

[lexosaurus]

How do you get people to follow you and your schedule??? How to make a fandom schedule??? How are you so influential??

i could answer this sort of meme-y like "lol i post stupid things" but if u actually wanna know how to throw a proper event, here are some tips:

---

1. if you're a small blog, collaborate with other blogs. the first time i picked up an event, i probably only had like half the followers i do now. so i buddied up with multiple blogs to get as much reach as possible. it can be fun to work with other people!

---

2. make your shit look nice. if you're making an actual calendar, make sure it's colorful and fun, but also legible. this is actually hard to do, especially if it's a 31 day calendar. when in doubt, post the prompts again below the image calendar.

also, this is kinda an aside, but if you wanna make a fun calendar using images online, make sure you filter your google searches by the image copyright. dont be that asshole who makes an art event and...accidentally steals art to promote it.

if you're lazy and are just making a post, still organize the post in a way that's fun. whether that's using emojis, paragraph lines, etc., have your post be pleasing to the eye. if it's just a bunch of walls of text, people aren't gonna read it.

---

3. make an event that's unique. the classic dannymay calendar event is cool and fun, but it can be oversaturated. i think events work best when you take that prompt-style familiarity and find a twist or niche to it.

---

4. give people an easy way to engage in the event. whether you make a discord, make a separate blog for it, or just throw up a hashtag and pin the post to your blog. it doesn't matter so long as the event has its own easy way for people to find the content. ---

5. establish in writing the level of participation required. whenever i throw events i CONSTANTLY get asks/DMs of people worried that they won't be able to participate every day and can't do the event, or they're posting late, etc. if your event is like invisobang and is very intensive, say so. but if it's like dannymay or side hoes week and is pretty much a "do what you want," say it and reiterate it every time someone asks. because you never know who's lurking and may want to post something but doesn't think they're "good enough."

(funny story, i actually never tried phic phight till this year because i knew i couldn't make more than 1 or 2 fics for it. turns out u can literally not write anything and still score points for your team, and even if you don't get points, you're not shamed or banned from future phights. so that made me really excited to try the event out, and i loved it!)

---

6. engage with people's content during the event. i make a queue system, i read and comment on fics, i follow blogs, i reblog stuff all the time, i always try to leave nice comments in the tags at the very least. i like to let people know that i see the effort they're putting in and i love and support it. positive encouragement is one helluva drug.

---

anddd yeah that's all i can think of. keep in mind that different types of events require different amounts of work. i prefer to run "hands-off" types of events where i do a bunch of prep beforehand, but then once the event actually starts, aside from checking the tag every day, i don't do much. but some events, like phic phight or truce, require a LOT of work before, during, and after the event. so if you know that you can't handle that, then just don't do it. it's the exact reason why i had to step away from truce last year, and honestly it's better to pull away before than to get into an event and realize you're in over your head (which has happened to me before and it's no fun i promise).

[preciousmomentsfigurine]

i really dont (but also kinda do) know how i feel about this guy ive been talking to... he found me through the #breakingcodesilence hashtag on instagram which is like where people share their stories about the troubled teen industry, he commented on my post about my experience with wilderness and therpeutic boarding school and i messaged him on a whim. turns out we have a very similar background and a lot of the same issues post treatment, and we instantly kinda connected. not too long after we started talking over dm and text we talked on the phone and ended up talking until the sun came up...its obvious we were trauma bonding and it was super validating and insane to talk to someone who really understands my mental health issues and trauma but im starting to feel like thats all we really have in common. i mean we have stimulating conversations and hes incredibly smart and interesting but i can kinda tell already that in person we probably wouldnt have much chemistry, not to mention im not very physically attracted to him. but naturally we’re both lonely and the conversations have gotten sexually charged at times and he wants me to come visit him in portland and see how we get along. hes also one of those people whos really into the science of drugs, very knowledgeable and fascinated by the potential therapeutic properties of them, particularly psychedelics - he wants to take some drugs together which sounds fun obviously and it would be cool to experiment with someone who knows his shit but it also sounds kind of risky considering ive never even met the guy and im a pretty vulnerable person. idk, part of me trusts him and i dont know why, hes been a good support system recently and given me some really good advice but things are moving really fast and im not sure what to do.

[temarisnara]

Temari, Shikamaru, Neji, Rock Lee

god this is my THIRD ATTEMPT TO DO THIS SO IM DOING IT IN WORDS DOC

temari

favorite thing about them: i've written this 3 times!!!! BUT!!!! i love that at the age of FIFTEEN she'd already got the title cruelest konoichi. like. ilu queen. and she's so confident too, like she knows she could wreck anyone's shit, she goes up against MADARA without ever pausing. and i love that whilee on the battlefield she's cruel, as a civillian she's just...lowkey a bitch. like she's scary and people know to fear her but she doesnt actually...bully anyone besides shikamaru. she's also so ride or die for her brothers and i LOVE it.

least favorite thing about them: whatever that ooc mess was that was used to get her and shikamaru together.

favorite line: idk but when she tells madara "don't understimate me!" GO OFF QUEEN

brOTP: gaara and kankuro, 100%. the sand siblings are so fucking good. i could talk all day about them. in the leaf i think she vibes with ino, though she needs Breaks. she didn't like, Get choji at first but the more she got to know him she's like "oh i get it he's just Genuinely Good" and now he's her favorite. i also like to imagine she and karui bonded over not being from the leaf, and also having ino as their sister in law. that's a unique experience okay.

OTP: shikamaru!!!!!!!

nOTP: i dont really have any?? i just can't ship her with anyone but shikamaru, i think he's it for her. temari was never really one to be concerned over romance or anything, it's not something she cared about, and she kind of expected an arranged marriage so she was more focused on Not doing that. but then shikamaru happened and it was like. oh. she actually wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life with him. huh. gross.

random headcanon: i have a lot of Thoughts about temari as a mother. i think that she never planned on being one, just like how she never planned on falling in love. it wasn't opposition, just. her childhood was fucked up, she had no good parental role models, she was much more interested in being a konoichi. but then she and shikamaru got serious and shikamaru is the head of the nara clan and he needed an heir. she agreed to it, in a few years, but shikadai was an oops ! so anyway, temari hated being pregnant lmao which is why they only had shikadai. but once he was born temari is like "oh. i'll kill and die for this child." like shikadai wasn't Real to her until she held him (vs shikamaru, who's been obsessed with that child since temari first started showing). temari actually tried going back to work when shikadai was a year old but pretty quickly she realized "fuck this". temari likes working, a lot, but she also likes being needed and she just likes her kid! so she oversaw all his training from the time he was old enough. it was hard at first, because she's never babied him, but she knew that the training she recieved was uh, not acceptable, so she struggled with what pace was actually okay for his age. hinata and sakura actually helped a lot here- hinata also had Fucked Up training as a child and sakura trained with tsunade who is Insane so they were able to figure out what worked best for their children. GOD THIS GOT LONG. anyway. i love temari and shikadai thank u.

unpopular opinion: i love shikatema so much but she was done so fucking dirty

song i associate with them: hurricane by the fray

favorite picture of them: she always looks so cool

shikamaru

favorite thing about them: god. i hate this but i genuinely love how smart he is and how fucking lazy he is. like how he kept complaing about his match with temari being moved up and then you realize it's because he was relying on the shadows? bitch. he's so cool. and when he pretended to be asleep rather than deal with whatever the fuck orochimaru was doing ESRTYTJU that's when i knew i loved him. but also, i love his development. like he really just wanted to coast through life, didnt want to get involved in anything, just wanted a plain wife and two boring kids. he had absolutely no aspirations. and he never had a ~change of heart~ for his own sake, he just surrounded himself by people who genuinely inspired him and he wanted to be of use to them. l love him!!!

least favorite thing about them: like the misogyny doesn't bother me THAT much because hashtag it could be worse! but it's not good lmao

favorite line: BITCH! "i'm your god" SIR I LOVE YOU. also his line about how he can't die because naruto doesn't have a smart younger brother to help him, and he's the only one capable of being naruto's advisor.

brOTP: ino and asuma are the only Strictly platonic ones but obviously i LOVE his friendships with choji and naruto

OTP: TEMARIIIIIIIII, also choji and naruto.........i'm soft

nOTP: listen. it's not notp but everytime i remember people ship shikaino i'm like "they're siblings???" like no judgement, i have too many fucking ships fandom calls siblings, but their dynamic is SO sibling like to me lmao. also like...shikamaru loves ino and would do anything for her but he does NOT like her ass. you know he avoids her when he's too tired to deal with her bullshit.

random headcanon: LET'S KEEP TALKING ABOUT SHIKADAI. so when shikamaru's dad dies he has a line about how he wasn't around when shikamaru was growing up, and shikamaru obviously doesn't resent him for that, but he does make a concious choice to Not do that. it'd be too easy to get wrapped up in his job, but he won't let himself. he makes sure to make time for shikadai. they play shogi together, and shikamaru is very involved in his training, and even when he's exhausted from work he'll listen to shikadai talk about his day and never show how tired he is. he loves his kid so much, temari makes fun of him for being soft. also when shikadai was a baby shikamaru was lowkey obsessed with him lmao. temari needed Breaks but shikamaru...never really did. even when he was crying he would just hold and bounce him until he calmeed down (also shikamaru was way better at calming shikadai down than temari lmao)

unpopular opinion: listen. is shikamaru misogynistic? yes. but he doesn't like, hate women or think less of them, he just needed to learn that not every woman is as insane as ino. i've seen too many "naruto as vines" videos where it's like shikamaru is like "oh sorry i fell asleep waiting for you to make me a sandwich" like thats not him!

song i associate with them: uh nicotine by P!ATD

favorite picture of them: my header on twitter i guess idk!

neji

favorite thing about them: oh gosh. i genuinely like that he was a fucking angry child. he had every right to be. the hyuuga system is FUCKED! he projected it onto hinata, which wasn't fair to her, but god. he didn't have an outlet and the chunnin exams was his only opportunity to take his anger out on the main branch. anyway i love that after naruto beat his ass he was like "okay maybe i should stop being a prick" and he just. got better. became friends with his team. healed his relationship with hinata. he became so genuinely good

least favorite thing about them: this motherfucker really had me CRYING over him. rude as fuck.

favorite line: i am way too tired to think about this

brOTP: HINATA!!!!!!! also rock lee.

OTP: tenten!

nOTP: hinata. i hate you freaks.

random headcanon: himawari would've been his favorite. like, he loves boruto, that's his nephew, but he's a mini naruto and that's. exhausting. himawari is perfect in neji's eyes though and tenten makes fun of him for it.

unpopular opinion: its' not unpopular but genuinely it's bullshit he died when hinata's dad was RIGHT THERE. like. i will never not be fucking heated that neji died to protect hinata and her dad was just twiddling his goddamn thumbs as it happened. you useless FUCK. god. anyway i also hate that neji's death he just talked to naruto like his speech to naruto was good but we deserved more neji and hinata talking. i also don't like he died for naruhina to happen lmao we've talked about this, someone in the konoha 11 needed to die for naruto to prove obito wrong, and i dont even mind that it was neji, but his death shouldn't have had anything to do with naruhina.

song i associate with them: i dont have one but uhhh i found a neji playlist so i'm gonna say r.i.p 2 my youth by the neighborhood

favorite picture of them: bruh. idc.

rock lee

favorite thing about them: HE'S SO HARD WORKING AND DETERMINED AND NEVER GIVES UP AND HE'S A GENUINELY GOOD AND KIND HEARTED PERSON GOD ROCK LEE I LOVE YOU

least favorite thing about them: WHERE'S HIS SCREENTIME KISHIMOTO

favorite line: dude he's so weird i have no idea

brOTP: neji and tenten!!! and GAI OF COURSE. AND SAKURA. 10/10.

OTP: GAARA.

nOTP: listen there is GENUINELY nothing wrong with it but i dont vibe with rock lee/tenten.

random headcanon: ok this isn't a real headcanon but i made myself laugh yesterday thinking that orochimaru got bored and cloned rock lee and that's where metal lee came from. anyway real headcanon is he's married to gaara in boruto. thank u.

unpopular opinion: shut up about his and gaara's fight oh my GOD i dont care

song i associate with them: uhhhh idk here have a rock lee tribute

favorite picture of them: what's important is his good heart

[yutadori]

i left twt after like, 2 weeks because The Discourse felt inescapable... even here it's hard to dodge entirely as someone who unfollows people who Participate, but on twt it's like. a person you follow liked a thing. it's trending. the format of the platform makes everyone more likely to impulsively add their two cents. it blows up. it's short-lived and forgotten. basically the same argument comes back in 2 days but JUST different enough it's not filtered out by my muted words...evil

omg you left after two weeks i admire you i really wish i’d left that early because it feels like i’m stuck there now x__x ive been on twt (derogatory) for like... 2? 3? years SADLY and it honestly feels like it gets worse and worse )): 

oh my god yes yes EXACTLYYY like i dont!!! understand why twt tries to show people’s likes in as many ways as they possibly can??? like . we do not need to see it!!!!! oh god i know i hate when i can see certain hashtags trending and when you click on it it’s like 99 percent hostility and arguing like???? how are all of you people this angry all at the same time??? and i feel like the aggressiveness spreads and rubs off on others so easily.... like i feel like because such a good amount of ppl are always negative, then it’ll affect others and so on like.... hhhhhh 

and oh my god dont even get me started on how everyone feels the need to add their two cents like?!?! im not saying that it’s wrong to express your opinions but like.... i agree with you it feels like twt is set up for that in a Bad way . i feel like on tmblr, you can speak your opinions in your tags and just the people that follow you/op of the post will see it. BUT on twt if you add your opinion onto someone’s tweet/thread then like.... the people who decided to read that thread will see it and have the ability to comment on THAT person’s opinion and get in a fight and it just . makes me want to scream!!! because like why do people feel the need to push their opinions onto Strangers like that and in such a harsh way like if you disagree then move on...? you dont need to fight with a stranger online i prommyyy hhhhhhh 

omg I KNOWWW TWT’S MUTING SYSTEM IS SO BAD...... like at least when i blacklist a hashtag on here i Know that it won’t come up?? with twt it’s a hit or miss and it’s like!!! if you’re not going to be fully functioning then what’s the point?? i really wish that twt would listen to their users like we don’t need twt stories can you like actually fix the problems on your site!!!!! 

[scattered-imagination]

Alpha Aizawa x ??? Yamada

A/B/O Universe ERASERMIC

When Quirks and Secondary Genders collide things are bound to get...hectic and confusing is the best way to put it.

Most Everyone Presents their Secondary Gender between the ages of 6-10, though its not unusual for the gender to settle by age 12. 

Aizawa Presented as an Alpha at age 12 and Yamada... never seemed to present as anything??

Aizawa doesn’t care about his status, just wanting to be left alone while he focused on his studies and hero work. He did give an eye-roll when everyone speculated about it saying “Beta in public, Alpha in Private”

which was true in some sense. he was a laid back individual who didn’t let a lot get to him. but during hero work or with close friends, it was very obvious that he was an alpha. able to take control, never hesitating, speaking his mind... protective when it came to a certain loud mouthed blonde. 

Aizawa and Yamada met their last year of Junior High, when Aizawa was unexpectedly transferred due to reasons unknown. Aizawa was grumpy and didn’t talk to a single person, and despite being an alpha, was teased and mocked by the other classmates.

Yamada was the one to loudly exclaim that the brunette was his friend and anyone that messed with him got a taste of the future voice hero as well. The blond made a habit everyday to sit next to aizawa, eat lunch with him, talk his ear off, help him with english, and walk him home.

at first Aizawa was pissed and grumpy about the new development... especially since he couldn’t sense Yamadas status. he just smelled like...fresh air. no musk, no sweet smelling perfume, and no subtle citrus. But after a few weeks, Aizawa found that he... wanted Yamadas friendship. two months in they started calling each other by their first names, three months in yamada convinced Aizawa to apply to UA.

Both got into UA, although Aizawa into General Ed and Yamada into 1A. but that didn’t stop them from training everynight and Yamada basically teaching Aizawa everything from his hero course to catch him up. When Aizawa beat Yamada in the sports festival, earning him a place in Hero class 1A, he realized he was falling in love with the blonde. 

BUT one thing always bothered him....Yamada never presented...ever! he tried to sniff for blockers but he could never pinpoint it. was Hizashi hurt? or was he hiding? While Alphas were prized and Betas were accepted, Omegas had varied reactions. modern day society helped to include them more... but there were very few, if any, omega heroes... and many believed that Omegas were weak and were better parents than workers. 

Throughout UA, even though Yamada was popular and very well liked, he was bullied sometimes because of his “blank” status. many calling him a freak or “blank slate”. he was loud and confident like a alpha, laid back like a beta, and caring and friendly like an Omega. Aizawa could not tell you how many times he threw someone across the training field extra hard because they were mocking his BEST friend. 

Yamada never seemed to mind, always laughing it off and blasting away his opponents with his super sonic scream. After Graduation, Yamada convinced Aizawa to move in with him to their own little apartment (maybe convince wasnt the right word...aizawa was looking for an excuse to stay with his crush). 

Living together though, revealed many things about Yamada... he blew out his parents eardrums at birth, was given up at birth, survived in foster care until he grew out of the system, was often forced to wear a muzzle until he reached a good foster home when he started UA (We have Nezu to thank for that!), and he still wouldn’t reveal anything about his secondary gender status. Aizawa started to piece some things together after that information.

and the protectiveness only increased. Yamada had to convince his friend that he didn’t need to glare at everyone that looked their way. it was a hard thing to do, but a compromise was reached. Aizawa would stop glaring at everyone who sneaked a peak at them. and yamada would cook dinners for them when their schedules aligned. in Aizawas eyes...yamada cooking for him was very intimate. 

five months into living together...aizawa confessed his attraction to the other... awkwardly albeit. Yamada froze before squealing in joy, saying he loved Aizawa as well... but he didn’t want to ruin their friendship. aizawa scoffed, calling Yamada stupid, but smiling as Yamada tackled his new boyfriend to the ground in order to get cuddles.

Years pass by, their relationship grows stronger and stronger by the day. Aizawa forgets to ask Yamada about his status, being too in love with the other. the soft cuddles, yamada massaging his sore body and humming him calming lullabies, and everything else the blonde did for him.

Aizawa did finally find out Yamadas Gender... in the worst way possible.

All Heroes were called to city center to assist in a massive villain attack. Mic and Eraserhead rushed there, working in complete sync. one would scream the villains out of the way, while the other erased the quirks and punched them out. 30 minutes in, Aizawa noticed Yamada was missing. in a panic he started to search for the other, only to see the other being thrown into a building. Aizawa rushed to his boyfriend, protecting him with a scary level of protective nature, his alpha hormones filling the air. soon the battle dies down, allowing aizawa to pick up the other, adrenaline dying off

its then that suddenly a sweet scent is filling his senses. it smells like a soft citrus perfume mixed with mint. he looks around before realizing that its coming from his unconscious partner. he sense others being attracted to where they are and runs off with Yamada in his arms, his alpha threatening to break the surface. 

Yamada wakes up in their shared bed, staring up into the eyes of a worried and exasperated Aizawa.

“omega huh?”

Yamada freezes at the others words before nodding silently, looking exhausted. he sits up, allowing the other to cuddle him close. he lets aizawa comfort himself with his scent before he explains.

when he first presented in a foster home... he was beaten so badly for presenting as a useless and weak omega. he was rushed to the hospital and a search for a new foster home began. he begged a nurse to help him get rid of his status... the nurse took pity on him and helped him implant a subtle blocker into his shoulder. it would have to be replaced every 3 years and that she would help him. 

“i owe the nurse my life...i never got another beating for being an omega again” 

even as Aizawas hackles raise in anger yamada continues on. Yamada realized after making friends with Aizawa that he didn’t need to hide... but at that point it had been habit plus...he wanted to make sure Aizawa loved him even if he was a “blank slate”.

Aizawa scoffs and scolds yamadas for thinking that a second gender means anything! look at him, a laid back alpha that could care less about what people say about him. yamada agrees, but is still shaky.

but as always aizawa proves to him that his love never changed. the other still playfully argues with him, falls asleep in his lap, traps yamada in his octopus like hugs, and still loves him to the moon and back. aizawa is still as protective of yamada as ever, which makes yamada laugh so hard in a bar one night that Aizawa has to drag him home because he is making a scene.

what happens next~?

ALL UP TO YOU LISTENERS!

But I hear wedding Bells in the future!!

((I have a few more headcannons and details for this. send me an ask and ill answer))

Message me if you want to write this story or use it! 99.9% i will say yes, just please tag me so i can read your beauty!

Hashtag for this plot: #ErasermicABO??

Hashtag for this series of plots: #ErasermicPlotBunnies

@dadmic

@shouta-light

  @guess-my-country

  @why-is-there-a-light 

@wendiflow

  @deafmic

@shout-and-mute

comment ^w^ for me to tag you in future Erasermic Plot Bunnies ((If i tagged you and you dont want to be alerted to this let me know! I get nervous about tagging people cause I believe Im bothering them))

[peaceloveshelley]

Ive been Been watching the same arguments time and again. Which most of them shouldn't even be arguments. Took me a long time to gather my thoughts... and here they are its long so beware and not in any particular order with tons of grammar errors but fuck it

- I think the only people who LIKE all the looting/riots are the looters/rioters...

it does nothing for the real cause, which sucks.

- Not all cops are murderers/"bad" & not all protests / protesters are riots/looting/violent. However murder and looting should not even be up for comparison against eachother. Two very different crimes.

- We can all agree murderers of any kind and color need to be prosecuted and charged in a timely manner to the fullest extent of the law

- At the same time peaceful protests that everyone seeks ARE happening which are those that genuinely care about the cause. However them along with medic tents / medic stations on church steps are met with rubber bullets and tear gas. For goodness sake a priest was tear gassed on church steps. While on the other hand others are having beautiful peaceful protests with police (Jersey City's Newark, Camden).

- We should also keep in mind the media is mostly there for the views and their audience . They are going to show what gets them views. They are going to post what they think their followers want to hear its completely biased. I wouldnt trust FB rando websites in the place of valid unbiased information especially about such a big issue. BBC America supposedly has the most unbiased content compared to the other news stations.

- "All"/"white lives matter" is not a movement because Black lives are particularly being disproportionately affected which is THE POINT that is trying to be made with the hashtag/name.

When any other groups are disproportionately affected by something they are also free to call attention to it and protest & start a movement.

- I really hate all the violence. I wish for no-one else to be hurt. Im sure others feels the same. People who truly care about the cause are not out killing. Those are criminals/murderers taking advantage of the situation. They should be and I assume will be prosecuted as such. If you feel like protesting their deaths then get out there its your right instead of making/posting memes about it..go for it.

- Everyone needs to use this moment to self check and assess yourself.

Learn & grow. There surely is a reason this is happening, there is problem that needs attention and the longer we ignore it, and make excuses and play blame games, the longer history will continue to repeat itself. You need to put yourself in the shoes and think about what would you do if it was you, your family, and group that is continously negatively impacted by the system & disproportionately.

how long do you let it happen for?

- Also happy pride month ! Pride was a result of protests/riots against brutality of their group started by a black transwoman named Marsha p Johnson. Look how far they've come but also look how long it took to get here. Should not have even taken that long and there is still work to be done in 2020.

- Comments about Corona Virus yea it's still very much out there. I'm sure we will see a spike in cases (hopefully not). I see alot of protesters wearing masks thankfully, so hopefully it helps. Its definitely not a hoax. And yes the media shifted their focus because once again they need your views and want to entertain you.

- For the life of me I will never understand why people cant just love eachother for who they are regardless of what they look like, where they come from, and who they love...and if you cant love them for that then just let them be. If your being oppressed it's our right to protest. I hope at the end if all this something good comes from all the pain and suffering endured. I dont think anyone can argue that something NEEDS to change and its not gonna comfortable for everyone. If yu can argue that you must not be affected then consider yourself lucky and throw support behind those pushing for a better america.

ONLY WHEN BLACK LIVES MATTER EQUALLY THEN ALL LIVES WILL TRULY MATTER.

Thats the missing peice.

I know this is scary and the media makes it more scary but let's get some real change. In this country and please register to vote.

[littlebabycrybtch]

activists: we have to fight oppression and injustice. we have to fight for human rights. it will be a long uphill battle, but its a responsibility we all have to make society better for each other.

society: [starts to get better which means that while there Will still be problems that desperately need your assistance, new/modern minority identities are going to experience different and even markedly less of the oppression we’ve seen in the past, which is a good thing and literally the fruits of our labors bc what tf else are you expecting out of this whole ‘fighting for change’ thing if not to eventually see change from it]

fake activists: you’re fucking traitors and oppressors whats wrong with you people you’re supposed to be miserable >:(((( why the fuck arent you miserable do i need to make you miserable??? this isnt very hashtag relatable of you so im gonna go out of my way to make it worse and also vehemently avoid helping u till ur problems are (in my opinion) as bad as mine, THEN once you hit rock bottom we can start a moral crusade about it, instead of doing some dumb fucking liberal bullshit like ~protecting and supporting vulnerable struggling groups~ at virtually any point Before they reach nearly irreversible systemic oppression to Prevent them from getting there in the first place >:/// like wtf is that about,,,,, thats harmful and oppressive bc i dont care abt your suffering and ur trying to make me put in emotional labor tm also this perpetuation of centrist apathy has never contributed to my own oppression ever at all , im progressive but idk is it just TOO much to ask to go backwards when i want to smfh anyways sign my petition so i feel good 2day please

[makingscipub]

Threads, worms and science communication

I thought I had written my last post about epigenetics. But then came along some ‘worms’ and I had to write another one.

I have written about worms once before on the Making Science Public blog, in the context of science communication. And this blog post too will reflect on worms in the context of science communication, but in a slightly different context.

In 2014, when I wrote my first worm post, twitter was eight years old but still evolving. Now we live in a twitterverse where science communicators can use ‘threads’, launched at the end of 2017, to knit together tweets into a science story. Some of the best science communication now happens in ‘threads’. And this is what happened on this occasion.

So what am I talking about? On 6 June a research group working in Tel Aviv around Oded Rechavi published an article in Cell entitled “Neuronal Small RNAs Control Behavior Transgenerationally”. The gist of the article was this, as summarised in the abstract: “In Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes, parental responses can transmit heritable small RNAs that regulate gene expression transgenerationally. In this study, we show that a neuronal process can impact the next generations.”

So the hero of the study is C. elegans, the worm of wonder I had talked about in my previous blog, but not in the context of epigenetics. What has this to do with epigenetics?

Worms and epigenetics

Epigenetics is a new field in genetics and genomics, which came to prominence around the year 2000 and about which I have written since 2013. It is still finding its feet and it is still struggling with definitions and concepts. One of the most contested notions is that of ‘transgenerational epigenetic inheritance’. This phenomenon has been observed in plants, worms and some rodents, but there is, as yet, no clear evidence that it exists in mammals/humans.

In an important article summarising some myths surrounding epigenetics, Edith Heard, a renowned epigenetics researcher, pointed out: “Since the human genome was sequenced, the term ‘epigenetics’ is increasingly being associated with the hope that we are more than just the sum of our genes. Might what we eat, the air we breathe, or even the emotions we feel influence not only our genes but those of descendants?” This is at the core of speculations surrounding epigenetics and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.

The worm study that caught my eye has to be seen in this context. It was announced under headlines such as “Worm parents pass on behaviours epigenetically to offspring”.

Even one of the most sceptical observers of research into transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, Kevin Mitchell, tweeted: “Some real transgenerational epigenetics… (in worms)”.

He also retweeted a ‘thread’ by the group leader, Oded Rechavi, which was a masterpiece of science communication, both verbal and visual – indeed, threading them both creatively together. We’ll come to that in a minute.

Epigenetic worms in the media

How was the study reported in the ‘mainstream media’? I had a quick look and found only four articles, all published in Israeli news outlets. I tracked down a few more on Google News. Here are some of the headlines in the print media: “Israeli study: Nervous system can transmit messages to future generations”; “Israel study says neurons, not just DNA, can affect progeny’s fate”; “Researchers say nervous system passes info to kids”; “Worms help Israeli scientists rewrite basics of genetics”.

Two things struck me: first the use of anthropomorphic terms like ‘kids’, a type of language that can create the wrong expectations, and the claim that this study overthrows basic genetics. This claim came also up in an online article on Breaking Israel News entitled “Small worms help Israeli researchers disprove basic dogma of modern biology”. This article was, I believe, the press release for the Cell study and contains a great artistic illustration of worms. It was picked up by eurekalert, where Rechavi is quoted as saying “It’s important to stress that we don’t know yet whether any of this translates to humans”.

In the past, some epigeneticists and philosophers of science have made claims about epigenetics overthrowing basic biology, claims that were greeted mainly with scepticism by other scientists.

Three other online articles reported on the study, one published in The Scientist and dryly entitled: “Worm parents pass on behaviors epigenetically to offspring”; one in Psychology Today seeing it as ‘disruptive’ to biology and neuroscience, and one in the Big Think linking it to ‘reincarnation’ (tongue in cheek)! There may be more. But let’s get to the thread.

Twitter threads

According to Twitter, “[a] thread on Twitter is a series of connected Tweets from one person. With a thread you can provide additional context, an update, or an extended point by connecting multiple Tweets together.”

Here is a random example of a ‘thread’ – there are longer and more extravagant ones out there. This one is about Mayan hieroglyphics, which I loved (it’s linked to a fantastic podcast). You can click on it and see how it goes…

Knitting a science story using words and images

So, what about this worm thread then, which got 423 retweets and 1,156 likes? Rechavi posted it in the afternoon of 6 June, just after his lab’s article came out in Cell. It starts with a bit of a firework of emojis, hashtags, and hyperlinks.

The hashtag uses a well-established epigenetic metaphor. The accompanying image (called ‘a summary model’ in the thread) provides an overview of the ‘flow’ of signals/memory, I suppose, between neurons, germline and behaviour.

The second tweet congratulates all the team members and especially the artist who created the illustration for the press release Beata Edyta Mierzwa and reproduces the sci-art image. See here. I think the image represents a tree of life/arteries of life populated by worms with little epigenetic ‘tags’ or post-it notes attached to them… but I might be wrong.

The third tweet writes about long-standing speculations about inheritance and is illustrated by a photo of a Greek statue representing a thinker. It ends by stressing: “But transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is still extremely controversial, especially in mammals”.

The fourth tweet goes into this controversy in a bit more detail, saying: “The reason it’s controversial is that there’s no good mechanism that can explain it. It was hypothesized a long time ago (19th century) that the germline is isolated from the soma, and that somatic responses (including neuronal responses) cannot become heritable”. The work presented in the thread puts forward a candidate mechanism.

This tweet is illustrated with a photo of the front cover of August Weismann’s seminal book The Germplasm – a theory of heredity (published in 1893). This tweet relates to what some news articles reported, such as one in the Big Think that stated: “Rechavi believes this research pushes back against biological dogma (the ‘Weissmann Barrier’) claiming that heritable information is segregated from somatic influences.” This seems to be much less cautious than the tweet, probably because it’s based on the ‘press release’.

As there are 17 tweets in this thread, I won’t summarise each one of them. Let’s just say each tweet is a combination of text and image. It uses images of many types and genres, such a diagrams, various plots and scatter grams, cartoons, microscopy images, photos, and so on..

However, I want to point out one more tweet, not for its image but for its text, as it engages in anthropomorphic language (also used in some headlines) which might confuse people and make them think that transgenerational epigenetic inheritance has also been demonstrated in humans:

“MORE interestingly, if rde-4 great-grandchildren are derived from heterozygous great-grandparents that expressed rde-4 only in neurons, their chemotaxis behavior is much improved. The ancestors’ neurons control the behavior of the great-grandchildren”

Reception

The response to the thread was overwhelmingly positive with lots of tweets expressing congratulations. One tweet posted a compiled thread on something called ‘threader’, which you can read here. And there is an ‘unroll’ here on a thread reader.

You can also read the compiled text of the tweets on Reddit. There are only a few comments related to that text, but three of them are interesting. One continues the anthropomorphising of the worms and creates a great metaphor: “Grandpa worm sent a zip file of worm behavior instructions to grandbaby worm”.

Two others jump into a controversy surrounding transgenerational epigenetic inheritance that been reverberating through popular science for a while: “Lamarckism wasn’t as wrong as we thought.” While somebody else says (in a longer comment): “I definitely don’t want to dismiss this but I dont know if I’d call this ‘heritable’ in the same way DNA is heritable.” Discuss!

A new type of science communication

The worm study has provided me with a great opportunity to learn about threads and to alert readers of the Making Science Public blog to the fact that there are now new ways of making science public, using the old art of intertwining words and images (see also GIFs), texts and illustrations, art and science.

There is no yet a lot of research out there examining the use of twitter threads for science communication. I found one SciCommthreads hashtag on threads, but that’s about it. There must be more!

On a different but related note: I am looking forward to a new little project with Aleksandra Stelmach and Alan-Miguel Valdez examining the power of images in the construction of popular notions of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.

Image: Wikimedia Commons: C. elegans, stained

The post Threads, worms and science communication appeared first on Making Science Public.

via Making Science Public http://bit.ly/2KOJ5Q7

[kyunsies]

WAAAAH i just realized i never responded 😭😭 i’m sorry. i too wish i had know about kpop in high school, i was very much into 1D and bieber 🙃 i transitioned from CNCO and reggaeton to kpop….that was a ride going from spanish to korean 😂 but anyway i agree about 3rd gen music being so timeless, i do love it very much.

about 4th gen they really are getting younger and younger. every time i see their ages i audibly gasp, they’re younger than my sister (she’s 03). i personally think they shouldn’t be debuting any younger than 19 but i’m considered ancient to kpop stans so who am i to have an opinion lol but i keep thinking of all the discourse over shohei, the new sm rookie and ppl complaining about him being 96 line. personally I AM ALL for him debuting!

anyway i do hope ppl migrate back to tumbly bc twt is so ehhhh. i mean i use it a lot but i barely follow anyone except the groups i stan. though it would be nice to have more moots lol but only good ones

HI AGAIN LINA !!!! i hope u have been doing well these past few weeks we didn't talk!!! ITS TOTALLY OKAY !!!! i've been a bit busy so absolutely no worries, you just take your time <3 but LSDKFJ STOP i was such a hard core directioner in high school it's not even funny ;____; listened to all their albums kept up w everything they did all that jazz lsdkfj :') but ooooooh spanish music too!!! that's cool that you have experienced a lot of fandoms tho skldfjs it's always interesting :) and YEAH i don't want to sound stuck in my ways all the time and ofc i think there is talent all over the place, 3rd gen will always just have a special place in my heart <3

and yes 4th gen just keeps on getting younger and younger and like, i do think that it's cool that ppl are recognizing talent at a young age! but i agree with you in that there has to be some sort of system behind this stuff lol like, i think i've heard somewhere that nct has some new SM rookies and one of them is a 98 liner or something (which is my age lmao) and like !!! fans are getting mad that this is considered 'old' like,,,,,,,how messed up is that?? sorry i don't think children should be exposed to the crippling industry that is entertainment where you are basically being stripped from your core under the eyes of millions of ppl SLDKFJ ;____; i'm sure i'm considered ancient for kpop fans standards (i turn 24 this december hhh) but it's literally crazy how the younger generation has such a warped idea of what is "old" and in kpop it's no different,,,,, like did anyone give other ppl crap for liking one direction at literally any stage of life ?? i don't think so !!!! i am ranting at this point i am SORRY SLDFKJ but i just think it's getting really toxic that so many younger fans are putting like, an "age limit" on how to enjoy things that genuinely make us happy and that the younger you debut is the better when it's like no you need to become a resilient older individual i think !!! AND THOSE ARE MY THOUGHTS LOL i completely agree w you lina !!!!!

and PLS DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THATTT after wonho left there was such a huge migration from monbebe tumblr to twt because of hashtagging and stuff but i was surprised mbb never migrated back here :( tumblr although is a hellsite LMAO gives you much more creative freedom not to mention the algorithm just makes SENSE. i hate twt besides being updated on stuff as well kdsjf <3

[moondonky]

Its A ok

Its fun to know shit, as u live life in shit,, I already did my research way back when, over years basically a decade,, before the internet was running so many algorithms, singularity bs censorship,, lol even Facebook, there little shutdown and removal of a specific algorithm, these days everyone be falling into those nets, all because they research certain information and tags n shit,, lists just filling with everyone,,, an attack algorithm, to stop u researching shit.. shadow banned, account deletions, alot of targeted messaging and ads, on TV u see them talking about this and that, as if there not allowed to talk about,, if there on a side of it,, but what they are not allowed to talk about, what they dont, ud b surprised, everything would make more sense,, understanding bigger pictures,, and its weird because as chaotic as things seem, it kinda makes sense,, with everything going on,, from an american perspective at least,, were still fucking good yo... it sucks,, but could be worse, and I wont say much, I just watch, when I do say things its usually when its irrelevant,, or helpful.. as much as I would never take that jab,, the lockdown has alot of surprising benefits, tho it should not be the normal, mandates just making things unnecessarily more complicated,,, in my honest opinion america should be more like Japan than China, more like South korea,, and Thaiwan, and fucking Hong kong,, theres a reason none of them like China, cuz there assholes,, when it comes to politics,, sumthing taught to them by the Obama regime,, and American capitalism,, communistic dictatorships and capatalism is not a good thing,, unregulated capitalism is not a good thing,, empiralistic communistic dictatorships are fucking bulllies,, there great cyber wall is not to keep there people looking out, as much as it is from everyone else looking in, seeing whats really going on in there,, would u really trust your sponsored media,, every channel bought, get them nikes, buy an iPhone, watch sum cnn or fox... but in lockdown we will outlast.. theres a difference between the United states and China, its getting hard to recognize, but, because there is so much space in america, alot of small communities where everyone knows each other,, in america we know we dont actually need a government to function, but we do like our mail, and organization,, we just complain like its a high cable bill with shit channels,, secretly our government is scared of us,, and not because of guns and not violence,, but like a customer thats willing to stop paying for it, boycotting it, fuk u.. let me speak to the manager,, get human resource management dafuk down here,, this is fraud and extortion service, someone's gonna need to give me a reason to not cancel my biweekley subscription service,, embrace your inner karen,, here's a bright idea, when it comes to apps and algorithms and robots and fancy cars taking peoples jobs, let's start from the top, like governments, or bankers, u can basically replace a stock broker with a hamster, when it comes to speech and debate, its all basically law and procedure, technically when it comes to newtons laws they do the least work, they apply the least force,, just saying, logically,, they try to replace us, we should try to replace them, save us sum fucking money,, I feel like thats the better option, it feels more merikan, tho I'm drunk,, hashtag north American union.. everyone so focused on america, what about everywhere else,, how they doing, what have they been up too... the corruption from there systems is what trickled into ours,,, they are worse in every way, and not bad but just missing freedom, capitalism is like an apple u taste, what they dont have is a god blessed nation of protestants, fighting to behave

[emziley]

All of the even numbers!

P.s I hope this spaced out like I want it too because if not its going to be one hell of a read and I am sorry...2, Nicknames that didnt come from my actual name: Alma (because the woman in sister act who can’t hear 😂) er thers probably others I can’t think of right now…4, Longest my hair has ever been:Down to my butt. Never again.6,What is one (1) Item on bucket list: To meet all my long-distance frienfs in person8, Oldest pice of clothing I still wear:Umm I probably have socks from when I was a kid I still wear XD idk10, How grammatically correct are you when you text?:I typically text how I would actually talk out loud so not very…12, what foreign country would you like to visit and why? :Probably Ireland is first on my list because of how beautiful it is and how much of my family came from there 14, how old where you when you had your first kiss? 17 or 18 I think? I was a senior in highschool 16, have you ever hosted a wild party? Wild? No. 18, How many of your facebook friends to you actually hang out with?Like… 7 max not including family? 20, on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy decorating for hollidays Uhh probably like an 8? I enjoy how they look but the effort of putting them up and taking them down I could do without lol 22, what is your go to starbucks drink?I have never had starbucks :/24, Dogs or Cats?Why choose?26, have you ever cooked a big family meal by yourself?Not really? I mean, If I make pasta it could feed a large family…. 28, Have you ever butt dialed anyone?Probably.30, How early do you start celebrating christmas?Right after thanks giving XD32, Are you fluent in more than one language? I wish I was tbh….maybe some day…34, Have you ever been on a successful diet?I feel like “successful” and “diet” arent words that can really be used together in a positive way.36, how good are you at communicating through facial expressions?Better than with words…38, Have you ever left a movie theater before the movie was over? Not that I can remember…40, Does your home have a fire place?We have a fernace and then a fake electric one in the living room42, If you could have one (1) super power what would it be and why?The power to manipulate probablility because you can have anything you want? Like whats the probably of me getting pizza tonight? Probablg like 40% but I could turn that 40% into 100% and definatly get pizza tonight.44, do you listen to religious music? Not typically, no.46, what is your ACT score?🙃48, On a scale of 1-10 how good of a driver would you consider yourself? Idk like a 5? I dont have my licents because im scared to drive but the times I did go out and drive I wasnt bad.50, How easily do you cry?VERY. You could look at me wrong and there will be tears. Or a puppy could do something cute and water works are on the way lol52, when you hang out with your closest friend what do you usually do? My closest friend is my partner so we’re usually cuddling or playing games or watching something on YouTube or Netflix54, Can you play any musical instraments? If so which ones?Yes! I can play the guitar, steel drums, and piano (albeit not well) , I can sing and honestly, would like to learn more instraments soon!56, What was the last CD you bought?Either X or ÷ by Ed Sheeran for my sister for christmas I think58, What day is your laundry day?Right now, Monday-Saturday, I dont typically have a specific day just as long as its not sunday, thats dads laundry day!60, How long have you known your best friend?4 or 5 years now?62, do you have any stickers on your laptop?Currently I don’t have my own laptop, but I use my moms and she has a message from my aunt tapped on it kind of like a sticker? It says “Teddy grams 3 points” from when they where doing weight watchers XD64, what is your favorite flavor ice cream?Mint chocolate chip!66, Star Treck or Star WarsI haven’t seen either tbh but I want to! 68, Have you ever acted in a play or musical?Yes! Anything goes, A mid-summer nights dream, 9 to 5, Mrs. McThing, and Tarzan! I still have A mid-summer nights dream on DVD lol I wish I could again…70, What is the shortest your hair has been?I think chin length? 72, Do you like to go fishing?My dad told me a horror story once about when he went fishing with his brother… I’ll spare you the details but I’m afraid to go…but I have before and I dont have the patients tbh I do love fish though!74, what was your favorite holoween costume and how old where you?I was the I think red M&M? Idk how old I was but probably between 4 and 876, How many pillows do you sleep with?Between 1 and 4. Depends if Im sharing.78, How many friends of the oposite gender do you have?I….Really dont know? I think half of them don’t even know their own gender tbh80, How long have you been at your current jobI currently dont have a job :/82, How flexible are you?Psyically not very, but im working on that!84, what is a phrase you say the most?“Why are you like this” is probably my favorite XD 86, Do you own any home made clothing?Some of my cosplays are home made, along with a prom dress! 88, Have you every given anyone CPR No, I know how to but I think in the situation I would panic and freeze and not even be able to…90, Discribe your sense of humor?Odd and all over the place. 92, What is your favorite cereal?Probably honey smacks! 94, Have you ever had a TV show theme song stuck in your head?I get a few stuck in my head from time to time, like Steven Universe or Gravity Falls and stuff 96, Do you believe in life on other planets?Yeah…. I mean bacteria and stuff is tecnically life? But there’s gotta be something outside our solar system too…98, what is your biggest fear?Dying alone or being abandoned….100, are you still friends with anyone from highschool?Yes.102, How patient are you?With other people? Very. With myself? Not really. With waiting for something to happen? Not at all. 104, Do you eat meat? Yeah, im picky about it though…106, Have you ever bought anything from the flea market? I don’t think so?108, Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head that you dont like?Unfortunatly.110, Have you ever warn glasses?Yes! I did when I was young, went a few years without needing them and now wear them again.112, Are your birth parents still together?Yes.114, what is your favorite type of cookie?Peanut butter blossoms. The peanut butter ones with the Hershey kiss in the middle 😍116, How often do you smile when getting your picture taken? I usually smile I think? If im taking selfies I sometimes do a pouty face but…?118, what is your oldest memory?I have a very distinct memory of sitting in my crib with my legs hanging out the side. I don’t know why I remember THAT but I do120, How often do you snort when you laugh?I dont know? Not too often… but if you get me really laughing I will and it makes me laugh more. Right now I’ve just been laughing and coughing so~122, What is your favorite Disney song? Probably “How far I’ll go” from moana? Or like anything from mulan XD124, What is your Mayers-Briggs personality type? INFP-T 126, one (1) thing yoy wish people would stop posting on social media: Pictures and shit of animal abuse. I get the posts like “hey this is a shit thing to do” but do we really need photos or videos of it?…. and when reported to facebook you’re told it “doesn’t violate community guidelines” like bull fucking shit it doesnt. 128, do you prefer Credit Cards or cash?Cash, its easier for me to keep track of, and money gives me anxiety. 130, What is your astrological sign?I fall on a cusp birthday so I am technically both a Scorpio and Sagitarius. 132, Do you have any hidden talents?I don’t even have any visable talents…134, What gives yoy motivstion to do well in life?I dont know but whatever it is isn’t working.136, on a scale od 1-10 how much are you like your father?Looks: like 3, personality: 8ish 138, A moment when you where pleasently suprised?Probably when Tom actually said yes to dating me after 3 days of waiting. At that point I gave up hope at the words “I’ll have to think about it” so when they said yes it was just~ 😶140, what type of shoes do you wear the most?My penguin sneakers! Or my boots… either one lol142, Favorite song to sing in the shower?I have a whole playlist of songs just to sing… and my top 5 from that in no particular order is 1. Red flavor by red velvet 2. Evil by shinee, 3. Good bye by Taemin, 4, cotton candy by astro and 5, Nightmare by shinee. They’re all kpop so its kinda hard 😂144, Have you ever lived on a farm? I mean where my house is used to be a farm? We have barns and stuff. We also grow some fruits and vegetables and at one point had ducks? but I wouldn’t really say I lived on a farm… 146, what tv show or movie do you quote or make referances to the most? Probably steven universe? Idk148, Have you ever gotten stiches?No, and I probably wouldn’t be able yo handle if if I had to. 150, What is your favorite youtube channel?As embarrassing as it is to say to you~ it probably will always be artfulImpersonator 😶😶😶 152, on a scale of 1-10 how well do you work with others?Im going to say 5 because it REALLY depends who im working with. 154, Apple or PC?….uh they both have good qualities, I guess it depends what Im using it for, but I guess PC for casual use156, Have you ever seen a broadway play or musical? I seen Newsies and almost fell asleep…. not because it was a bad show or anything but because it was a school trip and I was just exhausted. 158, Have you ever uttered a spoke hashtag? #yes. Usually as jokes but uhhh sometimes I get carried away. 160, What is the longest you went without sleep? Probably 24 hours? Maybe less? 162, Disney or Nickelodeon? As I kid I was a Disney kid, but Now probably Nick?164, On a scale from 1-10 how much are you like your mom?Looks: 8 personality: maybe a 6?166, Ear bud or Ear muff style headphones?Ear muff style! Ear buds hurt my ears :(168, any peircings besides earlobe? Nah,170, Showers or baths?I like them both. For actually cleaning showers but for relaxing baths. Something about the warm water :)172, do you prefer bottled or tap water?Depends where I am? At my house Tap but most places bottled.174, Do you have any guilty pleasures you’d be comfortable talking about?Guilty pleasures? Pleanty. Comfortable talking about on a public forum such as tumblr? Not really XD…. I mean I guess liking one direction still is a guilty pleasure? Or some of the anime’s I watch? I’ll mention those ones176, Ever had a new years kiss exactly at midnight? No…. I found im usually grumpy on new years? I wonder why? 🤔178, Have you ever gave money to a homeless person? I dont think so :( I dont usually have that much on me… 180, What is your least favorite food? Anything slimey. Im a very texture based eater… 182, Do you like wearing hats? When im not wearing cat ears, yes!184, SAT score?🙃🙃186, anyone in your family currently serve in your countries military? I think my cousin, Yeah?…or he wants to or something im not sure…188, what celebrity would you like to play you in a movie about your life? Can I just play myself? 190, Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, and it needs to be dyed again! Idk what color I want to do next though :/192, whats the first site you visit after opining a web browser? Depends what I went in the computer for but I guess generally Tumblr or Facebook 194, where you involved in any academic clubs in school? Unfortunatly, no. 196, are you comfortable watching R rated movies? Yeah, im fine with them.... unless im with my parents 😨198, what's the first thing you do when you wake up? Check my phone.200, tell us something most people don't know about youThat I have a collection of stuffed giraffes in my closet from when I was a kid. I no longer collect them but alot of them are still sitting in a bag in my closet because I've grown attached...

[neonwizardheehee]

academic rant ~

nothing happened i just wanna write out my bad thoughts so :P

so first things first i LOVE being back into uni business and classes! srsly i am so happy that i finally have smth to do again which is not as draining, frustrating and based on myself as the thesis :D  I feel super overwhelmed with all the tasks, preparations and homework I have to do - like I’m back in my first ever semester hahaha 

which also means i feel lost af with HOW to organize myself. I’m someone who has had several systems for that but idk which one to choose for now since it’s a whole new situation for me to have an online semester and don’t go out at all...

also as I’m learning japanese rn .. i really have fun and it’s really really cool but also super overwhelming when I think about how difficult it will get and how bad i am with grammar (the only grammar I ever truly understood was Latin ffs). There are so many talented people and sites to help on the internet and i feel gratutude and awe towards them but also the pressure to learn as much and as fast as I can. why? I dont’ even know. i guess it’s bc everyone says japanese is a pretty difficult language and it takes a lot of effort. that makes me sad for an unknown reason.

another thing i wanna get out of my head with learning a language is jealousy. 

i thought i was FINALLY over it in an academic sense but turns out i wanna quit the whole thing all together once i see some of my friends post/talk about their study sessions. it makes me wanna cry and curl up into a ball of “pls don’t talk to me, I know I have a big mouth but i actually can only do basic stuff and play it off as skill” - and i hate myself so so much for it. WHY is this happening again??? why am i getting so stressed instead of motivated and encouraged T.T i don’t even know if i should reach out to some of these ppl and try to talk to them and ask for advice or just unfollow/mute them .. just bc i wanna be like them so badly. it’s so sad :( i am disgusted by myself. i loved learning languages and studying and posting and doing it together with ppl.. am i still hung up on that fateful day when my spirit for french left me? i really hoped not >< do i just cry out my tears and fears but how do i move on with so many useless thoughts in my head? how can i turn off that damned jealousy?? I finally found the spirit to study again in uni but it was only half-asset let’s be real. only in my last semester i really put effort into my studies and voila my grades were SO much better - what a joke to myself i thought. but with being better comes the spirit to be the best and thus my competitive school self who got good grades just to prove it (to whom idk at this point).

so how do i get out of this mess? take off my makeup and cry? maybe ... but let’s be real all i gotta do is focus and do my stuff. be inspired and not discouraged. 

my insta explore page is all kpop at this point and i somehow don’t want that and try to keep the kpop on twt and here... but what else do i want on my explore page tbh? i don’t like podcasts, i suck at cooking, i suck at fitness. studygram? oh fuck i’d love to same goes for fashion. but it’s so overwhelming bc u get all these ppl that are 200 times better/smarter/everything more than you. 

y’know the drill of studygram is to pressure yourself into doing things and doing them how u like it - it’s a small path >< esp with studying.. finding teh perfect system takes way too long and i mostly figure that uot by the end of teh semester... so it’s so useless to stress myself over that now. i KNOW that :( also fun fact: i hate it when ppl tell me how to write down my notes and what categories to use but on the other hand I’m LOST without someone telling me what to do XD 

maybe i should really ask these ppl that are too much for me on how they do it . since i KNOW they are super duper nice ppl and the sweetest T.T it just breaks my heart that i have these negative thoughts. i also don’t want to start a new account or anything bc that means more stress bc i feel like i HAVE to look for new followers and the right hashtags, even tho it’s bs. my blog = my rules. 

i know i always relate myself a lot to my insta but that’s just bc i can’t keep my mouth shut and wanna talk to people. by revealing parts of myself I get to have a few interesting convos :D but idk if that’s worth it or smth... that’s a thought for another day tbh and just too much rn.

focus back on the studying: let’s be real i just have to DO it

practise vocab with flashcards

parctise writing hiragana

don’t try to learn more than anyone else 

-> understand what u learned

practise the smol things u learned

it’s not a race, you’re not america!!!!!

you’re learning for yourself: don’t stress with possibilities of when japanese would be useful if u move there or dont! 

get back to your study self and be the ravenclaw u claim to be

[katiewattsart]

04/02/20 : GOING VIRAL IN THE AGE OF CONTENT

Dolly Parton Challenge:

Related to the challenge:

Childish Gambino : ‘This is America’ 

Underlying references of Jim Crow:

Notes from video: 

graphic scenes of every day occurrences 

Underlying racial elements 

Black community are stereotyped : how do you talk about that?

Trousers, Jim Crow (black America) : wearing them for a link back to slavery, or how they came to America.

Jim Crow: links to dance moves that he displays 

Video speaks to everyone: not just black people.

Talking about what happens within his community 

Viral phenomena are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. They get their name from the way that viruses propagate.

The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene as an attempt to explain the way cultural information spreads; such as beliefs, fashions, stories, and phrases.

InterText

InterText 

Simpsons: Indiana Jones Spoof

In discussing the meme in the closing chapter of his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins states: ‘When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme’s propagation in just the same way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell.’

Dawkins’s meme is a self-copying message system, regulated by the decision-making process of an evolutionary algorithm.

How viruses work: 

Drawing on an analogy between the contagiousness of this kind of Internet attraction and the propagation of biological viruses, marketers have enthusiastically embraced the term viral to explain how marketing messages can quickly spread through social networks mostly unawares. one e-commerce consultant puts it,

You have to admire the virus. He has a way of living in secrecy until he is so numerous that he wins by sheer weight of numbers. He piggybacks on other hosts and uses their resources to increase his tribe. And in the right environment, he grows exponentially. A virus don’t [sic] even have to mate—he just replicates, again and again with geo- metrically increasing power, doubling with each iteration

1

11

1111

11111111 1111111111111111 111111111111111111111111111 111111111111111111111111111111111111

In a few short generations, a virus population can explode.

How ideas spread:

Stanley Milgrim Experiment:

“hashtags actually have the power to build communities, bring awareness to social voids, and turn ideas into massive movements.” (Fraasch, seedspot.com)

#MeToo 

Tarana Burke: "We owe future generations nothing less than a world free of sexual violence," she says. "I believe we can build that world.”

#MeToo spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.It followed soon after the sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Tarana Burke, an American social activist and community organizer, began using the phrase "Me Too" as early as 2006, and the phrase was later popularized by American actress Alyssa Milano, on Twitter in 2017. Milano encouraged victims of sexual harassment to tweet about it and "give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem” 

Gretta Thunberg

Cropped Image

Original Image

Memes that went Viral:

Is it 'the first meme'?

According to the definition, a single image cannot be a meme. It has to be copied and spread with variations to the original image. So on its own, the 1921 comic is not a meme. But coupled with the comic from either 1919 or 1920, it begins to fit the definition, as the two comics are variations on the same style - using two panels and captions to set-up an expectation and contrast it with reality. While we can't say with certainty that this is the first meme by that definition, we can say that because it was copied and spread with variations this cartoon was genuinely part of a pre-internet 'Expectations vs. Reality' meme.

LonleyGirl15

Postings reveal a similar manipulation of mood apparent in the revelations that Lonelygirl15 was a hoax:

‘wow . . . thats messed up. . . . I honestly dont know what to think. . . . huh. .wow; seriously are these “scripwriters” that sad they have to cheat people to think that there watching something real i mean come on can u get more sad; holly fuck it was a friggen escapade! she really will be a lonely girl who can take her seriously after this?; she’ll always be known as a fake and a phoney baloney from now on; can some[one] pleeease tell me what this is all about?? why has she got fans, and why is she a fake? is she normal? some1 please tell me what she is trying to do!’

Donna Haraway: “the cyborg is a matter of fiction and lived experience”

Trump

Blue of Gold Dress?

‘The most interesting thing to me, is that it traveled. It went from New York media circle-jerk Twitter to international. And you could see it in my Twitter notifications because people started having conversations in, like, Spanish and Portuguese and then Japanese and Chinese and Thai and Arabic. It was amazing to watch this move from a local thing to, like, a massive international phenomenon.'

Cates Holderness

Banksy Artwork

Social media blew up...

In the early modernist era, science and technology were seen as a threat to humanity; machines taking over the world Computer technology is consuming us, and we are consuming it, daily

A collective hallucination?

Does it have real political potential?

How much time is consumed?

How much experience/opportunity missed?

Should we deactivate?

‘Grimdark’ fiction

Hopepunk

Hopepunk’s roots as a form of literary resistance aren’t necessarily recent. “Hopepunk is a feeling, and the feeling has been around for ages … All throughout history you can find examples of people standing up to terrifying regimes and holding the line against them, and surviving against all odds just by force of sheer, bloody-minded obstinacy.”

After 9/11, stories like Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings films provided essential tales of optimism in response to widespread narratives of war and anti-globalization. Andrew Slack, creator of the non-profit Harry Potter Alliance, which works to bring the fictional progressive values of fantasy worlds like Harry Potter to bear on real-world activism, said in an email that those fantasies “gave us an alternative to the [post-9/11] mainstream political narrative of fear.”

TASK

For next week's seminar:

Based on today's lecture, find examples of relevant work in your discipline and apply this to your reflection; consider how you would explore some of these themes in your own work.