#bad for every ecosystem

[balkanradfem]

I spent a big chunk of my life believing I should not be put into a leadership position, or be the one to make choices, because I could see what kind of choices m*n make, and I knew I couldn't do that. They were selfish, cruel, cold-hearted, destructive, inconsiderate, self-centered, sometimes rage-induced choices that served nobody but the m*n making them.

To me it was almost a shock a m*n could keep making such choices, because what about everyone else who would keep suffering because of them, what about the environment, what about the lives of his family members, what about the well-being of his children, his wife, the neighborhood, the planet? I could see negative impact of male choices on every one of those, and I knew I could never make that call. And the thing that I was led to believe was – these choices were necessary.

I was not fit to make choices like this, because I was too kind, too considerate, too gentle, too naive, too worried about everyone else to do what 'has to be done'. I was not bold enough to inconvenience my own family and the entire community, I wasn't willing to risk damage to other people and the environment, I wasn't willing to put my own family into suffering in order to get what I want, which for m*n was most often the free labour, access to women, and money. I was my unwillingness to make such choices was what made me soft, unfit to be a leader. Why m*n had to be in charge. Because they were 'rational'. They didn't linger on all those 'feelings' and could keep 'a cool head' when making choices. They didn't 'care too much', like I did. In fact, I would argue, they did not care at all.

Now as an adult, I can look back and see where those choices have led. The world is in a terrible economic state because of the cold and senseless greed of m*n who found a way to push it that far. The environment is in crisis, climate worsened by endless male greed for capital and hoarding. Millions of lives lost in wars led for the sake of m*n who can gain something from it. Half of population leading lives of servitude and fighting for basic human rights, because m*n benefit from it. Countless families struggling because the male put in the leadership position cared more about his own pleasure and whims than the lives of his family members, who he believed exist only to serve them. That is where the 'rational, cool-headed, not caring too much' thinking has brought us. We're all struggling trough devastation because choices were put into hands of people who could not have cared less what the rest of the world paid, if they could benefit.

None of those choices were necessary. None of those should have been made. None of it was done in good faith or using any kind of common sense of reason. None of this is rational, none of it is reasonable or cool headed. I would not have made any of those choices because I cared enough to not bring devastation, death, destruction, burden and suffering onto society. Because even as a child, I was able to think ahead more than just how to get to the next thing I wanted. I could see the consequences and the effect my actions had on people around me, and on the environment. I cared about all of it enough to not do anything to disrupt or destroy it. Because I had common sense, was reasonable, rational, and cool-headed enough to not sink into my own desires and wants to the point where the rest of the world was irrelevant to me.

The idea that males are capable of any impulse control, any rationality, cool headedness or making necessary choices, was a filthy, disgusting lie. It was me and other women who were doing that all along. We were told this sense and sensibility to not ruin everything around us was our fault, why we shouldn't be put in charge, but it's our greatest strenght. It's why only us should ever be in charge of anything.

[eowynneigh]

also insane thoughts in which like post S2 Armand is faced with the fact that enduring emotional suffering in situations he didn’t actually need to has gotten him NOTHING!!! He endured Marius and the cult for survival but enduring 77 years of a half-dead relationship with Louis??

Was it worth it Armand? The set pieces, the nudging everyone into their perfect roles to ensure the best (secure safe calm status quo) outcome, the suffering a love that is merely a bargain, the telling yourself it’s fine it’s love it’s everything you could ever want (it’s more than you’ve ever had or could hope to deserve), and then after all that—it still comes crashing down.

You didn’t have to do all that (it just felt like you’d die if you didn’t)

[torchickentacos]

The world may change at rapid paces that induce constant emotional whiplash, but at least there's one constant (pokemon xy anime discourse on twitter)

[screambirdscreaming]

At the bus stop one time there was a gaggle of preschoolers waiting to catch the bus for a field trip day, and someone walked past with a couple of friendly little dogs, to great general delight.

But after a little bit, the dogs were getting overwhelmed, and the preschoolers were gently coaxed to back off so the person with the dogs could continue on. Specifically, one of the preschool teachers said, "Sometimes, when you're small, being surrounded by big people can be a bit scary and overwhelming. Even if they are friendly."

This was recieved as great wisdom: after all, the preschoolers were also small, and understood how scary and overwhelming big people could be! And the dogs were indeed even smaller than the preschoolers, so it made sense.

What was funny and charming was that, upon absorbing and reflecting on this wisdom, they all felt the need to tell it to one another. In tones of great insight, they turned to one another and said, "Did you know? Sometimes when you are small, being surrounded by big people can be scary and overwhelming! Even if they are friendly!" Back and forth, without any particular concern that they were all saying the same thing. Have reached comprehension of an insight, it must be shared!

I must say that this behavior is less charming in tumblr users than in preschoolers. Not least because tumblr users, having gained a little analytical skill to misuse, insist on Summarizing and Generalizing and Unifying the insights they repeat, quickly turning any interesting new information into formulaic dogmatic mush.

[hopecel]

i cannot put it any other way,

we gotta let famous women be annoying

[pyrriax]

hi tumblr i. cannot get a thought out of my head so take this little wip thing....

[ Image ID: A sketchy, grey-scale comic, reading from left to right. Zenith, a lanky, thin man with fox ears and a long tail walks toward the right, having an indistinct conversation with another character who isn't visible. His ears are tilted back, and his shoulders are raised; he's nervous about where he's going. A small triangular cut out on the top right shows Zenith's expression as he stops, he's looking down at something, and looks afraid. His ears are pinned completely back, and his mouth is open slightly in shock. There's a small dialogue box between this cut out and the next, reading in shaky text, "what the...". The next cut out is a trapezoid on the bottom right, almost connecting with the top. There's an indistinct person sitting on the ground, half-leaning against the wall with their head down. Their hands are cuffed together, and their legs are splayed. They've been hit in the head. There's blood on the side of their head, dripping down their face and onto their arms, as well as blood smeared on the floor. /End ID. ]

@my-little-versaille (in case you want to reblog it for your own storage purposes :3)

[always-a-slut-4-ghouls]

I think someone put the brain of a mouse or maybe a squirrel inside my head at some point because all winter I was like “I crave nuts and seeds” and now that it’s getting warmer and brighter out my brain keeps going “it’s fruit time”

Like, modern transportation has made it possible to move many fruits all over the world (in theory) all the time! But the primal early plesiadapiform part of my brain is like “you must eat what is available this season”

[darklinespectra]

Are you 🫵 pissed off about the Lilo and Stitch monstrosity remake? Do you want to know how you can actually make a difference in supporting the people and ecosystems of Hawaii?

Tourism is a big issue in Hawaii (which the remake got rid of the original's commentary on because it makes foreigners look bad). I'm not gonna promote it, BUT I know that realistically, thousands of people arrive here every single day by the airplane-ful. And the majority of them aren't educated on the socio-cultural and economic impacts of tourism. SO, I'm making this post in an effort to educate visitors. If you or someone you know is visiting or moving to Hawaii (whether by circumstances in or out of your control), here are some suggestions on how you can give back!

You can donate to the Hawaii Community Foundation, which has been instrumental in giving aid to the displaced community of Lahaina after the Maui wildfires in 2023. They also provide scholarships to students of under-represented communities.

If you're interested in visiting Kualoa Ranch, you can do their Mālama Experience where you get your hands dirty giving back to the ‘āina (land)!

There are other organizations you can join to volunteer with, too, like Kupu and Mālama Maunalua. Check them out; maybe you can help with a beach cleanup or plant native trees! These are both non-profit organizations that accept monetary donations.

Visit the Bishop Museum to learn about Hawaiian history and culture! They also have events focused on sustainability and conservation.

If you're visiting Hilo on the Big Island, go visit the Laulima Nature Center! They're a non-profit aimed at protecting Hawaii's native species, and they even have an online store that ships to the US mainland and internationally! (After I post this, I'm gonna head on over and get myself a manu o Kū pin ♡)

A few other tips I have:

DO: Respect the locals' homes. Several beaches and hiking trails have access points in residential areas. Please be mindful to keep your voices down when passing by, and park ONLY in designated parking areas.

DO: Wear reef-safe sunscreen! Sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate are banned in Hawaii because they are known to damage coral reefs.

DON'T: Approach wildlife, particularly honu (sea turtles) and 'īlio holo i ka uaua (Hawaiian monk seals). Stay at least 10 feet (3 meters) away from turtles and at least 50 feet (15 meters) away from monk seals. If you see someone harassing animals, report them to the statewide NOAA Marine Wildlife Hotline: (888) 256-9840. You can also contact the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources.

DON'T: Collect sand, rocks, or other natural items to bring home with you. This is to protect the ecosystems and also out of respect for Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians), who have cultural beliefs regarding lava rocks in particular. Taking lava rocks is extremely disrespectful.

DON'T: Litter! Please throw away your waste in proper trash cans. If you see a bin that says "ʻōpala," that's a trash can!

Many Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) are moving to the US mainland because the cost of living in Hawaii has been driven up so high (because of people moving here), they can't afford to live in their ancestral home. So, if you are going to visit or move to Hawaii, please:

- Make the effort to support local businesses, especially those owned by Native Hawaiians!

- Educate yourself and your loved ones about actual Hawaiian culture!

- Try Hawaiian food, like poi!

- Learn some Hawaiian words and don't be afraid to ask how to pronounce words correctly!

- Donate to a food bank!

- Watch films and read books written by Native Hawaiians!

My hope is that whoever sees this post will use it to educate themselves, their friends, and their families who are considering visiting.

My background is in sustainability and the environment, so that's what I know to suggest off the top of my head. If any Kānaka Maoli read this post and have suggestions to add, please do!

[whoviandoodler]

day 302903203 of youtubers i follow saying the most autistic shit on this goddamn earth

[kalkydra]

mentally drafting all the things i will say to my mother if i don't hear from my brother by this time tomorrow

[crossbackpoke-check]

Fixed point (mathematics) // The History of Perspective // "Point of Disappearance", Dennis Held // How the Hughes hockey family stays grounded // Fixed Point Photography-- // "Portrait of A.", Tung-Hui Hu // Mic'd Up | Hughes NHL 25 cover shoot // "Burnt Norton", T.S. Eliot // "Circuitry", Janine Joseph // Bruce Bennett // Nick Wass // from obedience [maybe one day, during a point in time], kari edwards // Bill Rapai // "Errand Upon Which We Came", Stephanie Strickland // Benchmark (surveying)

art kid luke hughes

[aethersea]

another thing fantasy writers should keep track of is how much of their worldbuilding is aesthetic-based. it's not unlike the sci-fi hardness scale, which measures how closely a story holds to known, real principles of science. The Martian is extremely hard sci-fi, with nearly every detail being grounded in realistic fact as we know it; Star Trek is extremely soft sci-fi, with a vaguely plausible "space travel and no resource scarcity" premise used as a foundation for the wildest ideas the writers' room could come up with. and much as Star Trek fuckin rules, there's nothing wrong with aesthetic-based fantasy worldbuilding!

(sidenote we're not calling this 'soft fantasy' bc there's already a hard/soft divide in fantasy: hard magic follows consistent rules, like "earthbenders can always and only bend earth", and soft magic follows vague rules that often just ~feel right~, like the Force. this frankly kinda maps, but I'm not talking about just the magic, I'm talking about the worldbuilding as a whole.

actually for the purposes of this post we're calling it grounded vs airy fantasy, bc that's succinct and sounds cool.)

a great example of grounded fantasy is Dungeon Meshi: the dungeon ecosystem is meticulously thought out, the plot is driven by the very realistic need to eat well while adventuring, the story touches on both social and psychological effects of the whole 'no one dies forever down here' situation, the list goes on. the worldbuilding wants to be engaged with on a mechanical level and it rewards that engagement.

deliberately airy fantasy is less common, because in a funny way it's much harder to do. people tend to like explanations. it takes skill to pull off "the world is this way because I said so." Narnia manages: these kids fall into a magic world through the back of a wardrobe, befriend talking beavers who drink tea, get weapons from Santa Claus, dance with Bacchus and his maenads, and sail to the edge of the world, without ever breaking suspension of disbelief. it works because every new thing that happens fits the vibes. it's all just vibes! engaging with the worldbuilding on a mechanical level wouldn't just be futile, it'd be missing the point entirely.

the reason I started off calling this aesthetic-based is that an airy story will usually lean hard on an existing aesthetic, ideally one that's widely known by the target audience. Lewis was drawing on fables, fairy tales, myths, children's stories, and the vague idea of ~medieval europe~ that is to this day our most generic fantasy setting. when a prince falls in love with a fallen star, when there are giants who welcome lost children warmly and fatten them up for the feast, it all fits because these are things we'd expect to find in this story. none of this jars against what we've already seen.

and the point of it is to be wondrous and whimsical, to set the tone for the story Lewis wants to tell. and it does a great job! the airy worldbuilding serves the purposes of the story, and it's no less elegant than Ryōko Kui's elaborately grounded dungeon. neither kind of worldbuilding is better than the other.

however.

you do have to know which one you're doing.

the whole reason I'm writing this is that I saw yet another long, entertaining post dragging GRRM for absolute filth. asoiaf is a fun one because on some axes it's pretty grounded (political fuck-around-and-find-out, rumors spread farther than fact, fastest way to lose a war is to let your people starve, etc), but on others it's entirely airy (some people have magic Just Cause, the various peoples are each based on an aesthetic/stereotype/cliché with no real thought to how they influence each other as neighbors, the super-long seasons have no effect on ecology, etc).

and again! none of this is actually bad! (well ok some of those stereotypes are quite bigoted. but other than that this isn't bad.) there's nothing wrong with the season thing being there to highlight how the nobles are focused on short-sighted wars for power instead of storing up resources for the extremely dangerous and inevitable winter, that's a nice allegory, and the looming threat of many harsh years set the narrative tone. and you can always mix and match airy and grounded worldbuilding – everyone does it, frankly it's a necessity, because sooner or later the answer to every worldbuilding question is "because the author wanted it to be that way." the only completely grounded writing is nonfiction.

the problem is when you pretend that your entirely airy worldbuilding is actually super duper grounded. like, for instance, claiming that your vibes-based depiction of Medieval Europe (Gritty Edition) is completely historical, and then never even showing anyone spinning. or sniffing dismissively at Tolkien for not detailing Aragorn's tax policy, and then never addressing how a pre-industrial grain-based agricultural society is going years without harvesting any crops. (stored grain goes bad! you can't even mouse-proof your silos, how are you going to deal with mold?) and the list goes on.

the man went up on national television and invited us to engage with his worldbuilding mechanically, and then if you actually do that, it shatters like spun sugar under the pressure. doesn't he realize that's not the part of the story that's load-bearing! he should've directed our focus to the political machinations and extensive trope deconstruction, not the handwavey bit.

point is, as a fantasy writer there will always be some amount of your worldbuilding that boils down to 'because I said so,' and there's nothing wrong with that. nor is there anything wrong with making that your whole thing – airy worldbuilding can be beautiful and inspiring. but you have to be aware of what you're doing, because if you ask your readers to engage with the worldbuilding in gritty mechanical detail, you had better have some actual mechanics to show them.

[foxmulderautism]

i could never be a long review on letterboxd guy even though i love to analyse films i did my dissertation analysing films but i like to log on letterboxd immediately after watching and my immediate thought after watching a movie is 99% of the time yayyyyy i just watched a movie ^_^ that was fun!

[punkbeetleart]

To me its like. See those cows in a field? Well! Whether or not they will be eaten, theyre in a field! Isnt that nice?? There are many places that treat animals much more cruelly and iirc a lot of dairy cows are not given super humane treatment in different places. So if theres cows in a field, be happy theyre in a field! And if theyre killed and eaten, they didnt die for nothing! Theyre being used, not killed for trophies and left to deteriorate without reason.

I think it’s really cute to see cows by the side of the road when driving, but it also makes me sad to think they might be eaten. How can you tell dairy cows from beef cows? Is there a difference? Is there any other reason to raise cows besides food?

i could spend some time teaching you guys about different beef and dairy breeds, but i think the underlying concern here is about beef farming if im correct! if im not, let me know and i can write up a post about beef and dairy breeds, because i do love talking about them too hehe.

its completely normal and human to be upset at the thought of an animal dying, death is an ugly thing to a lot of people you know? i think its in our nature not to want animals to suffer. but its important to realize that everywhere in the world animals are there to be eaten by other animals. the ecosystem, the cycle of life, whatever you wanna call it.

in the wild, bovines are mostly picked off by predators when they're young and unable to defend themselves! an animal can be killed and eaten at any point, and if they get sick or injured thats often fatal for them. in captivity, cattle and other bovines get to live to adulthood happy and healthy and surrounded by friends! they get free food n water, free medical care, and they get to sit in a big field with all their buddies. we care for them and love them for their entire lives, and at our hands they die quickly and painlessly. and then we eat them. its a symbiotic relationship.

to an outsider the industry can seem 2 to be all death bc thats the only part we know about. but its so much more than that! farmers dedicate their whole lives to their animals. they raise them, feed them, tend them when theyre sick, give them space to run around, make sure theyre not too hot or cold and that their water troughs are clean... for whole lifetimes! over and over and over, farming is about life. we feed them and they feed us. its beautiful. genuinely.

images (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

[flufflecat]

I'm still angry about the oceancleanup post. Stop all falling for it. Be better than that. I'm begging you.

[shinelikethunder]

to all the weary Windows-using soldiers out there fighting a valiant rearguard action against our new Win11 overlords... i am taking you very gently by the hands. i am looking you deep in the eyes. and i am saying. with the utmost regret. that we may be at the point where following the instructions to turn a USB drive into a Linux Mint installer, booting up your afflicted device from the USB drive, and taking Mint's (very Windows-like) UI for a test drive... may be easier than figuring out how to weedwhack even a fraction of the intrusive crap Microsoft is pushing on you. at minimum, it'll give you a striking moment of peace and relief to boot into an environment that isn't actively harassing you.

i hate that this is how bad it is, and i fucking hate sounding like a smug Linux evangelist. there is no told-ya-so coming from this ex-Windows girlie; i'm just seeing a bunch of people eyeing the exit door, and want to hold it open and be an enabler and pinky-promise that the Mint flavor of Linux is, like, super fucking easy for normal-ass people to use, and probably way easier to install than it'd be to unfuck Win11.

-

once you're in the installer, it'll give you three options: 1. run a live, temporary version of Linux Mint right off the USB stick for you to fool around in; 2. nuke Windows from orbit and install Linux as the only operating system; or 3. banish Windows to the shadow realm (an isolated corner of your hard drive) so the two operating systems won't mess with each other, install Linux alongside it, and let you pick which one to use every time you boot up the computer.

so... try it out if you want. use the live demo to check out the software-installation ecosystem, which is probably the most unfamiliar part. consider what fits your situation. if you have non-negotiable Windows-only software chaining you to the beast, or you don't want to totally abandon having Win11 available as a fallback, the installer can walk you through option (3) with a minimum of fuss. (just be careful about how much disk space to assign to each "side," because altering it after the fact is trickier.) if it doesn't suit you, oh well - lend the USB drive to a friend, or keep it to noodle around with later when Microsoft's driving you up the wall. or wipe it, whichever.