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Will you stop and let these guys appease your dash's machine spirits real quick?

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THE CHAFF PROJECT

Hi! Are you cis in the UK and you'd like to support trans rights? Great!

How: buy a trans flag pin and wear it in public.

Why: chaff is an overwhelming amount of false positives so that when a missile gets close to the plane, it hits the chaff and not the plane.

In practice: the goal is to make it DIFFICULT to identify trans people to target with bathroom bans, and to create many FALSE POSITIVES for businesses.

Basically, you might get accused of being trans and kicked out, because of the badge. You say: I wear the badge because trans rights matter.

You follow up with a letter to the business saying you're fucking furious because some nosy dipshit just tried to play fucking genital police with you in the loos. You know lots of trans people (don't name any, if you do) and you wear the pin in support and you're disgusted at them for allowing this.

Blame the business for allowing the behaviour.

Businesses see that their cis customers are getting bothered over a badge and may clarify trans-inclusive policies, so they can kick out the bathroom botherers instead of nice cis allies.

You only need to buy and wear the badge, and you are protecting trans people. You can be genuinely heroic. Even one cis person doing this helps, and everyone you get to join in helps even more.

Non-affiliated badge link:

https://rainbowandco.uk/collections/trans-pride/products/transgender-pride-flag-badge

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The Steven Universe fandom might be “cringe” and “bad” but imagine a fandom so bad that a bunch of fandom members had ran a scheme to say “if you pay us money, your blorbo will know you’re valid” and the fandom permanently split over a 95 paragraph callout post of these people.

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If you saw me at Eastercon the other weekend, say hi! I was sat at the Prog Ops desk half the day, but the weaponised braid and black velvet jacket with elaborate golden spine may have been visible when I made it out to the bar & panel items

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Vimes: I hate the rich, and nobility are pretty much just scum

Vetinari: let me be real funny for a moment

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unironically i love this website and the people who post here because like 4% of them are even more pedantic and specialized in their knowledge bases than i am, and they are ALL HATERS. these are my people, sincerely. i support them uncritically even though all of us are REALLY annoying

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And lo, the votes have been counted, and the results have been announced.

Congratulations to Polish fandom, for Mikołaj has won!

The race got close - between the three of us, none secured an outright majority. Every vote mattered. It had to go to second choice transfers, with Jan knocked out of the running and his voters' preferences passed to Mikołaj and I (mostly Mikołaj). At one point, there was only a single vote difference between Mikołaj and outright victory - truly, every vote really mattered!

So I will not be going to America's Worldcon in Seattle this year, and will not be seeing a bunch of you in person. I still have the virtual attendance, though, so I will still get to see panels and speak to new friends that way.

If I can get the backers for it, though, I may run again in 2027 - and see if we cannot get me to Montreal.

In the meantime, the 2026 race will be from North America to Europe. Does anyone want to run? Would you like me to nominate, back, and cheer for you? Would you like a shot at having the fan funds pay your way to meet all your European fannish friends? Do you want to come to Eastercon or Eurocon or Pyrkon or Archipelacon and show my whole continent your side of fandom?

You could, you know.

Go on.

You know you want to.

The polls are closed! The ballots are in! The votes are being counted and in some cases disqualified!

At some point in the next day - or two - or three - we'll have the results of the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund race (that TAFF thing I have previously mentioned and even explained the purposes and voting procedures of).

There were three of us running this year: myself, the newcomer, here to represent a broad swathe of media fandom, and two experienced and established fellows from Central to Eastern European fandom. At least one of these lads almost certainly deserves it more than me, and one of them did secure grand-dame Geri Sullivan's backing which is no mean feat. I haven't consulted with them yet on how either of those gentlemen feel about a possible trip to the USA this year, given the rapidly evolving state of the US border controls. Everyone is feeling a bit uncertain at the moment.

While I wait, I've been reading old fanzines and finding old TAFF commentaries here and there. An issue of IDEA from 2000, featuring essays from 1998 and 1999 shows how much TAFF has changed - we need fewer nominators now, just three instead of something like eight. You used to need five from you side of the ocean, three from the other. Yet now, with the world more connected than ever, you can get away with having only two and one respectively. You used to need a strong history of fanzine involvement - writing articles, illustrating, publishing, contributing letters of comment - yet now they'll welcome the likes of me, who just reads zines and shows up to conventions, as long as we can demonstrate that I contribute to the fannish community in other ways.

The gates creak open, slowly, slowly.

But I fear sometimes that the gates have been closed so long that people have forgotten the way here.

Will people find their way back?

Will fandom remember the fan funds, and the joy of competing to send a friend and valued part of the community to represent yourselves at conventions around the world?

How will the fan funds change in the future?

Will people forge a new path to join us?

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BIG TRANS RIGHTS UK TO DO LIST POST. PLEASE READ, DISSEMINATE, AND DO THE SHIT IN IT.

Trans Actual: We heard last week that the anti-trans lot write to Keir Starmer very regularly, some write at least once a week. And that’s all he’s hearing. He needs to hear from us. Write to him today, then put a note in your diary to write to him again next week, and the next...

Read our guide: buff.ly/4D2xGXs

@natacha.bsky.social

The best advice right now, from @janefae.bsky.social; If you're trans or non-binary, If you're a cis ally, If you oppose stripping an entire demographic of their human rights, Write; Use theyworkforyou.comcontact.no10.gov.uk Be polite, but WRITE. NOW.

Comedian @brainmage.bsky.social:

A bit rambly, but I think I got my point across. Cis folks! Write to your MP! It's real easy to do www.writetothem.com And important! Try to also ask specific things so you actually get a specific answer instead of a boilerplate one!

[TEXT:

Dear Fleur Anderson,

I am writing to you today to once again express concern at how trans rights are being eroded by the Labour government. I have previously written to you before about this (see case ref FA, FA &c.).

Today's letter is about the recent Supreme Court ruling which included in it a judgement about the definition of "women" under the Equality Act 2010.

This ruling is appalling. I am a cisgender man. I have trans friends and family, as I also have cis friends and family. The rhetoric whipped up around trans people is not a belief held by the vast majority of the UK population, and there is good evidence that it is pushed from extreme sectors of the American Evalgelical Christian right, who wish to use it as the thin end of the wedge to erode women's rights to contraceptive medications and abortions, as well as the rights of gay people to get married (see this piece in the Guardian, for example https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/09/us-religious-right-lgbtq-global-culture-fronts). Crucially, even were this not the thin end of a wedge, it would still be a cruel, harmful and unjustifiable attack on a minority group who are just trying to live their lives.

With regard to the ruling that trans women cannot use women's toilets, this ruling is both unenforcable, and will only result in more women, trans and cis, being attacked for not looking "sufficiently feminine". This will not protect anyone. I have a dear friend who is a cisgender woman who is over six feet tall. She has, since the "trans issue" has been pushed further into the national conversation, faced increasing holsility and fear when using toilets in public. My wife, who is also a cis woman and has previously had short hair and dressed in a gender non-conforming way, also been met with harassment when using toilets. I am not saying this to suggest that cis women's experiences are more important than trans women's - I also have many trans friends who have reported experiences of public transphobia - I am instead saying this to emphasis that, in spite of the anti-trans activists' insistance that they wish to "protect women", the results of their actions lead to exactly the opposite outcome.

All this ruling will do is empower people to harass women - both cis and trans - who are just going about their day.

The ruling is also unenforcable. Will there be an attendent checking the genitals of people using these bathrooms? If so, by what basis will they check? Will they check everyone, or only women deemed "insufficiently feminine"? If that is the case, please explain how this is anything other than a regressive, patriarchal step that will set back women's rights.

It has also been widely-reported the the Supreme Court did not consult with any transgender people in its ruling, but five dedicated anti-trans organisations were permitted to submit lengthy arguments. I find that staggering.

In summary, please directly address the following points in your reply:

1) Do you support this ruling? 2) Do you agree with Kier Starmer, whose spokesperson recently confirmed that he no longer agrees that trans women are women, and that trans women should use men's bathrooms? 3) If you do support the ruling, or agree with the Prime Minister that trans women should use men's bathrooms, please clearly state how this will be enforced, including the criteria that would deem a person insufficiently feminine, and therefore require intervention, as well as the scope of the intervention 4) If this ruling is upheld, and trans women cannot use female toilets, and feel unsafe in male toilets, where do you expect them to go when in public, given the relative infrequency of mixed-gender toilets? 5) If you do NOT support the ruling, what do you intend to do to push back against this, given your letter to me on December 15th 2023, case ref FA, where you said "I am a strong supporter of trans and LGBTQIA+ rights and I am disappointed that we still have such a long way to go. The safety, dignity, personal freedom and equal opportunity of all people is very important to me."?

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Guy Kelly

P.S. If you are a staffer reading, categorising, and responding to these on behalf of my MP, please think very carefully about the role you are playing, how can you can take an opportunity to stand up for and help protect a marginalised group, and do your part to be on the right side of history.

@nancymk.bsky.social‬

Want to contact your MP about the Supreme Court ruling?

@transsolidarity.bsky.social has created an MP letter template to help get you started:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17g6X6jR2Xa6mPXY0hTib089xIdzmu5Y_2t6fVfHiDKQ/mobilebasic

if you're not either in the uk or from the uk, please feel free to just reblog. if you're bri'ish or resident here: get writing.

"But I've already written."

Girl (non-gender specific), the TERFs are writing every day. they have an uncontested field. Outweigh their bullshit. There's more of us than there are of them. Make it LOOK like that.

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My personal goal is to try and make fanfic binding as accessible to everyone as possible, so here are some resources on how to make a fanfic hardcover for under $25.

This is a barebones bind for the broke college students and such. Happy to field questions, too!

Here's a proposed budget breakdown:

Loosely organized thoughts:

Fanfic bookbinders often share typesets amongst each other. Never pay for a typeset for a fanfic.

You'll hear a lot about grain direction for your printer paper, but as a newbie on a budget without your own printer, settle for some nice 92 bright paper. If you like the hobby, splurge after but expect to pay at least 2-3x more for short grain paper.

Printing is a pain because some copy shops won't let you print intellectual property smut, and it's very expensive. You are better off bartering instead or looking for a free printer on Buy Nothing.

You know the thick paper wrapping that comes with online orders? It's a good weight for endpapers if you need to scrounge. Paper grocery bags or gift bags (birthday presents) might work, too.

Ask your local library to give you covers from books they are throwing out. Ask for outdated textbooks (those covers are built like tanks) or three-ring binders that are too busted to be binders anymore.

Obtain a used book that was mass produced (so your destruction of it does not impede anyone's access) and maybe even become a little vindictive with it.

If you can afford it, I recommend the Olfa SVR knife (~$10)

If you can afford it, upgrade your ruler to a t-square.

I really hope this resource is helpful! I want to stress how possible this is and encourage people to cherish what they love through art.

If you are interested in fanfic binding and have a little more disposable income, I have an affordable Fan Fiction Bookbinding Starter Pack that I carry on my site. I pack them myself and drop them 1x/month on the 15th.

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genuinely bonkers watching a bunch of insane rich people invest millions into a court ruling to try to tell me to use the wrong toilet, and then seeing all the newspapers go on about how it's to protect kids or whatever

like. do we not remember the 1980s? back then it was, oh god, we have to stop gays and lesbians from using the same toilets and changing rooms as us. Think Of The Kids! (conveniently, don't think about the strikes. or the austerity. or the lack of suitable housing.)

and now it's, oh god, we have to stop the transgenders from using the same toilets and changing rooms as us. Think Of The Kids! (conveniently, don't think about the austerity. or the lack of suitable housing. or--)

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in honor of 4chan exploding, I want to remind you all that they used to do “raids” on Tumblr.

they tried to flood the popular tags with gore and porn. this was when Homestuck was at its peak, so they were a target too. (side note: tags barely functioned at all at this point so trying to make them useless was like throwing a molotov into an already burning building but try telling that to 4channers)

but the Homestuck fandom was ready and countered by flooding the tag with weirder, more explicit Homestuck porn and gore.

to the point that the trolls themselves got weirded out, fucked off, and never attempted a “raid” again.

everyone moved on but I stayed there because that is one of the funniest fucking things to happen on this website.

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The world sucks a lot but not everyone in it does - Lauren Beukes (writer of Bridge and The Shining Girls) and Jeannette Ng (writer of Under the Pendulum Sun and from the iconic Hugo acceptance speech in 2019) have a silent auction going to raise money for Trans rights in the UK and South Aftrica

There's loads of very cool stuff - special editions of books, limited edition dice, custom made crafts, jewellery and poems, and meetings with authors

And if you want to support their fundraising but don't have the money they are also accepting donations - some have donated drafts they've made, spun their own yarn, are offering to write custom poems and stories

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ABOUT THEIR STORY

-

Sandra Von Valancius

Sandra killed nearly all her competitors, then chose to side with Chaos after years, having a blast in the Koronus Expanse. Eventually, she ascended.

Bloody Valancius ultimately got what she wanted, screwing over everyone else.

Bit by bit, she tightened her pet's collar, letting Marazhai enjoy endless pleasures in fear, serving him the greatest pain a Drukhari could enjoy - the cannibalism of Slaanesh. Dark prince slowly dried up his soul until he was nothing but an empty shell.

She did spoil her pets anyway.

Heinrix became Lord Inquisitor with the encouragement of the rogur trader. Although he knew that Sandra had been using his authority, their relationship led him to acquiesce to such behaviour. Till Sandra's heretical plans explode that he is forced to face the truth and embark on a long pursuit of his ex. And Sandra is in no hurry to end such a cat-and-mouse game.

In his fight against rogue trader, he had chopped off one of her arms. This arm grew back again with Sandra's ascension (attaching a pair of hand-shaped wings on her back) No one knows how Heinrix became the only survivor of that brutal ritual, and in the face of sympathy and questioning from his peers, he stepped down from his post never to be seen again. It is said that he still fights heretics in the darkest of places, but he fights with a madness that makes mortals tremble.

Leave someone alive so they can suffer more.

Girl's dinner

Thanks for reading! I also drew some doodles and Bloodborne au

That's all! Thank you

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image via wikipedia discussion.

A is the Allen translation (1988/2003) and F is the Faulkner translation (1997)

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Still looking for trans charities to donate to following the supreme court ruling? LGBT Youth Scotland are a phenomenal charity to pick.