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[zimrilim]

I'm asking you because I've seen people ask you similar questions before. Why are kobolds, as a fantasy creature, so nebulous?

Generally when people say orc, goblin, elf, dwarf, werewolf, vampire etc. a person can have a pretty solid idea of what traits that animal will have. I guess because they're usually copying that species from the same similar source works?

What happened to kobolds? I used to know them as a kind of german folklore creature, but then also as a short lizard person, and most recently there's been Dungeon Meshi, which gives the name kobold to anthropomorphic dogs.

Well, the trick is that none of these terms have a standard definition. In folklore, the words "elf", "dwarf", "gnome", "troll", "goblin", "pixie", etc. are used more or less interchangeably – all of these words might refer to the exact same folkloric critter, and conversely, the same word might be used to refer to several completely different folkloric critters, even within the same body of regional folklore, to say nothing of how their usage varies across different regions and over time.

Literally the only reason any of these terms have "standard" definitions in modern popular culture is because one specific piece of media got mega-popular and everybody copied it. For example, Tolkien is responsible not only for the popular media stereotypes of elves and dwarves: he's responsible for popularising the idea that "elf" and "dwarf" are separate kinds of creatures to begin with. Similarly, while Bram Stoker's Dracula isn't solely responsible for cementing the idea of what a vampire is in popular culture, it did standardise what vampire magic can do, and it helped cemented the idea that a "vampire" and a "werewolf" are different beasties, which hasn't always been the case.

So the short answer is that there's just never been a mega-popular work about "kobolds" to provide a standard template for the type. Most modern depictions in Anglophone popular culture ultimately point back to the interpretation set forth by Dungeons & Dragons, but D&D itself has gone back and forth on the whether they're tiny dog-people or tiny lizard-people, with the tiny dog-person version being the earlier of the two, so even folks who are directly cribbing from D&D will vary on this point depending on which particular edition they're name-checking.

[zimrilim]

Statement: Student organizations in the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the Student Intifada in the United States

In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful… We, the students of Gaza, salute the students of Columbia University, Yale University, New York University, Rutgers University, the University of Michigan, and dozens of universities across the United States who are rising up in solidarity with Gaza and to put an end to the Zionist-U.S. genocide against our people in Gaza. As we remain under the bombs of occupation, resisting Nazi genocide, grieving for our martyred colleagues and faculty, and witnessing the destruction of our universities, we welcome the examples of solidarity offered by students facing arrest, police violence, suspension, eviction, and expulsion in order to demand that their universities end their complicity in the Zionist-U.S. genocide and renounce their support for the occupation and the war profiteers that arm it. We have seen hundreds of students arrested across the United States as they work to transform their universities into “Popular Universities for Gaza.” Students, faculty, and staff are disrupting university operations and making clear that while universities in Gaza are being bombed, university business cannot continue as usual in the United States. These actions come as university administrations collaborate with members of Congress to discredit conscientious student activists and faculty, expel students, ban events, shut down student organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine, and condemn activists working to end the Nazi genocide. At the same time, these same universities invest in the same companies that profit from the continued sale of weapons to the Zionist regime to continue its genocidal offensive. Our students – and our educational system as a whole – in occupied Palestine are subjected to ongoing genocidal aggression: our universities destroyed and bombed, our student organizations banned, and our student leaders subjected to torture, assassination and mass imprisonment. However, in Palestine and around the world, the student movement has always been a driving force of our struggle for liberation. When we see videos and images from American universities today, we are reminded of our history of student struggle as well as the student uprisings of 1968, which challenged imperialism from Vietnam to Palestine and reshaped the face of Europe and the United States. Now, in 2024, the student movement is once again leading the way. From here in Gaza, we see you and salute you. Your actions and activism matter, especially in the heart of the empire, in the United States. As members of Congress agree to provide $26 billion in additional weapons to bomb our people and continue the Zionist-U.S. genocide, you are taking meaningful action to shut down the war machine on your campuses. It is clear that a new generation is rising that will no longer accept Zionism, racism and genocide, and that stands with Palestine and our liberation from the river to the sea. Your global student solidarity is breaking boundaries, and it is time to smash the US imperialist war machine. From Gaza to Columbia, to Ann Arbor and Berkeley, our hands are joined to end Nazi genocide and achieve our collective liberation.

[zimrilim]

🇵🇸 Amidst the rubble of his destroyed home, Ashraf Nafedth burns a book he once treasured—a guide to international law. He now sees it as a lie, failing to protect people like him. The unfair treatment of countries like Palestine by powerful nations like the US shatters his trust in these laws. His burning of the book symbolizes his loss of faith in international law's ability to keep him safe and reflects the struggles of many in similar situations.

🇵🇸 وسط أنقاض منزله المدمر، أحرق أشرف نافذ كتابًا كان يعتز به ذات يوم - دليل للقانون الدولي. وهو يرى الآن أنها كذبة، وفشل في حماية الأشخاص مثله. إن المعاملة غير العادلة لدول مثل فلسطين من قبل الدول القوية مثل الولايات المتحدة تحطم ثقته في هذه القوانين. إن حرقه للكتاب يرمز إلى فقدانه الثقة في قدرة القانون الدولي على الحفاظ على سلامته ويعكس نضالات الكثيرين في مواقف مماثلة.

[zimrilim]

[zimrilim]

It is very revealing that Israelis feel able to use their own bodies as preventatives against aid trucks getting into Ghazza. Obviously doing this requires betting on the assumption that your body can work as a barrier or as a shield—that is, that the operator of the machine will agree with your assessment of the mutually agreed-upon value of your body and your life. You cannot physically stop the truck. The only world in which you are stopping the truck is one with the correct personal and political circumstances to cause the operator of a truck to decide not to kill you.

This is something that is not always the case! Many people do not exist in those political circumstances! When nine or so people with the International Solidarity Movement tried to use their bodies to stop Israeli bulldozers from demolishing buildings in the Rafah refugee camp, the driver ran over Rachel Corrie twice, killing her. The activists, who had carried out similar actions in the past, expressed the understanding that they were putting themselves in danger, that there was every risk their lives would not have that agreed-upon, politicised ‘value.’

Israelis talk about feelings of “risk” and “danger”—but no one in Ghazza right now would see putting their body in front of a something as a reasonably sure means of blocking a path. Killing them would be not only acceptable collateral damage, but the point of the presence of the tanks and bombs in the first place. The evidence is clear about who is risking what, and what the real dangers are.

[zimrilim]

this is still the ultimate popeye comic panel

[zimrilim]

you can give seven days of internet connection to someone in gaza for just 6 USD

gazaesims.com is a website dedicated to helping people donate esims for people in gaza. there are multiple options for where to purchase an esim to donate, for the price i listed you want to use nomad esims. you can get a $3 discount by using someone's referral code from the notes of this post. it also will give the referrer credit to buy more esims! (you can only use a referral code on your first purchase) BACKPACKNOMAD is another code to get $3 off your first purchase, it's been working for some people but not others so try out a referral code instead if you can't get it to work. also it took over an hour for the email with my information to come through so don't panic if it doesn't show up right away. (logging back into your nomad account seems to have helped some people get their emails to send!) (nomad promo codes do not work on plans that are already on sale, unlimited plans, and plans under $5)

edit as of 1/1/24: they are running out of all esims types right now! please donate esims from any of the platforms: nomad, airalo, holafly, simly, and mogo. here is a purchase guide i made that covers all of them. the crew is asking for people to reply to emails they sent that contain esims that are still unactivated. you can see gothhabiba’s guide for how to tell if your esims have been activated.

[zimrilim]

I know you have all probably seen the esims for gaza posts circulating. Some of you have probably looked at them and thought maybe you should help out, but have weighed up the daunting process of signing up for something you're unfamiliar with vs. the gut-wrenching scale of the things people are going through on the ground right now, and you've put it off or questioned whether it will make enough of a difference vs. some other future kind of activism you could put that $6+ towards. I'm not calling you out or scolding you, it is natural to feel conflicted and ambivalent about the multiple calls for aid that you are seeing on social media.

but consider this: what would you do if you suddenly had to leave your home? how would you cope? how would you begin to plan where to go next, or figure out what to do to take care of yourself? most likely you would reach reflexively for your phone.

telecoms access is not a petty luxury in 2024. a loaded esim means the ability to call family members and find out where they are and whether they're safe, and whether they need anything you can provide for them. it means access to maps and regular updates on the situation unfolding around you. it means you can look up whether it's safe to drink rain water, or how to tie a type of knot you've never had to think about before, or how to treat an injury without medical supplies. it means the ability to tell people outside the situation what you are seeing, what you are feeling, what you are thinking. it is an absolutely crucial resource. and it starts at $6 for 7 days.

many many people have observed that internet access is changing the way the world understands genocide. internet access is life or death, and it is shaping modern history in front of you. and it starts at $6 for 7 days.

please, please visit gazaesims.com and spend 5 minutes and $6 to change the way this plays out for everyone.

[zimrilim]

israel has damaged/destroyed every single university in gaza. and 70% of schools. earlier today they blew up the university of palestine with 314 mines.

accountability archive has launched a campaign to collect and preserve digital university materials until such time that they can be safely returned to these institutions.

send them any copies of digital records, postgraduate theses, or unpublished research you might have using this link.

[zimrilim]

Israel has bombed—and completely demolished—the Great Omari Mosque in Gaza, which is the second oldest mosque in Palestine. There was no purpose to bombing it. There was no advantage to targeting it. Israel simply destroyed it to make a statement: that Palestinian religion and culture not only mean nothing to them, but are something they’re actively working on wiping out. This was one of Palestine’s most sacred cultural sites. Now it’ll forever serve as proof of the horrifying death and destruction the world has allowed to befall Palestine.

[zimrilim]

Take a good look at the countries leading/have started the legal battles to hold the IOF accountable -their fights to end IOF terrorism and war crimes, as this should have been done months ago, are now beginning.

So many Palestinian people have been genocided, and the rampant global government inaction has caused chaos, death, and destruction of Gaza... I just hope this leads to a permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation. I truly do.

[zimrilim]

[zimrilim]

[zimrilim]

Overall, Israel’s killings in Gaza are not given proportionate coverage in either scope or emotional weight as the deaths of Israelis on October 7. These killings are mostly presented as arbitrarily high, abstract figures. Nor are the killings described using emotive language like “massacre,” “slaughter,” or “horrific.” Hamas’s killings of Israeli civilians are consistently portrayed as part of the group’s strategy, whereas Palestinian civilian killings are covered almost as if they were a series of one-off mistakes, made thousands of times, despite numerousOpens in a new tab pointsOpens in a new tab of evidenceOpens in a new tab indicating Israel’s intent to harm civilians and civilian infrastructure. The result is that the three major papers rarely gave Palestinians humanizing coverage. Despite this asymmetry, polls show shifting sympathy toward Palestinians and away from Israel among DemocratsOpens in a new tab, with massive generational splits driven, in part, by a stark difference in news sources. By and large, young people are being informedOpens in a new tab of the conflict from TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, and older Americans are getting their news from print media and cable news.  Biased coverage in major newspapers and mainstream television news is impacting general perceptions of the war and directing viewers toward a warped view of the conflict. This has led to pro-Israel punditsOpens in a new tab andOpens in a new tab politiciansOpens in a new tab blaming pro-Palestinian views on social media “misinformation.”  Analysis of both print media and cable news, however, make it clear that, if any cohort of media consumers is getting a slanted picture, it’s those who get their news from established mass media in the U.S.  

[zimrilim]

imagine you're a fifth-grade teacher and one day a crow just flies into your classroom, steals some food, sits on some kid's head, and shouts "fuck off"

[zimrilim]

[zimrilim]

Verbing nouns is great, but for my money nothing beats adjectiving nouns. If I can find an excuse to describe something as "wizardy" it makes my whole day.