o_O... I haven't had enough coffee to deal yet.

American, 39. Aro/Ace. She/her pronouns (They/them works too) Prepare to see geekery on a multi fandom scale and general bitching about the world.

[penny-anna]

Everyone needs to stop saying death of the author when what they mean is separating the art from the artist. Like FR stop it.

[penny-anna]

I know it's mainly just ignorance of what the term means but I do wonder if this happens in part bcos 'death of the author' sounds so dramatic like oh this author is dead to me, I don't care about them anymore. Whereas 'separating the art from the artist' is a lot more neutral and well. In CERTAIN CASES it is kind of immediately apparent that you cannot.

[penny-anna]

TO REITERATE:

Death of the Author is a term coined by Roland Barthes for his essay of the same name in 1967.

In brief: death of the author is the concept that analysis of a work of art should not be focused on the artist's intent; the artist's intended reading of their own work is just A reading and no more valid than anyone else's.

A good straightforward example of this in practice is the response to Andy Weir and Project Hail Mary. Weir is adamant that his work contains no politics but I would say that PHM is pretty clearly a story about climate change.

You can apply death of the author to any work of fiction and it has nothing to do with whether the author is a good or bad person.

[most-sane-classicist]

okay had an idea...

Which Generic Homeric Epithet is prev

Shining, Divine, Glorious etc.

Wise

Great-Hearted

Tamer of Horses

White-Armed

Long-Haired, Lovely-Haired

Sweet-Spoken

Bronze-Armoured

Glancing-Eyed

Dreaded

Swift

Sacker of Cities

Remaining time: 3 days 2 hours

reblog and answer in tags >

[thememedaddy]

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

Have you seen Rain Man (1988)?

Yes

No

Haven’t even heard of this movie

Remaining time: 5 days 8 hours

[ladyshinga]

Whoever sends out GOP instructions to various politicians and media figures: "Okay, we need to cover this Mitch thing up so, why don't a few of you say you spoke to him? Throw in a few political topics, make it sound like he's been keeping up. Nothing too crazy though, he's in the hospital still, so don't say it was for an hour or even a full half hour. Maybe 20 or less? Keep it around there, champs." That guy after three politicians say the 20 minutes part specifically and literally everyone online clocks it:

[getooine]

Working on a new painting / repainting of a very old acrylic painting (right)… kind of funny to see the improvement but it’s so slow going to get the character looking how I pictured him. I am enjoying rendering the clothes and accessories I couldn’t back then though, fancy elf outfits are my fave to design.

[liberalsarecool]

Socialism gives you insurance and dignity in the form of social security.

Capitalism gives you unneeded prisons, overfunded police, and dystopian surveillance.

Both parties are not the same.

[liberalsarecool]

The Revolution is here. It's getting bigger.

[liberalsarecool]

Gorsuch, Alito, and Thomas think the Constitution is unconstitutional because a child rapist wants to punish and traumatize children.

[liberalsarecool]

Funny they named it 250 because that's how many people showed up.

[ashlgcostumes]

I pull up my slide show. The first slide says “I do not want to financially support the Church of the Latter Day Saints in any way”. There are murmurs of agreement and approval from the room

Next slide. “Brandon Sanderson is a member of the LDS”. The muttering has changed tone

“It’s not a very big amount of money though.” Someone in the audience pipes up. “His cut is only a small fraction of the cost of the book, and then-“ my next slide shows an income breakdown, it is titled ‘a small fraction of $10,000,000 is still a big number’

I’m sweating. The following slides explain tithing rules. The vibe of the room has shifted. I start to doubt I’m getting out of here alive

[fuckblast]

[aniseandspearmint]

Bought 28USD worth of popsicles and I am NOT regretting it in the least. The GOOD kind, too, Outshine.

And a box of drumstick cones bc I haven't had any in years. Ah childhood memories. I forgot the drumstick chocolate ice cream is all but flavorless. The vanilla ones are good tho.

I wish I liked freezer pops still (also known as otter pops some places), I miss them. And they're still cheap. But they all taste weird now, and some of them make my mouth itch/burn.

[bovid-beauty]

"Fascism"—New Federal Rule Would Require Federal Funding Recipients To Deny Trans People Exist

The rule could have heavy impacts towards trans people across society.

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

Importantly, the gender ideology prohibition has no age limitation—hospitals could be targeted not just for providing care to minors but for providing gender-affirming care to adults, because prescribing hormone therapy to a transgender patient of any age could be deemed promoting the belief that "sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic."

[junequeer]

THIS IS OPEN TO COMMENT UNTIL JULY 13, 2026

[featherandstorm]

This is all very bad and horrible, but I want to be clear that it’s worse and more sweeping than just eliminating trans research.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Please, if you only ever write one public comment, this is the one to do.

[genderkoolaid]

Bringing back this guide to writing an effective public comment. This gives you the basics you need to know, what you need to include, a basic outline you can follow, etc.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

But also, if possible, don't stop at writing a comment. Don't stop at calling your representatives. You should ideally be talking to people in your community about this and organizing resistance on-the-ground; there is a good chance people are already doing that even if you aren't hearing about it.

[cherrispryte]

Some added 101-level context from someone (me) who’s worked in federal grantmaking for 20 years and is literally certified on this document - this is a document that governs all federal grantmaking. It’s been around for over a decade and is a mega-document that combine multiple previous smaller documents that have been around for ages. It is updated every few years and generally the updates are minor - a notable change in the previous update was raising the small procurement threshold from $10,000 to $15,000 for example. Deeply dry boring minutiae that no one outside of federal grantmakers need concern themselves with. It was also federal GUIDELINES, which means there was flexibility.

This year’s is different. They are now federal REQUIREMENTS, which means there’s no flexibility. As was said previously, the 400 pages are not singularly devoted to being absolute shitheads to trans people. Theres a lot of stuff in there, some of which is the standard dry boring grants stuff, some of which is the horrible ideological warfare outlined above.

This document is issued by the OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, which is currently lead by fucking Russell Vought, the principal architect of Project 2025. This is how they’re going to implement all the horrible shit in there that wasn’t covered by Executive Order. Russell Vought is actively coming for my job, my marriage, and my kid, and most of my friends lost their jobs last year because of him. He is the fucking arch villain behind the heinous shit the current regime is doing.

So yes, please comment. You don’t have to read all 400 pages before doing so, it’s dry and dense as fuck, but I thought this information might be helpful. Also, while there is a public comment period, this isn’t voted on by Congress. The OMB just fucking issues it. Pressuring your elected officials into publicly saying “hey what the fuck are you doing here” is good, though.

[mikkeneko]

Please note the comment period is open through JULY 13th, not JUNE 13th. I saw a lot of relogs yesterday saying "last day!" and I just want to say it is very much not too late.

[grison-in-space]

As of today, 7/8/26, we have five days for public commentary on this to go through. I am begging y'all: if you care about independent science in the country that produces the most global science funding in the world, please leave a comment.

[ingridverse]

"God never gives you more than you can handle" is survivorship bias. People who got more than they could handle are dead.

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Oh, dear. I can't reblog that fast enough.

[miggylol]

Spin the wheel. That's who's trying to kill you.

Spin the wheel again. That’s who’s trying to protect you.

(If you have zero idea about a name you got, spin until you see someone you recognize.)

Are you safe?

Absolutely not. I'm dead. 100% dead.

I might stay alive, but it'll be a really close thing.

I'll take some hits, for certain, but I should be okay in the end.

A few attacks might get through, but nothing concerning.

The attacker might be able to get in one lucky hit. If that.

I am the opposite of worried. I'm 100% safe.

…Look. I've tried picturing this. But I honestly don't know how to answer.

Remaining time: 5 days 10 hours

(I've run this poll twice before, expanding it significantly for the second run. With about a year passed since that second run, I thought it was time to add another couple hundred names to the list and have another go.)

[aniseandspearmint]

Okay, I have the MATCH of all time. *cackles* I'm fine. I'm beyond fine. This isn't even a contest.

It took me five spins to get a character I knew.

Monica Geller from Friends is trying to kill me.

....And Wei Wuxian is protecting me.

Like I said, not even a contest. Wei Wuxian is confused by the tiny crazy lady trying to kill the other lady. He has Wen Ning pick her up. Fight over.

[miggylol]

Spin the wheel. That's who's trying to kill you.

Spin the wheel again. That’s who’s trying to protect you.

(If you have zero idea about a name you got, spin until you see someone you recognize.)

Are you safe?

Absolutely not. I'm dead. 100% dead.

I might stay alive, but it'll be a really close thing.

I'll take some hits, for certain, but I should be okay in the end.

A few attacks might get through, but nothing concerning.

The attacker might be able to get in one lucky hit. If that.

I am the opposite of worried. I'm 100% safe.

…Look. I've tried picturing this. But I honestly don't know how to answer.

Remaining time: 5 days 10 hours

(I've run this poll twice before, expanding it significantly for the second run. With about a year passed since that second run, I thought it was time to add another couple hundred names to the list and have another go.)

[aniseandspearmint]

Silm fandom, this is THE song for Arien and Tilion!

lyrics under the cut

Hunter Moon

(lyrics by Damien O’Kane and Kate Rusby)

Softly, the morning light Softly, the dew Softly, my soul will bend As she comes in view At dawn, she is delicate And burning by noon The end of the day will come soon

And the stars in my lonely sky Are infinite bright And the stars know my soul will fly They're holding it tight

There she is rising now My heart, it might break The birds, in her warmth, will fly My soul it will ache And the world comes alive for her In awe at her gaze And suddenly, the sky is ablaze

And the stars in my lonely sky Are infinite bright And the stars know my soul will fly They're holding it tight

Oh, say not her name to me For I live in the shade Briefly, I see her As she starts to fade In silence, we pass Our path is well worn In silence, I wait for the dawn

And the stars in my lonely sky Are infinite bright And the stars know my soul will fly They're holding it tight

Calmly, I drift along Oh, I will endure I only belong to her Of that I am sure Will I ever hold her? I cannot presume 'Cause she's the sun I'm only the moon

And the stars in my lonely sky Are infinite bright And the stars know my soul will fly They're holding it tight

And the stars in my lonely sky Are infinite bright The stars know my soul will fly They're holding it tight