a life of somedays

Arianod's personal blog.

[comeonamericawakeup]

[redarmyscreaming]

Anybody think those eyes comprehend what they see?

[barbucomedie]

Armour from Augsburg, Germany dated to 1570 on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England

This set of armour is etched with bands of wines inspired by Islamic ornaments and has a pinched waist mimicking contemporary clothing. Ornate armour often followed fashion styles and trends as while they were primarily worn for protection they were also there as a display of wealth and social status.

Photographs taken by myself 2024

[saywhat-politics]

House adopts war powers resolution to rein in Trump on Iran

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., argued that this vote would "weaken" Trump's hand on negotiating with Iran.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., argued that this vote would "weaken" Trump's hand on negotiating with Iran.

Jun. 3, 2026, 5:19 PM EDT

By Kevin Frey

More than three months after President Donald Trump first launched an attack on Iran — and, more relevantly, more than 90 days since the war began — the House successfully voted to reassert Congress’ authority over the war.

In a 215-208 vote, the House adopted a war powers resolution on Wednesday, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in support of the legislation. (Reps. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted for the resolution.)

[the-tzimisce]

every three to five days there's a new big scary AI story and when you look into it it's always that the AI generated a piece of text that closely resembled its training data, but in a new situation because someone put it in a new situation. just the most dog bites man shit of all time. it's been three years

[the-tzimisce]

billionaire gets into the most boring special interest of all time and entire population has to pretend it's revolutionary at barely metaphorical gunpoint. I honestly resent every brain cell I've spent on this shit that could have been spent on like 16th century weaving methods

[the-tzimisce]

it seems to be taboo to say this even among the very critical but like. AI is the most boring thing to happen in my entire life. like of course it is causing major events that you have to be concerned with in order to protect yourself and be a knowledgeable participant in society but the fact that I have to spend my time, my brain power, knowing things about the statistically likely text machine? unforgivable. can we please have an energy crisis or something so that I have to know the exact inner workings of six different kinds of solar panel instead, please, I need a break, I need to let my brain run around in the field like a sheepdog instead being shackled in the dank grey twilight of the transformer mines

[the-tzimisce]

if ten thousand guys can write posts like "of course there are massive externalities, but we must also consider that AI has made life somewhat more convenient for me personally" surely I too can be forgiven for posting that of course there are massive externalities, but we must also consider that AI has made life super boring and annoying for me personally

[crispy-ghee]

There's a book that we had in our house growing up that I was obsessed with as a kid. It was just called "PAKISTAN: PAINTINGS BY LIN YONG AND SU HUA" and it was an art book of 100+ paintings/sketches by two Chinese artists who travelled thru Pakistan in 1978 and 1981, a sort of travelogue of their trip, and to little-kid me, it was some of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. I have no idea why we had that book, but I would stare at it for hours, and it made me wish I could draw/paint/do whatever it was that these artists had managed to do.

Anyway, we've moved house a bunch of times and I lost track of the book and haven't seen it for probably two decades now. But I think about it now and again, and had struggled to find it over the years, but I finally, finally got my hands on a copy of my own and i want to cry haha

I was afraid that maybe the art isn't as good as I remembered, being just a kid and all, but I cracked it open and nope, it hits me just the way it used to. Maybe even more now. It's so fucking pretty. Have some random pages:

[crispy-ghee]

Sure! Have some more portraits from the book

[itsmythang]

Hunter Biden is not clear-eyed and sober and he has zero F'cks to give. I'm here for it. I love this for us. He's hilarious in the best of ways.

Just take the Albanian Island deal. Jared and Ivanka secured a $1.4 billion resort on Sazan, a protected island on state land. By his own account, he was introduced to Albania's prime minister on the Rothschilds' yacht. Ivanka called the place a "private island" they "discovered." Albanian prosecutors have now opened a corruption inquiry into how that land lost its protected status.

The people of Albania are literally protesting in the streets because of this.

[redarmyscreaming]

Tired of the rich yet?

[inkskinned]

Every day I handle more money than I will ever make. Every day.

At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and it’s not to watch the shoppers. See, we can’t actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.

At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didn’t exist in my household. It’s normal now. Here is something that is not for me.

“What the hell, I’ll take another,” says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.

The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.

I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. He’s not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. He’s not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadn’t spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldn’t have spent any. I go home. I don’t own a watch.

I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.

I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht. 

I’m not worth the cost of a watch.

[inkskinned]

i wrote this while i was working at orlando’s walt disney world parks.

i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.

as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.

disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (“cast members”) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even “face” characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.

at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.

i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.

i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.

we are both worth more than the watch, anyway.

[dwribatski]

[zotcomics]

La Naturaleza by D.W. Ribatski, 2016.

[notinriversbutindrops]

Lourenço Mutarelli, Mundo Pet

[lesmachins]

On Tyranny

[zotcomics]

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Art by Nora Krug, 2021.

[to-orrr]

pencil sketches

[saywhat-politics]

Thousands Of Albanians Protest Jared Kushner-Linked Luxury Resort On Pristine Coastline

The $1.6 billion resort is being led by Kushner's investment firm on an island off Albania and an undeveloped stretch of coastline.

TIRANA, June 3 (Reuters) - Thousands of Albanians took to the streets of Tirana on Tuesday night protesting against a development planned by a company linked with Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on an environmentally sensitive part of the Adriatic coast.

The €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) resort is being led by Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners on an island off Albania and an undeveloped stretch of coastline near the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, a wetland home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites.

[oldschoolfrp]

Legendary fantasy artist John Blanche has died. He is known mostly for his long association with Games Workshop, where he served as art director and created many of the iconic images that shaped the Warhammer and 40K worlds. He was capable of working in diverse styles, but much of his art and his own creative miniature conversions made his name synonymous with the "grimdark" aesthetic, mixing elements of moody gothic architecture and body horror with a limited color palette.

He also contributed to GW's UK edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery! books, and other books and album covers. Wombat Games recently published an authorised biography, Blanche: The Rise of Grimdark. A skirmish game, John Blanche's En Garde, is in development with a setting and visual style based on his art.

[saywhat-politics]

French prosecutors escalate probe of Elon Musk and X to criminal investigation

PUBLISHED THU, MAY 7 2026 4:54 PM EDT

French cybercrime authorities have escalated an investigation of Elon Musk and his social network X to a criminal probe.

The investigation began in 2025 and focuses on alleged algorithmic manipulation by X to interfere in French politics, and the spread of AI deepfake content on the social network.

The U.S. Justice Department and Musk previously accused French authorities of a sham probe that interferes with an American business.

French prosecutors escalate probe of Elon Musk and X to criminal investigation

France is investigating whether Elon Musk and his social media app X were complicit in spreading harmful AI deepfakes.

[rosieandthemoon]

In Buenos Aires

[moringmark]

[mogiroba]