Speedwell

☆ | Kael | Queer | FtM | Canada | ☆ FFXIV: N'ikola Marseille ☆ Exodus

[libraford]

Are YOU gonna let THE GOVERNMENT tell YOU what YOUR GENDER is? That doesn't sound like Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness to me! PROTECT your individual FREEDOMS and call your senator: we want the GOVERNMENT to stay OUT OF OUR PANTS! GENDER FREEDOM NOW!

[libraford]

Two men in your neighborhood are married... to EACH OTHER? Congratulate them for exercising their AMERICAN RIGHT to follow the footsteps of our FOUNDING FATHERS! They've got a fully AMERICAN spirit of FREEDOM and REBELLION! GOD BLESS THE USA.

[libraford]

Your coworker has a different RELIGION from yours? Well, that's just INTERESTING and you should talk about it on your UNION-APPROVED LUNCH BREAK. The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA was FOUNDED on Freedom of Religion and ANYONE should be allowed to seek the AMERICAN DREAM!

[libraford]

You think someone might be in this GREAT country ILLEGALLY? NO YOU DON'T! No one is in this country illegally! The minute anyone steps on our SOVEREIGN SOIL they're your FELLOW AMERICAN and where they come from is NO ONES BUSINESS.

[rosslynpaladin]

it's funny yeah, but guys this is actually how you reach the people who prefer these terms to frame all things Good and Correct.

[rosszulorzott]

[animentality]

[natalieironside]

There's always a moment of intense cultural whiplash whenever I realize I'm talking to someone who thinks "legal" and "illegal" are meaningful categories and ascribes innate goodness to following the law. It's like meeting a space alien.

[natalieironside]

Like ppl will say things to me like "But that's Against The Law 😱" or "but they Broke The Law 😱" like sinners in the hands of an angry God and idk what to do w/ that

[natalieironside]

"But [action] is A Crime and if someone does [action] then they'll be a Criminal who Broke The Law! But what about The Law?"

[rasputinaillyanna]

[paexie]

Dead As Disco - Charlie Disco

[rasputinaillyanna]

[smute]

i think the most upsetting thing about american-flavor puritanism is how fucking patronizing it is. it's 2026 but the whole world still has to deal with a cultural hegemony grown from the gnarled vestiges of victorian-era paternalism. tax-paying adults with passports and the right to vote are treated like wayward children because of the antiquated idea that authorities must protect the weak minds of the unwashed masses from depravity and corruption. the average american can send a fellow citizen to the chair, but they can't piss in a ditch without being declared an outlaw. american entertainment media is saturated with sex, but you can't talk about it online without getting your account suspended. it's such blatant censorship at a universal scale, but because sexual content is framed as inherently dangerous, this restriction on basic adult autonomy, this blanket denial of moral and intellectual adulthood, can be reframed as protection, an expression of care, a moral duty. "won't someone think of the children!" I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN! I AM A GROWN MAN!

[smute]

thank god that the video game that features slow motion animations of graphic gunshot wounds and is rated 18+ has a profanity filter in single player offline mode. thank you for protecting this 33 year old mind from the corrupting influence that is a horse named apple slut

[samcormac]

what’s the rush?

[atelier-tamamoland]

"you cannot have a category of person that stops being a person or everyone that someone wants to get rid of is going to end up being put in that category" and other really fucking obvious and basic observations that everyone ignores in favor of putting people they want to get rid of into a category they think makes them stop being a person

[vampantheon]

pros of being on testosterone: my kermit impression is getting better

cons of being on testosterone: my Mort from Madagascar impression is getting worse

[vampantheon]

peace and love on planet fucking earth

[depsidase]

[mamawasatesttube]

the thing about media literacy is that understanding why the author chose to specify that the curtains are blue is the same skill set as understanding that the way the author characterizes all black characters as angry or all chinese characters as meek and silent is racist. it is the same skill set as being able to identify when a news source is biased or when someone is feeding you propaganda. the ability to ask "why did this person choose to present this premise in this specific way?" is a critical skill in a world full of misinformation. why are the curtains blue? maybe it's a characterization detail. maybe it's extraneous worldbuilding. why is this character written as being right all the time? maybe you're intended to disagree with them. maybe it doesn't matter. maybe you should still ask why.

[finalrespite]

starting a collection

(links in alt)

[anneapocalypse]

"Stop dumbing down dungeons! More complex mechanics!"

(pulls out a Nerf gun) and how will you respond when players get those mechanics wrong and slow down your run? answer quickly.

[petite-guignol]

as a healer main, people fumbling mechanics and eating shit is basically the only excitement i get and i hate the attitude that dungeons need to be blown through as fast as possible. day one ozma was some of the most fun i've ever had in this game. lost city of amdapor made such an impression on me i based my entire character around it and i do not think it would have done that if it wasn't mechanically strange and confusing. please i need chaos and party wipes to live

[sei-un]

life's tough when you don't get picked as internet sex symbol of the month

[anneapocalypse]

In the timeline post about the Circle of Knowing I put a lot of emphasis on Thancred having Archon marks at 17 but in hindsight I maybe should have dwelled more on Y'shtola who not only was also an Archon at 17, but also after graduating from ten years of study in Matoya's cave, immediately left to become an active disciple of her mentor's bitterest rival, and I think that is an aspect of their relationship that perhaps doesn't get enough attention. Both the fact that Y'shtola Did That, and the fact that fifteen years later they are on speaking terms.

[anneapocalypse]

Imagine. You're Matoya. You've had this catgirl apprentice for like ten years that you didn't actually want but your culture considers it your responsibility as an Archon to mentor the Youths so you couldn't just kick her out, so instead you were a hardass on purpose hoping she'd quit. But it turns out she was as stubborn as you were strict and she stayed and completed her whole education in your cave and now she's an Archon at 17 and damn it, you're proud of her in spite of it all. Meanwhile the whole colony is planning an exodus back to the motherland. You don't give a shit. You like your cave. You hate the Forum. Put your thesis in the Forbidden section, will they? Fine, you'll seal it away from even them, and go live in a cave. And now that Leveilleur asshole with his prophecies and his doomsaying and his godsdamned seventh verse of Mezaya seven waning moons who gives a fuck is sniffing around your apprentice for some secret society he's forming. Hah! She would never. Except she comes back to the cave to pack up all her stuff and says, Farewell, Master. I'm joining the Circle of Knowing. Master Louisoix wants to send me to Vylbrand. And you're like what the fuck. What the absolute fuck. You're doing what. You're joining whomst. You're what. Farewell, she says, and she leaves and what are you going to do about it. You're not leaving your cave. Everyone packs up and leaves and the colony lies abandoned. You stay in your cave. The Forum says, well, so long as you're staying, can you keep an eye on the Antitower for us. You flip them off. Thanks, they say, and they leave. You don't see your apprentice again for fifteen years.

Fifteen years later, she walks in without knocking and says, It's been too long, Master Matoya. Is that fucking Louisoix's granddaughter you have in tow, you say. Grandson, she says. Whatever, you say. You manage to say something halfway nice about his grandfather.

I need access to your forbidden research, your apprentice says.

You look at her. All grown up and saving the world and not even holding a grudge about all those things you said when she left.

You sigh.

You say, Very well.

Just like that? she says. She's surprised.

Just like that.

[depsidase]

[barkingbarghest]

Here is an article from NPR about it (May 22, 2026):

Carolina Milanesi, an independent technology analyst, said Google is trying to make its cash cow business — search — richer and more personalized, and it will make shopping easier. But there is a risk that users may have fewer choices about what to click. "Right now it's: I ask a question, I get a bunch of answers and I feel that I'm in control as to which answer I take, or if I'm looking for something, which product I'm going to end up buying. That is going to be less so going forward," she said. Milanesi envisions AI-enabled search and agents proposing products to consumers — perhaps even those they have requested — but with less clarity or choice around where it's coming from. "If you're going to say: 'I want a pair of Jordans, go find them,' you're not necessarily sure what steps have been taken and whether the AI has used a source or a store that was paid for and therefore came up in the search results," she said, "or if AI actually went and did their due diligence and picked the best for me as a customer."

And here's one from Time magazine (May 20, 2026):

While Google already has “AI Mode,” the company will now power the whole search bar through its new Gemini 3.5 Flash model.  Instead of the classic list of blue links, Google Search will now also generate a custom page with an AI-generated summary of what you’re searching about, which will then trigger a conversation with AI Mode on the main page, allowing users to ask follow-up questions—similar to the kind of layout you would see when opening ChatGPT.

And a little more from Time's article on how this may affect the websites that we are trying to search for:

When Google first started implementing AI-assisted results, news publishers warned of “catastrophic” impacts on the industry, much of which relies on Google search to drive users to their websites.  Last year, news websites saw significant traffic declines as chatbots increasingly replaced Google search as the primary way to find sites and ask questions.  Small businesses also noted drops in traffic to their sites from Google, which has traditionally delivered customers.   Lily Ray, vice president of SEO strategy & research at Amsive, a digital marketing agency, warned as early as last year that Google’s planned changes to search are “going to have a devastating impact on the Internet.”  “It will severely cut into the main source of revenue for most publishers and it will disincentivize content creators who rely on organic search traffic, which is millions of websites, maybe more,” she told Technology Magazine.  

[the-crying-bitch]

[cythraul]

This is you reminder that, even in Google's own Chrome, you can set the default search to DuckDuckGo.