Barely Functional Cephalopod

Jack, he/him, mid 20s white man  ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ profile pic art by @brainfullofsadbees

[monky]

im sorry i literally cannot get this out of my head since last night

[transgwender616]

Reed Richards blocked the door so no one could escape and tell people how bad Johnny's rapping is.

[barelyfunctionalcephalopod]

[burninglights]

fucking insane to be a person of colour in the uk right now

[burninglights]

When my family first moved to the UK, we faced a similar risk to our wellbeing & safety as many are facing now, albeit for different reasons. in light of everything happening in Ireland & the tensions increasing in Glasgow, and the perennial England, here’s a list of actionable things to do for people who may be targeted & anti racist allies.

MY HOME IS ON THE LIST/LIKELY TO BE TARGETED, WHAT CAN I DO?

* it may bring you peace of mind to have a go-bag ready, just in case. A go-bag is a bag with everything in it that you need to get out a volatile situation quickly. Any bag that can be secured (buttoned or zipped) will do. In your go-bag, you should include;

- identifying documents; passport/driver’s license/asylum card/ILR certificate/British Residency permit card

- Wallet and/or banking books

- A spare charger & cable and/or a power bank

- any shelf-stable medication (tablets, inhalers etc.) if you are on medication that needs to be refrigerated, leave it in the fridge until you have to leave

- Sanitary items; toothbrush, toothpaste, sanitary pads & tampons, deodorant. If you have very young children with you, you may also want to take your nappy bag.

* If you have to leave, a go-bag is a convenient way to ensure you have everything of importance with you.

* If you are being supported by an asylum seekers or refugee charity, or are a member of a gurdwara/temple, mosque, synagogue or church, reach out to your religious leaders. They may be able to provide direct support, or put you in contact with organisations or other congregants who can help. If you are friendly with your neighbours, it may be worth contacting them too.

* IN THE EVENT THAT “PROTESTORS” DO COME TO YOUR HOUSE, CALL 999 IMMEDIATELY, AND FOLLOW ANY INSTRUCTIONS THEY GIVE YOU. MOVE AWAY FROM ANY WINDOWS. DO NOT OPEN YOUR DOOR UNLESS INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY EMERGENCY SERVICES.

I’M AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT/CARE WORKER/NHS WORKER, WHAT SHOULD I DO?

* Contact your student welfare office/NHS Trust/agency for advice, support and referral to organisations that may be able to provide assistance

* if you live in or commute through an area that is likely to be targeted, contact your lecturers and your faculty to find out whether remote study is possible; if you work in care or as part of the NHS, find out if it is possible to change shifts.

* If it would provide peace of mind, prepare a go-bag as listed above

* Reach out to your the uni society or student’s organisation for international students or students of specific ethnic origin; they may be able to provide you with direction to resources and peer support. If your university has a Marxist or Socialist society, reach out to them for mutual aid with a travel buddy etc., for getting to and from your place of study/work

* If you are a member of a gurdwara/temple, mosque, synagogue or church, reach out to your religious leaders. They may be able to provide direct support, or put you in contact with organisations or other congregants who can help.

* If you are friendly with your neighbours, it may be worth contacting them too for assistance with travel to & from work.

* Report any racism or racialised violence you are subjected to. NHS staff have a right to refuse to treat patients who harass, abuse, threaten or insult them; if a patient is racist to you, where possible, ask another member of staff to take over their care.

PERSONAL SAFETY:

* do not leave your home unless strictly necessary. If it is necessary to leave, don’t do it alone.

* use NextDoor, WhatsApp, social media and word of mouth to avoid commuting through “protestor” road blocks, areas of active conflict etc.,

* When travelling, use Share My Location or Life360, and keep at least two people aware of your expected time of arrival at your destination with instructions to contact the police if you do not let them know you’ve made it safely

* do not directly confront any individuals involved, or allow them to bait you into becoming confrontational

* only record if it is safe. Do not record individuals directly/from up close

* Do not directly intervene. If you see violence occurring, contact emergency services and if safe to do so, record what’s happening.

ALLYSHIP & HOW TO HELP:

* if you have neighbours, friends, coworkers or acquaintances form targeted communities, reach out to them. Ask them what you can do to help them feel safe.

* If you live in an area likely to be targeted, reach out to any vulnerable people you know. If safe and possible, offer to let them shelter with you in the event they need to leave home

* If you see any incitement to violence online screenshot it; it may prove useful in the event of individual “protesters” being prosecuted

* If you see any specific areas being discussed as targets, alert anyone you know at risk in the area

* Reach out to local refugee & asylum seekers’ organisations, to organisations supporting foreign national care & healthcare workers, and to churches, mosques, gurdwaras; they may be looking for short term assistance in helping to provide for vulnerable members of their community

CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS FOR ASSISTANCE & TO SUPPORT:

* NASC Ireland; refugee & asylum seeker charity

* Doras.org; migrant, stateless persons, refugee and asylum seeker rights advocates

* Jesuit Refugee Service; religious refugee & asylum seekers charity

* Irish Refugee Council; supporting stateless displaced persons & refugees in NI & ROI

* International Student’s House (IE & UK WIDE): provides hardship funding and help to international students

* PathFinder (UK WIDE); supports international students

* Care International (GLOBAL); global carer’s charity

* Choose Love (IE & UK WIDE); charitable organisation supporting refugees and asylum seekers

* Praxis UK (UK WIDE); supporting refugees & asylum seekers

* The Runnymede Trust (IE & UK WIDE); antiracism education charity

* Migrant’s Rights Network (IE & UK WIDE); advocacy and support for migrants and refugees

* ShareTheMeal (GLOBAL); providing meals for refugees and those fleeing conflict globally

* Amnesty (IRELAND, UK & WORLDWIDE); human rights NGO

* UNHCR & UN Refugee Council (GLOBAL); UN refugee bodies supporting those seeking asylum, fleeing conflict & internally/internationally displaced worldwide

[peachfromcmbyn]

The Ikea biphobia couch is the funniest thing that's ever happened. We found it gang. Nothing will ever top it in terms of being funny.

[dead-boysss]

The what???

[peachfromcmbyn]

The Ikea biphobia couch.

[dead-boysss]

???

[peachfromcmbyn]

I don't know what to tell you man.

[queermystic]

That was the exact thought process

[pitviperofdoom]

I try not to fall into the "I never liked their work anyway" ditch when an artist/creator reveals themself to be a terrible person

BUT

a feeling I do have and will stand by is "While I enjoyed their work overall I did have some gripes that I overlooked out of affection and whimsy, but now that my loyalty is gone and my affection tainted there is nothing holding me back from enumerating my many grievances, to which the revelations of the creator's shittiness may or may not provide a new and infuriating context."

[beatrice-otter]

#such a good summation of this actually#because yeah there’s usually things that were always present#but which were easy to overlook or give the benefit of the doubt#that suddenly become relevant after a revelation about the creator#and it’s really not the same thing as the self-defensive “’I never liked it anyway’

tags via chimaerakitten

[bideogaymes]

praying for everyone Black in Belfast rn. hella Black ppl lost they homes as a result of this antiblack terrorism.

[bideogaymes]

like ok allegedly the white people in Northern Ireland terrorizing mainly Black people and poc are British loyalists and not “real Irish” but that video stating that is showing more concern for the white Irish people currently hiding in their homes “in fear” of harm, while real life Black people are actively being harmed lmao like??? get up! if you say you’re not like these white supremacists than show up in defense for the Black people currently being mobbed by people who look like you!

paying liberal lip service does nothing but make sure history doesn’t remember you as the “actual bad guys”, just the cowardly bystanders & it damn sure doesn’t make any moves to protect anyone Black!

[creatingblackcharacters]

It's also like... Unless everyone over there is wearing shirts that say "Safe Catholic Irish" and "Bad UK Irish", there's no way a Black person is gonna know who is safe and who's not. So this idea that "it's not the real Irish" well then yeah the Real Irish need to stand up and get outside then because otherwise... You look just like the guy who burned my house down and I don't have time to give you a ten minute interview on your politics 🤷🏾‍♀️

[hell-on-sticks]

Today in australia they started senate hearings on the bill the government hopes will make enough disabled people die or disappear to make us all less irritatingly expensive for them. We had two weeks to submit feedback on over 400 pages of complicated legal terms. They don't care what we have to say and they don’t care that this will kill people and disenfranchise disabled people across the country.

There are 760,000 Australians on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the system that - if they feel like it and your personalised plan says you get to have it - provides funding for everything from personal hygiene care to support workers to therapies to assistive technology. It's already very hard for disabled people to get on the NDIS, regardless of your disability. It's near impossible to access most support and equipment without being on the NDIS. And the government has announced that they want that number to drop to 600,000 in four years. 160,000 of us cut off the Scheme - and countless more denied access. This will cause deaths. People will die and people will suffer because there is no safety net. The NDIS is the only option for most of us. Even private health insurance doesn't cover most of these things. Nobody will swoop in to save us.

The bill wants to give the (non disabled!) NDIS minister basically unlimited power to cut our funding. They're already planning what they'd do with that power. What rights they'll strip from us. What dignity and freedom they'll remove to make their budget look better.

The bill wants to force people to try every treatment out there before they're allowed to be on the NDIS. Including if the treatment is literally impossible to access. There’s a lot of us living in regional areas or out bush who can't just pop to the capital cities for specialists. This will especially hurt disabled First Nations people in regional and remote communities, who already experience limited access to healthcare. Oh, and it includes chemical restraint, too. The government has directly refused to exclude chemical restraint from the required process, calling it "trialling medication".

If you're australian and worried, the ABC did a good breakdown of the proposed changes.

I know australia stuff doesn't really pop up on the radar on this site, but I want everyone to know what's going on. What we're fighting for here. Your australian disabled friends might be NDIS participants fearing for their life, rights, and freedom. They might not be a participant and afraid these changes mean they never will have access. We deserve better. The government built a system with no backup plan, and now they want hundreds of thousands of disabled people to pay the price for their bad planning.

Sorry we're too expensive to have rights, I guess.

[doctorwhoisadhd]

rtd's instagram post btw:

[doctorwhoisadhd]

"no actor was ever approached to play the next doctor" ncuti gatwa literally regenerated into billie piper onscreen.

[orphan55]

I don't think dr who is getting cancelled but you have to admit generating hype for an announcement only to say "we're pulling the plug" would be kind of hilarious

[silliestcolressfan]

[polarity-disturbed]

[ID: an image showing three kids in the distance flinching away, labeled “random internet users just trying to be comedic,” while a child closer to the camera labeled “Apollo” holds a red dodgeball labeled “the gift of prophesy.” /end ID]

[bubblegum-gf]

reblogging a funny low note count textpost on your dash made by your mutual's mutual kinda feels like walking up to two strangers on the street and laughing loudly at their joke

[valend]

It’s kinda like this

[penny-anna]

Update on plans for the future of Doctor Who

Doctor Who remains an important part of the BBC

the TL:DR:

Christmas special cancelled

Russell T Davies and his production company are leaving the show

RTD has confirmed on Instagram that there was never a script or proper plan for the Christmas special

The show is going out to competitive tender.

For anyone who is confused as to what 'competitive tender' means:

Caveat that my knowledge of tendering comes from a completely different industry but roughly speaking: other TV production companies will now have an opportunity to pitch their plan for making Doctor Who to the BBC and how much funding they would need and the BBC will give the show to whatever company can do it best and cheapest. Show will remain with the BBC, they are just looking for a new contractor for the production.

[penny-anna]

Essentially whether this is good or bad news really depends on the likely outcome of the tender and i have no idea what the likely outcome is.

the best case scenario here is that the BBC find a new contractor who can make an acceptable version of Doctor Who for less money and in a few years time we get a whole new version of the show with a new Doctor etc.

and then obviously the worst case scenario is that no-one wants the show or can meet the BBC's funding requirements and then you know. Wilderness Years 2!!!!

[realgodofficial]

i think we as a community are forgetting that more than one interpretation of media (especially classic literature) can coexist because why are people arguing with me when i say jekyll and hyde is explicitly supernatural but it also is explicitly psychological. why do i have to choose one. let me live. the curtains are allowed to represent more than one thing i think

[the-chaos-crew]

OP turned reblogs off but as someone with a crazy wicked scar that's been called "body horror" a few times, I really wanted this on my blog

in fact I think all of these are beautiful, cool, neat, or just neutral. nothing negative about any of it. also goes for implants, I've known people with implants of all kinds be made fun of, but that shit isn't ugly or gross either, it's just neutral and or positive

[asexual-amanita]

“A pop can tab opener? Who needs that?”

It’s not for you.

“Why would anyone get a hairdryer holder, just use your hands to hold it.”

It’s not for you.

“Portable collapsible stools are proof of how lazy this generation is getting.”

It’s not for you.

“A chord assist for a guitar? Why don’t people just use their fingers like everyone else?”

IT’S NOT FOR YOU.

Fun fact! Not everything is about or for you!

PT: Fun fact! Not everything is about or for you! End PT

[chronicallyunemployed]

i think the cat would be immensely pleased to find out that the word for cat in portuguese (gato/gata) is also used as an adjective to say someone is pretty/attractive

[redstonedust]

you notice over time that some people clearly understand the concept of thinking critically about the media they consume and who its created by but dont want to do the critical thinking themselves so they just like. wait for people on the internet to tell them what theyre allowed to like in order to keep their Good Person score high or whatever. which doesnt seem very productive to me i think.

[intersexcultureis]

intersex culture is being so damn tired of the tag spam with the inevitable pride month posts that have nothing to do with intersexuality (and often actively exclude intersexuality despite adding the tag). we're already barely considered as it is, it just makes it feel like intersex is one more bingo square to fill out rather than something that refers to real people who are already constantly ignored and pushed out of queer spaces.

(and also that one fucking person who said that intersex people shouldn't count as queer because "it's not a sexuality or gender"?????)

anon how does it feel to be the realest motherfucker out there

perisex people if youre going to include us in your tag spam, please make an effort to include us as human beings too. we belong at pride, we belong in queer spaces. please make an effort to make us feel welcome and not a shadow. ive spent so long in the closet about being intersex and this year i am making it the focal point of my pride celebration. i dont want to be met with crickets, and im sure no one else in the community does as well. make the "i" in lgbtqia+ feel more welcome if you want to spread good this pride month. anon is right a lot of it feels incredibly perfomative and i hope we can fix that

[beardedmrbean]

how to commit to the bit properly