Becadroit

Author. Poet. Dabbler. Outsider artist. I have an arts degree or three and I know how to use them.

[becadroit]

I'm just gonna say no one asked me for this. Can't say I've seen anything like this either but who knows? Anyway, the artistic hyper-focusy part of me presents to you: flying saucer cottage core. Or steam punk alien, if you like. Or even if you don't. The idea is, UAPs don't have to be all about brutalist or mid century modern design aesthetics, nor do they have to look like modern military industrial complex creations. Variety could be the spice of intergalactic life. Whatever this style is, it's a quiet quirk diversion away from the rolling critical incident omnishambles known as the current state of affairs of the world. Take a deep breath, imagine alien cottages. Meanwhile, I'll imagine the next thing.

[dash-n-step]

the english language is truly a wonder

[scribeofpnakotis]

all hail william the werewolf, proto-enby

[wretchedly]

Diversity win! The werewolf in your village goes by þei

[khaire-traveler]

I've said this before, but I don't personally believe that divinity abides by the human societal concepts of gender. I've gotten hate asks for this opinion in the past, and it's honestly just sad to see that some people are so intolerant of the fact that other opinions about divinity exist outside of their own, but I digress. I don't feel gender is a thing that gods are probably all that concerned about. I can't speak for them, obviously, but based on my own experiences, I firmly believe that the gods present themselves in a multitude of ways to worshippers all over the world. Sometimes a deity can be one gender, the next day they can be another. It's ultimately up to the gods how they choose to present themselves, and if that opinion bothers you, I encourage you to dig deeper into yourself to discover why.

[becadroit]

Imagine that divinity is a kind of a substance that can pour itself into any shape or form to suit the perceptions of the humans who decide to worship. Because it is an aspect of Being itself, it can be anything, including shapes that change. Which is how we get depictions of the same Buddha as a man and as a woman. The essence is the same, the form changes, as do the followers, the worship practices, all aspects of the faiths around the forms. Or humans decide or intuit shapes and this essence pours itself in. Regardless, humans worship a variety of forms that are a path to that which is beyond forms. And all of this doesn't lessen the importance of the form or the worship because they *are the path* humans take to Being. Hinduism is especially good at representing this. The divine beings are real, and worship of or following any of them gets you (ideally) to the same place, which is beyond the public face/s of the divine to that which no words can convey. Anyway, here endeth the philosophy of religions minor via my humanities degree. So it's probably ok to worship Aphrodite in a way that seems appropriate to you, but your devotion and indeed your concept of Aphrodite will differ to that of her ancient acolytes, because of time and change and everything we humans have forgotten. But more importantly, your form of Aphrodite is only one aspect of a thing older than your concept of her, whose ultimate source is the nature of the unknowable itself. As they all are... Also adding Zeus constantly changed form but remained Zeus: swan, coins, bull, just about anything. See also Loki, who could shape shift too.

[nkp1981]

Kiki Layne on Instagram: "The first Old Guard film came out during the pandemic, so I didn’t get to enjoy special moments like this. Feeling incredibly grateful and so excited for this movie to FINALLY come out!!!!!"

[becadroit]

Sold incognito

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[becadroit]

Spontaneous belief

People say if you need it, go build it. It turns out there was a need and something was built. I have left it as is. Let sleeping bears lie… Over winter the front yard developed a shrine. Unbidden, unrequested, a small flowerbed turned patch of dirt left fallow except for leaf litter after the sunflowers died, has been transformed. It began with a lost bear. A teddy bear. It sat in the car park…

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[ralfmaximus]

This infamous people search site is back after leaking 3 billion records - how to remove your data from it ASAP

National Public Data is back online. Protect your privacy from it now - and check if other people-search sites have your information.

Over a year ago, National Public Data (NPD), a search site for people, earned a place in privacy infamy for a security breach that revealed the personal data of 3 billion individuals (that's billion with a "b"). Now, after disappearing, NPD is back. As ZDNET sister publication PCMag reported, NPD is open for snooping again under a new owner, the rather mysterious-sounding Perfect Privacy LLC.

Oh boy. Better head over to nationalpublicdata.com and see if your profile is there. Then follow the handy instructions in the ZDNET article to have yourself removed:

How to remove your information from NPD

Search your name on nationalpublicdata.com.

When you find your profile, click "View Full Profile."

Copy its URL.

Go to nationalpublicdata.com/optout.html.

Drop the URL into the "Your Profile Link" field and click "Request Removal."

Enter an email address, and the site will send you an email requesting that you click to confirm deletion. 

You'll need a separate email address for each profile you want to delete. 

[ralfmaximus]

Are you listed at the National Public Database site?

I was, and it was accurate. I requested removal.

I was, but it was only somewhat accurate. I requested removal.

I was, but everything was wrong. I requested removal.

I am. I tried to remove myself but it didn't work.

I am. People can look me up, whatever

Never looked, don't plan to.

Voting ended onAug 21, 2025

Reblogging again with poll because I am curious.

[kungfunurse]

Literally my everything was listed there. 😱

[c-rowlesdraws]

oh hey, gross. I just requested all my shit deleted and it looks like it was successful. If you didn’t know, now you know.

[becadroit]

First there was the Simpsons left handed store. I want a store that provides useful products for short people. Stuff like over door hooks & shower caddies that hang lower, as in actual reaching distance. Items that fit smaller hands that aren't made for children. Clothing that has shorter lengths in legs and arms but aren't too short in the body because we don't all want crop tops. Designs for cabinetry so people like me don't need to execute a ballet barre manoeuvre to reach a wall switch or look in a mirror. Designs for stairs that mean I don't near gear and a Sherpa. Better step stools, built in cupboards that are reachable... Etc etc.

And for genocide to stop and for people to be safe and free. Yeah. Of all the things we need, we need that the most.

[becadroit]

Postal mathematics

Apparently August is Australian Poetry Month. Since I write poetry and am Australian I guess I should take part. Here’s my little contribution. Something new, therefore unpolished. Postal mathsWhat’s mine is delivered next door.What’s yours is brought to me.Hence getting mail to (any of) our addresses is what postal maths is for. What goes around, comes around, we residents (without discussion)…

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[becadroit]

Top shelf fishing

If we have ever met but haven’t caught up in a while, you’ll likely be unsurprised to learn I am not yet 6″2 or even 5″3. I remain as tall as I was aged 12. If we haven’t met in person: hi, I’m not very tall. No, shorter than that. Yup.  Now you know. Not that kind of fishing. Anyway, you’ll now likely be unsurprised to learn I occasionally get offers of help at the supermarket. Sometimes tall…

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[bakedbakermom]

fuck terry pulling no punches in this one

[historynerdj2]

Sir Terry Pratchett once again continues to be relevant

[thebibliosphere]

Current writing advice I'm seeing on TikTok and Insta is telling authors to stop using em dashes in their work because, "AI uses em dashes so people will think you've used AI."

Y'know, the AI that was trained on the stolen work of real authors?

Anyway, I will not be doing that. What I will be doing, however, is adding a note at the start of all my books that no AI was used in the creation of my work because I, the author, did not go to university for four fucking years to study English literature and linguistics only to be told I can't use proper grammar because someone might think a robot wrote it.

Fucking, insane.

[lucillewalterblack]

It’s not only on TikTok, it’s also on YouTube and Reddit as a cheap “tell”. Anyone who uses emdashes at all is accused of being an AI bot, because people say that even if writers use them nobody will use one online (because phones don’t use emdashes, so reviews and comments with them are AI.)

It’s a little ridiculous.

[thebibliosphere]

... do people not know if you long hold the dash on a phone it creates an em dash???

I've been working primarily from my phone for over a year. I've written 70k of fiction on my phone using em dashes. I... who... what.

[happybean17]

I can WHAT

. . . OH MY GOD I CAN

— — —

LOOK AT ALL OF MY BEAUTIFUL WIVES

ALL THE EM DASHES MY BELOVEDS

bibliosphere I owe you my life

thank you 😭❤️❤️❤️

for the visual learners:

[thebibliosphere]

I'm genuinely jazzed watching everyone in the notes learn how to make em dashes on their phones, lmao.

Go, be free with your beautiful wives 🥹

[becadroit]

Ah yes. Famously dead poet Emily Dickinson thus famously used AI to produce her tiny em dashed filled poems that littered the backs of recipes and envelopes. FFS. No writer needs some cheat machine invented by tech bros who wanna write but can't, to tell us how or what to write. To kinda quote Rage Against the (AI) Machine: f you I won't do what you tell me.

[gengario]

introverts be like "i know a good spot" and then go home

[becadroit]

Old Guard 2.

First impressions

Highlights - every Joe & Nicky scene being 100% Joe & Nicky. Andy fighting, in fact all the fight choreography was top notch. Swords! Labrys! Knives! Hoards of anonymous minions/canon fodder! Bad art! Fast cars! Anything can be a weapon if you aim it right.

Issues

Too many unanswered questions, which if I list will spoil the narrative but this sequel basically rewrites OG1, very quickly. The danger is that stories mainly focussed on undoing or redoing their internal mythology instead of demonstrating it, often get a bit - um - constipated. See also Doctor Who. But heroic figures demonstrating their legendary traits via a story (as warriors, as lovers, as rivals, as family, as immortals, or if you like alien time travelers) yes please, do the epic things ✅.

But mainly Too Old Too Guard felt like an episode, which would be fine if there was any momentum at all to make more. Is there? Anyone? I'm not holding my breath, due to if the production pattern holds I'll expect a third film to tie everything all together in about 15 years. Let's hope the actors are immortal too.

[wilwheaton]

[becadroit]

The long afterwards

Death is an end. Except it isn’t. Of course it’s not. Traffic keeps flowing, the sun rises and sets, and the world continues. My own personal grief is another thing that began before the death and continues after the moment. Every day is different. There is bereftness, and occasions where I catch myself thinking I need to tell, I need to get, I need to go, I need – then I remember. Even months…

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[nitewrighter]

This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it.

Job cuts and frozen funding could inch one of the world’s rarest species even closer to extinction.

DOGE just froze funding to vital Federal and Indigenous conservation programs devoted to supporting the very delicate and tenuous existence of the black-footed ferret.

I fell in love with these animals as a kid traveling to our National Parks. Their rarity and ferocity made me sharply aware, even as a child, of just how much of a responsibility we have toward our environment. I can't bear the thought of them being a fucking casualty of Trump and Musk.

Look at them! They do war dances.

[nitewrighter]

Okay I don't want to end this on doom and gloom, so I'm also going to add that the Buffalo Nations Grasslands Alliance was one of the indigenous-lead organizations who were supposed to receive a $1.1 million dollar grant that has since been frozen. But they do have a website and they do accept donations.

BUFFALO NATIONS GRASSLANDS ALLIANCE