Des taxis pour les galaxies... *

"The secret is that we don't. We don't, and don't, and don't. Each day we’re infants: plucking flower petals, full of wonder." - Micah Ling, "My wolf sings he doesn't bark like a dog." - Angus & Julia Stone. 

[bob-belcher]

[itehexael]

This aged so well

[dadalux]

The Art in The Times of Coronavirus

[renegade-hierophant-deactivated]

Advice from 4500 years ago.

[the-real-numbers-deactivated202]

I like ths translation. “it would be wise of you to remember this”

[dostoyevsky-official]

more than 1,000 russians were arrested in protests in 44 cities over the last six hours. some well-known activists were preemptively arrested as they left their house; others were arrested as soon as they unfurled placards. by the looks of it, there were large protests in st. petersburg. over 100 local government officials signed a letter opposing war, and over 170 journalists and intellectual figures signed a similar letter. this is a promising sign, but it’s feeble. as war drags on, protests will grow.

russian civil society is battered and demoralized; its most prominent figures have either been murdered or jailed. i predict that russia will become “totalitarianized” in the coming weeks, with full control over the internet and social media. it isn’t clear how extensive this will be, or how quickly it will happen. already, moscow’s largest theater announced that anyone disrupting the performances to say anything about the war will be arrested for treason. this has severe ramifications for what the postwar occupation of ukraine will look like

[dostoyevsky-official]

1,700 detained in russia, the likely accurate number is north of 2,000. i repeat that what happens in russia domestically is crucial for understanding what will happen next

[afloweroutofstone]

Solidarity with all our brothers and sisters in Russia who are fighting against war and militarism

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

have you heard the good worm

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

don’t take me at my worm

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

he’s a man of few worms

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

famous last worms

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

I won’t mince my worms

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

stop putting worms in my mouth

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

them’s fighting worms!

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

worms to live by

[oodlenoodleroodle]

I’m getting fed up with this whole “feminism as an identity” thing. Time for “feminism as an action.”

So instead of asking “can a feminist do x?” ask “is doing x a feminist action!”

Can a feminist take her husband’s last name? Mu. Null. Question un-valid, please un-ask question.

Is taking your husband’s last name a feminist action? No it isn’t. It doesn’t challenge the patriarchy in anyway, it is the status quo thing to do, it is what is expected of women, and it carries a lot of historical baggage about ownership and shit like that.

But that’s okay, your life choices don’t have to be 100% dictated by your politics unless you want them to. And it’s okay to really want to take his name while recognizing that you also want to do the feminist thing and keep your own, and it’s okay to feel conflicted and have a hard time making the choice. But no more of this enabling “as long as I made the choice myself it is a feminist choice” -bullshit. Own your choices, even the ones that aren’t informed by your feminist politics. You are still a human being and people do shit that contradicts their politics and even interests all the time. Just stop pretending that everything you do is feminist because you are a feminist, that’s not how it works.

[hauntedpamplemousse]

^^this is why bell hooks challenges us to say “i support feminist movement” or “i support feminist action” rather than “i am a feminist.” she says that once we say “i am a feminist” and make “feminist” an identity rather than a political movement or a set of beliefs and the actions resulting from those beliefs, we can become complacent and think the battle is over. 

[chewedcorn]

A Cut Above

[mouser26]

This is like the exact opposite energy to A.Shipwright‘s  Detective Noirot Chase

[todaysbird]

in 2022 may you find many seeds, nuts, berries, etc

[mjalti]

I didn’t even look at the name I was just like damn I hope so too thanks

[politicalprof]

Well, you know, some bathroom graffiti offers insight.

[madfishmonger]

Red marker handwriting on a bathroom wall. Text reads:

“Boss made a dollar Granddad made a dime But that was a poem From a simpler time.

Boss made a thousand Gave pa a cent But that penny paid the mortgage Or at least it paid the rent

Now Boss makes a million And gives us jack Smugly blames the workers For the labor that he lacks.”

[headspace-hotel]

No offense but the internet gives you the most wrong and fucked up idea of helping people because people get mad if you don't care about disasters happening in 72 countries, meanwhile the people in real life that are doing the most good picked one VERY SPECIFIC thing to care about and care about it REALLY HARD

[headspace-hotel]

Walks up to a guy working on restoring a native tree species to his downtown "why aren't you posting about grasses in Turkmenistan!"

[headspace-hotel]

The internet has taken a whole generation of bright, motivated, passionate young people who care and have big hearts and turned them into paralyzed, shattered wrecks too crushed by the weight of the world's pain to hand a pair of socks to a person in need

[foxaes]

My body is Not a temple. it is a thermos. for soup

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

I’ve done a lot of pondering and I’ve determined that my orb is better than yours

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

my orb is so potent and ponderable the mere image of it sends strangers abandoning their posts to go raving into the night

[death-threat-collector]

Joke’s on you. I’m pondering your orb now.

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

My orb is tremendously huge and opulent with room for all to ponder its majesty. You are welcome to ponder it to your heart’s content, as my guest.

[guerrillatech]

[beaniebaneenie]

Just a reminder that this is not by accident.

This is not “oh my gosh, how do our bosses not understand that the culture before was modeled after being in prison, and that it stifled innovation?”

They knew that. That was the entire point. The workplace culture was like that on purpose, and absolutely intended to keep us busy and miserable, because there are more of us than there are of them, and the last time the working population was aware of that, bosses were forced to make major concessions.

Our previous workplace culture made no fucking sense to continue for as long as it did. We’ve known for decades that the 8-hr workday is not effective, that cubicles destroy morale, and that “lean staffing” is bullshit designed to keep the bosses rich while causing massive burnout to everyone else. More recent is the knowledge that they could afford to double their workforce AND sharply increase everyone’s salary and benefits and still make astronomical profit, but that they won’t, solely out of greed.

But our bosses always said, “well okay, maybe that One Study said this was bad… but there’s Just No Other Way, and even if there was, we can’t implement it! Oh no, things just have to stay the same!”

….until the pandemic forced a change.

Rather than completely grind to a halt and make $0, bosses implemented radical, sweeping changes, and they did it FAST.

And their lies have fucking fallen apart.

We can work from home, and we’re just as efficient- if not more so.

Wearing jeans, t-shirts, and even pajamas or no pants at all does not affect the quality of our work.

Since plenty of us are at home, and “stepping away from the desk” more often than managers would typically allow, we now know that actually, yeah- we can get all of our tasks done in 4-5 hours instead of 8.

Not every meeting needs to be in person. Not every meeting even needs to be a meeting- a lot of them can be emails.

…all those lies our bosses told us have been revealed to be ash, falsehoods to preserve the status quo. Their system of power that was broken beyond repair has been un-glamoured. We see it for what it really is.

…which is why our bosses want us to return to it ASAP.

Because we’re aware now that it’s broken, but we haven’t truly started to fight back yet.

We can see that the structure is essentially held together with sticks and spit, but no one’s given it a good kick yet.

They want us back under their thumb before we get a chance to remember what our greatest weapon is and use it against them.

Hint: it’s unions. It’s organization. It’s dignity, and knowing that we deserve it, and collectively deciding that we’re not going to put up with less. Unions, and collective bargaining, and strikes, have the power to completely dismantle the system, and they know it…

They want to returns us to the system that burns us out, because for the first time in decades, we’re not just smoldering coals anymore- we have a spark. And motivation to fan it into flames.

Nurture that spark, y’all. Unionize.

iww.org

[what-even-is-thiss]

I think that we as a society should get more comfortable with the idea that sometimes our friends will be attracted to us and sometimes we will be attracted to our friends and nothing needs to come of that.

You don't have to date. You don't have to stop being friends. You can just keep hanging out. Self control and respect exists.

And sometimes you will date your friend and figure out that your dynamic worked better when you were friends. And then you can go back to being friends. It's really quite simple. Mature and cool, even.

[rosalarian]

Honestly, the biggest advice I have for poly people is that you do not need to date every single mutual crush.

[insertdisc5]

Any tips for panel layout for pacing? I feel like yours really lends itself to the stories u tell.

thank u. its random comic tips which may or may not answer your question time, cookie edition

did that help

[aprillikesthings]

Before I argued with a shit ton of landlords and wannabe landlords: I think we should strengthen tenant’s rights and enforce our existing tenant protection laws better, and increase our housing benefits.

After spending too much time arguing with landlords and wannabe landlords: Fuck it. It should be illegal to own homes you don’t live in. If you won’t sell to the people renting from you, people should forcibly take your property. All landlords are parasites.

[aprillikesthings]

"iF yOu DoN't LiKe ReNtInG jUsT bUy A hOuSe"

Houses in my city go for, like, $500k. I can't. Housing prices in the US have skyrocketed while wages have stagnated. That is in fact the problem--most people cannot afford to buy a house, and many people pay more than half their income in rent. Ever saved up for a down payment on a house while doing that?

"mOvE iF yOu DoN't LiKe YoUr LaNdLoRd"

Moving is expensive and stressful. There's no guarantee of finding another place within reasonable distance of where we work, where we buy groceries, etc.

"bUt If LaNdLoRdS dOn'T rEnT oUt HoUsInG wHeRe WiLl PeOpLe LiVe?!"

If landlords/property companies all were forced to sell every place they owned except housing they specifically lived in, the market would have such a glut of housing that prices would nosedive in nearly every city in the US, possibly to the point where normal, average working people could buy one. Houses and apartments do not blink out of existence because a landlord stops renting them out. Why do I see this dumbass line of logic so fucking often.

People literally cannot wrap their minds around the fact that landlords (and I include property companies--the kind that own multiple apartment complexes--as landlords) don't create or do anything of value. "But when I need the water heater fixed, the landlord fixes it." Except for some mom'n'pop landlord operations that insist on DIY'ing everything, your landlord is not the one who is fixing it. The person who physically comes to your unit and fixes it is the person who fixes it, and your landlord is just an expensive gatekeeper who decides for you whether you actually need your water heater fixed. If you owned the place you could have insurance against that kind of thing, you could put money in a co-op that pays for that kind of thing (like condo associations do), or you could just pay out of pocket for it if you have the money. If you did take on the risk of repairing it yourself, the only person who would suffer is you. But you wouldn't be at the mercy of some dipshit who tries desperately not to get your water heater fixed (even though that's illegal), or who hires the cheapest person they could find (who might suck ass and make it worse), or insists on doing it themselves (whether they know what they're doing or not).

HUMANS REQUIRE SHELTER TO SURVIVE. The modern standard for housing includes things like locking doors, ceilings and windows that don't leak, walls that aren't covered in mold, and working electricity, plumbing, and hot water at a bare minimum. On top of that, we need shelter that's near enough to our place of employment and places to buy food, etc.

Landlords do not provide housing. They hold it ransom for as much money as they think they can get, because they know we need housing to survive. They buy up as much housing as they can (reducing the supply of available houses for sale) and then rent them out at a profit (which means more than they're paying on the mortgage, if they have one). They are hoarding housing, creating a false scarcity, and then profiting off of it.

Landlords are parasites.

[poisondartlesbian]

a page from Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe that means a lot to me