Bezoar

Fake cure for poison. (This image is not a bezoar. It is a geode. It doesn't cure poison either.)

[capricorn-season]

[fuckthisshit-ugh]

please read this even if you're not indian. especially if you're not indian.

you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.

first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.

now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:

in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.

and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.

and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.

it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:

• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.

• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.

• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.

• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.

• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.

• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.

and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.

what i'm asking:

if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.

if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.

india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.

we can still save her. but only loudly.

reblog. share. don't scroll past.

[spinebreaker101]

EXACTLY 💯

[dubiousculturalartifact]

The new Odyssey adaptation has inevitably gotten people talking about a Muppet version of it, and they’re frequently suggesting Kermit as Odysseus, Miss Piggy as Penelope.

I’m sorry but that’s thinking way too small, hear me out:

We need to have Miss Piggy as Odysseus, and Kermit as Penelope.

Think about it… who’s the more fickle, prideful, warlike one in that relationship? Who is absolutely ready to go ham, at a moment’s notice?

It ain’t Kermit

[anyroads]

Miss Piggy tied to the mast while Statler and Waldorf heckle her from the sea

[mindovermuses]

But who is the single human cast member in this tale? Who gets to put in an Oscar-worthy performance alongside the Muppets and what role are they to play?

[muffinflarp69]

There’s no single human, everyone is a Muppet except for one scene. Circe, played by Janice, turns Odysseus’s crew into humans who still behave animalistic and are all played by Academy Award winning actors.

[loveridden1999]

when england lose, women bruise

[vouam]

Something that’s crazy about me becoming a TERF is that I was actually trying to become a better trans rights activist.

My family are transphobic and I was not. Some of their questions I couldn’t answer. In particular, the famous “What is a woman?” I searched twitter posts and tiktoks and every TRA definition just sounded misogynistic as fuck. Until I kept scrolling and found posts by TERFs that just clicked something in my brain.

I had also always had views of a gender abolitionist. Combining this with my TRA past I even considered if that meant I was non-binary, because I didn’t match with this socialised version of ‘woman’. But I never felt comfortable with a non-binary identity because I am perceived as a woman, I suffer from being a woman, AND SOCIALISED STEREOTYPES ARE NOT WHAT MAKES A WOMAN.

I couldn’t continue debating and defending trans people and gender ideology anymore as all I could hear was myself as a misogynist. I knew the world would be a better place with gender abolition rather than gender liberation. I came to the realisation that gender ideology enforces the socialised gender binary that was designed to oppress women.

[feminist-furby-freak]

People piss themselves when I tell them going to college and meeting irl trans people and classes in my gender studies major peaked me because those are supposedly the two things that are supposed to indoctrinate someone into trans ideology.

[capricorn-season]

[niiwa-angel]

No, Johnny, kissing a regular person as a trans identified person doesn't get you sent to jail. Lying about your sex so your potential partners don't reject you is sexual assault by deception and that can get you criminally charged.

No, Johnny, males not being allowed to use the ladies room is not "trans apartheid" it's women's rights that we fought for and are legally entitled to.

You aren't being discriminated against by being held accountable for your actions. You just perceive it to be discriminatory because you, as a male, think you have the right to trample on other people's rights and you don't.

[monamoni]

[youngerfrankenstein]

Can be a bit frustrating to talk about this shit in regards to living people, so let’s talk about a dead guy.

Gene Roddenberry created series based on the hope that someday humanity would move past our differences and build a better world together.

He was also anti-theistic in general and anti-Semitic in particular. He was a misogynist. He was very likely the man who raped Grace Lee Whitney.

Does this mean he didn’t truly believe that people of all races and creeds should come together? That gay people had a place in the universe he created? I’d say no, I think he was genuine in that.

It is, in fact, perfectly possible for a person to hold progressive views and not act accordingly. It is possible for someone to believe one group deserves to be liberated but not all.

And this isn’t to say it doesn’t make them a shit person, but if you ignore and “no true Scotsman” it all away you stop being willing to see it in the people around you.

[departmentq]

David Gerrold's Facebook

tl;dr: Gene Roddenberry was a flawed person, who would eventually isolate himself from everyone around him, but he did have a vision that was worth following...

[and-fishing-equipment]

in 2026 DO NOT ask yourself whether your art is GOOD

instead ask:

is it SINCERE

was it CATHARTIC

was it FUN TO MAKE

is it MADE BY ME

and don't forget to stay silly

[bowlby4]

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

today I found out my mother doesn’t know what dandelions are and now I’m wondering what other strange secrets she’s been quietly harboring

[krystal-prisms]

Where do you live that you don’t have dandelions?

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

we have dandelions EVERYWHERE, they are basically our State Weed, it is absolutely impossible that my mom has never interacted with a dandelion before, this requires further investigation

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

So after extensive interrogation I have an update:

my mom is in fact aware that dandelions exist. she temporarily forgot the name and there was some miscommunication.

the truth is actually weirder

she’s aware dandelions look like this

she is familiar with this flower. she knows the name of this flower. she declines to believe, however, that these are also dandelions

she does not believe these are the same plant. I tried to explain, and she thought I was either misinformed or lying. so I asked her what exactly did she think the yellow ones were called?

she answered, with complete confidence: Daffodils.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

gosh I enjoy this website

[authoratmidnight]

For comparison, this is a daffodil

[quietlygrousing]

See, folks in the southern US will tell you up and down those are buttercups, actually.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

i don’t think so? i’m southern and buttercups are what we call these things (much tinier)

[maejacrezz007]

Wait I thought those bigger cup ones were Easter Lillies???

[fractiousrvt]

This is an Easter Lily. It is an actual lily and therefore deadly to cats.

[blood-trip-god2]

They’re marigolds and I know a bitch when I see one!

[delphinidin4]

This is a marigold:

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

….we need to start taking the phrase “go touch grass” more literally. go outside and examine a flower i beg u

[jmtorres]

“buttercups” is a name applied to MANY flowers. in my part of the south it was this one:

imo there’s correct identifications of dandelions, daffodils, easter lilies and marigolds in this thread, but buttercups are simply impossible to agree on and the only solution is for everyone to post pictures of their local buttercups

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

*squints* is that a motherfucking EVENING PRIMROSE?!??

[demon-and-human]

Hello I would like to add to the confusion:

That purple fella is a Morning Glory as told by my mothers (texan)

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

⬆️ morning glory

[huehueiamabaguette]

wait so if thats morning glory what is this?

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

[delphinidin4]

*Puts hand over gaud’s mouth* It’s a butterfly pea. Please ignore the Latin name.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

*licks ur palm* i won’t be silenced THE PEOPLE HAVE TO KNOW

[lmaoing-deactivated20180925]

maybe if I ignore it it won’t be true

[mynorthernattitude]

"listen to your body"

my body: go get a cinnamon roll the size of a tire

[minimalistquotes]

Your boundaries have to be stronger than your empathy. If not, you will keep trying to understand people who keep hurting you. You will give second chances that become tenth chances. You will let people take you for granted just because you can see their pain. But understanding someone's wounds doesn't mean you have to stay where you're being wounded. Empathy without boundaries becomes self-abandonment.

[onlytiktoks]

[acerby]

Textbook definition of skedaddle.

[ruuling]

i actually do think that convincing children they were born in the wrong body and encouraging them to amputate and permanently surgically alter healthy organs is objectively evil and sinister but that's just me!!!

[beardedmrbean]