Nerdy Ramblings

If you're interested in my random nerdy ramblings, you're in the right place.

[perequiste]

things will work out + it’s still early + not everything is lost + trees

[theskydoesgreatthingsnow]

LOTR abridged

[naberiusternt]

mostly harrow the ninth is about meeting your in-laws

[themoonandmyman]

also imagining that one of Irina’s more harmless delusion-led rituals just sticks with Ilya for the rest of his life and he never questions it until Shane walks into the kitchen one day after they move in together and sees Ilya counting all the kitchen knives over and over to make sure none are missing and Ilya is like ‘oh I do this every day. don’t worry it only takes five minutes. im just being organised’ and Shane is like Hey. What

[androdragynous]

there is a screen reader / magnification program that is the only one the low vision clinic knows of with these features and it is $650 Canadian Dollars behind specific approved vendors that require you to be geographically close to them and get government approval of a degree that I am only just now reaching after being visually impaired for going on seven years. I feel normal about this

[androdragynous]

if you can code a program that does any or all of the following:

Magnifies a display beyond standard options with keyboard / mouse movement inputs or voice commands,

Can read text on the screen,

Has different color filter options for text / background distinction,

Can change and magnify the cursor beyond standard amounts,

Works on Windows or more than just Windows,

Has a keyboard echo (says the character you've pressed on the keyboard out loud)

... there is a genuine, GENUINE need for you to code this and put it at a more accessible price point than $650 Canadian Dollars which I also just learned is a SUBSCRIPTION FEE AND NOT EVEN PERPETUAL. if you are reading this and able to code I am begging you. would genuinely change lives

[greentrickster]

Okay, so, earlier this month I did do the coolest thing I might ever do, and I finally transferred the pictures from my phone to my computer, so you all get to hear about it.

I am a long-time purveyor of second-hand and thrift stores, because they (used to, at least) have interesting stuff and good prices (again, used to). And sometimes you get lucky, and they still do!

And sometimes you get lucky and they have something good out for a bargain price, but because you're the only person insane enough to be able to get any use out of it.

Case in point, my brand new (to me) leather briefcase:

It's a little scuffed, yes, but it's real leather and of high-quality make. And my parents both used to make harness leathers for horses, so they both know everything I could ever need about cleaning and/or restoring leather. And they both said it was an excellent find! All the more excellent because it was only five bucks USD.

"But Trickster," I hear you ask, "Why would they sell such an obviously valuable item for such a low price? In this economy and market?"

Well not out of the goodness of their hearts, let me tell you! No, it was for the same reason that I erased part of this photo: because it's nice, the clasps on this briefcase are extra secured with combination locks.

Two of them.

With a different combination on each side.

And the combinations set to '000'.

In short, beautiful quality, beautiful condition, made absolutely worthless because the damned this couldn't be opened.

Unless you're me.

A lunatic with - and I cannot stress this enough - no background in lock-picking or safe-cracking, but a can-do attitude and an excess of time on their hands for health-related issues, and also no shame, as well as an insatiable desire to know What's In The Locked Box. So I plumped myself down on the ground, out of the way of foot traffic, and began to do my best to crack the code. I started the classic way - slowly rotating the first number dial of the first lock one number at a time, wiggling it with each pause to see if I could feel any change.

I deduced at about 060 that this would take too long because 1) time consuming and 2) my finger was starting to hurt. But also I still wanted to get into the case, and knew I would forever regret it if I failed in my self-appointed, utterly inconsequential quest! So I paused to think.

And, in that moment, the movie National Treasure came to mind. Specifically the scene where they get something on a woman's hands so that when she keys her code into a secure elevator shortly after, they can check her fingerprints to figure out the code. A thought that led me to keys in general, to use degradation, to the factoid that wear patterns reveal the path/patterns of most common usage.

And, while in good condition, this briefcase was still second-hand, and had been used before. Enough that it did indeed show signs of wear on the combination locks.

A little double-checking revealed that certain numbers on each dial also had some numbers that showed signs of more frequent wear than the others on said dial. This reduced the number of potential combinations from Way Too Many to a Completely Manageable Amount. Especially when I noticed that the opening mechanism did indeed have more play in it when certain worn numbers were selected than others. Meaning, after a minute or two of fiddling (on both sides, because they each had a different combination)?

Pay dirt.

Which is also why both clasps have their combinations erased in these pictures; because I don't want to share the combos of my lovely new briefcase to the entire internet. There was even turned out to be something really cool inside that made my efforts all the more worthwhile!

The thing was a really cool story I get to tell people for the rest of my life about how I Mission Impossibled/James Bonded my way into a locked briefcase, and I like it very much. ;)

(I also like the briefcase, and I plan to use it to look extra professional if the opportunity ever presents itself. <3)

[cawareyoudoin]

Oooh now I wanna know what was inside it!

[greentrickster]

XD I told you: the story of how I got it open in the first place. Other than that it was empty. But it's a really good story, so I feel like it still counts. ;)

[penandinkprincess]

Okay but as a bird person I adore Miko and Keiko. Yuna is absolutely the type to be a macaw owner. A few ideas for your consideration:

Miko is free-flight trained. Yuna takes her out to parks around Ottawa at least 3 times a week, and they've become kind of minor local celebrities. Crucially like 99% of people who know about Yuna The Bird Lady do not connect her with Yuna Shane Hollander's Mum. Partially because Yuna The Bird Lady existed long, LONG before Shane was ever famous and partially because Shane has never mentioned the fact his mother has birds to the media. This all comes crumbling down when Shane and Ilya are taking care of the birds for a week and take Miko to a park. They're recognised by a fan, who tweets a selfie of her, Ilya, Shane, and a big blue bird sitting on Shane's shoulder that is visibly mid-scream.

Keiko, like many other second-hand birds, has a history of plucking. Unfortunately by the time she gets to Yuna she's already plucked enough that she's completely killed a lot of the follicles on her chest, so now she's all scraggly and half-naked. David takes to knitting her little sweaters to keep her warm and prevent her from plucking more. There are so, so many of these sweaters, and it cannot be overstated just how many of them are little hockey jerseys. It becomes a tradition for Keiko to get all dressed up in her own mini version of whatever jersey Shane is wearing for a particular game when the family all sits down to watch it. And Ilya definitely doesn't almost cry in the locker room the first time he's sent a "good luck you've got this!!" text before a game alongside a selfie of the whole Hollander family on the couch together to watch his game and notices that Keiko is wearing a little Bears sweater.

1.lowkey i am extremely touched about shane growing up thinking his mom is famous. that's so fucking sweet to me. they go to the grocery store and someone asks if she's the bird lady who goes to the park, and shane just thinks his mom is the coolest person EVER. (she is). also the idea of shane just ben affleck meme face as miko is clearly screeching right next to his head is SO fucking funny to me.

2. NOT KEIKO IN HER LITTLE JERSEYS. OH MY GOD. I AM ON THE FLOOR OH MY GOD.

[penandinkprincess]

okay, but i am still tumbling this around in my head and fucking CACKLING specifically because like. shane in-verse is The hockey player. even if someone knows nothing about hockey, they're familiar with him.

which to me also means he gets recognized more than ilya (it happens for both of them more often after the news about them breaks just because that got so big, but shane is still THE face people know on sight), which ilya thinks is funny. shane doesn't choose to have this happen and always looks very cute and a little thrown by it, so ilya just largely sits back and watches it happen. (and then teases shane later about being so famous because of all of his underwear ads, OBVIOUSLY.)

but then?? ilya is out with yuna one day in ottawa? getting food for a family dinner??? and someONE COMES UP TO THEM IN THE STORE with the look in their eyes that says they're about to ask for a picture, and like. ilya REASONABLY assumes he's gotten recognized here and is ready to pull a "i am with my family, please respect my privacy-" only for this person to look past him?? and to yuna??? and go, "oh!! i'm so sorry, but are you the parrot lady??"

and ilya just ???? so he is less famous than MULTIPLE hollanders??????

[reagantheteenagewitch]

people are reblogging my post about accessibility reforms for pwhl streams and i want to be clear about how egregious the situation is because not only is there ZERO effort put into live caption at all there is also no effort made at all for even post live caption! and im not just talking about the streams of the games either. the only captions available for either of the podcasts is the auto generated ones from youtube which is simply not good or reliable enough. i will commend them for the fact that there seems to be captioning on the videos talking about the current draft class but tbh that is what i would expect them to be doing for a draft class that includes a deaf/hoh* player. like its just so disheartening for something as simple as proper captioning of the podcasts and playbacks of streams isnt thought about :/

[lavenderprose]

If you have time, please share any thoughts you might have on Ilya and Shane's intersecting mommy issues? The helicopter mom Vs absent mom dichotomy,,, I've been spinning something in the back of my head to the tune of the "favourite son" of it all,,, also @probablily opened my eyes to the absolutely insane premise of Ilya siding with Yuna during an argument Shane has with her,,, I am chewing,,,

Ooof see this one is hard for me because I LOVE Yuna and I truly think that she is genuinely at all times trying to do right by her son. Yes they are enmeshed and yes there are privacy issues going both ways. Yuna does not know how to give Shane space; Shane does not WANT that space until his secrets start piling up and even then a bit motivating factor for him wanting to just...end all of the lying and secrets is NOT so that he can be honest with himself but rather so that he can curl himself back up into the mold of a person that he hasn't been since he was seventeen years old. Like, Shane doesn't want to come out to his mom he wants to be a person who DOES NOT NEED to come out to his mom. He wants to force himself straight so that he can be the son Yuna always imagined in her head.

For context:

The son that Shane thinks Yuna imagines in her head: Seven time Stanley Cup winner Captain of the Montreal Metros loving husband to a beautiful wife together with whom he has given Yuna beautiful grandchildren.

The person that Yuna actually imagined when she held a beautiful baby in her arms and named him Shane: Happy and healthy and cherished for always.

So there's a major disconnect there.

Ilya, meanwhile, is the parentified youngest child of a very ill mother in a very controlling environment. He's spent half his life deifying the idea that he has of his mother in his head. He dismisses the weight placed upon his shoulders both by living with her and by her absence almost as though recognizing it would besmirch her memory. So having a new mother figure in his life, after years longing and placing the concept of the maternal on a pedestal...it would be very confusing for him. Because Yuna Hollander is incredibly self-sufficient and would balk with horror at the idea of letting her ten-year-old son perform the kind of emotional and domestic labor that Ilya was clearly expected to shoulder due to his mother's incapacity. And to admit that Yuna is a good mother and maybe the sort of mother that Ilya wishes he has growing up might almost feel like a betrayal of Irina, who was so beautiful and funny and sad.

I think he WOULD recognize, from the outside looking in, that Shane and Yuna are enmeshed. He might not have the language to describe it but I think he recognizes it. I think he also LIKES that Shane is enmeshed with his mother, insofar as it doesn't effect his relationship with Shane (Because it does, at times--lack of personal boundaries etc.) because Shane's enmeshment with his mother and the fact that Yuna sort of views Ilya as an extension of Shane means that some of his deepest desires (To have a mother again; to have someone who will love him unconditionally) are, in a way, fulfilled.

And truly, in some ways, it's not that deep. The relationship between the Hollanders and Ilya is perhaps deeper than that of a typical set of inlaws but it truly isn't inappropriate, and all parties are content--Yuna and David have the second son they always wanted AND someone to look after their son when they cannot; Shane's parents and his husband get along to the point where they consider each other family, which is the platonic ideal; Ilya has the parental relationship he's always really, at his core, needed.

Now, the thing about families is that they DO fight, particularly BECAUSE of the love they have for each other. Yuna and Shane like each other as people a great deal, even outside their mother-son relationship, but we see them butt heads even in the show. They are both stubborn and willful and probably, honestly, have a bit of a mutual superiority complex. David has probably been acting as an intermediary for them since Shane was old enough to say the word no. And that's not even to say that they don't agree! They do, the vast majority of the time, but when they disagree it is always ALWAYS a major incident.

So what would happen if Shane and Yuna disagreed and Ilya took Yuna's side? Firstly I think for this scenario to even come to be, the subject at hand would HAVE to be something relevant to Shane's well-being, because that is one of the only things I can think of that would unite Ilya with ANYONE against Shane.

A scenario that I have seen several times in several different flavors is the idea of Shane being injured and there being some lack of consensus between the Hollanders with regards for how to deal with this. I've seen it as a Shane and Ilya versus Yuna and I've seen it as Yuna versus Ilya with Shane as a bit of a bystander or sometimes even unconscious. Ilya and Yuna versus Shane would be a bit of a departure and interesting to consider. Shane expecting Ilya to take his side by default because of societal expectations of son-in-law versus mother-in-law would also be very interesting. Something something, "But you're my husband. You're supposed to take my side." Something something, "There are no sides, Shane, we only want what's best for you, and Ilya and I are aligned with what we think is best." And then Yuna and Ilya both have to deal with Shane looking at them with actual betrayal in his eyes for basically the first time ever.

I think it would be a major turning point in the Hollanov dynamic. A major come to Jesus moment, in a way, where the whole family probably has to address where they truly stand with each other. And probably come out better and closer on the other side! But it would be rough for a little while.

[iwrotemrtambourineman]

whatever enmeshment yuna and shane have would be blown out of the water by ilya and irina if irina was still alive

[penandinkprincess]

the idea within this also of yuna and irina ending up getting along just because they are at so many events together. like irina doesn't manage ilya's career at all (ilya actively doesn't want her to because he doesn't want her to be stressed or worried at all), but she's still there all the time, and she and yuna end up talking just because. well. fancy seeing you here again.

and there is kind of a relief to it because they've both experienced other parents being distant or weird because their kid is SO fucking good when their boys were growing up, and there's a real "same hat!" energy to having heard tons of passive aggressive shit. and i feel like there's some playful teasing/ribbing between them because their sons are each other's biggest competitor, but like. hello fellow mother who is here all the time. you want to sit together?

but this does mean that ilya has 100% answered a call from BOTH of their mothers because shane didn't answer when yuna called him and then irina called ilya to see if he had heard from shane (because irina would be distraught if ilya wasn't answering HER call, so she's trying to be helpful and get the answer for yuna if she can).

but now ilya who is LOOKING AT SHANE UNDER HIM is just, "...i will text him, okay?" because he doesn't want to lie to his mother (he is. not good at it.), but also HOW to even start to explain this rn.

[psychedelicmoonpie]

My favourite Adrian headcanon is that they're a biologist/zoologist who has seen so much shit, they're completely unphased by any and every alien habit of Grace's.

I mean full-on khaki-shorts-wearing, traversing-wilderness-with-nothin'-but-a-machete Adrian who yoinks snakes outta trees and pets swamp puppies and will unflinchingly dig around in elephant faeces for signs of a rare parasitic tapeworm if needed.

Oh, humans eat socially? No problem, Adrian has observed many many animals eat. Did you know that an obscure species of small underground dirt creature from the north side of Erid also eats socially? Adrian can give you a not-so-short presentation on them.

Oh, the human has no external carapace and so its internal sounds are absurdly loud, wet and off-putting? No problem, Adrian was just conducting an expedition last month researching the incredible eridian animal, the Wet Loud Worm from the south-east region of Wet Loud Wormland. They're desensitised, it's fine.

Oh, Grace leaks often from many orifices and it can be a bit of a learning curve to get used to? No problem for Adrian, see Wet Loud Worm paragraph again!

Meanwhile, Rocky is bewildered as to how he's managed to third-wheel both of his relationships, because both Adrian and Grace are nerds who nerd out about things, and Adrian is shaking in their carapace with enthusiasm to learn more about human culture and biology, not to mention everything about earth animals. And yeah, sure, Grace might be a molecular biologist, but he'll be damned if he'll pass up an opportunity to learn about alien fauna from a fellow scientist, and yes, Adrian, he'd love to hear about the small underground dirt creature from the north side of Erid, and he's so excited to learn more about the Wet Loud Worm, do go on.

[mellosdrawings]

Maybe -- just MAYBE -- don't spit on other characters and ships and works when the artist you congratulate and reblog from also draws those?

[comedydoctor18]

FANDOM ETIQUETTE NEEDS A RETURN SOOOO STRONGLY

[radiotheradio]

If you need to insult something else to say a compliment that's not a compliment, that's a rant to a random artist that you started by complimenting them. I promise no one gives a fuck that you hate a random ship.

[shanehollandersautismswag]

#myshane was a late talker. Like really late, like almost 5 years old and never spoke once late. Yuna and David were a bit worried about it but it’s not like he didn’t communicate at all, just not with spoken words. He could clearly understand what was going on around him, he nodded or shook his head when he needed to, he pointed at things he wanted or needed, he could already read pretty reliably, he just. Didn’t talk. They made a concerted effort to speak to him like a person, not just baby talk, and in both English and French, in the hopes that he’d understand both languages better, even if he wouldn’t or couldn’t speak them.

They were starting to get concerned about how he’d do when he started kindergarten in the fall, there had been a few late night conversations about if they should find a speech therapist if he was still non-speaking by the time he started school, but one day after they’re driving home from a Centaurs game, Shane suddenly pipes up from his carseat in the back,

“Mama, Daddy, I wanna be a hockey player when I grow up.”

It’s so unexpected that David slams on the brakes and Yuna spills the remains of her ginger ale on her lap. They both whip their heads around to look at the small boy happily kicking his feet in the backseat wearing the jersey that looks more like a tent on him (he’ll go through a growth spurt in a month or two and it’ll fit just fine) who has no idea he just did anything special.

Turns out, he was just waiting until he was sure of his language abilities and found the right thing to say. After that, he happily chatted away in perfect English and perfect French, pointing out cool rocks or asking about interesting things he sees when he runs errands with his parents, or (to Yuna and David’s both horror and delight) chirping players when they watch hockey together, pointing out their weaknesses and mistakes and just generally talking shit, even at 5 years old.

[jaynejezebelle]

8/8 teams complete!

I humbly request no more future teams be allowed to use the color blue (you’re on thin ice San Jose).

[yourbestclothes]

thinking about chubby Shane Hollander. thinking about retired Shane gaining weight as a sign of healing. thinking about Shane finding joy in food. thinking about Shane and Ilya sharing a bowl of ice cream every night before bed.

[yourbestclothes]

also thinking about Ilya, who is even more obsessed with his beautiful husband’s weight gain. Ilya who loves to feed Shane big meals and then taste their dinner on Shane’s tongue. Ilya who is obsessed with buying Shane new, bigger clothes that fit better. Ilya who loves Shane’s tummy more than ever, constantly finding a way to nuzzle it, or sticking his head under Shane’s shirt to kiss it. and the sex! Ilya eating Shane out, digging his fingers into his soft belly and big thighs and plump ass. Ilya fucking Shane hard while he grips Shane’s love handles, muttering about how sexy Shane is, about how his Shane’s ass has only gotten bigger and more beautiful, how it swallows Ilya’s cock so perfectly.

[bloodymurryhorror]

One of my friends MADE this for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

[littlefingies]

I don't know how to make this not sound mean but I'm not trying to be mean, so please know that going in.

Listening to a podcast about bodies and eating disorders and the body positivity movement of the last decade ish and hearing someone say (paraphrasing from memory here) "body positivity was all capitalism, there were no legislative changes, just new brands of jeans"

Legislative changes are super important but I cannot emphasize enough that jeans coming in bigger sizes and fat-friendly cuts is actually a really big deal! With meaningful impacts on people's lives (including mine)! Fat people do need clothes! And you may not realize this, but if you're over a certain size (that's not even that big a size) there's a very good chance you can go to a big box store and *not find anything that fits you*. There are towns in the US where if you're over a size 18 you need to drive an hour away or shop online to get things in your size. And they're expensive! "Just buy used" if they even have your size! Fat people want to look nice too. And we face enough judgement during job interviews (to give one example) without trying to do it in clothes that don't fit or are super uncomfortable.

Actually: If you're fat and you want to look cute/hot/masc/femme/etc I cannot recommend this website enough, you put in your measurements and it lists what brands have your size. You can filter for stuff like sensory friendly, nonbinary, masc, organic, etc. It's not AI just a database.

Phoria

Phoria is a platform to help plus-size and gender-expansive people build a more sustainable and ethical wardrobe they love. We’re a benefit

[youmegravity]

It does piss me off a little bit that serious polyamory representation in media is pretty much non-existent

[youmegravity]

The fact that no one even seems to care makes feel like I'm going to explode, I'm tired of such a significant part of my life never being represented and often seen as less serious than monogamy.

[aspiringsorceress]

Its not that it's less serious, it's that functional polyamory challenges the nuclear family dynamic that capitalism has weaponized against the working class. If a household is shown to function with more than only two adults in an exclusive relationship, then it opens the door to what other parts of life might thrive better under community organization.

It also inherently challenges purity culture with multiple varied casual and symbiotically supportive relationships.

Taking both of those into account challenges the Patriarchy itself, and the idea that a singular man should be in charge and rule over his own household like a petty tyrant.

It's only potrayed as unserious or rife with conflict and betrayal in media to keep it defanged and propagandized as a guaranteed failure state. In truth, it very directly challenges several foundational pillars upholding the power structures in our current western society. The status quo therefore cannot allow it to exist or be portrayed as a healthy alternative to monogamy or to the nuclear family model.

[sionnualanicheallachain]

Yup—I can think of three recent examples of polyamory taken seriously in fiction off the top of my head, and all three are in works that are actively and explicitly pushing back on those exact power structures in multiple ways.

In the order that I happened to read them:

• A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

• Spear by Nicola Griffith

• To Shape a Dragon's Breath and To Ride a Rising Storm by @moniquill Blackgoose

[emberphoenixisgoingtolivee]

if i may add on...

i'm in the middle of a sitcom called single parents and it's cutesy and fun, and in one of the episodes, two of the parents think another of their group is being cheated on by his girlfriend with another boy.

but turns out, they're just polyamory! it's not played off as a joke, their relationship is just as valid as the monogamous characters, they mention a poly dating site, and they even talk about honesty and communication - **inspiring the monogamous characters to communicate better in their own relationship!!!** i'm not even poly and that put a huge smile on my face :')