Coldbrew Raktajino

If your tumblr is blank I will assume you are a bot and block you. Star Trek, science, feminism, languages. Today is a good day to learn.

[tam--lin]

Like many people, I've been deeply peeved by the fact that the internet is bad now. While DuckDuckGo or StartPage are vastly better than Google at this point, I've still been on the hunt for something that really consolidates the good results while allowing more fine-tuned surfing.

I'm up here on my soap box to gush to you about Kagi, a paid, ad-free, privacy-based search engine with a mere 50k users at the moment despite the fact that it provides the most useful and productive search experience I've had since, idk, 2018. Kagi allows you to block, deprioritize, prioritize, or "pin" websites to make your searches more relevant. Pinning is especially neat: it means I can pin Bookshop.org, and anytime I search for a book, that will be my top result. I can prioritize reddit and deprioritize Pinterest. I can pin my favorite recipe websites so I'm not wading through AI cooking blogs. You can auto-filter out AI images. There's a "small web" feature that allows you to query small, hidden gem websites. They'll intentionally pull interesting articles or older articles you wouldn't otherwise find. You can search PDFs only, or forums only, or academic sites only. Their AI features are opt-in only. My subscription money goes to things like providing Kagi free to public libraries. Have I adequately conveyed my enthusiasm yet?

If I search "Star Trek" on Google, I get AI "people also asked" questions I didn't want, an AI overview unhelpful to me as I'm already a fan, and corporate websites. No fan websites or small web sites in the first two pages. If I search "star trek" on Kagi, it gives me the official site, a few recent news stories, a Wikipedia page, one new trailer, a quick bullet points collection of "interesting finds" that includes a link to this collection of all commercially available chairs in Star Trek, and a collection of articles specifically pulled because they were published many years ago. Multiple small web sites come next, then some game sites, and a hackaday project for making a DIY communicator. Publication dates, when available, are highlighted right by the URL.

Anyway, well worth $5 a month from me, especially since their pricing is so transparent and they're entirely user funded. They also do zero advertising, which is part of the reason I made this long post. The five bucks a month is genuinely so worth it to me. Maybe it'll be worth it for you, too. You can search 100 queries for free, but I also highly recommend their random small web link, which is like StumbleUpon but for small web sites. (It's free.)

[dingdongyouarewrong]

one time i was in a pub in london and saw lemonade on the menu and i was like mmmm lemonade!!! but i’ve been to australia and been tricked before so i was like hey is this actual lemonade lemonade or is it just sprite and she was like it’s actual lemonade so i ordered some and she brought it back and it was sprite. i hate england

[dingdongyouarewrong]

[aprilslady]

They just meant it didn’t have lime in it

[dingdongyouarewrong]

sprite has lime in it wym

[thoughtsofadame]

honestly only americans who have been to england or australia or new zealand understand the frustration.  Also you literally can’t even explain to them what real lemonade is. they simply don’t get it

[dingdongyouarewrong]

i’m actually not american i just have functioning taste buds. but GOD HONESTLY like “sprite is a type of lemonade because it has lemon flavouring in it!” no. go to jail. lemonade does not have lime and corn syrup in it, and it’s not carbonated. that’s not a sweet refreshing summer beverage, it’s canned sadness. 

[pseudinymous]

These guys are honestly right. In Australia there is nothing that even closely resembles American “lemonade”. You’d have to make it yourself. I only vaguely know how to make it from American cartoons and it’s never sounded even slightly appetising. I guess it’s like Vegemite. You have to grow up with it.

[themunofprovidence]

If you’re insinuating that lemonade is like vegemite than you’re an idiot that has never tried lemonade. 

[truffledmadness]

GUYS. 

I don’t know about Australia, but I live in England, and there’s a CODE. There is a CODE you can use to make them understand you want ACTUAL LEMONADE and not SPRITE OR ITS COUSIN FROM ASDA.

You ready?

The code is: “Is it like Fentimans?”

Fentimans is literally the only UK-available company I know to produce actual lemonade. The Actual Lemonade is called Victorian Lemonade, and it’s delicious, and they make an also-delicious Rose and Lemon variation. And most UK pub landlords and such will at least be aware of Fentimans (they provide a lot of mixers to pubs, and ginger beer), so when you ask if the lemonade is “like Fentimans”, they’ll know what you mean.

[dingdongyouarewrong]

god bless you

[dreamgirlfriendevil]

If it makes it any better, it happens in reverse too - when I was in the US with my family, my dad asked for ‘lemonade’ at a restaurant once, and was perplexed when he didn’t get sprite. It was delicious though! I wish we COULD get in in New Zealand.

[i-am-dulaman]

I never understood this problem cause like. Isn’t american lemonade just lemon juice? Like you dont call orange juice orangade in america do you?

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

#i srg isn’t yank lemonade just strong cordial????? 

They um

They don’t have cordial

[rizaoftheowls]

We don’t have cordial and frankly I’m not 100% sure what it is.

(Also if one of you brits could explain what “squash” is, please? I’m sitting here like “surely they’re not drinking a zucchini…”)

American Lemonade: water + lemon juice + sugar. It’s not a soda and it’s not just straight up juice.

(You could probably MAKE orangeade, @beingcuteismything, but orange juice is sweet enough already that you don’t need the extra sugar. You can definitely make limeade, tho. Very tasty.)

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Imagine if you bought kool-aid as a liquid and it was significantly less cursed. That’s cordial.

Squash is strongly flavoured fruit soft drink. You guys have fanta, right? The original orange kind? That’s a brand of orange squash. We also have lemon squash, which is the closest thing we have to American lemonade (unless you’re at a super hipstery place, or you count lemon cordial). It’s carbonated and sweet though. I assume it’s called squash because it’s supposed to make you think it’s like a juice (squashed fruit).

[raynewolferune]

This entire conversation thread feels like it has become cursed. I thought I knew what all these drinks were at the beginning & while everything is still technically what I thought it was I feel like it’s somehow all tilted slightly to the left as well. How the heck did this happen?

[supervillainny]

UK squash is like @derinthescarletpescatarian’s cordial, except we also have cordial, which is posh squash.

Also fentimans is carbonated.

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

yeah we just. don’t really have fresh lemonade. it’s a shame but it’s also because lemons don’t grow here i think

[kittenwriter]

This explains SO MUCH about the lemonade I kept ordering (and being befuddled by) in Seoul. (I wound up giving up and ordering peach iced tea for the remainder of the trip.)

[coldbrewraktajino]

I was in Georgia (🇬🇪) and got a lemonade from a snack stand. I was so optimistic because the banner actually had a picture of fresh squeezed lemonade and there was drink making equipment like a blender in the cart.

They gave me Sprite.

[lizardsfromspace]

Star Trek fans, 2026: "Ugh, I hate Starfleet Academy! We need real Trek like we had in the 90s, like Voyager."

Star Trek fans, 2000s: "God these internet reviews are right, Voyager was literally unwatchable! It wasn't real Trek, like DS9!"

Star Trek fans, 1990s: "They don't even go anywhere! This oddly joyless book about Trek bloopers literally said the show should be called Bajor: Terek Nor! It wasn't real Trek, like TNG!"

Star Trek fans, 1980s: "TNG isn't even real Star Trek. Only the original is real Star Trek."

The world's largest Lost in Space Fan, 1966: "This upstart program will never displace Lost in Space in the hearts and minds of the people! Lost in Space will be the number one space opera show FOREVER!"

[jellogram]

A lot of posts in support of homeless folks have this weirdly woobified idea that everyone on the street is just a bit down on their luck at the moment but is actually a super great person who means you no harm. And that's a nice idea but it's not universally true by any means. I once had a homeless person follow me down the street while screaming that they wanted to strangle to me. I had a guy throw a softball-sized rock at me and my friends. I've had countless homeless people make sexual comments at me, including when I was underage.

But like here's the thing??? None of this is a reason to treat homeless people as vermin??? You try living their life and still being a kind and sweet and well-adjusted person. Being a dick doesn't mean you stop deserving human rights.

It's just weird to see this rosy leftist idea that homeless people are a form of noble savage. Like this idealized image of the woeful Hungry & Poor folks in a dickensian fairytale who kindly beg for your crumbs. It makes me feel like none of you would be able to actually support homeless people if you weren't able to paint them with such a sympathetic brush.

[rubynye]

So true. Whenever I read those posts I think of the homeless man who grabbed my arm and tried to drag me into his embrace, and I ask myself if the author of the current post du jour would be more likely to tell me that I'm lying because women always lie about sexual assault or to tell me I owed it to that man to let him do whatever he wanted to do to me.

Now what I did not do was call the police because the police don't help at best. (Understatement) I pulled away from that man and ran away from him. And I remain unconvinced either that he had the right to grab me or that I hallucinated the event because no homeless person would ever be so rude, just as I remain unconvinced that he should be homeless in such a wealthy society or that calling in the police to brutalize him would have improved anything.

[coldbrewraktajino]

Everyone has bad days. Most of us are lucky enough to have those bad days behind closed doors. If you're homeless, you don't get that privacy. Your bad days are public.

[thethirdromana]

I was going to grumble about the wild tonal inconsistency from episode to episode of Starfleet Academy, but you know what? I can't do that and complain that it's not embodying the real spirit of Star Trek. Wild tonal inconsistency is as Star Trek as it gets.

[coldbrewraktajino]

DS9 sixth season has a heartbreaking classic sff tale about a pulp sf writer and a dream. It was nominated for three Emmys and everyone who worked on it says Brooks was robbed for not being nominated for best actor. Multiple cast, crew, and other associated Trek people call it one of the best Trek episodes in the entire franchise. Media and critics agree.

In the next episode, Bashir, O'Brien, and Dax go in a space thing and get small.

[stephanemiroux]

Yesssssss, we love to see it.

[coldbrewraktajino]

It cracks me up to see all the haters supporting Janeway but NOT new Trek. Every new Trek show was rejected initially by vocal minorities claiming to be real Trek fans. Every new captain was not the right one. Picard was too bald and serious! Sisko was too Black and too angry at Picard. Janeway was too emotional and idk, talked weird. Each premise was not "real Trek."

DS9 wasn't beloved in its time like TNG was. Same with Voyager. But both have gotten their laurels and accolades in more recent years. Even Enterprise has gotten more appreciation!

You don't have to like every series (I don't!). But you do have to realize that not everything is made for you.

And above all, listen to Wil Wheaton:

Wil Wheaton is like Exhibit B in "unpopular Trek element aged better than your hatred" btw.

[lensdeer]

I made a little web app to generate xkcd 2501 edits right from your browser

[raguleader]

We don't want NuTrek.

We don't want New Trek.

We don't want Old Trek either.

We want NEWS TREK.

We want hard-hitting journalism from the greatest investigative reporters in the Alpha Quadrant!

I want to see Jake Sisko's report on what the hell happened on Federation Day. I want a whole show about his investigation into the whole thing, interviewing Admiral Janeway, Captain Seven, Ensign LaForge, Captain's Gopher Jack Crusher, the whole gang. Even the Founders they caught at the end should get interviewed.

[coldbrewraktajino]

Some of my favorite fics are in-universe nonfiction. Give me press releases, academic research, TED talks...

[oops-all-birbs]

Watching the Pitt made me wonder how many times I've been to the er, out of curiosity

And. 11 times (that i rmb, might be more). Over 31 years. It's once every 2.8 years

It feels like a lot, so it got me curious:

How many times have you been to the ER?

never been

only once

2-4

5-7

8-10

>10

Voting ended onFeb 15

[kittenwriter]

Four, although before the last six months it would have been two.

[coldbrewraktajino]

1 for me--plus a trip from urgent care to use their xray. Two more to include spouse's ER visits, and four more for the dog.

All since 2022. (Everyone is okay now.)

Edit: just remembered one time as a kid. My toddler sister and I both got gnarly ear infections and my sister worsened so much overnight that my mom took us to the ER. When the doc/nurse told her this could have waited for primary care in the morning, my mom just gestured to my distraught sister and asked if the baby looked like she could wait.

So two for me I guess.

[marquisdefag]

an author was just found guilty of child abuse for writing a fictional book about age play and will be sentenced in april.

if you agree with this, you’re agreeing and siding with fascism. there is literal no other way to put it. it’s not about your moral fucking code or your own feelings towards the content. people are being persecuted for fucking FICTIONAL books.

[unspeakablearchives]

Australia has just seen fit to convict an author for the most serious of crimes - creating Child Sexual Abuse Material (ie. "child pornography"), simply because she wrote a novel about a fully-grown adult woman.

When the state can brand fiction as "child abuse," then words no longer mean anything and the law is just moral panic wrapped in a robe.

The courtroom of a so-called civilized democracy was turned into a censorship board. The justice system was weaponized to punish a non-existent crime, all because a gang of pathetic, pearl-clutching busybodies hate the idea that your imagination is none of their business.

Fiction is not conduct. Imagination is not action.

Australia has just showed the world a government so weak and brittle that it needs an army of police, prosecutors, and magistrates to "protect" adults from reading.

But this is not about protecting anyone. It is about asserting authority over the contents of the human mind. Once the state can punish a book for being disturbing, there is no principled boundary left - only shifting moral panics that are used to justify the next target.

This crosses a line that all free societies are supposed to defend.

And if you cheer on this prosecution, then you are the weakest of cowards. You are beneath contempt. You are a repulsive, pathetic traitor to the very ideals that uphold the free society that you rely on, and I do not want you to ever interact with me, or literature, again.

[vaspider]

The book is about an 18-year-old woman named Lucy who roleplays as a toddler with Arthur, an older man who is her father’s best friend.

I...

Yeah, that's thought crime shit.

[bisexualbaker]

[Image one: Cover of "Daddy's Little Toy" by Tori Woods. Image two: Silhouette of a person in a cell, sitting cross-legged and holding a light rectangle (possibly a tablet or a book).]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

The Hill: Gallup will no longer measure presidential approval after 88 years

Dominick Mastrangelo at The Hill:

Gallup will no longer track presidential approval ratings after more than eight decades doing so, the public opinion polling agency confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday. The company said starting this year it would stop publishing approval and favorability ratings of individual political figures, saying in a statement it “reflects an evolution in how Gallup focuses its public research and thought leadership.”

“Our commitment is to long-term, methodologically sound research on issues and conditions that shape people’s lives,” a spokesperson for the agency said. “That work will continue through the Gallup Poll Social Series, the Gallup Quarterly Business Review, the World Poll, and our portfolio of U.S. and global research.” The Gallup Presidential Approval Rating has for decades been the among the top barometers cited by media outlets measuring public opinion of the president’s performance.

President Trump has seen his rating by the agency slip in recent months, peaking at 47 percent last February and dipping to less than 37 percent in its last poll taken in December. “This change is part of a broader, ongoing effort to align all of Gallup’s public work with its mission,” a spokesperson for Gallup said. “We look forward to continuing to offer independent research that adheres to the highest standards of social science.”

An end of an era in Presidential approval/disapproval polling: Gallup will stop doing the Presidential job approval ratings after 88 years.

[quasi-normalcy]

This, I'm sure, is purely a business decision and involves no political interference whatsoever from incredibly thin-skinned , historically unpopular tyrants with bad spray tans.

[coldbrewraktajino]

The Ten Tabs daily newsletter was not subtle with their article order.

[agayworthfightingfor]

On Dentists

So I can’t brush my teeth. Like, it’s the worst kind of hell. I went to the dentist for a cleaning today and I told the hygienist this, and she was wonderfully helpful.

There are some incredibly soft toothbrushes available- namely, post-surgical brushes. Running them under hot water makes them even softer.

She told me that you don’t really need to use toothpaste- it’s mostly marketing. The foam gets to me, so that is really reassuring.

She gave me two particularly soft brushes and some xylitol gum. Trident is a market brand of xylitol gum, which helps with your teeth and can make your breath smell better.

The whole purpose of brushing is to disrupt plaque buildup. You don’t need to brush twice a day, every day with toothpaste if you brush correctly- little circles, focusing on near the gums (where most plaque builds up). So if you’re having a bad sensory day and can’t brush at all, it’s not the end of the world.

Hell, you don’t even need a toothbrush if even the post-surgical ones are too harsh. Going over your teeth with the same motions using a washcloth is enough.

She wants to find a fluoride rinse that has a taste I can stand (peppermint is the only mint I can stand) but she’s not particularly worried about it.

I go to Dr. Barr in Chicago. If you can get to the State St. Macy’s, his office is nearby. He’s very kind and patient and really understanding of my needs as an autistic person. The hygienist, I don’t know her name, announced everything she was going to do before she did it, and stopped frequently to see how I was doing.

This is really the only positive dentist I’ve ever had- past dentists have been too rough and not bothered to help find ways I can actually brush.

Basically this is a glowing recommendation for Dr. Barr’s office if you’re autistic, afraid of dentists, or have sensory needs. This is a recommendation even if you don’t have any of those things.

[huhnerkopf]

Im actually crying i feel like this post was reblogged for me oh my god oh my god oh my lord thank you

[lascapigliata]

You can also dilute your mouthwash and use it to swish around if it burns. My dentist does this so consider it dentally approved

[spoonie-living]

If you were feeling guilty about your brushing habits, either due to sensory issues, pain, allergies, executive dysfunction, or just plain fatigue, here’s what you need to know about what is and isn’t necessary if your dental care!

[charismat1c-megafauna]

Post-covid, I got really horrible shit going on with my gag reflex where for some reason the mint flavor of toothpaste (and only toothpaste) would make me gag so hard that I’d throw up. Then I found a kids toothpaste that’s like strawberry flavored or something, but it has the proper adult amount of flouride, so it works for me and I don’t gag much anymore. Here’s an article with some options if you’re like me lol

Best Non-Mint Toothpaste For Adults — Dr. Gemma Wheeler

Dr. Gemma Wheeler lists best non-mint toothpaste options for adults. The list includes those that are truly non mint, without oils or aromas

Also for the people who can’t stand foam, the ingredient you’re looking to avoid is called SLS.

[coldbrewraktajino]

Here's my nomination for a sensory-friendly dentist, this one in the PDX area: https://wildwooddentalpdx.com/

I never requested light or noise accommodations but he was super great about anxiety and my (genetic) higher than normal tolerance of novocaine. His techs have all been super supportive in finding ways to make flossing more accessible, and were always encouraging for whatever I had managed to do. They have case stories of other patients accommodations to help you figure out what might work for you. I had 3+ hygienists over the years and only one gave an uncomfortable cleaning.

Wildwood Dental offers a wide range of services for patients of all ages and dental backgrounds. Want to learn more? Contact our office toda

[crispytomatoo]

does anyone remember that one episode where mulder sits on a chair by like swinging his leg OVER the back, it‘s so edit and gif worthy yet I have never seen it again

[crispytomatoo]

[coldbrewraktajino]

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

2,300-Year-Old Plush Bird from the Altai Mountains of Siberia, c.400-300 BCE: this figure was crafted with a felt body and reindeer-fur stuffing, all of which remains intact

This plush bird was sealed in the frozen barrows of Pazyryk, Siberia, for more than two millennia. It's remarkably well-preserved, thanks to the unique conditions in which it was buried; the permafrost ice lense formation that runs beneath the site served as an insulating layer, preventing the soil from heating during the summer and allowing it to quickly freeze during the winter, which helped to produce a separate microclimate within the stone walls of the barrows, aiding in the preservation of the artifacts inside.

This is just one of the many well-preserved artifacts that have been found at Pazyryk, and it's attributed to the Scythian/Altaic cultures.

Sources & More Info:

The Hermitage Museum: Swan

University of Washington: Artifacts from Southern Siberia/Pazyryk

CRAFTARCH: Natural Felt as a Sculptural Textile

Felting and Fiber Studio: The Pazyryk Tomb and the History of Felt

[kieraoonadiy]

I'm currently working on a video on how this bird is assembled and a pattern, as best as I can manage. It will take me time, and I ask for people to be patient with me. I will post the pattern up for free on my Ko-Fi as soon as its available

[kieraoonadiy]

As promised, video and pattern!

The pattern link is below, the pattern is free to download. If you do, I just ask that you please credit me for the original pattern

Swan pattern - Based on 2400 year old toy - Kiera-Oona's Ko-fi Shop

This swan plush pattern is based on a 2400 year old stuffed swan found in Siberia. Please note that this pattern is "as is" , and is in t

[elbiotipo]

why bother caring about the environment when 1. It’s so obviously a lost cause and 2. There’s definitely going to be a nuclear war?

And what are you doing about it Anon? Learn about ecological restoration or get out of my way.

[elbiotipo]

If you read ecology books printed in the 70s and 80s, they were absolutely convinced that whales and tigers would not survive the century. There's a whole plot in Star Trek about how whales are extinct actually. Here in Argentina, we were sure that yaguaretés would have gone extinct. It was thought that rainforests would be forever lost, because there was no way that such complex ecosystems would be restored.

Now, you can go to Península Valdés and find that the whale population there is growing year after year, people can see them from their windows. In Iberá, where yaguaretés were extinct for over 70 years, there's now a population of 35 and growing, after being reintroduced just five years ago. As for rainforests?

We've becoming very, very good on restoring them. Natural environments, when given space and time to heal, can return to that they were. And after all, all natural enviroments are managed by human societies. It is up to us to implement a good management, un buen gobierno.

I firmly believe our children and grandchildren will see a restoration of Earth like never before.

Millions of people are working on this. You can learn about it, perhaps even become one of them. Or be a pointless doomer in my ask box. Your choice.

[elbiotipo]

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

Reblog if you love “—” and have never used ChatGPT

[whetstonefires]

i finally got exposed to the way chatgpt uses it and got even more annoyed by the idea that m-dash is evidence of AI use, because chatgpt uses a dash where it's more grammatically correct to use a colon. or even an ellipsis. for emphasis. dramatic pause. jazz hands are often implied.

it learned that from ads and self-help books. that is a very minority use-case for actual prose writing. most people who use m-dash do not use it Like That.

[coldbrewraktajino]

It's so prevalent in chatgpt because it used to be prevalent in 19th century novels--which got slurped for chatgpt.

The Em Dash - 99% Invisible

Last summer, Bryan Vance found himself in an argument with a stranger on Reddit. Vance, a Portland-based journalist who runs Stumptown Savin

[mbrainspaz]

idk what neurodivergent young adult needs to hear this but you are NOT supposed to give 100% at your job. I've gotten more promotions and raises since I started giving 40-60%, which my evil CEO uncle informed me is what bosses actually expect when they say 110%. My mental health has improved tremendously. I've spent 2 out of 5 workdays secretly writing my novel for the last 2 years and I've never been more respected and appreciated. Also--when you see glaring wasteful errors in the company's operating systems, say absolutely nothing! Embrace inefficiency. It is your friend in this capitalist hellscape.

[coldbrewraktajino]

I've had a rough two years personally and haven't been giving it my all for most of that. I go into every self evaluation with shame and guilt that I try to ignore or spin into accomplishments. And every boss feedback is ultimately "you're doing great, I'm so glad you're here."

Sure I'm not getting the regular dopamine boost of feeling on top of everything and getting regular kudos from coworkers. But at the end of the day, I'm getting what I need to done and nobody is mad at me.

I even told my boss's boss about taking a step back and feeling behind, and she said she hadn't noticed a drop in my work.

As my husband tries to make me understand: if you have to take a break in the middle of the task, that's how long the task takes. You need that break.