Combing The Desert

This blog is known as Combing The Desert and I basically reblog things that catch my fancy. I am a rather eccentric (but I think in a good way!) individual from Florida, age 45.

[kosmogrl]

omg the new emoji 🫪🫪🫪🫪

[kosmogrl]

🫪🫪🫪

[kosmogrl]

for those that can’t see it

[couldbeglorious]

i love him on android their eyes are even more off-center

[cee4bugza]

i don’t usually talk outside of tags but this was really funny to me

[tahthetrickster]

me: i have a very specific tumblr accent meme im thinking of that surely i should be able to pull up by searching the text in the meme

the most dogshit useless decimated search engine in the entire world:

[days-without-ai-ads-offical]

I FUCKING BROKE IT BY LOOKING UP THE ACCOUNT

[mcpro229]

Yeah okay I'm reposting this link:

https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14&safe=active&ssui=on

Google search that automatically opens on the 'Web' option (basically just search without AI)

Fuck Gemini 🫶

[byjove]

“I’ve discovered some new passages of the Bible that say you go to hell if you’re JD Vance and superhell if you are capitalizing off the AI boom.” and the pope is right

[orangejuiced15]

I think there's already enough passages pls stop finding new ones

[cult-of-the-girl-offensive]

Council of Rome, circa 382 AD

[sandstone72]

They should make a content label for ai posts like they do for mature content so I dont ever have to fucking look at it

[sun-and-moonflower-garden]

Unfortunately I don’t trust any label automatically applied. Could label things wrongly or miss some entirely. However, a community sourced label peer reviewed by genuine anti ai people I could get behind. Already I check notes of everything here because people kindly shout about if something is ai and then I can not reblog it.

[remnantglow]

classic scifi novels by men r always like. page 1 here’s a cool scifi idea i had. page 2 i hate women so much it’s unreal

[remnantglow]

ALT

ALT

ALT

guys if one more person leaves a tag like this on my post im gonna lose my mind. There Are Science Fiction Authors Who Are Not Misogynistic Men

[remnantglow]

ok i’ve gotten one too many ‘this is why i don’t read sci-fi’ comments so here’s a rec list for the people convinced all science fiction is bad and misogynistic (with something for everyone, hopefully!):

(also, btw, the book links are to the Storygraph, which includes content warnings for each one!)

smth funny and lighthearted about a security robot who’d rather watch TV then do its job? all systems red by martha wells (first novella in the The Murderbot Diaries series, 6 books, ongoing)

a complex, intricate political space opera following a warship AI who’s lost (almost) everything? ancillary justice by ann leckie (first in the Imperial Radch trilogy) (fun fact! bc of space linguistics reasons, all characters in this series are referred to with she/her pronouns, making gender a non-factor - it’s really cool!)

a dark story about travelling between parallel universes and a woman who is dead in almost every single one? the space between worlds by micaiah johnson (standalone) (SO good, i don’t get to recommend it often enough!!!)

a story about grief and letting go, and a unique take on alien invasion? the seep by chana porter (standalone novella)

hey, how abt some dystopian YA, for old times sake? specifically, one with sapphics and sick mechas? try gearbreakers by zoe hana mikuta (first in duology)

or, if you’d prefer something a bit less angsty, YA about a ragtag group of teens and a space heist? the disasters by m. k. england (standalone)

alternate history steampunk that blurs the line btwn science fiction and fantasy? the black god’s drums by p. djeli clark (standalone, novella)

a dark gone girl-esque thriller about clones? the echo wife by sarah gailey (standalone)

poetic sapphic romance and time travel? this is how you lose the time war by max gladstone and amal el-mohtar (standalone)

a hopeful utopian future and a human-robot friendship? a psalm for the wild-built by becky chambers (novella, first out of two) (this author’s got a whole bunch of hopepunk sci-fi novels in general, if that’s smth you’re looking for!)

africanfuturism, coming-of-age, and cool jellyfish aliens? binti by nnedi okorafor (novella, first in trilogy)

spicy lesbian cyborgs? and shall machines surrender my benjanun sriduangkaew (novella, first in the Machine Mandate series, 6 books)

cosmic horror with an autistic scientist, cyborg angels and AI gods? the outside by ada hoffmann (first in trilogy, 2 books are out)

also, if you’re a fan of Janelle Monáe, may i draw your attention to the fact that they’ve recently come out with a Dirty Computer short story collection, each story co-written with a diff writer?

this list is long enough, but have some more authors (who are not cis men) also worth checking out: rivers solomon, yoon ha lee, charlie jane anders, aliette de bodard, xiran jay zhao, mary robinette kowal, corinne duyvis

and finally, not all older/classic scifi is written by crusty old white guys who hate women!!! some iconic authors i’d particularly recommend looking into are ursula k. le guin, octavia e. butler, samuel r. delany and vonda n. mcintyre 🥰

[babischlong-six]

I’ll add C.J. Cherryh and her Foreigner series to this! Alien politics, linguistics, adventure and intrigue… Sometimes the aliens aren’t just like us, after all, and that’s ok!

[ariaste]

And Nicola Griffith. And Lois McMaster Bujold.

[morphean42]

I’d also suggest The Long Way To a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It’s got some interesting stuff, but is more based in the found family troupe than the sci-fi that’s happening all around it so it’s a good starting point to see if you like the genre.

[transcyberism]

Ursula Le Guin was already mentioned but if you want to read a geopolitical odyssey where an Earth-human lives on a frozen planet among a race of people who are predominantly dual-sexed, complete with a very fleshed-out culture and some poignant social commentary on the way we Earth folk think about sex/gender/queerness, read Left Hand of Darkness

[genderfluid-and-confuzled]

thought one: yummy yummy

thought two: orange juice in my tummy

[1oddboi1]

You really gotta concentrate when you're thinking about it though, otherwise it doesn't work

[montereybayaquarium]

This Pride Month, we’re celebrating the beauty of diversity above and below the surface. The ocean is full of vibrant life in every color imaginable. It reminds us that nature thrives when everyone has space to belong.

Environmental advocacy and the LGBTQ+ rights movement share a common purpose: protecting vulnerable communities, caring for the spaces we all call home, and creating a world where we all can flourish. Our world is brightest when people can live authentically, love freely, and be embraced for who they are. From rainbow reefs to shimmering tides, diversity makes our blue planet stronger, healthier, and more inspiring.

Here’s to protecting our ocean, uplifting every voice, and honoring the colorful communities that make this world so wonderful.

[only-cat-memes]

[thecolorofthegame]

[interestingmistakes]

Reblogging this manually. Op doesn't want credit for fear of being terminated.

[lycorogue]

[ID:

Image of the progressive pride flag. The triangle that normally includes the intersex flag, the trans flag, and the brown and black bands has been replaced by tumblr's removed-image alert. The alert is a blue background and says, "This content has been removed for violating Tumblr's Community Guidelines."

/end ID]

[cat-mermaid]

was speeding up this footage to make a gif, but the audio is fucking golden, so its staying a video

[screengoddess]

Myrna Loy

[unseelie]

​i wish this was in my cart and not someone else’s

[iam0to3yearsold]

you can just take it from their cart. its not their possession if they haven't bought it yet

[unseelie]

if i were thrift shopping and you put your hands into my cart to take a unique handpicked item i was intending to purchase i would break your legs

[cryoverkiltmilk]

Stopped scrolling for the original image, reblogging for the commentary.

[dogpuppy]

[chickenmim]

Dude... allow me to add to your trove.

I have a folder of these on my phone... I'm not sure what that says about me!

[teaboot]

This has always bothered me too and it didn't make sense until someone older told me that when they were growing up "scare quotes" were used the way we used *asterisks* or ALL CAPS for emphasis

Edit: Oh. The fake kid's book is... dark.

[rapidashrider]

I had a collection of these on my old phone too! (RIP) My favourite was

RAIL REPLACEMENT "BUSES"

[rapidashrider]

It's fun reading news headlines this way as well where you infer the quotation marks to imply sarcasm or scepticism. There's one on the BBC today that says

"Shocking" rise in school suspensions for racist and homophobic abuse

We are shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you! Nobody could have predicted that a constant hostile political climate against foreigners for the last 10 years and creeping legislation to remove the hard-won rights of queer people might have an effect on the attitudes of young people

[jerreeeeeee]

not every mutual fits neatly into an archetypal medievalism but there are some mutuals that im like yeah addressing you as “my liege” would come strangely naturally

[nobeerreviews]

I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child - our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

-- Nhat Hanh

(Bucharest, Romania)

[solongfranklloydwright]

the french beatles

[solongfranklloydwright]

jean, paul, george, et ringeaux

[solongfranklloydwright]

[cryptratfromrunescape]

he has achieved mastery over le tabac

[earhartsease]

and it's pronounced rango

[escuerzoresucitado]

[churlsgonewild]