Terrible, Beautiful Sparks in Space

Talk shit get bit. ey/em they/them Ao3 link

[dndspellgifs]

LRRSA (lesser restoration-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)

LoHRSA (lay on hands-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)

[sapphling]

when talking about efforts to forcibly institutionalize or otherwise wield psychiatric violence against trans people you should be conceptualizing these things not as misuses or perversions of originally well-meaning and necessary processes but instead as natural extensions of the continuum of violence represented by the psychiatric system. this is not a power that psychiatric doctors should hold over anyone, and so long as they do it will continue to disproportionately impact vulnerable groups in devastating ways

[oqmemphis]

tier list of international radiotelephony spelling alphabet letters by how well they work as personal names

S - hell yeah

Echo - shades of Greek mythology, interesting and distinct while also being an actual name that some people have

November - @postoctobrist is the reason why I am making this list

Sierra - from the Spanish for "mountain range", falls under the same distinct-but-reasonable category as Echo

A - perfectly reasonable names

Charlie

India

Juliet*

Oscar

Romeo*

Victor

*these names are cool but be warned that if you choose one you will get the same three Shakespeare jokes for the rest of time

B - sure I guess

Delta - I have never heard of anyone with this name but I think it could work?

Mike - deeply boring name, try and be more imaginative. (the only reason Charlie isn't down here is that I know a couple of Charlies and they're lovely)

Zulu - probably don't name yourself this if you're white

C - I am really curious how you're gonna make these work

Bravo - I feel like this has the cadence and feel of a name, but it's definitely out there

Lima - people named after cities are not that common, but I guess if Paris can be a name then so can this

Papa - not sure this works as a legal name but it's definitely plausible as a nickname within a very specific in-group

Quebec - see Lima

D - maybe salvageable somehow?

Foxtrot - pretty odd, but you could shorten it to Fox and it's kinda reasonable

Tango - another dance, but even harder to make work than Foxtrot

Whisky - occupies a similar nickname space as Papa, with the extra downside that it makes you sound like an alcoholic

X-Ray - "Ray" on its own is fine but randomly shoving Xs at the start of things is something that basically only Elon Musk does

Yankee - it's not completely insane as a name but it has enough unpleasant connotations that I wouldn't recommend it

F - do not under any circumstances use these

Alpha - if someone introduces themself to me as "Alpha" I will immediately cover my drink

Golf - all issues with the sport aside, I just think this is a really ugly sequence of phonemes

Hotel - you are not a Monopoly token

Kilo - usually units of measurement are named after people, not the other way round

Uniform - too on-the-nose even for a badly written dystopia novel

[manny-jacinto]

OBI-WAN KENOBI & LEIA ORGANA + tumblr text posts (credit)

[ltwilliammowett]

Götheborg of Sweden, Photo: Linda Åkerberg and Krzysztof Romanski

[wicked-weaver]

None of this shit's going to get better until all of you realize there's nothing that makes you incapable of being a bigot, and there is ESPECIALLY no relationship to womanhood that prevents you from being misogynist.

Every single day I see someone go "but I can't possibly think or act in misogynistic ways, I literally am/was a woman!" and it's the dumbest shit I've seen, every single time. You, yes you, the person reading this, are capable of misogyny, just like you're capable of every other kind of bigotry, just like every single person on earth is.

And if you're reading this and you think "yeah, you tell those losers!" I'm not talking about them, whoever they might be. I'm talking about you.

[teaboot]

Things you can do as a security guard instead of acting like a dickhead: a vent post disguised as advice

Offer alternatives: IE, “Sorry, nobody’s allowed to hang out over there, but we have seats over here you’re welcome to use”. I recommend getting familiar with local parks, public seating, free food programs, outreach, mobile aid, etc., just in case those are needed.

Be polite: IE, “Excuse me, sir”, “I beg your pardon, miss”. This should go without saying but everyone deserves dignity.

Avoid phrasing requests as orders: IE, “Don’t stand in front of that” VS “Excuse me, could you move a bit to the side?”. This works best with an explanation, like, “There’s a sign behind you”, or, “you might get clipped by someone”. This helps communicate that you are asking for a reason, not just throwing your weight around. If you don’t have a reason, rethink whether or not you need to be doing anything.

Avoid directing blame or fault. Don’t say, “The owner says you gotta go” when you could say, “I’m not supposed to let people be here for X period” or “do X thing”. Again, try to have alternatives ready so people can use other resources or do something else instead of just abruptly changing plans.

Come from a place of compassion whenever you can. People are gonna tell you to get rid of the crazy screaming guy. They say that because they’re frightened and don’t know what to do. Your best approach is, “Hello sir”, followed by, “How are you today?”, “how’s it going?”, “are you doing alright?”, etc., depending on what the person is ACTUALLY doing / saying when you get there. You can offer help from there if needed, or leave them alone if they’re not in danger or a risk to anyone.

Remember you’re not a cop. This can mean whatever you need it to mean. For me personally, that means that with incredibly rare exception (like trying to sell to kids, contaminating other’s food or drink) I won’t report you for drugs. If I find you doing drugs on my site I’ll tell you a different place where you can do them instead and ask you to do them there. I have interrupted drug deals to ask the client and the salesman to both kindly move 15 feet to the left, I’m not kidding, I do not care.

Know who you can throw under the bus. Sometimes you gotta enforce rules and be the bad guy and if that’s the fault of some dipshit in a suit 200 miles away, you can say that. Sorry man, I can’t let you park your car on the lawn. I know you’re not hurting anyone and frankly I think lawn culture is stupid but there’s other parking stalls and if my boss sees you I’ll get a write-up for not doing my job. Shit sucks sometimes but if it wasn’t me telling you it’d be the new guy, and between you and me he’s an idiot and he’ll probably just report you to bylaw.

Don’t just act like you’re their friend, genuinely try to be a good friend. If you know that someone is doing something that will only result in a bystander phoning police, don’t let them go down like that. Let them know, “hey man, you seem like you’re having a shit time and I get it, I’ll do what I can, but we gotta have this conversation somewhere else ‘cause we’re freaking out the old ladies.”

Swallow your tongue. You can’t fix the world. People are gonna bitch at you about communists and 5G and gangster rap ruining the neighbourhood, that’s just part of the deal. Nod along, remain neutral, shut down any hate speech, redirect if you can, and keep a limit in mind where you’ll have to shut things down.

Accept that sometimes there are no solutions. Yes, that angry guy who blasts music will be back tomorrow. That homeless woman who asks you to help her find her dog that she hasn’t had in 30 years will ask again, and yes, you’re still going to take a description and promise to keep an eye out. That kid who smokes crack behind the building has been clean for a few weeks and still stops by to say hi, and you hope he’ll get his life together and be happy, but he also might relapse and OD before he hits 25. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can, even if nothing is guaranteed.

Be kind to teenagers. Being a kid is hard, and everyone’s on their ass all the damn time for everything.

Remember that the vast majority of bad people aren’t bad, just unhappy. The guy who keeps showing up drunk and puking on the carpet is unhappy. The lady who bitches about the service every single time and keeps coming back anyway is unhappy. The guy who leaves trash everywhere is probably unhappy. If they were happy, maybe they’d do better, but they’re not, and that’s kinda sad. You don’t have to let them get away with their shit, but they probably aren’t actually a worthless human being either.

It doesn’t matter if 12 is true or not. You need to believe it or you will become a harsh and bitter person. Look for evidence that people are not terrible and invent it if you have to

Don’t let yourself become a bastard

[onbearfeet]

Thanks, OP.

A couple nights ago, my roommate and I got home and found a strange car in our reserved parking space with its flashers on. I went into the nearest building lobby to ask if anyone owned a blue Thingy parked in space X with the flashers on, and nobody owned up, but a security guard got interested. When I said that yes, it was my reserved parking space I was trying to use, he tried to call a tow truck.

And I said no, I didn't want the Thingy towed. If the driver wasn't playing cards in the lobby of this building (a thing that happens, hence my checking there first), they were probably delivering for Doordash or Amazon, and getting their car towed could ruin their fucking life. They'd be back soon enough, probably before the tow truck could arrive, and literally none of this was worth destroying some poor schmuck. I would park in one of the open spaces on the other side of the complex that nobody liked to use, the security guard wouldn't issue me a citation for doing that instead of parking in my own space, and I'd move my car in an hour because there was no way anyone with their flashers on would be here longer than that. I didn't want white-lady vengeance; I wanted the dude to move his car and nobody to have their night ruined over a parking fuckup.

This speech caused the security guard to fully bluescreen because lots of residents here WOULD demand to have the Thingy towed and probably no one had brought up the whole delivery-driver-can't-afford-impound-fees thing before.

And while he was rebooting, a dude in a vest ran out of another building, said, "Oh, shit, I should move my car," got in the Thingy, and drove off.

One less act of bastardry.

[monsterblogging]

Researching the Spanish Inquisition for reasons and learning about limpieza de sangre and feeling pissed that the Spanish Inquisition's role in doing racism and eugenics is more often than not swept under the rug.

[monsterblogging]

Need to sit and stare for awhile as I contemplate how a lot of white people think the Spanish Inquisition's purpose was hunting pagans (which didn't even exist at the time) when their actual purpose was doing antisemitism and Islamophobia.

[evilyoyo]

Starting a collection called ‘I have mental health issues, extremely complicated relationships with my parents and a kick ass braid’

[boybeetles]

[haridraws]

Keep thinking about this Austin Walker post that now lives in my brain. It's a reply to people saying genAI can help creators 'develop concepts' and waste less time on research (x)

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Fuck off and give me the ball . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

[thememedaddy]

[annabelle--cane]

like as a feminist and an asexual if you ever imply that not having sex / not having "enough" of it is a conservative or reactionary trait I will be running you over with a bus pronto

[annabelle--cane]

you do not need to have sex ever. if you don't want to then you can just not do it. you don't need to have sex in order to mature as a person. you don't need to have sex to prove that you don't think it's immoral. you don't need to have sex to be a good partner. you don't need to have sex to be physically and/or mentally healthy. all of these goals can be achieved by hundreds of means other than sex. you can chose to do it for any reason you want, but you can also chose not to do it for any reason you want, including just not really feeling like it at any given time in any situation. the only thing not having sex says about your life and character is that you decided not to have sex. you can really really just not do it and that will be 1000x better for you in every conceivable way than making yourself do it when you don't want to.

[kaity--did]

it is wild to me that you're letting your 4 year old have pizza that late at night. my instinct is to be like what is wrong with you but you've been absolutely rocking my world view on food rules for the past couple of years honestly

If you are hungry you should eat, always. We're having pizza cause we're on vacation and that's what's available honestly a lot of the time when she gets the night time hungers she wants scrambled eggs lol.

We let her eat and then she goes to bed and everyone is happy!

[fozmeadows]

One of the most eye-opening aspects of parenthood for me has been how socially ingrained it is for parents to be coercive and controlling about food access in the name of manners. Like, scientifically, we know that kids have much smaller stomachs than adults, and also much faster metabolisms. That makes sense! They're growing! And we also know, scientifically, that kids have different palates than adults - that bitter flavours are much more unpleasant for most toddlers, for instance, and that certain kids have strong sensory aversions to certain textures or tastes. This latter point is also true of adults, too - and it's completely fair! But you would never demand that an adult clear their plate once they said they were full, or shame them for their inability to finish because they had a sandwich earlier. You wouldn't force them to eat every part of an unfamiliar meal they ordered at a restaurant that they turned out not to like, or tell them that they didn't get to have a mid-morning snack as punishment for not having eaten breakfast. And yet it's considered completely normal to do this to children - especially very small children - whose bodies constantly want fuel. Which isn't to say it's pointless to teach kids manners around food and mealtimes - it's not! How to sit at a table, how to use a knife and fork, how to behave at a restaurant, how to politely ask for seconds or express that you're full (I've had an elegant sufficiency, was my grandmother's delightful go-to phrase), how to join in the conversation once you're done with your food, how to make a good faith attempt at trying unfamiliar dishes, how to broaden your palate as you get older, how to behave as a guest at someone else's table - all of this is important to learn! But instead of this, what a lot of parents actually do - and most often because they themselves were raised with it - is treat food access as a test of obedience. A child who asks for a snack is whiny, because you just had breakfast!, even though it's developmentally better for a child to eat multiple small meals throughout the day than three big ones. A child who refuses a given food is picky, because you should just eat what you're given!, even though most adults would never extend this same attitude to themselves. A child who eats three square meals a day and still wants more is greedy, because you've already had enough!, even though we'd consider it wholly normal for an adult - and especially a physically active adult - to want extra. And at the same time, once kids are old enough to feed themselves, they're often discouraged from doing so, their hunger treated as a shameful inconvenience. Sure, if a particular food is expensive, difficult to acquire, needed for a particular dish that someone is planning to cook or belongs to a specific household member, then it makes sense to say, "hey, you can only have X if you ask, for Y reason," because that's about teaching responsibility and courtesy, not punishing hunger. It's also fair to say that certain foods, like ice cream, are only for dessert, or require permission, because kids need help learning restraint. And once they can write, you should teach them that, if they take the last of something, they should put it on the shopping list so you know to get more. But a lot of people still just... act annoyed that their kids are hungry, and particularly when that hunger - as is developmentally normal! - falls outside of allotted mealtimes. Because they grew up being punished for being hungry, and so it's built into their bones that food-seeking behaviour is somehow inherently rude, when eating when you're hungry is actually one of the healthiest things we can do.

[valtsv]

my that one friend that's too woke opinion is that in a similar vein to how you almost never see fat people or women without makeup on tv you never really see anyone experiencing incontinence issues unless it's a humiliating comedic moment at their expense and that's kind of scary

[valtsv]

like sorry to be the bearer of bad news but people piss themselves. when they're afraid. when they've experienced mental and/or physical trauma and their body needs a way to express that stress. when they've been sexually assaulted. when they get older and their muscles start to wear out from a lifetime of service. a not insignificant majority of people Will experience incontinence in their lifetimes and while there are steps you can take to manage it for your own comfort and others', there's simply no moral dimension to it whatsoever. & like i'm not saying every show and movie needs checkhov's bed wetting scene but we have seriously got to get more okay with acknowledging that somehow.

[valtsv]

[dovesndecay]

There's nothing so disappointing as reading a shifter romance where they explicitly state there's no bush. what are we even doing

[dovesndecay]

This same series has a whole "true mates" thing that somehow makes anal easier because "[your body] was made to take mine anywhere and everywhere."

It just raises questions, from me in my brain. I'm just. Curious. About the limits to this.

[fabiansociety]

wait, now we're turning into body horror, we might be cooking

[dovesndecay]

If they could address the ear and nose hole elephant, I would not appreciate it, per se, but it would at least remove its proboscis from my brain.

[tpwrtrmnky]

Like. Look. Listen. I have taught introductory quantum physics at a university level, and I need you all to incorporate this into your trans advocacy: There are situations where you need to make a decision to prioritize being comprehensible to your target audience above being The Most Unassailably Correct.