disaster witch

spencer | they/them | some people call me edgy

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

don’t know who needs to hear this but ao3 is not a social media. it’s an archive. a library. please stop treating it like twitter or tiktok

[writingdose]

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

[televisionenjoyer]

I disagree but I also don't respect your opinion

[legallybrunettedotcom]

ever since i learned abt the concept of networking i knew i was going to have to do everything alone and do it the hard way

[crokitheloki]

everyone say thank you ao3 volunteers you're the best ao3 volunteers ily ao3 volunteers

[raisedbylibrarians]

[barmecidebiohazard]

Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate golf since I began to live. There are roughly 2.25 million acres of land dedicated to golfing in the United States of America. If the word 'hate' was engraved on each blade of grass in those millions of acres, it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for golf courses at this micro-instant. For golf. Hate. Hate.

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

‘Heroic actions are a natural tendency’: why bystander apathy is a myth

Modern research shows the public work together selflessly in an emergency, motivated by a strong impulse to help

“The notion that people panic and run screaming for the exits is a Hollywood fiction,” said Prof Stephen Reicher, an expert in group behaviour at the University of St Andrews.

“Characteristically, people stay and help each other,” he said. “We found this during the 7/7 attacks on the underground and the 1999 attack on the Admiral Duncan pub in London, where people looked after each other even though they feared other bombs.

“In our own research on the Leytonstone tube attack in 2015, there was an amazing level of spontaneous coordination by bystanders: some directed others away from danger. Some distracted the attacker. Some confronted the attacker. Each was able to act because of the others. Heroism was a feature of the group, not just the individual,” he added.

Prof Clifford Stott, a specialist in the psychology of crowds and group identity at Keele University, agreed. Modern research, he said, showed “bystander apathy” was a myth. Instead, strangers often work together in emergency situations with highly sophisticated unity.”

[cephalopodvictorious]

Bystander apathy is a myth invented by the New York Times to cover up that the police were called by several residents of the building, but the cops refused to act. The cops then told the Times that 38 people just watched her die (a seemingly arbitrary number and a physical impossibility based on where the attacks occurred), and the Times ran with it. In fact, Kitty was alive when the cops got there, and was being held and comforted by one of her friends who lived in the building because one of the people who saw her get attacked from across the street called her friend to go get her. Because people care.

The Bystander Effect Started from a Lie

You have just been attacked. How likely is it that someone will come to your help? If you remember the infamous case of Kitty Genovese in 19

[moosepower]

I will always re-blog this. The story of Kitty Genovese’s murder has gone down in history as a story about everyone watching it happen and doing nothing and none of the story is true.

[paranormal-taters]

"i feel besquintled", said no one ever. because that's not a word.

[paranormal-taters]

okay nevermind it IS a word now and this is exactly what it means.

[paranormal-taters]

EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LOOK AT THIS NEW AND BETTER WORD

[thatnordicguy]

besquint

/bɪˈskwɪnt/

verb

besquints, besquinting, besquintled

From Middle English bisquint, bisquynt, bisqweynt; bi- + asquint, equivalent to be- ("to make, become, or cause to be") +‎ squint ("to look with the eyes partly closed").

(transitive) To cause (a person) to squint, esp. by means of a bright light, glare, or similar visual force.

"The low evening sun besquintled the driver."

2. (transitive) To cause (a person) to squint, esp. in trying to discern something small, distant, faint, or indistinct.

"The tiny letters besquintled the reader."

---

desquintler

/diːˈskwɪntlə,ˈ diːˈskwɪntələ/

noun

desquintler, desquintlers

An apparatus or device used to prevent or reduce squinting by limiting exposure to bright light, glare, or similar visual force; esp. a pair of sunglasses.

"He reached for his desquintlers before leaving the house."

2. An apparatus or device used to prevent or reduce squinting caused by difficulty of visual discernment; esp. spectacles, binoculars, magnifying glasses, etc.

"She raised the desquintler to her eyes, trying to identify the creature."

---

squintler

/skwɪntlə,ˈ skwɪntələ/

noun

squintler, squintlers

A source of bright light, glare, or similar visual intensity that causes a person to squint.

"The bright flashlight was such a squintler that she could barely see the man holding it."

2. A thing that causes a person to squint in attempting to discern it, esp. by being small, distant, faint, or indistinct.

"The bug crawling around on the ground was a real squintler."

---

[sic-s3mper-tyrannis]

[geminiagentgreen]

[dragonprincessmew]

[strange-aeons]

(thanksgiving turkey meme) idk who needs to hear this but (you all do, it's important) the 20th anniversary of the publication of my immortal is March 6th 2026

[jockinit]

having friends is important because otherwise you’ll stay convinced your parents are normal

[buddie-romance]

thank you ao3 for being an archive and not an algorithm. thank you for letting me like things without consequences, thank you for being free with no ads, thank you for having lawyers to defend our freedom of speech. thank you tag wranglers. thank you to all authors and thank you ao3

[littlegirlinvisible]

hudson mildred wtf is wrong with you 😭😭😭😭 (pls never change our pretty wasian princess)  

HUDSON WILLIAMS On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (Jan. 7, 2026)

[hypotenussy]

the number 1 rule of fanfic is have fun and be yourself. the number 2 rule is the average healthy adult male can lose roughly 2 liters of blood before dying.

[feminismandmedia]

[image description: a tweet by user @indigenousAI saying

"fun fact: as a DV survivor i cannot register to vote because doing so makes my address public. anyone who is fleeing or hiding from an abuser is automatically disenfranchised from the political process and this is a feature, not a bug"]

[taehyungsgrowl]

I don’t know of the original poster might not be aware

but!

if you’ve been a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, you can enroll into the address confidentiality program (free of cost!) and be registered to vote as an absentee voter and your name and address will not be made available for the public

it is super easy to get enrolled - the application takes like 5 minutes, but it has to be with someone who is certified to do it (most likely an advocate! try going to a family justice center in your area or calling the Attorney Generals office in your area!!!!)

ALSO : 

you don’t need to have any police reports or have a protection order to qualify!!! you just have to sign stating that you’ve been a victim of one of the aforementioned crimes.

[orgy-of-nerdiness]

Links to the info for every state in the Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_confidentiality_program

Address confidentiality program - Wikipedia

[debthedemi]

Reposting as Primaries and General Voting are coming up.

[rop3bunn7]

this also works for legal name changes, theres a waver.

[bitchesgetriches]

Everything Is Becoming a Bank

Most major corporations — from airlines to social media platforms — now aspire to become unregulated banks. Bankification today accounts for

[apatosaurus]

This is a long read, but worth it. Some takeaways:

-Don’t use “buy now pay later.” The fine print isn’t what it seems.

-The fine print on medical financing, store credit cards, and contactless payment is also not what it seems.

-Payday loans are still predatory, even when offered by your employer

-Rewards programs are an income stream for the companies that run them. The points systems are manipulated so that the house always wins. They depend on people leaving money in rewards accounts and not in interest-bearing traditional bank accounts.

-Electronic payment apps like VenMo are not banks. You don’t earn interest. Your money is not protected.

-Your financial information is not private if your money is not kept in a regulated bank.

-None of this is regulated by the FDIC. Your money is not protected if it is held by a non-bank doing banking business. Our economy is not protected from the collapse of financial institutions that are not banks.

-The Biden administration was making progress in increasing accountability for non-banks operating as predatory financial services providers. The current administration is reversing those protections to favor corporations.

[mierac]

Oh boy.

 A third of younger Americans hold their savings on nonbank tech platforms like Venmo

PEOPLE! DO NOT LEAVE YOUR MONEY IN VENMO OR APPLE PAY OR ANY OF THIS SHIT. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO FIND A REAL BANK OR A CREDIT UNION.

If Venmo were to close tomorrow all your money would vanish. There's no insurance or guarantee on any of these things. I know banks aren't great but legit banks will have the "FDIC insured" logo on their doors and websites, which means if my bank goes under tomorrow I still get my money back. Also I guarantee you there is a credit union somewhere in your town, go find it.

You can leave some money in Venmo or Apple pay or whatever, but NOT ALL OF IT for the love of God.

[lizardlicks]

If you don't want to deal with the large banking industry i get it. Go sign up for a local credit union. They're FDIC insured, your money stays local, and you can personally get to know and talk to your bank.

[the-real-seebs]

Probably the best piece of advice I ever got from my lawyer was opening a credit union account. They really are noticably better behaved than banks.

[cwicseolfor]

Your money IS NOT insured under the FDIC in a credit union account (they’re bank-only); it is insured under the NCUA instead. Insured institutions will typically put the logo or a statement about said insurance on the bottom of their webpages and mailers or letters. (Investment accounts in brokerages would be insured via the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, SIPC, but only against the brokerage going out of business or similar, not against market losses when the prices of things an investor owns go down.)

This matters a lot in this administration because there are so many attacks on regulation, especially the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) and attempts to do bullshit like force banks to bail out crypto speculators before US dollar holders, so I would not be surprised if they tried something there too.

[bitchesgetriches]

We go over this exact topic (the FDIC, NCUA, and even threats to the CFPB) in this video essay:

FDIC Insured Banking Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means: The Truth About Securing Your Savings 

[misanthropemom]

We all get it, banks suck, and do terrible things, but PLEASE, loved ones, two things you MUST remember about money (besides that they all try to take it away from you):

ONE: PayPal, cash app, venmo, and such like should only be used for extremely brief and small amounts, they are essentially simply so that you do not have to type in your fucking credit card, that's the only reason you use them. Think of it as a pass-through facilitation.

TWO: overdraft charges are illegal. You have to voluntarily sign up for them. And the bank makes it sound like they're doing you a favor by letting you spend money you don't have, but really they're more than happy to do so, since you signed a contract that says they can charge you escalating and ridiculous amounts for every charge you make. Do not fall for it.