[ajaxgb]

Okay no I need to talk about the book version of Howl's Moving Castle. I love the movie but the book has such a different vibe and you, yes you, should read it.

Movie Howl is a soulful and quiet. Book Howl is a drama queen and Causing Problems and has a long string of jilted exes and couldn't shut up if you paid him.

Sophie and Howl drive each other up the wall at the beginning and it's really funny. Sophie and Howl are (despite themselves) very much in love by the end and they still drive each other up the wall and it's even funnier.

In the movie, Howl has been ordered by the king to participate in The War, and Howl is avoiding it because he is a brave conscientious objector. In the book, Howl has been ordered by the king to rescue his lost brother from the Witch of the Wastes, and Howl is avoiding it by any means necessary because he is a cowardly weasel who wants to stay as far from the Witch as possible.

In the movie, the Witch cursed Sophie because she was jealous about Howl speaking to Sophie for five minutes. In the book, the Witch cursed Sophie because Sophie had been doing surprisingly powerful magic for years without knowing it and it was actually starting to cut into the Witch's plans. (Sophie does not discover any of this until nearly the end of the book, but the reader can start to pick it up much earlier and the way Sophie's magic works is pretty darn cool.)

In the movie, there's a rumor that Howl eats the hearts of maidens, but this is implied to be nothing but nasty fearmongering. In the book, there's a rumor that Howl eats the hearts of maidens because Howl started the rumor so people would stop asking him to do wizard junk all the time.

The book lightly parodies a couple of tropes from Western fairy tales. In particular Sophie has internalized that, as the eldest of three sisters, her "destiny" is to fail so that her younger sisters will look cooler when they succeed, which is why she's so resigned to the hat shop at the beginning. (Sidebar: Sophie's sisters come up much more in the book and they're great.) There's also a really funny bit where Sophie attempts to operate a pair of seven-league boots.

In the movie, the fourth and final location that the magic door connects to is some sort of black void / mindscape / time portal dealy. In the book the fourth location is Wales, in the UK, on Earth, so that Howl can visit his family, because from Howl's perspective this is an isekai story.

[suncaptor]

linked tree (includes options to donate to Ghanaian projects)

petition to show support

[bovid-beauty]

"Fascism"—New Federal Rule Would Require Federal Funding Recipients To Deny Trans People Exist

The rule could have heavy impacts towards trans people across society.

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

Importantly, the gender ideology prohibition has no age limitation—hospitals could be targeted not just for providing care to minors but for providing gender-affirming care to adults, because prescribing hormone therapy to a transgender patient of any age could be deemed promoting the belief that "sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic."

[junequeer]

THIS IS OPEN TO COMMENT UNTIL JULY 13, 2026

[featherandstorm]

This is all very bad and horrible, but I want to be clear that it’s worse and more sweeping than just eliminating trans research.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Please, if you only ever write one public comment, this is the one to do.

[genderkoolaid]

Bringing back this guide to writing an effective public comment. This gives you the basics you need to know, what you need to include, a basic outline you can follow, etc.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

But also, if possible, don't stop at writing a comment. Don't stop at calling your representatives. You should ideally be talking to people in your community about this and organizing resistance on-the-ground; there is a good chance people are already doing that even if you aren't hearing about it.

[wingdingle]

[c-130jsuperhercules]

[wizzardhat]

[oddarette]

Gumballbasaur 🩷✨

[roseworth]

thank uou for showing me your little white boy i do not like him can you put him away please

[myfavoritedemons]

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[lostsometime]

ok sorry to double reblog BUT I just looked him up and he does these fantastic videos where he breaks down HOW he actually mimics the other artists’ styles. Like for ed Sheeran, he explains how he brings his voice forward in the mouth, while Adam Levine sings in the back of the mouth, stuff like that. It’s SO COOL, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually break down how to do this sort of thing, as a skill, instead of just treating it like a neat trick they just happen to be good at. https://www.tiktok.com/@justinjmooremusic

Check him out he’s so cool

[holy-leapin-splits-batman]

[my-gender-is]

My gender is Homosexula

[theprideful-deactivated20251201]

[windsing5]

And they’re all Vlad

[h0use-fly]

Fish merchant

[baursakpenkulpinai]

[brick-match]

What an interesting mix of bricks!!!

The double-stacked bricks with the line across them (one pair is half a brick over to the right of the bottom of the lower window pane) are called Shadow-Tex, at least in the part of USamerica where I learned about bricks. Aa far as I know, Belden Brick is the only company in this area that makes that texture and shape. Below is one of Belden's shadow-tex brick in a color that would work here. Maybe I'll do a separate post to explain how shadow-tex bricks are made, because it's neat. They are usually at least 11 inches long, so you'd have to cut them to make them match the length of the others (7 5/8" if the building was built in the last 35ish years, maybe 8" if it was built before that).

The rest could probably be matched with Acme Brick's Mission Trace, though king size might not work.

If mixing Belden's shadow-tex romans and Acme's Mission Trace kings is too much work, you could conceivably use General Shale's New Foundland bricks by themselves. The bark texture on some of the bricks in this blend (blended from different lines at the plant) could kinda match the shadow-tex brick from afar.

Oh and the piece above the window is called a lintel, pronounced like the legume. Concrete lintels are reinforced with rebar, so they can hold the weight of a brick veneer!

Now if you don't mind, @identifying-cat-phenotypes please complete the picture?

[identifying-cat-phenotypes]

black broken mackerel tabby!

[spicymochi]

your month, your seal!

[farahhaboub]

Can you donate to save my sister from death ?

Yes , I can

No , I can’t

Voting ended onMay 31

Deadline 31 May

Subject: Collecting the cost of my sister’s treatment

Current process:

USD 15,550 / $16,041

Vatted by @90-ghost

Vatted by @sar-soor

Vatted by @fairuzfan

Donate to Gaza Family Left With Nothing Help Them Start Again, organized by Rania A

In the heart of Gaza, a family of four clings to survival in the shadow of… Rania A needs your support for Gaza Family Left With Nothing Hel

$491 is all that stands between my sister and the medicine that could keep her alive. Her condition has become terrifyingly worse, and every moment in the ICU feels like we are waiting to lose her. I cannot describe the pain of watching my sister suffer, weak and exhausted after her surgery, while we are unable to afford the treatment she desperately needs to survive.💔

I begged for help everywhere until my heart and soul became exhausted. I cried, pleaded, reposted, and hoped someone would care enough to save her, but the donations barely come while my sister is slowly fading in front of my eyes. Please, don’t let her die because we are poor and helpless. Imagine if it was your sister fighting between life and death while you stood there unable to save her.😔

We urgently need the remaining $491 before it becomes too late. Even the smallest donation could help save my sister’s life and stop this nightmare from taking her away from us forever.🙏😔💔

@ultradeducing @netdetective @tomiokautism @tearsfromthegods @helloemptyset @catgirlweed @queen-erika-the-songful @minjimunji @dijon-mayonnaise @memedwin @paparoach @pawliday @backgroundcharacterno15 @haterofjobs @wifwlf @wren0001 @werewolf-biter @isuggestforcefemminization @imarriedafrog @handsome-badger @boquitaspintadas @lettucewallpaper @loumandivorce @lepidopteragirl @milkshakebun33 @monstermashpotato @junovyradish @robinparties @rob-os-17 @vuldarian @tamamita @highf @pumpire @ltcaneko @jerryfrom2ssan @shadow-coolness @kordeliiius @bituingalaxy @sheepinthebigcity-blog @inhumanbehaveyourself @erikaogrady @ot3 @antsday @transmascdipper @cosmosrebellion @frostops @yugiohz @the-stray-liger

[farah-family1]

Please donate whatever you can and share the post 🙏

[victusinveritas]

An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell circa 500,000-300,000 years ago.

The maker appears to have deliberately flaked around the shell to preserve and place it in a central position. As a result this handaxe has been described as an early example of artistic thought.

From West Tofts, Norfolk.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Courtesy Alison Fisk

[elfrings]

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology link with other photos of it.

[90-ghost]

Happy birthday

Thank you 🫶🏼

[gayrat-deactivated19690420]

90-ghost has done so much for the people of Palestine. He is trying to get the rest of his family out of there while the war rages on, so to show your support, please donate to his sister's and brother's respective Paypals!

Help support Samar Saed Kamel Saed by donating or sharing with your friends.

Pay omar saad using PayPal.Me

Go to paypal.me/bushrabo and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it's easy and secure. Don’t have a PayPal account? No worries.

@gazavetters Vetted List lists Ahmed and his family at #740.

Happy (belated) 32nd birthday, Ahmed. I hope you know how much you've done to help the Palestinian people. I might not have any money, but I shall always do my best to spread your hard work and the words of others.

[90-ghost]

Thank you so much man i appreciate you and what u do for us 🫶🏼❤️

Peace and love ❤️

[sealsdaily]

Today's Seals Are: Smack The Baby

[scintilans]

happy birthday lucifer! 💙