@irishgrandpa - Tumblr Blog

men have those slutty veins in their hands and expect you not to lose a lil focus

I’ve seen the Ursula K LeGuin quote about capitalism going around, but to really appreciate it you have to know the context.

The year is 2014. She has been given a lifetime achievement award from the National Book Awards. Neil Gaiman puts it on her neck in front of a crowd of booksellers who bankrolled the event, and it’s time to make a standard “thank you for this award, insert story here, something about diversity, blah blah blah” speech. She starts off doing just that, thanking her friends and fellow authors. All is well.

Then this old lady from Oregon looks her audience of executives dead in the eye, and says “Developing written material to suit sales strategies in order to maximize corporate profit and advertising revenue is not the same thing as responsible book publishing or authorship.”

She rails against the reduction of her art to a commodity produced only for profit. She denounces publishers who overcharge libraries for their products and censor writers in favor of something “more profitable”. She specifically denounces Amazon and its business practices, knowing full well that her audience is filled with Amazon employees. And to cap it off, she warns them: “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.”

Ursula K LeGuin got up in front of an audience of some of the most powerful people in publishing, was expected to give a trite and politically safe argument about literature, and instead told them directly “Your empire will fall. And I will help it along.”

woolandcoffee

We stan an icon.

antoniabishop

We’re 10 years out and she was even more right about this than ever. If you care about the state of fiction and the power of our imaginations, take a minute to read the whole speech.

joylessmarxist

Real asf This is literally the realest shit anyones ever said

jager-bruder

queen-scribbles

zooophagous

An emergency arbitrator ruled that former Meta staffer Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting memoir of her tenure at the social m

Hey did you know there's a tell all book about the behind the scenes of Meta and the author is forbidden from promoting it?

The good news is however that it's already published and can't be stifled and whoever didn't sign the NDA can promote it as much as they want.

angeltiddies

AFJHDJSKDNDNFK

feralratbitesu

this grave keeper edible aint shit

feralratbitesu

who gors there ,

goldenphoenixrises

xxeldritchgirlxx

Best fucking moment in all of anime history.

mff-doom

jenlog

this is from the 2000’s btw

anarchopuppy

Looks like @staff mistakenly censored this comic, which is an ironic and very funny thing to happen

Here it is again. You might want to save it just in case an accident like that happens again

EDIT: HMM. LOOKS LIKE OP WAS BANNED TOO. WHAT A FUNNY. IRONIC. ACCIDENT

eco-socialism

angiethewitch

hey a local town actually did this!

they planted berries, root vegetables, leafy greens, herbs, all sorts. they label each plant and the sign said "free to take, leave some for others to enjoy!"

and people did. they took a bit, but left some for others.

it also fed the homeless people living around there.

bearing in mind this is a tourist town, so i half expected to see the plants gone. but nope, there's always some left.

people aren't naturally selfish, and they will share. the initiative works

explorerrowan

And honestly? Most people who don't need it won't bother to stop and pick fruit. It's only people who actually need it who will devote the time. People with money still have grocery stores.

dramaticowl

[Image description: tweet by Black Botanist @CreativeTiana: transcript follows]

I was talking to someone about planting food and fruit trees in public spaces and they were like “Why so everyone can steal the food?”

And I was like “See, that’s the problem right there. Why should taking food off a public tree be stealing?”

headspace-hotel

"Urban food forest" is something I'm hearing more and more. Do some poking around, there may be an opportunity to help with or start something like this near you.

shadowen

Here's a fun story of malicious compliance to brighten your day:

Until recently, a few people in my office had these desk shades to combat the obnoxious fluorescent lights, which is very helpful for people (like me) with migraines or other light-sensitivity issues.

A few days ago, everyone who has them was told to take them down. Different people were given different reasons - It violates fire code (it doesn't) / It blocks line of sight (sort of?). Since this goes against the existing status quo, the union reps (my beloved) jumped on it. Someone jokingly suggested using umbrella hats instead, since hats are allowed in the dress code. Today, the union reps are passing out these ridiculous things in protest: