Iron Borealis

Olympic-level Nerd

[bisexualbaker]

Happy Moon Landing Eve! Remember to leave out milk and cookies for Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and don’t let Michael Collins convince you to prank NASA!

[bisexualbaker]

If Tumblr is still here next July 19th, I fully expect this post to obliterate my activity feed.

[r2x2]

The Amnesty International report that JK Rowling is trying to censor through legal threats.

It can also be found on Google Drive here and on Bluesky here.

[cbarc]

Please save and share this info where possible. This report has since been removed by Amnesty International due to legal threats of libel from JK Rowling. This information is no longer easily accessible.

[jarenka]

So, in discord meet cute AU Obi-Wan owns some boring old (not like cool vintage old, just old) car he use only when he goes fishing.

But what car Anakin owns? Is it some absolutely horrendous shit that holds with duck tape and prayers l? Or is it super fast expensive car? Something like Aston Martin or Ferrari.

[ironborealis]

It looks like this but it goes to 120 mph in 6 secs after engine mods. There's an empty energy drink can rattling around under the seat that is somehow controlling whether or not the fuel pump works. It also may ward off other fishers from finding The Spot. The cab has a reinforced racing roll cage for safety, because Anakin isn't a fool.

[jarenka]

So, in discord meet cute AU Obi-Wan owns some boring old (not like cool vintage old, just old) car he use only when he goes fishing.

But what car Anakin owns? Is it some absolutely horrendous shit that holds with duck tape and prayers l? Or is it super fast expensive car? Something like Aston Martin or Ferrari.

[etherealspacejelly]

i think we should all start using arabic words and phrases more often because its a beautiful language and also theres not really. english equivalents that have the same vibes

theres also the comedy potential of it. you guys dont know the joy of having your muslim friend text you "hopefully the racists in our city will all get sick and cant go to the protest" and you, as a pasty white guy, responding with "inshallah they get covid"

its a one hit KO every time. its fucking hilarious. theres no english word that has the same effect.

he also once texted me that he got over a mysterious illness he came down with (i think? i cant remember the exact context) and i responded with "subhanallah he is cured"

again, one hit KO. he lost his shit.

what im saying is we gotta normalise arabic. its just a language like any other, and it has some great words. its just like saying "thank god" or whatever, but theres so much variety and nuance. its beautiful

[silly-demon]

what do inshallah and subhanallah mean so I could potentially use em in the correct situations? And potential words I could use?

[etherealspacejelly]

OK LETS DO THIS

disclaimer i am not arab or muslim and i dont speak arabic but @frogofalltime has explained these words to me and says im using them correctly lmao

inshallah - "if god wills it". like an "i hope this happens" kind of thing. remember the finding nemo poster "inshallah they find him" meme if that helps. used in future tense.

mashallah - "god has willed it", used when something good happened. can be used to denote awe about an event or person. used in past tense.

alhamdulillah - essentially "thank god" or "praise be to god". like mashallah and inshallah but stronger, and can be used in any tense (i think). he will be baked soon alhamdullilah

subhanallah - "glory be to god". like alhamdullilah but stronger. used for when something almost miraculous happens!

those are all the ones i remember off the top of my head im sure binya can add more (and also confirm whether ive got my translations right)

[frogofalltime]

mashaallah robin my faithful student you translated and explained all of this so well :0

there's also astaghfirullah which means "i seek forgiveness in god" which you use when you or someone else does something haram (forbidden / sinful / wrong). tbh we use it in a lot of jokey contexts like if someone swears in a conversation you can call them out like "astaghfirullah haram !"

and bismillah which means "in the name of god" which you can use before doing something, we often use it before doing a difficult thing like when you are struggling to open a bottle or something lmao. or you can say it when someone falls or drops something or gets injured. idk

[headspace-hotel]

appalachians need this they will be unstoppable

[maniculum]

There’s definitely something to doing a mix-and-match with semantically-similar rural-American colloquialisms. I think “Inshallah and the creek don’t rise” has a nice ring to it.

[headspace-hotel]

Lord that rolls off the tongue so good 😭

[eagle-writes]

[Img text: Inshallah and the creek don't rise]

Ink: Diamine Noble Fir

[kozh-lucium]

Blast it! Qui-Gon thought. “I meant, take care of the guards at the door!” “You could’ve said so!” Obi-Wan shouted. Which was true. Always with the specific instructions! Must he be so literal?

Master and Apprentice, 2019

[spaceistheplaceart]

and i would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling... monsters???

[mens-rights-activia]

[mens-rights-activia]

He WHAT??? Oh 15 stabs were not enough

[tearlessrain]

seriously though old republic sith are the absolute epitome of “look if you have to keep saying it…”

like yes, lord killdeathizar, I’m sure you’re a dark beacon of terror and the unworthy masses tremble before you and you could kill us all with a flick of your evil wrist and the republic will be crushed by you personally, anything you’ve felt the need to say five times in the last three hours must be true

[sith-shenanigans]

a thing I love about swtor is: there are a whole bunch of space wizards around who are only average at being space wizards, and some of these space wizards are sith, and the results are hilarious

[mercurypilgrim]

This would have been lost in the tags and that is a CRIME

[tuxankhamun]

sorry kids daddy lost all his money betting on rhinoceros beetle fights again there won't be a christmas this year

[bester-jester]

good news babies, momma just cleared some chump of everything. Two christmases this year. God i love beetles fighting

[trasenaar]

Bare beskar

On the eve of marching to war, Obi-Wan makes plans and digs out his old armour. Musings on Mandalorian armour and culture, the ethics of commanding slave soldiers and how that affects one’s self-image.

Could be the same AU as “Not Obi-Wan’s first slave uprising” and “What makes a military genius” (where Obi-Wan is presented with a battalion of slave soldiers, says please and thank you, and starts plotting how to take down the slavers).

Obi-Wan has Mandalorian armour, courtesy of the Kyr’tsad who failed to kill him when he was seventeen and running for his life on Mandalore. The Jedi frown on such soldierly things, so the armour has mostly gathered dust in his closet for the past decade and some. But Obi-Wan has fought in a war before and recognises that no matter how good one is, sometimes armour is all that stands between bleeding out in a ditch and living to fight another day.

So on the eve of marching to war, Obi-Wan digs out his armour to clean and repair and condition every piece. He looks at its light green for peace and green for duty, the order’s wings on one pauldron/over his heart. He strips it all off. He has no right to wear any of it now, and the bare beskar is a statement of its own.

Plus

- Feels about how bare unpainted beskar could be silver for seeking redemption, disavowing all ties (in that there’s no one and nothing to paint his armour for), for being an outcast (which in his heart, he has already decided to become), or all of them. Leading a slave army to war is really really not in the Jedi mission statement. Obi-Wan, having experienced his own stints as a slave, having brought up a padawan who was born a slave, and having already left the order once for an army of child soldiers—well, he has some feels about it.

- Obi-Wan’s closet doesn’t just have armour, it also has a veritable armoury of, ah, useful souvenirs from his various missions. Maybe it makes him a bad Jedi, but Obi-Wan has some difficulty with letting go of possessions that have saved his life. Such as the sniper rifle from Melidaan, a blaster from here, and a vibroblade from there…

- Cody’s/The 212th’s reactions to their Jedi whose luggage apparently includes a full set of arms and armour and little else.

- There’s a story that armour tells for anyone who can read it and I wonder if the clones could. There are only a few things that a completely unpainted beskar’gam could mean. Either it’s completely new and the owner hasn’t had time yet to paint it. But Kenobi’s beskar’gam isn’t new: the metal has scrapes all over it and some fittings are clearly newer than others. It could be second hand, but as the weeks pass, the metal stays bare. And even though some shinies joke about their shiny, very visible general, Kenobi won’t even put on a matte base coat, just thanks the men politely and keeps on shining. It has to be intentional.

- When Obi-Wan eventually repaints his armour, it’s in gold for the 212th and black for justice for the vode.

In the days between accepting his marching orders and shipping out to meet his battalion, Obi-Wan researches, plans, and packs. He sleeps fitfully and dreams of Melida-Daan, of Bandomeer, of Mandalore. He tears through the archives and with echoes of the Young in his ears, downloads anything that might help keep his men alive. With a growing cold like deep sea mines, he reads the clones spec sheets, reviews galactic law, and speed reads his way through the last few years of the senate’s bills.

He pulls out of his closet possessions unbecoming of Jedi—things he has kept because he has been unable to let go of the fear of . There’s his old XX sniper rifle from Melida-Daan. A blaster from here. A vibroblade from there.

And there’s the armour he got from Mandalore. It’s painted in green for duty and erin for peace, the order’s sigil on the pauldron. He can hardly stand to look at it. Standing here, at the eve of marching to war that is to be fought with slave soldiers, he has no right to wear any of it. Not the green of duty, for he has forsaken his duty to protect all sentient life in accepting command of an army of slaves. Not the erin of peace, for he is marching off to fight a war to force worlds to stay in a republic they don’t wish to be a part of. Not the sigil of the Jedi order, for he has already forsaken his vows in these actions—and has already decided to forsake his duty to the republic.

Obi-Wan strips the beskar bare. Before refitting the armour, going through the straps, buckles, replacing worn parts and reconditioning the rest. He spends sleepless nights in the salles relearning to fight in armour.

“Paint? I painted it when I was seventeen. I, ah, stripped it when I accepted the draft.” Kenobi grimaces, but sets his jaw and continues. “I couldn’t keep the paint I had after that.” There’s an odd, bitter clang to his words.

[theonion]

AI: Myth Vs. Fact

A recent poll found that Americans who are concerned about artificial intelligence outnumber those who are excited about it by a margin of three to one. The Onion examines the common myths and facts surrounding AI. 

[shakertwelve]

star wars is about coruscant

[shakertwelve]

every part of star wars, from the poverty of the outer rim to the separatist movement to the formation of the empire in reaction to the breakdown of republic control over the galaxy, is a consequence of the existence of a planetary megarome so specialized it cannot function without thousands of client states. once the empire falls the new republic can either (a) speedrun the late-republic-to-empire transition again just to hold itself together or (b) splinter into its constituent parts along the same fracture lines that caused the clone wars, in which case the fallout of coruscant losing the position of power that guarantees the massive imports necessary to sustain a population of trillions on a planet with no natural biosphere should be apocalyptic. either your post-rotj story is about that or it is about the inevitable new fascist movement arising from the galactic core acting in the interests of its own survival before that power slips away. the sequels are nonsensical because they do not understand this. what the fuck is hosnian prime

[earhartsease]

coruscant stands on the shoulders of billions of enslaved chromium miners

[shakertwelve]

coruscanti tumblr user: our education system is so bad i didn't know mining slaves were sentient until i was 20 years old 😔🥺

[mens-rights-activia]

[vexwerewolf]

Organised crime? Nah girl I'm into disorganised crime. If a goon doesn't have ADHD they aren't getting hired

[vexwerewolf]

Cops can't stop us if they don't know what we're doing, and they can't find out if we have no idea either

[vexwerewolf]

Nah I'm safe it wouldn't happen twice

[vexwerewolf]

Minions stop this post from reaching 1k

[lesser-robot-cat]

On it, boss! Gettin' this post to 10k, just like you said!

[corvidcall]

to anyone in the areas impacted by the wildfire smoke, my #1 biggest piece of advice as someone whos been dealing with wildfire smoke in the NW united states for years, is build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal Cube

they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!

i think it took us maybe a half hour to put ours together, if that, and we replace the filters every 3 months. it's really made a HUGE difference, both when the air quality is bad, but also with our allergies

[o0fyuu0o]

Saw these easy to read instructions on Twitter. Stay safe 💚

[sarahthecoat]

where i am, a box fan and the filters run about $20 each, so if $100 is too much of a stretch at the moment, get the fan and one filter. tape the filter to the intake side of the fan, all the way around. this is also good if your space is small and a 20" cube won't fit.

[ironborealis]

Better not be the only one chanting "Wine Dark Sea. Wine Dark Sea." In this theatre...