i'm AWARE this is a stupid hill to die on, but like. trope vs theme vs cliché vs motif vs archetype MATTERS. it matters to Me and i will die on this hill no matter how much others decide it's pointless. words mean things
trope: 1) the use of figurative language for artistic effect; includes allegories, analogies, hyperbole, & metaphors, among others. 2) commonly reoccurring literary devices, motifs, or clichés. Includes things like the medieval fantasy setting, the Dark Lord, enemies-to-lovers, and the Chosen One.
theme: the reoccurring idea or subject in a work of art. Death, life, rebirth, change, love, what it means to be human, the definition of family, the effects of war, etc.
cliché: an element of an artistic work that has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even becoming annoying or irritating. (Most clichés are tropes but not all tropes are clichés.)
motif: a distinctive repeating feature or idea, such as the green light in The Great Gatsby. May overlap with tropes and is often used to further explore the theme.
archetype: a constantly-recurring symbol or motif; it refers to the recurrence of characters or ideas sharing similar traits throughout various, seemingly unrelated cases in classic storytelling. E.g. rags to riches, the wise old mentor. Again may overlap with tropes, clichés, and motifs, but they're not the exact same thing.
Oh, you've typed a message? You've typed a message? Would you like to add a sticker (server stickers available with Nitro Boosts(TM).) Would you like to add an emoji (more custom emojis available with Nitro(TM).) Would you like to send a gift (gift your friend Nitro(TM) for only $9.99 a month.) Would you like to add an app (more apps available in the Nitro Store(TM).)
They got rid of the send message button. On the send messages to my friends app. In order to make room for a 5th button that sells you something. The parody is too bold people will roll their eyes you have to scale it back.
I would like to gently point out that the send button can be enabled or disabled under accessibility,
Also, if you're someone who'd like to customize your discord further, or remove nitro garbage or bypass it, better discord (an open source project) can be used on desktop for a lot of fun results:
BetterDiscord extends the functionality of DiscordApp by enhancing it with new features.
Plugin options can entirely replicate nitro stuff, and enhance privacy, such as:
Remove annoying buttons like the Gift button from the chat box.
"Fuck those buttons"
Enhanced version of silent typing.
"Hey maybe I don't want you to know when I'm typing"
Allows you to enter larger Messages, which will automatically split into several smaller Messages
"Fuck the character limit"
Adds extra Controls to the Friends Page, for example sort by Name/Status, Search and All/Request/Blocked Amount
"Can I see my friends in a normal manner please"
Improves your whole experience using Discord. Adds highly customizable switching animations between guilds, channels, etc. Introduces smooth
"I would like navigating discord to be like a powerpoint please"
And many other features that range from helpful to profoundly useless but fun.
Enshittification sucks, but the first step to undoing it is taking control of your experiences and helping others do the same. So hopefully this helps a little?
I was meeting a client at a famous museum’s lounge for lunch (fancy, I know) and had an hour to kill afterwards so I joined the first random docent tour I could find. The woman who took us around was a great-grandmother from the Bronx “back when that was nothing to brag about” and she was doing a talk on alternative mediums within art.
What I thought that meant: telling us about unique sculpture materials and paint mixtures.
What that actually meant: an 84yo woman gingerly holding a beautifully beaded and embroidered dress (apparently from Ukraine and at least 200 years old) and, with tears in her eyes, showing how each individual thread was spun by hand and weaved into place on a cottage floor loom, with bright blue silk embroidery thread and hand-blown beads intricately piercing the work of other labor for days upon days, as the labor of a dozen talented people came together to make something so beautiful for a village girl’s wedding day.
What it also meant: in 1948, a young girl lived in a cramped tenement-like third floor apartment in Manhattan, with a father who had just joined them after not having been allowed to escape through Poland with his pregnant wife nine years earlier. She sits in her father’s lap and watches with wide, quiet eyes as her mother’s deft hands fly across fabric with bright blue silk thread (echoing hands from over a century years earlier). Thread that her mother had salvaged from white embroidery scraps at the tailor’s shop where she worked and spent the last few days carefully dying in the kitchen sink and drying on the roof.
The dress is in the traditional Hungarian fashion and is folded across her mother’s lap: her mother doesn’t had a pattern, but she doesn’t need one to make her daughter’s dress for the fifth grade dance. The dress would end up differing significantly from the pure white, petticoated first communion dresses worn by her daughter’s majority-Catholic classmates, but the young girl would love it all the more for its uniqueness and bright blue thread.
And now, that same young girl (and maybe also the villager from 19th century Ukraine) stands in front of us, trying not to clutch the old fabric too hard as her voice shakes with the emotion of all the love and humanity that is poured into the labor of art. The village girl and the girl in the Bronx were very different people: different centuries, different religions, different ages, and different continents. But the love in the stitches and beads on their dresses was the same. And she tells us that when we look at the labor of art, we don’t just see the work to create that piece - we see the labor of our own creations and the creations of others for us, and the value in something so seemingly frivolous.
But, maybe more importantly, she says that we only admire this piece in a museum because it happened to survive the love of the wearer and those who owned it afterwards, but there have been quite literally billions of small, quiet works of art in billions of small, quiet homes all over the world, for millennia. That your grandmother’s quilt is used as a picnic blanket just as Van Gogh’s works hung in his poor friends’ hallways. That your father’s hand-painted model plane sets are displayed in your parents’ livingroom as Grecian vases are displayed in museums. That your older sister’s engineering drawings in a steady, fine-lined hand are akin to Da Vinci’s scribbles of flying machines.
I don’t think there’s any dramatic conclusions to be drawn from these thoughts - they’ve been echoed by thousands of other people across the centuries. However, if you ever feel bad for spending all of your time sewing, knitting, drawing, building lego sets, or whatever else - especially if you feel like you have to somehow monetize or show off your work online to justify your labor - please know that there’s an 84yo museum docent in the Bronx who would cry simply at the thought of you spending so much effort to quietly create something that’s beautiful to you.
everyone i've talked to about this has been completely unaware so: if you didn't know already, there's going to be a solar eclipse, with totality or coverage of 90% or more in some places, over a lot of europe, on august 12th 2026. in the uk it will start just after 6pm, and the maximum will be at 7:13pm.
here is a map of the path of the eclipse (from timeanddate)
get eclipse glasses if you want to look at it. it is not safe to look at through sunglasses. ok informative post over o7
If you’re not in the path of totality (the red part), you won’t get to see the full eclipse, but if you’re in the orange parts you’ll still see part of the sun covered!
This does result in funky shadows, like you said:
It’s easiest to see with shadows cast by things like leaves.
You can also make a pinhole projector:
Instructions on how to DIY a pinhole projector using cardboard and household items, to safely see a solar eclipse.
DO NOT look directly at the sun even if it’s a partial eclipse. Use eclipse glasses or something like the pinhole projector I linked above.
One fun effect I’ve noticed during a partial eclipse is that the temperature will significantly drop for a few hours, which is especially noticeable in the summer. It can drop as much as 30 degrees F (~15 degrees C) depending on how much of the sun is covered in your location, so keep an eye out for that as well.
I've been meaning to make a post talking about my stroke because y'all got bits and pieces of the recovery but I never actually told the story of HOW it went down and the thing is the type of stroke I had is usually the type young people have and since having mine i've now heard multiple stories of people under 40 having very similar strokes and the scary thing is, is that they didn't get help right away. Because you're young and healthy and sure you feel weird but it'll pass right? but it doesn't, and it gets worse, and by the time you get to the hospital (some people literally take days to go) the deficits are worse and recovery is harder.
so here's a super long post about strokes in general, and mine in particular/what I went through.
So for strokes the signs are abbreviated BE FAST. Balance loss, Eyesight changes, Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, -> Time to call 911.
Had I known those MAYBE I would have figured it out but my symptoms were a little mixed. I was reading (fanfic!) in bed because it was a sunday morning and i had nothing pressing to do and suddenly got dizzy. I put my laptop aside because my eyes were blurring (Eyesight changes - symptom #1), and laid down, thinking it would pass, it didn't, it's a little vague how it progressed because I'd been having headaches and neckpain for about 3 weeks leading up to it so I was like 'idk is this a migraine?' (headaches can be a stroke symptom so symptom #2) but i got nauseous and eventually got up and to my utmost surprise I immediately fell over as if I was the drunkest of frat bros. The room literally spun before my eyes as I fell to the floor (Balance loss - symptom #3). I have had some Nights and I had never been that unsteady before. I crawled my way to the bathroom, threw up (nausea - not a common stroke symptom) , took 800mg of ibuprofen, and crawled back to bed.
if you know anything about ibuprofen you might know it's a mild blood thinner and that's a high dose. I may have inadvertently helped myself with that one. I was just feeling like shit and thinking 'idk this might help'
At this point I still thought we were still in Normal Land. Sure, it was a weird morning, but Surely There Was A Reason. (Yes There Was) Anyway, as I'm lying there willing my body to stop suffering I realize my arm is going numb (stroke symptom #4) and I switch positions, because weird, but it doesn't go away, and I gave it a good little while. I'm on a medication that can make my limbs tingle but it usually just does it to my fingers and it dissipates quickly but this wasn't dissipating, and then I realized one of my legs was also going numb. Then one side of my face is going numb.
(at the time I did not look in the mirror but I had a drooping eyelid - symptom #5)
Those all seem bad. I grab my computer and google 'when to go to the hospital for dizzyness' as that felt like the worst of my problems. and indeed the list I found highlighted that if you are also experiencing loss of balance, blurred vision, nausea, and limb numbness, you should see a doctor. That seems like far too many symptoms to be having all to be listed. I grab my phone (thankfully plugged in and by my bed), and start layering on more clothing because it's about 10 degrees out and i'm in a pajama dress. The very nice man at 911 talks with me and sends an ambulance, I tell him I don't think I can get out the front door of my building on my own and he asks if I can get to MY apartment door to which I say yes and he assures me that's fine they will have keys to my building.
(I have been since informed they love to chop down doors but no, I could get that far)
I wait by my door laying down on the ground and they arrive pretty quickly. They see to me in the hallway, which is more of a lobby in my building and the only place with room for me to lie down (I cannot stand unassisted at this point) they ask me a bunch of questions, take vitals, and ask me where I would like to be taken. Me, having never had to go to the fucking hospital in an emergency before, simply go 'wherever is close' because I again, I am having a stroke and do not have the wherewithal to think through these things.
A big firefighter helps me down the stairs (it's only a half flight and I still almost did not make it) and we get underway.
At the hospital they wheel me into triage and I mostly lie there gratefully and answer some questions and respond to some tests (grip strength, following a pen with my eyes, that sort of thing) and then I hear what is great when you've been at urgent care for two hours but what is Very Bad when you just arrived in an ambulance and that's 'She's next'. I jumped the line for a CT scan and an MRI. I was there less than ten minutes before I was actively being scanned. honestly closer to five.
my active symptoms seem to have been worse than some of the stories I've heard, not being able to walk AT ALL in particular, although some other are pretty equal (Footless Jo on youtube had a stroke around the same time I did of the same type and has discussed hers, she delayed going in despite the severity for a variety of reasons and it sounds like her recovery has been difficult) My recovery was pretty easy because i was actively being cared for and on blood thinners right away. I was pretty out of it in the beginning, but I was only in the hospital for 6 days and then in a rehab for another 4 to relearn how to walk and balance, then i was released unto the world and just spent time going to physical therapy and recovering for awhile. I was out of work for about 8 weeks total. I basically had the best outcome for a stroke. I recovered almost fully back to 100% (I'm about 2% less sure footed than I used to be, but it's rarely noticeable), my face still feels a little weird but has markedly improved so I live in hope it will eventually get back to normal. It massively sucked. But strokes can fuck you up for life and I came out a weird medical story to tell and have to take some extra medication now/precautions to take (i cannot do certain types of yoga, no weightlifting, no push ups, no going on rollercoasters.... things that could strain my neck essentially) but overall I escaped very lucky.
For anyone who has ever had covid before, please be sure you are aware of stroke symptoms. Each successive infection raises the risk in a pretty major way, and a lot of people are dying young due to not knowing these signs or being afraid to act on them. Please take care of yourselves.
if you want to lose weight, it's always assumed it's because you want to be skinny
if you want to exercise more, it's always assumed it's because you want to be skinny
if you want to eat better, it's always assumed it's because you want to be skinny
and so all information, advice, encouragement, and resources for these things is relegated to only being about this one singular goal. they don't tell you that building muscle while fat will help ease joint pains because your body can better support you, or that eating nutritiously will help your body have more energy and work more efficiently, or that working to maintain a steady weight, both up and down, will reduce stress on your organs. nope, it's all skinny skinny skinny skinny you wanna be skinny dont you wanna be skinny ooooo skinny
people dont realize that keeping strong and healthy muscles is genuinely important for long term health because of the fatphobic workout industry.
like a lot of the time the reason chronically ill people gradually experience worsening symptoms and pain is because theyre unable to move their bodies without limitation or agony. the loss of muscular tissue as a result of illness should be cause for serious concern but nobody gives a fuck because theyd rather focus on being skinny. like, physical therapy can literally save people's lives.
we should be using research on muscular development to create appropriate exercise routines for people with limited movement or energy, that matches their limitations while helping mitigate or at least slow muscle loss. or making physical therapy cheaper and more accessible. or advocating for bed and housebound people to make exercise more accessible. literally fucking ANYTHING.
catherine is the stereotypical awkward new girl who transfers to her older brother's school in the middle of the year because of the allens family scholarship or smth. her brother is a senior who is also on the football team. he's dating isabella, but she's only with him to ensure herself a spot on the cheerleading squad. catherine is isabella's stereotypical less-pretty-best-friend (who's beautiful after isabella makes her take off her glasses in a makeover montage). john thorpe is also on the football team and he starts noticing catherine after said makeover montage. henry and eleanor are the principal's children and he's either a band kid or on the debate team (combination of gifted and super unhinged). captain tilney is their older brother in college who really should not be allowed near high schoolers and ends up homewrecking isabella and james's relationship during spring break.
@hold-fast-to-hope okay this is the funniest thing ever. catherine being a normal very sensible high schooler who’s really into twilight slowly but surely convincing herself that her principal (also her crush’s dad) is a vampire. he sponsors a blood drive at her school and she’s like GASP!!! i would kill to see this movie
All those "spend just 35 minutes doing a bunch of really hard exercises and you'll feel great forever!" videos are really discouraging. I usually end up doing like, 2 minutes of some of his while waiting for my shower to heat up, and ykw?
That's 2 minutes more than I would have done otherwise.
oh hey I have a thing like that last one that I like to do sometimes, but I do it lying down in bed. it's a very satisfying pop/shift in my hips/lower back, but doesn't always work. maybe I will try his version and see if it is more effective for me
