Frothing and Rambling

Likely to contain evidence of my latest enthusiasms. She/her. Bi. I was a teenager 25 years ago.

[vamptits]

they want you to make fried rice

[memser]

who is "they"

[vamptits]

the wok left

[solongandthanksforallthefish42]

how am I supposed to make fried rice if the wok left

[6qubed]

skillet issue

[josephbrassey]

“Haha remember when murder-hornets were gonna be a thing? What a nothingburger.”

Yes, because the Washington state government activated like a sleeper-cell and ruthlessly, systematically hunted them down and annihilated them.

“Y2K came to nothing amirite?”

Yes because an army of software engineers working around the clock, losing sleep, and busting ass till the last minute prevented it from happening.

“Remember the hole in the ozone layer?”

You mean the one that was fixed through rigorous world wide government action?

One of the root problems of our society is a refusal or inability by media to articulate that all those “it’s gonna be an apocalypse” disasters were not disasters because we collectively did something about them.

The good news is this is actually quite correctable. I maintain my firm belief that we as humans are capable of solving almost all of our problems, when we decide to do so.

And I still think that’s going to happen. I don’t know when or how, but I do know that abandoning hope won’t help bring it about.

And I refuse to let the cynics own a chunk of my heart.

[gudamor]

Happy Smallpox Eradication Day

[pronouncingitwang]

at some point in your life you will be boiling fruit, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot to make a syrup or jam. the instructions will tell you to simmer for a certain amt of time. your timer will go off and you will look at the pot and go, "hm, this doesn't look thick enough. maybe i'll let it go for another 10 minutes." this is the devil speaking. it's only so liquid right now because it is at boiling point. it will thicken when it cools down. learn from the follies of my youth and do not let this happen to you

[yokowan]

at some point in your life you will be making a sauce or a stew in which you need to add cornstarch to thicken it. and you will prepare a slurry of starch in cold water and think "this looks like way too little starch to thicken this amount of liquid." this is the devil speaking. cornstarch instantly polymerizes at 95°C and if you add too much it will turn into an impossibly thick goop.

[le-jardin-inculte]

at some point in your life you will be making some sort of cream based dessert that requires gelatin to thicken it. and you will soak some gelatin sheets in water and think "this is too few gelatin sheets for this amount of cream." this is the devil speaking. it will thicken in the fridge and if you add too much you will end up with milk jelly

[shithowdy]

at some point in your life you will be baking cookies. you will take the sheet out after twelve minutes as the recipe instructs and the cookies will still be glistening and soft. "these don't seem cooked enough," you will think to yourself, "i should place them back into the oven until their edges are nice and golden." this is the devil talking. this is how you get dry, overdone cookies. the cookies will continue to bake on the warm sheet for several more minutes and then harden up after sitting on a rack for a while. trust the process. trust the process.

[soberqueerinthewild]

Shel Silverstein predicting ChatGPT in 1981

[ace-sailor-uranus]

tbh i think this poem is better served with the *whole* picture, don't you?

[lynati]

...Oh yeah.

[soberqueerinthewild]

Shel Silverstein predicting ChatGPT in 1981

[ace-sailor-uranus]

tbh i think this poem is better served with the *whole* picture, don't you?

[lynati]

...Oh yeah.

[hbmmaster]

AITA for asking my husband to stop posting our interpersonal conflicts on Reddit?

My (29F) husband (36M) and I have been together for almost ten years now and like any couple we occasionally get into arguments. Over the years I've noticed a pattern where the day after an argument he'd either give me an eloquently-phrased apology or, more often, a perfectly logically sound counterargument that completely proves that I was in the wrong. My hubby is an intellectual hunk so I've never thought this was suspicious, but the other day he brought up a counterargument that was so logically airtight that my only response was to laugh and say "Did you get that from Reddit or something?", because even though I don't use Reddit I know the reputation it has for being a center for wit and intellectual debate.

Well, turns out I was right. Every time we've ever gotten into a fight, he's always posted about what happened on r/AmItheAsshole and used the comments he gets to decide what to say the following day. When he told me this, I demanded to see some of these posts and he obliged.

To my surprise, not only has he been posting our arguments on this subreddit, he's been posting them from my perspective, writing them as though I'm the one posting these stories on Reddit from over a hundred different throwaway accounts. He'd always "anonymize" the posts too, apparently changing our relationship, genders, and ages with a random number generator, which is honestly really clever because it preserves our privacy without changing any important details for the purpose of deciding who was right in the argument.

Anyway, I really didn't like that he was basically impersonating me on the internet, but of course I didn't want to admit this to him so I made something up about him "misrepresenting" my side of the argument, even though I know he's a perfectly rational man and that it's impossible for him to be biased when describing things from my perspective. So I told him that he needs to stop putting our interpersonal conflicts on Reddit and "think for himself" (and of course I know that he really is thinking for himself but sometimes my womanly emotions cause me to say things I don't really mean. Fortunately he's always able to see through that and understand exactly what I meant to say every time.) but he refused, saying he doesn't think he did anything wrong. And then like always he got really quiet for the rest of the night and we haven't really talked since.

So, Reddit, am I the asshole?

[hbmmaster]

my two favorite types of replies to this (besides how many people are just genuinely enjoying my writing. thanks everyone!) are people who said the ending makes it too obvious and it would be better if it stuck to the more subtle clues throughout and the people who are (incorrectly.) saying it's ambiguous which of the two characters really made the reddit post. which taken together mean I think it's exactly as subtle as it needed to be and any subtler would have meant even fewer people would have gotten it

[zooophagous]

[unconventiononthelawofthesea]

saw someone post "I don't understand why anyone would have separate 'winter tires' unless they're just looking for things to spend money on" and looked at her account and she's from LA. which is funny but I think we're all guilty of similar behavior sometimes. if you see people spending time and effort on something that seems stupid to you it's worth considering whether you're the Californian in this scenario

[magicmooshka]

recently my friend's comics professor told her that it's acceptable to use gen AI for script-writing but not for art, since a machine can't generate meaningful artistic work. meanwhile, my sister's screenwriting professor said that they can use gen AI for concept art and visualization, but that it won't be able to generate a script that's any good. and at my job, it seems like each department says that AI can be useful in every field except the one that they know best.

It's only ever the jobs we're unfamiliar with that we assume can be replaced with automation. The more attuned we are with certain processes, crafts, and occupations, the more we realize that gen AI will never be able to provide a suitable replacement. The case for its existence lies on our ignorance of the work and skill required to do everything we don't.

[animatedamerican]

Hey OP? Thank you for articulating something I've been trying to get clear in my own mind for a while now.

[bodhrancomedy]

Look, it’s a weird hill to die on, especially when I don’t really explain, but children deserve to experience fear, disgust, and discomfort in safe scenarios where they can process those sensations.

Media for children used to be scary and that’s important.

[the-davest-of-uncles]

“Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” ― C.S. Lewis

[grace-in-the-wilderness]

"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."

-- G. K. Chesterton

[janeymac-ie]

My three year old watching Spidey and his Amazing Friends, runs up to me.

“Mammy, the ghost of Claypso is too scary!”

“If I come watch it with you, will that make you able to be brave?”

“YES!!”

So I sit with him on my lap while the episode runs and the ghost is revealed to be Doc Ock or someone.

“Was that too scary, or fun scary?”

“Fun scary!”

[daftmooncretin]

spock’s room decor is actually fucking bonkers. The weapons??? the big red velvet curtain??? like ok phantom of the opera go crazy.

for reference jim’s room has some photos and a plant so we can surmise this is uniquely a spock being a dramatic weirdo thing

[pepperpup86]

You are judging Spock’s room through human associations tastes. Remember, Vulcan blood is green and the planet Vulcan is red (Discovery even adds to this by showing red trees around Sarek’s property).

On Vulcan, red is the color of nature, so (assuming Vulcans even assign meaning to colors), red is likely a very calm and soothing color choice. Green is probably the Vulcan color of passion and/or danger.

From a Vulcan perspective, Spock’s room is a cozy cottage core with some historical knickknacks hung around.

Kirk’s green carpet, green plants, green lighting room is the Vulcan equivalent of a boudoir at best or blood-stained slaughterhouse at worst.

[june-egbert-official]

so what you're saying is Vulcan children's hospitals-

[screamyvegetables]

[elisamaza]

"being autistic is not an excuse for doing/saying something bigoted without holding yourself accountable" and "there are times when autistic people cannot deduce when something they did/said was wrong because something that may not be innocuous to you can be innocuous to them and them asking for an explanation is not the same as dodging accountability" are two things that can and should co-exist.

[penandinkprincess]

listen it's especially important to me because i WAS a kid on the free lunch program growing up, but it's actually UNBELIEVABLE to me that there is ANYONE who isn't in favor of "kids get to eat at school no matter their household income"

i know i'm speaking to a panel of like-minded individuals here on the blue hellsite when it comes to this, but i just?? i truly don't fucking Get It???

it's just wild to me that there are actually people who AREN'T on the side of, "yeah, i want all children to have access to food at school if they need it"

like? being on the opposite side?? is straight supervillain shit??

GOD FORBID i spend $14.70 a month in taxes to make sure a child has at least one reliable meal a day (preferably two--shout out school breakfast program, those french toast sticks always fucked severely) even if that isn't the case at home

"but what if their parents can pay for it and just aren't?" then they're bad parents and that child still deserves to eat??? hello??

[depsidase]

[currentlycryingaboutlancelot]

sir gawain would do numbers on tumblr

[currentlycryingaboutlancelot]

ok now he actually is doing numbers

[sentimentalslut]

man the public defender discourse pisses me off so bad. yeah. yeah I do think that every single person deserves representation. yeah that includes people who *have* committed rape and murder and abuse. when I say every single person I mean every single person. if your idea of justice excludes one person it excludes everyone. next question

[sentimentalslut]

“so you’re saying you’d represent someone who has admitted to sexual assault?” i’m saying I have.

“so you’re saying you’d represent someone who has admitted to domestic violence?” i’m saying i have.

"so you’re saying you’d represent someone who has admitted to child abuse?" i'm saying i have.

and i am saying i have given each and every one of those clients the same level of professionalism, effort, and zealous advocacy i have given my clients who are victims of the same. that is how due process works, and every person is guaranteed it.

i have nothing but respect and admiration for my colleagues in the public interest sector who represent those who have committed and/or been accused any and all crimes, no matter how "morally reprehensible" others may find them.

public defenders are among the best, brightest, and most selfless attorneys out there. they are on the front lines of combating the carceral state and protecting the rights of every day people. get it straight in your heads. thanks.

[brainscrems]

Being a public defender is one of the most essential and under-recognized jobs someone can do to help maintain our democracy. Fuck absolutely anyone and everyone who goes after them. If you’re against public defenders you are fighting for fascism. There’s nothing more to say on the matter.

[porcupine-girl]

Pretty much anytime people are trying to smear an ex-lawyer politician by saying "they represented murderers/pedophiles/whatever," what they really mean is "they were a public defender and made sure the system treated everyone fairly, which is the only way a judicial system can ever actually dispense justice." Sounds like someone we need more of in government.

[impulsivelycontentious]

Depriving the guilty of the best representation they can have is depriving the innocent of that, too, because THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF THE TRIAL and we're not assuming people are guilty. Even people who confessed, no, because sometimes people give false confessions.

Ir doesn't matter, the justice system is adversarial and we shouldn't presume guilt.

[nudityandnerdery]

As H.L. Mencken said, and I know I keep quoting it but it keeps being relevant: "The trouble about fighting for human freedom is that you have to spend much of your life defending sons of bitches; for oppressive laws are always aimed at them originally, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."

If you say "People who commit this crime don't deserve representation," then you're saying "I've already convicted this person in my mind without a trial," and that's the sort of thing that makes you very easy to manipulate through outrage.