Much Ado About Nothing

Kat, AuDHD, disabled, queer, liberationist, 37 They/Them

[localshakespeareancomedy]

I hate trying to explain demisexuality so much to people it makes me wanna go back in the closet on that particular aspect of my identity. People can grasp that I’m queer and nonbinary just fine (mostly) but demisexual is so fucking foreign to them.

They hear anything on the ace spectrum and decide that means sex repulsed or not very interested in sex and I don’t want to have to explain my sex drive or how or how it works to fucking strangers or people who don’t know me well. It feels too revealing and it’s exhausting and humiliating so much of the time.

I feel like most people are more interested in immediately hooking up and so I am forced to explain it. Or people decide immediately I’d be a poor fit for a partner because they think I’m sex repulsed and sex is important to them.

I realize the right people won’t make this all so excruciating for me but it makes me so fucking tired.

There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. I make sex jokes or present myself in ANY sort of sexualized manner and people act like it’s open season. If I say I’m demisexual then it’s “oh, you’re frigid/a challenge” or worse. I’ve had much worse things said.

I need a bond. If there’s no bond I don’t want sex. If there’s the right kind of bond then yes, love it. Otherwise no. Idk why that’s so difficult for people to grasp.

If you can understand most people don't want to fuck when the relationship is going poorly why can't people grasp I don't feel desire without an emotional bond????

And don't get me started on the "that's just normal" crowd. I promise you it's not. If it was people wouldn't give me so much grief over it.

[only-cat-memes]

[marithlizard]

This is the best thing I've seen all week and I had to share. (source) Explanation in the alt text:

Famously, the Egyptian tyrant causes Egypt to be overrun with frogs because he refuses to free the Hebrew people, but there are additional details that make this a fun one to ponder. For one, the Hebrew says "the frog came up" - ONE frog - even though the rest of the time it says "frogs." So there are a few explanations rabbis have come up with to explain this. One is that a single frog multiplied to create swarms. A more creative explanation is that there was a singular giant frog who traveled and brought destruction. Jewish social media was sharing videos of the Portland Frog protester with the caption, "One Big Frog! One Big Frog!" Of course the frog protesters did multiply, and many were seen in crowds all over the world on "No Kings" Day. This calligraphic work takes the verses addressing the frog plague and combines them to form a simple rendering of the Portland Frog protester. The frog figure itself is made up of the English translations of the Hebrew around it. At the bottom left my signature is in the shape of a lily pad.

[mckitterick]

[melyzard]

As more and more people are being forced to switch to Windows 11, Microsoft's most AI-malware-ridden OS yet, I've been putting together articles and links for how to undo the damage and save your battery, your RAM, your disk space, your privacy, and your sanity from this bullshit.

FIRST:

The easiest way to get rid of the majority of the bullshit that Windows is forcing on us, as of October 2025, is this one-stop-one-click debloat solution from a modern day hero:

GitHub - Raphire/Win11Debloat: A simple, lightweight PowerShell script to remove pre-installed apps, disable telemetry, as well as perform v

A simple, lightweight PowerShell script to remove pre-installed apps, disable telemetry, as well as perform various other changes to customi

It's very easy, even if you're not tech savvy or get scared of pop up windows saying "ARE YOU SURE?" Yes, you are sure, I promise. This program takes maybe two minutes and will save you SO MUCH pain, time, and money (and exploitation).

Now that you've done that, here's the cleanup, to catch the little shit that the debloat might have missed (most of this will already be done by debloat, but hey, it's good to double check).

Sick of AI in your Windows 11 PC? Here's how to get rid of it

Microsoft wants to put AI everywhere on your PC, but you can take back control.

Even just reading about some of these features makes me angry. Fucking Copilot and "Discover" AI scrapers are in Notepad. NOTEPAD. And then there's this uncanny valley garbage:

No uncanny valley video calls for me, thanks! (Also, what else is it doing while it scans your face and listens to your calls? What else, microsoft? Because there was a lot of memory being assigned to this program for a simple "smooths your skin" add on).

Stop Windows 11's most intrusive ads with these 9 easy tweaks

Tired of Microsoft pushing ads throughout Windows 11? Here are the settings you can tweak to turn them off and reclaim some privacy.

The truly insane number of places they have stuck ads on your own home computer is sickening. Become Unmarketable.

Bonus:

Some background programs you probably don't need that are taking up space and how to remove them (Microsoft forums, 2024)

Your Samsung Galaxy Phone comes with 22 apps you don't need (Android Police, 2025)

How to disable the AI in firefox (still the only browser that lets you do this permanently) (Windows Report, 2025)

[theinternetarchive]

I just want to let you guys know Cornell's entire library is open access (no permissions required) and there are (shocker) many books...

[important-animal-images]

[vibrantgutz]

[cozycryptidcorner]

[localshakespeareancomedy]

The fact this escaped containment 💀💀💀

[vague-humanoid]

[leonardcohenofficial]

“I have long believed that it is only right and appropriate that before one sleeps with someone, one should be able—if called upon to do so—to make them a proper omelet in the morning. Surely that kind of civility and selflessness would be both good manners and good for the world. Perhaps omelet skills should be learned at the same time you learn to fuck. Perhaps there should be an unspoken agreement that in the event of loss of virginity, the more experienced of the partners should, afterward, make the other an omelet—passing along the skill at an important and presumably memorable moment.”

— Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

[sneefsnorf]

stop using chat gpt. i can also feed you misinformation when you ask me questions and also im beautiful

[wholeheartedsuggestions]

you deserve to be treated with respect. you deserve to be treated with understanding. you deserve to be treated with humanity.

[scramratz]

My hottest take (and I genuinely do believe this) is that most trans women pass perfectly well. They just don't pass as supermodels. Every "nonpassing" trans woman I've ever met looks like your average midwestern cis woman.

[elalmadelmar]

Honestly!

I'm part of a trans support group that meets via Zoom, and let me tell you something -- the first time I joined, it was only the consistent use of pronouns in people's introductions that let me know I was in the right place. The women in this group are adults, people who were well past first puberty by the time they realized they needed to make a change -- some have kids, most have careers. One is a retired wrestler! And they pass so well that even I, another trans person, had a dizzying moment of "Wait, these aren't cis women?" when I first met them.

It's valuable to talk about what HRT and surgery can and can't do for you, but please don't let the doomsaying voices take hold. Passing, if that's your goal, is far from unattainable no matter where you're starting from. And the standard of passing that transphobes inflict on trans women is an ever-shifting goalpost that most cis women themselves can't attain.

[wholeheartedsuggestions]

let’s just get through today

[cryptotheism]

Good news for American minorities: shooter was white

[cryptotheism]

He was registered Republican, but apparently also made a 15$ donation to the Biden campaign at one point. Average American swing voter.

[setsu-nana]

[kyrianne]

He almost definitely did not donate to ActBlue. Laurie Beth Brunner (I don’t know her but we share a mutual friend) did the BAREST of confirmation research and determined the donation they’re claiming was this kid was most likely by a 52 year old man who lives 237 miles away who happens to have the same name as him and live in PA. It’s literally journalistic malpractice and meant to bring in an anti-Leftist argument.

Full text of her breakdown:

I've been reading various reporting on this Thomas Crooks of Bethel, PA, and I have to point out something that's not adding up.

Okay, so he's 20, and there are voter registration records showing him to have been a registered Republican. But wait -- news sources like the NY Times and Reuters are also reporting that he made a $15 donation to the Progressive Turnout Project via ActBlue in 2021. But did he really? Consider the following:

- He would have been just 17 at the time. How many 17-year-olds have credit cards? You can pay ActBlue by PayPal or Venmo, too, but you have to be 18 for the former, and a parent would have to have set up a Venmo teen account for the latter. It's certainly possible that his parents did set that up, and that's something that needs investigation.

- The FEC record of that donation says it was from a Thomas Crooks in Pittsburgh, PA. The shooter was from Bethel, PA. Is Bethel close to Pittsburgh? NOPE. It's east of Harrisburg. That's *237 miles away* via Route 76.

- Okay, but maybe he lived there at the time of the donation? Sure doesn't look that way to me. The articles also report that he was a graduate of Bethel High School. Not only that, a quick check online (I used Anywho dot com) shows that there is a 52-year-old Thomas Crooks living in Pittsburgh, as well as two other men with the same first/last names living in nearby suburbs. It seems way more likely that it was that guy who made the donation than some 17-year-old living over 200 miles away.

What's really shameful about this is that it's so easy to do a basic fact check to see whether the shooter and the ActBlue donor were one and the same. I was trivially able to look this up via a free directory website. If I were home, I could have used my laptop to verify this via my LexisNexis account that I use for work. In my job as a prospect researcher, I frequently have to disambiguate multiple people with the same names. With L-N, I could have seen not just their current addresses, but their previous addresses as well. I find it hard to believe that there's no one at NYT or Reuters with access to L-N or something like it. This is *basic level research*, folks. And it seems like these top-level news organizations didn't even do that.

And when this info is being used to suggest that the shooter had progressive sympathies... that's seriously journalistic malpractice.

[localshakespeareancomedy]

"He’s tall, with windblown black hair and dark brows. The line of his jaw is strong and covered by warm tawny skin and dark stubble, and when he folds his arms across his torso, the muscles in his chest and arms ripple, moving in a way that makes me swallow. "

HELP. is ONLY the line of his jaw covered by "warm tawny skin" ???? is he like. a skeleton everywhere else???? i can't with this. wowww

LMAO this is what I’m talking about. 💀

It’s all like this and I barely finished the first book. Barely touched the second and decided I couldn’t do it again. 🥲