Maybe A Sunflower. Or not.

The profile picture is from a photograph taken by me many years ago. The contents of the photo are 100% real. Is it a photo of me? Maybe. (He/him | Other labels pending | Odium delendum est)

[davy-jones-lock3r]

happy pride month my friends <3

[nanmarie]

those were the days... Picture the scene: Monty Python's Flying Circus ran from 1969 to 1974. Nothing, I mean nothing, had been seen like this before on TV. To really appreciate their courage and brilliance you need to know something about these days when gay marriage was not even on the horizon and most people would lose their employment if they were outed at work. The first Pride Parade was in 1970 and it was only in 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association in their generosity declared that homosexuality was not a mental disorder. Being LGBTQ+ was gradually decriminalized in various parts of the UK and a bit later in the US starting slowly in the late '60's.

Meanwhile, Monty Python was winning over hearts and minds through the funny bone. Groundbreaking.

[markcat]

I think Graham Chapman, the 4th man to join the scene, being gay and being a member of Monty Python is worth noting. He had a partner, David Sherlock, and was publicly open with his homosexuality as early as 1972. I just think it makes a difference in how Monty Python treated queerness in sketches when one of their members, their good friends and collaborators, is himself gay.

[maybeasunflower]

Another comedy sketch show that helped things was the radio show Round The Horne (1965-1968), which featured a pair of very camp/ gay-coded characters named Julian and Sandy. Hell, they even spoke palari. You got exchanges like these:

Sandy: Jule had a nasty experience in Málaga... he got badly stung. Horne: Portuguese man o' war? Julian: I never saw him in uniform

Or this (Julian and Sandy are lawyers):

HORNE: Will you take my case?

JULIAN: Well, it depends on what it is. We've got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time.

They were never the target of the comedy - it generally made fun of Kenneth Horne's character as the straight man (both senses) for not understanding. The script writers also used huge amounts of double entendres, knowing the censors generally wouldn't want to admit to knowing what "a nice time at the cottage" or similar meant.

Sex between men was illegal during the first three series. It got decriminalized in 1967, and the show is generally credited as being part of the reason.

So never underestimate the power of comedy on affecting social change.

[ao3org]

Trust & Safety Phishing Comments

Date Posted: July 23, 2026

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[nextlevelsmp3]

[exhaustedcatgirl]

Frankly, I think companies presenting basic health and consumer safety information as "boring," "uncool," and "not worth your care" should carry a hefty fine based on the revenue that company generates

[boobachu]

The lameo gay crap we're legally forced to tell you: You may die of diseentary

[byjove]

*guy who has never heard of Hamilton* I don’t know why you guys are all shipping random founding fathers with each other and not Lewis and Clark who were definitely fucking in a tent every chance they got on that trip Brokeback Mountain style

[byjove]

*guy who just found out about Hamilton* haha no I totally knew you were talking about the musical, I was just joking. no, I don’t think about Lewis and Clark’s relationship as doomed yaoi. that’d be weird.

[maybeasunflower]

Thought you meant Lewis Hamilton there.

[foxes-in-love]

[galaxycepheus]

If your system doesn't account for the fact that Parents Are Going To Be Abusive/Neglectful/Insufficient then it objectively sucks I'm sorry I don't make the rules

[galaxycepheus]

Monitored bank accounts for those under 18. Requiring parental consent for medical procedures. Parental controls on personal devices. "We won't teach this at school because parents are supposed to address it at home." Anything that puts all of the child's power onto the parents' hand, anything that assumes parents are going to inherently do enough of a good job no one else needs to interfer, every single one of these IS going to be used by controlling, neglectful or unprepared parents and already are, and if the system did not account for that very real, tangible, dangerous tendency, then it's not worth fucking anything. You shouldn't make things "for the youth"/with children in mind if you are going to overlook this painfully common aspect of their lives u_u

[byjove]

I think about The Man of the Hole so often. 27 years alone. 27 years with no one to speak to but strangers to wave to. Survived a genocide, a massacre that killed everyone he had ever known and later, an assassination attempt. He still tried to warn researches about the traps he built. He was only about 60 when he died in 2022. The people who tormented him in life later desecrated his grave.

[byjove]

I do think it is important to share the stories of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island and Ishi and the countless other indigenous people who experienced the profound trauma of being the last survivor but it is important to remember that the last Aboriginal families in Australia to be contacted by Europeans were resettled in the 1980s and the Indian government has proposed a plan that will mean total genocide for the Shompen people. The total eradication of indigenous peoples, their cultures, their languages, their ways of life, is not something which occurred in a distant ugly past but an ongoing process.

[grrlterrier]

One of my favourite customer interactions

[as-if-and-only-if]

you serve the drink, they take a sip. it ticks down to 98% and they whisper “oh thank god”

[prenbyw]

Spoon in the shape of a fish. Carved from some Sycamore I found just outside Wivenhoe, Essex.

[hinako-supremacy]

op i love your fish so much i made it a png

they are now a school of fish

[teaboot]

Posts that prove that despite about 300 thousand years of technological development, humanity at its core hasn't really changed all that much

[sailatina3]

What even happens in the pacific ocean

[dubiousdoobie]

water

[eddieintheocean]

CLAY AND OOZE.

[maybeasunflower]

TIL that "ooze" is a technical term in geology.

[mankillercalledbunny]

The answer to "How did these Ancient People do this????" is basically always

1. A lot of dudes. Just a ton of fucking people from beginning to end of the process.

2. Ancient people weren't stupid, they just figured shit out the same way we do: fuck around until you find out.

3. We're gonna plan this out and it's gonna take ten fucking years, and you will cope.

4. Sticks and string are surprisingly versatile and can be used for a variety of purposes, like moving stuff and making sure things are even and go in the spot you wanted to put them in!

5. I want to make this easier and more efficient to move. If I put this on the round thing and push, it will move. If I put this in water, it will move. If I get some animals and rope and have a whole bunch of them drag it, it will move. All of these things are a better option than one guy trying to pick the whole fucking thing up.

[ralfmaximus]

No safety regulations

No weekends

Child labor

Slave labor

"The king said to do it"

History does not record the stupid megaprojects that failed

[ariaste]

History absolutely does record the stupid megaprojects that failed. Here are just a few of them:

Fidenae Stadium Disaster of 27AD. A huge gladitorial stadium, built fast and cheap, collapsed and killed 20,000 people, as well as injuring many more out of the total audience of 50,000.

The Sagrada Familia was started in 1882. It is still not finished.

Mingun Pahtodawgyi was started in 1790 but a prophecy said the king who commissioned it would die when it was finished, so he stopped building it.

The Pyramid of Neferefre was never finished because Neferefre died early and his successor didn't bother.

Alai Minar was supposed to be twice the diameter and twice the height of Qutb Minar. Didn't get past the first storey, abandoned in 1316.

Bara Kaman, abandoned in 1672.

The Basilica of San Petronio was started in 1390. The main facade was never finished. In 1514, they hired a guy to construct the dome, but the pope ordered the "megalomaniac dream" halted.

Arguably every empire that has ever fallen counts as a stupid megaproject that failed.

[lodgerlodger]

One interesting thing about old Chinese society was that merchants/businessmen were basically considered the bottom feeders of society (nobody likes the middlemen!) They were pretty much beneath everyone except for professions such as entertainers, barbers, and sex workers. Basically, trading was not considered “honest work,” which is why you don’t often see fantasy stories that heavily feature merchants unless if it’s one of those “I transmigrated into 800 ad and created magic taobao and became a zillionaire” light novels. I don’t think historically, there was a strong concept of a middle class. Tradespeople and farmers were much higher on the official social hierarchy than merchants, despite being poorer, and this kind of thinking is sometimes reflected in historical fantasy narratives despite the 21st century turning all this on its head.

Historically, a merchant clan could get very wealthy but still be stuck with extremely low social standing. The suppression of the merchant class was a pretty common theme throughout Chinese history, since they were for the most part regarded as societal leeches and potential threats to the Confucian social order. Merchants were often forbidden from entering into civil service and getting any kind of foothold among the ruling class (made up of the scholar caste and the aristocracy), and their influence and wealth was kept in check this way.

It’d shock nobody if even the most destitute of scholar clans looked down their noses at merchant families. Some would probably rather starve to death than have anything to do with them. You see a lot of historical narratives where a wealthy merchant would sponsor some poor peasant boy so he could study and sit in the imperial examinations, hopefully scoring high and gaining some kind of political office, transforming the fate his entire family (which would of course include one of the merchant’s daughters). You also see some stories where the peasant boys do a bit too well and go, actually I have better options now, thanks but bye 😅

I mostly bring all of this up because if sj were to craft a fake backstory for himself at cqm, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me that he’d go for any kind of mercantile background. Like this is probably the worst possible option for him lol. One there’s no way he can fake being rich when he’s got absolutely nothing, and two it wouldn’t even help him. I don’t think the og text shows any meaningful discernment when it comes to this sort of thing, but a lot of it is implicit in the setting. For pure posermaxxing purposes, you’re probably better off being the homeless descendent of some old clan or even an extremely gifted peasant than the son of some random rich merchant

[maybeasunflower]

(IIRC, merchants in medieval Europe were also viewed with suspicion - they issue being they bought goods from farmers/rural craftsmen and then sold in them in cities at a higher price. So they were seen as screwing over both their suppliers and customers.)

[aromanticduck]

Free service with ads: Well, if I'm not paying for it they have to foot the bill somehow.

Paid service with no ads: Well, if they're not funding it with ad revenue, they need to charge us something.

Paid service with ads: Well that's bullshit.

"We used to be a paid service without ads, but now we're putting ads in it! If you want the ad-free version you have to pay more for preeeeemium": Fuck you fuck you fuck you

[maybeasunflower]

Free service with no ads: Well, that's a rare and treasured gift to humanity.

[mymidwestheart]

Well, that made me happy. 😌🎠❄️

[rainbowbarnacle]

[pusheen]

[tonysopranobignaturals-deactiva]

IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS

[fuckthisshit-ugh]

please read this even if you're not indian. especially if you're not indian.

you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.

first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.

now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:

in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.

and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.

and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.

it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:

• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.

• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.

• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.

• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.

• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.

• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.

and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.

what i'm asking:

if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.

if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.

india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.

we can still save her. but only loudly.

reblog. share. don't scroll past.