Whatever Works @mechatherium - Tumblr Blog

On one hand I understand not teaching cursive in school anymore, because it actually is slower than regular handwriting and almost everything is typed on a keyboard now anyways.

On the other hand, so much of our (even recent!) history was written in cursive, and having a whole generation of kids who can't read letters written by their grandparents, momentos saved by their great-grandparents, or even photo albums from theur immediate family seems like a dangerously quick way to detach us from previous generations.

And on the third, related but slightly malformed hand, I feel bad that yet another form of small, everyday art that brings joy in the middle of mundane tasks, which celebrates personality and individual style and self-expression, is about to fade into obscurity because it wasn't efficient enough for today's world to put up with.

Like... if we continue to whittle away the small arts out of every day life, what's going to be left except stark, ruthless pragmatism?

Maybe writing a grocery list is less mundane when you get to feel elegant for a moment. Maybe you're a little more proud of what you write when you see it flow together like a painting

northshorewave

Sometimes I make posts that are like “Hey guys, maybe everything being optimized for efficiency and cheapness leaves some major defects in the average person’s ability to thrive psychologically” and some of you pop off like I’ve said I want to kill everyone who uses insulin with my bare hands, when mostly what I’m talking about is this sort of thing.

mohiy123-deactivated20240725

‼️Please don’t skip taking a look 🍉🇵🇸

Im’ mohiy from Gaza 🍉🇵🇸 ..I need your help if you can

I am 23 years old. I live under the bombardment and constant aggression against Gaza. Here we struggle with a life of constant death and loss. I lost a large part of my family. We also lost our house in which we used to live. We were displaced more than 10 times from one place to another, searching for safety. In fact, there is no safe place. We had many ambitions and hopes. I graduated from university and intended to travel, work, and many other things. But the war came and destroyed all that. We also had a source of livelihood and clothing shops.🇵🇸🍉

The occupation completely destroyed and burned them all, and we no longer have any source of livelihood. We also lack access to food and drinking water. We suffered from many diseases, such as hepatitis and malnutrition due to the lack of a suitable environment for life, and I had surgery to remove the gallbladder. Here we live in hunger and fear. My mother also suffers from chronic diseases and we cannot find a cure for them. Our lives are in danger. Therefore, I hope you can help, even if just a little, as this will help us get out of death."🇵🇸🍉

The most difficult decision for us was to leave our country, to leave Gaza, to overcome the obstacles we faced and the losses we suffered, and to start a new life from scratch.💔💔

https://gofund.me

My name is Kalie from Baltimore, MD, and I'm raising money for my friend Mohi fr… Kalie Ganem needs your support for Support Mohi's Fight fo

ana-bananya

This is @wafaaresh 's brother. I messaged her and she confirmed it was Mohi.

Wafaa also gave me his instagram so I could speak with him. I messaged him about the gfm and he responded to confirm it was his. This Mohi's second account he had to make after the previous one was terminated.

So far Mohi's campagin only has $115/$5,000

ahmeedhgftvjj

🫂🍉🇵🇸🇵🇸🍉❤️

vintagegeekculture

Who predicted the internet?

I'm not impressed by most futuristic predictions. It doesn't take a lot of brains or imagination to predict a new energy source, portable computer or communication device, or a large war. The only kind of scifi predictions that actually impress or shock me are those with a bizarre specificity. For example. how Star Trek: the Next Generation predicted that hypochondriacs would use the internet to diagnose themselves ("Realm of Fear"), or how Heinlein not only predicted the screensaver in Stranger in a Strange Land, but that it would also resemble aquarium fish, and finally, ghoulishly enough, how iCarly predicted that a member of the cast of Friends would die by drowning (though they said it would be David Schwimmer, which means in the Nickelodeon shared sitcom universe, David Schwimmer is dead).

It's interesting how almost no scifi predicted two major developments of the 1990s: the internet, or the fall of the Soviet Union. This, incidentally, is proof positive of something I spent the 80s arguing, that Kremlinology, and to a lesser extent, the entire discipline of International Relations, is a completely fraudulent field staffed by people who don't know what they're talking about. Imagine the side-eye you'd give to Marine Biologists if, one day, the Oceans evaporated and they failed to predict it!

But there was one person who predicted something like the internet: James H. Schmitz's Telzey Amberdon stories.

The Telzey Amberdon stories were published in Analog in the 1960s, and were about a girl genius and powerful psychic, a "xenotelepath" with the rare ability to communicate with vastly different forms of alien life. She often ran afoul of the Psychology Service, the Federation's internal police created to handle psionics, who often dispatched Psionic Cops to capture her, typically rated P12+ on the psi-scale. The Psychology Service started off as a means to handle telepaths, but ultimately became an unaccountable surveillance state-within-a-state (if all this sounds a bit familiar to Babylon 5 fans, it's because these stories are....clearly...a major inspiration for the psychic plot of that series, down to the fact a heroine's powers are activated/supercharged by mental contact with unknowable alien minds, and the weirdly specific detail of Psi being ranked 1-12). Lots of scifi writers predicted a surveillance state, but James H. Schmitz gets some credit for predicting how one would actually feel to live in: not oppressive at all, everything feels normal and it is all completely invisible...until one day, you cross an invisible line, and suddenly the Eye of Sauron that is the surveillance state fixes itself on you.

The Telzey stories (remember, this is the 60s) featured a ComWeb that used interstellar communications to instantly transmit data from linked computers. But as usual, scifi was too conservative: it took 30 minutes for the ComWeb to download and print a single scientific paper, and even Schmitz did not predict the ubiquity of the personal computer, as people had to go to phone booth-like structures to download anything off the ComWeb. What he got wrong was as interesting as what he got right.

What was extremely interesting about the Telzey stories is that it was so rare (at the time) for any main character in scifi to be female at all that they received a lot of letters that said something like "well, why couldn't this main character be male?" Which seems to strangely echo the insanely dumb and truly awful fights of today. The fandom of the 1960s viewed the Telzey stories as incredibly controversial, and there was as much discussion in xeroxed and mailed fanzines like Yandro and Science Fiction Review about Telzey Amberdon and other James H. Schmitz female heroines like secret agent Trigger Argee. The most common way the objection expressed itself was not quite "no girls should be in scifi" but one that attempted to sound more reasonable: "well, if a story could be changed to be about a man, it should be, so making her a girl is a distraction."

I have long said that Telzey Amberdon and James H. Schmitz inspired a lot of Japanimation, and my evidence for that is this: the stories existed in translation in Japan early on (as did his Witches of Karres), and were so enormously popular in Japan that they received covers from a certain Mr. Hayao Miyazaki.

(Incidentally, if you're curious what the initial reaction was by the scifi fandom to Star Trek was, well, there was certainly a diversity of opinion - Betty Jo "Beejo" Trimble for instance, well known to the fan community as a "cosplayer" and fanzine artist who wrote several fan guides about the Lensman series and a big fandom name, was enlisted in a PR offensive to smooth the series over with the supernerds at the 1966 Worldcon and the Trek pilot episode was first shown at Worldcon before it was on television, sure, but the reaction from a big chunk of the fandom was incredibly muted. Fandom was so enormously insecure and suspicious of tv and film in general that there was a huge anti-Star Trek hatedom when the show was on. All through the 70s, Star Trek fans were seen by a large chunk of organized scifi fandom as the bottom of the totem pole of fandom, furry-level annoyances and gay porn obsessed sex perverts....again, due to the tremendous insecurity of the fandom who are, at best, 5% less horny and dumb.)

krinsbez

Yeah, that tracks.

naja7family

In a place where children no longer know what safety feels like, a mother is trying to keep her children alive despite everything 💔

I don’t know how I am still holding on...

My name is Najah, and I am a mother of six children, including newborn twins 👶👶 who need urgent care every single moment.

We are living through extremely difficult days filled with fear, hunger, and the lack of basic necessities 🥺🍞

Sometimes my children go to sleep without enough food, and I stand helpless before their tears because I cannot provide milk, diapers, or medicine for them.

My newborn twins are still so fragile, and their tiny bodies need constant nutrition and care 🍼💔

But our situation has become far beyond my ability to handle, while my other children face hunger, cold, and fear every day.

For many days, we have not received any donations or help, and our situation keeps getting worse with every passing hour.

I try to stay strong for my children, but my heart breaks every night when I see them suffering and I have nothing to protect them with.

Every second now is precious ⏳

Every act of kindness could be the reason my children survive 🙏

I am not asking for the impossible — only for a chance for my children to live safely, stay together, and have hope for another tomorrow.

Please, from the bottom of my heart, do not ignore our suffering 💔

Any small donation could help me buy milk, diapers, food, and medicine for my children.

I am Najah, living with my twin children in a tent. As the tanks approached the area where we are staying, my fear was no longer for myself, but for my two little children who need safety more than anything else. All I hope for is that this danger passes peacefully and that I can protect them from being displaced once again.

Please donate $25, $50, $100, or any amount you can give 🤲

Every contribution, no matter how small, can make a real difference in my children’s lives.

And if you cannot donate, please share our story everywhere you can 📢

Your compassion may reach someone who can save my children before it is too late.

I beg you — stop here, donate, share, and choose kindness before this silence becomes another tragedy for my family.

Thank you to everyone who listened to our pain 🌸

Your kindness today could give my children another chance at life and safety.

Donation link

From the heart of Gaza, we reach out to you with deep pain and a plea for help… amelia romain needs your support for Help Wedad's family in

Campaign verified: @gazavetters (629) @90-ghost @el-shab-hussein

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Every donation or share can make a real difference in their lives.

Donate now and give them hope and a chance for a better future. ❤️

Please, don’t ignore this message. 💔

Donate if you can, and share it with others so it reaches someone who can help.

Your support, even in the smallest amount, can make a real difference and bring hope to a life in need. 🤲

virovac

Donation rewards,

other blog is najahgaza7392

90-ghost is a Palestinian blogger who tries to find and support legitimate campaigns.Gazavetters is trusted because they are Palestinian run AND they call out spammers and scammers they find.

Art and other rewards being offered for those who have proof of donation (such as a screenshot of receipt, probably with personal information blacked out) to the well-known vetting lists and a few other. I have collected an up-to-date list here. There is also links to other lists: for such as flowerpawarts's spreadsheet, you should make sure they accept the vetting list or are not just funding for a specific family

💬 4 🔁 110 ❤️ 40 · Archival link: Donation incentives for the big two lists and mentions of others · @/gazavetters vetted list Vetted list

fadell-aldany

Hello everyone, today is July 30, 2026, it's my birthday.

fadell-aldany

Today I turned 25, and today marks the beginning of my 26th year in the G@za Strip. Since my birth, I have witnessed seven devastating and bloody wars, filled with fear, deatth, and hunger. Fortunately, I survived six of them, but in this seventh and most recent war, I was severely injured when our house was bombed while we were inside. I still suffer from shrapnel embedded in my body, which doctors here in G@za have been unable to remove due to the collapse and destruction of our healthcare system. So far!

virovac

🔗Fadel go-fundme link , his brother 🔗Ahmed go-fundeme link

my post collecting info here.!

✅ vetted here by Gazavetters number (#197) for Fadel. and #198 for Ahmed.

Donation rewards

Art and other rewards being offered for those who have proof of donation (such as a screenshot of receipt, probably with personal information blacked out)

💬 4 🔁 115 ❤️ 42 · Archival link: Donation incentives for the big two lists and mentions of others · @/gazavetters vetted list Vetted list

virovac

Please share/reblog, and maybe donate if you can. DM @/helponeandall if want to be removed @whatyouvegotunderyourskirt @kurtle @rabidkermit @splend-42 @dustywarbler @400terahertz @poltiddies @yourlocaleccentricscientist @honeybeeffdrawshere @jayskai @astronnonyy @artsyrosie @halfmoonism @whisper-valley @loonfromq @here-sean-once-was @waiting-on-mars @bandtrees @mpregwizard @goosecorp @grapejuicedragoon @chloefrazer @hauntedcloudtheorist @sanaimissyou @zigcarnivorous @silver1012345 @promiscuousasexual @lord-of-the-froggies @duovxq @dapokemonmadster @saffronbaklava @labutansa @dqrknight @spaceswordblaster @importantt-reblogs @e-102 @moonssugar @bisexualpositivity @garbagevarmint @katealot @littleredhatter @totally-correct-cr-quotes @petra-creat0r @kaxtwenty @aligaytorsoup @sleeppatrol @lady-of-bath @tsaricides @ground-muttmeg @vivisectionmoth

hometoursandotherstuff

I always thought they were much bigger.

hometoursandotherstuff

liberalsarecool

Dictators need unserious people who don't trust science and medicine. Unserious people trust conspiracies/frauds. MAGA and MAHA connect all the unserious who trust white supremacy.

eldritchess25

Hell. Yes.

Not sirens of seduction, persay. Statler and Waldorf ragebait sailors to their deaths.

Miss Piggy trying to break free from the mast, screaming at the sailors to cut her loose so she can vault off the ship to murder those ancient harpies.

... my housemate said Kermit totally is the type to tell suitors he'll marry one of them, but they'll have to excuse him, he has to get the weaving done first.

My thought is, same.

Imagine Kermit creeping out into the main room at night, his little mouth curled in effort as he muppet-sneaks over to undo the weaving from the day before...

Miss Piggy gets back, takes one look around the room full of suitors after HER Kermie, just dives in with a "HI-YAH!!"

love-ardour-anarchism

When the nihilists and cynics claim "there is no community", or "there is no solidarity between the marginalized" I have no counterargument but I do have a response: build it.

Soldarity, community, empathy and kindness have no place in this world unless we carve it out with our own hands and minds and vocal chords.

It is tiring work. It is exhausting work. It is work that takes our whole lives and it requires us to take breaks to recharge our own spirit for with no spirit left we cannot build.

I wasn't "raised Christian" but I raised myself into the circles of evangelical belief as a child, I have deconstructed much of that and remain deeply critical of its institutions and internalizations but one thing has always stuck with me: the Kingdom of Heaven, if it is to exist, has to be built by our own hands.

And I don't believe in "Kingdoms" or in "Heaven" anymore but I do believe in building.

happy-mokka

The world is a better place with Muppets in it.

Thank you Jim Henson and company.

epitome-the-burnkid-viii

lutalical

eggsaladstain

GO OFF BESTIE

Source

liberalsarecool

tainbocuailnge

forget everything anyone has ever told you on the matter the truest marker of adulthood is starting to hear the siren call of high quality kitchenware

tainbocuailnge

to be clear you SHOULD buy that cast iron pan and you SHOULD buy that knife set and you SHOULD buy that fancy rice cooker and you SHOULD buy that novelty mug. high quality kitchenware is always worth it you’re literally gonna be using that almost every day

nudityandnerdery

This seems like a good post to include this link on:

One buyout firm quietly collected Pyrex, Corelle, Instant Pot, and Oneida. Farberware is a name on a 200-year lease. And the pans still wort

Talking about popular kitchenware companies undergoing enshittification, and gives you a list of brands towards the end that are more reliable.

tlirsgender

What is up with lefty types pushing to learn practical skills (sewing/gardening/etc whatever) as like "you'll need to know this after The Revolution:tm:" and not, like, "this is a useful skill to help yourself & others in your communities Right Now". You all sound like doomsday preppers and it's weirding me out. We don't have to prep for communist rapture maybe thee revolution starts with helping your neighbors

tlirsgender

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN LIKE....... it's weird. It's a subtle distinction but it's weird. People wanna be protagonists in post apocalypse movies so bad & when you're like "well that's not going to fucking happen innit" they call you a counterrevolutionary. Like yeah no I'm on board with dismantling the establishment etc etc I'm just saying you're being fucking weird about it. This is an action movie hero fantasy in a gen z aesthetic trenchcoat. You can just repair your clothes and feed people Right Now

imsobadatnicknames2

The thing is. If the goal is "help yourself and your community", a lot of people's material reality makes these types of skills ultimately pretty inefficient ways to achieve that goal when compared to other, less exciting alternatives. Like e.g. if what I want to do is feed people in my community, I'm going to achieve more by taking some overtime hours at my job and donating that money to a food bank or something than I would ever be able to achieve if I spent all my free time gardening.

So the only reason why I'd choose to spend my time gardening in this situation would be for fun, or out of a sense of personal fulfillment. Which to be clear is completely morally neutral. But like. If you're aware of the fact that these skills are a pretty inefficient way to "help your community" which you're choosing over the efficient alternatives due to personal enjoyment, and you were uncomfortable admitting that, I definitely see how it'd be tempting to conceptualize developing these skills as things that are going to be vital to Helping Your Community in a future hypothetical situation.

headspace-hotel

Food banks and meal programs close to me partner up with gardeners and community gardens, so I don't think that's quite right.

Skills like gardening and food preservation and people around who can teach those skills can be a really important part of food security

In particular, access to gardening can really increase the quality of people's diets in areas where fresh vegetables and fruits are not as available.

I was learning in my African American history class about how when Black people in the USA started moving into cities, the cities passed laws and ordinances to restrict gardening because it was an ingrained part of their culture at this point to keep a garden to provide for some of their needs for food

the-habitat-ring

If we want a world where cheap food produced by underpaid/slave labor in ways that damage the environment and are shipped across the planet no longer exists without causing major societal issues then we need to prepare for that now, even if it’s not the most convenient or practical. If a good percentage of the population is growing food for themselves and others, they can better push for regulations, boycott companies, etc.

If we want a world with quality clothing without sweatshops where fast fashion companies aren’t dumping unsold clothes in landfills we need to prepare for that now, even if it’s not the most convenient or practical. If a good percentage of the population can make, tailor, and/or repair clothes, people can use that leverage to fight for an ethical, sustainable fashion industry.

There’s a reason why places like Detroit are hubs of urban farming — because that’s what’s helped people survive after everything collapsed. There are real, actual people around the world who have and are using these skills to help their communities. Hunting and gardening allowed my parents to feed me and my siblings. Preserving food meant that we didn’t starve when ice storms resulted in us losing power for days to weeks at a time because nobody wanted to replace failing infrastructure. My local Master Gardeners donate nearly a thousand pounds of fresh vegetables each year to food banks — better quality and less ecologically damaging than the food bank could ever afford to buy.

Also, people’s mental health matters. Seeing real, tangible evidence that they can *do* something empowers people and gives them the ability to make more changes. And let’s be real, most people’s lives are not going to be improved by even more time at work.

If there’s ever going to be any positive societal change, we’re going to need to work at it from different angles. If working overtime and donating money to causes that are important to you is your way to contribute, then do it. Other people have other ways of contributing, and we need to support each other instead of tearing people down if we want to succeed.

liberalsarecool

Billionaires can't play by the rules of society.

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