Living Is The Greatest Adventure

Hey, welcome. I reblog whatever catches my eye: architecture, fandom stuff, politics, funny stuff, etc. Feel free to say hi 😎 Pro-Palestine, BLM, trans rights and land back. Anti-capitalist

[x0401x]

So I just saw a post by a random personal blog that said “don’t follow me if we never even had a conversation before” and?????? Not to be rude but literally what the fuck??????????

I’ve had people (non-pornbots) try to strike conversation out of nowhere in my DMs recently, and now I’m wondering if they were doing that because they wanted to follow me and thought they needed to interact first. I feel compelled to say, just in case, that it’s totally okay to follow this blog (or my side blog, for that matter) even if we’ve never talked before.

Also, I’m legit confused. Is this how follow culture works right now? It was worded like it’s common sense but is that really a thing?

[x0401x]

Saw a sharp increase in my follower count after posting this. The legitimacy of it is driving me nuts so I also feel the need to say that you can follow anyone on here regardless of whether you’ve interacted with them or not. People like the above mentioned blog are exceptions. Perhaps they themselves think they aren’t and therefore will act like they aren’t, but they are, trust me.

Just follow anyone you wanna follow. The worst thing that can happen is maybe getting soft-blocked by the other person, but if they do soft-block you, then they were never that worth following in the first place.

[starfieldcanvas]

wow. really hope this isn't actually a norm taking hold with new users! this isn't facebook, you don't need to know people before following them

[pangur-and-grim]

I hope my spider fucking book will hold universal appeal

[pangur-and-grim]

[riflebrass]

@uncle-beanbag-mojave

[uncle-beanbag-mojave]

Where's the link to purchase OP?

WHERE'S THE GOD DAMNED LINK?!?

[pangur-and-grim]

I have many links for you! all under the readmore:

US: Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Rarewaves.com

UK: Waterstones, Forbidden Planet, Amazon.uk, Hatchards, Bookshop.org

Canada: Amazon, Rarewaves.com, Indigo

Germany: KulturKaufhaus, Thalia

Luxembourg: Ernster

Poland: ritso.eu

France: Fnac

Denmark: William Dam Boghandel

Netherlands: donner.nl

Spain: Casa del Libro

Sweden: Adlibris

Switzerland: Orell Fussli

Lithuania: Knygos

South Korea: yes24

[neovagina-penisis-evangelion]

When people argue that food from Chinese and Mexican restaurants in the US are not 'real' representations of that culture's cuisine ignore the historical reality that these dishes were developed by diasporic communities striving to recreate the flavors of home with available resources. Such criticism frames adaptation as a loss of authenticity, rather than recognizing it as a sincere and evolving expression of culture by people separated from their homeland.

[ninhaoma-ya]

Too good to leave in the tags

[human-lab-rat]

Image ID: a screenshot of tags reading: #also #what does authentic mean for cuisines that were changed forever by the columbian exchange #tomatoes aren't from italy #china did not always have chili peppers #mexico did not always have cilantro orcheese or limes #cuisines are always changing #and always being changed by eachother #the idea of an isolated authentic cuisine is and always has been a myth /end ID

[mistymossman]

I once saw a chef judge on a cooking show scoff at a fusion cuisine dish

and then the next round was Cajun food, and without an ounce of irony he was like, I love Cajun food!

still makes me mad to think about it

[facelessoldgargoyle]

i fucking hate the “this is the good luck post.” Girl stop contributing to a superstitious environment with ur anecdotes there’s a million goddamn notes on it it’s statistically reasonable that a bunch of people remember the good things that happen after they reblog it

[yvfu]

this is the statistically reasonable post, reblogging it will have no effect except for putting this post on your blog

[moral-autism]

guys this post really works! I reblogged it and it really did put the post on my blog! you need to try it!

[nueuhell]

Instead of printing out images I like from the internet, I just redraw them on sticky notes and put them in my physical journal.

[animals-with-fan-art]

And I love you for that

[creatingblackcharacters]

#Make Racists Scared Again 2026

[creatingblackcharacters]

Share if you want people to know they should be scared to be racist around you 👊🏾

[creatingblackcharacters]

"making them afraid will make them more racist" that's wild to me, because we live in a whole culture of social consequences for antiracism anyway. It is literally safer to be a racist than it is to speak up against it, socially.

Idk about you, but "I'm afraid no one will want to be my friend if I'm a white supremacist" seems like a pretty logical thought process to have, and I wish THAT were the normal and not "I'm afraid my friends will hate me if I tell them they made racist jokes".

[zajef37]

sometimes racists aren’t even aware that they’re racist tho

[creatingblackcharacters]

I had a more intellectual answer for you, but tbh... Then I guess they'll find out. And when they do, they have two options: apologize and actively commit to doing better, or understand that they are choosing racism and will be treated as such. Because the society we live in, somehow option number 2 is the easier route due to a lack of social consequences for being a bigot. I don't think choosing to be a bigot should be the easier route. It should suck to be a racist.

[lowpawly]

people foolishly dismiss desserts and treats as having no nutritional value when they actually are necessary for refilling your sanity stat. to prove my point please observe the emotional stability of the next person you meet who doesnt let themselves ever eat any form of dessert

[mistymossman]

everything in moderation - including moderation!

[apolladay]

What category is your last name?

Son of some guy ("Johnson", "O'Brien", etc)

Job ("Smith", "Miller", etc)

Place/town ("Hill", "del Valle", etc)

Nickname/attribute ("Short", "Goodman", etc)

Hyphenated/multiple of the above

Other (describe in the tags!)

Unsure/results

Remaining time: 4 days 8 hours

[wheelie-sick]

watching people on this post give the absolute worst advice about photos at protests is why I play avoid-the-camera so diligently and I am prepared to smash cameras at all times

part of my role is going to people and gently saying "hey please stop taking photos of people without their consent. that can be dangerous for the people in the photos and you were asked not to at the start of the rally/march" and I have had people threaten to punch me over it so........

just stop taking photos. I don't care if they're "just for you" or if you "plan to redact them" you have no idea what situation someone is in and your photos will never be secure. if you want to take a photo just ask people in it first.

and of course they're always like "well what about those people taking photos" and I explain that "those people are known to our community and know who does and doesn't want a photo. people have already consented or not consented at past events to that person's photos and they know this" or "thanks for pointing that out I will talk to them too because they also should not be taking photos." this also, of course, does not solve the conflict and they continue taking photos anyways.

I have my own tactics for stopping photos when someone refuses that don't involve smashing cameras but they tend to escalate things anyways.

just stop. I'm so tired. just stop.

[wheelie-sick]

ALSO, JUST FOR THE RECORD!!!! If you are refusing to stop taking photos of people you look like a cop.

[mistymossman]

I think my air fryer is possessed

[headspace-hotel]

I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!

As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world

Rough draft version of Tick Advice:

Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.

Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.

Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.

The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.

Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc

IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.

Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab

While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.

Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick

If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear

[spyderqueen]

Also, don't assume that just because you weren't in tall grasses you don't need to be checked.

[paper-rose-doodles]

Some advice from a former camp counselor:

- If you’re camping, check your towels, blankets, and anything else you’ve hung up before letting it touch your body. Ticks are drawn to wet towels and find it an easy jump to a person.

- If you’re out with a dog, check them over thoroughly before you pet them. Anti-tick medication can kill ticks that attach to your dog, but they can still hitch a ride on fur and then jump on you. Consider getting an outdoor comb and wear gloves while checking.

- Invest in a pair of fine-tipped tweezers to remove ticks. There are a ton of special “tick removal” tools that will work, but they’re essentially a riff on a basic set of fine-tipped tweezers. The fine tip allows you to pull a tick off without killing it while it’s attached. Standard, blunt-edged tweezers for eyebrows don’t work as well, because they can crush the tick’s body and release germs into your skin at the bite site.

- If you have a tick on or near your genitals, just go to a doctor. Just...just do it. Trust me. I’ve seen this happen. Do not engage with the junk tick.

- When you need to remove a tick, grasp it firmly with your tweezers as close to the skin as you can get it. If you can, grasp it under the head. Pull straight up - do not twist the tick. That’s going to be your best bet to pull it all off without leaving the head or mouth embedded.

- If you do break the tick, leave the mouth alone - don’t dig in to get it, since that can break your skin more and cause infection. Without the tick attached, the mouth should eventually fall off. If it doesn’t within a day or so, call a doctor.

- Disinfect, disinfect, disinfect. I’d recommend hitting the area with rubbing alcohol several times.

- Keep the tick in a plastic bag in your freezer or fridge. It’s gross, but if you start having any illness symptoms, it can be helpful for your doctor to have the tick itself.

- Watch for a rash on the site, a fever, chills, or body aches. If you experience anything like that, go to an urgent care or hospital.

- Don’t panic! Lyme disease is treatable. The quicker you get medical treatment, the less likely that you’ll have significant long-term effects.

[mybigfatgaylife]

Speaking as a long time outdoorsman this is all great advice. I’ll add one thing: in the past many places have had traditional tick seasons. Be aware that these seasons are shifting and expanding due to global climate change. I’ve spent a lot of time in the central Rocky Mountains and traditionally tick season was early to mid spring. That has shifted to late winter in the valleys and ranges to mid summer at higher altitudes.

Additionally, tick species ranges and the tickborne illness ranges have also been shifting because of climate change. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever used to be moderately common in the Rockies and has expanded east.

Teal deer: don’t rely on traditional information, verify seasons and ranges before assuming you’re safe.

[platonic-activity]

As a medical entomologist/disease ecologist I am thrilled to come upon a tick-borne disease thread containing all accurate information. Everything above is fantastic but I’ll add a couple of things I would love for everyone to know

1) re: climate change. @mybigfatgaylife mentioned that tick seasons are shifting. This is absolutely true. Consider also that if it is 45 degrees or higher, ticks are out. If you have an unseasonably warm day in January the ticks will be questing. There is a clear relationship between winter Lyme diagnoses and warm weather roughly one month prior to positive tests.

2) Diagnostic tests for Lyme disease are often complained about but in fact they are really accurate though often improperly used. A blood test for Lyme will not be positive unless it is administered 4-6 weeks after the tick bite. Often physicians do not know this and give patients false negative results. You know now so you can inform your doctor. You can ask your doctor to look up the guild lines for testing and treatment on the CDC website.

2.1) The Lyme blood test is two part and they both have to be positive for diagnosis. There is a really good reason for this. The first test is not specific to the bacteria that causes Lyme. It’s an assay for immunoglobulins that the body creates during an immune response. This can be caused by many infections and even autoimmune disorders. The second test is a western blot that looks at antibodies specific to flagellum on the bacteria. There are a few other important pathogenic bacteria that will show up positive on this assay including the bacteria that causes brucellosis. It’s important that these tests are administered correctly because while we want to catch Lyme disease and treat it we also want to avoid missing an alternative diagnosis such as autoimmune disease or other pathogen.

3) If you have been bitten by a deer tick, are in the general range where Lyme disease is endemic and the tick has visibly swollen from consuming blood… go to the doctor and request a post exposure prophylaxis antibiotic. Stop the infection when it is still migrating away from the tick bite and is not yet systemic. Fewer doses of broad spectrum antibiotics, no risk of long term symptoms from Lyme. Win win.

4) PERMETHRIN! @headspace-hotel mentioned a bunch of ways to prevent tick bites or to catch them early. Do all of those. Also, consider adding an a pesticide to your arsenal. Permethrin treated shoes and pants are excellent because you don’t put the pesticide on your body and the clothes continue to kill ticks for a few washes. When I do field work I wear a specific set of treated clothing and I change when I am no longer in tick habitat. I have never gotten a tick bite even though I actively go into tick habitat during their peak. Sawyer permethrin is my favorite. Treat clothing away from cats… permethrin is dangerous to cats while wet.

5) Be aware of all tick species because they all come with their own horrors. While the black legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is the big baddie in public health the others cause issues as well. The American dog tick transmits the causative bacteria for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. While rare these two pathogens are way more dangerous than Lyme disease. The lone star tick transmits the causative agent for Ehrlichiosis and Tularemia.

6) An immune response to the lone star tick can cause people to develop a severe allergy to mammalian meat. This disease is called Alpha-gal. It’s a sugar found in mammals that can be transmitted to humans from a previous blood meal taken by that tick. 25% of cases result in anaphylaxis and many others present with GI symptoms only. This is a big enough problem that a company is creating alpha gal free transgenic pigs. Science can do amazing things when motivated by bacon.

Lyme disease vaccine is on its way!



[mandana-the-service-pup]

Highly recommend having your dog on a tick preventative pill PLUS using a spray like Wondercide when you go out. The pill will kill the ticks when they feed but by that time they have already been brought into your car and house. We haven’t had any problems with ticks since keeping a bottle of Wondercide in the car and spraying us both down before going on walks.

[fittingoutjane]

There are a number of tick diseases. In general, if you live in an endemic region and you get a bad fever without respiratory symptoms, even if you don't have the rash, it's a good idea to get checked for tick diseases,

[writingdose]

this is a life saver 😭

[hppjmxrgosg]

"going out to get milk" is a common turn of phrase used to describe a man abandoning his family.

the "milkman" is a common figure in stories depicting a woman's infidelity and adulterous affair.

this implies that the ability to provide milk would both decrease the likelihood of a man abandoning his wife and children, as it would eliminate the need for leaving to get milk AND would secure that man's marriage, as his wife would have no need to seek milk from an extraneous source.

therefore, all men should produce milk, through various means such as:

- being a cow

- being an almond

- being a woman

- being a coconut

- being in the omegaverse

- being an oat

(list is exemplary and not finite)

in this essay, i will redefine the nuclear family and explain the seductive and inflammatory nature of the 1993 "Got Milk?" commercials.

[hppjmxrgosg]

you shut your mouth.

[apas-95]

[sraithpics]

David Cleary!

[aiteanngaelach-deactivated20241]

i'm in Ireland and the search for that bastards name is still blocked and hidden... the legnths the british go to defend and protect their instruments of colonialism and violence is beyond belief. no justice for the victims and yet every measure taken to protect David James Cleary and his fellow murderers.

[undeadentropy]

Never a better time for the Streisand Effect than when it's a government covering up acts of brutality and evil.

[stele3]

if you complain about the Chinese government covering up Tianamen Square, then complain about this, too.

[drakensberg-blog]

The reading comprehension and overall common sense on this website is piss poor.

[poupon]

how dare you say we piss on the poor

[ofbeinghonests]

if you have one, tag with the "6 degrees of separation" you have with a celebrity

[3liza]

cancel your mullvad subscription

tech news today is that Mullvad VPN has gone mask-off about being the major funding source for the Swedish Orebro party, who are racist nationalists. unfortunately all discussion of this is occurring on fucking Mastodon instances i can barely load

if you are a mullvad customer (as i am) and want to get out, here is guidance from this guy

If you don't want your Mullvad fees going to fund neo-Nazis - or @mozilla VPN fees, which is rebranded Mullvad - cancel and get a refund immediately that's whose "free speech" the official account is talking about here, and that's where your fees go to EDIT: Mullvad has a 14 day refund policy. But the message below is a direct call to ask for a refund if you don't want to give money to Nazis. If Mullvad refuse a refund, call your consumer protection agency. And reverse credit card charges on the basis of deceptive refund policy representations. It's not like you ever want to be a Mullvad customer again. archive copy of Mullvad statement: https://web.archive.org/web/2026062717

[antifainternational]

[recreationaldivorce]

for people looking for alternatives, IVPN is one commonly thrown around in privacy circles.

if you need port forwarding (which mullvad customers shouldn't do, since mullvad doesn't offer port forwarding anyway) then AirVPN is the one generally recommended for that