The Literal Incarnation of the 😅 Emoji @murmuringmystic - Tumblr Blog

a writing competition i was going to participate in again this year has announced that they now allow AI generated content to be submitted

their reasoning being that "we couldn't ban it even if we wanted to, every writer already uses it anyway"

"Every writer"?

come on

rose-of-pollux

Reblog if you're a writer who doesn't use AI.

murmuringmystic

AI can die

marvelsmostwanted

There are people – some in my own Party – who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm. I’ll ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say — almost none of those people have the experience with this President that I do. I once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most — public praise on the Sunday news shows — in return for ventilators and N95 masks during the worst of the pandemic. We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators. Going along to get along does not work – just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.

I’ve been reflecting, these past four weeks, on two important parts of my life: my work helping to build the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the two times I’ve had the privilege of reciting the oath of office for Illinois Governor.

As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.

The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.

The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.

As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.

I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.

The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.

All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.

My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.

Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most.

Sources:

• NBC Chicago & J.B. Pritzker, Democratic governor of Illinois, State of the State address 2025: Watch speech here | Full text

• Betches News on Instagram (screencaps)

murmuringmystic

Incredibly common J.B Pritzker W

mtgtips

ALRIGHT, HERE’S WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO

Inspired by @thewanderingdelusion’s suggestion, as a treat for helping me reach 200 subs before the end of 2024 I’m gonna rate YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR TEXTS! Or at least, as many as I can lol. Comment or reblog with your favorite flavor text on a card, and I’ll do a tier list! It can be your favorite cause it’s funny, cool, or whatever other reason. The deadline for this will be January 17th, so get em in before then!

murmuringmystic

Rain of Revelation has always struck a chord with me. Something about the idea of embracing the world in order to gain deeper understanding is just so inspiring!

mtgtips

Magic the Gathering tip: don’t fucking threaten people over magic the gathering cards jesus christ

cyprederone

It's Rita. We're done here for now

I'm sure everyone's heard by now that something's happened at least so I'll try keep it short [lie]. This post is a rough explanation and not a defense, if mutuals want to add evidence of what I claim then please do so, I will have a note to friends at the end, feel free to skip to that 🧡🤎

I got terminated on predstrogen due to mass false reports about sexually explicit content, I had evidence of these mass false reports, and when I asked support for help they stated "As you know, you posted sexually explicit content and additionally harrassed people"

My issue isn't with the account termination, it's the double standard around it

I've had multiple accounts. The first (madhopz) was terminated for content on sideblogs when I was doing sex work and I know I won't get it back. The second (sadhopz) was targetted by lolcow forums, and took half a year to get back, only once I humiliated myself to support by screenshotting and documenting what they were saying about me and sharing images of me. The third (predstrogen) I mentioned and I'll get back to, but I was never emailed to explain why the fourth (Avewy/Predesterone) was terminated. All we know is that it was right after the CEO got upset with me, I broke no rules and said no one should attack anyone, I posted no explicit content, none.

A man twice my age and worth $400,000,000 threatened to call the cops on a trans woman online, and then deleted me when I mentioned this

To add insult to injury, he refused to call me "she" the entire time, referring to me as "they" and backpedalling to vaguely refer to me as The Account. I'm a fucking person, and you know that by threatening to pin the cops on me. Eventually even slipping and calling me "it" before respecting the womanhood of the person he would gladly talk about and "make an exception for"

My complaint to his post was that he says I was banned for harrassment, which is a lie. I was banned for mass false reports of sexual content, despite having been told by staff directly a month prior that my blog does not break that rule, and have had people admit to collaborating on reports. But my biggest issue is that even if I was banned for harrassment, then what did they do about my own harrassment?

They did fuck all and told me my stalkers should not be removed from Tumblr

After banning me without a reason, I immediately got an email back about harrassment and stalking that I sent a support ticket about in December. They banned me twice before looking into this, and their conclusion was "we won't do a thing". These are people who have been on my ass all of last fucking year calling me a rapist and a pedophile, and they ignored it. Does that sound like a man who cares about harrassment on his site, or only when it happens to him?

After the ban on Predstrogen and I moved to Avewy, they were everywhere. Inbox messages claiming I was sending asks to children threatening to rape them, anonymous people stating they're our victim and are scared to speak out about what I did to them. It all only happened now. They've turned a blind eye and given these people a win. I saved it all in an #archive tag as proof if I was ever asked or got through to support, but that didn't happen when i was terminated without warning or reason

When Matt deleted me himself, he deleted everything I posted and saved as evidence for my situation. Anonymous asks slandering me, reblogs of people organising to get rid of me, my own documentation of what staff did, all of it was deleted with @avewy/@predesterone.

I don't want to be on this site anymore, I was happy all day today because I feel free without it. But I miss my accounts, because of all the memories with them. I don't want to use them, but I want @madhopz, @predstrogen, and @predesterone back so that all the times ive had with friends, lovers and strangers arent completely eradicated. Every single thing uploaded to Predstrogen is gone and marked mature now, even my face and identity, because this was a sexual content ban and not harrassment as they say. They found another reason after the fact

Give me my identity and my memories back

To all my friends and mutuals, thank you. Even people I've had falling-outs with have been nothing but kind and I want everyone to know I appreciate it. I saw every ask before deletion, I see how many people are on Discord. I can't keep up, but knowing you reached out at all means the world to me

I was happier today off this site than I have been in months. I'm not driving myself to breakdowns anymore by being on here, my mental and emotional state has been in ruins. Maybe I'll come back on this account, but for now I'm leaving it blank and still and moving on.

This post is incredibly meandering and too long, but I'm not trying to defend myself or document everything, I'm trying to make sure I say something to people I care for instead of disappearing, you deserve it. I'm doing well, please find me elsewhere.

My Twitter is mAD_h0PZ

My Cohost is Predstrogen

My BlueSky is predstrogen.bsky.social

My discord is Avewy, and my server is Public

My steam is mAD_hOPZ

Goodnight, thank you 🧡🤎

dragongirltongue

Damn, they really got her again despite the fact she's literally saying she's not coming back.

Anyway fuck this site, keep this circulating especially with the CEO doubling down on his side of things.

Sorry if this has been done before, but I can't stop imagining Jack Skellington ending up in Channukahtown instead of Christmastown. Like, we still get "What's This" because of the lights, dreidels, and gelt. But it gets REAL nutty when Jack learns that Channukah is partly a out surivivng against the Ancient Greek army.

He takes Channukah back to Halloweentown and they do "Making Channukah" but they're actually preparing to wage war on modern, current day Greece. Jack lights a huge menorah in town, and a smaller one in the window of his tower. Lock, Shock, and Barrel kidnap first a huge rabbit, then a random rabbi, and the scene plays out exactly the same, with the rabbi saying Jack has some Chutzpah.

Jack goes off to Greece but gets shot down by the military. As he lays in a cemetery, Sally shows up with the menorah from his tower, which has been burning in the eight days since he lit it. Jack realizes that he missed the point of Channukah and goes back to Halloweentown to save the rabbi from Oogie-Boogie, but this time the candles burn Oogie's sack to defeat him. Just like Santa, the rabbi tears Jack a new one, mostly in Yiddish, and before he leaves he suggests Jack visits his shul before Channukah is over.

Jack goes back to making Halloween, but as the townsfolk work, he looks up at his tower, where a small menorah has its candles lit.

#nightmare before christmas #au #halloween #channukah #hannukah #what if #jack skellington

I can fix her...

#spam bots

mtgmemes

Magic: The Gathering Ask

curiooftheheart

1. What is your favorite color(s)?

2. What got you into Magic?

3. How long have you been playing Magic?

4. Favorite card(s)?

5. Least favorite card(s)?

6. Most overrated card(s)?

7. Most underrated card(s)?

8. Best mechanic?

9. Worst mechanic?

10. Favorite Ravnica guild?

11. Favorite Alara shard?

12. Favorite 2 color combination?

13. Favorite 3 color combination?

14. Least favorite color combinations?

15. How many decks do you have?

16. What's your favorite or best deck?

17. What non-basic land card do you own the most copies of?

18. What card do you want more than any other card (not counting re-sale value)?

19. What would you change about Magic if you could?

20. Favorite creature?

21. Favorite plansewalker?

22. Favorite non-creature, non-plansewalker card?

23. Favorite character?

24. Have you read any of the Magic novels? If so, which ones?

25. Favorite competitive format?

26. Favorite casual format?

27. Favorite limited format?

29. Favorite EDH general?

29. Do you say EDH or Commander?

30. Favorite tribe?

31. What cards do you wish were never printed?

32. Archenemy or Planechase?

33. How many boosters do you buy a week?

34. Singles or boosters?

35. Best one-drop creature?

36. Best two-drop creature?

37. Best three-drop creature?

38. What's your least favorite kind of deck to play against?

39. What's your opinion on mythic rares?

40. What's your opinion on plansewalkers?

41. What's your opinion on the Reserved List?

42. Most annoying mechanic to play against?

43. What's your favorite set and block?

44. Do you ever buy starter decks?

45. How does Magic compare to older trading card games? Better or worse?

46. What should be the theme of the next block?

47. Do you ever play with creature auras?

48. How do you feel about the current power level in Magic?

49. What's one card that you use that nobody else does?

50. Favorite artist?

51. Least favorite artist?

52. What cards have the best artwork?

53. What cards have the worst artwork?

54. Aggro, combo or control?

55. What's the weirdest deck you've ever built?

56. Do you play MTGO or Duels of the Plansewalkers?

57. What needs to be nerfed in Magic?

58. What needs to be buffed in Magic?

59. Would you rather play against Storm, Dredge or Affinity?

60. Most broken block?

61. Most broken tribe?

62. Most broken card?

63. Most broken deck?

64. Do you prefer elves, goblins or merfolk?

65. Would you rather lose a close game or lose after getting completely stomped?

66. What cards need to be banned in which formats?

67. What cards need to be unbanned in which formats?

68. Do you prefer to be on the play or on the draw?

69. Sexiest character in Magic?

70. Would you rather play against an indestructible creature or a hexproof creature?

71. Least favorite block?

72. Least favorite tribe?

73. Do you consider yourself good at Magic?

74. Do you think life-gain decks can work well?

75. What colors work best for an aggro deck?

76. What colors work best for a control deck?

77. What colors work best for a combo deck?

78. What card are you just dying for Wizards to reprint?

79. Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares?

80. Which one is best? Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster Mage or Stoneforge Mystic?

81. What's the rarest card you own?

82. Are singles too expensive?

83. Are you competitive or casual?

84. What makes a good set?

85. Tell us about your most epic story involving Magic.

86. Do you ever buy from Core Sets?

87. Ponder or Preordain?

88. What deck do you have that your friends hate?

89. Is reanimator too powerful in casual?

90. Ever buy any From the Vault Products?

91. What about Duel Decks?

92. How do you keep track of your life?

93. Ever been to any events or tournaments?

94. Channel Fireball or Star City Games?

95. Do you think R&D is doing a good job?

96. Tell us about the card you've always wanted to be printed.

97. Who's scarier, Emrakul or Progenitus?

98. Do you follow professional Magic?

99. Who is your favorite professional player?

100. Do you ever play Magic over Skype? If so, leave your Skype name here so we can play :)

Overwatch Characters on the Color Pie: Tanks pt.2

On to the next part, due to the ROUSING SUCCESS of the first post. I don’t care if anyone else likes these, I love color pie nonsense.

Ramattra- White/Black

Ram is a perfect example of “White goal, Black means”. Cordial, polite, and heavily jaded by a long history of persecution, he has no issues ripping people to shreds in order to protect his people. His desire to find peace, protect his people, and seeks justice, which are all White ideals, even the warmongering aspects. His ruthlessness and terrorist attacks in order to achieve his goals speak to Black’s ambition for power for his selected flock. The result is a wickedly smart, powerful, and merciless symbol of twisted hope.

Reinhardt- White/Red

HONOR AND GLORY! About as heroic a Blood Knight can get while still being sympathetic. Rein’s impulsive, larger-than-life personality certainly makes his Red aspects memorable. His backstory hammers in (pun not intended) the conflict between this and his White side. Becoming more a shield than a sword is a major character development for him. Presently, he is all about forward motion, aggressively shielding his teammates until he’s close enough to start bashing heads.

Roadhog- Black/Green

A killer, a psycho, and a big tub of terror, Roadhog is an unusual case for these colors. He undoubtedly earns his Black aspects through murder and mayhem, but he’s not without a softer side. Hog spent much of his life living in the remains of the Australian brush, and embodies Green’s “predator vs. prey” mindset. He’s the biggest and strongest, so he takes what he wants. This, plus a tenacity and penchant for durability, makes him a menace to anyone who gets in his way.

#magic the gathering #Overwatch #Color Pie #MtG #ow2

tumblhurgoyf

planar battle royale finale: pick the best plane

ravnica

tarkir

ixalan

innistrad

kamigawa

kaladesh

theros

dominaria

lorwyn-shadowmoor

zendikar

Voting ended onFeb 7, 2023

the vote to decide it all. most votes wins

tumblhurgoyf

a reblog or two wouldn't hurt

murmuringmystic

The answer is clear: only one of these planes has Noggles

Overwatch Characters on the Color Pie: Tanks pt.1

We’re all nerds here, and what do nerds like more than trivial analysis? I love viewing characters in the lens of Magic’s color pie, so lets try it out with Overwatch characters!

Tanks protect people, right? So they’re all White, the color of protection! Job done! ... Okay, for real let’s run them down:

Doomfist- Black/Red/Green

Doom is a wild one to start with, since he’s so philosophically different from the rest. He’s all about conflict making humanity strong. Survival of the fittest is a Green message. FORCING conflict to make people stronger, however, is a Black ideal. Artificially stoking the fires of conflict leans heavily Red, which loves chaos and freedom. This all wraps up in a predatory, determined, and ambitious powerhouse mastermind.

D.Va- White/Blue

Hana is an example of the classic “science hero”, i.e. someone who believes in protecting others, facilitated by technology. But technology is just a tool, and it’s how Hana views it that matters. She uses her machine to stand in front of others and help those who cannot help themselves, which is very White. She also has a strong drive to improve herself, shown with her video game scores, which highlights her Blue aspects. She’s received celebrity and fame, but instead of reveling in it, she’s become a competitive, driven protector of her people.

Junker Queen- Red/Black

JQ has less lore than some, but she’s got some clear motivations. Though she’s a tank, she doesn’t have much in the way of protecting her teammates, aside from as a bullet sponge. She’s essentially a slum lord who hoards resources ruthlessly to rule her people, which speaks heavily of Black ambition and control of power. Unlike some rulers, she’s not content to sit on her throne, and revels in combat, which gives her a strong emotional Red core. All in all, she’s a brawler who loves carnage (and her axe Carnage) and the rush of combat.

Orisa- White

Orisa, in my mind, is the archetypal Tank (and one of my favorites). Tough to kill and dishes out damage as well as she takes it. Personality-wise, she’s almost single-minded in her devotion to protection her people. It’s debatable how much of that is programming versus true sentience, but we see her evolve in OW2, so I’d lean towards her learning as she experiences things. One of the biggest conflicts for her comes from being “good” vs. being “lawful”, as shown in a conversation with Tracer. This sort of dilemma is an important White decision point, and colors an otherwise cheerful, but arguably one-note character.

#magic the gathering #overwatch #Color Pie #MtG #ow2

opinions on the llorwyn five?

Mechanically? I'm not a fan of planeswalkers to begin with, but they're pretty inoffensive. I especially like Party Jace.

As characters? I dig them all except Garruk, who had 0 personality for the longest time

Caught a typo before posting something in the group chat, disaster averted, humanity saved

#saved from endless torment #relief

How Do the Magic Colors Deal with Crushes?

White: Simple. Just get to know them as friends, slowly become a trusted and invaluable part of their life, and eventually they'll realize how great you are and ask you out on a date!

Green: Don't think too hard about it! If it's meant to be, they'll like you too, and soon you'll be picking out trees to adopt together.

Red: I don't even understand the question. If you like someone just tell them! Maybe write a song about them? Wait, do you like me? Wanna go out?

Blue: Ask a series of probing questions that indirectly judge their interest. If they score well, proceed with asking them out. If they don't, bury those feelings in the darkest corner of your mind and never speak of them again.

Black: Yesterday I overheard Red ask Green if plants have feelings and I almost kissed them on the spot.

#magic the gathering #mtg #magic meme #magic colors