Slow Descent Into Madness

Hello, my name is Grace. Descriptions are hard. I like books, the West Wing, Tortall, and a rotating batch of whatever seems funny in the moment.

[softblockwashere-deactivated202]

Would also be really annoying if they wore heat resistant gloves to throw back the hot tear gas canisters and if this got shared to all those protesting…

[honestmerchantsailor]

Would be a further shame if people started covering cameras (as seen in Hong Kong, with protestors using poles and rakes to lift cardboard boxes over security cameras), blinding drone optics with laser pointers, and flooding police-run reporting apps with junk data.

It would be a shame if the protesters noted that plainclothes cops can be identified a number of ways, such as wearing steel-toed boots; an armband or wristband of a particular color; driving white, black, or dark blue cars with concealed lights; or having the outline of cuffs visible in the back pocket or the bumps of an armor vest’s shoulder straps under their shirt.

It would be a shame if the protesters began making their signs out of inch-thick plywood to stop rubber bullets, forming a tight shield wall to prevent police from singling out and mobbing individual protesters. It would be a shame if the people behind the shield wall held up umbrellas so that tear gas canisters fired over the heads of the front line will be bounced away. It would be a shame if protesters began constructing improvised armor vests out of duct tape, hardback books, and ceramic tiles.

It would be a shame if protesters started wearing safety glasses, hard hats, respirators, and gardening gloves, all of which can be found at the same hardware stores as the plywood. It would be a shame if they started using traffic cones (the kind without the hole in the top) upside-down buckets, or other improvised lids to contain tear gas by placing them over the canisters.

It would be a shame if protesters learned that police scanners are legal to own in the US, allowing them to learn where police are moving and what routes they intend to take. It would be a shame if they discovered that these scanners can be used to send as well as receive, allowing them to flood the scanner frequencies with noise.

All this would be a terrible, terrible shame.

[snakiee]

Hey it be even more of a shame to not use plywood

But Rubbermaid instead. Shame shame definitely DONT do that

[distant-sound-of-binicorn-howls]

It would be a shame if someone had to reblog this. Such a shame

[guidonian-hand]

Why was I today years old when I learned that lead compounds taste SWEET and THAT'S why kids eating paint chips back in the day was a concern?

[entomologistologist]

people these days, it's always "stop eating lead" and "lead is poisonous" and never "was the lead yummy?" or "you looked really cool eating those tasty lead chips" smh

[greenycrimson]

the Romans had lead pipes for two reasons: one, lead is soft and it's easily worked into pipes; two, it makes your water delicious and slightly sweet

[phinarei]

Some places with really shitty old plumbing, lead paint, and other lead heavy things (you know, places that poor people and BIPOC live) sometimes a bunch of it gets into the snow melt around the community in winter. A lot of kids in places like that know where it collects and go find it because it's sweet ice that tastes a little bit like sour patch kids.

I've lived in more than one place like that and I've talked to other people who have as well and it's a pretty common experience from what I can tell. Lead is still an issue TODAY. In communities of color and poor rural areas especially.

But, can confirm. Tastes good. And warn kids about WHY eating anything they find outdoors is dangerous. Some kids genuinely can't follow directions without details.

[theconcealedweapon]

[lesbeansoups]

I think we need to appreciate this part of Brennan Lee Mulligan's WIRED interview a lot more:

"The evangelical right in this country needs to manufacture outrage to hold onto its voting block. [The satanic panic about DnD] was arbitrary, as the targets of their outrage always are. Fight the power."

[self-isolating-mochi]

I respect this man so hard for taking every chance he gets to let out his hate for capitalism and those that abuse their power. It's wonderful to see

[nando161mando]

That is the truth sadly

[charlesoberonn]

Still feels weird that the same band made "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" and "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)"

[charlesoberonn]

It's like if Smash Mouth and Fall Out Boy were one band.

[zennistrad]

The Offspring are honestly a contender for the funniest punk band ever, made even funnier by the fact that Dexter Holland is pushing 60 now and has a PhD in virology.

[zennistrad]

Like imagine being on an academic committee and reviewing a dissertation on HIV protein-encoding genomes and it's from a guy with frosted tips whose greatest legacy is the Crazy Taxi soundtrack.

That's the Offspring.

[witdiseased]

The hook from "Come Out And Play" was created because Dexter Holland was doing lab work and did, in fact, have to keep certain petri dishes separated while disinfecting them. So he kept saying "gotta keep 'em separated" to himself while working, and it stuck in his head so badly that it made it into the song.

[skeleton-richard]

[charlesoberonn]

A role model for all of us indecisive people who want to do and try anything and everything.

[4whomittolz]

Was drunk and bored and getting annoyed at the ridiculous coverage of the US election so I decided to fix the place.

I'm from Australia where we only have 7 states, as such I have the (objectively correct) opinion that 50 is too many states, so I decided to cut it down to 10.

A few notes on my improved US map:

•Despite Illinois making the cut, Chicago is now in Michigan, due to the state getting the entire bank of its namesake.

•Boston is also in Michigan due to special exception.

•New York is now the capital of Pensylvania

•Yes that's how you spell Pensylvania

•The border of California is just roughly the Rockies, no need to overthink it.

•Making Florida bigger actually dilutes it's power, but Texas must be abolished

•Colorado should still be a rectangle, that's my mistake, I just couldn't be bothered fixing it.

•Alaska has been returned to Canada with a hand written apology

•All the random ass islands that the US forgot to pretend they didn't colonise have gained independence

Please let me know if there are any more improvements you can think of.

Edit: As a number of you have mentioned, Alaska never belonged to Canada, and giving it to them would be incredibly wrong when the native people have been trying to gain independence all this time.

Luckily, the apology note got lost in the mail in all the turmoil, so Canada never realised they're meant to have Alaska now. The Alaskans just start quietly self-governing and hoping the US and Canada don't notice, then after a few years they declare independence.

[disease-danger-darkness-silence]

OP where do you think Boston is located.

[depsidase]

[depsidase]

[c3rvida3]

My one friend group can't stop saying, "See you in hell!" in a cheerful voice instead of, "Talk to you later!" and my other friend group can't stop calling things "penis" instead of "cool" or "good", so I just unironically uttered the phrase, "Sounds penis, see you in hell," as I got off the phone.

[c3rvida3]

I think everyone should be doing this btw. Maybe, "Sounds penis, see you in hell," could be our, "Always."

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

I tried to quote this post to my housemate the other day but botched it so said "nice cock, kill yourself" and now it's turned into a call and response so instead of saying goodbye one of us says nice cock and the other tells you to kill yourself

[depsidase]

[depsidase]

[theconcealedweapon]

Remember when landlords said that "being a landlord is hard work"?

Here we have a landlord literally saying word for word that it's "so easy".

[fluorescentbrains]

seeing straight men be disgusted by booktok smut recommenders has actually radicalized me to the side of booktok smut recommenders. girls your taste may be atrocious but i will never disparage you for exposing mainstream discourse to the concept of soaking through your underwear. spent my whole life listening to men talk about penises it’s about time they get jumpscared by women talking about pussy in crude detail on social media. go forth and goon my warriors

[itscoldinwonderland]

Thinking about how every major city (except fort worth) in Texas is blue, votes democrat in every election, is majority liberal/left-leaning. It's driving me insane okay. The majority of Texans live in or around the major cities. Land does not vote.

75% of Texans live in BLUE!!!

This makes me want to put a toaster in the bath tub okay bye!!!

[itscoldinwonderland]

You guys don't get it, like if you're not from Texas you don't get it. Most people here seem to just wanna keep their guns and like not have to pay high taxes, but thats were their ""conservative "" views end. Texas is a minoriry-majority state. Dallas and Austin have some of the biggest LGBT populations in the US. To even call Texas a red state is CRAZY TO ME. ITS GERRYMANDERING!

[three--rings]

Every one of those empty red squares gets representation in the state legislature. Those people representing 50 people and some cows are proposing laws. (I say this as someone living with cows in my neighborhood). And even then the districts are gerrymandered to break up any blue areas. My college town used to have a dem rep till they gerrymandered us to add more cow territory.

My state senate district weaves around 18 counties, including some partial counties, from central texas all the way to the border hundreds of miles away to make sure the absolute cunt of a state GOP senator we have stays in power.

If people outside these states want to do something to help us and stop the march of fascism you should be pressuring the federal government to address gerrymandering and voting rights. This cannot be a states rights thing. it's a human rights issue.

[westiec]

Here's the state senate districts @three--rings is talking about:

[source: txdot.gov]

Lotta cow territory lumped in with bits of city there. It's not just the state lege though. For fun, here's what the US congressional districts look like:

[source: txdot.gov]

Might be even worse. Shout out to TX-10 in particular that dodges around the city of Austin to pick up all the rich neighborhoods around Lake Travis on the west side to go with all those red Brazos Valley counties.

Hey, I wonder how this district map looks if we color it by—

ah.

[source: NY Times article about the latest round of redistricting gerrymandering]

[three--rings]

My favorite gerrymandered Texas district is the one I used to live in, Houston's 18th. Represented by the legendary Sheila Jackson-Lee.

But look at this map.

It's the peachy thing. They literally just said "let's carve out all the black neighborhoods and also the gay ones and put them all together. Now both the 29th and the 7th are also democratic these days, but that's a recent development. (Okay the 29th has been dem controlled for a long time but the 7th only since 2019.)

[three--rings]

Somebody reblogged this two year old post and I got all heated about this again.

Friendly reminder they are in power cause they cheat. They are not a majority. And they're trying to fix every race. Don't give up. We have the numbers.

[theconcealedweapon]

[theconcealedweapon]