I'm Drawing A Blank!

Long intervals of nothing followed by random thoughts and ideas that may or may not ever see the light of day.

[wheelie-sick]

sometimes people experiencing psychosis and/or mania will come up to you on the street and talk in confusing or upsetting ways. your job is to either have a regular human-to-human conversation with that person or politely leave. your job is not to call 911. do not call 911. you might kill that person if you call 911.

[wheelie-sick]

I don't even have the energy to screenshot and respond to your tags- what the actual fuck is wrong with you? "the cops are scared and rightfully so" "mental health calls are the scariest for cops" OH so this isn't about the safety of psychotic & manic people this is about piggy feelings?

and no, actually, this is not USA specific and no, actually, people from other countries should not ignore this post. police violence and sanism weren't invented in the US and they are certainly not unique to here. if you (or anyone) thinks that this bullshit doesn't happen elsewhere then you are not listening.

[headspace-hotel]

cops r Some Guy with a Gun

do we want Some Guy with a Gun in this situation? answer is usually "NO"

[uncivilliberties]

This is legitimately useful reframing. A while ago I started replacing the word "cop" in my vocabulary with "a man with a gun." It really puts things into perspective.

This homeless person is making me uncomfortable. Should I call [a man with a gun]?

My neighbor is having a loud party. Should I get [a man with a gun] involved?

There are some teenagers skateboarding. Do you think [a man with a gun] would get rid of them for me?

It makes it very clear what you're saying. I can call a man with a gun to threaten or hurt someone mildly inconveniencing me. You're not calling the cops, you're calling A MAN WITH A GUN into a situation that does not warrant a firearm handled by a volatile lunatic who will not be held accountable for his actions.

[headspace-hotel]

^ ^ ^

[rederiswrites]

Just watched Adam Conover (of Adam Ruins Everything) make such a solid point that I think we should spread far and wide. Yes, having AI write your emails is lazy, sure, but people love being lazy. We need to really emphasize that sending AI emails (or using AI responses on social media, or publishing AI flyers, or or or) is rude.

It's rude. You're making someone take their time to read something you couldn't bother to write. You're telling them they were so unimportant you couldn't be bothered to actually take the time to say something yourself. And frankly, you're lying about it while you're at it.

It's rude.

[electronicgallery]

Museum Asks People To Recreate Paintings At Home, Gets 30 New Impressive Photos

It appears that boredom lies behind the most creative ideas. That's why quarantine has produced some of the most entertaining activities. One of them is the Getty Museum challenge, that so many of you have already seen in our previous article here.

[delphinidin4]

Narcissus taking a selfie is the ACTUAL best.

[simplyclockwork]

These are REALLY cool

[notallfay]

These are art in themselves, in a some of them point out what lockdown was like for us, they’re expressed themselves in a really cool way. But I think these are going to be talked about in the future.

[oneheadtoanother]

idk anything about this but I love it

[lynati]

If any competition needed to be on Tumblr, it's this one.

[scarlettohairdye]

Zelda puzzle training simulator

[alexseanchai]

The obstacle designers must have had so much fun

[whitepeopletwitter]

[blanketfortarchitect]

[rebloggingistheenemy]

[inviernodel95]

Thank you. I hope everybody thinks this

[hydrattan]

I was feeling agitated and artblocked yesterday so I decided to give my brain a rest by watching TV and then the next thing I knew these were in front of me

[niggazinmoscow]

Every day I learn something new about queer history.

[elljayvee]

Rudy Galindo is still a working skating coach and I hope he is living his best life. His insta is cute af skating nonsense.

https://www.instagram.com/rudyvalgalindo/

[revizyonist]

med people are so annoying "This family's 8 year old child who was about to go through a major surgery and kept crying that she was hungry so they pitied her and gave her food, she then had a heart attack in the surgery. They're so stupid 😒" girl they didn't know that could happen or why it happens. it takes so little time to explain to them that will happen instead of telling them "no food" with no explanation 10 times

[revizyonist]

"Before surgery, your body’s reflexes that protect your airway are relaxed by anesthesia. If there’s food or liquid in your stomach, it will near certainly come back up and go into your lungs, which can cause choking, a severe lung / heart infection or even a heart attack. That’s called aspiration, and it is life-threatening. It's hard, but it's only a single day to prevent near certain death. Not eating or drinking beforehand massively lowers the risk and helps prevent these life threatening situations under anesthesia." <- TIP: patients have brains which allows them to receive information just like you

[ancelineonline]

I have four kids. I’ve had one or another of them need some kind of surgical procedure that requires anesthesia four or five times over the past 15 years.

This Tumblr post is the first time someone has explained to me *why* I couldn’t feed them before those instances.

I’m not stupid. I understood that just fine. Hell, my kids would have understood that just fine. But no one bothered to tell us.

[bowditch]

i did know this before having kids (i have six). we have a kid that's needed multiple procedures requiring anesthesia. and every single time, i am asked multiple times if i'm sure he was not given any food or water after a certain point.

every single time i have had to say, "i understand that if he had food or water, he could aspirate it into his lungs under anesthesia. i am not lying to you." THEN someone would make a little note and i would stop being repeatedly asked.

not a single time was that risk explained to me. the only reason it came up was because i already knew. i still don't understand why it isn't standard pre-op counseling or pre-op check information, when me as a parent acknowledging the actual risk also put THE MEDICAL STAFF at ease because i conveyed that i had informed understanding as reason to not lie about giving my kid food.

"maybe some people will get nervous and refuse surgery" okay so they need more counseling about risks and anxiety, not less information in a way that actually does endanger their child or themselves!

[arctic-turtle-cassiopeia]

Reblogging to save a life and teach medical professionals basic communication skills

[neroushalvaus]

Trevor Noah interviewing Judith “Badass” Heumann

x

[neroushalvaus]

I’m glad so many people have discovered Judith “Judy” Heumann through this silly little gif set. I am sorry to say she has died at the age of 75. She was known as the mother of disability rights. In 1970 she sued the Board of Education to become a licensed teacher and she won. In 1977 she was one of the organizers of the 504 Sit-in, a 24 day protest for disability rights. You can learn more about her story from her book Being Heumann, the picture book Fighting for YES! or the documentary Crip Camp.

Judy Heumann believed in the inherent value of each disabled individual and would never back down on what she thought was right. Her friends and fellow activists remember her as a strong leader.

Judy Heumann

December 18, 1947 - March 4, 2023

May her memory be for a blessing.

[changeling-droneco]

I did a paper on her for one of my college classes! She’s so cool! Here’s some facts!

She’s Jewish and born to immigrant german parents who migrated in the 1930s

She has been in a wheelchair for nearly her entire life due to contacting polio at a very young age.

Due to her wheelchair, she was actually barred from most schooling including kindergarten as her wheelchair was deemed as a “risk.” because it could be “in the way” if there was a fire.

She was the first wheelchair teacher in New York after suing when she was once again denied her license for the same reasons she was denied kindergarten.

She worked as the Assistant Secretary of Education for OSERS for 8 years

Her parents, especially her mother, were big parts in her becoming an activist as her mother Ilse was a community organizer and fought hard to get her daughter as much education as she could, it was her activism that helped her daughter and other disabled children be allowed to enroll in High School instead of being separated into a specific disabled school. (We don’t have time to go into all that but tldr; those schools sucked and its a genuine accomplishment disabled kids no longer have to learn in like, cramped attics that didn’t teach anything)

She was a founder of the organization Disabled in Action! She didn’t just organize sit-ins, she helped RUN the organization that was organizing them!

The president she butted heads with the most was Richard Nixxon, this isn’t that important I just know everyone loves when he gets dunked on

She helped CREATE THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT!!! I cannot express to you just how important that is, if you have basically any kind of disability, this act is a big reason you were able to go to a public school instead of being shoved into a warehouse.

The Black Panthers helped with the 504 sit-in! They helped bring food because the organization also included black disabled people, and one of the members of both, Brad Lomax, asked for help!

She had a podcast! You can go listen to that podcast right now!

Honestly just check out her website in general

She also founded the Berkeley Center for Independent Living!!

Honestly I could keep going on but she’s genuinely one of my heroes and was an amazing person who it is not an underestimate to say changed the world for the better.

May her memory be a blessing!!! May the disabled community always remember how much of it was built on the work and back of a disabled Jewish woman!!!

[lesvegas]

A few years ago while trying to find ways to commit suicide as painlessly as possible, I came across a PDF of Dr. Paul Quinnett's The Forever Decision. Thinking it might go into actual methods of suicide (I read an article once that actually did that and was trying to find it again) I started to read it, and I think I only got about two pages in before I was crying too much to actually see the words.

I downloaded the PDF to my hard drive and I open it again whenever I'm feeling too suicidal to do much else, but not enough to start booking a ride to the hospital. And every time without fail I only go up to a few pages before backing off and choosing to live another day just because suicide suddenly seems even more unbearable than whatever the hell upset me in the first place.

All the book really does is [I'm pulling a summary from GoodReads here as, again, I've read no more than 5 pages] "discusses the social aspects of suicide, the right to die, anger, loneliness, depression, stress, hopelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, the consequences of a suicide attempt, and how to get help."

But it also starts with the author kindly asking the reader to complete the book before going through with anything, and for some reason I'm compelled to really just try to read it all before finalizing everything. Despite not yet completing it (hopefully never will) I think I can safely say it's saved my life at least a few times now.

It's intentionally legal to copy and redistribute this book to keep it as accessible as possible, and it's very easy to find, but here's a link for it anyways.

[prismatic-bell]

I found the institute he heads, the QPR Institute, which focuses on suicide prevention, and sent them a note of gratitude and told them the book is being passed around here.

I was answered by the national coordinator, who's passing my comment on to Dr. Quinnett.

So if you saw this post and you're in that place so dark where "does it really matter, though? Nobody even knows I exist" feels like a very true statement:

Somebody does know, actually. He wrote this book, and he's very glad it found its way to you, and he wants you alive. In fact he's dedicated the last 40 years of his life to that goal. He knows you exist because it was important to me to give him the chance to know about you.

So will you do him, and me, a favor, and give it one more day?

I've given it fifteen years so far, and it's gotten a hell of a lot better than I ever imagined it could.

[cranberry-branflakes]

which heart did you get when you liked this post?

rainbow flag

lesbian flag

gay flag

bisexual flag

pansexual flag

asexual flag

aromantic flag

transgender flag

non binary flag

intersex flag

Voting ended on9h

when reblogging, please add the pride tags I've included! if not, anybody liking your reblog will only see regular tumblr hearts :)

[did-you-know]

The oldest living tree ever found was a pine named “Prometheus.” It had been alive since before the Egyptian pyramids were built. Some guy cut it down in 1964. Source

[aclockworknick]

he was actually a forestry graduate student who was doing research on bristlecone pines (Pinus langaevea) and got his increment borer stuck in the tree. this tool costs almost $800, so he asked the forest service if he could cut down the tree to recover the tool. after cutting it down, it became apparent that the tree was actually the oldest living organism. ever. (around 8,000 years old). so, not just some asshole. the guy feels extremely guilty and has even broken down in tears during an interview about the accident

[wellshitcaitlin]

OH MY GOD SO LET ME TELL YOU A STORY

So after the grad student cut down the tree and discovered it was the oldest tree in the world he quit studying forestry and went to study salt flats (can’t cut down the oldest trees in the world on salt flats no siree none of that happening) and he was being interviewed about his research, but in the middle of the interview the reporter just stops and says “wait aren’t the guy that…”

And he just takes off running. Literally. Turns around and runs across the salt flats away from the interview and I feel so bad for him but I can’t help but start crying I’m laughing so hard about it imagine a guy high tailing it across salt flats away from a dude with a recorder

[thoughtsofadame]

its so different to know it was an accident and that NO ONE was aware until after. its not like this was one ignorant guy cutting down a fucking relic.

[kujakumai]

"I am putting a piece of myself into this" or more explicitly putting a piece of your soul into something is an action characters in YGO do constantly (Yami Bakura parasite-mind'ing a piece of the puzzle, Zork putting part of his soul in the ring, TKB putting part of himself in the eye, Marik's ability to see and live through his minions), mainly with the powers of the millennium items, but it's also something shown to be done regularly by even ordinary people just by caring about something a lot (White Mage Bakura, every time Atem or Yugi says he can feel someone's heart or soul in their cards, the BEWD card's refusals to be used against its master). In no case does this ever have negative metaphysical consequences for the person doing it, even when someone does it a lot, and human souls are consistently portrayed as infinitely divisible, with each individual piece indistinguishable from the whole person.

so basically kazuki takahashi says every time you love something or work hard at it then your whole self shines through it and every single time you do this it only makes you more powerful. and i think that's really nice :)

[velvetcloak]

[feminismandmedia]

LPT: Don't throw your junk mail away. Use it to to help the USPS instead!

Next time you get a credit card offer in the mail, or a junk piece of mail that includes a prepaid envelope or postcard, don't throw it away! Send the envelope back with a blank sheet of paper inside, or don't fill the postcard out, but still send it back. The company that sent it to you had to pay the USPS for postage on each one they get back. This is a way to support the USPS by doing very little, and sticking it to the annoying companies that want all of your money.

[daniel-oneiroi]

In the 90s we would send companies “hate mail” by stuffing prepaid envelopes with things like ‘blanks’ (flat heavy metal pieces), a roofing shingle) and layers of other competitors’ mail or junk news. This is because the company would have to pay more upon recieving the junk mail. It eats into them. It actually somewhat reduced our junk mail returnables, I think.  Send that mail y’all. 

[barrebard]

Except please don't do this to nonprofits!!

If you do this when you get a donation request or something from a nonprofit, you'll be forcing small organizations with very little overhead to deal with the incoming mail and paying for the postage.

Credit card companies? YES. Personal loan offers? ABSOLUTELY. The chain store you've never shopped at who bought your info from a competitor? BY ALL MEANS.

But don't do this to your local "Friends of the Library" fundraiser or homeless outreach program or anything like that. You'll be draining their limited resources that would be better used elsewhere.

[dragonsrequiem]

Feel free to do it to groups like Salvation Army, PETA, or Susan Komen cuz fuck them.

[thehonorablereverendfish]

Hey y'all. I was talking to a retired postmaster about this.

She was 100 percent for this, bit please PLEASE do not use metal pieces or roof tiles. It can jam the sorting machines and cost the office millions to replace it.

Cardstock? Other papers? Fine. They are flexible. They go through the machine without issue.

So go ahead, send the junk mail, but limit it to paper.

[comeonamericawakeup]

Interesting…

[marauders4evr]

It occurs to me that there are people who weren’t on this website in 2012 and therefore never saw the magical gif that you can actually hear:

It’s been over five years and that still impresses the hell out of me.

[gwydpolls]

Who Sang it Better?

These are not remotely all the versions recorded by various artistsover the years, but I aimed for a nice selection.

Winner goes up against Leonard Cohen:

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (Official Live in London 2008)

The Contneders:

K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

Hallelujah Rufus Wainwright

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Official Video - Live at Bearsville)

Bon Jovi - Hallelujah

Who Sang it Better?

K.D. Lang

Rufus Wainwright

Jeff Buckley

Bon Jovi

Voting ended onMay 11

If you have a different version you like, please suggest it.

[gwydpolls]

Somehow, we managed to have a three way tie. Normally I'd just do a tie breaker and carry on, but we also have two suggestions from readers. One is a different K.D. Lang. The other is Daniel Kahn's in Yiddish.

I am thinking we should do K. D. Lang off, followed the week after with the first round winners (K.D. Lang represented by the winner of that poll, and the excellent Daniel Khan.

k.d. lang performs Hallelujah - Vancouver 2010 Olympics Opening Ceremony

Which K.D. Lang should continue?

2008

2010

Voting ended onMay 19

[gwydpolls]

A new contender!

Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" - in Yiddish

Who Sang it Better?

K.D. Lang 2010

Rufus Wainwright

Jeff Buckley

Daniel Kahn

Voting ended onMay 28

[vaspider]

Daniel Kahn's Yiddish version is the best, fight me.

[alexseanchai]

I love how the poll with Daniel Kahn has fewer votes for second place than the first poll has total votes

[vaspider]

this is the magic of daniel kahn

[joyfullyghostlyqueen]

Pentatonix anyone?

[alexseanchai]

Comparing only to other Christian covers? Eh, I've heard worse. Comparing only to other Pentatonix covers? Meh. They were having a lot more fun with the Grinch song.