[lnfieri-deactivated20240223]

What’s Up Danger

[demifiendrsa]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse poster illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz

[sandisjustsad]

Helloo spiderman india... 🕷️

[bunjywunjy]

Do you consider cat declawing to be unethical, and if so, what would you consider to be the best alternative?

yeah declawing is ABSOLUTELY unethical from a medical standpoint, and I'll tell you why!

so this is what a cat's paw looks like on the inside:

take a quick second to look it over, and note which parts of it are actually touching the ground and bearing the cat's weight.

it's the "palm" and the ends of the toes, right?

well, that's the problem. so you probably ALSO noticed that the cat's claws are actually attached to those last toe bones, which is why when a cat is declawed, they remove that entire last toe joint like this:

so the issue is, the bone that was bearing the cat's weight is gone. it no longer exists. this forces the weight of the cat's body onto the end of the second bone, here:

and that's a HUGE fucking problem. that bone was never meant to touch earth, the ends of it are covered in nerves and connective tissue instead of padding! putting weight on it WILL cause the cat pain, chronic-for-the-rest-of-your-life pain!

cats are terrible about actually expressing pain, but if you pay attention to how declawed and non-declawed cats walk, you'll notice that declawed cats put their feet down much more gingerly and are more hesitant with their first steps.

and this is because it hurts.

please don't declaw your cat. just use claw caps or keep their nails trimmed.

thanks for attending my TED talk bye

[ceeteebee88]

Don't be a cunt to your cat

[scrawnytoothpastetaste]

Credit: @nekoyuzu1207 on Twitter

if you repost this on any other platform please please please credit the artist I'm begging you

[a-fucking-velociraptor]

Cool Tip

If you are like me and always need to be working on something to keep your anxiety under control, during this quarentine why not helping scientists by looking at pictures of some neat penguins? or even galaxies?  There’s this site call Zooniverse, where you can help on scientific projects by analyzing pictures and data!  Right now my favorite project has returned, called Penguin Watch (where yeah, you get to watch penguins, it’s amazing)

you basically have to analyse photos looking for penguins, their chicks, eggs or even predators and human interaction But there are lots of interesting projects you can help in areas such as biology, physics, history or even art: 

Oh and the best part, some institutions even accept it as volunteering/service hour requirements for graduation and scholarships!! It’s helping me a lot during this time, so I thought it was worth sharing 

[tayefeth]

Zooniverse is awesome. They have a relatively new project classifying and transcribing recordings of vintage Cuban radio around the revolution.

Another project is about the fan and hate mail sent to Orson Welles after the broadcast of War of the Worlds.

Another project is rescuing data from handwritten records from a Scottish weather station.

[ninenine-brooklyn]

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

RODRIGO NO

[woefully-undercaffeinated]

So I’m currently enslaved employed by a cable company, and I can offer a few pointers:

Find a copy of the customer agreement online. Read it. Have the “big cats in boxes” YouTube video on standby so that you can renew your will to live periodically while reading it.

Focus on the sections about cancellation

Examine any terms regarding early termination fees, notice required, proration of the time between cancellation and the end of the billing period, and equipment return policies.

Send a letter requesting cancellation to your carrier via certified mail. Include the date you wish for it to be cancelled. If you are not the account holder but have power of attorney, or the account holder has died and you are managing their estate, send copies of the relevant documentation with the letter. 

The day after, when it isn’t cancelled, call back. Ask for “retention” or “loyalty” and when asked why, state that you wish to cancel. 

They’ll ask you why you want to cancel. Say “I don’t want to discuss it, I just want to cancel my service.” (note: there are times when it pays to disclose your reasons; my company will waive all early termination fees and penalties if the account holder is being entering military deployment or a nursing home. Check their policies.)

They’ll offer something nice. Bundles, discounts, free channels, etc. Say “as nice as that sounds, and as much as I appreciate the offer, I just need to cancel my service.”

When they deflect again, ask how to return any leased equipment. They’ll launch into another spiel about that, thankful that you aren’t making them process the cancellation. Write down the process – they’ll either tell you to bring the equipment to a local office, or they’ll state that they are sending recovery kits. If it’s the latter, ask for the address that the recovery kits return to and write it down (you want to use the recovery kit if you get one, since it’s prepaid, but if they aren’t sent you’ll want to be able to return the equipment yourself.) 

After all of this has transpired, state “As I stated in the letter sent via certified mail on [date], I am ending our contractual relationship and terminating this subscription. Has my cancellation order been processed?”

If the cancellation order has not been processed, tell them to process it. Listen to their spiel. Ask for the date that it will be terminated.

Hang up, wait thirty minutes. Call back, ask if your account is pending cancellation or not. If not, ask to be transferred to retention and ask for a supervisor. Demand that your cancellation be processed and advise them that a complaint will be filed with the FCC if it is not. 

If more than an hour has been spent on the phone, file a complaint at FCC.gov. Forcing a customer to continue a service outside of the terms stipulated by the contract is illegal and the FCC hates it. 

[smitethestate]

This went from really funny to “holy fuck what kind of nightmare dystopia do we live in that we need to be educated on how to get a company to actually cancel an account with a company that bills you monthly” really fast.

[sciencebelongstoallofus]

Maki Naro @ The Nib

[mistertotality]

There’s a lot of misinformation going around about the Covid-19 vaccines, so now is a good time to bring this back.

[siege1]

Vaccinate. All I’ma say.

[smolfrogi]

Vaccinate your crotch spawns

[limrx]

I can’t decide which version of today’s warm-up I like better

[retromomentofgypsywhatever-deac]

[anarratorofnogreatskill]

retromomentofgypsywhatever:

I got this at a pro life convention in my sophomore year of high school

I got one at my university my senior year.

My roommates were horrified.

[curseworm]

sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby. sticky baby. butter baby.

[lubricates]

oh my god

[shadesofmauve]

On Fanfiction

I was cruising through the net, following the cold trail of one of the periodic “Is or is not Fanfic the Ultimate Literary Evil?” arguments that crop up regularly, and I’m now bursting to make a point that I never see made by fic defenders.

We’re all familiar with the normal defenses of fic: it’s done out of love, it’s training, it’s for fun. Those are all good and valid defenses!

But they miss something. They damn with faint praise. Because the thing is, when you commit this particular Ultimate Literary Evil you’ve now told a story. And stories are powerful. The fact that it wasn’t in an original world or with original characters doesn’t necessarily make it less powerful to any given reader.

I would never have made this argument a few years ago. A few years ago I hadn’t received messages from people who were deeply touched by something I wrote in fanfic. So what if it’s only two or three or four people, and I used someone else’s world and characters? For those two or three or four people, I wrote something fucking important. You cannot tell me that isn’t a valid use of my time and expect me to feel chastened. I don’t buy it. I won’t feel ashamed. I will laugh when you call something that touches other people ‘literary masturbation.’ Apparently you’re not too up on your sex terminology.

Someone could argue that if I’d managed the same thing with original characters in an original world, it could’ve touched more people. They might be right! On the other hand, it might never have been accepted for publication, or found a market if self published, and more importantly I would never have written it because I didn’t realize I could write. The story wouldn’t have happened. Instead, thanks to fanfic being a thing, it did. And for two or three or four people it mattered. When we talk about defending fanfic, can we occasionally talk about that?

[lsbaird]

I once had an active serviceman who told me that my FF7 and FF8 fic helped get him through the war. That’ll humble you. People have told me my fanfic helped get them through long nights, through grief, through hard times. It was a solace to people who needed solace. And because it was fanfic, it was easier to reach the people who needed it. They knew those people already. That world was dear to them already. They were being comforted by friends, not strangers.

Stories are like swords. Even if you’ve borrowed the sword, even if you didn’t forge it yourself from ore and fire, it’s still your body and your skill that makes use of it. It can still draw blood, it can strike down things that attack you, it can still defend something you hold dear. Don’t get me wrong, a sword you’ve made yourself is powerful. You know it down to its very molecules, are intimate with its heft and its reach. It is part of your own arm. But that can make you hesitate to use it sometimes, if you’re afraid that swinging it too recklessly will notch the blade. Is it strong enough, you think. Will it stand this? I worked so hard to make it. A blade you snatched up because you needed a weapon in your hand is not prey to such fears. You will use it to beat against your foes until it either saves you or it shatters.

But whether you made that sword yourself or picked it up from someone who fell on the field, the fight you fight with it is always yours.

[roachpatrol]

Literary critics who sneer at fanfic are so infuriatingly shortsighted, because they all totally ignore how their precious literature, as in individual stories that are created, disseminated, and protected as commercial products, are a totally modern industrial capitalist thing and honestly not how humans have ever done it before like a couple centuries ago. Plus like, who benefits most from literature? Same dudes who benefit most from capitalism: the people in power, the people with privilege. There’s a reason literary canon is composed of fucking white straight dudes who write about white straight dudes fucking. 

Fanfiction is a modern expression of the oral tradition—for the rest of us, by the rest of us, about the rest of us—and I think that’s fucking wonderful and speaks to a need that absolutely isn’t being met by the publishing industry. The need to come together as a close community, I think, and take the characters of our mythology and tell them getting drunk and married and tricked and left behind and sent to war and comforted and found again and learning the lessons that every generation learns over and over. It’s wonderful. I love it. I’m always going to love it. 

[kyraneko]

Stories are fractal by nature. Even when there’s just one version in print, you have it multiplied by every reader’s experience of it in light of who they are, what they like, what they want. And then many people will put themselves in the place of the protagonist, or another character, and spend a lot of time thinking about what they’d do in that character’s place. Or adjusting happenings so they like the results better.

That’s not fic yet, but it is a story.

But the best stories grow. This can happen in the language of capitalism—a remake of a classic movie, a series of books focusing on what happened afterwards or before—or it can happen in the language of humanity. Children playing with sticks as lightsabers, Jedi Princess Leia saving Alderaan by dueling Vader; a father reading his kids The Hobbit as a bedtime story as an interactive, “what would you like to happen next?” way so that the dwarves win the wargs over with doggie biscuits that they had in their pockets and ride to Erebor on giant wolves, people writing and sharing their ideas for deleted outtake scenes from Star Trek and slow-build fierce and tender romance with startling bursts of hot sex between Hawkeye and Agent Coulson.

A story at its most successful is a fully developed fractal, retold a million times and a million ways, with stories based on stories based on stories. Fanfic of fanfic of fanfic. Stories based on headcanons, stories based on prompts, stories that put the Guardians of the Galaxy in a coffee-shop AU and stories where the Transformers are planet-wandering nomads and stories where characters from one story are placed into a world from another. Stories that could be canon, stories that are the farthest thing from canon, stories that are plausible, stories that would never happen, stories that give depth to a character or explore the consequences of one different plot event or rewrite the whole thing from scratch.

This is what stories are supposed to be.

This is what stories are.

[adreamingsongbird]

“i love your smile,” yuuri says, dusting the photographs on the shelf by the couch, and it’s a bad day but viktor knows it shouldn’t be, because there’s no reason for it to be bad. yuuri loves his smile. he should smile more, because it makes yuuri happy, and yuuri deserves to be happy. yuuri deserves to be around someone who makes him happy.

so he smiles, smiles just like he always has, so that when yuuri turns around he’ll see it and he’ll smile back, and maybe the little whispers insidiously reminding him that he’s nothing special anymore and he’s in his thirties now and the world has moved on and doesn’t need him anymore will stop. because yuuri smiling at him always makes things better, always, always, doesn’t it?

(because if yuuri hears the voices, he might agree, and if yuuri realized he doesn’t need him anymore, that viktor needs him far more than he needs viktor, that would be it. viktor would–he would shatter, on the spot, like broken glass, like shards of ice, waiting to melt in the sun.)

yuuri turns around, and he… doesn’t smile.

“oh,” he sighs, brow furrowing, and then he walks over and straddles his lap and pokes his cheek. “now that’s not the smile i love. don’t force it, vitya.”

“but you like it when i smile,” viktor says, helpless, because he’s been caught, and the whispers are loud. “i just want you to be happy.”

“i am happy,” yuuri says, looping his arms around his neck and leaning in to press their foreheads together. his skin is warm and his eyes are full of love. “you’re here. that’s enough.”

the whispers freeze. viktor’s breath catches in his throat. “but i’m not smiling.”

“that’s okay.” yuuri kisses him, brief and gentle, a soft press of lips. “i love you when you’re making this face, too. you know what? i even love you when you steal all the blankets, and that’s saying something.”

it’s unexpected enough to make him let out a bark of surprised laughter, and then yuuri kisses him again, grinning.

“see? there,” he says. “that’s the smile i meant. you see, vitya? it’ll always come back.”

there’s something unsaid there (the darkness will pass, the bad days aren’t forever, the clouds will fade) that he can’t quite word, but the whispers fall silent completely, stunned into silence by yuuri’s casual brilliance. he stares at the man in his lap for a moment, at his best friend, the love of his life, his husband, and feels the weight start to lift from his chest. for the first time today, he can breathe.

“you’re right,” he agrees, very softly. yuuri caresses his cheek, and viktor leans his face into his palm, closes his eyes, and smiles.

[arcadenemesis]

Wild Card

ch ¼ • words: 6k • rating: t • sheith • tennis au

Takashi Shirogane. Or, simply Shiro to fans and officials alike. World number number one 137 weeks and counting. Drop shot specialist and king of the ace. A living legend of the sport at just 24.

But undeniable talent aside, he’s also the people’s champion. One that has never had a bad interview in his life and always has the crowd on his side. The kind of guy that sponsors flock to, whose face gets slapped on every promotional image and the one who dominates the highlight reels. The guy who gets the invites to Paris fashion week, takes the cliché media photos with chubby looking koalas for the Australian tours, has the exhibition matches on the top of the tallest buildings in Dubai.

Keith is completely and utterly in love with him.

[read on ao3]

[iamatinyowl]

Don’t date men who dont do housework/chores until they’re asked.

[iamatinyowl]

By that I mean: it is not your responsibility alone to keep track of and manage the household labour and chores.

Do not date someone who expects you to tally and distribute tasks like they’re a child getting chores from their parents.

You should never feel like the parent nagging for chores to be done before playtime in an adult partnership.

[ethiopienne]

There’s a really great comic about this too.

[lowkey-morbid]

this is an excellent article about a guy who got divorced because of this and talks about how it’s important for men to realize all of the above points!

[satisfied-with-my]

Fantastic Beasts: The Search for Credence’s Birth Certificate

[kingseijuro]

Maybe Keith and Kosmo at the dog park when Keith runs into a v attractive dog dad with a big white dog named Atlas and a smile like the sun 👀

Thank you so much for the prompt!!💜💜

Warnings: None

Relationship(s): Shiro/Keith

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 1,158

————

The breeze was nice today as Keith slowly walked down the dirt trail, taking in all the scenery around him. Thick trees tightly rooted next to one another lined both sides of the trail, big bushes of leaves hanging above the man and his dog. The leaves blocked most of the sun, some rays managing to push between them and attack small spots of the ground. The breeze made the leaves wave, causing a constant change in the breach of light.

With each step Keith took, and each trot Kosmo made, a jingle of metal tags and keys sung in the air. The loop of the soft dog leash sat comfortably around Keith’s wrist as he gripped the fabric with a curl of his palm, slightly farther down from the handle.

The short man hummed softly as they made it to a small dog beach, taking in a whiff of the river water. It was clean, far from the awful smell Keith was used to when around other rivers. The scent of algae filled his nostrils more as he got closer to the shore.

Keith crouched down in front of his wolf, a smile curling onto his lips as he ran a hand through the thick mane on his neck. He unhooked the leash off of Kosmo’s collar, gave him a soft kiss on the head, then stood. The wolf immediately ran into the water and splashed around, Keith internally wincing once he realized the mistake he had made. A bath was inevitable, and it wasn’t fun for either of them. Kosmo was literal hell to bathe.

It was too late now, though, so Keith let the thought slip his mind as he walked to an empty spot on the beach and sat down. He kept a close eye on Kosmo as he relaxed, soon seeing him play with a white Husky around the same size as him. Keith smiled as he watched, the sound of barks and howls filling his ears.

His head perked at the sound of the sand shifting next to him. He turned in an instant, being met by a large man sitting down next to him. But not just any man. He was beautiful, white hair glowing in the sunlight almost as bright as the smile that cracked on his lips as he waved. A scar sat on the bridge of his nose and his right arm was replaced by a robotic prosthetic. A very neat prosthetic, if you asked Keith.

A neat face too.

“Hey, I’m Shiro,” the man’s voice rumbled deep in his throat, all while have a soft and comforting tone. It was odd, normally not possible, but Shiro seemed to do the impossible perfectly. “Which dog is yours?”

“The… The wolf, in the water.” it took a moment for Keith to find his voice. He was too busy staring at the man’s face, and it took him even longer to realize he hadn’t introduced himself. “I’m Keith.”

“I was wondering who had a wolf. How’d you get your hands on one, anyways?” curiosity lingered in his voice as he spoke.

“I know a breeder,” Keith was cautious. Wolves were just recently legalized as pets, and some people weren’t happy about that. So he was always on edge when talking about Kosmo. “Which dog is yours?”

“The white Husky that’s playing with your wolf,” Shiro chuckled softly, seemingly not bothered at all by the wolf. Relief washed over Keith once he realized he wouldn’t have to defend himself for having one. Shiro stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Atlas!” he called, and his voice echoing through the air.

The Husky immediately perked up at the sound of his name and looked towards his owner, soon running towards Shiro as he shook his fur. The dog’s fur was just as bright as his owners, glowing in the sunlight as it moved in the breeze. Keith smiled as he moved towards Atlas, glancing at Shiro for permission and as soon as he saw the nod, his fingers were running through the long fur. “He’s adorable.”

“Thanks, so is yours,” Shiro smiled softly, Kosmo soon approaching them with a soft whine and Keith pouted. He turned his attention to the wolf and gave him a soft pat on his head.

“I know, I know, Kosmo. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention to you,” Keith chuckled softly and Kosmo moved his head, licking the soft skin of Keith’s palm.

“I see Kosmo’s the jealous type,” Shiro chuckled, Keith soon nodding as he gave Kosmo one more pat before standing. “They seem to like each other.”

Kosmo and Atlas ran off once they stopped getting attention, tackling each other and covering themselves in dirt and sand. Suddenly, Keith feels lucky. At least Kosmo’s fur is dark, compared to Atlas’ pure white fur that was immediately foiled by one speck of dirt. “Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Shiro groaned and ran a hand through the small lock of hair covering his forehead at the thought as he watched the two, Atlas covered in wet dirt and sand. And were the fur wasn’t covered, it was tinted brown from the water.

———

A couple hours passed and both dogs were exhausted, laying on the ground at their owners feet as the two talked. The sun was starting to set, deep purples and oranges surrounding the low sun and slowly fading out into the sky, creating a nice ombre effect in the rippling clouds. The air was crisp, cooled down drastically in the span of a couple of hours.

“I should get going, Kosmo needs to eat,” Keith shivered slightly as he stood, the movement moving his shirt slightly and allowing air to run underneath it.

“Yeah, same here. It was nice talking to you,” Shiro smiled warmly as he stood. The two got their dogs hooked to their leashes, then went their separate ways.

“Wait– Keith!” Shiro’s voice forced Keith’s feet to a halt, him turning on his heels to face the taller man several feet away from him. Shiro quickly jogged back over to Keith and handed him a piece of paper, neatly folded.

“Here’s my number, text me some time?” Shiro chuckled nervously and heat rose in Keith’s cheeks.

“Y-Yeah, I’ll do that.” Keith turned on his heels again and immediately left, thankful for the long locks that covered his pink tinted cheeks.

As Keith left the park, he was excited for what’s to come. Something was different about Shiro, something he couldn’t pinpoint.

As soon as Keith got Kosmo situated in the car and hopped into the driver’s seat, he pulled the paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, then typed the number into a contact on his phone.

Shiro

441-987-7636

Keith couldn’t help but to smile at the contact. Why? He wasn’t entirely sure.

But something was certain, he’s never felt this way.

————

Want to read more of my stuff? Check out my Archive Our Own and my writing tag #seijurowrites !

[timhortons]

i hope youre all lying and hyping your cv/resume’s up

[timhortons]

i have never gotten an interview and not been offered a job position after it

[timhortons]

I mean lets be honest if everyone else is gassing theirs up like no tomorrow and you’re being as honest as you can who th are the recruitment team going to be more interested in

[timhortons]

There’s people working in my banks head office with me WITH MUCH MORE EXPERIENCE than me BUT ARE GETTING PAID LESS

[timhortons]

we’re doing the exact same job role

[timhortons]

the point I’m trying to make here is if you’ve handled finances for a company you’re now what i would call a treasurer my g, if you’ve done admin work you are now a secretary (or as I’ve put Management secretary)

[timhortons]

you help some kid with his homework? you’re a private tutor.

keep your bullets points for the job role as concise and important sounding as possible AND ALWAYS EMPHASIS THAT YOURE A TEAM PLAYER IF YOURE GOING TO WORK IN A TEAM.

[timhortons]

go into that interview room and get your story straight the night before and remember that interviews are two way conversatons yes they might be grilling you but at the end of it make sure to grill them BACK. do you have any hesitations about my qualifications? my suitability for the job? any feedback on my cv? how long have you been working at this company? do you like it here? whats the work environment like?

I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS GET THE SAME FEEDBACK WHEN THEY GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH ME

“ive never been asked those questions before” / “you were one of the strongest candidates”

[timhortons]

throughout the interview emphasise that youre about progression, that you want more responsibilities than you did at your previous job, tell them the hours here are more suitable for me than my last ones were, AND WHEN IT COMES TO SALARY NEGOTIATION its all about continuity. tell them again that it boils down to progression. make up a reasonable figure for how much you were paid in your last role (do your research for how much the industry youre applying to or the role youre applying for pays, base it on that) tell them you expect more than you were previously paid. do not give them a figure. progression is your primary focus, tell them if youre progressing youre happy. leave it at that.

[timhortons]

LIE THROUGH YOUR TEETH AND GET THAT MONEY

[infiniteglitterfall]

I had an interview yesterday, at the place I’ve been temping, where I busted out the “is there anything about my skills or background that makes you concerned about my fit for this job” question for the first time.

Neither of my supervisors had never gotten it before either. They had to think for a while, and then it turned into them telling me how great I am and what they love about me.

This stuff is real. I would also say: none of it is lying. This is taking experience that you normally downplay and write off, and putting it in accurate words they’ll understand.

It’s hacking the capitalist system. Why ISN’T helping a kid with homework “tutoring”, when the only thing missing is a paycheck?

It’s especially important for anyone who isn’t a cis white man, because many of us are so thoroughly trained to feel like we are not good enough.

Privilege tells people they can fake it, and that they’re good enough just as people and can learn the skills on the job. Abuse and oppression tell people they aren’t good enough as people and that even their high skills are probably below average, and that unless they had the specific job title or were using certain skills officially, nobody will think it counts.

The goal is to at least fake the confidence of a privileged person, to give the employer a chance at seeing the skills that you’ve been trained to undervalue.

[queenklu]

I would also say to answer any query of “Have you done [X small task] before?” with “I have, but it’s been a while.” Or, “I have, but it was a slightly different program.”

100% THEY WILL GLADLY WALK YOU THROUGH EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW, and I stress ‘gladly’ because claiming prior knowledge boosts their confidence in your abilities and any slips you make are already covered by your caveat. 

[leupagus]

blackstoic may have deactivated their account but this advice is fucking gold and all y’all looking for jobs or who think you might one day need to look for a new job PRINT THIS SHIT OUT AND STAPLE IT TO THE WALL.