Huh.

Halp, my idiot tax is too high.

[emilybeemartin]

I saw a post saying that Boromir looked too scruffy in FotR for a Captain of Gondor, and I tried to move on, but I’m hyperfixating. Has anyone ever solo backpacked? I have. By the end, not only did I look like shit, but by day two I was talking to myself. On another occasion I did fourteen days’ backcountry as the lone woman in a group of twelve men, no showers, no deodorant, and brother, by the end of that we were all EXTREMELY feral. You think we looked like heirs to the throne of anywhere? We were thirteen wolverines in ripstop.

My boy Boromir? Spent FOUR MONTHS in the wilderness! Alone! No roads! High floods! His horse died! I’m amazed he showed up to Imladris wearing clothes, let alone with a decent haircut. I’m fully convinced that he left Gondor looking like Richard Sharpe being presented to the Prince Regent in 1813

*electric guitar riff*

And then rocked up to Imladris a hundred ten days later like

[emilybeemartin]

Some people have been wondering about the raccoon. Listen. Listennn. Don't ask about the raccoon.

[mavaris]

But does the racoon survive the Uruk-Hai? Does he curl up on Aragorn's head, or does he go straight to Faramir? Does he bite Denethor?

[emilybeemartin]

My friend. My colleague. My brother my captain my king. I too have been pondering this question, and in my mind there can be only one ultimate outcome.

A few months later

All hail the High Warden of Gondor.

Epilogue: It ADORES Faramir.

[elodieunderglass]

I’m going to wear this on my head like a raccoon and show everyone

[supermodelcats]

[plutokitty]

OK Finally had a moment to create my pillowfort account. So, you can find me on the following places:

plutokitty on dreamwidth (haven’t used in a while but if people are moving there I’ll pick it up again for you guys :) )

plutokitty on pillowfort

PM me for my Discord if you prefer that. 

Also I have about 4 pillowfort invites if anyone would like one and has not gotten one or is unable to afford one.  Preference will be given to people on my friends list and who are in a financial pinch, but anyone can ask. All gone, alas. When registration re-opens I can see about getting more if anyone is in need and can’t afford it.

See you around!!! So long and thanks for all the butts!

[plutokitty]

Hm.  Well I don’t really approve of the direction Tumblr is going; so I will probably investigate pillowfort.io when it’s back up in a day or two.  

I hope to find you all in other places. It’s been lovely, thanks for all the fun and the games and the cats and the drawings and the pretty things.  <3

OH. And the butts. Ofc. <3

[hashtagloveloses]

so uh i might have cried into my pint of ice cream at an entire squad of past elphabas and glindas singing For Good together for the Wicked 15th anniversary concert

[botanyshitposts]

lads i was really just going about my life today and i came into my genetics lecture and my professor put both hands on the podium and explained to our suddenly silent 200+ person lecture hall that a chinese scientist has just created the world’s first GMO babies by taking human embryos and modifying them to be resistant to HIV. there are two of them and they’re twins. apparently we don’t know yet if it’s successful but it was at a conference where a ton of GMO researchers were discussing if genetic modification of humans should be allowed and if so to what extent and apparently this dude got the microphone and said ‘ive already done it’ and showed some data (apparently not a lot though) and there’s a ton of drama happening right now because ‘what the FUCK do you MEAN you already did it????? what the FUCK dude?????’. my professor kept saying to us with complete sincerity ‘this is important, this is really, really important’ and anyway i just…….what a time to be alive, you know?

[botanyshitposts]

like i dont feel comfortable taking a stance on any of this without more information but i do know for certain that god, i wish i could have witnessed that room of GMO researchers when this dude got the mic and was really like ‘i have modified human embryos’ 

[botanyshitposts]

more info provided to me by @sunsetsovercitylights: 

Hey! I’m a scientist who works with gene editing and can def give you more context on the gmo babies! tldr it’s unethical and Not Great, but basically there’s been an (unenforceable) international moratorium on gene editing humans since 2015. It’s maybe illegal, maybe just advised against in China. The university, hospital, and government are all denying knowledge of it tho, which makes this super shady. (1/?)

Here’s the thing: gene editing has been used in therapy in humans, but 1. patients give full consent and 2. cells are removed from the body, CHECKED, double-checked, then put back in, because gene editing can have off-target effects and we want to avoid those, and 3. only cells that can’t be inherited are edited, so that an individual is only giving consent to alter their own body, not their children and/or the general gene population. NONE OF THOSE THREE HAPPENED IN THIS CASE. (2/?)

It’s extremely unclear if the parents knew what was happening, other than that the dad was HIV+ and the research was supposed to prevent the kids from getting HIV. (There are a LOT of cheaper and more accessible ways to do this than gene editing). So far, the scientist hasn’t proven that he checked for (or prevented) off target effects - but we do know one of the kids is a mosaic, meaning only SOME of her cells were altered. This could be really bad for her health, we literally don’t know (3/?)

This guy waited until he had produced human beings to make his announcement, didn’t consult the public, other scientists, or regulatory boards, and sprung the announcement RIGHT before the human gene editing conference - which signals that he did this for his own sake, not for science. He’s set a dangerous precedent and potentially damaged the public perception of gene editing, not to mention endangering those children (the edit made them more susceptible to West Nile). So. Fuck that guy. (4/4)

……👀

this is…quite literally the wildest shit like i understand the incredible temptation to try something just to see if it could be done, every scientist understands that, but holy shit dude what the fuck? 

idk this has a LOT happening and im not gonna be able to address all of it but my thoughts right off the bat: current gene editing (see: modifying someone’s existing genome. different from this case because in gene editing, the person is born and is displaying symptoms of a genetic disease, where here the embryos are being modified before birth) is pretty life changing and very safe and effective from my understanding of it and what i’ve been taught, and it makes me angrier knowing that this might set back that kind of science that’s more ethical in terms of consent. i also don’t like that the lives of these kids are gonna be inherently controversial. i also don’t like……………uh…..almost all of this, actually. like this is A Lot, holy shit. 

[i-am-aristiana]

Happy thanksgiving!

[mapelie]

The greatest turkey of all turkeys

[ark-of-eden]

(R:) We are thankful that he fed us in our darkest hour.

[astolat]

I have questions but I’m afraid to ask them. 

[drearyhours]

tumblr is great its like a journal but with pvp

[isaiahmustafa]

Watson and I feel that, in order to do our best work, the chemistry needs to be right.

[lovepsychothefirst]

#see THIS is what makes Sherlock in Elementary so unique#a lot of versions of Sherlock#or pretty much Any modern crime drama would have the brilliant detective calling the other detectives ‘idiots’#or ‘amateurs’ or basically insulting their intelligence and ability as detectives#here Sherlock is both acknowledging their skill as detectives and crediting that to their Captain’s leadership#while also acknowledging that he can’t work with them because THEY don’t like him#all the while he is accepting as fair because he’s self-aware to know he’s not easy to work with#there are ways to depict an anti-social genius without being a huge asshole to everyone#and this is it

[allthingslinguistic]

New favourite example of pragmatic ambiguity: 

“Have you seen my cat?” “He is not lost, he is just too cute. Thank you for your understanding.”

[mikaeled]

Draugen is a single-player, first-person Fjord Noir mystery set in 1920s Norway. Explore a picturesque coastal community in your search for your missing sister, accompanied by your gregarious and enigmatic young ward. Coming to Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019.

[spragnione]

[best-shower-thoughts]

Everyone wants to be the leader, but being second in command is a pretty sweet gig. You have almost the same amount of power, and way less stress. (source)

[fy-jay-dok2]

Respect to all good moms daddys wives husbands girlfriends boyfriends daughters & sons

[thenatsdorf]

The Evolution of Douchebag Style [full video]

[anarcho-compass]

Oh, he’s good.

[oparnoshoshoi]

I don’t know whether he deserves an Oscar or a restraining order.

[takealookatyourlife]

I die laughing at this every god damn time. The prayer hands are so fucking funny

[greaseonmymouth]

the fact that he’s topless in all of them is what really makes it tbh

[trash-hawke-deactivated20220518]

Remember that scene in origins that proved the existence of aliens in the da universe? Yeah what the fuck was up with that

[trash-hawke-deactivated20220518]

to everyone asking, this is the scene 

[gayliensighting]

Mass Effect and Dragon Age canonically exist in the same universe, so it’s not so far fetched.

[trash-hawke-deactivated20220518]

MOM HOLY FUCK

[corvidkusnos]

lets not forget that one guy in ME1 who talks about the Maker

[the-jade-goblin]

Dont forget the statue of the frozen ogre in Hock’s vault in ME2

and the mounted krogan head in Celene’s library in the Winter Palace

[plutokitty]

OK I really love that DA and ME are actually in the same universe, but isn’t that clip just a Superman reference?

[theunitofcaring]

When news outlets interview people who are not going to vote, they usually talk to people with some kind of ideological reason. But as far as I can tell, most people who don’t vote don’t fail to vote because they have a principle against it. Most of them fail to vote because they’re stressed and inexperienced at navigating bureaucracies and they don’t feel informed and they don’t feel deserving and they don’t have any time.

None of those are problems that you solve by telling people to vote but more angrily than you told them last time. 

If you’re a U.S. citizen, you deserve to vote. Democracies don’t actually rely on citizens to be perfectly informed. “Everyone votes, and if you think things are on the right track they vote for the party in power and if they think things are on the wrong track they vote for the party out of power and if they want a divided government they vote for a divided government” is enough to make our system work. But indifference isn’t enough to make our system work. 

You can look up your polling place here. If you don’t have a good way to get there, check if Uber or Lyft is offering free rides to the polls in your area.

One of the powerful things democracy can do is aggregate everyone’s gut. You probably have a gut feeling about whether the last two years have made this a society you are more proud of, or a society you are less proud of. Even if the only thing you feel competent to evaluate is that, you are competent to evaluate that, and that matters. 

A lot of things are awful right now. But they’ve been worse. We clawed our way here from there, and we’ll keep working on it. 

If you don’t see how you’ll be logistically able to vote, feel free to message me, I can try to break it down into smaller problems and look things up for you.