Onwards and Sideways

Catholic. Occasionally funny. Batman and company are my berry preserve spread. An optimistic pessimist: you will either be right or pleasantly surprised. Hope your day is rockin', my dude.

[ymutate]

Helen Whitaker, England

" Sycamore Seed "

Glass , copper and brass

[kropotkindersurprise]

July 22, 2026 - People around the USA are taking down Flock AI surveillance cameras. [video]

[noneedtofearorhope]

DeFlock

Find license plate readers (LPRs) near you.

[nevermindirah]

direct action works!!

physically interfering with the cameras is highly effective but obviously it's not a type of activism that's accessible to everyone — so if like me you think warrentless surveillance is never ever ever a reasonable thing for a government to do, but you're also like me and can't personally climb camera poles to dismantle that shit:

check out the August 16-22 week of action!

National Week of Action Against ALPRs | DeFlock

Mass surveillance doesn't equal safety. Join the movement to dismantle automated license plate readers in our communities.

big and small cities all over the US (and one so far in Canada!) are holding events like education sessions, marches, and public lobbying meetings with the local governments and police departments that decide whether to spend taxpayer money on warrantless surveillance. maybe my city and yours can join the nearly 100 places that have already rejected or ended contracts for mass privacy violation cameras.

[existennialmemes]

Companies in the 2000s: You wouldn't download a car! Digital copies are still stealing, even if the original copy remains with us.

Companies in the 2020s: That digital copy, which you have paid for, doesn't really belong to you. We're removing it from your library now.

[existennialmemes]

Companies deleting media you've literally purchased is 1000x more realistically "stealing" than digital piracy, you cannot change my mind

[crabussy]

conservation is worship to me. in a sense.

[crabussy]

I'm not religious but I'm a very emotional scientist and I've been thinking about this a LOT lately. I love the earth enough to be its steward. and I have the necessary tools for the task. a complex brain. dexterous hands. legs made to walk long and far. millions and millions of years of Chance and Opportunity shaped me into something that can give back to the planet that has been a life-sustaining home for every person who ever lived. it's enough to make me teary eyed sometimes

[crabussy]

"humans are pests that should be exterminated" I don't think that's true. the ecological niche of humans has shifted from persistence predation to stewardship of entire ecosystems. we've done a lot of wrong. but we have incredible potential to do so, so, so much good.

[crabussy]

this post speaks very broadly! I know a lot of us have brains that find some tasks very difficult and hands that struggle and legs that hurt. you're a wonderful person if that's you. I'm more than happy to do enough for us both. we're stewards, but we're also a cooperative species with an incredible capacity for kindness. rest well for me. [:

[mamoru]

haters do not want you to know this but if you pick up something heavy every day it will eventually stop being quite as heavy. this is because the heavy thing, having witnessed your dedication, begins to yield its essence to you. and you, in turn, begin to absorb that essence into your own being. this is what makes people strong. the more essence you absorb, the stronger you become, and the more respect you command from the world around you.

[violsva]

#follow for more workout tips from Pliny the Elder (via @elucubrare)

[bitimdrake]

now that I think about it, the funniest part of post-crisis Tim and Jason isn’t just that Tim thinks Jason is a cringe loser. It’s that this must be the first time that Tim Drake, single most cringe boy in the entire DCU, has gotten to be on the other side of it. And the guy he’s calling cringe is a 6 foot, 250lb crime boss who can and will beat his ass.

[umbrellajam]

#and did!#was there anything quite as delicious as tim being beat to hell and coming out the end of it like#wow. you are such a cringe loser. (tags via @carol-ing​)

#sorry but every time tim is SO dismissive and annoyed about jason after he comes back it is hysterical#you almost killed that boy four times and you still can get any respect from him#he’s a bougie white boy who says oop and thinks weed is evil#and YOU are the one guy he had decided is too cringe to put up with#jason is the most serious and dramatic and tragic character everywhere else#and then he goes to tim…. (tags via @bitimdrake)

#said 6 foot loser is also weirdly obsessed with teaming up with tim#tim has never been more disgusted by that#jason: PLSSSS WORK WITH ME#tim: you’re a loser like the biggest loser i know#jason: UGH! I HATE U! like pls just work for me (tags via @damtroy)

#tim sees dick dressed like a CLOWN and still thinks he’s cool#but somehow Jason is the weird one#if I was jason id be offended too (tags via @dimtrake​)

#there’s no recovery from a tear away outfit that reveals an adult sized robin Halloween costume#complete with bright yellow tights underneath (tags via @aliteralchicken​)

#there’s no going back from the yellow tights#cringe be upon ye Jason Todd and fail be thy steed#gothamites#imagine being called cringe by somebody who says ‘oop’ when they fall over#I’d return to my grave tbh (tags via @alternis​)

#this is so true#its a comedy show#and like yes jason will beat his ass for it but tim will be like#“this is the most cringefail ass-kicking ive ever gotten :/”#“you get 2/5 stars did you even try (the 1 star is bc you used to be robin and dick grayson also used to be robin)#(and therefore you get some very slight coolness points from proximity to dick grayson)#(who is clearly the coolest guy to ever have walked this earth)”#which i also think would offend jason. critical hit#you think the guy who was DISCOWING is COOLER THAN ME??? **DISCOWING???**#and tims just like. uh yeah duh?? i have eyes obviously he’s cooler than you???#number 1 dick grayson fanboy. theres nothing jason can do abt that even if he does beat tim into the ground again#this knowledge brings jason great despair if he chooses to dwell on it. this is why he decides he cant let himself give a shit about tims o#*tim’s opinions (tags via @mamawasatesttube​)

[obliviousmelon]

headcanon that a ferengi tradition is putting your new baby up for sale at a ridiculous price to show how valuable they are to you (everyone has to be polite and not actually buy them or hands will be thrown, people will be sued, etc etc)

[libraflyter]

I love the idea of Ferengi traditions that are both ha-ha capitalism but also create a functioning culture that’s more than a metaphor.

[thecottageinthedark]

[datasoong47]

So, this is related to a headcanon I have. There's a kind of ritual sale of childhood goods as part of the Ferengi coming-of-age, which was featured in an episode of DS9. The ostensible purpose is to raise capital for the young Ferengi male. But, like, if the Ferengi were approaching this in their usual capitalistic mindset, you wouldn't really get much from what's basically a glorified garage sale

My headcanon is that it is the accepted practice to buy those goods at much higher prices than you would normally pay, serving as a culturally acceptable way of effectively giving financial support

[shiroikabocha]

Oh I love these, especially because of the spoken and unspoken meta-traditions around the tradition! Maybe they work similarly to the “speak now or forever hold your peace” thing in human marriage ceremonies. Everyone at a human wedding understands you’re not actually supposed to say anything at that point, it’s just a formality—but you see characters do it all the time in literature and entertainment, because it makes for such a juicy plot twist.

I bet “newborn gets purchased by evil jealous ex-business partner” is a classic plot hook in Ferengi soap operas. It’s their version of getting sold to One Direction.

[beesmygod]

i read this to adam and he just yelled, outraged, "THEYRE BABIES"

[wonderhecko]

TRUE HATERS, SINCE DAY 1 THEY HAVENT BEEN GIVING THEM A FUCKING INCH

[beesmygod]

this is next level

[wonderhecko]

20 years later. you're kermit. opening night at the muppet theater. you look up. you can't believe it. those two awful cunts from next door are here. neither of them died yet. they're going to be here, forever.

[charlesoberonn]

They're immortal.

They were heckling the actors in Ford's theater on the day Lincoln was shot.

They heckled the first reading of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

They heckled the first lifeform to crawl onto land.

They heckled the big bang.

[charlesoberonn]

"They say that time exists now."

"I can tell."

"How so?"

"Because this show is a waste of it!"

"DOHOHOHOHOHO!"

[number1mongrel]

"You hear that? They're saying The Odyssey doesn't even have nobody!"

"They've got nobody in the Odyssey?"

"No I'm saying they don't got nobody."

"Nobody's there?"

"Nobody's not there!"

"So everyone's there?"

"Everybody but nobody!"

[hollowboobtheory]

idk what your all talking about tiktok rules

[niamhuncensored]

[video description: a mouse puppet wearing chainmail while sitting at a table. On the left side of the table, a bowl of two avocados pushes in. On the right, there is a small chalkboard, which the puppet turns to show that it reads "2 for $10." The puppet sings a parody of running up that hill. It sings "if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, two avocados for ten bucks. He'd say 'that's not very good.' I'd say 'yeah but you're God. Isn't money kind of beneath you?' he'd say 'it's the principle.' I'd say 'do you want avocados or not?' the video cuts out. End description.]

[niuniente]

[rat-facts]

listen this isn’t rat related but I’m going off the walls right now this is literally so fucking funny

[riiachuelo]

orange bear puppet: i think tutter’s looking a little tired, don’t you?

tutter (mouse puppet): [panting and screaming]

[high-quality-tiktoks]

Mixing sodium with potassium is crazy!

[naamahdarling]

Holy WHAT

[pyrogina]

no way can you predict how this is gonna end

[molagbald]

This is NileRed. He has a YouTube channel if you want to see his content but don’t use Tiktok. On YouTube, he posts longer videos (like this one where he makes moonshine out of toilet paper), and he also has a second channel called NileBlue where he posts videos that are just as high quality as those on the main channel (mostly secondary content like cleaning up after main channel experiments but there’s also cool one-off NileBlue bits like the bismuth knife video).

Short videos like the one in this post can be found at NileRed Shorts. You may or may not have seen the short where he destroys a gummy bear with potassium chlorate circulating on Tumblr.

[joeyclaire]

[pmamtraveller]

The Pearl With The Girl Earring by Olaf Falafel

[ghazal67]

[teamnowalls-deactivated20180918]

this is literally how i dance

[askinfresh]

This went from “wow that’s pretty neat” to “WTF ITS ALIVE” real quick

[excima]

she did that

[dinosaur-j]

Scenario: You are watching this puppet show, and then after the song is over, the puppeteer smiles at you as if to thank you for your support, then her and the wooden mouse depart in opposite directions. 

[bogleech]

If this thought hadn’t crossed anyone’s mind watching this already, re-watch it taking into consideration that gravity exerts an unpredictable chaos on dangling objects, that the puppet’s own wobbliness is most of the movement we see here and this woman simply has that flawless of a feel for how physics will continue moving the limbs at the slightest single twitch of her finger. This is a real deal fucking puppeteer no matter what her background or how long she’s been doing it. That wooden mouse is an appendage of this woman’s soul.

[cipheramnesia]

This is my first time hearing Despacito and it was not sad.

[depsidase]

[broken-horn-of-equius]

[bebewrites]

PSA for anyone who uses ingramspark, or anyone you know who does, you now need to opt out to prevent them from selling your books to AI tech companies to train their AI. 🤦‍♀️

[ettawritesnstudies]

Actually I'm still angry about this.

Here's the angry email I wrote to the customer service desk. I don't know if I'll get any answer but feel free to copy and paste if you want.

Hello, I am writing to express my deep disappointment and concern about Ingram's behind-closed-doors sale of author's work to AI companies. I learned about this new practice through posts on Instagram and tumblr, not through any official email announcement or documentation through my author portal, and I was horrified to learn that it was an opt-out situation. How do I know my work hasn't already been scraped or stolen before I opted out? Would I be paid for the sale, or would Ingram spark receive all the proceeds of my hard work?  Furthermore, the opt-out form had to be linked in these off-site posts. This is a huge breach of trust for a small indie author who's trying to break out in the industry. When I searched for "AI" on Ingram's website, the opt-out page did not come up in the search results. Also, I publish through the IngramSpark Website, so I wouldn't have known to go to the "Ingram Content Group" website to find the page, and the opt-out page didn't show up in the search results on that page either. The only results that come up are "helpful" guides on AI marketing strategies, which I find offensive as well (though irrelevant to the topic at hand). It's as though the company is intentionally trying to hide the opt-out form to keep as many authors as possible ignorant and enrolled to unfairly profit off their stolen work.  This is a huge breach of trust for a small indie author who's trying to break out in the industry. I am betrayed, angry, and hopeless. I chose Ingramspark because of your wide distribution network, access to libraries and small bookstores, and high print quality for my illustrations. I want to sell wide. I bring my book to art markets. I want to have a product I can be proud of. I don't want to rely on Amazon's monopoly, and other distributors don't offer what you do.   Please reverse this decision and publicly apologize to the writing community. You would not have your business without us.