reminder that the UN estimates it would cost only $93 billion per year to end world hunger, so elon musk could end world hunger for 10 years at his current net worth.
The stat in that UN News article is also very important as governments across the world (including here in the UK) seek to increase military spending, generally at the expense of foreign aid and domestic welfare budgets. The world would be a whole fucking lot more secure anyway if everyone had the means to live, and live with dignity. But that wouldn't serve capitalism, which thrives on (among other things) the endless chucking of money at those who manufacture the machinery of death.
to me, there's an innate horror in tradwife content. it's always a pretty young girl in her late teens, early 20s. she's so young. she's basically a baby herself. maybe she's about your age. you just watch it happen. you can't save her.
either way, she always has at least three kids, sometimes more. you don't want to ask when she had them, but she had to have them young because her youngest had to have been born when she was at least seventeen based on how time works. you just watch it happen. you can't save her.
she's smiling but there's something missing in her eyes - a spark that should be there. there's no passion, there's just the movements of the day. sometimes she'll give an interview where she says she barely feels like getting out of bed, and other times she says nothing. you just watch it happen. you can't save her.
her world isn't real - it's neat kitchens and made from scratch cheese. she tells you how she doesn't need feminism because she likes this life, she likes wearing pretty dresses, don't you dare pity her. you just watch it happen. you can't save her.
you scroll up to an ex tradewife in her forties talking about how her husband divorced her and left her for a younger girl, leaving her destitute and penniless and twenty years out of the workforce. you scroll again to a pretty young girl saying she doesn't need a job, her husband will take care of her. you scroll again. you just watch it happen. you can't save her.
another woman, this time in her early thirties, talking about how she just managed to leave her abusive husband and has nothing and he took the kids, warning and pleading young girls to not fall for tradwife lies. you scroll again to a young tradwife girl saying that would never happen to her, and you're just jealous of her. you just watch it happen. you can't save her.
you scroll again. a teen girl tells you that she'll just track her period, she doesn't NEED a toxic chemical like birth control. you scroll again to an obgyn pleading with young girls to understand birth control is just hormonal, and that period tracking isn't effective. you just watch happen. you can't save her.
you scroll again, and it's jd vance saying how women belong in the homes and shouldn't be allowed to vote. that their husbands should decide how they should vote. you scroll again to a domestic abuse counselor telling women their vote is private and they can lie to their husbands. you just watch it happen. you can't save her.
she doesn't want you to save her. how dare you pity her. you just watch it happen. you can't save her. a horrible feeling washes over you. you just watch it happen.
It's interesting to think about the intersection of these two facts:
Films reflect the time period in which they were made.
Our most popular films right now are all reboots, sequels, and reused IPs.
On one hand, you could make the case that our generation is being deprived of its place on cultural timeline, because (as far as the mainstream goes) all we're being given is rehashed ideas from other time periods. Seems rather boring to analyze.
But on the other hand, I think future film historians will find that this era is culturally fascinating. Not because of the "nostalgia bait" itself, but because it represents the emergence of independent cinema and streaming.
When TV was invented, people could watch filmed media at home. You no longer had to go to a theatre just to watch cartoons or comedies.
So the studios responded with a wave of epics in the 1950s. They said "Okay, you can get Dick Van Dyke at home, but you can't get Ben-Hur." Television couldn't compete with the budget, big name stars, or visual tech that film studios could offer. They were financially incentivized to blow your socks off with visuals and big name stars.
But with the emergence of streaming and independent film, that's no longer the case. A-listers are happy to take TV roles, and TV offers Hollywood-level visuals. You don't need to mess with the theatre system at all. It's easier than ever to make good-looking movies and share them with the masses with no major studio backing.
So what's the one thing that studios still have going for them? What's the one thing that Disney can give you that an independent filmmaker can't? Yoda. The Little Mermaid. Iron Man. Fucking brands. That's all they have, so that's all they sell.
We aren't being sold reboot after reboot because it's what the people want to see, or because our current culture is somehow more boring and lifeless than ever before. It's because it's the last stranglehold that these soulless studios have over the industry. They will shove your own childhood down your throat because their domination over previous generations is the one thing they have left to sell to this one.
I know the midterm election is not until November 3, 2026, however I want everyone to be prepared and not say that they "didn't know" or "couldn't figure it out". This is a guide for everything you need to know about voting in the U.S. in the next major election - the 2026 midterm. I will be updating as needed. If you have a question about voting, registration, or anything else please send me an ask or message. State specific deadlines and info listed under the cut! Even if you have a super unique situation, I will absolutely research it for you!
Every seat in the House of Representatives is up for election!
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What is the house of reps?
Critical House races
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Is there a senate race for my state?
What is the senate?
Who are my current senators?
Critical Senate races
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REGISTER TO VOTE
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I need to change something on my registration
Who is eligible to vote? - anyone who is a U.S. citizen and over the age of 18
I have been convicted of a felony, can I vote?
I am a student who attends school a different state than where I am registered to vote -> resource linked here
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How can I vote (by mail, in person, etc)?
How does voting by mail work?
Can I register to vote online, or do I have to register in person?
How does voting in person work?
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I've mailed in my ballot, how can I check that it's been received?
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Can I vote if I am living overseas/in another country?
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I need to report an issue or abuse regarding my ballot or voting experience
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Resources for non English speakers
I am homebound, and need assistance with mailing or filling out my ballot
Does it matter what party I put on my voter registration?
I am going through, or have gone through, DV/stalking/harassment, and I am worried about my address showing up on public voter registries
Just as a heads up, if you’re seeing the above version of the post where it doesn’t have anything under the Read more/state specifics, it’s because this is an older version of the post before I had created all the individual posts for each state. If you click on the post directly, or go through the link in my pin post on my page or you click HERE, it will take you to the most updated version which does have all of the state specific links!
Those are three-pin plugs used in North America. The collection of nations who use them are super inconsistent with the corresponding sockets, and if you’re travelling from abroad, there’s no predicting whether the facilities you visit will be furnished for three-pin (in the picture) or two-pin, which looks like this.
If you have a three-pin travel adaptor but you’re staying somewhere without matching outlets, it would be very irritating. As a result, travel adaptors sold for Canada, the USA and Mexico convert the origin country’s adaptor to two-pin, because at least it will fit both types of sockets.
It was already an incredibly dumb meme for multiple reasons, but it isn’t even electrical ignorance, or lack of horizon-broadening travel experience. The person who made it would have had to ignore or delete information about the world they grew up in, and the fixtures they handled every day.
at some point in your life you will be boiling fruit, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot to make a syrup or jam. the instructions will tell you to simmer for a certain amt of time. your timer will go off and you will look at the pot and go, "hm, this doesn't look thick enough. maybe i'll let it go for another 10 minutes." this is the devil speaking. it's only so liquid right now because it is at boiling point. it will thicken when it cools down. learn from the follies of my youth and do not let this happen to you
at some point in your life you will be making a sauce or a stew in which you need to add cornstarch to thicken it. and you will prepare a slurry of starch in cold water and think "this looks like way too little starch to thicken this amount of liquid." this is the devil speaking. cornstarch instantly polymerizes at 95°C and if you add too much it will turn into an impossibly thick goop.
at some point in your life you will be making some sort of cream based dessert that requires gelatin to thicken it. and you will soak some gelatin sheets in water and think "this is too few gelatin sheets for this amount of cream." this is the devil speaking. it will thicken in the fridge and if you add too much you will end up with milk jelly
at some point in your life you will be baking cookies. you will take the sheet out after twelve minutes as the recipe instructs and the cookies will still be glistening and soft. "these don't seem cooked enough," you will think to yourself, "i should place them back into the oven until their edges are nice and golden." this is the devil talking. this is how you get dry, overdone cookies. the cookies will continue to bake on the warm sheet for several more minutes and then harden up after sitting on a rack for a while. trust the process. trust the process.
at some point in your life you will be adding a small pasta to a soup and you will think "that is not enough small pasta." this is the devil talking. the pasta will absorb the stock and expand. this is how you end up with a soup that is a solid mass of soggy ditalini.
At some point in your life you will be adding garlic to a dish and you will think "that is not enough garlic." These are angels speaking. They are correct. Add more garlic.
one thing I haven't gotten critiqued on yet but that I can see looming on the horizon, is that I really like to have main characters who are non-human and autistic-coded. and I've seen the conversations about how it's not actually all that validating to have "autistic rep" if the character in question is just an alien or a robot or whatever, and I actually do agree with that (for real!), but unfortunately I want to be a creature so so bad, I just really really want to be a creature. or like a little gnome or bug or something. so a good number of my autistic self inserts will just be awful fuck ass creatures and I apologize for that.
My dream is that he appears in Skybound but specifically in a one issue little side story that is all about him and Beachcomber, on earth, doing cool geology stuff together and being boyfriends
Optimus has Shadow Watch set him up with a cloaking device so he can live on earth safely without fear of Megatron showing up to try and eat him O_O;
I do think "literally zero evidence indicates that gatekeeping medical transition does anything to prevent regret, but the harm done by gatekeeping is extensively documented" is a much stronger argument than "regret isn't real" cause there's always going to be some anecdote that puts you in a weak-looking rhetorical position for the latter, but the former is pretty unassailable.
I was explaining bi and trans erasure/phobia in the gay community to my mum and she was outraged and burst out “WHAT DO THEY THINK IT STANDS FOR? LESBIANS, GAYS, BICYCLES AND TRICYCLES?!” and I don’t think I’ll forget that until my dying day.
