Blog of Many Things

Hi I'm Dani. Cat lover. Rtd 1 era Doctor who fan. Gamer. Maker of the occasional graphic. Sometimes a writer. A married woman in her 40's. No kids, four cats. A woman who cycles through fandoms and interests recently diagnosed as Au(ADHD). Header made by @jyn-andor.

[the-cat-with-the-emerald-tiara-1]

[keatxu]

abandonware should be public domain. force companies to actively support and provide products if they don't wanna lose the rights to them

[omikronsoul]

Game companies hate emulation, but none of them seem to understand that a lot of us would just buy ROMs from them directly if we could. I don't want a fifth remake of Final Fantasy IV, I want to pay five bucks for the 3MB file you already made bank with thirty years ago. Nobody who wants to play something for the purpose of retro gaming is going to consider a $40 remake as the alternative option, and we're certainly not going to let the original dissappear. They're crying about opportunity cost for a product they're not even selling.

[justletmeremember]

op i know you're probably talking about like, video games, etc, but this is also critical for research science - my lab has so much abandonware, either because the company's out of business, or the company decided to not maintain it, and it's a fucking nightmare. we have two windows 95 computers that are CRITICAL for performing experiments/data analysis because the software needed is abandonware. one of the main roles for a guy in my lab is to maintain these little dinosaurs because if they go out, we lose access to ~20 years of raw data for research. part of why is that these companies also make their own file types, and make it difficult-to-impossible to convert those file types without their specific software. by habit, i convert all research files to more generic versions (txt, pdf, tif, etc) so that i minimize risk of losing my shit, but some stuff can't be converted.

for example, we have a microscope that is perfectly functional, good microscope, but its software is abandonware because the company refused to maintain it. the company is still in business, still makes essentially the exact same software, but they made all of the old tech incompatible with new software to force people to buy the new microscope tech. it would cost a quarter million dollars to replace this microscope. this perfectly good microscope.

so like, i know a lot of people look at the original post here and go "well op just wants old video games to play" (which is valid! games companies should not be able to push shit to abandonware and then close it off) but also this is critical for like. biomedical research. if y'all had any idea how much basic infrastructure built on science relies on shit that is technically abandonware, you would probably be horrified.

[jollysunflora]

#there is so much abandonware just...out there being used and carefully maintained#because nothing quite replicates the functionality

[kaijutegu]

I did 100% of the imaging and analysis for my doctorate on a machine running Windows 95. I did not have a choice about this, that's just what my microscope's software ran on.

[thewanderlast]

Sister you have to stop painting a fake face over your real one

[vacuously-true]

It is extremely rare that I get unintentionally rickrolled. It is extremely common that I look at a link and think to myself, that's a rickroll, and I click on it. Then I get to enjoy the satisfaction of being correct, as well as the entirety of Never Gonna Give You Up. That shit is a banger. If someone offers me a link directly to that song you think I'm not gonna take it? No. You know the rules and so do I. It's Astley time.

[koenji]

Kalah Teimanit כַּלָּה תֵּימָנִית / a Yemenite Jewish bride in traditional attire during her henna ceremony a week before her wedding. Israel, before 2006. x

[boygrind3r]

one thing that I’ve realised with censoring curse words is that they’ll censor words like “fuck” and “shit” but leave “bitch” and “whore” completely uncensored. I was listening to a censored version of a song today, the word “fuck” was censored. “Bitch” was not. Listen to any censored song, watch any censored film/show and count how many times the word “bitch” is censored. I can guarantee you that it’ll never be censored the way “ass” and “asshole” are. I don’t really give a shit if bitch means female dog. Absolutely nobody, no MAN is using it in a scientific way. Men are so used to referring to us as bitches that they don’t even feel the need to censor it because that’s what we are to them.

[afurioushawk]

Tennessee Republicans thought he was more important than Vietnam Vets. Wooooooooooow.

[fullcravings]

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

[phantomrose96]

Hey kids, you need to start worrying a little less about getting “#mogged” and a little more about getting “#smogged”. This is an Air Quality Index public service announcement.

[lord-margolotta]

One of those how-many-life-experiences-have-you-had things, except all the points are ridiculously hyperspecific, pointlessly general, or just plain weird.

How many can you get?

Accidentally fallen in a natural body of water

Visited the second-largest city on your country

Taken ibuprofen on an empty stomach

Gotten a tattoo in only purple ink

Tried to dye your hair only to find the dye wouldn't take

Drank a spider

Broken your left femur in exactly two places simultaneously

Nearly ran out of petrol on the highway but not quite

Had an allergic reaction during an exam, because of the exam materials

Been prescribed antihistamines

Blocked someone on tumblr

Submitted a CV with a typo in the first line

Drank coffee without sugar

Been in an airplane only for the flight to be cancelled before takeoff

Abandoned a hobby exactly three days after you picked it up

Gotten the wrong prescription glasses because you were too shy to tell the student optometrist they were blocking your view of the eye chart so you just made up some answers at random

Been told "jokes about [trauma you had] are never funny" right after you made a joke about said trauma

Gotten lost at a new school

Been to a birthday party

Told someone you don't speak a certain language, in that language (give yourself a bonus point if you were lying to avoid a having a conversation (give yourself another bonus point if it was your native language (give yourself another bonus point if you clearly doing something - eg reading a book or watching a movie - that indicated that you did in fact speak said language)))

Left kudos on AO3

Read a book longer than 300 pages

Accidentally declined a call you wanted to take

Found a coin on the footpath that was the largest denomination minted in the country you were in at the time

Watched a TV series in an order determined by a random number generator

Gone out of your way to spit on someone's grave

Rolled a 12 on a pair of D6s

Received a scholarship that did not pay nearly enough to cover the course fees

Visited Geraldine, Aotearoa

Been mistaken for a sibling of a different gender

Accidentally shoplifted

Coloured your nails with a highlighter

Thanked your aunt for the lovely handkerchiefs

Been adopted by a calico cat with six toes on each paw

Looked someone up in an actual old-fashioned phonebook

Been given a nickname you initially hated but grew to like

Cut your own hair without looking in a mirror

Lived somewhere everyone says is haunted but you've never noticed anything abnormal

Driven a car older than yourself

Stowed away on a ship that turned out to be heading in completely the opposite direction from where you wanted to go

[anonpolls]

If you had so much money that you never had to work again (but were physically able to etc.), would you choose to work? (If you’re already in this situation, choose what you actually did.)

Yes, I’d do the same job I have now.

Yes, but I’d switch to a lower-paying but more fulfilling job.

Yes, but I’d choose to pursue a creative career.

Yes, but I’d start my own business.

Sort of. I’d volunteer or otherwise work without pay.

I wouldn’t work per se, but would devote a lot of time to a hobby.

I’d just relax, have fun, do whatever.

I’m not sure/Other

Remaining time: 5 days 1 hour

Thanks, Anon!

-submit your poll!-

[captain-price-returns]

[zeynepdiye1ii]

[beatricecenci]

Ella Ehrenberger (Austrian, 1874-1945)

Stillleben mit Chrysanthemen

[shetheyshenanigans]

of course it is deeply racist for right-wingers and conservatives to say that European football teams are "full of Africans" because they are perpetuating the myth of the Great Replacement and demonising Black Europeans as invaders coming to take the "rightful place" of White Europeans on teams, I would never argue that. Conservatives and right-wingers have been awfully racist towards Black football players, and something More needs to change within FIFA and the various football confederations bc not nearly enough is being done to combat racism against Black players.

But it is also racist to say something like "coloniser teams need African players to win!" Which is a sentiment I have seen regarding France and Belgium in particular. Yes, both teams have many Black players on them, yes this is due to colonisation and the often forced movement of people, plus the historical links between coloniser and colonised countries mean that citizens of the latter are more inclined to move to the former than a different country. If you were gonna move from say, Algeria to a European country, it's a smart move to go to France, where they speak the same language as you do.

That doesn't mean Black players on European teams aren't European! Many of them are the children of immigrants, and have lived their whole lives in the country they're representing. Kylian Mbappé is French. He has spoken about it before, saying (this is a direct quote about representing France internationally)

"It’s because I was born in France, I’m French. I did everything in France, I had French culture, with origins that are Cameroonian and Algerian. But I grew up with French culture. It comes from the heart.”

When you say something like colonising countries need African players to win matches, you are firstly perpetuating the idea that Black people cannot be European. This is ridiculously false.

Secondly, you are perpetuating the idea that Black bodies are somehow built for labour and athleticism in a way that white bodies aren't. This is a racist idea that comes from slavery, when Black people were enslaved and dehumanised, with white enslavers saying that they were uniquely suited to hard labour, bc Black people are stronger than white people and don't feel pain etc etc. The idea of European teams somehow "importing" African players for their teams is racist!

The Black players on European teams are European. They are immensely talented players, that have put in just as much, if not more work, than their White teammates. Many Black players already face horrific racism from fans, especially when teams lose, and we do not need to be racist in a "liberal" way!

anyways. The World Cup is over now, (lowkey thank god bc idgaf about soccer and it's been Everywhere), but it's something to keep in mind bc a lot of people will have been introduced to football/soccer from the Cup and will start following teams.

[dogpuppy]

[nineteenyearoldmeblog]

im fucking crying

[fematrix]

"enby icon" "transmasc icon" y'all genuinely can't comprehend a woman exercising her freedom, courage and leadership skills without some batshit conspiracies that she was secretly a man on a spiritual level

she got burned at the stake for wearing men's clothes, she was a teenage warrior protecting her country with whole patriarchal systems against her, show some fucking respect

Joan of Arc (1412 - 1432)