sanvi

listen idk! i do fandom and poetry and things that feel helpful for how to move through the world? 

[ziggy-solarecreator]

Proper boundaries

[roach-works]

pokemon theory i just thought of: new pokemon appear in the pokemon universe when they're designed in this one. they're created ex nilho but they have retroactive realness; they weren't here yesterday, but today they've always existed.

pokemon researchers have had to suss this out on their own over decades, and it's a really unpopular theory, made worse by the fact that no one can come up with a better one. from their perspective pokemon generate spontaneously but in both chronological directions, and the similarities of many pokemon seem to be detived from a conscious and creative understanding of the world--their world, though? what other world could there be?. there are ice cream pokemon and pokeball pokemon and sword pokemon and trash bag pokemon.

there are so many pokemon with both wings and a beak. is this like swords? is there an ur-flying type that this class evokes? there are so many canine pokemon. but what is a canine? is there such a thing? there's only one set of sword pokemon, right. one tea-set line. is *feline* a coherent category? would the ur-feline have two legs or four? why do so many pokemon have humanlike bodyplans-- but then again, why so few?

pichu has always been the prior form of pikachu. why didn't it get counted in order? why do we call it that instead of saying pikachu is the middle evolution of the pichu line? why can so many trainers remember finding this out well into their journeys? why didn't ash start with one?

this is why pokemon researchers do a lot of labwork, drink heavily, and use ten year olds for field research. you can't have an existential crisis if you don't even know what time is yet.

[howieduet]

And that's before you get into the other dimensions!

[notaplaceofhonour]

One of the most frustrating parts of the extreme rhetoric around Israeli/Palestine (besides the obvious reliance on antisemitic & anti-Arab, Islamophobic tropes) is that it exceptionalizes so many things that are actually pretty standard features of nation-states and war in a way that completely compartmentalizes the criticism of these things into just being about criticizing the “few bad apple” countries instead of criticizing the entire institution of nation-states and war as a whole.

For instance: the fact is that war kills civilians, at an alarming average of 6:1 civilians-to-combatants deaths. The status quo of war, across the board, is that way more civilians die than combatants. And yet, despite the high death toll, despite Hamas using civilian infrastructure & noncombatants as human shields (which Hamas has openly admitted to doing), despite the imprecise & destructive nature of using bombs on urban targets, and despite the inadequate humanitarian aid that has been able to make it into Gaza… the IDF has still managed to stayed well below the average of civilian casualties.

The point of saying this is not “this is what war looks like so it’s not a big deal” it’s “this is what war looks like so we as a species need to stop doing it”—seeing the devastation war has brought to the people Gaza should move you, and it should make you never want to see another war again. It should make you want a ceasefire not just for Israel and this war but all wars always. And obviously, in practice, it’s not that simple—peace is more than “just don’t do war” and the thing about ceasefires and peace treaties is they kind of have to be mutual to mean anything—but the point stands: War Bad.

However, if instead you see the destruction in Gaza and think it’s an exceptional case, where Israel is evil and the only way war could be this destructive is genocide, you get to preserve this romanticized, idealistic fantasy of war as, violent yes, but perhaps only in a cathartic, tragic-but-beautiful way—a glorious struggle where two armies clash on a battlefield far removed from everyday life and only soldiers die. You get to preserve your belief in Just War, to look forward to a morally uncomplicated Glorious Revolution™️—you may even preserve your ability to cheer on the death of Israelis.

And that’s just one issue. There are others: the claim of “ethnostate” obscures criticisms of nation-states as a concept, the claim of “apartheid” obscures criticisms of how borders & citizenship are set up across the world, etc. This inverse Israeli Exceptionalism where Israel is treated as uniquely or exceptionally problematic isn’t simply discriminatory or rooted in prejudice (which are reasons enough to criticize it, as I have), it’s actively impeding the left’s ability to criticize the actual structural systems that are the problem.

[bamidbar]

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

THANK YOU OP

This is a thing I have been trying and struggling and failing to articulate, and you absolutely nailed it.

[notaplaceofhonour]

100%! The exact total death toll, & the number of civilians vs the number of fighters, are both fairly murky, disputable, and liable to change as the war continues. It’s entirely possible we will never know, and may have to settle for a “between x & y” figure (which would not be unprecedented)

My claim is based on splitting the difference by using both Hamas’s total casualty numbers and the number of military targets Israel claims to have eliminated. It’s entirely possible that either numbers (or both) may be inaccurate, and even if accurate, are liable to change. The numbers I’m working off of represent a conservative, middle-of-the-road estimate. I would not be surprised if the ratio is either above or below.

Based on Israel’s track record in previous conflicts (for which the numbers are significantly less murky) and the fact the given total numbers come from Hamas (who would benefit from artificially inflating the total, and arguably have in the past), it’s entirely plausible that the ratio is actually way less than what the available numbers would suggest (somewhere between a 1:1.5 & 1:3 ratio). But even if it’s actually significantly higher than that, an above-average ratio still does not necessarily indicate a breach of international law, much less an intent to wipe out the Palestinian people; there are other criteria for that, and any good faith allegations to that effect should be weighed against the evidence in court, and the people responsible held accountable.

The truth for a lot of this is that we just don’t know and we have to work with incomplete, imperfect data. In any case, the eagerness I see to view Jews as wanting to wipe out other people groups, or in any way exceptionally violent, is absolutely skewing people away from understanding the underlying issues both in this specific war and the world as a whole, and scapegoating Israel as if it’s the root of (or emblematic of) all evil in the world.

[aparrotandaqrow]

Yes, absolutely—and no matter what the true number of civilians killed ends up being, by many other metrics this war is nowhere near as bad for civilians as most other modern wars—the ratio of tons of explosives dropped vs civilian deaths, for example, taking the most pessimistic estimate, is still dwarfed by the US's track record over the last 20 years. And generally we don't accuse the US of committing genocide in Iraq, as much as wanton disregard for the value of innocent lives. As an Israeli political satirist put it, "if we're supposed to be committing a genocide, we really suck at it!"

Where I do personally think criticism is warranted in terms of this war being especially *bad* for civilians is the loss of infrastructure and homes. Even if Israel is being careful to minimize casualties, they're not being careful to protect homes, and the end of this almost the entire population will be homeless. I don't think that's genocide but I do think it's horrific, which is exactly the point people rushing to call it genocide are missing. And the international aid response will almost certainly be the delivery of goods, not necessarily stepping in to actively help rebuild.

[regallibellbright]

Today’s Girl Genius:

They know each other so well. (I’m still not over The Panel from a few weeks ago. Are any of us over The Panel? Are any of us over the “Apparently Cheyenne Wright intentionally colored the backgrounds of that strip to be polyamory flag colors”?)

[chromaticabrasions]

having online friends is so fun! but watch out! the distinse......

[thatgirlonstage]

Absurdist time loop where a guy gets stuck in a time loop for absolutely no apparent reason and tries all this crazy shit and dies a bunch of times and completely reforms his life and then suddenly gets spat out the other side on a completely average loop with no idea what he did that finally fixed it and the answer is like. There was this one (1) ant that he kept stepping on every cycle without even noticing and he doesn’t notice on the last one either he just stopped for an extra three seconds bc he dropped something or whatever. And then didn’t step on the ant. Either the ant is a wizard or a wizard enchanted it to live forever just to see what would happen. The point is the man never knows about it. As far as this guy is aware time just stopped working for six months and then just as randomly started again. He can speak Portuguese and play the viola now.

[thatgirlonstage]

Alternatively world where time loops are not uncommon as just like, random natural magical phenomena where major ones are prone to coalesce around a Big Event—preventing someone’s death, a love confession, saving the world, etc—but occasionally you’ll get mini versions that just swirl up like a localized rain shower, especially as aftershocks of a Big One, so it’s not uncommon for you to wake up to your roommate looking addled and telling you it’s been Monday for two weeks. “Hey I just got stuck in the time loop and took up crafting, we need to buy crochet supplies now” is a common occurrence. College students frequently make deliberate efforts to snare themselves in time loops to get extra time to study. Athletes and writers hate it because you suddenly have all the time in the world but none of the fruits of your effort will stick around.

[official-time-loop-posts]

Official Time Loop Post

[harkthorn]

Owlbear, but it's a variant that mysteriously happens to look just like it's part pigeon

-2626

[vezimira]

i want 20 of them

[keepcalmandcarriefischer]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdQuxw52/

I think I found my new favorite rabbit hole. This voice actor does Shakespeare scenes in a southern accent and I need to see the whole damn play. Absolutely beautiful

[saint-batrick]

if you're not from the us american south, there's some amazing nuances to this you may have missed. i can't really describe all of them, because i've lived here my whole life and a lot of the body language is sort of a native tongue thing. the body language is its own language, and i am not so great at teaching language. i do know i instinctively sucked on my lower teeth at the same time as he did, and when he scratched the side of his face, i was ready to take up fucking arms with him.

but y'all. the way he said "brutus is an honourable man" - each and every time it changed just a little. it was the full condemnation Shakespeare wanted it to be. it started off slightly mock sincere. barely trying to cover the sarcasm. by the end...it wasn't a threat, it was a promise.

christ, he's good.

[anais-ninja-bitch]

the eliding of “you all” to “y’all” while still maintaining 2 syllables is a deliberate and brilliant act of violence. “bear with me” said exactly like i’ve heard it at every funeral. the choices of breaking and re-establishing of eye contact. the balance of rehearsed and improvised tone. A+++ get this man a hollywood contract.

[musicalhell]

That restrained tone of a tough guy whose heart is breaking, 100% in character as Antony and as a good ol' southern boy

[monogramsalarm]

i think lou wilson would be a rlly good taako adventurezone send tweet

[45percenterthen]

y yo a tí, Brute?

[not100bees]

do you like your state flower?

Yes

No

I don't have strong opinions on this

Voting ended onMar 21, 2024

List of state flowers here!

If you aren't American consider your national flower when voting.

[ossifer-deactivated20250706]

it's hilarious how if you do any amount of research into life or death melee combat the prevailing themes that emerge are that

you're gonna get tired very quickly

tired leads to injured, injured leads to tired, tired leads to—

you're not gonna be as composed as you expect

humans are more fragile than you think and also more durable than you think. both are true and neither stop them from dying of an infection later (DO NOT GET BITTEN)

DO NOT GET STABBED (generally good life advice)

DO GET A SPEAR

knights are faster than you think

[rainboq]

Other favorites from history:

Humans are very good at *pretending* to fight each other in hopes that the generals way in the back are buying it so nobody has to get stabbed.

Most of the dying only happened after a side broke and tried to run, because then the rich assholes on horseback got to start running them down.

[ere-the-sun-rises]

When you do get a bloodthirtsy force, it gets bad real quick (see the battle of Adrianople, 378 CE, and the battle of Cannae, 216 BCE)

SUPPLY LINES FFS

Uuuuuuuh wow professionalization matters a lot actually

There's a lot of dust actually

Horses Will Not run through opposing infantry, but they will run at other horses

Elephants are not worth it, tbh

Shields matter a lot if you want to not die but good luck finding a balance between being too heavy and not protective enough

Anything is a projectile if you throw it hard enough

Always have a knife

Do Not Fall Down - you will be trampled

The guy with the biggest hat/plume is the leader

Release The Hounds

Valleys are BAD NEWS

Uphill is much nicer than downhill

A retreat route to boats on the sea is only helpful when you're already ready to sail

Forests are torches waiting to be lit

A professional soldier does a surprising amount of sitting around and day labour on massive projects

The army has always been a good place to become an engineer, it seems

Ffs, pleasr listen when the sergeant tells you something. He's always right

If you've got a shit general, make sure you've got a good tactician/strategist

That rich guy really doesn't know what he's doing, huh

Drowning is awful and being in the navy is certainly A Choice, but your wife will not be happy with you

Damn, all this shit is heavy :(((

Attack the baggage train >:)))

Uhhhh, sarge? The battle line broke. I'm going home

Why aren't the enemy running and screaming back at us? They're just ... walking towards us. I will not be sticking around to figure out whatever fuckery they're up to.

Blood is actually really slippery :(

I did not clean my blade and now the blood has dried and glued the sword and scabbard together :(((

Tf you mean we're gonna fight during harvest season. I think tf not.

I Hate This. All Of This.

Fuck me, battle is LOUD despite the fact I can't hear shit in this helmet

You're better to be down an arm than down a leg, tbh

Desertion rates are not as high as you'd think, but if you let the troops starve and get sick, they will abandon you en masse

WHAT MADE YOU THINK CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!

The fewer pieces to armour the better is usually is (with the exception of chain and scale)

Skirts and loose-ish clothes actually help conceal the lines of your body in combat

Don't wear too much armour in a hot place because you will be sweating until you pass out and die

CHARIOTS ARE SO COOL

Falling off a chariot is Less Cool

You're less likely to get stabbed than you are crushed or run over

Leather resists slashing damage, silk/linen resists piercing damage and wood/ceramic disperses blunt damage

Ceramic armour is actually so effective at defending its wearer that we still use it in bulletproof vests and tank armour (though once its broken it needs to be replaced)

A blade lodged in bone can actually be really hard to get back out

If your belly is cut open, you're already dead to an infection

Unless they hit a major artery, bleeding out takes a long time

[toolusingmammalgirl]

The Four Sacred Artistic Motives:

-what if this bad thing was good instead

-how about Make-Believe Land can have whatever I want

-would that be fucked up or what

-I think that shit's hot

[bisexualeliotspencer]

Eliot: I stay close to protect Hardison and Parker. I suppose I’m third wheeling but if that’s what it takes to keep them safe then so be it

Hardison: Eliot is our boyfriend. We take him on dates all the time

Parker: he hasn’t figured it out yet

Hardison: I suggested we tell him

Parker: but this is more fun

Hardison: yeah it is

[inkskinned]

in the time loop the only way out is to leave her there but you don't ever leave her there, never in the roughly one thousand years you have been in the same day. it is probably like "50 first dates" but you haven't stooped so low as to watch "50 first dates" yet. (but who is to say what another thousand years of the same media will bring to you, maybe you will develop a new taste).

you spent about 200 of these years sulking in a bathtub or on the couch or staring at the seaside. 300 of them have been spent slowly mapping the geographical distance you can actually get before the time loop restarts. you have a list of favorite places: one library in Western Massachusetts called "The Bookmill", which has weird hours and has never raised an eyebrow to you arriving out-of-breath and panting, asking to see a specific book on a specific shelf. There is one beach without a name in North Carolina; it is an accident of geography and ownership title disputes - and it is pristine, untouched, warm and cozy. you've taken her on a lot of picnics there. Acadia National Park. One specific birdhouse in the mountains.

you were stuck in the time loop with the money you entered it with: not enough to rent a private jet. you've robbed a bank a few times, you don't like the way it ends. maybe next century you'll get the hang of it. you don't like the look on her face when you say hang on i have to stop at the bank.

you just have to leave her, and you can go back to being a person again. you took 5 years just catching a flight and sitting in the Grand Canyon. if there's one thing you regret more than anything, it's that you hadn't gotten your passport renewed before this fucking time loop. maybe you should spend some time learning forgery - but also, like, you look like an english teacher. nobody is going to be cool about you asking to see their paper printing machines.

the world is very big. that is one of the things groundhog day gets wrong. there are no consequences, so you have literally all the time (or none of the time?) in the world. in groundhog day, he does a lot of very cool things, but in reality - your muscle memory never gets better. you can't necessarily learn how to play piano or sculpt ice, because your hands never remember the practice. but hey - maybe you'll try violin next. drums. synth.

you can open any door and walk into any conversation. money isn't really an object. you can try every meal off every menu, forever. take her on helicopter tours and into every museum and on every event that is happening right-now at-this-moment. parades and funerals and calligraphy classes.

but you are somewhat trapped by the limitations of your body. if you were reading a book, you still need to get up and go back to the library and find that book again when the day resets. (thank god for the internet). it still takes like 2 hours to board a plane, and then takeoff and landing and traffic. you've gotten off to run around on the freeway. one of the little thankful things: since your brain isn't actually developing (it's a muscle too), the days thankfully don't feel shorter to you. that would be agony.

all you have to do to leave the timeloop is let that man get away with it. that's all. in every version of yourself - forever - you have stopped him.

the problem is that this experience has convinced you of the existence of the human soul. after all, how else are you forming memories? your very cells reset. information has to be transferred somehow. and if timeloops are real, you can convince yourself other magic exists. so you have two choices here: this hell, or the next. there might be a millennia where you have been worn down to the point you can accept fate's decision. this is just not one of them. ironically - she is the one thing you have left.

and besides! if you can't always find something new in your partner, aren't you failing them? there is something new about her, every day with the same morning. every brutal day with the same orange sunset.

after all, you wanted to live with her in heaven, in eternity, and, well - isn't this second-best.

[sanvitheartificer]

Being back on tumblr is really nice actually. i look at my notifications and dashboard and i see icons from people i knew from so many different places and there's just so many people who i love so dearly on here and it's just !! oh! the world is more filled with dearness than i remembered! if u are a mutual or also just like, anyone around here really, know seeing your icon has recently made me feel like the world is, mm, like the one classroom u returned to in high school that was strange and dingy and out of the way but yours, a place of belonging and refuge and making things. <3 I'm so so glad you're all here and I'm here too.

[catmask]

actually, i did want to ask you all - a commonly shared sentiment about character creators in games or dressup games online is there's very frequently a lack of black hairstyles.

so it made me curious - what are some black hairstyles you wish would be included more in character creators/dressup games? or ones you get really happy to see are included?

[starflopink]

shoving various images from my pinterest here

specifically craving long dreadlocks from video games atm because that is what i have and i never see those ever 💔