tucson aint got much but it does have a bridge shaped like a rattlesnake
hes my friend
glad people are reblogging my friend the bridge snake
noise dept.
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cherry valley forever
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
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Monterey Bay Aquarium
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#extradirty
Jules of Nature

祝日 / Permanent Vacation
AnasAbdin
Today's Document
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open

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Love Begins

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Sweet Seals For You, Always

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@shadowgamer223
tucson aint got much but it does have a bridge shaped like a rattlesnake
hes my friend
glad people are reblogging my friend the bridge snake
George Tiller was murdered 13 years ago today (May 31 2022)
People noting this anniversary reminding me again that it is such an insane failure of the pro-choice movement that we do not as a nation think of George Tiller as a civil rights hero and additionally a martyr at the level of MLK Jr. or a Kennedy. So, you know, do your part, etc.
The main reason I’m pushing for people to stop using the term ‘pedophile’ and instead use the term ‘child sexual abusers’, is because since all discussions of child sexual abuse focus on this idea of an evil person who is just out to get kids because they are sexual attracted to them, it makes it hard for kids who where sexually assaulted by people who don’t fit that description to realize they were sexually assaulted.
It didn’t register for me until recently that my experiences of being forced to strip naked multiple times at the mental hospital to be ‘checked’ when I was 14 was sexual assault, because the people who did it were nurses/doctors who clearly didn’t find me sexually attractive but instead used it as a form of humiliation and control towards children they deemed as ‘unruly’ and ‘uncooperative’ (ie. children who asked to be treated like people). I thought only people who fit into this idea of a child attracted pedo could be child sexual abusers, so I thought my experience didn’t count.
Stepping away from the idea that there is a pedophile boggieman and instead highlighting that anyone can be a child sexual abuser will help more people realize that their experiences are sexual assault.
my stepfather would openly sexually harass me and my siblings at dinner while also loving the fantasy of killing pedophiles. whether he personally found our abuse sexually gratifying was frankly irrelevant to whether it traumatized us. whether he would be considered a pedophile or not doesn't change that he committed sexual abuse of children
I think in his mind there was a type of horrible person out there who does horrible things, and because he didn't think of himself as fitting that category, his actions could not be judged
Uh, I don’t think this is my style.
Shut up, kid! Tell me more about my eyes.
Star Trek: The Next Generation, 2x10.
I had no memory of this scene whatsoever, so I went back and rewatched it real quick on youtube. And the thing I love about it …
Okay. So Wesley is extremely uncomfortable here, and it’s for extremely teenage boy reasons. He doesn’t think this is his style, because it’s too much. Too romantic, too sincere, too over the top. He’s afraid he’d be laughed at, he’s never going to say words like that to a real woman.
But Will Riker, full of confidence, argues that you need to take the plunge immediately. You need to go all in, play in unsafe, take your chances. Because Will Riker’s self-confidence is godly.
BUT. But. The gifs don’t quite show this, but if you watch the scene. Right after his opening, ‘you are the most beautiful woman in the galaxy’, and just before he says ‘but that might not work’, there’s a tiny moment where Wes and Guinan share a look, and that look is amused. Slightly incredulous. And that’s where Riker immediately dials back and goes ‘but that might not work’. He only comes back and goes all in when Guinan goes, no, no it would, and basically gives him her blessing to follow this path. Which is where Will, having permission, knowing this is what his conversation partner wants and enjoys, goes in and gives it his all.
And Wesley’s expression, incidentally, slips and becomes both embarrassed and somewhat concerned.
It isn’t verbalised, but that was also a great lesson on why Riker is as successful as he is. Because he asks. Not verbally, but he takes his chance, and then adjusts his approach from feedback. If she acts embarrassed or upset or amused or incredulous, he takes a step back and goes, right, that’s not the approach you want from me. But if she responds, if she indicates that hey, this conversation is in fact something she might enjoy right now, he grins and locks in and puts some effort into it.
It’s also a tiny detail, but the conversation starts, after Riker has asked Guinan over to help him, with him pulling out her chair. Even if it’s a lesson and they all know it’s a lesson, he still takes the time to get the small details right. This is a date, even if it’s a fake one. You damn well pull out your lady’s chair for her.
And in the conversation itself, he and Guinan are having genuine fun. They’re playing off each other. And they address the ‘sincerity’ of the play-acting. Because flirting, ‘lines’, always have an air of artificiality to them, but their fake flirting actually addresses that. The line is a ‘knock on the door’. It’s fake, but it’s an indication that the other person is willing to put some effort in. To say things to make you feel good, and have a good time in the conversation. There might or might not be anything serious happening behind them, but the game can be fun in and of itself, and you never know, something might develop from it. Guinan is having genuine fun. To the point that she doesn’t need it poo-pooed by a teenage boy, and tells him to shush while she enjoys a man having taken time out of his day to flirt outrageously with her.
Wesley doesn’t get any of this. He doesn’t understand more than the words that are happening. But there are actually a lot of good lessons in here. To take it less seriously, to be willing to be foolish and embarrassed, because it’s not life or death or the end of the world, no matter how much if might feel like that to a teenager in love. To take it more seriously, to be willing to say things that are rich and expansive and romantic, because you want your partner to feel valued. To respond to cues, to start from an overt opening where your interest is clear, so that you can see if your partner wants that or not. To be willing to go all in, if it turns out your partner does, at least right now. To make some effort, to get the little details right, to go out of your way and do the small things, the romantic things, to make the other person feel special.
Like. He probably should have verbalised more of that for Wesley, because if teenagers could pick up non-verbal cues like this they wouldn’t need lessons to start with. But it actually is a pretty good showcase of why Riker-the-flirt had as much success as he did. Because he’s responsive, because he’s expansive, because he puts the effort it, because he’s willing to look foolish, because he wants to make his partners feel good about what’s happening. He’s confident, but he’s not predatory. He wants everyone involved to have a good time. And it shows.
(And he also is a little uncertain, as well. He has self-confidence to match Q, but he is also taking chances, and when they appeared to laugh at him a little bit, he did pull back and recalibrate. His grin had something nervous around the edges. He’s afraid to be laughed at too. He doesn’t like rejection any more the next man. He’s just willing to take his chances regardless, and to take the hit if turns out he has to).
memories
On Dentists
So I can’t brush my teeth. Like, it’s the worst kind of hell. I went to the dentist for a cleaning today and I told the hygienist this, and she was wonderfully helpful.
There are some incredibly soft toothbrushes available- namely, post-surgical brushes. Running them under hot water makes them even softer.
She told me that you don’t really need to use toothpaste- it’s mostly marketing. The foam gets to me, so that is really reassuring.
She gave me two particularly soft brushes and some xylitol gum. Trident is a market brand of xylitol gum, which helps with your teeth and can make your breath smell better.
The whole purpose of brushing is to disrupt plaque buildup. You don’t need to brush twice a day, every day with toothpaste if you brush correctly- little circles, focusing on near the gums (where most plaque builds up). So if you’re having a bad sensory day and can’t brush at all, it’s not the end of the world.
Hell, you don’t even need a toothbrush if even the post-surgical ones are too harsh. Going over your teeth with the same motions using a washcloth is enough.
She wants to find a fluoride rinse that has a taste I can stand (peppermint is the only mint I can stand) but she’s not particularly worried about it.
I go to Dr. Barr in Chicago. If you can get to the State St. Macy’s, his office is nearby. He’s very kind and patient and really understanding of my needs as an autistic person. The hygienist, I don’t know her name, announced everything she was going to do before she did it, and stopped frequently to see how I was doing.
This is really the only positive dentist I’ve ever had- past dentists have been too rough and not bothered to help find ways I can actually brush.
Basically this is a glowing recommendation for Dr. Barr’s office if you’re autistic, afraid of dentists, or have sensory needs. This is a recommendation even if you don’t have any of those things.
Im actually crying i feel like this post was reblogged for me oh my god oh my god oh my lord thank you
You can also dilute your mouthwash and use it to swish around if it burns. My dentist does this so consider it dentally approved
If you were feeling guilty about your brushing habits, either due to sensory issues, pain, allergies, executive dysfunction, or just plain fatigue, here’s what you need to know about what is and isn’t necessary if your dental care!
Post-covid, I got really horrible shit going on with my gag reflex where for some reason the mint flavor of toothpaste (and only toothpaste) would make me gag so hard that I’d throw up. Then I found a kids toothpaste that’s like strawberry flavored or something, but it has the proper adult amount of flouride, so it works for me and I don’t gag much anymore. Here’s an article with some options if you’re like me lol
Dr. Gemma Wheeler lists best non-mint toothpaste options for adults. The list includes those that are truly non mint, without oils or aromas
Also for the people who can’t stand foam, the ingredient you’re looking to avoid is called SLS.
I share this frequently, but I had a very difficult time making myself floss because I hated the way that standard floss digs into my fingers when I use it. I switched to floss picks, and boom: A hated activity instantly became entirely neutral. Much easier to convince myself to do! If you have the same problem with standard floss, this might be worth a try.
Also, my most recent trip to the dentist, I was told that xylitol is a very effective treatment for dry mouth! And also that dry mouth is bad for your teeth, because it can disrupt the PH balance in your mouth, making your teeth more susceptible to cavities. While you want to be very careful to keep any xylitol products away from dogs in particular and probably pets in general, if you have dry mouth, you can try checking for products with xylitol in them.
Of note: My brother endorses the OraNusre brand of flavorless toothpaste; he says it “tastes like toothbrush”. My mom, meanwhile, is a fan of the Hello brand, which comes in different fruity and sweet flavors. Both of these are listed at the non-mint toothpaste link above.
If you prefer a toothpaste or a mouthwash for dry mouth, I use Biotène; it’s not cheap, but brushing once a day with it, a tube of Biotène toothpaste lasts me around four to five months. As far as I’m aware, it’s only in mint flavor.
ive found that partially treated mental illness can sometimes look to uninvolved onlookers like faked mental illness.
"someone who really has pOCD would be disgusted and horrified at their intrusive thoughts" or maybe i'm in therapy & am going by the books, being radically ambivalent to my intrusive thoughts instead of wasting energy mentally washing my paws of sin. i'm not going to perform my rock bottom for you for the sake of being believed.
"I won't perform my rock bottom for you for the sake of being believed" is going straight into my permanent storage holy shit
Researchers analyzed data from almost 3,000 trans women.
Objective To compare body composition and physical fitness between transgender and cisgender individuals. Design Systematic review with met
Vimes had spent his life on the streets, and had met decent men and fools and people who'd steal a penny from a blind beggar and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he'd never met The People. People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn't measure up. What would run through the streets soon enough wouldn't be a revolution or a riot. It'd be people who were frightened and panicking. It was what happened when the machinery of city life faltered, the wheels stopped turning and all the little rules broke down. And when that happened, humans were worse than sheep. Sheep just ran; they didn't try to bite the sheep next to them. Terry Pratchett, Night Watch (Discworld, #29; City Watch, #6)
What gets me though is that despite this, despite all of it, Vines still tries so fucking hard. Still wants to help people, even though people are so fucking awful.
how do they rise up?
"The beast screamed inside Vimes. It screamed that no one would blame him for doing the hangman out of ten dollars and a free breakfast. Yeah, and you could say a swift stab now was the merciful solution, because every hangman knew you could go the easy way or the hard way and there wasn't one in the country that'd let something like Carcer go the easy way. The gods knew the man deserved it…
…but young Sam was watching him, across thirty years.
When we break down, it all breaks down. That's just how it works. You can bend it, and if you make it hot enough you can bend it in a circle, but you can't break it. When you break it, it all breaks down until there's nothing unbroken. It starts here and now.
He lowered the sword."
(C) Terry Pratchett "Night Watch"
May your 25th of May be glorious! Here's to Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, and a Hard Boiled Egg.
To Explain the Glorious 25th of May
For those of my followers who are confused, here’s a brief explanation.
In the Discworld book Night Watch, the 25th of May is the anniversary of the Revolution of Treacle Mine Road, otherwise known as the Glorious 25th of May. This was a relatively minor skirmish in the city’s great history, a struggle for power, a liberation that removed a madman from the throne to replace him with a different madman. But it was the city fighting back against oppression and cruelty and torture.
And in the fighting seven men died. Seven graves in the cemetery. And those who were there wear the lilac to remember them.
Discworld fans use this date as a convenient date to honour Sir Terry Pratchett and to remember his work.
Because there truly are no books like them. They are so amazing, with Pratchett having an amazing insight into fantasy, as well as the depths of the human condition.
Night Watch especially shows this. It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s grim, it’s silly. It’s a book about inevitably, it’s a book about change. It’s terrifying, it’s bleak, it’s hopeful, it’s warm! It’s about a man reliving the worst days of his past, but he still strives to protect those he knows are lost. Because they’re not lost yet. They’re in front of him and he does the job in front of him.
Where, as civilians riot against the cruelty of the law, a man defends his watch house by sitting out front with a cup of lukewarm cocoa in one hand and a cigar in the other, telling the rioters he’s on break.
A book where a man must mentor his own child self. A book where he must walk his own past through the horrors he witnessed.
Where he gets so close to changing fate, before fate spins round with a haymaker.
And it’s also a book where the chant of the revolution is “Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, and a Hardboiled Egg.”
Where there is an old soldiers song about angels sticking their arses in the air, that just might make you weep.
We love you, Sir Terry Pratchett.
How do they rise up?
GNU Sir Pterry.
“You'd like Freedom, Truth and Justice, wouldn't you, comrade sergeant?” said Reg encouragingly.
“I'd like a hard-boiled egg,” said Vimes, shaking the match out.
"How dare you? How dare you? At this time! In this place! They did the job they didn't have to do, and they died doing it, and you can't give them anything. Do you understand? They fought for those who'd been abandoned, they fought for one another, and they were betrayed. Men like them always are. What good would a statue be? It'd just inspire new fools to believe they're going to be heroes. They wouldn't want that. Just let them be. Forever."
How Do They Rise Up
I think one of Pratchett's great skills in writing was being able to make silly things serious, in different ways. Like, there's a fairy godmother forcing everyone into fairystales, how fun! Except in the process, she has stopped seeing them as people. She's forcing people to live lives they don't want to because she decides that's how it has to be. Sometimes she goes so far as to violate her victim's minds and deform and puppet their bodies so they'll play their part right, and anyone who doesn't do their job gets mercilessly killed. And there's a zombie activist named Reg Shoe who buries himself every year out of solidarity for the dead, how funny! Except he is filled with a genuine passion for justice and improvement in the world, and that's why he literally refuses to die. And he buries himself on a holiday that happens to be the anniversery of his own death, and he does it next to the bodies of the friends and strangers he fought alongside, the ones who didn't get to come back, so he spends one day with them. There is still a lot of silliness in discworld, a lot that's wacky and funny, but a lot of it, when you think about it, is oddly beautiful or touching or disturbing or something else entirely.