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Game of Thrones Daily

#extradirty
Three Goblin Art
Sweet Seals For You, Always

izzy's playlists!

Kaledo Art

Andulka
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"

shark vs the universe

titsay
noise dept.
we're not kids anymore.
Show & Tell
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
h
Monterey Bay Aquarium
d e v o n
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$LAYYYTER
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@shadows-and-starlight
listen to pornographers: they hate women and they produce porn as a product of hate. porn is antithetical to female liberation. "feminism" that approves of porn isn't feminism.
I would love to have this 1912 condo above the stores in Northampton, MA, 5bds, 3ba, 2,500sqft, $1.595m. [$562/mo. HOA]
@staff just give us a dislike button
How to Actually Learn a Language (Without Wasting Time)
Polyglots will do anything to sell you something, so here’s the fastest and most basic technique based on my research.
—
Step 1 – Getting the Absolute Basics In
This is where most people already get lost. If you search social media for how to start, the advice isn’t necessarily bad, but it often makes you dependent on a single resource, usually an app that will eventually try to charge you. Duolingo, for example, has turned into a mega-corporation that perfected gamification to keep you on the app.
Remember: free apps make money by keeping you on their platform, not by helping you become fluent.
At this stage, the goal is not to gain conversational skills but to avoid overwhelming yourself and get a feel for what you’re actually getting into. All my recommended resources are free because I believe learning a language should be a basic right. I wouldn’t advise spending any money until you’re sure you’ll stick with it. Otherwise, it can turn into a toxic “but I paid for this, so I have to keep going” mindset that drains all the fun out of learning.
• Language Transfer – Highly recommended for Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, German, Greek, Italian, Swahili, and French.
• Textbooks – Simply search for [language] textbook PDF, or check LibGen and the Internet Archive. Don’t overthink which book to choose—it doesn’t matter much.
• Podcasts – Coffee Break is a solid choice for many languages.
• YouTube Channels – Join r/Learn[language] on Reddit and find recommendations.
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Step 2 – The 20/80 Principle
The idea is that 20% of words make up 80% of everyday speech.
What you’re going to do:
Search “Most common words [language] PDF”.
This list is now your best friend
For flashcards, I highly recommend AnkiPro. It lets you import pre-made lists for Anki/Quizlet and has an archive where you’ll definitely find the most common words. But it lacks audio. The real Anki program has it, but only on PC (unless you’re willing to pay $30 for the mobile app). Use AnkiPro for now—we’ll come back to repeating phrases later. In the meantime, find a YouTube video with the most common words pronounced, or use Google Translate for audio.
(Knowt is a free alternative for Quizlet if you prefer that)
These lists will spare you from learning unnecessary vocabulary at this stage. Spaced repetition (which Anki uses) can take longer, but it’s worth it because you want these words to stick. Anki will only introduce a small number of new words per day. Once you start new words, write phrases using them. Doesn’t matter if they’re random just try to use them.
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Step 3 – The First Breakup With the Language
This isn’t really a step, but I have to mention it. For me (and for other language learners I’ve talked to) this is where motivation crashes.
The dopamine rush is over. Your ego boost is gone. You’re stuck understanding just enough to notice how much you don’t understand, and topics are getting more complex. Everything feels overwhelming, and motivation drops.
This is normal. You have to push through it.
I’ll write a separate post on how I manage this phase, but for now:
• Take a step back and make sure you understand the basics.
• Find something that keeps you motivated.
• Consistency is key. Even if it’s just five minutes a day, do it. (Edit: You can search online for inspiration on scheduled plans. I found one that organizes language exercises into different categories based on how much time you have each day, which seems helpful. https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/s/sSGUtORurM
Personally, I used AI to create a weekly plan kind of as a last resort before giving up on the language, but try looking for pre-made ones first.)
I personally enjoyed story learning during this phase. And don’t forget the frequency lists are still your best friend. For story learning check out Olly Richards books!
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Step 4 – Immersion
Your brain needs active and passive immersion. The earlier steps were mostly active, and now you’ll start the fun part.
How to Immerse Yourself:
1. Join some kind of community.
• I enjoy Reddit/ r/lean[Language]. Do this in your target language, but also in the language you already speak. Post that you’re looking for a chat partner in your target language. The most people are nice, and the mean ones will just ghost you anyway.
2. Watch shows.
• Subtitles only in your target language or drop English subtitles ASAP.
3. Listen to podcasts.
4. Read
I personally dislike media made for kids (except on low-energy days). For real immersion, pick something for adults.
5. Translate, write, and speak.
Before this, you wrote simple sentences using vocabulary. Now, put them to work:
• Translate texts.
• Keep a diary.
• Write short stories.
• Complain about the language in the language.
It doesn’t matter, just use it.
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Step 5 – Speaking
Start speaking earlier than you think you’re ready. Trust me. This is probably where most people disagree with me. I do think you should start by focusing on input, but the importance of output isn’t talked about enough.
Now, the real Anki (or any program with phrases + audio) comes into play. At lower levels, it doesn’t make sense to just start talking, since you wouldn’t even be able to recognize your mistakes. Here’s what you’ll do:
1. Repeat phrases out loud.
2. Record yourself speaking.
3. Compare your recording to the original audio and adjust your pronunciation.
If it’s a tonal language (or if you struggle with accents), start this even earlier.
Other Speaking Strategies:
• Shadowing – Repeat after native speakers.
• Reading aloud – Your own texts, books, anything.
• Talking to yourself.
• Talking to natives (if you’re brave).
I’m not here to fix social anxiety, but I am here to help with language learning, so just speak.
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Final Thoughts
• These steps overlap, and that’s fine.
• This is supposed to be fun. Learning just because you’re “too deep in” or because of school won’t cut it.
• If you’re lost, take a step back.
• I’m not a professional. I just think a straight answer is way too hard to find.
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If you have anything to add, feel free to share.
How do I explain to you people that interracial relationships are okay
Not every white person dating a POC is fetishizing. White people can be respectful and responsible when it comes to culture and relationships and not everyone has bad intentions.
Asian people can date Black people without you saying shit like “your kids will be so pretty” they’re not dating for pretty kids. They’re dating bc they like each other.
Someone can dress their partner in clothing from their culture if they want. Someone can take their partner to cultural events if they want.
People in relationships can share cultures, experiences and love without it being toxic or skin deep.
Their partner isn’t culturally appropriating. Their partner is being shown the ultimate form of love, bc their partner trusts them and loves them enough to share their history and heritage.
Yeah, dating someone from your culture is nice bc you automatically have similar experiences. But you’re not limited to dating people with the same experiences. Loving someone is sharing and growing and being together.
Interracial relationships aren’t always toxic, and some of y’all need to stop projecting onto other people.
👆 THIS 👆 👏👏👏
Calling ineterracial relationships toxic or fetishizing just seem like anti race mixing or racism with extra steps
This reminded me of this
Love how virtually all historical trans examples are 1. Literally mythology or fictional stories 2. A third category created for gnc gay men 3. A woman who dressed as a man bc women weren’t allowed to do anything 4. Gay ppl who transitioned to become straight bc they lived in a society where being gay was illegal or 5. A rare example of historical autogynephilia
Whores’ Glory (Dir. Michael Glawogger, 2011)
I remember watching this documentary (twice, actually) and sobbing uncontrollably. This scene really hit me because she let these words out reluctantly. She was silent and then said “wait, I have something to say.” We often forget that not everybody is just “accustomed” to their circumstances and that some people are just “built” to endure these hardships. They too suffer and they too want a way out.
women around the world heed my call. your comfort above everything. dont put on those shoes that hurt after walking in them for 30 minutes dont wake up 1 hour and a half earlier to put on make up or do your hair dont tolerate a man talking down to you dont follow trends you dont care for dont let yourself feel hungry dont go places or do things to please someone else and most importantly. try that hobby or class or job that you think you will fail at.
There are lots of reasons why fandom is "quieter" now than it used to be. Some theories are more compelling to me than others, and they all have a different scale of impact. We'll never know for sure, of course, but I like to think about it. Thus, this poll.
Of the list below, which reason do you find most compelling or do you think had the biggest impact?
New entrants to fandom don't know the old ways
fandom olds didn't teach the newcomers how to fandom
covid/surge in fandom due to quarantine and lockdowns
"antis" and other harassment campaigns against creators
creators posting complaints about comments (people worry about commenting wrong)
rise of discord popularity - fandom is walled off from each other
tumblr porn ban and other reasons people left the site
capitalism turning fandom into a passive "view and move on" commodity
rules from social media impacting fan culture (eg. don't comment on old posts)
general state of the world / burnout
social anxieties in an increasingly complex online culture
"surveillance state" worries and not wanting to be perceived
This is an incomplete list, so if your most compelling reason isn't listed, feel free to add it in the notes.
Weekly Serialization, you are our last bastion.
i miss u so much (pre ai internet)
Thomas Hoepker - A mural of a forest in the South Bronx, 1983
It's sexism to define who is a woman by anything other than biology.
i am so so tired of gender advocates being the ones to equate sex and gender then try to turn it on gender abolitionists as some kind of gotcha like will you please read 1 feminist book in your entire life please
younger me was fully gaslit into believing that my immutable homosexuality was transphobic and i should be forced to take dick if the dick wore a pair of panties so i wouldn't be one of the "evil lesbian terfs". didn't matter if it traumatized me or made me wanna kill myself as long as the males felt validated.
one day i woke up and realized that my inner voice had been right the whole time. the trans acceptance movement is, was, and has always been about males: their comfort, their happiness, their egos; what they want, what they demand, what they label as offensive—all their rhetoric has upended society in less than ten fucking years because they're male. the courts know it, politicians know it, academics know it, the medical community knows it. males have been at the forefront of the trans conversation for a fucking reason. they're the only ones winning historic "womens" awards, being celebrated and championed for their bravery, being recognized in activism circles and lawmaking and politics.
here's the most fucked up part: in countries where women have less rights than cattle—their husbands are legally allowed to beat them, males rape them in broad daylight, police won't even investigate their murders—trans women are a protected class. trans men aren't.
nobody wants to say the quiet part out loud, but i will! trans women are still male. trans men are still female. sex-based oppression and the power of male privilege is playing out before our very eyes.
women, lesbians, females have always been a means to an end. disposable. objects for male pleasure. things they can humiliate and scare and abuse without consequence. just fucking look around you.
women, listen to your gut. don't let your body be used and abused for the sake of feelings, or your kindness be weaponized to accept your own victimization. these men are rapists who hide behind faux bigotry and lipstick-wearing male privilege.
critical thought is not bigotry. researching other viewpoints is not evil. recognizing predatory behavior is not transphobic. for your own safety, be fucking selfish!!!! be mean!!!! it'll save you from literal trauma!!!!!
The largest mass shooting in American history was a hate crime against gay people. Don’t ever forget that.
June 12, 2016. Putting a date on this for when it gets reblogged months from now by people who think the post is about something from 30, 40 years ago.
I am a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting, having grown up in Orlando and just turned 20 a month prior. If you didn’t know, there were several families who refused to claim the bodies of their relatives due to their sexuality. One family even had their relative’s name removed from the memorial. Murdered by the same hate with which their families reject them in both life and death.
Many, many people celebrated Pulse. We were told we deserved it. That it was God’s punishment for our sin of loving the same sex. We are sent messages like these I received in 2018:
We in the community often call the victim count 49+ to include the survivors who couldn’t live with the pain.
The event was never officially declared a hate crime or targeted homophobic attack and is rarely listed as one in databases.
At our vigils for those slaughtered, Extremist Christian groups showed up to protest, holding signs like this:
ID: Me kissing a woman I was casually seeing in front of an angry looking man with a “Sodomy is Sin” sign.
Please understand how much more than just a mass shooting this was. We are still to this day harassed and told we deserved it by some.
This year was the sixth anniversary. The first couple years I received dozens of messages checking in on me on 6/12. Year 5 got enough news coverage for people to think to reach out to me. This year it was my therapist, the woman I kissed in that photo, and a couple of other gun violence survivor friends. People are forgetting already.
With the 7 year anniversary <2 weeks away, I figured I’d reblog this
I never asked for this post to get picked up with my addition. I never wanted that. But if you think you’re fucking PROGRESSIVE for silencing a female homosexual Pulse survivor, if you think you’re doing something GOOD by removing my addition which has NOTHING to do with gender/trans people (who, NO, I do not fucking hate you goddamn insufferable dumbass)…
how do you not understand that you ARE intentionally erasing history? the things I discuss in my reblog are things very few people know about this attack. you would prefer to bury those things - perhaps alongside your conscience and critical thinking skills? - than to allow a woman to speak freely? just bc said woman doesn’t believe in the existence of gender, but still believes in personal freedom and that trans people deserve safety, protection, and equal rights to all others?
I’m not the problem here babes
the TRA response to this post was so, so fucking revealing. dozens if not hundreds blocked me. some refused to reblog but instead would STEAL MY STORY OF SURVIVING PULSE. many lied about me & my views, BLAMED me for Pulse, or claimed I blamed trans people for Pulse. I got a massive influx of anon hate & violent threats.
These people are NO different than the person who sent me those messages in the screenshots, NO different than the WBC protestors, and NO different than the conservatives online who said we deserved it for being a threat to family values or whatever. TRAs showed their asses more in the responses to this post than anywhere else I’ve seen.
rereading this and realizing my initial addition literally said, “We are still to this day harassed and told we deserved it by some,” and the TRAs on here really read that and decided “that could be ME!”