Benthos

[towardsagentlerworld]

societal norms are awful

a friend of mine is trying to escape from a dangerous situation. 

she’s trans, and her birth country is extremely hostile to lgbtq people, but she managed to persuade her parents to let her go to canada for college. now that she’s in canada, she’s trying to stay there legally as a refugee.

her parents don’t know this. they don’t know that she’s trans, either. they’re extremely abusive and literal fascists and it would be very dangerous to her if they found out.

she’s also chronically ill, and immigration restrictions means she’s been exhausting herself over the past few weeks visiting various government offices, trying to gather all the forms and personal data required to submit her claim. 

all to petition to stay in a country where she already lives.

she already has a boyfriend (now husband - they recently got married) in canada, who’s willing to house and support her. but if she doesn’t manage to get this claim approved (and she might not), she’ll be deported all the same.

recently a residence advisor at her college noticed that she was suddenly giving away her belongings and preparing to move (she’s planning to move in with her husband soon). the advisor thought this was really concerning and was worried for my friend’s safety, and thought that the best course of action might be to try and contact my friend’s parents.

thankfully my friend learned about this and managed to stop her just in time, but…

this system is so broken. all my friend is trying to do is move from an unsafe location filled with people who will hurt her to a safer situation with someone who wants to take care of her. and every step of the way, legal and social systems are trying to stop her and send her back.

—

ETA: my friend has written more about her situation here and here (cw: second link contains a request for donations)

[fishingboatproceeds]

Will you do the ALS ice bucket challenge?

Probably not, partly because I am still recovering from meningitis and so the thought of doing anything out of bed is a bit overwhelming, but also for other reasons. I worry this makes me a totally humorless party pooper, but… 

ALS is a terrible disease and there isn’t enough research money devoted to it. Raising money for ALS research is important, and while some people complain that the whole ice bucket challenge thing is mere slacktivism, the ALS Association has raised millions of dollars it otherwise wouldn’t have raised. And that’s great. This has been an extremely successful campaign, and I think it’s wonderful.

That said, I have mixed feelings about tying fundraising (or awareness campaigns) to stuff like the ice bucket challenge. Here’s the question: Why are we raising money for ALS instead of raising money for pediatric cancer research or food aid or for domestic violence shelters?

I feel like the answer to that question ought to be, “We’re raising money for ALS because ALS research is underfunded and can benefit from these resources,” not, “We’re raising money for ALS because the ice bucket challenge is a thing on the Internet right now.” If our philanthropy is dictated only by what happens to bubble up to the surface of the Internet’s consciousness, we’re not making careful choices about how to distribute our limited resources. 

And when it comes to charity, everyone has limited resources. Whether you give $5 or $5,000,000 a year to charities, there will always be good causes you cannot fund. So you need a very good answer to the question, “Why did you donate to X and Y?” because there will always be a Z—a very worthy Z—to which you did not donate.

This is not meant in any way to diss those who’ve participated in the ice bucket challenge: it’s an important cause and it has been tremendously successful. And I certainly don’t want to strip the joy of giving and sharing from charity. Sarah and I are just focused on trying to make sure our giving is driven by need and the opportunity to create lasting change.

[gymnosperm]

I think charity dollars only funge against each other in theory, or in the account-books of careful people, people who donate a relatively fixed proportion of their surplus money to charity each year. For these people, $50 towards ALS is $50 less going towards more efficient charities, like deworming operations. 

But I think for many people, people who donate impulsively or irregularly, $50 towards ALS is $50 less going towards eating out, or groceries, or a car, and all the other things normal people spend money on when they’re not inspired towards charity.

The icebucket challenge shifts money towards a worthy cause. Some of that money may be being redirected from better causes, but more is being redirected from worse causes. So I think it’s good to take advantage of this fad, this brief thing on the internet that’s successfully convincing people to donate money.

Raise awareness, go on, do the challenge, and then quietly make your own donation to deworming operations instead. Or even not quietly! Just don’t discourage people from raising awareness for a decent cause and donating to a decent charity.

[grubisland-deactivated20251130]

Newest Land On Earth (by mm767cap)

[ad-mira-tion]

50% of my jokes are self deprecating and 50% are self congratulatory like i’ll say “wow its hot in here…. just like me” and 5 seconds later point at a trash can and say “me”

[kimjonginmypockets]

[sixpenceee]

This girl and her chicken face swap 

[fleshisartificial]

Have another selfie, free of charge!

New blog post

[sallystrose]

😍

[makingabetterurllater-deactivat]

[arabaquarian-deactivated2016010]

A thirst that transcends language and cultural barriers 

[puertoricanpegbundy]

reblogging from beyond the grave

[zackisontumblr]

#holaboo

[falafeldog]

lucas bit my ass and this truly terrifying thing happened

[tanklawrence-deactivated2023051]

Booty so powerful his soul is trapped inside

[robcanvas-deactivated20180718]

Shadow Realm

[prep-progress-perfection]

Good Notetaking

This is the system I’ve used since my sophomore year of high school for notes and its worked consistently, all the way through to my senior year of college. I hope it helps!

I generally use three different color pens in bright shades. You want your notes to be something you enjoy looking at. One color is for headings and important, must remember facts (pink). One color is for key words and theories (green) and one is for definitions (purple).

If I’m given a diagram during a lecture, I do my best to copy it down. Then I try to describe whats going on in my own words. Having a mental image of some important process has saved my but on an exam multiple times!

I also draw little example pictures inline with the text of my notes as additional memory devices.

If the professor makes the class slides available before the lecture, I’ll print them and write general summaries of the material in my notes ahead of time. That will save you from rushing in lecture and give you more time to ask questions about the things you don’t understand.

Generally, my notes don’t come out as neat as they are here. Most of the time, I end up copying them over so they’re easier to read and study from. Plus you get the added bonus of extra revision!

Good luck and happy studying! Xx

[thecomicsvault]

[brianmichaelbendis]

The Give and Take of The Universe

WARLOCK #10 (Dec. 1975) Art by Jim Starlin (pencils/colors) & Steve Leiaoha (colors) Words by Jim Starlin

[shsl-empiricist]

no pain involved in peachpicking or painting or cuddles

thanos must have led a nasty and brutish life

[pineplapple]

This is hands down the best parody twitter ever

[nyctosaurid]

We teach kids to fear animals like rats, snakes, spiders, etc. that are harmless 99% of the time but do we ever warn them about the real danger

[clinties-deactivated20140712]

WHY DOES IT HAVE TEETH ON ITS TONGUE

[nyctosaurid]

I am a gooseologist and I can tell you that geese live on a healthy diet of children’s souls which can only be properly chewed with unholy tongue teeth

[sinequanaan]

[guyism]

[heatcrashemboar]

being too shy to ask for wi-fi passwords

[elszivottcigaretta]