Spockiedog

We all set fire to the toaster.

[ryan-sometimes]

LMAOOOO

[girlskissinger]

Trans ppl are coming after your thanksgiving dinnera

[chavisory]

Autistic Grief: You’re Not Doing It Wrong

Written by Libby Banks for ASAN. This piece is for the autistic people who have been told, by themselves or others, that they are grieving i

"It means the watcher is finally off: no audience requiring a performance, no timeline imposing closure, no demand to feel a certain way by a certain date. For people who aren’t watched by default, that’s an ordinary condition; they reach it often. For many autistics, it’s rare. The audience went internal a long time ago, so emptying the room isn’t enough — the monitor has to stand down too.

"That’s why it can take years. Not because the grief wasn’t there, and not because we loved them less, but because the conditions that let grief happen for many of us — unwatched, unhurried — are the conditions we get least."

[volpeantica]

I believe that what unites Scully and Mulder above all else is their absolute integrity as people. Their moral incorruptibility – the fact that they’ll stand up for what they believe in, no matter what, no matter the personal costs. Their loyalty to the truth they believe in. The stubborness in never giving that up.

I believe that’s what they recognise in each other straight away. And it’s the first thing they love about each other. What makes them trust each other. That’s their common ground. The differences between them teach them how they will complement each other. That they can do so because that deep respect for one another is there right from the start: we’re the same; we take our moral obligation to ourselves seriously. We don’t betray what we believe in.

(That is why I love them.)

[themoonandmyman]

therapy should just be One Session where they just slough off all the Goo and then you’re done. Will someone please take my Goo

[the-wolf-and-moon]

i fell for my long time friend about 7-8 years ago and we are finally together now.. we are both very happy.. do you think the stars brought us together?

We come from the stars and our paths entwine with others, we share the same desire as the stars in binary systems, we are drawn to others, finding our own bonds, stars bring people together, naturally because we come from them

[vincentbriggs]

I made a useful bag to put things in. It's heavy cotton twill with woven stripes in off white & navy, and I don't remember how many years ago I found it at the thrift store, but I know I wouldn't have bought it nowadays because I don't particularly like these colours. Nice to have used most of it up for a non-clothing item! I sewed it at work on the industrial, on a few days when I finished early. Some years ago I made a similarly very large bag, and I sometimes wish I had more than one, and now I do. It's just right for holding large amounts of fabric or clothing, especially if your friend has borrowed your one and only IKEA bag.

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

OP: Why couldn’t traditional Chinese Yinpiao银票/silver drafts be forged if they were merely slips of paper? (cr大明宝钞，渐越)

Traditional Chinese yinpiao/silver drafts were paper vouchers issued by private banks starting from the Song Dynasty(960–1279). People could exchange these slips for physical silver at bank branches across the country.

Silver drafts were made in multiple copies with matching serrated seal edges. One copy went to the customer and others stayed at the bank. All edges had to fit perfectly together to withdraw silver. The unique split edge marks were almost impossible to copy.

This mechanism is known as qifeng骑缝 (split-joint seal) in China. It first originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC). The Rites of Zhou records that contracts were written on bamboo or wooden slips in duplicate. Notches and marks were carved in the middle before splitting the slips, with each party keeping one half. The two halves would be matched by their notches for verification.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770–221 BC), this idea evolved into hufu虎符/tiger tally tokens. A military tally was split into two pieces with identical inscriptions carved along the split edge. Troops could only be deployed if the patterns and characters on both halves perfectly aligned, serving as a metal version of the split-joint anti-counterfeiting system.

The technology matured in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Government documents and private contracts commonly used split-joint seals stamped across the dividing line. The Chinese character "hetong合同" (contract) was written across the middle before the paper was torn apart, so the complete characters would only appear when the two halves were put together. This split-coupon system was later adopted for Song Dynasty (960–1279) jiaozi paper money and yinpiao/silver drafts of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912).

Official Song dynasty paper money (Jiaozi交子) was abolished in 1107. Private silver drafts issued by Qing-era piaohao票行 (ancient exchange banks) vanished completely in 1951, hit hard by modern banks and currency reforms. Nowadays silver drafts no longer circulate as currency. Their collectible value depends on their rarity and physical condition.

Split-joint seals (骑缝章qifengzhang)are still widely used on important paper documents in modern China, an anti-tampering technique passed down from ancient times. They are applied across the edge of multi-page contracts, bidding documents and official archives. If any page is removed or replaced, the broken seal pattern can prove the file has been altered.

[ariaste]

OMG I got so excited about this because they used a really similar (though far less refined) version of this for contracts in the European medieval period!

First they were called "chirographs", but later the word "indenture" (in its earliest meaning as just a legal document of any kind between two people) came to be used, originating from the practice of a contract being written twice on a single piece of parchment and then cut in half with serrated edges (as in dent, "teeth" -> indents -> indenture) in order for each party to take one half, so they could later piece them together and verify that there had been no forgery -- same as the Chinese silver drafts!

(Charter of the Clerecía de Ledesma, 1252, showing the serrated indents at the top -- presumably they are cutting rather than tearing because they're using parchment, which I expect is much harder to tear than wood-pulp paper like the Chinese were using)

Delights me when human beings find similar ways to solve the same problem at two different ends of the world. <3

[geopsych]

Another public service announcement. This time it’s air quality. Some of you are probably in it already if you’re in eastern Canada, New England or New York, but it’s sliding south, a huge mass of wildfire smoke. Please be careful. When it starts getting bad, especially, like when the sky gets orange or brownish, it’s best to run air purifiers in the house and wear N95 or KN95 masks when you have to go outside.

It harms your lungs and it’s especially bad for children (and pets!) or anyone with health problems. There are all kinds of chemicals in that smoke. It’s not only trees that are burning. The heat already makes it harder to breath. This makes it worse.

If any of you are experiencing it, feel free to tell about it in the comments. 💚

Also, throw out the mask every day and shower before you get in bed if you’ve been out or you’ll be breathing the particles all night. Stuff like that. It gets all over you, your skin, your hair, your clothes.

[viralfrog]

[rae-xoxo00]

omg the girlies

[astra-the-dragon]

omg the girls are saviiiiiiiing wiiiildliiiiife

[highlyillogicalandroid]

Not all heroes wear capes. Or trousers.

[poppy-tarts-stuff]

Not leaving this in the tags

[asukam]

I saw this on insta and someone commented asking her how she knew they were in there and she said that she saw the mama duck with only one duckling and thought it was suspicious so she stopped to check and hear them quacking down there... :') <3

[uncomfortablecliche]

the way the momma duck sped up once she saw her babies yayyyy

[reasonsforhope]

For when you need a reminder that there really is goodness in the world

And for whenever someone mistakenly tells you that humans can only hurt nature -

We are part of nature. And we are uniquely equipped, in many ways, to help heal the planet we are part of - so long as we keep choosing to help, and to heal, this planet of which we are a part

[beardedmrbean]

One of those situations where, 'you're turning into your father' is the furthest thing from a insult possible.

[fshoulders]

I didn’t have the sound on at first, saw the first few seconds and went “what’s this? that young man moves like Steve Irwin.” So I turned on the sound. 🥹

[dame-de-pique]

Paul Lange - Off Aalesund, 1888-1893

[miseducatedmelanicmuse]

[tranthony]

grout white shark

[verseinfinity]

[random-xpressions]

When Vincent van Gogh wrote:

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

[paperplateprose]

writing challenge!

open up your document and put words in it

[dduane]

So just to let folks know what's going on

So first of all: let me tell everybody how things went with the new glasses.

Briefly: they're brilliant. The new varifocals work way better than earlier versions of them have routinely done. (This is apparently secondary to the way my eyes continue to change shape as I get older. It continues to make me snicker that I'm getting Iess nearsighted as I age. "So," I said to my Eye Lady, "if I can manage to live to, like, a hundred and twenty-five, I'll be twenty-twenty?" She gave me sort of a cockeyed look. "Well... you'll still be astigmatic. As for the rest of it, let's see how things go...") The reading glasses are no good for the computer: they’re genuinely just for reading. ...But this is okay, because the varifocals work fine for computer work. So THAT whole business has turned out more than satisfactorily... and thanks once more, from the bottom of my heart, to all those who helped out. ❤️

And get this. I went out to lunch after picking the new glasses up, and in the middle of lunch found myself paper-outlining a paranormal police procedural trilogy. (headclutch) So that went well. ...And no, I can't tell anybody anything about the plotting on these: it's too soon. But this looks like something of a change of writing voice (and thematic material) for me: darker than usual, maybe a touch grittier. We'll see how this group of works sets itself up as work gets going. (Other works further along in progress are in front of these right now, but that's fine. Giving things time to mature is never a problem.)

Anyway: typically enough, some other unexpected health junk that had been behaving itself during the spring then started kicking up cranky in June and over the last couple of weeks. (eyeroll) I don't want to get into more detail than necessary about this, but it's an outgrowth of the internal problems that have made me give up long-distance travel. It's required a goodish outlay of cash, and has resulted in me falling behind on my rent.

My landlord is being really easygoing about this, but nonetheless I'd very much like to get caught up on this before it gets any worse. (As being behind this way, I'm finding, is increasingly interfering with my work... especially as that's now become so much easier to get to grips with due to the new glasses.)

So it seems to me that this is a good time to repeat the Summer Reading Sale over at Ebooks Direct!

I imagine lots of people here know the drill. Everything's cheap, and the ebook bundles are all being held at their lowest price points for the duration (meaning specifically the "All The Wizardry" bundle, the Middle Kingdoms series bundle, the LGBTQ Pride collection, and the Feline Wizardry bundle—Even our "Give Me Everything You've Got" collection, which is the whole ebook store in one package, has had a bit knocked off.

So could I get folks to reblog this post so that people who might not have caught one of these sales before can do so now if they want to? Please & thank you!

And additionally: for those who're already up to the gunwales in ebooks and don't need any more, but still want to help out with the rent situation—if you'd like instead to drop something into my Ko-Fi, it'd be very welcome. And if you feel like doing this, I thank you very much in advance! 🙂

Support Diane Duane

Support Diane Duane

...So that's the news from Lake Wobegon for the moment. ...Now to slip outside and give the potted plants a potful or so of water as an evening drink. They've been suffering from the (unusual-for-us) local heat wave, there's a wildfire watch on (leading to a ban on selling portable BBQs), and we're also having a ban on watering things with a hose at the moment. (sigh) One thing after another...

Anyway, thanks again, folks.

[heedra]

unsung benefit i think a lot of ppl are sleeping on with using the public library is that i think its a great replacement for the dopamine hit some ppl get from online shopping. it kind of fills that niche of reserving something that you then get to anticipate the arrival of and enjoy when it arrives, but without like, the waste and the money.

[nonimaginaryfriend]

bonus it ALSO fills that dopamine hit of in-person shopping. “oh I didn’t go in looking for this but hmm, I’m tempted… I can’t resist… oh ho ho I have made some irresponsible decisions at the library today [carrying my stack of ten random books]” and then it doesn’t even matter if you don’t like them because a) free b) you’re gonna give them back anyway

[grumpy-cardigan]

Librarian here! Please please please please PLEASE do this! We don’t have any way to know if you read them, and we don’t care! We’re happy to see those books go out because that helps our stats. And that affects how much money we can get.

So grab that silly paperback romance, and maybe this new YA fantasy, oh and check for the new movies too! And don’t forget to check Libby and hoopla for music and ebooks and e-audio.