we are made for more than pain, dear heart

Stone. 32. they/them. aro/ace. artist, poet, cat lover. poetry blog: stoneserafinawords. header image is a grey short-haired cat asleep with her tongue out a little. profile picture is a picrew of a femme presenting white person with a buzzcut and the asexual flag as the background.

[ajloun]

ok last thing. but what people fundamentally need to get through their heads is the significance of gaza fundraisers not being the same as like mutual aid when you're helping someone get groceries, because it is a genocide. there is insane deliberate scarcity and prices are unmanageable, because there is nowhere nearly enough for everyone, so only people who can pay can eat. and what positioning individual fundraisers as the only course of action does is quite simply give a tiny percentage of random people whose fundraisers take off the ability to pay those prices while thousands of others can't. and every one of those thousands of people without a fundraiser is suffering through the same inconceivably horrific reality. it is giving a few completely desperate people out of hundreds of thousands a slightly more favorable position in a horrific war economy of imposed scarcity. and what grassroots community kitchens do is try to mitigate in some small way that inconceivable hierarchy of who can pay and who can't, by stretching ingredients as far as they can last to cook meals at large scale and give them out at no cost. and obviously people are still going to send money to their friends and families because this is hell what else are we supposed to do but please just think about that before promoting endless individual fundraisers as somehow the most ethical way to help

[akaratna]

Operation Olive Branch has a spreadsheet dedicated to mutual aid, local distro, community kitchens, etc. in Gaza.

Operation Olive Branch

This is a good place to start if seeking to donate to a community resilience action. Just contact the group(s) directly to make sure they are still active. Life in Gaza and Palestine is full of uncertainty.

[disease-danger-darkness-silence]

I don't have the time and energy to vet the people who come into my inbox with fundraisers. So I'm gonna repost this once a day instead.

[pangur-and-grim]

my house is scary at night

[storyweavingspider]

Interpreted this initially not as shelves, but as your cat having erected defensive fortifications

[pietriarchy]

[asexualgeorgecostanza-deactivat]

[joey-wheeler-official]

[piss-bong]

[canopycapers-deactivated2022111]

[schmendrick-lamar-deactivated20]

[journeymanfool]

[dowereallyneedthis]

[favoritefightingfrenchgoth]

[disorderfaking-deactivated20200]

[goofballproximitysurveyor-deact]

[wilburian-deactivated20221116]

great job everyone lets hit the showers

[testosteronetwink]

[pinkthinkspalistineshouldbefree]

Not again

[cool-way-to-die-deactivated2022]

gentle reminder that you can’t get this kind of nonsense from any other site

[flavoracle]

This thread is almost eight years old and it has damn well earned its place among the Tumblr pantheon as a Heritage Post™️

[mylittleredgirl]

I keep trying to like red wine like a grown-up but like … it’s rotten grapes, guys. You can drink things that don’t taste like rotten grapes. Why

[mycaptainsharon-deactivated2017]

Okay I don’t know when this post is from (I came across it stalking multiple blogs). But in case this might help, here is a brief science/wine lesson.

To start off, some facts:

-White wine is made from sweet pulp inside of the grape (minus the seeds).

-Red wine is made from both the skin and the grape (and the seeds and stems…sometimes? Can’t remember).

-Tannin is the substance found in red wines, coffee, dark chocolate. Tannins are responsible for the bitter taste in those foods.

-Tannins are found in the skin of the grape, as well as the seeds and the stems. Therefore, most red wines will have tannins, versus most whites will not have tannins.

-Red wines vary in level of tannins, depending on variety of grape, climate, and fermentation process. Pinot noir tends to be very low tannin. Shiraz/Syrah, choice of poison for our beloved brunette surgeon, is very heavy on the tannins.

-Some white wines (most commonly Chardonnay) are aged in oak barrels instead of metal containers. Oak barrels have tannins, which seeps into the wine during the fermentation process. That’s why Chardonnays tend to be “drier” aka it has tannins.

-White wines like Sauvingnon Blancs are usually fermented in steel barrels (aka no tannins. Aka usually very fruity and light and sweet).

Your ability to taste tannins is genetic.

There is a genetic marker determining whether your taste cells are sensitive to tannins.

Basically two people can drink the exact same wine and have wildly different reactions because: 1. Person A can’t taste tannins, so they taste the actual wine flavor. 2. Person B can taste tannins, and that tends to overpower ALL the other flavors in the wine. Basically all they taste is tannins and none of the wine.

I am super tannin sensitive, so if I drink a wine like Cabernet Sauvignon (very tannin heavy, aka “very dry”, it tastes like bitter ethanol alcohol to me, whereas my best friend can’t taste tannins so the same wine is maybe a little bitter but they can actually taste the grape and different flavors. To her, a wine like Sauv Blanc is too sweet, tastes like sugar water. But to me it tastes good.

So unless it’s the taste of the alcohol or all wines you hate, chances are you might hate the taste of red wine, especially the heavier red wines, because taste the tannin overpowers everything else. And all you taste is bitter bitter ethanol bitter more ethanol. 

More tannin info: -Tannins bind to fat.

-This is why tannin heavy wines are recommended with fatty foods (Shiraz and steak). Whenever you eat food with high fat content, the fat builds up on your tongue. A sip of red wine will bind with the fat on your tongue and clear it away. That’s why the sip of wine between bites of fat heavy foods is considered a palate cleanser.

-By that logic, this is why white wines are recommended with low fat foods, like fish. Salmon is fattier than most fish, which is why Chardonnay (tannin heavy white wine) or Pinot Noir (low tannin red wine) is recommended with salmon.

-People who are sensitive to tannins can drink tannin heavy red wines with fatty food and generally the wine won’t taste gross. The fat on your tongue (from that steak) will bind with the tannin and neutralize the tannin taste. Aka the only time I ever drink Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz is with a steak or heavy, creamy pasta. Aka never bc I don’t often eat either.

-The reason dairy helps coffee taste better is because the fat in milk/creams binds with the tannins in coffee and neutralizes the bitter taste. This is why people who can’t taste tannins can generally drink coffee black without milk (sugar is a different story). It’s also why almond milk in coffee is the worst idea (almond milk is already bitter and has no fat).

More wine facts: -90% of the “aromas” of wine are marketing BS

-You know the labels that say like “cherry with a hint of blackberry?” There’s no real way to infuse cherry or blackberry into grape wine without screwing with the fermentation process. It’s all created by the wine marketing industry to sell you win. Sometimes if you smell cherry before you drink the wine, you might taste it in the wine (because majority of flavor comes from smell). Or if you think there is cherry flavor in the wine, your brain can trick your taste buds into tasting it.

-The only true flavors found in real grape wine are grapes (obviously), oak/earthy flavor (the barrels), vanilla (barrels, oak sticks), tannins. (There are a few others but can’t remember. I think maybe cinnamon?).

-People’s perception of wine often affect how good it tastes to them. Social psychology studies show that people will rate the exact same wine differently if they’re told the wines are different in price. (They rated the more expensive wine as tastier).

tl;dr Whether you can taste tannins is genetic. Exact same wines taste different for different people depending on your genetic makeup. If you’re sensitive to tannins, red wines won’t taste like anything other than bitter alcohol. Genetics/tannins are why people generally have preferences for red or whites.

[mylittleredgirl]

this is extremely informative and i have learned a thing about myself, which is that i CLEARLY inherited the tannin-tasting genes from my teatotaling mother and not from my dad who subsists entirely on espresso and cabernet sauvignon.

[themummersfolly]

I suddenly understand why my goddad can drink black coffee and those wretched tasting dry wines and think they taste good.

[shamelesslymkp]

Black tea also has tannins, so if you - like me - need to drink it with cream and don’t brew it nearly as long as tea aficionados say in scandalized tones you ought to, because otherwise it’s too bitter, you uh. might be sensitive to tannins.

I think that dark roast coffee has more tannins than light roast; I know for certain it requires a good deal more cream/milk to balance out the bitter/burnt taste.

[yamchaisawesome]

@thatbitchfae

[thelockenessmonster]

Ooh, did not know that

[pangur-and-grim]

what I've learned from having other people edit my work is that I have a sick addiction to commas

[pangur-and-grim]

there have been four editing passes on my spider sex book, and each time they take away so many commas. no fresh commas are being added, this is just a continued culling. if you see a comma in the final book please understand that it survived so much

[pangur-and-grim]

[veemochi]

[thememedaddy]

[spicymargaritas]

you know how “they just don’t make movies like that anymore”? they do. turns out you just need to watch more movies.

[stevishabitat]

[creative-anchorage]

Tags by @stevishabitat:

#Honestly what you gotta do is get obsessed with an actor #Pick one. Any one. It's doesn't matter which #Then watch all their filmography like a weirdo #And when you hit on something you like - click on that director on IMDB and watch all *their* shit

#Do this enough times and you will find things you never knew existed #Things you never expected to like #People you didn't know had range and variety and depth #You will also find things that kinda suck. But what I've found is that it's still worth it to watch all the way through

#Even if you have to clean your room or work on a craft project because it's boring or uncomfortable #I very rarely nope out of movie entirely before its done. Because there's still interesting stuff in most of them #or I'll hit on another actor to study 🤣 #Or at least I'll know which directors I'm not likely to be into in future.

[kdinjenzen]

12 years ago I made a vine that went viral on social media with my then 1 year old cat… and after many requests over the years, it's time to do a follow up!

So here we are! Yama the cat and Kdin the human 12 years later. Yama is still the same, and I've uh… changed a lot!

[kdinjenzen]

To answer some questions in the reblogs...

YES! That was me 12 years ago, I made this vine along with the Luigi-Board Vine, and a few others that went around quite a bit.

YES! It is the same cat! He was 1 year old in the original vine and he's 13 years old now! He's super healthy, very active for his age, and loves to cuddle.

YES! My boobs are natural, 9 years of Estrogen and 8 years of Progesterone will do that to ya~

[arctic-hands]

[Video Description: the video is captioned "Back in twenty fourteen, I posted this video on Vine..." The video shows a human, seen only from the neck down, sitting on the floor holding a tabby cat who is also sitting like a human. The human, flat-chested and seen in graphic tee and baggy jeans with deep pockets, is maneuvering the very tolerant cat's front paws, making him do a clapping game as the human chants in a slightly deep voice "This is my kitty cat. This is his kitty fat. It goes pat pat pat." As the human chants, the cat is made to pat his kitty fat. The screen then cuts to black as a bell tolls, and in white words it says "Twelve years later". The same cat is sitting in front of the same human–still from the neck down–once more. The human is now wearing a blue and red plaid blouse over large breasts, and slimmer jeans with no pockets seen. The human beings chanting in a lighter voice "This is my kitty cat. This is his kitty fat. It goes pat pat pat", once again making the tolerant cat do the patting motions in beat. End VD]

(I feel weird for describing a stranger's bust, but since op brought it up in the reblog it was relevant to the caption)

[slytherverse]

i say this in all seriousness, a great way to resist the broad cultural shift of devaluing curiosity and critical thinking is to play my favorite game, Hey What Is That Thing

you play it while walking around with friends and if you see something and don't know what it is or wonder why its there, you stop and point and say Hey What Is That Thing. and everyone speculates about it. googling it is allowed but preferably after spending several minutes guessing or asking a passerby about it

weird structures, ambiguous signs, unfamiliar car modifications, anything that you can't immediately understand its function. eight times out of ten, someone in the group actually knows, and now you know!

a few examples from me and my friends the past few weeks: "why is there a piece of plywood sticking out of that pond in a way that looks intentional?" (its a ramp so squirrels that fall in to the pond can climb out) • "my boss keeps insisting i take a vacation of nine days or more, thats so specific" (you work at a bank, banks make employees take vacation in long chunks so if youre stealing or committing fraud, itll be more obvious) • "why does this brick wall have random wooden blocks in it" (theres actually several reasons why this could be but we asked and it was so you could nail stuff to the wall) • "most of these old factories we drive past have tinted windows, was that just for style?" (fun fact the factory owners realized that blue light keeps people awake, much like screen light does now, so they tinted the windows blue to keep workers alert and make them work longer hours)

been playing this game for a long time and ive learned (and taught) a fuckton about zoning laws, local history, utilities (did you know you can just go to your local water treatment plant and ask for a tour and if they have a spare intern theyll just give you a tour!!!) and a whole lot of fun trivia. and now suddenly you're paying more attention when youre walking around, thinking about the reasons behind every design choice in the place you live that used to just be background noise. and it fuckin rules.

[depsidase]

[amalgamasreal]

Since we know most republican's only care about things when it starts to hit them at home lets put it this way: The $300 million dollar "fly breeding program" that DOGE was so happy to cut back in 2025 was one of our major lines of defense against the screwworm making its way back into the US for the first time since the 1960's.

Unfortunately, it was cut, we were no longer breeding sterile male screwworm flies to check the proliferation of new baby screwworms.

Now this alone might not have caused the problem to his us, but it also included the Trump administration re-opening the United States to accepting beef stock from Mexico at cattle auctions, which is how the infestations that we have now made their way up.

AND THAT is why the price of beef for potentially the next 5 years will see an increase in price.

OH, and in case you were wondering, the head of the FDA just came out and said that they'll need $1 billion to bring the screwworm population back under control. So not only are we now $700 million in the hole because of an action by Elon Musk, the prices of our beef will see an increase, and hundreds to potentially thousands of beef cattle will have to suffer screwworm infestations, which I need to remind you involves the fly larvae screwing into the skin of the cows and eating them from the inside out.

[yipyipallyall]

[ID: 1: Brian Eskow (@brianeskow) posted "What effect does Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire have on your life?" and evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) quoted it and responded, "Just off the top of my head it makes it more likely that cancer will kill me or a loved one because his wealth led directly to cancer research being cut. 2: A screen capture of the title area of an article called "How Elon Musk Killed Hundreds of Thousands of People" with photos in the background of a USAID-labeled textile, Elon Musk laughing, and dark-skinned people in colorful outfits leaning down to access white bags labeled with USAID's logo. This is paired with the text "@NathanJRobinson Instead of discussing how Elon Musk is now the world's first trillionaire, we should talk about how he killed hundreds of thousands of people through his dismantling of food and medical aid to poor countries. End ID.]

[girl-debord]

[rednines]

What was that Lucy parsons quote again?

[autumntides]

“Let every dirty, lousy tramp arm himself with a revolver or a knife, and lay in wait on the steps of the palaces of the rich and stab or shoot the owners as they come out. Let us kill them without mercy, and let it be a war of extermination.”

[cipheramnesia]

We should assassinate Rupert Murdoch

[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.

[so-i-did-this-thing]

It's a large (and shifting) smoke plume, so stay safe, folks. Look up how to make a "Corsi-Rosenthal Box" if you need an air purifier inside.

[csevet]

timestamp: july 16, 2026, 3:41pm

i'm looking at airnow (https://fire.airnow.gov/) and almost all of pennsylvania is currently in the "Unhealthy" range. mask up, filter, stay indoors as much as possible and keep an eye on vulnerable people and pets

This map shows fine particle pollution (PM2.5) from wildfires and other sources. It provides a public resource of information to best prepar

[doveywovy]

no matter how hard i try, nothing i write will ever be as fucked up as the stuff somebody who thinks they're creating a Wholesome AU with unexamined beliefs will make.

[jerboaoa]

couldn't leave this in the tags

[susie-dreemurr]

Image Description:

#I the one time I asked someone "hey could you add a domestic abuse tag?" after three friends had breakdowns reading a chapter #And the writer was like "can you explain?" and then "oh. OH." #And then like four months later after not writing (and me feeling bad like it was my fault) I hear back from the writer #And it's just a thank you cuz APPARENTLY THEY WERE IN A DOMESTICALLY ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP AND THOUGHT IT WAS ROMANTIC #Writer wherever you are I am still hoping your life is so much better now

[byjove]

I do not agree with veganism as a moral standard. If it is your personal moral stance, that is fine. If you think humans eating meat is inherently immoral, I don’t want to deal with you, you’re hopeless. Vegan ideology behaves more like a sect of evangelical Christianity than a dietary choice.

[literallycrashingoutrn]

Veganism is better for the environment, but claiming that it's a morally superior choice ignores cultural and economic factors that make people eat animal products.

[byjove]

It is not inherently better for the environment. That is the thing. When you begin trying to explain that local, sustainably sourced animal protein is better for the environment than imported plant proteins that are farmed 3,500 miles away using slave labor, they start tuning you out. Down is better for the environment than polyester stuffing, leather is better for the environment than pleather. We should work on making animal agricultural practices more sustainable instead of trying to shame everyone into eating plant products that are also farmed unethically and unsustainably.

[elfwreck]

Veganism - vegetarianism, even - is only viable for

Wealthy people

People who live in a very small part of the world that produces enough protein-based plants year round to sustain the locals.

For everyone else, it's a diet based on colonialism and imports. The ancient nordic people were not omnivores because they disdained plants as real food; they were omnivores because THERE ARE NO EDIBLE PLANTS IN WINTER.

Repeat for desert regions that have several months of "it's too hot and dry for plants to feed people and still survive themselves" and rocky coastline areas with "if you don't eat fish & eggs, you won't get any protein because there aren't enough seeds or nuts and you can't grow things that produce them."

We do live in a society where most people can afford to be vegetarian. We have plenty of imported plants, including protein-heavy plants. But locavore beats the hell out of herbivore for sustainability and ethical environmentalism.

[evilwriter37]

Insane to me that disabled people will say: "Hey, your glorified idea of revolution is going to get us killed" and then be treated as collateral damage or a necessary sacrifice. Like, yeah, the systems in place now are oppressive and literally based on eugenics, but a Revolution™️is not going to save us. How are we supposed to trust you (abled people) to put good systems in place if you're ready to kill us to get rid of the old one. That's not saving people. Treating disabled people as if they're ridiculous for not wanting to die and pointing out how bad a revolution would be for us is insane. You're actually a horrible person if you do this.

I don't know, folks, I'm just so fucking tired of us disabled people either being ignored or told to shut up. We're treated as worthless and expendable. I'm not dying for your Great Revolution™️. I need my meds.

[jayalaw]

This is what I said! A revolution needs to save everyone or we save no one. Lives aren’t expendable.

[segamascott]

[supreme-leader-stoat]

This is true but I'm gonna be controversial for a second and say that I feel bad for jocks who get hit with The Injury™️too. The Injury™️ fucking sucks, man. Having something that everyone praised you for when you were young suddenly betray you and having to grapple with both a sudden loss of ability (whether it's something that can be recovered from or not) and figure out what your future looks like now that the one you had imagined for yourself (whether it was actually realistic or not) feels like it's been snatched away is brutal.

[evilwriter37]

Yeah, like, maybe we shouldn't be shaming/making fun of people for either of these things!

[snowsmoked]

David did not tell Yuna what he saw at the cottage. But, he did come home visibly upset so he had to tell her something.

"Is Shane okay?" Was Yuna's first question.

"Yes," David was quick to reassure her. "He's fine. He's great."

"David," Yuna said worriedly, hand on his bicep. "Is Shane okay?"

"He really is. I promise, sweetheart. I would tell you if he wasn't," David promised her because he would. "But I - he was - he's probably going to be headed over here soon."

"Why?" Yuna started to get more worried, despite her husband's reassurances. "David, what happened? Did you two fight?"

David did interrupt his silent retreat but Yuna couldn't imagine Shane getting into a fight with his father over that.

"No," David caught her eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then please don't ask. I saw something I shouldn't have and I - I want it to be Shane's choice if he tells us. I promise you he's safe. We didn't fight. He's - he might be upset with me, but he's okay."

Yuna searched his face for another moment before she slowly nodded.

She had an idea of what David might have seen.

She had considered that Shane's 'silent retreat' might not be the complete truth. She also recognized how upset her husband was at unintentionally learning something about their boy that he wasn't ready to share.

"Okay," Yuna pulled him in for a hug. "I'll make some tea."

"I feel so horrible."

"Shane loves you, he'll understand," Yuna said.

"I hope so," David pulled back. "I can make the tea. Shane will probably want some if he comes over."

He used to make Shane hot chocolate after nightmares, or doctor visits, or difficult practices. When he was a teenager, he started asking for tea instead.

Yuna, sensing David needed something to do, said, "use the new one my aunt sent us. It takes a little longer but I think Shane will like it."

~*~*~

"So, what did you see," Yuna asked her husband as they watched their son and his boyfriend, Ilya Rozanov, drive away.

"I wondered how long it would take for you to ask," David smiled.

"Hush you," Yuna glared. "Like you wouldn't be curious. Unless, god, did you walk in on-"

"No," David stopped her. "They were just walking up from the dock. I would have left but when I noticed it was Rozanov - or Ilya, I mean - I was just frozen there."

"Then how did you know they were, you know, together?"

"Well they kissed on the porch," David winced. "And Ilya..."

"Ilya what?"

"He, uh, had his hand on Shane's…bottom."

Yuna and David stared at each other for a few seconds before Yuna couldn't take it anymore, smile spreading across her face and burst out laughing, hand gripping her husband’s shirt to hold herself up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Yuna laughed out.

"Yuna!" David admonished but he was laughing too. He reached out to steady her. "It's not funny!"

"When you put it that - that way!" Yuna tried to gather herself. "Ilya Rozanov. Ilya Rozanov. I can't believe it."

"He's a sweet kid," David was still smiling, thinking about Ilya standing awkwardly by his son, happily eating pasta, saying he'd leave the team that drafted him for their Shane.

Yuna softened. "He really is. He looks so much younger in person."

"Well," David wrapped an arm around her waist. "I think he might be ours now."