Tempest in a Teapot @thewerechinchilla - Tumblr Blog

You said something in “Smith” which I hope I grasped, and there was a feeling almost of recognition. An odd feeling of grief overcame me when I read it. I cannot explain my feelings any clearer. It was like hearing a piece of music from way back, except that it was nearer poetry by Graves’ definition. Thank you very much for writing it.

Terry Pratchett, in a letter to J. R. R. Tolkien, 22 November 1967

Thank you very much for your letter. The first one that I have received with regard to Smith of Wootton Major. You evidently feel about the story very much as I do myself. I can hardly say more.

J. R. R. Tolkien, in reply to Pratchett’s letter, 24 November 1967

thesetwoutes

This is the first I've ever seen this and it makes me wonder if it's why Pratchett was always so conscientious about responding to letters from kids.

vaspider

If you were wondering: in November 1967, Terry Pratchett was 19 years old.

rock-n-roll-fantasy

And he did in fact say on at least one occasion that it was this that pushed him to always engage with his own fans in the same kind and conscientious manner.

feastuponthis

i-have-good-taste

eldengourd

It's that time of year again. My good friend Jonathan Harker is on his annual business trip to Castle Dracula.

eldengourd

It's that time of year again. My good friend Jonathan Harker is on his annual business trip to Castle Dracula.

millenniallust4death

I’m paying to force seven thousand strangers to see a photo of my late husband having fun with his dog. Tumblr Blaze is totally worth it. XD

millenniallust4death

Thank-you to all of my new Internet stranger friends for being so gracious about having my post shoved onto your dashboards. I loved reading all of your kind tags and comments! Both Martin and Bosco have been gone for several years now but for 24 hours, they felt very present in my life. I greatly appreciate this gift. ❤️

psycorax

Reblog to have your dashboard be visited by the spirit of joy that death can end but not erase.

leavescrown

Love that this is well beyond 7000 people now and still going

millenniallust4death

@leavescrown Exactly! It’s a beautiful gift. Martin and Bosco out there travelling around the Tumblr community, continually making new friends.

millenniallust4death

@sseanettles

#hello again martin and bosco!! sending you boys round for another go :)

Reading your tag made me laugh out loud. It’s like two old friends unexpectedly stopped by your porch for a quick visit. XD

petermorwood

I’ll always reblog Martin and Bosco when they splash across my dash, because of Reasons.

What’s loved, lives.

asymbina

Be the Martin and Bosco you want to see in the world!

catchymemes

dehydratedbunny

thats actually so beautiful im in love with the shapes off trees and how clear of a picture i have of this place existing in nature

quasi-normalcy

Every single person I know who did football in high school, without exception, has a chronic injury. Many regret what it's done to their knees and back, even major organs like the brain.

There is no serious legislative push to ban high school football.

quasi-normalcy

Also, like, if you want to talk about social pressure on minors to undertake activities that will result in regrettable, irreversible damage to their bodies:

No one, *ever*, tried to persuade me to transition.

My gym teacher tried to persuade me to try out for the football team almost every single day that I was in junior high.

quasi-normalcy

#i firmly believe that the reason why concussions and brain damage in general#are not taken nearly as seriously as they should be#is because of football#if we take concussions and brain trauma seriously then we have to acknowledge the risks that children are undertaking at even#high school level football#but we can't do that#because the kids need to play football in high school so they can play football in college so they can join the NFL#This time I'm really gonna queue it.

vaspider

Not a single one of my wife's fingers is completely straight. If you look at them closely -- which I have, many times, over the past 22 years -- you can see where they were broken, over and over, taped in place, and where she just kept fucking playing.

When I first met her, she used to joke about how her coach said, "I could get more than that out of a pig if I kicked it hard enough," and that was the nicest fucking thing he said. Two decades later, she's like, "Yeah, that man verbally and physically abused all of us for years."

There is at least one football game she played in high school that she simply doesn't remember, because she was a linebacker. She got a concussion. She got up and kept playing... or so she's told. She doesn't remember, because she had a fucking concussion and they let her keep playing.

I hate football so much. It ruined her back, her knees, fucked up her hands... everyone was so obsessed with how tall she was, how broad-shouldered. No one ever pushed her to transition, but I fucking wish someone had at least suggested it. That would have hurt her so much less than FUCKING FOOTBALL. Like, it would have been actually beneficial to her.

mchug

I heard that one of the actual reasons that organizations like the NFL have tried so hard to downplay CTE and other injuries like it is because they’re terrified that moms will refuse to let their children play football anymore and that entire massive industry will come collapsing down because of it.

vaspider

That fucking scans.

english-history-trip

snoutbeetle

Is a language dead if it has more than *squints* half a million daily speakers despite centuries of imperialism?

Fucknuggets.

taksez

Sometimes you wonder if they can function outside their imaginary world

brunhiddensmusings

the english want the welsh language to die so people dont notice that 80% of ‘english mythology’ has been lifted wholecloth from wales, had the serial number filed off and covered with a union jack

andordean

My favourite.

randomingoftherandomness

Cymru am byth 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 ❤️

no-one-expects-deactivated20220

It’s a beautiful language, like Gaelic, Scottish and Irish. All languages are important for our history, it teaches us who we are, and who we were, it’s our true indigenous tongue.

iris-collects

Welsh was never a "dead language" because it was too strong for it's enemies to kill.

submalevolentgrace

the welsh government wants to force everyone to learn welsh? man that sure sounds totalitarian, imagine if the english government forced everyone to learn english smh smh

nitw

i fucking hate being an adult with a slowly increasing number of responsibilities its like one day you wake up and youre like aw fuck when was the last time i descaled the coffee machine

nitw

"theres gonna be a power outage tomorrow welp i better boil some water in advance!" "oh gee looks like its time to vacuum the carpet!" GET REAL?????? YOU SOUND INSANE

nitw

someday youre gonna be out of baking soda when it matters most and its gonna destroy you

my0clonic-jerk

cardassiangoodreads

Genuinely, one of the measures that's stopped book banning the most when districts implement it, is having the would-be banners fill out a form that demonstrates if they've read the book or not. Like where they have the summarize the plot and characters and do a mini book report and give a review. It stops them in their tracks. This is why in my high school, every time someone wanted to ban a book it ended up going nowhere. There was one where a conservative student wanted to ban the manga "Legal Drug" for having a marijuana leaf on the cover, then got the form that required them to actually read and either balked, or read it and realized it was not pro-drug at all. (The other one that reduces book bans even further is "requiring the would-be banner to be affiliated with this actual school in some way, either by being a student, faculty/staff or a parent of a child at the school" because the vast majority of bans are "activists" with no affiliation with the school who just travel around trying to do this in districts all over the U.S. IIRC a few years ago someone crunched the numbers and just 51 parents were responsible for all the book bans that year nationally. 51! In a country with 50 states, with over 300 million people total!)

dreamsy990

i saw someone say nobody needs to know what a .txt file is anymore. what the fuck is the world coming to

dreamsy990

unironically i think we need to bring back computer labs because APPARENTLY some people WERENT taught basic computer literacy and internet safety in school

dreamsy990

things about computers/the internet i think kids should be formally taught in schools because theyre important to know and the amount of soon to be grown adults i know who know NOTHING about any of these is quite frankly almost all of them (and resources to learn if you dont know these things, because its never to late to get better with computers)

how to troubleshoot by yourself when you have a technical problem

what common file types are

some very basics on how to use ""developer tools"" on your computer (because i cant think of a better way to refer to them) like task manager and command prompt (and their mac equivalents, terminal and activity monitor ofc)

how to read and understand a privacy policy and what your personal data is, as well as what it being collected actually means and steps you can take to keep it private

how to understand terms of service (hey. if you have trouble with reading legalese and worry about being able to understand these policies anyways, here's a site that gives basic summaries of privacy policies and ToS)

what a cookie actually is

internet privacy and your digital footprint!! seriously i dont know why we stopped teaching people that they shouldnt be putting their entire real identity online in a world where your online actions can ruin you irl

basic safety measures like antivirus software (and why you should use it or if the built in one on windows or mac is enough for you) and backing up your computer (also a mac guide)

common keyboard shortcuts (and on mac)

as an additional note: things i think everyone should know on computers and the internet but schools may bit hesitant to teach about for whatever moral/legal standards schools pretend to operate on

vpns and adblockers! (btw for most of these where you can pay for things im purposefully not recommending any specific software but seriously just use ublock origin for an adblocker)

how to not get a virus while pirating something

what a temporary email is and when to use one

red flags that you shouldn't trust a website (and how to quickly check the security of a site)

what javascript on a website does and how to disable it to get around paywalls

dreamsy990

ok one last addition! if you want to take it one level higher, i think learning the very basics of at least one programming language is good for people. it makes computers less scary and it makes you feel very cool, and a lot of people get discouraged about it because it seems overly complicated and hard to learn outside a formal classroom setting, so heres some resources for learning the very basics of python (because i consider it the easiest language to learn and knowing one language will make it easier to learn others)

an online compiler so you dont need to download anything or worry about running code directly on your computer if that makes you nervous

a basic video guide to introduce you to python and walk you through beginner steps

a guide to some syntax and commands you should know (this was literally my lifeline in my first CS class)

some performance tasks to give you things to code to practice and assess yourself

eldritchbauble

Food stamps may stop in November if the shutdown continues. This may be a good time to look into food banks, kitchens, meal trains, and discount markets and programs for outdated foods if you are depending on SNAP.

eldritchbauble

As it stands, SNAP benefits end October 31st.

There's at least one regional org where we live doing a massive food drive in response, so we'll be participating. I'm openly asking anyone who can help out to do the same for your local communities.

littleoblivions

findhelp.org is a resource that can help you find food banks/pantries in your area

headspace-hotel

This sounds like a fucking shitpost, but trump completely destroyed the east wing of the White House

happybean17

Oh my fucking God. They completely demolished the entire east wing. The whole thing is rubble now. Trump just tore down half of the White House.

(picture from the article linked above)

This was supposedly done in preparation for construction of his self involved ballroom project, but he had claimed before that no changes would be made to the existing building structure. And now half of this unbelievably historic building is gone.

headspace-hotel

i'm reblogging these pictures because...yeah, in the most literal way possible, one-third of the White House, the USA's most famous, iconic and symbolic historic building, was just completely fucking obliterated

headspace-hotel

oh my god yall the building itself is not the point

the original post wasn't even making a political statement aside from "wow this is the most absurd and unbelievable thing possible"

but the reason hes doing this is to build a giant ballroom that is being funded by private donations from corporations including Google, Meta, and BlackRock plus multiple tobacco companies, weapons and surveillance companies, and 4 different cryptocurrency investors

its wild

aroaceenjolras

Hi.

I don't like doing this. When I do it, I try to keep it off this blog, as it's not what y'all are here for and I hate shoving how bad my life can get in everyone's faces.

My partner and I are two disabled adults who cannot work traditional jobs. We are reliant on SNAP assistance which is being terminated next month because some people value their own egos and bank accounts more than the citizens of the country they pretend to serve. We are running out of food and at this juncture there is no way we can get more.

(All I've eaten today is four slices of peanut butter toast and three taquitos. It's getting bad.)

I hate doing this. Especially since there are people in the world right now to whom my peanut butter toast and taquitos is probably more food than they've seen in a week. I understand that there are more pressing needs than mine, and I feel terrible for taking up airtime that could go to worthier causes.

But if you've ever felt seen by something I've said, or my writing has helped you understand yourself better, or gotten you out of a tough spot, please consider throwing some money my way. Even if you can't, a reblog would be great.

You can toss a coin to your blogger >here< if you're so inclined.

If you do, even if it's just a few bucks, I'm thankful. I wish I could offer more than thanks.

theimaginatrix27

@kintatsujo @derinthescarletpescatarian

These are two of the dearest friends I've made in the past few years, and I can do nothing for them at this juncture other than sharing this post. If you can help, even if only by spreading it yourselves, I and they would sincerely appreciate it.

That goes for anyone else who sees this, too. I know the world is insane right now and a lot of people are struggling, but my friends need all the help they can get right now and I'm scared for them.

kaijuno

mariacallous

The New Yorker Daily How Bad Is It?

The East Wing of the White House is being demolished to make room for the construction of President Trump’s proposed ballroom.

How normal is this sort of White House renovation?

“The White House wants you to believe this is totally normal, citing all the renovations, big and small, made by past Presidents. They are right that changes were made. But they are dead wrong about how this is being done. With the exception of F.D.R. secretly building a bunker under the East Wing during the Second World War, past renovations of this size were debated, funded by Congress, and done only after the need was manifest. None were rushed and done at the whim of a President.”

— George E. Condon, Jr., the White House correspondent for National Journal and a past president of the White House Correspondents’ Association

mohanovitch

Um. So one question, from a non-American who’s kind of out of the loop on this issue:

Who’s funding the renovation?

biglawbear

We don't know! There's no transparency about it! And he lied about the East Wing! It could be taxpayers! It could be shady donors! It could be using the cryptocurrency he's been grifting! We don't know! We don't know! We're in hell!!

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

I’ve hear about how having cats makes you immune to hauntings, ghosts, spooky midnight noises etc but. for years I’ve been dealing with a panic response to unexpected nighttime noises, major enough that the adrenaline can keep me from falling back asleep for hours.

A few weeks of living with a cat and my brain’s been reprogrammed. last night at 4am the furry little shitmuppet broke a vase & I only woke up long enough to call her a rat bastard & roll over back to sleep

phinarei

Oh shit. This totally made me realize that it must have been my cat that killed my fear of the dark. I used to be intensely scared of walking into dark spaces. Hated any area where I had to turn a light off before I could turn another one on.

Enter my mostly black demon who likes to jump out of dark spaces at me.

Now I can just walk through dark rooms with no anxiety. I’m now used to the darkness taking physical form and jumping at me. At this point if a monster did jump out of the darkness I’d instinctively reach for the cat treats to offer it.

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

holy crap what other fears do cats make you immune to?

I’m no longer scared to dangle my foot over the bed bc of demons with sharp claws & glowing eyes, i’m scared to dangle my foot over the bed bc of one specific small furry demon with sharp claws & glowing eyes

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

#fuck off beelzebub my cat has dibs

so-i-did-this-thing

My cats are legit part of my grounding strategy for when I have sleep hallucinations. As part of my sleep paralysis, I “see” corpses in the bed next to me on a frequent basis, or shadow men lurking in the doorway; if there is a cat blissfully, softly snoring at the foot of the bed, I know I am safe, despite what my brain is trying to conjure.

notsafevorework

the sound of my door opening slowly, but theres no one there. my cat. somethings clawing at the walls, glass or window screens, cats. somethings fucking licking my toe in the middle of the night, my fucking cat again. nothing can hurt me its all cat