[vaquerocker]

[drops-of-universe]

why do men have this eternal fear of being used for money they don’t have lol

[papidehasbi]

[swordsswordsswords]

Prev stop he’s already dead 😂😭

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[cricketcat9]

PSA for fanfic writers, and to check a few of the above myself ( how to be a convincing liar)

[calista-222]

I like to think Kid Cosmic and Wander Over Yonder happen in the same universe :)

I watched Wander Over Yonder for the first time recently and it got me good, super fun cartoon that I highly recommend 👏

[galaxy-poupee]

Actually, i love it!

[junglejim4322]

Some of the edgiest queers in the world who constantly talk about romanticizing cannibalism and gore is punk or whatever will turn into the literal pope when confronted with anything realistic having to do with sex like im sorry but people fuck in the park at night sometimes always have and always will and you’re going to have to go about your life without advocating for them to be skinned alive in Alcatraz

[itwashotwestayedinthewater]

[fluoresensitives]

remember when I said trans women know they're women but a lot of trans men act as if them being men is a bit, and if THEY don't really see themselves as men/take being men seriously, that they assume trans women don't either... I think this is why trans men/trans mascs love rhps and buffalo bill so much, like teehee it's just fun when it's like, intense transmisogyny

[firem4ge]

Trying to attend anything in public just has me butting against the fact that being tma sucks. Yeah, that hema thing looks cool, how do they feel about trans women? Yeah, the trivia at the lesbian bar looks cool, so like their thoughts on trans women? Oh, that lesbian rave looks awesome, so about the trans women? Just, fundamentally unsure if I will even be allowed to exist in this space, and if I am will I be interacted with? Will I be the pariah desperate for attention but relegated to standing awkwardly in the corner or alone at the bar?

[sexboobomb]

“You can’t let other people’s opinions dictate your life” and the “opinions” in question are people saying I should be stabbed in a city where a woman was stabbed 40 times for being like me.

Like we all WISH this was a “be yourself” issue but its not. It’s a “I don’t want to be hate crimed” issue.

[bloodsky]

Gender Troubles: The Butches (watch it for free until March 29th)

[hunterinabrowncoat]

not even two years after the 2024 racist riots and attempted pogroms, we are back to more racist riots and attempted pogroms.

a mosque in scotland had to be put into lockdown. they are going door-to-door with hit lists and addresses in northern ireland, setting houses alight. they firebombed an imam's house in manchester. people of colour are being targeted and attacked by racist mobs in the street in broad daylight.

and instead of widespread condemnation or wall-to-wall coverage, the UK media and political establishment is filling air time talking about the "legitimate concerns" people have about "illegal migrants"

[40ouncesandamule]

The limits of the liberal imagination are going to get us all killed

[bolaneno]

the ruins of Mitla, a Zapoctec burial & ceremonial complex in Oaxaca, Mexico

Unique in its array of geometric friezes, Mitla was constructed in approximately 850 A.D.

[anarchopuppy]

sometimes being a fan of something means not wanting them to make any more of it

[just-illegal]

i HAVE [remembers that suicide jokes are bad] no choice but to revolutionize the world

[acquired-stardust]

EarthBound Super Nintendo Entertainment System 1994

[tpwrtrmnky]

I haaaaaaaaaaate the "affirmation only" framing of trans rights that some ostensibly pro-trans advocates take like there are actually more pertinent issues than feeling affirmed going on here.

I didn't go through the bureaucratic process of changing my Norwegian personal ID number, which encodes gender in it, because having an odd number there made me feel bad.

I did it because for someone with my name and outward appearance, having "man" on my IDs reveals private medical information to everyone who sees the document, information that they aren't entitled to know, which they might act on in deeply undesirable ways.

Taking HRT also isn't something I'm doing to be affirmed, it's something I'm doing because the biological processes signaled by having high levels of estrogen and low levels of testosterone are both something I want, and something that helps my overall well-being and functioning in daily life. Material, real, physiological effects that are well understood, easy to look up, and not about some vague sense that putting estrogen in my bloodstream is a badge of validity handed out by the doctor.

Like at some point I just want to ask these people if they actually believe trans people exist or if they just feel obligated to humor the idea to be nice. Have they actually understood that there are people walking around today with the full effects of transition care already sorted? Have they comprehended that the surgeries exist beyond the occasional picture of someone who's still in recovery?

Do you live in the same material reality as trans people, or are you just being polite to shadows on the wall?

[tpwrtrmnky]

Oh and this is also part of the broader centrist "every material claim the far right makes is true, I just disagree with their tone and think we should be nice" tendency. Like what I'm outlining here is a worldview where the anti-trans notion that trans people Do Not Exist is taken for granted.

[fishbphotography]

Ayu manhole cover

Gujo, Gifu, Japan