Shelter me from the rain, keep me in your shade @vmunroe - Tumblr Blog

Master list of my best posts: here

surprisingly forward-thinking of jim henson and co. to make a female character in the 70's that's allowed to be loud-mouthed and violent and kind of overwhelmingly romantic and even a huge bitch at times and not have a moment where any character asks her to change

ankle-beez

going through all the muppet movies in a row made me realize that like. miss piggy was made in the 70's. and it's so rare even today to have a character like her. she's loud, she's selfish, she's funny, she's extremely vain, she's obsessed with romance, she's violent, she's kind of annoying, and there's not a single moment in any of these films where she's asked to tone down any of these personality traits. i am not joking when i say that miss piggy might be one of the best treated female characters ever written

morlock-holmes

The farcical Red Scare 2.0 politics of the current administration are kind of ironic, because they match so well with how I always saw the leadership of the Soviet Union:

Completely out of touch with the real world because they expel any advisor who disagrees with them; assessing scientific evidence on the basis of how ideologically pure the scientist is; so utterly certain of their plans that any evidence that the plan is failing is evidence of sabotage; in love with enormous gestures of patriotism...

#cw politics

javert

i've been making an effort to save midway drafts of my stories these days, even though it is not a natural way for me to work to separate "ok i am doing draft 1 vs draft 2 vs draft 3". i like to write a first draft and then meander around the document as i see fit. but i have the paranoia that somebody is going to ask for these things someday as like hashtag proof that i can write and edit by myself. :| but i find this very annoying to do and they're cluttering up my gdocs lmao. so i'll do it. but let me state for the record that it annoys me.

javert

@0player

In the hands of a skilled storyteller who is capable of having a decent idea/coherent structure and knowing how to communicate that to an LLM, and then reining in and editing out "claude voice" (or the model of your choice) LLMs are already very capable of producing highly readable fiction. a very good model like fable might not even need a lot of prodding on the structure, and i suspect it could oneshot a fairly cromulent short story given nothing but an idea. you'd still need to get rid of the claudevoice tho

however this ^ is not actually something i worry about at all lol. because most of the people submitting LLM fiction to litmags do not even make an attempt to get rid of the model's little vocal quirks. and they submit a ton of really really bad fiction. lol. like if you're a good enough storyteller to use an LLM as a tool to write good fiction, this is probably because you already can write good fiction.

the problem is that many of the staff of litmags hate LLMs and avoid LLM text like the plague, which crucially makes them extremely bad at detecting it when they read. and I feel this general consensus wave of paranoia sweeping through the whole of the literary world because of this, and people are going to start asking for proof. i was watching youtube a little while ago (i watch videos about writing and for this in the afterlife i will be judged harshly) and one of the ad reads was for a program that basically monitors your typing and generates a public report that you're not using an llm and copy/pasting things in. which is a fucking nightmare. i don't think that most places are going to demand authors use a program like that because i think there is a recognition that people deserve SOME privacy and dignity lmfao, but asking for multiple drafts is cheap and easy and places are probably going to start doing it as soon as they feel like they've been tricked

afurioushawk

There you have it, it doesn't get much more mask-off than that.

#cw politics

loveridden1999

if i was a soccer player i'd simply kick that ball in the goal instead of wasting everyone's time

afurioushawk

#cw politics

spiribia

it makes me smile when you're reading a webcomic and the person is clearly very good at drawing and at drawing people specifically and then an animal crawls onscreen and it's like this

rp-meme-glaceon

Send “📂“ for a random yet completely useless headcanon I have

egregore-engine

a lot of people did not graduate from the very basic lesson of "What is a social construct"

egregore-engine

Look. You're not obligated to understand the world around you. But if you don't, you will constantly stumble through the world, bewildered and confused.

liminalbeauty

Just an FYI. This garlic powder might be distributed in the US, too.

Heavenly Spices brand Garlic Powder recalled due to Bacillus cereus.

vintagewildlife

"I can't believe humans would hunt the thylacine to extinction, humans are fundamentally evil" Hey, did you know that extinction was long thought to be impossible, and within 50 years of humans realizing that extinction via overhunting was a possibility it practically stopped happening? Did you know that humans are so desperate to prevent more losses that they're funneling millions of collective hours and billions of euros into helping other species? Hours and euros that could be spent on humans, and species on whom humanity's own survival does not depend? Did you know that due to an accidental introduction of rats, the Lord Howe Island stick insect population was brought down to 24 individuals and now there are tens of thousands of them?

This bug. This bug that, to most humans, is utterly useless, relatively gross, and completely foreign. Humans saved it because humans do not want to cause another extinction ever again if they can avoid it.

whatbigotspost

2021:

Researchers focused on whether kids that are spanked are more likely to share or, conversely, more likely to have anxiety, years down the li

2021:

Spanking found to impact children's brain response, leading to lasting consequences.

2018:

The American Academy of Pediatrics says new evidence and research not only show that spanking affects a child’s brain development and increa

2016:

Kids who are spanked tend to act out more and have more problems later on.

2012:

A study reviewed more than two decades of research on the effects of spanking and found nothing positive to report, only that physical punis

2010:

A multiyear study shows spanking kids makes them more aggressive later on

I haven’t pissed people off lately by reminding them that ALL types of physical punishment of kids has been proven beyond ANY reasonable doubt to have only negative long term outcomes.

So let me scream it from the hilltops:

Stop hitting kids. End of sentence.

If you think, “but I was hit and I turned out just fine” let me pre-reply: NO YOU DID NOT. You think hitting a child is ok, how the fuck does that qualify as “fine”?????? From one abuse survivor to another: please start healing yourself.

whatbigotspost

This post needs a "it's been 5 years" update, so here we go:

2022:

Spanking is a risk factor for children's social competency. However, establishing causality is a challenge, given selection bias in samples

Background There is a vast literature on the negative associations between spanking in childhood and various psychosocial developmental outc

2023:

The use of corporal punishment in schools is not an effective or ethical method for management of behavior concerns and causes harm to stude

Spanking has been linked to multiple maladaptive child outcomes. However, previous research linking spanking with children's executive funct

2024:

Corporal punishment is believed to precede various forms of violent behavior, yet prior research has yielded inconsistent findings, partly d

2025:

This technical report describes the prevalence, risk factors for, and consequences of child corporal punishment, which it defines as “any pu

Physically punishing children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has exclusively negative outcomes -- including poor health, lower

whatbigotspost

YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME TUMBLR

So annoying. So GD annoying.

headspace-hotel

The World Health Organization report I highly recommend because there are so many conclusions that are shocking and yet completely obvious.

For example, being exposed to corporal punishment as a kid makes it more likely for a person to commit domestic violence against a partner. In places where corporal punishment is normal, people are more likely to think that rape and intimate partner violence are normal. Kids who are spanked are more likely to be violent with and to bully other kids.

Spanking is literally teaching a kid that violence is okay and normal and it affects the whole society.

It also talks about how corporal punishment affects the brain in its development. It changes the structure of the brain and slows the development of mental abilities. Kids who get spanked have much stronger hormonal responses to stress.

prismatic-bell

The master's thesis I edited in 2009 was a pilot study about corporal punishment and eating disorders, and turned up a correlation.

(For those currently saying "correlation doesn't equal causation," you're correct! The point of this study was to determine if there were higher rates of disordered eating in adults who'd experienced corporal punishment as kids. If the answer was no, then there's probably no statistical relationship. If the answer was yes--as it was--the research would then move on to "so is there causation here, or are there other factors?")

I don't bring this up because of the study itself. It was a small pilot study, I haven't seen any follow-up research, and the original isn't available online.

No, I bring this up because the author cited many other studies on the adverse effects of spanking to demonstrate why she thought the study was necessary in the first place.

THOSE STUDIES WENT BACK TO 1939.

ONE OF THEM WAS AN AGGREGATE METADATA STUDY.

If you're not familiar, that basically means its authors were studying studies. They took every single study on spanking they could find within a 70-year span and studied them all to see what patterns emerged. What they found was horrifying:

Every single study in that period, from the most rigorous right on down to "you can tell the authors wanted a spanking-is-good result," showed negative results from spanking. These were as diverse as increased risk of sexual abuse to depression to increased risk of substance abuse to poorer educational outcomes to greater likelihood of committing violent crimes as adults.

But that's not the horrifying part. If you're wondering how that could possibly not be the horrifying part, well...

NOT ONE STUDY SHOWED A POSITIVE TRADEOFF FOR THESE RISKS. NOT. ONE.

There was no "sports can cause injuries but can also improve self-esteem, personal fitness, and teach important disciplinary skills." There wasn't even a "homework has marginal benefits at most."

THERE WAS NOTHING. Multiple studies noted that while corporal punishment could produce the immediate appearance of improved behavior, what was actually happening is the kids were getting better at lying and hiding their undesirable behavior, and they were actually more likely to enter the juvenile detention system. The results were so overwhelmingly negative that even the biased studies deliberately designed to produce "it's good actually" results could not deliver those results.

In other words: in thousands of studies across ALMOST A CENTURY, we have never found a good reason to use corporal punishment. We haven't even found a mediocre one.

panthermouthh

Grace and Rocky play hide and seek— or Rocky finds out about persistence hunting the hard way, and Grace gets some pumpkins to roll around his enclosure.

I wanted to experiment with a more sketchy comic, instead of spending weeks and weeks on making it “Perfect”— and I had so much fun with it!! I need to do these more!

Patreon | Kofi | other links

helenvaughans

the sooner the left-of-center finally realizes that we've entered the era of postmaterialist politics, the sooner we can actually make real progress

helenvaughans

feotakahari

In a postmaterialist era, what would “progress” even be?

helenvaughans

actually trying to stop losing to the far right through the understanding that class-based solidarity is not a given and finding new avenues to combat fascism

feotakahari

The reason I’m pushing on this is because I’ve seen other people go “the Republicans don’t care about the consequences of their actions, so the Democrats should also stop caring about the consequences of their actions.” And I only care about the consequences of their actions. I don’t know what you personally mean by “new avenues,” and that vagueness is a little worrisome to me.

greatwyrmgold

Left-of-center political strategy has thus far been unsuccessful at containing right-wing ideology or preventing reactionaries from achieving their political goals: True. Obvious, even.

We need to find new avenues to combat fascism: Technically true, but distressingly vague.

We've entered a period of postmaterialist politics and should act accordingly: Hey what does this mean. What does it mean for politics to be post-materialism? Because it sounds like you're saying the problem with left-of-center politics is that they're focused too much on material political outcomes.

combatunit0-44

the problem the left of center need to deal with is "attempt to address peoples material concerns through policy" loses to "this person promises change, punishment to those i think hurt me, and they have a vibe that makes me feel empowered/strong/righteous/etc.".

you can support unions through funding, policy, rhetoric and appointments to relavant boards, doesnt matter because they read your "vibes" as being too focused on social issues because you arent just giving social conservatives wins.

greatwyrmgold

I could question the degree to which any major party (at least in my part of the world) has attempted to address material concerns, but the more important question is this:

What do you offer as an alternative?

You say we've entered into an era of postmaterialist politics and we need to "find new avenues to combat fascism". But you've been pretty vague about what that means. It could mean abandoning electoral politics altogether, or it could mean trying to run candidates with vibes that appeal to social conservatives.

The only hint you've given so far is that the problem is "postmaterialist politics," with the implication that we need to move away from "materialist politics". Which sounds less like mutual aid or preparing for revolution or whatever than it does...trying to out-conservative-vibe the people who actually want to do conservative things?

helenvaughans

the point i'm trying to make is that it's increasingly obvious that material outcomes/concerns don't make as much of a difference to how people vote compared to how they feel (or are told to feel) about certain issues. i'm not saying that this is a good thing, but i think it is true. the fact that the republican party has any success at all among the working class is a testament to this. like think about the number of trump voters who depend on governmental services that the trump administration has cut. one can say that maybe these people are just stupid or uneducated, which may be true in many cases, but i think it's a bit rash to assume that there might not be something else at play here.

another thing i'll say is that if a group of people are told something enough times, they can usually be forced to believe it. if fox news, for instance, tells a middle-aged, working class white man enough times that the reason that he's miserable in life is due to immigrants and feminism, after a while, he will probably start to believe it due to sheer repetition but also because it situates the supposed solution to the problem outside of himself. basically, it gratifies and validates him and his idea of himself as an individual while also providing an explanatory framework for the dissatisfactory material realities of his life as well as a grounding for his own underlying bigotries. you can say until you're blue in the face that trump is a liar and that his policies hurt the working class, but this guy will probably vote for trump anyway partially just to spite you.

at this point in time, class-based consciousness fundamentally does not exist in the united states, and i frankly don't see how you would develop that for the foreseeable future. when i say "find new avenues to combat fascism" what i mean is that we need to take this into account and think about how we change our rhetoric to accommodate this. i don't mean fundamentally changing policy but perhaps more how we present it and what we prioritize within it because something is CLEARLY not working.

#cw politics

parentheticalaside

Just need to transcribe this part of this podcast on the rise of Hitler for you all real quick:

“The putsch has been a shambles, but the humiliation of defeat contains one absolutely vital lesson for Hitler. He will soon come to realize that he must change his whole approach. He will see clearly that the way to power lies not in seizing the government by force, but in subverting the democratic system to his own ends. Hitler will soon launch a brand new mission: to bring down German politics from within.”

Getting some real Jan. 6-to-Project 2025 vibes. Almost like maybe someone is following a previous playbook, hmm?

#not to detract from op's point but it just goes to show that contrary to what many leftists believe you can change the system from within #cw politics

lostxanadu

there's been this romanticization of radicalization on the left for at least the past 5 years but probably closer to 10 that i think started with people being like "okay, if you think UBI is radical leftism, then sure, i'm a radical" but over the years has slid into just unironically embracing political extremism and violence

ziskeyt

seeing people say "what radicalized you?" become this seeming call of righteousness has been so strange. "human empathy radicalized me" i've seen a number of times, and i'm gonna be honest if you are radicalized i'm not sure that's because of empathy. to be radicalized is to become more extreme in your beliefs. hope may be a radical act in times where it can feel like we are on a path that leads to despair, but to hope for better, to believe we can do better and continue the work to make the future better for those who come after us is not extremism. as the world bends more toward conservatism i am not more extreme in my hope, i hold onto hope with the stubbornness of one who will not be moved from my position: the future is always coming, and we have it within us to make it better than our today through kindness, understanding, and refusing the siren's call of the tool that is dehumanization.

extremism leads to violence, and as we see over and over, violence only leads to more violence. to be radicalized is not a badge of honour.

eel-slap

I will also add that as a leftist, you need to learn the skill of de-radicalizing yourself, because at some point you WILL get hit with truly 100 percent believable propaganda, get pulled down a rabbit hole that's at best a self-righteous dead end cause and at worst connecting to the far-right pipeline based on shared hates, you WILL get scammed by a grifter or someone who is using you, etcetera. I've personally been there and done that more than once and each time has been an albeit painful learning experience for me.

Bad people exist on our side or can sneak into it with the right language. People can uptake awful ideas and internalize them. This includes outright predators (just look at Cesar Chavez for example, or Hakim Bey, or that guy that led the PSL). This includes engagement grifters who learned that rage and fear = clicks, and state propagandists from everywhere in the world (if you think the US is the ONLY propaganda machine, you'll be sadly disappointed and likely drawn in by whoever has the loudest and most strident propaganda against it). This includes people who've let their ethics/morals be determined by community vibe rather than a nuanced understanding of how the issue affects your own ethical principles and if it even does. This even can include you, yourself.

You need to be able to step back, look at yourself, look at the people you've found yourself surrounded with and be "this is too much, this has gone too far, this is ridiculous, this reminds me of a cult/the far right/whatever, and most importantly, this is hurting actual people, not just an abstract wider harm or making someone feel Offended." You also have to develop the skillset of abandoning binary thinking and going both "you are 95 percent correct but 5 percent wrong, but I can overlook that five percent because it's a nonissue in a wider perspective" and "you are 95 percent correct, but you are actively spreading bigotry/disinformation or doing harm on a personal level, and that is an absolute dealbreaker even if you're correct."

And you have to be capable of doing this even if it can make you lose said friends, even if it can make you seen as a pariah, even if it hurts to feel like you're the only wrong one, you're the shitlib/lazy person/wrong while everyone else is the True And Pure and Correct Way you just can't live up to (in fact, these feelings or this actually happening is a screaming red flag that you NEED to pay attention to)

You also need to try to keep friends who DON'T all agree on That One Issue or who like you for you as a person and not just what you can do for them, because that makes leaving an abusive situation or being misled easier. If your entire leftist experience is ONLY one specific community (especially a hyperspecific one of "we're the BESTEST and MOST CORRECT") WIDEN THAT EXPERIENCE yesterday. Get to actually know leftists who are "lesser" in your mind not as conversion projects but to see why they AREN'T all sold on (for example) a specific form of theory, why anyone who does/doesn't subscribe to a specific view of the body/nature/how one interacts with it, does or doesn't like a specific media or art style, what the most urgent issue is, or literally any other internal culture war issue that feels like the be-all-and-end-all issue thinks the way they do without judgment. This is important for staying grounded for two reasons: it provides you with a community on which you can fall if you, on evaluating the issue yourself, decide you're out of step with your group/friends/online circle and do find yourself Rejected and it also reminds you that we are all human beings with both limited knowledge and yet wide, varied lived experience. That you CAN be wrong and that is okay, that changing your mind isn't a sign of weakness but of getting better information or a wider perspective, etc.

#cw politics

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Shelter me from the rain, keep me in your shade