[meshugenist]

btw the US federal rule that will funding-denial-style effectively ban most trans healthcare and mandate funding recipients to discriminate against trans ppl will go into effect by October 1st, 2026

[nepenthean-sleep]

if this gets tied to medicare reimbursement, it will effectively mark the end of trans healthcare in the united states (hospitals and hospital groups will always pick medicare funding over any annoying or inconvenient policy/law). i can’t tell by the article whether or not it will be related to CMS/medicare reimbursement, though.

[meshugenist]

it is ALL federal funding. that includes medicare and medicaid. also like tbc it is not really bc hospitals and clinics are just cowardly or something (which is generally true); many of them existentially depend on federal funding and effectively have no choice but to implement these kinds of policies. this is why transphobic politicians have been laser focused on these kinds of policies, since they are both easier to pass and implement than legal bans and allow for extreme and collective extrajudicial punishment for violation

[dcxdpdabbles]

Danny: Good morning :D

Damian: ......Good morning

Danny: Did you sleep well?

Damian: Yes, my rest was adequate. And yours?

Danny: It was the best sleep I ever had! I've never been on a mattress this nice!

Damian: Of course. It's adjustable, gives massages, and has temperature control. Only the best for the Waynes.

Danny: truly impressive!

Damian: Thank you. Now, may I please inquire on who you are and why you're in my bed?

Danny: My name is Phantom and last night you wished for me so here I am

Damian: I did no such thing.

Danny: Yes you did! I'm your first wish upon a star!

Damian: Are you referencing the childish tradition that Richard forced me to partake in? Even if I did humor him, my wish was to make my father proud.

Danny: Yeah, the wish you said out loud to appease Dick was to make your father proud but your true wish, the one in your heart that you secretly thought of, was to have a friend. And since it's your first ever wish, I am here to make it true.

Damian: Even if that is my true wish, Todd said wishing upon a star does not actually work.

Danny: It does work! But people usually make thier very first wish upon a star when they're very young and often don't remember it, or they make very simple wishes like "I want candy," which is so mundane that they don't realize the magic. And the star only grants the very first wish. You just happened to make it much later in life.

Damian: I see.

Danny: You seem very accepting of this. Most people would be more doubtful.

Damian: I have encountered magic many times. I know there is no reason to doubt.

Danny: Oh cool. I'm glad we're skipping the part where I have to convince you this is real. It's a real time saver.

Damian: Indeed. What happens now?

Danny: Well, I'm assign as your lifetime friend. I'll be here until you die and I get my new assignment. Until then I'll live as a normal human boy.

Damian: Will I be dying soon?

Danny: Not that I'm aware of. I belive you are meant to die of old age.

Damian: I see. Very well, Phantom, I look forward to our friendship

Danny: Me too!

Dick kicking open the door: DAMIAN WHY IS THERE A BOY IN YOUR BED!

Danny: I'm-

Damian choosing violence and grabbing Danny's hand: Richard, I love him.

Danny: What-

Dick: No! You're too young! You're only sixteen! *to Danny* I'LL KILL YOU

Danny: Wait-

Damian: You should run, My Love. I am the beloved youngest son of a very dangerous family. One that is most displeased at my deflowering.

Dick foaming at the mouth: DEFLOWERING?!

Danny: No! That isn't- why are you doing this to me, Damian?!

Damian in the latest voice ever: I do not like sharing my bed space without permission. Run, My Love, rune as fast as your normal human legs can take you. My family will start the hunt for your head now that Richard sent out the message.

Danny: This is going to be a very long human lifespan.

Damian: Drake has unleashed the drones. You have two minutes to escape.

Dick: HE HAS TEN SECONDS. TO. LIVE.

Danny: I need to stop doing favors for Desiree.

[cryptidstatusbreached]

I'm living for this

[okoyestrainee]

Okay, so hear me out. There are species of animals that reject their offspring if they don’t “smell” right. Like something about the pheromones are off and thus the vibes are bad. You can’t be mine, you smell funny. Similarly, we know that hormones and neurochemical reactions play a large part in bonding between human babies and parents. Our brains are swimming in chemicals that have us looking at our squishy, decidedly odd-looking newborns and saying “it’s so cute, I wanna bite it.”

My dudes (gender neutral). My people. My fellow nerds. Superman initially rejecting his clone because he doesn’t smell right. The kid was in a soup of artificial, clone-making chemicals and he doesn’t smell like he should. But what the fuck is he supposed to smell like? Superman having no frame of reference for this crazy feeling, for this intense dislike of a person with his face, and struggling internally with it because he knows logically that this deep revulsion doesn’t make sense. Problem is, he physically can’t help it. Something about this kid makes his teeth itch and his fingers twitch.

Then the kid takes a shower and changes his clothes and oh. Why would I push him away? That’s my baby. Hate him? How could I hate my baby? My baby. My sweet, perfect, amazing angel baby. My baby. My baby. My baby. Mybabymybabymybabymybaby.

And it’s probably hilarious from the outside looking in, because Superman looked ready to light the kid on fire a minute ago and now he’s all gooey-eyed. No thoughts, just sappy smiles and burying his nose in the clone’s hair. He’s ready to pluck the moon from the sky and hang it on a string for his kid. It’s sweet and adorable.

It’s also completely, utterly terrifying. Seeing how quickly one of the strongest beings in the known universe fell victim to his own biology, how wildly the pendulum swung from one extreme to the other. Batman’s immediately planning a trip to the Fortress to gather intel on this reaction. How long does it last? Is it normal? Is it supposed to be like this? Does it have anything to do with the clone being a teenager and not a newborn? Would it be worse with a newborn? Does the League, does he need contingency plans for this?

And Superman—Clark recognizes the sudden shift, but can’t do a thing about it. He should be scared of how every concern in his mind gets swept away by this out-of-control hormonal response, but he doesn’t want to do a thing about it. He can’t help the smile plastered on his face when Kon—what a perfect name, a beautiful name for my baby, mybabymybabyMYbabymyBABYMYBABYMYBABYMYBABY—sighs contently in his sleep or scrunches his nose in disgust at new foods, new sensations.

Something in Clark’s eyes says “I don’t know what’s happening, help me,” but it quickly gets snuffed out by “I will flip this entire universe over if a single hair on my baby’s head is out of place.” And honestly? Yeah, it’s scary, but every parent he knows—Bruce included—totally gets it.

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

I am just so in love with gaining a working knowledge of various things. It gives you superpowers. That's not hyperbole, when you find out how something works, it actually changes the way you look at the world both figuratively and literally. I have so much more fun with things when I know about them.

Learning a little music theory or even just how to listen to music and pay attention analytically does so much. Music is a delicious lasagna instead of nice lyrics and a catchy melody. Plants all looked boring to me until I worked at a greenhouse and had to identify them by their leaves, and now I can look at wildflowers and weeds and forest undergrowth without getting bored, even if there are no interesting berries or flowers. Learning Japanese opened up a whole people group to understand, where before they may as well have been speaking nonsense (to me, anyway).

I'm not an expert in any of these, not by a long shot. But that's the point. Even basic understanding goes such a long way. Fall down the rabbit hole. Learn a language. Practice a skill. It changes your life for the better in things that you don't even realize you're missing out on because you've never known anything different.

[retropopcult]

Cosplayers at a Star Trek Convention, 1976

[foone]

in this house we have endless respect for cosplayers from the days before VCRs.

You couldn’t just rewatch the episode to look at all the details of the costume. You got lucky with press photos showing up in magazines or you just watched the episode/movie while sketching furiously

[silencedrowns]

thinking about that one woman who made a Star Wars flight suit in 1977 entirely from trading cards and sketching details in the theater. or stories I’ve heard about old school Trek cosplayers getting the bizarre seam placements right by photocopying magazines onto overhead transparencies and projecting them onto butcher paper.

I’m a semi old school cosplayer (started in 2001) so some of the old school techniques are still things I learned on (I’ve sketched from stuttering VHS tapes on pause and used the overhead transparency trick)… what we have access to now for costume recreation blows what they had out of the water just in terms of reference material, let alone specialty costume supplies like thermoplastics and cosplay wigs.

[meeedeee]

That Star Wars fan who made the flight suit from trading cards and movie sketches is TJ Burnside and she is still with us. In fact, I am adding to her Fanlore page with info about the flight suit (and how it went viral on Twitter and Redditt a few years back). Fanlore.org, is a fan run fandom history wiki. Stay tuned.

Her (sadly) barebones Fanlore page is here: https://fanlore.org/wiki/T.J._Burnside

[durnesque-esque]

The flight suit in question:

[queenofnots]

Supposedly progressive and left leaning people thinking art preservation and space exploration and just research and history in general are useless endeavors sound so republican to me.

[kawuli]

random PSA, I know a lot of people use duckduckgo as a Google alternative search engine, but it always kind of annoyed me when I was using it because it felt like No Name Brand Google

I have switched to using Startpage.com and vastly prefer it. for one thing, instead of displaying an "AI summary" at the top of the search results (unless you turn it off, yes I know), it displays the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, with link, whenever it finds one that's relevant.

also a waaayyyyy better sense of design than duckduckgo

also private, European based, least annoying search I've used lately (RIP old "don't be evil" Google)

[yomikoreadsbooks]

Keeping a list of Google alternatives just in case…

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

i have one of those, scraped from multiple different rec posts:

Search Engines

Infinity Search is an alternative search engine with a special focus on privacy

DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine for those who value their privacy and are put off by the thought of their every query being tracked and logged. Uses bangs, ![site] for in-page search (sells your data to microsoft and draws from fucking bing)

WolframAlpha is a privately owned search engine that allows you to “compute expert-level answers using Wolfram’s breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase, and AI technology.” A data search engine.

Boardreader is a search engine for forums and message boards. It allows you to search forums and then filter down results by date and language.

Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-based search engine that won’t record your searches or use your personal details for advertising. Uses “&” as a bang search.

Another privacy-based search engine is Search Encrypt, which uses local encryption to ensure that users’ identifiable information cannot be tracked. Metasearch across multiple engines. 

Offering unbiased results from several sources, SearX is a metasearch engine that aims to present a free, decentralized view of the internet. Can be self-hosted. 

Gibiru’s tagline is “Unfiltered private search” and that’s exactly what it offers. Requires AnonymoX Firefox add-on for privacy. 

Disconnect allows you to conduct anonymous searches through a search engine of your choice.

Swisscows provides fully encrypted searches to protect your privacy and security. Built-in violence/porn filter cannot be overridden. 

MetaGer offers “Privacy Protected Search & Find” through its anonymised search. A plugin will allow it to be made a default.

Gigablast is a private search engine that indexes millions of websites and servers real-time information without tracking your data, keeping you hidden from marketers and spammers. Variety of filtration and refinement options for searching. 

Oscobo is a search engine that protects your privacy while you search the web. By not using any third-party tools or scripts, your data is protected from hacking and misuse. Has a Chrome extension to allow use in toolbar. 

https://search.marginalia.nu/ an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed. Use old-school searching rather than query-based for the best results. 

https://www.mojeek.com/ 

https://wiby.me/ - It’s goal is to index as many personalized websites as possible, and NOT commercial sites. 

https://4get.ca/ it works a lot like SearX, but honestly better. It doesn’t have its own index, but pulls from many others. I think it’s the best for research, since it allows you to search for answers from different indexes, is easy to configure, add free, and avoids censorship as much as it can.

https://www.searchenginemap.com/ for more on how search engines relate to each other.

https://yep.com/ is a crawler

https://www.etools.ch/ retrieves from Google, Mojeek, Bing, and Yandex, like Searx

https://www.dogpile.com/ 

https://searxng.org/ (next gen Searx)

https://luxxle.com/ - possibly conservative?

https://presearch.com/ - good for academic?

https://kagi.com/smallweb - free/randomised Kagi.

Other Searchers

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free.https://cosine.club/ is an electronic music similarity search engine

[swordshapedleaves]

Someday your hands will be old and wrinkled, the skin spotted and bunching over your knuckles. And a child will watch you make something. It's a simple task, you'll have done it a thousand times before. But to that child, the smooth, confident way your hands move will seem like impossible magic. You have to keep living.

[swordshapedleaves]

prev these tags have me crying. this is absolutely what it's all about

[sioltach]

this website lets you listen to the sounds of all different forests around the world 

[riven-wanders]

Reblogging again cause I tried this site last night and if you need background noise to focus this is perfect for that, I was locked the fuck in on a task. And it’s also just gorgeous to listen to

[robs-your-robins]

Bruce just radiating toward Kon because he's giving of "abandoned child in need of a mama" energy. Bruce drifting toward this kid who doesn't know what he is or how exactly he got here, shaking with the knowledge that one parent figure wants to use him as a weapon against the other who doesn't trust him. Bruce who sees Kon as not just an abomination calling himself a Kryptonian or a failed investment who won't do as he's told. Bruce who looks at him and his first thought is 'this is a child'. Bruce who gives off the energy of when your cat heads out and comes back with a kitten that isn't his but whines because he's fucking keeping it and you're just going to have to live with it.

[fungus-from-a-cave-in-gotham]

#fuck canon Bruce looked at that kid and went 'baby'#bruce supporting Kon because before anything that is a child#bruce kicking down Lex's door to slap him around his bald head and then heading to Clark's to give him a piece of his mind#Kon is sat on his hip the entire time looking confused#bruce being Kon's godfather is special to me

[robs-your-robins]

The Bats discover that Thomas Wayne or another past Wayne wrote into the will that the parent of the firstborn grandchild of each generation receives a hefty allowance from the estate for life. Suddenly, the race is on.

Dick gets home to he and Babs' apartment and she heard about the clause and thinks he's going to rizz her up but no? Instead he whips out a 46 slide presentation of what they could use the money for if they claim Haley counts as a grandchild.

Tim immediately calls up Kon and he's like, "do you know what will seriously piss off our dads? And be super fun to do too?" and Kon is over there in a heartbeat only to see Tim cleaning out some testubes and doing his evil scientist chuckle.

Jason wants that money and to beat the others and he's ranting to Roy about it and Roy is side eyeing him and he's like "we can't though". Jason says they could, they'd make good parents and Roy says probably but they're not becoming parents, "Not the way we do it", "Oh yeah".

Damian runs to Duke and is like, "I can legally adopt you in Nanda Parbat and we can split the money."

Bruce doesn't even realise what's happening until Alfred is like, "we got to stop this". Bruce is like "how are we going to tell them?". Because it was Ace who gave him his first grandkid after he got out that one time. That's why Ace sleeps on Burberry, drinks out of a personalised porcelain dish and retired at the ripe age of five years old.

[packdontendwithblood]

Okay but this is too golden to stay in the shadows of the tags:

[robs-your-robins]

We don't give Selina enough flack for choosing Bruce of all people as a significant other because he just fits her cat obsession to a tee because the guy is literally a cat? Hear me out, but Bruce gives off insane cat energy. The man's attention is attracted by a beam of light. The guy likes to crouch on high surfaces and gaze down on everything. The man likes only like five people enough to let touch him. He'd probably come running if you shook a puzzle at him. He moves so quietly he should wear a bell. The man takes long naps during the day to prowl around at night. He has a fascination with brightly coloured little birds. The man is a cat, of course he belongs to Catwoman.

[quiinncherie]

[papayafromtv]

au where Jason is the one to deliver Damian to Bruce but he and Damian get into an argument on the drive over about how good at stealth missions Damian is and it ends in Jason double-dog daring him to skip the whole 'introduction' aspect of going to live with Bruce and instead to just sneak into the manor and see how long he can go unnoticed for.

Damian's claim is that the manor is so big and Damian's so good at remaining hidden that he could live in the manor without anybody else there clocking him easy. Jason just wants to see how long he can actually go because in his mind the longer Bruce goes without realising he has Damian in the house, the funnier the reveal will be. he's actually kinda rooting for Damian purely because it's funnier if he pulls it off for a really long time first. then Jason can snitch on him and the fall-out will be glorious.

he lasts about four months.

two weeks in and Alfred becomes suspicious, but chooses to believe that it's raccoons or pigeons in the attic because then he doesn't have to get involved. and he really doesn't want to get involved.

a month in and Damian almost gets caught by Tim while trying to steal some food in the middle of the night and getting cornered in the kitchen, but Tim hadn't slept in three days and was high on cold medicine at the time so he assumed that Damian was actually a hallucination of Bruce as a child, and all he did was stare Damian directly in the eye and solemnly tell him 'never ask your parents to go see a movie with you.' before going to pass out in the study.

two months in and Damian has gotten into a rhythm with it. feeling unchallenged, he starts waiting for Bruce to fall asleep in front of the batcomputer during hard cases so he can sneak out from the walls and fix whatever Bruce is getting wrong and solving the case before he wakes up.

three months in and Dick runs into him while sneaking in through a side door so he can grab some stuff from his bedroom without having to talk to Bruce, but Damian bullshits that he's one of Tim's school friends visiting to complete a school project, and Dick gives him twenty dollars to promise that he won't tell anybody Dick is in the building.

four months in and he gets cocky; starts ordering packages to the manor addressed to himself. Alfred asks Bruce at the dinner table why they've received an amazon package for 'Damian Wayne' and nobody knows what the fuck he's talking about. the next night the Red Hood snitches and asks how 'Damian's doing' and Bruce becomes convinced that Hood has the manor bugged. demands a full sweep of the building. Tim comes across Damian napping in a hammock in the attic wearing Tim's presumed-lost clothes next to a pile of supremely confidential files stolen from the batcave.

Damian wakes up and promptly tells them all that they aren't allowed to be mad because the statute of limitations for breaking and entering has passed already. Jason laughs so hard he cries.

[sammythetoaster]

[manapeer]

[dcxdpdabbles]

Damian: I require assistance

Jon: I will do everything in my power to help you.

Damian: Do not be so quick to offer, this may be the toughest assignment yet

Colin: It doesn't matter how dangerous or difficult this is. You need help. I'm in.

Damian: Thank you. What about you two? I know you're not really trained.

Matt: Oh im definitely going to help a friend! And don't worry about me. Terry taught me the good old one-two! I can definitely handle a fight.

Maps: I can also help! You'll need a master navigator in these parts.

Damian: Very well. Then we are all doing this. Prepare yourselves mentally. We're going in.

Danny smiling at the group of kids: Welcome to Danny's Edible Sculptures. How can I help you?

Damian: I wish to acquire an animal made of sugar glass.

Danny: Sure. What kind of animal would you like?

Damian, with only his eyes visible across the counter: I would like a cow.

Jon: I want a dog, a Great Dane if you can.

Colin: Can I please have a cat?

Matt: Can you make magical creatures? 'Cause I want a dragon-and-bat hybrid! I have a reference picture.

Maps: I'll have a turkey. A pretty one.

Danny: You got it. I'll start working on them right away.

Damian: I heard you only allow one per person. Is that correct?

Danny: Only one sculpture a day. Most people want multiple pieces, and it takes time to make each one, so I limit them.

Damian: I see.....Do you have the same rule for family members?

Danny: Ha! No for them I make many and often. They have special privileges you see.

Damian: I thought so. *snaps fingers* Team! Present profiles!

Jon/Colin/Matt/Maps holding up dating profiles of Dick, Jason, Cass, Tim, Steph, and Duke: Yes sir!

Danny: Umm?

Damian is standing on his tiptoes so his chin can go over the counter: These are my siblings. Pick one. I would be honored to have a candy maker with your skill level in my family.

Danny: Oh, that's cute and all, but I'm not really-

Maps: Before you make a decision, please listen to each of our presentations on our respective candidates. I think you'll find yourself quite intrigued

Matt: Plus, ever since one of them is rich, like buy-me-an-island, rich.

Danny: I-

Colin: They're kind and protective too. You'll never be afraid within thier arms!

Jon: They're the perfect match for any young bachelor such as yourself! Just pick any that grabs your attention, and you're on your way to marriage!

Damian: Join us

Danny mentally: Is this a cult requirement tactic????? I'd better make those sculptures and get these little freaks out of here.

[cryptidstatusbreached]

[dcxdpdabbles]

Tim: I know you feed on emotions.

Danny: I beg your pardon?

Tim: I know you feed on emotions. You're an ecto-being, known as Phantom, and you're hiding in Gotham from the government. Your real name is Daniel Fenton.

Danny defeated: Who are you working for? How did they find me?

Tim: Don't worry about that. I'm the only one who knows. Listen, I need your emotional eating abilities. Robin died a few weeks ago, and Batman is losing it. Could you eat his sorrow? Help cut through his fog of grief?

Danny: I- ugh I never tried that?

Tim: Well, now is a good chance to try. Pack your bags, you're moving into Drake Manor as my uncle, and we're going to save Batman.

Danny: Okay?

Tim: You seemed confused. Do I need to explain the plan again?

Danny: I'm not confused. I didn't expect this when I opened the door to a seven-year-old.

Tim: I'm thirteen.

Danny: I'm so sorry. Are you not being feed?

Tim: Everyone blooms at their own time!

Danny: Sure, buddy.

Tim: You-! You will actually do really well at posing as an annoying uncle. You're on thin ice, though. So watch it.

Danny: I'll take that threat more seriously when you can reach my chin.

Tim: How dare you.

[cryptidstatusbreached]

[discworldtour]

“They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.”

—

Granny Weatherwax, Equal Rites 

And, once again, Sir Terry Pratchett has hit upon a truth that resonates with the world in which we live. 

(via archivistofnerddom)

[jessfink]

Esk, the main character from Terry Pratchett’s, Equal Rites. I loved this book to bits and pieces!!!! I just want to draw Esk all day every day, she’s the best. This was written ages before Harry Potter so why aren’t there 8 movies about Esk and Granny Weatherwax?? WHY. If you are looking for a short, cute, funny Halloween read, I highly recommend it!!!