Side Blog For The real world

Politics, trans stuff, autistic stuff, art I like. Basically anything that’s not a personal post or writing related. Main is @acertainmoshke

[aethersea]

anyway for me the way I square my political principles with being a vindictive little hater is by divorcing all sociopolitical theory from the concept of 'deserving'. deserving is a moral judgment, it's the province of religion and retribution. when we talk about politics I don’t give a rat’s ass about deserving, I care about building a better society for everyone in it.

some examples:

do trump voters deserve to be plunged into poverty by predatory laws? honestly yeah. I want them to suffer. I want them to feel the sting of what they have brought upon us. I think it would be poetic justice.  should they be plunged into poverty by predatory laws? no! no one should be plunged into poverty by predatory laws! I want to live in a society that doesn’t do that to anyone, no matter how much they suck as people.

do unrepentant violent rapists deserve to be tortured? yeah. I think so. I think they’ve earned it. should they be tortured? nope! no one should be tortured! I want to live in a society where no one is ever tortured. (I definitely want to live in a society where the state, responsible for enacting criminal justice, is not torturing anyone. like holy shit guys that one’s a biggie.)

do diabetics deserve free insulin? no, it’s not like anyone goes around earning insulin. the insulin wasn’t free to produce or distribute, someone needs to pay for that. no one deserves free stuff. should diabetics get free insulin? absolutely oh my god. everyone should have free and easy access to whatever they need to live a healthy life. insulin is expensive to produce and distribute, and I think the government should pay every red cent. I want to live in a society where all medical care is free for everyone who needs it!

you get the picture. politics is about building a better society, no matter what it costs in cosmic justice. when people are cruel, I want them to suffer for it, but I want more for all of us to live in a society that treats everyone kindly, including those bastards. I think the role of government should be to create that society, as much as humanly possible. deserving doesn’t come into it at all.

[twicejoyhalfpain-deactivated202]

penultimate is such a good word. its like....maybe the second best word

[artistprovocateur]

David Mellon (American, b.1955) "Wolfskin"

[hope-for-the-planet]

70% Drop in Levels of Forever Chemicals Observed in Seabird Eggs Tracks Regulatory Success

These pescatarian birds are directly exposed to PFAS contamination due to the island's position near the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Over fifty years of data show a peak in PFAS (also known as "forever chemicals") content in seabird eggs in the 90s, followed by a decrease as regulations went into effect. The most recent findings show a 70% decrease of most common PFAS.

While continued vigilance a regulation is needed, this data indicates that regulations are working to reduce PFAS concentrations in marine ecosystems.

[sattarehi]

Yes!!!! I did a review of literature on PFASs in human drinking water about half a year ago, and there is a lot of really good progress! Please celebrate this, please don't let this solution be forgotten (at least so quickly) as the ozone layer or acid rain.

We are making genuine progress! Producers are dramatically altering how much they use PFAS and how much gets released in effluent, but also there's a lot better understanding of how to remove PFAS from the environment!

Environmental problems CAN BE SOLVED.

[achillesinhighheels]

"When Harlem Was" by Eric Bowman.

[asteroidtroglodyte]

You can’t Abstain your way to a Better World.

[asteroidtroglodyte]

The Burger still gets made, even if you go Vegan. If you don’t buy it, it just winds up in the trash. If you want to do something meaningful about waste, you need legislation: It must become a crime to waste food in those ways.

If you care about Animal Cruelty in Factory Farms, you need to get legislation passed. It must become a crime to mistreat animals in those ways, and when malfeasances occurs, the onus of responsibility for those crimes must fall upon wealthy shoulders. That, also, requires legislation. It requires regulations, and regulators.

The largest source of Microplastics is wear and tear on automobile tires. It doesn’t matter what brand of shampoo you buy. It doesn’t matter which company you support with your dollar. The issue of Public Transit is too large-scale to be handled at anything less than the municipal level.

It’s not enough to just not participate in society

If you want the world to Change, you must leverage the mechanisms of political power.

You need Government.

[asteroidtroglodyte]

STOP PROPOSING INDIVIDUAL SOLUTIONS TO COLLECTIVE PROBLEMS

[sparklingbog]

You need to respect the intellectually disabled and delayed I'm not fucking asking

[dramatic-dolphin]

since there is such an "english speakers who don't even try to pronounce a foreign mame correctly" epidemic, native english speakers often try to overcorrect and end up thinking they have a moral imperative to pronounce every foreign name correctly at all times. so i'm gonna hold your hand and look into your eyss as i say this: you can't. you can't pronounce every sound in a language you don't speak. and that's fine. it happens to the rest of us too. we won't be mad so long as you try your best.

[theabigailthorn]

water leak in my flat right as i'm going to bed, gonna liveblog it

[theabigailthorn]

intake valve on the toilet blew up right as i was going to bed, thank god it's the intake and not the output!

[theabigailthorn]

called landlord. asleep, obviously

called building manager, he's in a bar in the Canary Islands. lmao

[theabigailthorn]

shut off the water you say? good plan! that was my first idea, unfortunately the stopcock is sealed behind a wooden panel. now that's good design!

[theabigailthorn]

building manager said to call an emergency plumber so i did. god bless them, he did arrive within 30 mins in the middle of the night

[theabigailthorn]

emergency plumber Ts&Cs be like "you owe us a million pounds an hour and your firstborn child" sure man just fix this toilet or the office workers below me are gonna be very soggy tomorrow morning

[theabigailthorn]

I have to pay them with my own money tonight when they're done but I will of course be forwarding the invoice to my landlady and asking her to pay me back. that's not gonna be a nice message to wake up to on monday morning, feel a bit bad - she is nice, i know she'll pay me back

[theabigailthorn]

the emergency plumber is here, he's younger than me and he looks like discount Mister Beast. Mister Least

[theabigailthorn]

"I know it's clean but I have to suck it." hey man we just met

[theabigailthorn]

the girls' group chat is loving all this btw, everyone's suddenly become Professor Plumb

[theabigailthorn]

he just sucked all the water out of my toilet, which has gotta be confusing as hell if you're the toilet

[theabigailthorn]

he's taken the whole toilet off the wall

[theabigailthorn]

"welcome back to Well There's Your Problem, a podcast about engineering disasters with slides"

[theabigailthorn]

this was the fucker that decided to explode right as i was going to bed

[theabigailthorn]

my flat smells like butts

at least the actual leak has stopped though

[theabigailthorn]

i had to put on pants for this, I was fully bedtime pilled and cosymaxxing when this occurred

[theabigailthorn]

my least favourite towel is ruined, but hey should have worked harder to be my favourite towel I guess

[null-doesnothing]

yknow, if I can be real & autistic for a second, the idea that jokes stop being funny once you explain them has never made sense to me. like yeah I... guess... but like also. no. idk man I think it depends

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

I think a lot about who I am to other people in the world–particular who I am to strangers as a mere concept in their lives.

Today this woman called our information desk and said, “my son’s band is playing tonight. I want to come see him, but he never answers his phone…..I want to be there. Have you heard anything about his band?”

And I felt so bad for this lady but I’m not in the music scene around here so I had to tell her no, sorry.

Five hours later, I’m hiking and run into a group of guys setting up for some outdoor performance, and as I watch them unload the drums it hits me.

“Hey,” I said, “are y’all in a band?”

They said yeah and smiled and I told them “one of your moms called today. She wants to watch you play, but she can’t get a hold of you. Call your mom.”

And they all pulled out their phones and started discussing whose mom it probably was as they presumably dialed their own.

And now, unless we meet again and recognize each other, that’s who I’ll be forever to those guys–some mysterious courier for mom-messages who came out of the woods and told them their mom called.

I didn’t even tell them why their mom called me. Who am I to their mom?? Nobody even asked. They just took my word for it and called their mothers.

Amazing.

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

I’M LAUGHING!!! THEY DIDN’T EVEN ASK WHO I AM.

[schizopositivity]

How to check up on your loved ones who have schizospec disorders/psychosis:

• Keep a steady flow of contact. Don't expect them to initiate conversations or hangouts. Social withdrawal is a common symptom, and it is probably a lot more difficult for them to keep in contact. Just reach out as often as you feel comfortable. It can be as simple as sending them a meme, or asking what they've been up to lately.

• Take notice of how they are acting. If it's normal for them to talk during a hangout, but this time they are mostly silent, take that as an indicator that something is off. If they normally love drawing, ask them what they've been drawing lately to make sure they are still taking part in activities they enjoy. They might not tell you outright that they are declining mentally, so try and gage their behavior and compare it to their normal.

• Make sure that they have other people to support them. Ask if they've talked to their family, friends, or therapist lately. Isolation exacerbates psychotic symptoms, so check in to see if they are being social or connecting with people. It's also important for them to have a safe person to turn to in case their mental state gets worse.

• If you are aware of what treatment methods are effective for them, make sure they are still utilizing them. If you feel comfortable, ask them if they are still taking their medications, going to therapy, journaling or whatever else they are using for treatment.

• If they share that they are struggling with getting basic tasks for living done, offer to help. You can text them reminders and encourage them to do things like brush their teeth. You can offer to go grocery shopping with them. You can come over to help clean or even just stay on the phone with them while they clean.

• If they share that they are struggling mentally, take the time to listen without judgment. Don't give reality checks unless you are explicitly asked to. Just be a safe space for them to open up about their experiences and how it affects them. Try not to look shocked or treat them like they are "acting crazy". Just be as neutral as possible and sympathetic to their struggles so they can feel safe to tell you these things now and in the future. You don't need to find solutions right away, you can just be there to listen, that is a huge help on its own.

• If it seems like your loved one is declining mentally, lean into that relationship. Check in more, listen to them more, help them more if you can. You don't need to treat it like an emergency unless you believe it truly is one (if they are at risk for hurting themselves or others, then look into mental health and medical assistance). Just be there for them in whatever way you can. If you truly care about them, don't turn your back on them when they need you most. You can help more than you know just by being there, especially during the hard times.

[sapphireh3arts]

i know folks are gonna call me a pedo for this one, but i grew up seeing my mom and grandma naked. they had health issues and at times needed care and help showering. and i truly think more kids need to be shown the nonsexual reality of naked women at a young age. there is nothing sexual about my grandmothers breasts, they were simply body parts. more women die of heart attacks because people are too afraid of breasts to do real chest compressions, because they are scared to touch their breasts. the sexualization of our bodies literally kills us. i need people to be more normal about naked bodies and i'm 100% serious.

[scarsofmybliss]

I grew up around naked old people who weren't even my family! Gasp! And it was a good thing. I grew up around old-school hippies at a place called Lothlorien (in Indiana) and one of my friends dads held a sauna day every Sunday in the middle of the woods (like you cannot drive to their house, you park about a quarter mile away and walk into the woods kind of woods). All day random old people came to get naked, high (pot), and sweaty. Just random old peen and boobs swaying with the leaves. No big deal. These are things that I believe made me more at home in my body, made me more excited about aging, made me more willing to fight for my security and safety.

[dee-the-red-witch]

Bodies are just bodies. Nothing sacred and nothing inherently shameful or sinful either. The fact that we still can't get that through everyone in however many years it's been is just fucking idiotic.

[jay-rayart]

FLY guys ! I started making FLY because I wanted to tell a story where black boys love eachother and they aren’t afraid to show it. The kind of kids who are never too cool to hug or cry in front of eachother. I think if we want the world to be safer for black kids we have to start in our own communities.

Help our story take Flight and follow FLY on Kickstarter. Launching June 9th !

Coming soon: FLY : A Magical Black Boy Series - Pilot Animatic

A coming of age story about Black kids who finally have power to fight back against systems designed against them.

[wiisagi-maiingan]

"Things that make your front door look tacky" "lawn decorations that lower your property value" "why you should never paint your rooms bright colors" "unique styles make your home impossible to sell" "plants that make a garden unattractive to buyers" SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP BASING YOUR HOME DECOR DECISIONS ON WHO WILL LIVE THERE NEXT AND JUST DO WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL HAPPY AND SECURE IN YOUR SPACE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[wiisagi-maiingan]

We are being encouraged to see our homes, places that many of us will live for years if not decades or our entire lives, as transient spaces that only exist to be sold one day. Don't plant your favorite flowers, buyers don't like them. Don't hang up tacky windchimes, buyers don't like them. Don't paint your living room your favorite color, buyers don't like color. Don't use unique tiles in your bathroom, buyers don't like that. Don't put plastic flamingoes and gnomes in your yard, buyers don't like them. Don't put put pretty knobs on your doors and unique plates on your light switches, buyers don't like that. Don't put up pretty light fixtures, buyers don't like them. Don't do this, don't do that, don't do anything to your home even if you're not planning on selling it anytime soon because someone is always preparing to buy it from you and you don't want to scare away a potential buyer, right?

I think everyone who gives "advice" like that is actually a shill for predatory real estate companies. And if they're not, why are they doing all that work for free?

[megpie71]

As someone who is currently looking to buy their own forever home, I can tell you something I'm noticing from my perusal of the real estate listings: individuality sells. Seriously, my budget is such that most of what I'm looking at is "dog box" commuter flats, which are largely built to a few highly similar patterns, and the ones which stay on the market longest tend to be the ones which are generic beige boxen. Anything quirky seems to sell quickly. Anything that's been looked over by someone with an eye to creating more storage space, or with an acknowledgement to the truth that people wear clothing and eat food (two things real estate agents apparently find incomprehensible) flies off the market at top speed. But a generic commuter flat in generic "designer" shades designed to be sold to the highest bidder? ... These days they're staying on the market longer and longer (and often the seller has to reset the price range downward at least once).

Don't think of the buyers when you're decorating. Think of the inhabitants.

[mornington-the-crescent]

June 1st

[breelandwalker]

Listen, marketing-as-exploitation discussions aside, Rainbow Capitalism is, has been, and continues to be the canary in the coal mine of social acceptance for the queer community.

If you’ll all pardon my Americentrism for a moment, the amount, visibility, and flamboyance of Pride merch available in clothing, home goods, and comestibles stores is a DIRECT reflection of how safe it is to be queer in public in the United States.

How? Simple. Out groups aren’t profitable. If you’re not “acceptable” in the current social climate, big franchise businesses will not market to you. (Prime example - Look how quickly Target dropped all their Pride merch after having been wall-to-wall rainbows every June for almost a decade prior.)

Sure, capitalism sucks and being viewed as an exploitable marketing demographic isn’t a fun concept.

HOWEVER.

The grim truth is that being normalized enough to be considered profitable by corporations IS A GOOD THING in terms of the barometer of social acceptance.

Same thing goes for smaller businesses that throw kitschy Pride events or even just put a token rainbow flag in the window or somewhere inside the shop. That’s a level of acceptance that DID NOT EXIST thirty years ago, and I can tell you because I was there.

The fact that we can scoff and bitch about being an exploitable marketing demographic nowadays means we have made GIGANTIC strides since the 1990s. It also speaks to the fact that the drive and the conversation surrounding LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance are continuing. And getting louder.

You can be cynical about it if you want. But I will take a store that puts out lip-service rainbow merch over a world that pretends we don’t exist any day of the week. Because that will always mean something.

Sincerely, An Elder Queer

[haunted-hideaway]

Like…they don’t give a shit about us, but there are cultural net gains. It’s ok to have a complicated relationship with rainbow capitalism. But think of the Gains, bro.

[the1920sinpictures]

1927 Kodak Petite Cameras. From Art Deco 1920, FB.

[hunny-and-haycorns]

Wow, apparently the bellows were also colored to match the housing, and they came with accessories like matching compacts.

[avatarofthewriting]

found what they look like with the bellows open!!

credit u/deepsky_wonders on reddit