was in goodwill men's clothing section earlier today and reflecting on how i feel like i flunked out of Normal Trans Guy School as a teenager in that i never wanted to use the boy's bathroom or locker room because the idea of being a very small very GNC very obviously trans guy after already being weird amongst girls seemed like hell, and while i had some men's clothing in general i found a lot of my options in that section extremely boring and didn't feel right on multiple levels.
it was just a kind of strange experience. having been out as queer since i was in 5th grade i had the experience of growing up as an out queer/trans kid, but not in a congruent "i was a girl but now i'm a boy!" kinda way. i did not do Being A Girl Well at all, not even in the aspects (like makeup) where i did genuinely try. it was very clear i would also not do Being A Boy well either. at the same time i did want gender recognition, as an androgyne (even though i was really struggling with my gender because of all the exorsexist shit i was seeing in online queer spaces around "contradictory" and "MOGAI hell" identities, which were the only ones that actually captured what its like being an androgyne) i did feel like a boy and a girl in certain ways. but not ones that were reflected back to me as socially meaningful or real.
this is just some rambling to share this experience with others, but i guess the core of this is that being nonbinary/genderqueer/gnc is a very strange experience and even within trans contexts it felt like i was doing something wrong you know? like you are a jagged piece of glass that fucks up the whole mosaic no matter where you try to squeeze yourself. there's a reason i consider myself transmasc and transfem & i feel like a lot of people who defend afab transfems/amab transmascs focus exclusively on being intersex as a reason people can feel that way, but people always seem to underestimate the experience of being nb/gq/gnc and truly being like. well i can't be the gender people expect me to be right because i can't be cis about it, i can't be the "opposite" gender" right because i can't be binary about, but also even in "accepting" spaces there is no real non-binary existence, and especially not for those of us who are actively both and not just neither. its such an experience that is hard to describe to people. anyways i actually did find some pretty clothes in the goodwill men's section by the grace of transgender god
It's called the Global Justice Report, it is here. This is an actionable plan which can be sent to legislators and demanded of political parties. We could save the world within our lifetimes.
It has always been possible. It is still possible.
Hey. If people aren't aware, Microsoft admitted they know who you and where you are at all times and will give your info to the police.
They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.
Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.
You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.
This article specifically notes:
For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.
GDID is the persistent Windows ID that helped FBI trace a Scattered Spider hacker despite VPNs. Here's how it works and how to limit it.
Other important quotes:
What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.
Two things back that up:
There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.
Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.
please wear sunscreen!!! I've seen "fuck the beauty industrial complex" posts about complicated skincare regimens and am 100% with them except sometimes they mention sunscreen and no. no. absolutely not. sunscreen is a wonderful supportive friend who wants to keep you safe, and you should let her do it. throw out all your other cosmetics and skincare products if you want, but keep your sunscreen. and if you're not wearing sunscreen, start wearing it!!!! this is not about terror of aging, this is not about every tiny imperfection our fucked-up culture has made you feel insecure about, this is about protecting yourself from skin cancer. wear the damn sunscreen.
I know Tumblr is full of posts about the virtues of commenting on AO3 fics and such. But like. It works.
I just knocked out 8.5k words in one single day for a chapter update because of one reader leaving one of the most absurdly endearing comments I’ve ever gotten. That is unheard of levels of productivity for me.
The power of the fandom. The power of the comment.
Another two fabric quilt on the go. This one may end up being for me because I love both of these fabrics. I ended up buying about six or so meters each of them with no plans because I like them so much.
I’m gonna do nine patches and bordered squares and put them on point.
I saw a photo of something similar in creams and reds a long time ago and took a screen shot of it, and saw it while I was scrolling through my ‘Quilts to Make’ file. Decided to pull these out and give it a go.
No idea what size it’ll end up, but if I stick to 6x7 blocks with a border it should end up about 64”x72” I think. Which is a nice throw size to cuddle on the couch with.
Of course…
If I really like it after I lay it out, I may have to make more blocks and make it big enough for my bed.
Not enough to make bigger, I think more contrast between the two fabrics would look even better, but this will make a lovely couch quilt!
She ended up 70”x85”, which is a pretty nice twin if a bit short, but it would also layout on a queen with little overhang if someone was looking for a display kind of quilt.
I have a dark teal cotton in mind for backing and Robin’s Egg blue for the quilting thread, which is basically the same colour as the light blue fabric.
Haven’t decided on whether to use the space fabric for the binding or the backing fabric for binding. Either would work.
Had to continue the space theme with the quilting. Pattern is called Interstellar and I did use Robin’s Egg thread on the top and a medium light grey on the back so you could see the stars and swirls on the backing.
I did end up using the constellation fabric for the binding and love the way it looks against the border.
I know I said I was thinking teal for the back, but this blue and black crosshatched print I found in my stash looked nice. I think it was actually what I was originally going to use with the constellation fabric LOL I had enough to back it and just went with it.
reblogged a post with a correction about spray sunscreens (they work way less well than you think) but then decided the very small number of people who might see my reblog wasn't worth the likelihood that people would read it as me discouraging sunscreen use and come to yell at me so i deleted it.
but FYI, here in my own post:
spray sunscreens don't work very well
neither do (most) sunscreen sticks
in general, michelle wong (a.k.a. lab muffin beauty science), a chemistry PhD who is very passionate about sunscreen and spends a lot of time debunking sunscreen misinformation, is a useful resource for learning about sunscreen! both the above links go to videos she made. here is another: many many sunscreen questions answered
a lot of people dont care about insect biomass collapse bc when they hear we are losing 2.5% of the insect biomass per year they just imagine the cockroach and housefly population decreasing by that much. they dont realize those are among the only ones that will remain unbothered
every year of restoring native plants I see a great increase in the insect populations, and loads of new insects i never saw before (all of them harmless--the insects that are harmful or parasitic on humans are the main ones being unaffected by the decrease in insect populations)
(a large part of) the problem is Plant Sameness. we must restore plant diversity
Trans people of color!!! Do not let the culture around you stop you from choosing a name that speaks to your heritage. When I was settling on my name, I had white trans people around me tell me that my name would be too hard to pronounce or too long for most people. [Four syllable Latin name, go figure]
I'm glad I didn't listen and decided to stay true to myself and I chose a traditionally Afro-Brazilian that still makes me happy to this day. Don't feel pressured to assimilate or make yourself more palpable for white people, little reminder!
nobody ever believes me when I list off all of the ways that humans are significantly less sexually dimorphic than people seem to believe and it drives me batshit insane. “you’re denying the biological reality of sex” well you’re sticking your fingers in your ears and saying lalalala every time anyone presents you with data that confirms that women and men aren’t really that different. and refusing to come to terms with the two-way relationship between the “biological” and “social” worlds. I think one of us is ignoring the biological sciences here and it isn’t me
Someone once told me my biology degree was fake because I said humans weren't sexual dimorphic.
A male human and a female human are roughly the same size and same coloration.
Meanwhile, male black widow spiders are brown and a tenth the size of females. Anglerfish females are a full foot long and have a bioluminescent protrusion on their heads; males are barely half an inch long with no bioluminescence or protrusions. Male elephant seals are ten times bigger than females and have massive snouts. Male orangutans have big jowls and neck sacs that look like goiters, while females look more like other apes. Peacocks have flashy coloration and a long tail that they can display. The females are brown and simple.
Humans aren't sexually dimorphic! You only know someone's gender because of cultural identifiers, like clothing or hair.
The big things for primate sexual dimorphism tend to be canine size and body size. Male primates in sexually dimorphic species tend to have HUGE canine teeth for better threat displays, and are bigger for similar reasons.
Lowland Gorilla males tend to be 2.38x on average the mass of Lowland Gorilla females. Humans? That ratio is something line 1.15.
Male gorilla canines tend to be about 2 inches long, easily twice the length of some of their other teeth. Male humans have canines the exact same length as human female canines and the exact same length as the rest of our teeth.
dear august cloudmancy, do you have any horse drawing tips and if so, would you be so kind to share them with the class if you have the time?
I'm still in China, so stuck on mobile + without my drawing tablet, but I'll post my horse sketches and a modified version of my general animal drawing tips:
Horses, like any other animal, are 90% shapes. You want to get good at drawing these shapes. The most important place to start for a horse are at the SHOULDERS. You want to draw starting with the intention of the ENTIRE horse in mind. Don't do a bunch of disconnected hooves and legs and horse head shots until you're actually comfortable knowing what connects where. Doing a bunch of piecemeal 'studies' before you understand the whole animal's shape is a trap and a copout! You can see in my cleaned up horse lines that I always always draw out the shoulders, hips, and haunches.
Horses are hard for people to draw because their legs are weird. So this seems obvious to say, but get good at understanding their legs. You wouldn't believe the amount of people who go "horse bendy noodle legs hard" and leave it at that. It's best to look at a diagram of horse and human homologous limb structure, because then you can understand why they bend in the places they do. Like in math, actually understanding horse leg anatomy than simply memorizing what they look like at one angle is better, because then you can extrapolate what they look like from any angle using fundamental theorems.
In general, tracing over photographs of real horses is VERY helpful. Try tracing over an image that's been lowered to 20-30% opacity, then get rid of the photograph and redo your lines until it looks 'right' to your eyes. Drawing any animal, including horses, competently isn't about ACCURATELY FOLLOWING every single curve and crevice, it's about getting the shapes right.
I think people should be able to exist in public without worrying about being recorded and posted online, even if they're being "weird", and I also think that if you see someone recording you without your consent then you should be able to legally spray paint their camera lens.
kianamaiart
gummygunk
baratheonpilled
romaincrisis
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
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