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DEAR READER
Not today Justin

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@yeah-hazel-lets-do-terrorism
"who am I to judge" well actually they call me to work the Pearly Gates when St Peter wants a day off so
In 2026, the chicest thing a gay actor can do is never explicitly come out as gay but also make it abundantly clear that he is. Coming out is too modern. Staying closeted is too old fashioned. But this method merges contemporary freedom with Old Hollywood glamour and allure, and it weeds out the dumbest people who truly don’t get it. I call it the Pascal Method.
Taylor Swift does this
no she doesn’t
You clearly don't go here or to queer history and signaling, or both, enough to have this conversation and I'm not going to explain it to you. You could have asked questions, you could have done even a modicum of research. You didn't and you made yourself look ignorant. Goodbye.
#I'm fucking crying#this is an instant classic#this is the next meme#i can't believe I'm here to see a baby copypasta nary two hours old#I can't#lol#i laughed way too hard#iconic
I recently went on holiday to Egypt. Our Egyptologist guide (who, by the way, has to qualify in the entie 5,000+ year span of Egyptian history, rather than dribbling off after Cleopatra's death in 30BC), said that Egypt has built a wonder for every century since the Ottomans gave them semi-independence after Napoleon. In the 1800s, they built the Suez Canal. In the 1900s, they built the Aswan High Dam. And in the 2000s, they've built the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The Suez Canal from space (via Wikipedia)
The Aswan High Dam from space (via Wikipedia) - trust me, it's really difficult to take in the scale of it from ground level
The Grand Egyptian Museum, exterior shots. Yes, it's aligned with the pyramids. There's an eleven metre tall statue in the atrium that had to be installed while the building was being constructed, in front is a sixteen-metre obelisk suspended so you can see the cartouches on the base, it's got the entire Tutankhamun collection, there's a separate building (to the right of the daytime shot) with Khufu's boat, it really is incredible, although time will tell whether it will indeed be considered an architectural wonder on the level of the Suez Canal or the Aswan Dam.
So, in answer to "why did humans stop building wonders?", we didn't, we just started building different types. Have a look at great construction projects, maybe you'll find a wonder that's as taken for granted as the Suez Canal was until the Evergiven got stuck.
something I haven't seen people mention about The Hunger Games trilogy and movies is how it genuinely revolutionized the Minecraft server scene
There is a reality not so far from our own in which Ratitouille (2007) was filmed as an avant-garde conceptual horror akin to Eraserhead (1977)
There is a young American man in France. His mother has passed away. He has few friends, and works the thankless job of a bus boy in a prestigious restaurant, but dreams of becoming a chef despite having very little skill.
He returns one night to his humble apartment, which is known to have vermin, and comes across a rat, which he could easily kill or set loose on the street.
But the rat- it is special. It seems to speak to him. Promises him every little thing he desires- talent, fame, and fortune. Recognition and esteem like he has only ever seen from afar; fine company like the wealthy men and women whose scraps he picks at over the sink.
Put me on your head, the rat says. Put me on your head and think of nothing.
It is strange at first, yes. Strange to feel another take control of his life and live it better than he ever could. To see miraculous things created with his own two hands, to feel his feet move in graceful and fantastic ways with a confidence he has never had.
But the rat delivers as he had promised: he receives promotions, notoriety, admiration. He is noticed. Envied. Every day is a waking dream, rubbing elbows with beautiful women and handsome men and influential personalities who lavish him with praise. It is addictive, this lifestyle- never mind that he is only ever truly conscious of it as a passenger of in own brain.
It is when he has reached heights few can ever conceive, with all that the rat had ever promised- a beautiful wife in a beautiful house with all the world in his palm, in possession of all the wealth and success a man could ever want, that the rat says that it is leaving.
Leaving? The rat cannot leave. Everything he is, the rat has provided.
"I have delivered on our bargain", the rat says. "I have brought to you all that you have ever dreamed. What more could you desire? I must live my own life, now."
The man is furious. He is terrified. He destroys the rat, in all of the ways that a rat can be destroyed, until nothing is left of it but a fine smear of marinara sauce.
He returns to the restaurant the next day moving like the shell of something hollowed-out and brittle. He cooks well- his fingers remember the movements, his eyes recognize the patterns, his mouth knows without his asking what orders to speak and what platitudes make patrons smile pleasantly with their straight white teeth.
He retains the talents of the rat. The charm of the rat. All the worldly pleasures the rat had provided him.
Still, it seems, he is little more than a vessel for the talents of the rat.
But the rat is gone.
What remains of the man?
A runaway trolley is quickly approaching planet Earth, threatening to kill over 8 billion people. There is a lever that can be pulled to redirect the trolley. On the other track is a singular man. You are the trolley operator. Do you pull the lever?
But suppose the problem is not that simple. First, pulling the lever will most certainly kill the man but it will not guarantee the survival of Earth. In fact, the chance Earth will be saved is slim, and many of those 8 billion will die in the process. You are the trolley operator. Do you pull the lever?
It still isn’t that simple. The man tied to the other track isn’t tied down at all, in fact he does not know he is part of the dilemma. You will have to tie him down yourself. You are the trolley operator. Do you pull the lever?
But wait, there’s something you are forgetting. The man you must tie down and murder is your second in command, your best friend, your platonic soulmate. You love him. You know he will refuse to be the sacrifice. You watch as he begs and pleads for another way, betrayal in his eyes. He writhes as you give the command to sedate him, and prepare to tie him to the tracks. He goes limp, and you do not cry. He will hate you for the rest of his short life, and you will deserve it. Even so, you know you are doing the right thing.
You are Eva Stratt. You will pull the lever.
Sending hugs to all those who are going through a lot rn🫂🫶
My computer just randomly stopped running Bluetooth and even digging into the internal files and forcing it to run the software isn’t working for some reason.
My child just randomly stopped eating, and even hitting them and yelling at them to eat isn't working for some reason.
You know I’ve cycled through like ten different snarky comments I could make in reply to this but frankly this comment (even if it’s some kind of joke) is so out of the ballpark from what I’m talking about that I fear your fundamental understanding of what im referring to isn’t even in the same zip code as the reality of the actual situation and I don’t know how to properly be funny in response to this because I’m so genuinely baffled.
have u tried killing and birthing your kid again?
The way that most of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories’ most horrible villains are rich dudes that are abusive to women, in a time such as the 1880’s, compels me.
There’s a whole subset of Sherlock Holmes stories that could be labeled Asshole Guys Try to Control Women’s Money.
Yup, there’s a huge number of times where Sherlock Holmes is the ONLY person to take a young woman’s complaint or worry seriously and finds out someone is up to some serious evil. Holmes also shows a lot of compassion and empathy with the victims over and over again. (This is why I find “Secretly a woman” or “Trans” Holmes headcanons much more convincing than “sociopath” Holmes.)
I am never going to shut up about how much I specifically love The Adventure of The Copper Beeches because it is literally Sherlock Holmes listening to a young lady he does not know except as a potential client, agreeing with her that a potential job she has interviewed for that she thinks is SUPER SKETCHY is, indeed, sketchy as fuck and when she says she’s probably gonna take the job anyways because the money is good and she needs it going “OKAY I GUESS but for the love of god please write to us so we know you’re okay we will literally drop everything and jump on a train if you want us to”.
The job turns out to indeed be sketchy as fuck, she writes to them, Holmes and Watson drop everything and jump on a train when she asks them to. I read this story for the first time when I was twelve and it made a HUGE impression.
This is also the basis for a lot of speculation about Holmes’ family life. The idea that he has been a victim of abuse, or his mother was abused (or even murdered by his father.) There’s definitely SOMETHING that makes him very aware of how dangerous isolated families can be, and the dark things that can happen behind closed doors. Plus, of course, the motivation to devote himself to stopping crime. And yes, so much of it is of the personal type.
dude see this is one aspect of the original books i NEVER understand why modern remakes (cough cough) don’t go all in on. Like, in the 21th c we HAVE all the dumb forensic shit that made Victorian Holmes stand out, but we STILL DON’T HAVE uh….you know, compassion for women and minorities, or the willingness to believe them, adequate community support for domestic violence or hate crimes, etc. etc. which you’d think is exactly where a renegade consulting detective would come in handy. A good modern day Sherlock Holmes remake, instead of trying to convince us that Holmes is some super genius for being better than fingerprint analysis or whatever, could have him just be…a good person who helps out people the police can’t and won’t help. There you go. That’s how to write a relevant modern Holmes.
One thing that annoys me is how much the BBC version of Sherlock (and the fandom around it) focus on police cases or cold cases. In the stories, Holmes’ bread and butter cases had fuck-all to do with the police and in a few stories, he actively works around/against them, or outright lies to them. Of the many, many things I wish that show had done differently, this is one is particularly obnoxious since it’s such a gimme.
There were very few actual murder cases in the Canon, and Holmes handled them either one of two ways:
Option one: The murder victim was innocent while the killer was an abusive bastard, see Speckled Band. Conclusion, arrest and have the killer charged (Or in the case of Speckled Band, indirectly murder him yourself then shrug and go home)
Option two: The victim was murdered to protect someone that the victim was abusing, or for vengeance, see Boscombe Valley, Devil’s Foot, Abbey Grange. Conclusion, Oops, I don’t know who the killer is, I am suddenly incompetent, oh look a pheasant.
#my favorite murder in holmes canon#is when they straight up witness a lady murder her blackmailer#do nothing except destroy his other blackmail material#and then straight up lie to lestrade about it#sherlock holmes#more of this in modern adaptations pls (via @cactusspatz )
Let’s not forget the time Holmes helps a young woman who’s being catfished by her own stepfather to steal her inheritance, and when the villain sneers that the law can’t touch him, Holmes grabs a horsewhip out of sheerest chivalry.
So, the most canon-accurate iteration of Sherlock Holmes in the last few decades is actually Benoit Blanc….
I think it’s also important to note, and complicates our ideas about what the highly patriarchal/misogynistic society of 19th century England looked like, that these stories SOLD
they were POPULAR
the Victorians LIKED reading about women who won out over shitty men in their lives, even when that plotline reaffirmed a woman’s power and agency or put an active sexist in his place (ie Irene Adler besting Holmes)
which is fascinating in light of. you know. [gestures broadly at all of Victorian gender dynamics, laws, etc.]
So yes, Benoit Blanc is the best modern Sherlock.
NOW we're talking
Another one to see it eat
ok this looks ultra mega based, are you kidding me? can you imagine the bullshit i could get up to with this bad boy? fuck yes i want ten
Wait are iPhone bros coping because Apple has to be more universal? Lol.
Boo hoo i'll be able to add more physical storage to my phone and be able to change out batteries if they degrade as well as all these other optional features I won't have to touch
Continuing in the trend of political cartoons depicting milquetoast moderate positions seem so much cooler and more badass than they are
I love how they add totally absurd things no one is asking for to make the idea look crazy. And still, I must emphasize, failing to make this look like a bad idea.
"Is this what you want? Is this ugly stupid bullcrap what you want??" the biggest loudest idiot in the room asks, holding up a picture of the hottest looking shit I've ever seen
Would low-key shell out for the iBrick
I'm back with a new zine! It's an essay about the current state of the music industry, the importance of community and independent local art through the lens of war.
This project has been in the works for a couple of months and has been on my mind for even longer, I really hope you like it!
As always, here's the link to a completely free high res version of the zine, so you can print it out yourself!
making the radical claim "11 year old children should be taught how to make extremely simple food" has resulted in people making arguments like "I wasnt allowed to plug in electronics until I was 16 and I think this is super normal actually" and "children dont know what ratios are so its unfair to expect them to be able to comprehend the idea of adding equal amounts rice and water to a rice cooker" and I gotta say originally I thought maybe I was being too judgy but now I feel very secure in my opinion because what the fuck
edit you are all so annoying and wrong everyone shut the fuck up !!!!!!! i literally do not care what year you learned to cook and the way you all view disabled people is fucking gross.
I'm gonna double down on "11 year old children should know cooking basics" and state firmly that 6 year old children should know cooking basics. By the age of six I could assemble basics foods like macaroni and cheese or instant noodles, could follow recipes and make (box) cake or cookies, knew how to measure ingredients and stir and pan and boil and bake. I was allowed to use sharp knives and use the stove and oven. I could bake bread.
Hell, I was 'helping mommy/daddy cook' by cracking eggs and stirring things and flattening dough balls etc at the age of Three.
If your parents didn't begin teaching you these skills as soon as you had the gross motor functions to perform them, they were being negligent.
At what age do you think a child with normative motor skills development should be able to -dress themselves- btw? At what age should a kid know how to use buttons, tie shoes, etc? These are similar skills to cooking in terms of gross motor function.
When I was 7 and my brother was 10, we moved. With the move, we became latch key kids because a school bus could drop us at a park very near the house which hadn't been true at our previous home.
It also meant, because we now lived in earthquake territory, that there was a possibility that we might end up at some point caring for ourselves in an emergency like a major earthquake for a day or two if they struggled to get back from work due to infrastructure damage (like bridges).
We'd been taught from a very early age to cook - helping as soon as we were able to improve motor skills as @moniquill says above - and could both pretty confidently prepare a few things.
Due to the new situation, my mom spent a Saturday in the kitchen with us, working through how to make 4 things from pantry/fridge staples (no ingredients that wouldn't generally be kept on hand) that we would definitely be willing to eat to ensure we wouldn't starve if that happened.
And my dad spent time teaching my brother to safely use the camp stove if we lost gas/power in that circumstance (he would do the same with me a few years later, but at 7 I was both a bit young and a bit of a fire bug).
They did these things, both teach us growing up and teaching us more in this specific circumstance because cooking is 1) a survival skill and 2) a teachable skill with numerous levels of knowledge (starting at 'toddler, move this spoon around this bowl') making it great as children grow.
And acting like kids aren't competent to be taught to feed themselves is just another way to take away their agency and independence. Stop infantilizing teenagers. Stop infantilizing 8 year olds. They are functioning human beings with functioning human being skills and should be treated as such.
*takes everyone by the face*
Teach your kids to steer a car.
If you EVER go to the lake or go camping or into any area where other people are scarce enough not to be in sight at all times, and they physically can apply full force to the pedals and turn the wheel fully. teach them to steer a car.
I don't mean drive in traffic. That is way too much, and everyone would die. I mean being able to put on the hazard lights, stop, start, and steer. Not to be too action movie, but they need to be able to go for help down a two lane road in an emergency until they see another car. Like if you're at the lake or camping and the adults are injured.
If you can find a safe space to do this where the cops won't come for you, do it.
Also, teach your kids how to get to familiar places you go often, without a phone. I'm serious. They may have to help a friend or family member navigate by sight. They need to know arterial roads and landmarks as soon as they can, and the nearest major intersection or landmark to your house. Make it a game. But TEACH THEM.
Teach them your full names and address the minute they are old enough to retain this information. I was HORRIFIED in 2nd grade how many kids didn't know their addresses, or their own parents' ACTUAL NAMES.
Teach them your phone numbers and that of a couple of other trusted adults. Not every situation they may need to know this in will warrant 911.
Hexagon Quilt
This is the second time I've seen a video of this technique and this explanation is so clear! It does use more fabric than English paper piecing (EPP) but you end up with a double sided hexagon so don't have to source fabric for the backing.
I'm doing EPP at the moment but I have a hole punch to make the papers and just use leaflets and junk mail, so it doesn't feel wasteful. I don't think it's difficult either- in the video she mentions it's not for beginners, but I don't have that much experience with hand sewing or EPP and I've been finding it pretty easy so YMMV
I saw this video yesterday and was seized with the need to try it out immediately. Lookit my cute lil' hexagon baby!!
Here is what the backside looks like. OP notes this takes more fabric than paper piecing, but that excess fabric makes it already triple-layered. Besides not needing backing fabric, I don't think you'd need batting for this quilt at all. It's already thick and soft just from folding all that fabric into a hexagon.
Hexagon quilt tutorial video by tiktok user camelscrafts. Method:
Each hexagon begins as a 6" circle. camelscrafts does this by creating a paper template using a compass. According to the video, a 6" circle will create a hexagon that is 2.5 inches tall.
These hexagons are hand-sewn. Thread the needle.
With the fabric right side facing, find the center of the circle by folding it in half right sides together, then folding it in half again (wrong sides are facing). The top of the triangle shape is the center of the fabric circle.
Make a small stitch into the center of the fabric. The wrong side is still facing.
Unfold the circle. There will be a small stitch in the center.
Now the hexagon is created by folding the circle into itself: Take the needle to one of the edges of the fabric (it doesn't matter which one). Pull the needle through and pull the thread tight. This will fold down the fabric and create an edge of the hexagon. Crease the fold with your finger.
This fold has two corners, one at the top and one at the bottom. Put the needle into one of the corners and pull the thread taut. This will create another fold.
Continue this going around the circle until all of it is folded down, creating the hexagon. camelscrafts notes that the last corner pulled in may be a little bit "wonky" (no precise point in the corner) if the corners were not done precisely. However, that corner is pulled into the back, so is not visible from the front.
The hexagon is now formed. Sew around the folds in the middle of the circle to hold the folds in place. Tie off and cut the thread.
Attach hexagons to each other along the sides. With right sides together, whip stitch the sides together.