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There is one particular scene in Monstrous Regiment that I love that isn't being talked about enough so I figured...maybe I should talk about it.

'Then go!', shouted Polly. 'Desert! We won't stop you, because I'm sick of your...your bullshit! But you make up your mind, right now, understand? Because when we meet the enemy I don't want to think you're there to stab me in the back!'

The words flew out before she could stop them, and there was no power in the world that could snatch them back.

Tonker went pale, and a certain life drained out of her face like water from a funnel. 'What was that you said?'

The words 'You heard me!' lined up to spring from Polly's tongue, but she hesitated. She told herself: it doesn't have to go this way. You don't have to let a pair of socks do the talking.

'Words that were stupid', she said. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.'

It is such an incredibly powerful scene. I've read the book dozens of times and every time I low-key expect there to be a fight even though I know there won't be because that's how it goes, right? But Pterry is showing us, it doesn't have to. Right here, right now it's in your hands. You can choose not to. You can back down when you are wrong or even when you're right. Polly has good reason to be mad at Tonker but so does Tonker for her actions and Polly chooses not to escalate. They're in this together. Fighting amongst themselves accomplishes nothing and backing down doesn't make her weak. On the contrary, it's a strength because anger is easy. Polly isn't wrong to be angry, but there is a time and a place and she has the wisdom to recognise that this isn't it.

You're allowed to be angry! But you don't have to get swept up by it, you can choose a different path. And hell, that just goes right to the most important thing Discworld taught me. Through Vimes and Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany and occasionally even Rincewind.

Being good isn't something you are, it's something you do. It's something you have to choose to be, over and over again, every single day, every single decision. And it's hard. It's not some nebulous quality you either possess or you don't it's something you have to decide to be and work at hard at all your life but it's up to you. You can always choose to do better, to be kinder, to apologise, to say something, to not say anything, to do the right thing even when it's hard or unpleasant or inconvenient for you. Your anger isn't wrong or misplaced and sometimes being angry is the only right reaction to have, but it's a weapon too and you decide where you aim it.

You don't have to let a pair of socks do the talking.

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Months after a viral haka was performed in New Zealand parliament, the controversial bill that sparked it has now been defeated. The Treaty Principles bill sought to redefine the which is New Zealand's founding document. The bill was brought by ACT Party leader David Seymour, who believed the current interpretation of the treaty gave more rights to Māori people than non-Māori New Zealanders. After two years of debate and nationwide protest, the bill was voted down by all but one party.

ABC News Australia

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It occurs to me that there are people who weren’t on this website in 2012 and therefore never saw the magical gif that you can actually hear:

It’s been over five years and that still impresses the hell out of me.

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ed gamble looks like curtis from love island: a saga x

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Since I’ve seen a lot of discussion about vandalizing Cybertrucks and Tesla plants to highlight Elon’s horrible everything including his increasing white supremacism, I cannot tell my fellow Gentiles enough to hold off on the swastikas. Yes I know that when you spray paint that on a Cybertruck what you’re saying is “your car is a Nazi car! You bought that from a Nazi!” but here’s the problem: you know who else likes to spray paint swastikas on stuff? Actual Nazis. And a random Jewish person won’t necessarily know the difference. So since there are infinite other ways to communicate that someone is a Nazi, you don’t need to include a swastika in there. If you’re legitimately anti-Nazi you care enough about Jews not to risk that.

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I work retail, and have for many years now. I'm not an easily fazed person and have a Talk No Shit, Take No Shit mentality. However, I also have a pretty intense anxiety disorder on top of other mental health issues and when I started 6+ years ago there were some customers who got to me.

So, to all the workers facing Karens and Kens out in the wild, here's my advice - cry.

If you have the type of relationships with your coworkers and managers that will support you, don't try to hold it in. Cry like the overworked, underpaid peon you are.

Nothing terrifies an asshole Karen like the indisputable proof that their actions/words are affecting you as a real live person. They feel perfectly entitled to cuss out a cashier over a wrong order/no cash policy/ face mask mandate but when that person starts to cry and asks them why they'd say such mean things? A whole other story, my friend.

There's no way to make that situation look good to the manager they demanded to speak with, either. My manager literally got a security guard fired for being so verbally abusive he made one of her employees cry.

This strategy has multiple benefits -

1. You're not standing there trying to pen up your emotions, crying is a great physical release for negative emotions and you may very well feel somewhat better afterwards.

2. The person who precipitated the situation is forced to not only see you as a person with feelings, but also has to confront the fact that their abuse has consequences beyond themselves.

3. It can actually give your higher-ups leverage to address these situations. 'They yelled at my employee' is one thing, but 'They yelled at my employee until they were in tears' is a waaaaay worse offense. A good manager can use that. Hell, it can get a security guard fired!

tl;dr: We live in a capitalist hell but we can work the system and cry at work to shame awful customers

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Oh, and by the way, that Supreme Court ruling is where that Harry Potter money goes.

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anyway just a reminder for the myth lovers out there

king arthur was welsh. merlin was welsh. camelot was in wales. the lady and the lake she pops out of; welsh. excalibur; magic inanimate welsh object. etc.

on the way to see family, i drive past a lake that in which is welsh legend, is the last resting place of excalibur.

i’m just saying in my experience a lot of these legends had been so anglo-fied in the past and it’s like, all this cool shit is celtic welsh legend.

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Snufkin doing whatever the fuck he does during the winter

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oh my goodness, one of dian fossey’s first close up observations with gorillas happened when she was trying to climb a tree to see them better, but so badly that by the time she’d gotten up the entire group had come out of hiding to look at her: “Nearly all members of the group had totally exposed themselves, forgetting about hiding coyly behind foliage screens because it was obvious to them that the observer had been distracted by tree-climbing problems, an activity they could understand.”

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Much needed reminder that terms like zio and zog are terms mainly used by white supremists and neo nazis against all jews, including antizionist jews. Yes even the most "burn Israel to the ground" antizionist jew is considered a zio or zogbot, specifically a crypto (secret) one.

They don't suddenly stop being antisemitic slurs and become woke leftist terms just because you, a leftist, use them. You just become more of a white supremist, a neo nazi and antisemite.

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Saw a post about the sesamarot and wanted to share my favorite reading

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Doctor: What do you see in this X-ray?

Students: *collective gasp*

Doctor: Please don’t do that in front of patients.

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After a grumpy internal argument with an article manifesting "damned lies and statistics" last night, I'd just like to say: here's a wave to the 50%+ of Millennial and Gen-Z and whatever the fuck is after that at this point (Gen Alpha? Can we just stop with this? I can't keep track) men, young and less so, who are just as non-rightwing-asshole, "progressive is pretty good actually, no it's not immigration's fault" etc as their female counterparts.

I know it probably feels like life is entirely a case of being yelled at by the manosphere on one side and yelled at for not being perfect on the other; and it's kind of like an entire life of the kind of thing that also happens with the kid that gets good grades and doesn't light shit on fire, so nobody ever thinks they might be dealing with some shit. And the world is scary and a never-ending slough of not knowing whose expectations are the right ones to live up to.

The thing is, being human is fucking hard, being a decent human is always going to be even harder, and every time I see something going "omg FORTY TWO PERCENT of young men believe [some horrific thing]" I always kinda want to point out that this means that fifty eight don't.

So heya to that 50+ percent. Here's a tired wave. It's been a fuck of a year so far hasn't it? Jesus. Here's some coffee, god knows I need it. This being human shit is so fucking hard.

(And for the guys older than me who are also in this boat with us, because the percentages get fuzzier and my head hurts this morning so fuck it: hey, nice to see you too, there's free advil by the coffee.)

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"I don't want to read this" is totally valid.

"This is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't want to read this because it is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.