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if you don't want to talk to someone you can always call the office when they're closed and leave a message. Just make sure to include all the pertinent information and keep it short :)

calling your representative is way less scary than you think it is. you're going to get some tired 22 year old with a scratch pad taking a tally at their desk. takes fifteen seconds and you're done

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If you're dissatisfied with how the Democrats are handling something (cough Palestine cough) then LIE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!! Tell them you won't vote for them unless they fix it!!

If you're not a monster you're voting for them anyways, but they don't have to know. Just call or email them and fucking LIE!!

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This is the same gripe I have with using the word "theory" for evolution etc

In daily life we use theory to mean a dubious assumption, not common consensus. It's because the colloquial use for theory is generally "in theory," eg "in theory, the car was supposed to work, but in reality it was full of BBQ sauce." So many people think theory = untrustworthy, a joke, or a vague supposition.

But evolution is none of those things! It's scientific consensus. Using scientific terms that have different, even oppositional definitions (in the eyes of a layperson) to describe a complicated process is asking for trouble.

...and oh boy, do we already have plenty of trouble.

"There was an exchange on Twitter a while back where someone said, ‘What is artificial intelligence?' And someone else said, 'A poor choice of words in 1954'," he says. "And, you know, they’re right. I think that if we had chosen a different phrase for it, back in the '50s, we might have avoided a lot of the confusion that we're having now." So if he had to invent a term, what would it be? His answer is instant: applied statistics. "It's genuinely amazing that...these sorts of things can be extracted from a statistical analysis of a large body of text," he says. But, in his view, that doesn't make the tools intelligent. Applied statistics is a far more precise descriptor, "but no one wants to use that term, because it's not as sexy".

'The machines we have now are not conscious', Lunch with the FT, Ted Chiang, by Madhumita Murgia, 3 June/4 June 2023

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Two weeks before my 21st birthday I also lost my father to cancer. Remember that Republicans DO NOT CARE what the law/budget/etc is. They ONLY care about knocking down any Democratic proposal that doesn't put money directly into their pockets - and if it does, they're the ones that did it, right?

Remember: if you aren't satisfied with the Democrats, call or email them and LIE. Say you won't vote for them unless they do what you want (Palestine, queer/trans rights, etc). You will still vote for them regardless, but they don't have to know that!! Just fucking lie!!!

As someone who lost their father to cancer I feel this is very important to share. Please vote in 2024, and vote for those who care more about the people rather than bullshit politics.

(I don’t typically talk politics or world affairs but this hit me hard.)

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allen's coffee brandy and moxie is called a Burnt Trailer in Maine lol

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Palamedes' river bubble was based on the room that he exploded in, the one that Cytherea was recovering, and it was all held together by one theorem.

In HtN we learn that the person that creates the bubble controls it, 'Canaan house' kept changing because Harrow was fighting Wake's ghost for control.

Here is a thing, Palamedes found in that room a novel he didn't read before. Presuming it belonged to Cytherea. Does this means that he took part of her soul with him? And like, the book was a representation of that.

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I have a crushingly painful take! Jod tied his soul to the sun and Gideon is part Jod (ugh). to properly kill Jod while keeping the Earth alive, Gideon will basically become the new soul of the sun (which may involve launching)

also I'm very intrigued that I can't remember a single reference to the moon in any of the books (please correct me if I'm wrong!) so my extra miserable prediction is that Harrow becomes the soul of the moon, bringing tides and stability back to the Earth and making it liveable once more.

Gideon, bringer of life and joy. Harrow, facing her true God while bathed in Gideon's glow. Alecto, made whole once more by the sun and moon. three souls, together as a trinity of forgiveness, forever tied in a cosmic dance. so close, and yet so far away...

“‘Hello, I’m the woman who helped Harrowhark Nonagesimus’s fascist rise to power,’” said Gideon to nobody in particular. “‘Yes, the universe sucks now. I knew this going in. Also, she betrayed me afterward and now my body has been shot into the sun.’”-Gideon the Ninth, Chapter 4

Calling it now, launching Gideon's impossible-to-kill body into the sun is how they flip Dominicus

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Do you miss the Aurora in May? We might get another shot tonight!

Scientists in Wales have been working on a new prediction model using the new data available from recent CME activity, so there's a VERY good chance we'll see a show tonight (Saturday, July 20th)

keep your lights off and your eyes on the sky!

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tlt oil studies

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Me trying to figure out the plots of literally any of The Locked Tomb books.

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:,) thank you so much for this. I'm actually dipping my toes into poetry again (fast, easy, mostly just for me) and this is just the encouragement I need.

To anyone else: listen to @incorrect-house-of-nine . It's never too late to do anything! whether that's writing, or climbing trees, knitting, painting, cosplay, learning a musical instrument... don't let bad past experiences keep you from trying again. It doesn't have to be award winning stuff, just get creative and have fun with it!

(also, everyone has been so lovely in the tags, I wish I could kiss every one of you on the top of your gentle heads. or give you a butch-level high five, if that's more your speed)

The Locked Tomb doesn't just feel as though it was written especially for me and my own personal enjoyment. It's also the series I always dreamed of writing when I was a kid... only to be told I was "way overthinking" my stories. I remember so clearly what they said.

"Don't obsess over the meanings of character names. don't make silly, 4th-wall-breaking references. what are these jokes doing here?don't make it so complicated. are you drawing your characters' clothing designs over and over again? shouldn't you be writing? why does it matter which numbers your weird character is assigned?" (6249D, btw.)

or: "This is too close to (movie, TV show, book). you're stealing. you're ripping it off. christ, knock it off with the thesaurus already. it's too weird. god, why are you so weird??"

eventually I stopped writing sci-fi/fantasy. it wasn't much fun as a 12-year-old being pushed to write like a 45 year old. I was constantly being praised for my writing ability, yet encouraged to remove anything that made it uniquely "me."

decades pass. I pick up GtN. love at first sentence. cleared my schedule. never looked back.

y'all, I can't explain how VALIDATING it is to read a writer who probably heard that shit over and over - likely her entire career! - and still said "Fuck you, I'm doing it however I goddamn please." Here we are, 3 bestselling, award-winning novels and 1 rabid fanbase later. fuck them indeed.

In the end, I never did become a writer. but reading TLT was something of a transcendental experience, feeling Seen in that way. like being told, for the first time,

"They were wrong. you can do anything you want. and it can be amazing."

so yeah. we do bones, motherfucker. choke on it.

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recently i read Guards!Guards! by Pratchett and it brings me great joy to draw out the characters, i will now proceed to throw these at you

Colon!

Sybil,,, i love her, how can i not love a crazy dragon lady ((thats also a big lady))... I like the idea that her brows are tiny because they get burnt by dragons so often

Carrot i also love him

+Big woman Sybil with no wig

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Marian Ellis Rowan (1848-1922, Australian) ~ One hundred and fifty-eight medium- and small-sized moths, in seven columns. A wide range of families is represented, including the NOCTUIDAE, ARCTIIDAE, LASIOCAMPIDAE, LYMANTRIIDAE, GEOMETRIDAE, PYRALIDAE, SESIIDAE, etc. 

Watercolour with bodycolour on green paper

[Source: Christie’s]

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The Locked Tomb doesn't just feel as though it was written especially for me and my own personal enjoyment. It's also the series I always dreamed of writing when I was a kid... only to be told I was "way overthinking" my stories. I remember so clearly what they said.

"Don't obsess over the meanings of character names. don't make silly, 4th-wall-breaking references. what are these jokes doing here?don't make it so complicated. are you drawing your characters' clothing designs over and over again? shouldn't you be writing? why does it matter which numbers your weird character is assigned?" (6249D, btw.)

or: "This is too close to (movie, TV show, book). you're stealing. you're ripping it off. christ, knock it off with the thesaurus already. it's too weird. god, why are you so weird??"

eventually I stopped writing sci-fi/fantasy. it wasn't much fun as a 12-year-old being pushed to write like a 45 year old. I was constantly being praised for my writing ability, yet encouraged to remove anything that made it uniquely "me."

decades pass. I pick up GtN. love at first sentence. cleared my schedule. never looked back.

y'all, I can't explain how VALIDATING it is to read a writer who probably heard that shit over and over - likely her entire career! - and still said "Fuck you, I'm doing it however I goddamn please." Here we are, 3 bestselling, award-winning novels and 1 rabid fanbase later. fuck them indeed.

In the end, I never did become a writer. but reading TLT was something of a transcendental experience, feeling Seen in that way. like being told, for the first time,

"They were wrong. you can do anything you want. and it can be amazing."

so yeah. we do bones, motherfucker. choke on it.

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While my mental picture of Gideon is different, remember: Tamsyn Muir specifically rejects the idea that her characters be forced into a single "look," or that one is more "correct" than others. She talks a lot in interviews about how she envisioned them, but she's also said that anyone who wants to imagine Naberius Tern as a monitor lizard is equally valid and right. (This is literally paraphrased from an interview!)

It's fun to play around putting real-world constraints on magical characters, but the moment you claim a character CAN'T be fat, or buff, or a specific ethnicity etc you're just saying you have no imagination. I see Gideon differently than OP. But I love their take on it! I want to see more of it! It doesn't personally affect me!!

(Also c'mon guys if you have such a visceral reaction to a character being portrayed as fat, or non-traditionally attractive, disabled, a POC or even just another type of ethnicity maybe you've got some biases to work out... these are made-up guys and it's okay to share.)

Otherwise you're just that bitch who kept stealing my Barbie when I was industriously scissoring her and Midge just to shove her under the one-armed Ken doll instead. Ken ain't the problem - you do you - but give me my gay ass Barbie back! She's busy!!

tumblr keeps putting posts on my dash about how it’s not “realistic” for Gideon to be fat/buff/fat+buff bc all the Ninth House eats is snow leeks and oatmeal

I’m so sorry, I can’t seem to hear you. I was too busy adding 20 pounds to her, as I do every time I hear this rancid opinion

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If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...

Start helping with citizen science projects

What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!

You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases

Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.

Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.

Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.

Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.

Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.

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I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.

Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help

Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.