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I am, like, a long running proponent of the "eat something and you'll feel better" crowd and am often one of the first people to suggest "maybe it's time for a snack before I get whipped into a frenzy" but I really do resent how instantaneous it is. like it'll feel like I'm having my worst day in months and then I'll start eating and literally before I even finish I'm like oh yeah the world is beautiful

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Eurasian Red Squirrel/ekorre. Värmland, Sweden (November 24, 2018).

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Do you know where Finland is without checking?

Yes

No

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Star Trek: Discovery 2x2 - New Eden

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when she says she doesn’t send nudes

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Better to admit you walked through the wrong door than spend your life in the wrong room.

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ao3 is so funny cause why am i reading smut in an airport restaurant at 10am

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reblog to thank ur mutuals for providing enrichment to ur enclosure

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A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

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Link to original tweet

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Add/Remove Programs lets you uninstall Windows 95 as if it were a program. So that's fun.

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After careful consideration and going over multiple options I think the best choice is stay warm and cozy in bed forever.

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Hana-Rawhiti's Haka was entirely appropriate, not only given the situation, but in keeping with the way Māori do things.

In formal situations, such as a pōwhiri (English might be something like a welcoming ceremony?), speakers always end with a haka or a waiata (song). This is exactly what she did. She spoke when it was her turn to speak, then started the Haka. It is also keeping with tradition that others joined in, including those in the public gallery. While it's the speaker's duty to lead the haka, or nominate someone to do it for them, it is then open for anyone else to join in and support it. The haka and the speech are attached, so supporting the haka is also supporting the speech.

Approaching Seymour is a little more unusual, but that's only because most formal situations like this are between peaceful groups. However, it also makes an important point. The speech and haka were not against the space, not against the mana of parliament. It was against Seymour and his supporters. So approaching him makes that clear where it's directed.

Given this, the speaker's response show utter ignorance and contempt for Maori ways. If he had any understanding of how any of this works, he could've simply waited for the Haka to conclude, then called on the next speaker. As the Māori Party were keeping with tradition, they would've had to respect that, and sit. Instead, he closed down parliament and cleared the public out. He made this contentious, and took what is traditional as in insult.

Seymour's response is no better, complaining about wanting a "reasonable debate" instead of a "dance", ignoring that the Māori party has been debating this, along with almost every other institution in the country, since the draft was released. This was the party's final word, their final push back against his racist bill.

This, in a nutshell, is what the government thinks of Māori. Ignorance and contempt. No attempt to blend traditions, or even basic understanding. Just constant demands to conform. It's hidden behind manners, but it's the same civilised vs savages racism that's justified colonialism for centuries.

Hana-Rawhiti acted with amazing poise and mana. Toitū te Tiriti!

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New Zealand MPs disrupt parliament with haka to disrupt a vote on the controversial bill that would change the way in which the Treaty of Waitangi -- a 184-year-old treaty between the British Crown and Māori people -- is interpreted.

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