flameraven

[flameraven]

Friends!

Are you feeling hopeless in the face of the oncoming MAGA-pocalypse? Want to do something fast, easy, and free that will make a difference?

If you're in Michigan, keep reading! If you're not, signal boost this to your Mitten State Mutuals!

Michiganders, it's time to contact your state reps and tell them to vote YES on HB 6034 and HB 6035. Together, these two bills comprise the Freedom to Read Act and they severely limit the ability of assholes to ban books in the state of Michigan.

Want to read the bills for yourself? Click here:

https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Search/ExecuteSearch?sessions=2023-2024&docTypes=House%20Bill,Senate%20Bill&contentFullText=%22freedom%20to%20read%22

Tl;dr? Here's an article and video summarizing the Act from CBS News:

Not sure how to contact your Michigan state representatives? Text RESIST to 50409 and Resistbot will walk you through it.

It's easy, it takes about 5 minutes, and you can do it from your couch/bed/puddle of despair.

Tips for contacting elected officials:

1) If you're asking them to vote YES or NO on something, say that in the first line. Bonus points if you can tag the actual bill (HB/House Bill) number.

2) Only include ONE issue per communication.

3) 1&2 are because these are being skimmed by interns who keep a running tally of what each communication is about. One communication = one point.

3a) Don't be a dick to the interns. Their lives are hard enough.

4) Keep it short. One sentence very clearly stating what you want. One or two sentences about why they should care about what you want ("As a resident of your district, I know you agree that SOMETHING SOMETHING FREEDOM, SOMETHING SOMETHING LIBERTY, SOMETHING SOMETHING THINK OF THE CHILDREN.") Appeal to the person they claim to be in their campaign ads. Get it, give them clear instructions, get out.

5) No profanity.

6) No threats.

7) No memes/ slang/ sarcasm/ lols. You are cosplaying as someone who thinks salt is too spicy and whose greatest joy in life is sorting their collection of plain white socks.

8) 5, 6, & 7 are because anything you communicate to an elected official will become a matter of public record. It goes into a file. And if anyone ever pulls that file, you want to be on record as the most boring, conscientious, polite, non-threatening motherfucker who ever lived.

Now go forth and make your voice heard!

(Hey @unpretty and @official-michigan-posts, can you help get the word out?)

[flameraven]

[flameraven]

Ehhhh, disagree. Something like pregnancy can absolutely be body horror, and that is a totally normal thing a body can do.

We absolutely should be more sensitive with horror and how disability and mental illness are portrayed. But horror is about the things people are scared of, and disease, disability, and losing control of your body and/or mind are absolutely a human fear worth exploring in fiction. Sometimes that's going to be in more metaphorical ways like werewolves, sometimes more realistic ways similar to actual conditions.

Scars? Not body horror. Limb differences? Not body horror. Facial differences? Not body horror. Feeding tubes, colostomy bags, etc? Not body horror. Movement disorders? Not body horror. Visibly disabled people just existing is not horror.

[flameraven]

Everytime this post comes around, I am obliged to point out: the word zine comes from magazine. Which are indeed full color, glossy, extensively illustrated and professionally printed little books.

The homemade zine is its own unique thing and is very cool! I fully support encouraging to make more zines. They are a great form of art.

But fandom zines are not betraying the idea of a zine by being more like a magazine. They're just a different form of art with the same root word. It's fine. Both can exist. Both are valid uses of the word. Stop complaining that fandom zines should change their term because you don't think they're punk rock enough.

the whole point of a zine is that it's cheap to produce, amateur and homemade. if you're being asked to apply to participate in a print project, it is not a zine. if the final product is being printed and bound professionally, it is not a zine. if you are being asked to enter into any kind of licensing agreement more complex than "my work can be reproduced as part of this publication" it is not a zine. nine times put of ten if the final product costs more than $5 you have left zine country. im so serious about this.

[flameraven]

Why does Hiccup look like he's wearing an Abercrombie & Fitch jacket from the early 2000s.

finally how to train your dragon can shed its childish character design and lighting and evolve to instead have the bold and engaging art direction of a car insurance ad

[flameraven]

Shoutout to the two coworkers today who casually announced that they were voting for Trump, then asked me who I was voting for. I told them "I did early voting, and I voted for the candidate who isn't going to make it harder for me to exist as a trans person" and both of these women had to awkwardly try and assure me that it wasn't personal, and it's not like they hated Harris or anything, they actually do like some things about her, and they definitely don't hate me, of course not, it's just that, you know, well, it's like, well, you know, it's just, like, and no matter how many times they tried to pass the shovel off to me, I just let them hold onto it

[flameraven]

If your democrat friends start muttering about stolen election conspiracy theories, the time to have a sit down with them and express your concerns is NOW, while you still have a chance to reach them, not 6 months from now when they're fully conspiracy-pilled.

Here's some of the talking points and why they're bullshit:

'10 million votes don't just disappear!' -> Joe Biden's 81 million votes were a statistical outlier, sparked by the recent experience of the Trump presidency. The democrats failed to maintain that sense of urgency, but Harris still got more votes than Hillary Clinton, more than Obama and more than any previous democratic candidate. These numbers are not weird at all.

'The Republicans tried to infiltrate election- and vote counting organizations!' -> yeah, they did, and yet hundreds of independent legal observers didn't see anything go wrong enough to raise any alarms. Independent exit polls are also very consistently similar to the counted votes. Tons of international organizations specialized in this stuff observed the election and didn't see a reason to raise the alarm.

'But I know a dozen democrats whose mail-in votes were not counted!' -> In any election a certain number of votes are registered as invalid because something was wrong with the ballot. In a country the size of the US, that translates to many thousands of votes. The internet allows these people to find each other, creating the false impression that a suspiciously large group of voted was not valid.

'Musk used Star Link to mess with electronic voting!' -> Electronic voting machines are not connected to the internet and dozens of independent media have already debunked this myth. It is absolutely impossible to use Star Link to fake election results.

'There is voter disenfranchisement!' -> This is true. This has always been true, for every election. It's an issue worth talking about but it's not a special secret conspiracy that's unique to this election.

But just as importantly as the facts: sit down with your friend and talk about the anxiety that's behind their conspiracy leanings. Acknowledge their pain and fear. Help them find ways to feel less powerless and regain their sense of agency. Take them to a mutual aid event, involve them in a fundraising event for a marginalized group, invite them to a local community effort. If they spend more time feeling connection and empowerment and less time doom scrolling online, they're far more likely to stay in reality.

[flameraven]

Dinovember day 20:

Yi Qi

Inspired by Chinese blue pottery

@1dinodaily

[flameraven]

Because Musk thinks safety regulations (and basic common sense design standards) are for suckers. He's INNOVATING and BREAKING THE MOLD 🙄

If you're having a bad day, just remember that it's going to be winter soon and imagine what will happen to all the Cybertrucks ❤️

[flameraven]

I love my people and it's amazing to see so many of us turn up today, but it's like herding very friendly cats 😂

[flameraven]

Also addendum to the tags above -- as far as I know the cool AI that detects cancer cells and other actually useful applications does NOT have these same huge energy requirements, it is specifically ChatGPT, Midjourney etc that generate text/images, because of the way they generate those images. (Folks who know more of the tech side please correct me if I'm wrong.)

“google is free” actually now that you can’t turn off ai answers google is 5.6 billion gallons of water.

[flameraven]

Additionally AI is driving such an increase in power demand that it is pushing governments to keep fossil fuel-based power plants open longer than planned as well as driving tech companies to consider building nuclear power reactors to meet AI energy demands.

“google is free” actually now that you can’t turn off ai answers google is 5.6 billion gallons of water.

[flameraven]

My piece for @aceomenszine Vol 2! This was initially a pitch for the cover design, so I patterned it off of @lonicera-caprifolium's lovely Vol 1 Cover, where the Ineffables aren't seen but represented by matching mugs. This didn't end up being the cover, but I still like the concept. :3

[flameraven]

@markscherz

I just loaded these little trinket plates (& a bunch of other things) into the kiln for their glaze firing and I am SO curious to see what happens with all the glaze combos I've done on them (both on the plates & the toads).

It'll be especially interesting to see the final toad colours - how much will the dots of different glazes atop the main body glaze spread? Will some get subsumed into the body glaze, or will all of them be visible & create a cool effect? Time (in a hot alchemy box) will tell!

[flameraven]

Early morning take-off

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Discord | Patreon

[flameraven]