haveievermentioned

[haveievermentioned]

If you’re having writers block…READ!!!! CONSUME MEDIA

I feel like I don’t hear that given enough as advice for writers block..just read? Watch tv? Movies? Find inspiration in media.

Writers block is a lack of inspiration, so go collect more.

[haveievermentioned]

I’m seeing a bunch of posts that make me think most USAmericans don’t know about The No Surprises Act.

It was passed in 2021 (thank you Biden) and essentially states that if you don’t have insurance or your insurance doesn’t cover a service you need (or want) you are entitled to a Good Faith Estimate of the cost of care. (If your insurance does cover the service, you should be able to estimate the cost of care based on your deductible and co-pay.)

As a healthcare provider who does not accept any insurance, I am very careful to not violate The No Surprises Act. Why? Because for every penny more than $400 that the Good Faith Estimate was “off” (or if it wasn’t provided), you are entitled to a refund for that amount.

Y’all. Ask for a Good Faith Estimate. Get it in writing. Compare it to what you are paying. If you are not provided an estimate or if it’s wrong by more than $400, demand a refund.

[haveievermentioned]

Since we're getting into "did you know that Santa's eight tiny reindeer are a reference to the eight legs of Odin's steed?" season once again, remember: while there are some elements of Christmas (or Hallowe'en, or Easter, or...) observations that are probably pre-Christian in origin, before one believes any of that this-is-really-100%-just-a-Pagan-holiday-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off stuff, one must consider all of the following possibilities:

Our earliest known records of the cited pre-Christian practices were written down by some random Christian monk centuries after the fact, and we genuinely have no idea how accurate this account is, to what extent the apparent similarities with Christian practice are due to the author deliberately or unwittingly putting a Christian spin on it, or indeed, whether they were just making shit up.

The similarities between the two sets of practices have been exaggerated or misrepresented by Christian writers who were bent for prefiguration theology (i.e., the idea that the Bible echoes backwards in time and pre-Christian religious practices were unwittingly imitating future Christian practices).

The similarities between the two sets of practices have been exaggerated or misrepresented by Protestant writers who believe that all Pagan deities are Satan in disguise, so they think that if they can prove that Catholic practices are secretly Pagan in origin, that proves that Catholics are secretly Satanists.

The similarities between the two sets of practices have been exaggerated or misrepresented by overzealous mythographers trying to prove that all mythology and religion throughout all of human history is secretly a single unified monomyth; if it's pre-Victorian, expect shades of prefiguration theology, while if it's post-Victorian, expect a lot of stuff about the Collective Unconscious.

A bunch of 19th Century proto-Fascists were trying to construct a pre-Jewish cultural identity (and considered Christianity to be tainted by association), but didn't want to give up any of the fun rituals, so they made some shit up about how it was still okay to do Christmas because something something Odin, or whatever.

A bunch of early 20th Century Pagan reconstructionists filled in the gaps in their understanding of pre-Christian ritual with culturally Christian assumptions, then turned around and pointed at their own accidentally Christianised reconstructions as evidence that Christian practices are derived from them.

A bunch of late 20th Century self-help manual authors tried to break into the occult bookstore market by uncritically repeating any or all of the above.

Someone on the Internet just made it up.

[haveievermentioned]

"AITA for seeking revenge" was 8 days ago, violated the spoilers rule

Thanks for letting us know, Anon! It's been deleted and re-scheduled for 14 January.

This should serve as a periodic reminder that we have a strict spoiler policy of one month, and we ask that you please not send in submissions for media that hasn't been out for that long.

[haveievermentioned]

So tumblr keeps on shadowbanning Siraj's accounts and he tries to remake of course, but right now, he is exhausted with  how targeted these bans have started to feel.  To be honest, Siraj is tired of a lot of things: the never ending atrocity, the hunger, the cold, and of course, he is tired of barely making any progress in the  campaign at all. He wanted to make a post today but since he doesn’t have the energy to travel all the way to Deir-al Balah for an Internet connection, I am writing this on behalf of him. Please read through this if possible; these are Siraj Abudayeh's own words:

A perception gained through hearing is merely a poor reflection of the actual, be it about events concerning Gaza, Ramallah, Paris or USA.

It can't ever be enough even if you diligently follow the news. Or if you read every single article or watch every video that maybe available online. For there are things present in the air of Gaza- rotten and burnt smell, metallic smoke that sticks to the mouth and coats the nostrils, poison that is inhaled with every breathe and chemicals taken into the lungs- that no video can capture.

So of course there is a difference! It is a difference between reading the phrase, “I waited seven hours for a bottle of water,” and actually being parched and having to wait hours for some semi-polluted water. There is a difference between reading about Gazan children losing their childhoods, and actually having to see your son despairingly cry out “BREAD!” There is a difference between hearing about a torn tent, and actually having to live in it, that too if you were lucky to afford one.

There is always a difference between reading/hearing it and LIVING it. For all this, I want to say that the one who is only hearing about it does not have the right to draw up conclusions about the needs of the person living the nightmare. They have no right to either question his relentless pursuit for his cause, nor expect that he can be steadfast and not feel exhaustion. There is a difference between what we know and what others have the privilege of not knowing: there is a difference, there is a DIFFERENCE. The meaning is simple, there is always a difference.

In the last 2 days, we have seen some disturbing comments being made about the genocide going on in Gaza. I don't actually have anything to say regarding such banal behavior but I do request you to read what Gazans have to say. Ultimately Palestine will be free, with or without us, but I hope that when we chanted "Free Palestine", there was some truth to it.

( $10 CAD= $7.19 USD)

Vetting #219

[haveievermentioned]

YouTube is fucking recommending video ideas to me with AI-generated titles and thumbnails as "inspiration"

Why would I work for months to create something unique that no other channel can do when I can let AI generate this bullshit? /s Seriously this is disgusting, I hate it here.

I don't need AI-generated ideas and thumbnails. I don't need algorithm slop. On my channel, I'm reviewing tumblr sexyman fan art in drag. On my channel, I'm sculpting wings out of wax. On my channel, I'm spending weeks making stained glass and canvas paintings for sets. It's rewarding. It's fun. I'm in the middle of crafting my most ambitious storytelling video yet. But YouTube thinks this AI shit is the shit I should make?

ALSO, whose art is YouTube using to generate these thumbnails? Is it OTHER peoples' thumbnails? Is it fan art? Is it frames from the show?

I'm not just annoyed, I'm insulted.

[haveievermentioned]

Vetted Palestinian Fundraisers list. December 2024 January 2025 Edition

Note: Check their blogs for vetted proof (all have been vetted by either nabulsi, el-shab-hussein, gaza-evacuation-funds, 90-ghost, gazavetters, The Butterfly Project, paliliberation, or multiple strong evidenced associations).

You can: give a bit to each one, or sponsor a specific family, or if can't decide which to donate to then 🎲 click our randomizer that will redirect you to a random fundraiser on this list. (the randomizer will "save" the fundraiser you got for 15 minutes, unless you clear cookies)

(Amount Progress listed as of December 14 and 15, 2024)

Shehab family Fundraiser: $4,127 CAD raised of $50K goal @reem-reem-0

Dr. Farhat's Family Fundraiser: $13,034 USD raised of $29.5K goal @husamfarht

Farah family Fundraiser: £8,163 raised of £10K goal @elegantkidpuppy

Rami Al-Ajrami & Lubna Alajrami Fundraiser for Nasser: £4,413 raised of £16K goal @rami-ajr91

Mahmoud Khalaf's family Fundraiser: €34,892 raised of €55K goal @supportgaza

Muhammad Al-Mashal Fundraiser: €50 raised of €20K goal @pleasantsublimeobservation

Ghazi Al Amoudi Fundraiser: €3,591 raised of €70K goal @ghazialamoudi

Huda Fundraiser: €3,340 raised of €5K goal @huda-gaza1

Hani Al-Sharif Family Fundraiser: $5,105 USD raised of $50K goal @haniibrahem

Ahmed Family Fundraiser: $4,391 USD raised of $75K goal @ahmad-gaza012

Imtithal Family Fundraiser: €7,897 raised of €50K goal @imtithalcrusadecreator

Ahmed Al-Habil family Fundraiser: €17,410 raised of €50K goal @ahmedomer9

Mohammed Ayyad Fundraiser: €7,699 raised of €35K goal @mohammedayyads-blog

Sami Fundraiser: €2,806 raised of €30K goal @sami999

Waleed family Fundraiser: €3,010 raised of €20K goal @waleed-ayman

Fatima Family Fundraiser: €4,172 raised of€75.4K goal @fatima2024-f

Sahar, Mohammed and Faisal's food and clean water in Central Gaza Project Fundraiser - NonProfit : $120 Raised of $200,000 (of Walaa's family) @babygentlemenmusic

Ahmad Fundraiser: $1,287 USD raised $30K goal @ahmad-gaza

Mohammad and Walaa Family Fundraiser: €2,110 raised of €30K goal @walaafamily31

Hussam Al-Qazzaz Family Fundraiser: €1,103 raised of €55K goal @hossamqazaz12

Mohamed Al-Khaldi and Wife Fundraiser: €4,661 raised of €20K goal

Ahmed Mohammed Al-anqar family Fundraiser: €6,596 raised of €30K goal @ahmedalanqer

Abdullah Mosbeh and Aya Family Fundraiser: €1,060 raised of €50K goal @ayah-yazan

Balousha Family Fundraiser: $69,283 USD raised of $90K goal @freepaleatine95

Ahmad Waleed's family and community of Khan Younis Fundraiser : $2,664 USD raised of $20K goal @ahmadwaleed5

Dia and Asma Family and little Amal Fundraiser: $9,525 USD raised of $30K goal @familygazaamal

Masa Halas Fundraiser: €878 raised of €45K goal @massagaza

Teenage Ibrahim Fundraiser: €30,704 raised of €50K goal @wolf-aid

Muhammad Al-Mashal Fundraiser: €50 raised of €20K goal @pleasantsublimeobservation

Ahmed Hammad Family Fundraiser: $8,748 USD raised of $20K goal @ahmadhammad1998

Hazem and pregnant wife Fundraiser: €415 raised of €30K goal @nadera00

Toddler Yousseff Al-Habeel Fundraiser: €38,527 raised of €50K goal @saveyousseffamily

Ghazi Alamoudi Fundraiser: €3,596 raised of €70K goal @alamoudi-ghazi

Mohammed and Ahmed Khalil Fundraiser: €17,711 raised of €50K target @ahmed0khalil

Ahmed Mohammed Salah Fundraiser: €115 raised of €22K target @ahmedsal-1qa

Ibtisam Al-Habil Fundraiser: $44,625 CAD raised of $70K target (post)

Rahaf Al-Ghandour and Mahmoud family Fundraiser: £350 raised of £100K target @kisirahaf @rahafmah

Mahmoud Ayyad and family Fundraiser: €10,072 raised of €55K target @mahmoudayyads

Ahmed Saed, Omar Saad, Samar Saed Fundraiser : 1% of $50k on ko-Fi @90-ghost

Belal family Fundraiser: $7,583 USD raised of $20K target @save-belal-family @belal-gaza

Hilda and Mohamed Ayad Fundraiser €6,422 raised of €50K target @hildanasr1

Nisreen Al Sirsik and family Fundraiser €210 raised of €25K goal @lovelycooltaco

Wasim's family fundraiser $3,300 USD raised of $20K goal @wasimhourani1

North and Central Gaza: Food, Water, Diapers + Milk, Medical Aid Non-profit £262,114 Raised of £500,000

Khawla's Family Fundraiser $46,395 USD raised of $80K goal @kawlafamily7

Abd AL Salam's Family Fundraiser: €60,167 raised of €100K goal (post)

[haveievermentioned]

[haveievermentioned]

They are now calling for a boycott of all Starbucks stores for December 20th to December 24th.

[haveievermentioned]

Idea: we somehow train the jackdaws from last year to retrieve the straw from the goat, piece by piece, and then bring it to an undisclosed location. As we gather the straw, we use it to construct our OWN Gävlebocken, which also THE Gävlebocken. Once construction is almost complete, we begin a competing livestream. We nominate a spokesperson to go on the livestream and deliver a villain-style monologue about how the goat must burn. As they begin their speech, you can see on the original live as a jackdaw steals the last bit of straw and flies away, and it ends with the same jackdaw flying onto OUR livestream, dropping the straw into the hand of the monologuer, who then ceremoniously tucks it into the goat. They then walk towards the camera and raise their arms, and as they do, a jackdaw drops a lit match into the straw, and the goat goes up in flames. Exactly two people will watch our livestream, neither of which speak any Swedish or are familiar with the goat, but it will be discovered when the YouTube algorithm picks it up in two years and shows it to everyone. Controversy erupts around the authenticity of the livestream. Video essays and deep dives and icebergs are made. Investigative journalists struggle to find the true story behind all the internet lore that has now been built. The internal editor drama on Wikipedia has never been more intense. Though all of this, we wait. We bide our time. Then, just as people begin to lose interest, we use the channel to post a single video. All it is is ten seconds of a black screen with coordinates on it. People scramble to be the first to get there, and when someone finally does, they find nothing but an empty, snowy clearing. Disappointed, they kick at the snow, and their toe hits something hard. They bend down and unbury it, slowly unearthing what forensics will soon confirm is one of the two-by-fours that had been stolen by a flock of very buff, very well trained jackdaws.

.

[haveievermentioned]

ever think about john boyega, daisy ridley, and oscar isaac’s collective enthusiasm during the force awakens era and then by rise of skywalker they were dead inside and never want to look at star wars again. makes me want to commit a violence.

[haveievermentioned]

“Why are you so upset about adult content bans? You don’t even post that stuff. can’t you just look at porn somewhere else?”

Well, you see, I have this small problem where my very existence is considered adult content by a small but very powerful group of people and I actually rather enjoy being able to exist in public without restriction so uhhhh put that in your bong and smoke it kiddo.

[haveievermentioned]

Standing in a checkout line, when an older man asks me about my Goncharov t-shirt. I say "It's a movie, " when the person behind me chimes in, "Oh, yes, Scorsese."

The original gentleman goes on to tell me about the author Goncharov, his favorite of his novels, and a famous character from one of the novels. The three of us discuss whether the main character in the movie is intentionally named after the author, referencing that character, or whether it just sounded good to the film maker. We discuss how steeped the movie is in symbology.

Two of us are having a very different conversation than the third.

[haveievermentioned]

[haveievermentioned]

seeing a lot of "almost christmas means it wasn't christmas" memes already and it's not even christmas eve, so remember:

[haveievermentioned]

History wants so badly for Cleopatra to be beautiful. Like they can’t conceive of Rome being intimidated by anything less

[haveievermentioned]

Along with the "how do we stop young men turning into angry radical right-wing types" discourse there's been a lot of discourse about the need for cishet male allies of the cause to stand up to their racist, sexist, homophobic etc. male friends and tell them to stop being those things, and other people saying "I've tried that and it doesn't really work, they just call me a fag and then stop hanging out with me."

And yeah, given that the left and right are more divided than ever it is kind of strange to assume that a male feminist is going to be hanging out with a bunch of sexist dudebros who will take it to heart when they make a rape joke and he says, "dudes...that was fucked up." That's not how it works.

(Also, yes, I realize that "the right" and "sexist dudebros" are not really the same thing but there's an area of overlap that is specifically being focused on in a lot of this discourse.)

I've been in sort of the Mirror World version of that scenario: being in heavily left-wing spaces, hearing people say fucked up shit about men and being the one who says, "uh that's kinda fucked up why would you say something like that?" and can confirm, yes, this kind of pushback does not work in that context. They just ridicule you and double down on whatever they were saying. Pushing out dissenting voices is a time-honored bonding ritual for these types of groups.

On the other hand, when I am alone with an actual friend, someone I care about who also cares about me, and they say something fucked up and I respond with shocked silence or a quiet "hey now," they usually backpedal pretty quickly.

So I guess if you're trying to stop someone from going down a rabbit hole my advice is not to confront them in a group setting or online where other people can witness the confrontation, especially if you are in a setting where most onlookers are likely to side with them. Talking to them alone, and in a less confrontational way, is what actually gets results.