jazzybot4

[jazzybot4]

We joke and all but some of you really forget that people hate women.

[jazzybot4]

This is making the rounds on BlueSky, but I haven't seen it here yet.

Twitter is rolling out a "Recreate this with Grok" button directly on images now when you open them. Also, some people have experienced their artwork getting labeled as 'made with Grok'

I understand why some people have tried to stay but, please at the very least start transitioning your work to other places so at the very least you have a exit without hurting your finances too much.

Twitter is only going to become more hostile towards artists. It's full of poison and it's only a matter of time before it fully erodes.

[jazzybot4]

Apologies if this is a dumb question, but re: scented things causing reactions, is it only fragranced things? Or can the smell of cooking food cause a reaction? I'm wondering if there are safer alternatives for people who want their home to smell nice (as opposed to just being clean) but without using fragranced things like candles or diffusers

Thank you for asking. And it depends on the person.

I have a condition called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) which makes my body perceive harmless things as a threat.

Red meat is one of my worst allergies, and while the smell of it cooking won’t make me as lethally ill as eating it, the smell can make me feel not good because the mast cell receptors in my nasal passage pick up on it and start sending “we’ve been exposed to our allergen” signals and because my immune systems is broken, it can sometimes perceive that as a threat and I get ill.

It’s not as common as eating the allergen, but it can happen.

For people with “normal” fragrance sensitivity, using things like coffee beans or baking cookies is a lot nicer way of scenting your home without risking harm to others who are adversely affected by strong fragrances.

Best thing to do is ask people. It might seem weird at first but I promise you, asking your friend with say, migraines, if there’s any scents that bother them and making sure they’re not exposed to them in your house is a good way to show you’re willing to be a safe space for them. They’ve likely never even had people ask. People just expose us to our triggers all the time and don’t care.

[jazzybot4]

Hey y'all. Here's something for you.

[jazzybot4]

[takes a long drink from my Arizona iced tea] so like one of the central themes for FFXV is like, growing up, sure. You know that, I know that, whatever. Coming of age, coming into your own, taking the mantle of king, whatever you wanna call it. Cool, awesome, we love a good coming of age story!

But I find the sub theme of that one to be probably the most fascinating? By and large, all the chocobros have to deal with the fallout of being lied to by the adult figures in their lives, and it's the most prevalent with Noctis and Gladio. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of it in Ignis and Prompto too, but the particularly insidious way that Noctis and especially Gladio were lied to sometimes gets me.

See I don't even really think it was actually all that intentional. Not really a conscious act by Regis and Clarus, or the society around them? More like... I dunno, the lies that you get told by your parents as a little kid and you grow up to realize that the world is a lot different than you thought.

That being said, Noctis was absolutely lied to by his father; both about the nature of the King of Light and the idea that he'd succeed Regis as reigning monarch. Regis did it out of love, knowing that Noctis would die young, and reasoned that Noctis should get to have a relatively normal life, but it was still a lie. Gladio, likewise, was lied to by his father and Regis, told that he would be the next monarch's Shield, that he would fulfill a role that's got a pretty set expectation in their society.

See, Gladio expects Noctis to act a certain way, to act as King, and he gets increasingly frustrated when Noctis doesn't, or can't live up to that. He's not precisely wrong to expect it either, given their roles and their statues, and knowing that they're taking the throne during a full blown war. The problem is that Noctis was never taught how to be the thing that Gladio was told Noctis was going to be? And that's what causes friction with them all the time. It's fascinating, watching it play out and realizing the underlying issues with their relationships actually have very little to do with them as people and instead because of what they were told to expect from each other.

Gladio is also his own kettle of fish that I don't think the narrative is quite self aware enough to articulate properly, or even get into. Gladio falls into the trap of toxic masculinity very often -- struggling to articulate his feelings, expressing most of his feelings as anger, picking fights rather than talking about what's going on, using his strength as both a character aspect and bonus, etc. The list goes on. There's also the fact that he's sort of portrayed as a bit of a womanizer and the masculine ideal; tall, rugged, strong, etc which plays into all of that. XV plays him very straight (and straight) with these concepts, and just sort of ... expects it to be fine? Which is at odds with how the other three bros interact and are more emotionally available towards each other, leaving Gladio as one of the weaker bros in canon.

It kind of sucks too, because like, there's so much to unpack with him? His DLC is about wanting to have the strength to protect Noctis on the surface, but really when you look at it... you could also argue that the DLC is about Gladio's fears that he'll end up as dead as his dad did (ha, try that for alliteration) and the crushing weight of failure. Gladio has every right to fear his mortality, fear the fact that he is, nominally, the first in line on the battlefield and the the last defense for Noctis. If Noctis is to die, they will go through him first, and that's! Scary! But the game doesn't really get into that, hardly at all, and it makes picking up the pieces for Gladio kind of frustrating. Out of all the bros, he's the one I have to dig the most to find any kind of depth despite being prime real estate for it.

Anyways Gladio and Noctis' dynamic is fascinating if you actually start to unpack it, especially because it's built on the lies that their fathers fed them as children (that they themselves also bought into). I'd go so far to argue that between the two pairs, Noct/Gladio is in much more of a dire need to sit down and actually hash out what they are to each other, outside of their king/shield dynamic. Noct/Iggy certainly has shades of that, but Ignis has decided that they are friends and that he will defy fate if he must, let the world burn if he must, to save Noct's life. That has some depth beyond king/retainer that they're presented as. Noct/Gladio are sort of just... falling into the king/shield dynamic because they're expected to, and it sort of hampers their relationship and their communication.

I'm gonna scramble them both like eggs, probably into an omelette. They make me Think you know

[jazzybot4]

i have understood so many things about online leftist culture by the fact that when i said "your local community has people you will morally and politically disagree with but you cannot lock them out of accessing any tangible service you’re organising" one of the tags responding said "this isn’t about proshippers in here you’re not welcome" like. folks. focus with me. some of us are homeless here.

[jazzybot4]

It can actually only be called "misleading" if it was the author's deliberate intention to mislead the audience. If the author had no intention to lead you to the wrong conclusion, and you simply arrived at one all by yourself, it's just sparkling Your Lack Of Reading Comprehension.

[jazzybot4]

he would be a battle mercy main i think

[jazzybot4]

Hey, so it turns out we’ve been living with two gas leaks in our house for an unknown amount of time and we need to replace our entire furnace unit. There are people coming on Thursday to do it.

We are taking out a line of credit to get it done because for our safety we have to, but the interest is significant.

I feel like I’m asking for a miracle, but if I can sell 2000 ebooks or 500 audiobooks of Hunger Pangs through my Payhip, that would cover it. You can also gift people copies through Payhip gifting system or by donating to the donate pile so I can run giveaways.

The water heater still needs replaced but that leak has been addressed safely and is no longer slowly killing us.

If you like what I do and want to support me in other ways I have a Patreon and a Ko-fi. (You can ignore the 18+ warning that comes up on my Patreon, they’ve had me wrongly flagged as an adult content creator for years.)

Please, I cannot stress this enough do not give money you don’t have. Even sharing this and telling people about my books is a wonderful help. I’m just trying to alleviate some of the financial strain from Mothman.

I’m going to have a lie down now in a well-ventilated space. Maybe have a soothing scream first.

[jazzybot4]

So I had a funny dream the other night.

It involved a very gay witch.

[jazzybot4]

seeing straight men be disgusted by booktok smut recommenders has actually radicalized me to the side of booktok smut recommenders. girls your taste may be atrocious but i will never disparage you for exposing mainstream discourse to the concept of soaking through your underwear. spent my whole life listening to men talk about penises it’s about time they get jumpscared by women talking about pussy in crude detail on social media. go forth and goon my warriors

[jazzybot4]

You can only reblog this today.

[jazzybot4]

The health insurance industry has a term for this sadistic practice. It's called "step therapy." If the choice is between a more expensive medication that works and a cheaper one that doesn't work as well and might have worse side effects, the insurance company requires that the cheaper drug be used first.

One benefit to the insurance company is that the patient on the cheaper drug might die before they get a chance to use the drug that works but is more expensive. That's money in the bank for the insurance company.

Or, the patient might be so worn down and harmed by the cheaper drug that they just give up the fight to get the drug that will help them. Again, that's bank for the insurance company.

[jazzybot4]

It's 2025 and the world is on fire. I am BEGGING you, if you find yourself agreeing with a fucking fascist, do not repost their fucking shit with a cutesy "stole this from a TERF teehee" caption.

Sit the fuck down and examine why the fuck you're sharing ideological ground with a fucking fascist.

Sure, "a broken clock is right twice a day" is a lot more comfy to assume, but the way you fuckers platform shit about degenerates and what about children makes me think the clock IS ticking and you're nodding along each and every one.

But when you get called out for the fucking genocide ideation, you insist your identity as a minority somehow protects you from it.

Because fascism is a genetic predisposition and of course you're of good stock, unlike those other people that--- oh dear, you seem to have reinvented fascism again! Who could have seen this coming?

[jazzybot4]

She / Him / They / Us - 32x44”work in progress for my June 7th solo show LOVERS + FIGHTERS opening at Thinkspace in LA.

[jazzybot4]

[jazzybot4]

Seen someone say “I can’t die, I got graves to dance on that hasn’t been dug yet.” And honestly, that goes hard. We need to keep that energy.