#But seriously I won't pay

[mx-paige]

People actually pay their debt? Couldn't be me.

"its so hard being a dan fan in this fandom😭" girl trying being a dan hater everyday you get hit with THIS

[lunar-wandering]

do y'all think Macaque is falling back into the role that Azure and the others put on him by remaining on the outskirts of the group because he thinks his input/presence is unwanted (and yeah his presence isn't really wanted by MK and the others BUT. something about the fact Macaque is placing himself at the edge of the group, the edge that Azure and the others pushed him to, doesn't really sit well)

[lordadmiralfarsight]

Boat touching : shipping edition

"Rule for thee, but not for me ! Grab ‘em by the boaty !" - Trump, apparently

As you may or may not have heard, President Trump, the world’s most economically illiterate dorito (no, he is not a tangerine, he is far too salty for that) has decided that China is being bad on the waters of the 7 seas too, and has decided that the perfect retaliation to such dishonor would be a tax on Chinese ships. Yes, yes, not products, ships. That come into US ports. With stuff on board. Those ships. One might expect a nation that so passionately tells the world ‘don’t touch our boats’ to understand that molesting other peoples’ fleet may not be conductive to a better situation, but alas, here we apparently are going. So, since this is a rather niche topic, but with wide reaching consequences, I have decided to continue in my glorious efforts to become the Economy Side of Tumblr (what has my life come to) and explain just how deeply and passionately boned we are if this goes from proposal to law.

The facts

First off, let us set this stage with the letter of the (proposed) law.

The text (called USTR) has 3 tax triggers :

- The ship is operated by a Chinese company, 500K to 1 million dollars of entry fee

- The ship is chinese-made or its owner company has chinese-made ships, 500K to 1,5 million dollars of entry fee

- The company ordered a ship in China, 500K to 1 million dollars of entry fee

It is currently unclear to me if those fees are cumulative, despite looking it up, I could not find an answer at this time, the only thing clear is that the fee, whatever it ends up being, will be paid at each entry into a US port. I suspect the cumulativity of the fees will be left to interpretation and later deliberation, which creates deep economic uncertainty, easily one of the most hateful kinds of uncertainty.

I mean, not knowing if you’re ordering oatmeal or chocolate cookies is already bad enough, but not knowing if the ship carrying them to your shores is going to pay 500k to 1,5 million dollars or 500K to 3,5 million dollars PER STOP is just … that ruins the cookies regardless of what you get. No amount of milk can salvage that. In large parts because, at this point, each cookie may end up costing as much as the entire bottle of milk.

“Oh hoho, oh Admiral, you jokester, you jester, you funny person you”, you say desperately hoping that I am joking. But you are desperate for a reason. There is no humor here, there is no mirth or hope or joy, only suffering and taxes. And barnacles. Those get everywhere on topics related to the sea. But mostly taxes.

Second, container ships tend to make 3 to 4 stops in US ports for a single trip (as explained in this lovely article from the Cato Institute), which results in a total potential sum of 1,5 to 14 million dollars. Per ship. For a single trip. You can scream now.

Third, how many companies could be affected by this issue ? I do not have a precise number, in large parts because “who has Chinese ships” wasn’t exactly a metric that got tracked before, but the answer to that question is in an order of magnitude scientifically called “a metric fuckton”. You see, the chinese fleet of cargo ships represents 19% of the global total of cargo ships. And I mean ocean-going cargo ships. So that’s a good 5th of worldwide maritime trade having to scrape off even their barnacles to try and make payments. But that’s just Chinese companies. You also have to take into account that China has 50% of all shipbuilding market shares, meaning it builds half the commercial ships in the world. Among which are 95% of container ships. The big chunky bois, those that can get to lengths greater than the Nimitz class super-carriers operated by the US Navy and do a respectable 2/3rd of their width. Oh, and China also does 86% of intermediate sized cargo ships.

Fourth, fun fact : big container ship dockyards stopped operating in the US in 1980. You know, just in case you thought you could revive that industry quickly, or on the cheap, or on the costly. Or at all, really. Building those big ships is VERY costly, and takes very long, and also there’s no adapted infrastructure in the US for ships of that size outside of military dockyards (which are already being used, thank you). So between the cost to build the new dockyards, train employees, build the ship itself and recruit and train a crew … Oh, and the end result would likely not even be competitive price-wise. You know, just in case you had any hope left for that.

Five, SALVATION ! One can have their entry fees waved, if only they have a USA made ship enter into a US port with stuff on board, huzzah, Trump 5D chess confirmed !!!! All you have to do is have a US-made ship enter a US port for each Chinese-made ship that does the same ! Surely, the overbooked, chronically late, undersized ship-building industry of the US will be up to the challenge !!!! Yeah, no, I can’t keep this up any longer. That’s not going to work. It’s not even being spoken about in most of the articles I’ve seen, that’s how insignificant in reality that measure is.

Boat touching, and why it is a bad idea

Now, let’s talk about the funny part : the consequences ! Aaaah, FO, what a wonderful acronym. Am I telling people to fuck off or to find out ? What suspense !

First off, the obvious : if the fee is on entry into US ports, why not go elsewhere ? Good question ! And honestly, it’s likely that it will happen, to some degree. The obvious answer would be Mexico or Canada, but it’s unlikely they could absorb all that transit, which would results in slow-downs (and thus, lost money) in a lot of logistic chains. As you may have guessed, disrupted logistic chains aren’t exactly economically tasty.

Mexico in particular doesn’t have that many ports adapted to such large ships and large numbers of containers, meaning there’d be even more slow-downs. And then there’s the issue of getting the goods across the border, and Trump can definitely decide to slap on even more tariffs, he’s like that. So more slow-downs for even more costs ! Yay ! But meanwhile, US ports would still see lower numbers of ships coming through, meaning less activity and less cash-flow, meaning job losses.

Second, you have to consider the impact on US exports. Because you see, Chinese-made or owned ships don’t just come in, drop stuff off and disappear over the horizon with a vaguely oriental soundtrack, we’re in reality, with serious people, they drop containers off in 3 or 4 ports, all while picking up containers of US exports at each stop. So the fees to sail into port will be spread on both the foreign imports and on US exports. Meaning US exports will cost more, compounded by retaliatory tariffs. Meaning competitors will be cheaper, or even than US products will leave reasonable price ranges. Either way, loss of sales and income for US companies, and thus loss of jobs.

Third, this will increase prices inside the US, once again compounded by tariffs, but this time Trump’s tariffs. Either way, this will increase prices of products, likely pricing out entire communities, or making entire companies economically non-viable. As you guesses, that means job losses, but also loss of comfort.

Fourth, some degree of economic chaos as worldwide shipping reorganizes to face this new and unpleasant situation. And that will likely hit everyone to some degree, so expect some grudges to spawn from that, too.

In conclusion, while there is reasonable concern to be had about China’s dominance of shipbuilding, Trump’s measures will do a grand total of fuck all to solve that issue. All they will really do is make the situation worse and costlier for the US. The measure aims for an impossibility (speedy resurrection of a US shipbuilding sector for large scale cargo ships) without doing anything to support that or to make such an activity economically viable in the US. It is, in effect, an economic scarification ritual, based entirely on the idea that by hurting others and themselves and incantating enough, the US will be able to magic viable dockyards into existence and produce ships quickly.

I hope I don’t have to explain why that’s not realistic. And honestly, I am almost impressed, it’s incredible to come up with a policy that harms that many different economic agents in your own country. Honestly, at this point, I don’t know if Trump’s economic policies are dictated by The Most Incompetent failed student, or by a squad of drunk chimps going ham on a typewriter and somehow randoming their way into only the worst possible economic policies. If Trump suddenly subsidizes banana plantations, we’ll know, and likely be in better hands, even with how psychotic chimps are.

[wenellyb]

I'm very optimistic about Buck and Tommy getting back together but you should also know that I'm still waiting for Schmico to get back together 😂.

[khywren]

even astarion knows i'm doing too much at work lately 😂

[trans-yllz]

person supposed to be moving in this week has not signed the lease or told me when they plan to get here. old housemate keeps loudly moving stuff out at like 10pm on week nights. new housemate has various slightly inconsiderate habits that are kind of driving me insane. other housemate acts like he's the only person on earth who might have stuff going on while he continues to not pay rent. I'm going to light this house on fire

[spinnysocks]

might be a little quiet for a bit, i'm alright! but i need to work on improving my mental health in the long run so that's what i'm doing :]

[daincrediblegg]

my talents are wasted on being a student I should be doing video essays

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Why did my bra size go up again

[running-in-the-dark]

oh and, I'm pretty sure I either got scammed or DHL lost my package - it's just a Rainbow High doll, it wasn't very expensive or anything. but it's the one that first got me into these dolls and I had finally found it for a decent price. but it's been a month and it hasn't arrived yet. 🤷

[aberooski]

I honestly wish my birthday wasn't in 2 weeks. I always get really depressed around my birthday.

[kincoo]

A random rant on how unlucky I was when getting my Miles Kane album. I had ordered a bundle with the yellow vinyl, the 7 inch, the signed print and the CD.

So first, it took FOREVER to get to my country. Like literally, i received the message that it had gotten here almost 3 weeks after the release.

Then, i had to pay 16 extra euros in customs taxes, even after paying for shipping and taxes when i first bought it.

Then today it got here and guess what??? The CD and the signed print... were not here???

BUT WAIT it gets worse, because when i play the 7 inch, it stops near the end of See You On The Water, leaving me without the last 20 seconds or so...

I'm just... HOW AM I THIS UNLUCKY WTF???

[quilleth]

Ok, finally went through my pictures from box opening, and 1) damn the carrying cases Resinsoul sends are nice! 2) the body i ordered for Faolan is too dark T_T I knew this was a possibility, but it's still a bit of a bummer. It is really nicely sculpted though, and seems to stand pretty well out of the box with no adjustments to the stringing and no sueding, etc. 3) I will probably be restringing theses bodies anyway so that the knots are in the torso and not on the s hook because that sure makes the heads hard to put on! Also the s hooks for their hands wanted to bite me which is just rude, but I did manage to get them on myself without needing to ask for help, which is a win for me and my weak little bird wrists.

But like seriously look at these cases! I was a little worried the box was smaller than the ones I've gotten for other, single, doll orders but they're fine, and since they're packed in these cases with a squishy pillow and not a trillion layers of cut out foam, it makes sense the box was smaller

Peek of Vanora's with the heel feet and jointed hands. This blue is really pretty, and i think luckily, it's pretty close to the marker color i use when drawing her!

More picture spam under the cut for both brevity and doll nudity xD

Cackling because dang Vanora your tiddies xD (but also i was very much like oh no what do i do with those about all that extra elastic)

I took measurements yesterday so I can work on drafting patterns for her, and her bust is the same measurement as their 68 cm girl body! Which is actually right about the same as the Dream Valley body girl's measurements. Her shoulders and waist are a little wider, and her hips are narrower, but the neck and chest are about the same. I didn't make any requests regarding her bust size or anything other than for the neck t be about 8.6 (it's a little closer to 9 i think, but her head still fits ok), assuming that it's be about the same as their 1/3 girl body, but since the overall chest for that one is 22cm, and the waist is 15, I can see why they might have modified the slightly larger girl bust piece to work with the 1/3 boy torso. The abs are a little softer than on the 1/3 boy body, but i don't mind that and can emphasize them with some blushing.

In some angles her head looks a little small, but i think (hope) i can accommodate for that when I do her faceup. I'm sure someone could probably mod the head to have a less rounded jawline but after dolbei jun's ear mod fiasco, i don't think I want to try it!

And a couple with her wig, which I need to dye and see if i can figure out a way to style into a half up ponytail without showing all the weft lines. It's a little too long too, but i figure that's better than too short.

(Bonus very blurry emote stickers of Vanora and the party's sorcerer, Raven on my craft cart in the background xD)

And onto Faolan....*sigh* I knew it was a risk that the color would be off, but I was hoping it would be closer, ngl. This is on me, so I'm not upset with Resinsoul or anything, and it is a nice light tan. Just doesn't match. I was hesitant to send them a headcap, and didn't take as much time trying to find a paint swatch from the hardware store that matched the headcap to mail to them instead, so used a color picker and one of the swatches on Switch's website and a photo i took to get a pantone number. Don't do this if you want a closer match, folks! It does mean I need to decide what to do about it though, which is a little disheartening.

The head is a little big, which I knew would very likely be the case. No one gives head height in their measurements, just diameters, so I've been a little :/ about it since his head arrived, given the diameter is about the same as Vanora's, but his head is definitely larger.

Hybriding is hard, but I just do not like Switch's bodies, and it seems kind of impossible to find other slim boys. Resinsoul did say they could make the bigger boy body less muscular, but aren't able to change the height, so they suggested the Cen body instead. I think with some kips and a neck protector and a little bit of fudging the cut of his shirts to give the impression of wider shoulders, it will be fine. It seems more pronounced in photos than it does to me in person.

Of course, since the color is off, I need to figure that out first. I can always dye/ blush the head to match the body (the easiest, cheapest route), or I could order either a) a Cen head to match this color body (i almost just ordered a full Cen doll at the time, just in case, and am kind of kicking myself for not doing the smart thing and going for it), or b) a new body and send them a physical swatch that matches his current head in the mail to match from that--the choice here would be order another Cen and try to sell this body, knowing it's probably not an exact match of their default light tan, or order the bigger boy body, knowing the dimensions are probably a better fit out of the box and try to do some mods myself to make him shorter (scary! saws are involved! also i'm not sure how much i can take off and from where before the proportions get all out of wack! it's i think a 70cm body, and the max height he should be is 65. That's a lot to take off!)

I took a couple of pictures with his wig too, and I almost think matching the head to the body might work better. I almost think the wig color makes the head look too pale, but I also know that things naturally end up a little darker during the faceup anyway. Also, even though it's a pain in the butt to match, milktea rose IS a pretty color and I paid extra for it :/ It's an odd shade because it's almost more like a "normal" color, until I put it next to one of my normal colored dolls where it is definitely darker.

bonus puppy inspector!

And the two of them together

[infamousbrad]

I warned you.

About 15 years ago, I had a minor moment of Internet fame when I wrote a lengthy essay series on LiveJournal called "Christians in the Hand of an Angry God." In it, I argued that right-wing evangelical "Christianity" was literally Satanic by scriptural standards, was literally the cult of anti-Christ that Jesus prophesied in Matthew 25:31-46, that they were literally worshiping a made-up guy with the same name to justify cruelty, just like Jesus predicted they would the week before the crucifixion.

And at least half of the people who read it and praised it called it excellent satire. They saw my point, thought I was onto something, but couldn't take seriously that I literally meant what I literally said.

"Do not commit the sin of empathy."

Jesus' prophesy that these people were coming was not especially miraculous, in hindsight. No philosophy or theological movement becomes a large organized church, let alone a majority faith of a nation, without needing rich people's money, and/or government funding, to pay for it all.

And rich people in general, and right-wing governments in general, get to be the way they are by believing that the poor and the down-trodden can never be shown anything but cruelty, should never be rewarded, or else they'll lose all motivation to obey, to work hard, to be good. (By contrast, they believe that the same thing would happen to rich, powerful, popular people if they were ever punished in any way, if they were ever anything but rewarded.)

And rich people and governments are not going to subsidize your church foundation funds, your church repair funds, et cetera if you tell them that they're evil. But someone definitely will come along and offer to take that money. The people who take that money and conform won't even all be lying psychopaths; if you truly believe that your organization matters, is doing irreplaceable good in the world, you'll sacrifice any principle of your faith to keep the bills paid, you'll look away from or excuse any sin. It's that or see it all shrink and crumble into irrelevance.

I've come to the conclusion that it may not actually be possible to be a good person while practicing the majority faith of the land you live in. Or, if it is possible, well, like the man said, "straight is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it."

The Episcopal Church has its own legacy of sin, they've long overlooked a laundry list of crimes to pay their own bills, so don't rush to congratulate a mainline bishop for preaching mainline Christianity or take too much pleasure from Trump and his fascist followers being surprised that that happened. But do remember this:

From the mid-1970s to the present, right-wing billionaires have poured a LOT of money into church expansion and maintenance conditional on them distorting the Bible's teachings to make it appear that Jesus was pro-fascist. "To deceive, if it were possible, the very elect." So when honest theologians tell you that this is literally anti-Christ, literally checks every box in the Bible's description of the future cult of anti-Christ, you need to hear us.

The modern book and movie image of "the Antichrist" was a well-funded propaganda campaign to distract you from the plain language of the scriptures. The biblical anti-Christ is not some socialist liberal peacenik. The biblical anti-Christ is everyone who tells you that Jesus wants you to be cruel to "the least of these, my brethren" so that they'll straighten up and fly right.

[supreme-leader-stoat]

Right? Developers had three very, very simple rules that they needed to follow as part of the unspoken agreement between us and them that let them generate revenue from us looking at content:

Don't let ads hinder or outweigh the actual purpose people have for coming to your page/site (be that through extreme obtrusiveness or through slowing their browser to a crawl)

Vet your ads and don't bombard people with nsfw content

Vet your ads and don't give people fucking malware

And that was fine! It worked! But sometime in the past ~decade 90%* of sites decided that was too hard, and that they'd really just like to make money off of the plebs without any sort of accountability packaged in, and so the average web user had to start protecting themselves with countermeasures that up until then had been relegated to small and relatively unobtrusive circles of privacy enthusiasts. The users didn't start this war.

One of the paradoxes of the modern internet is that I genuinely understand sites need to get revenue somewhere, and while I don't love ads I'm actually okay seeing relatively unintrusive ads on a free site, hearing words from sponsors, etc.

But the modern internet is so full of modal popups and video ads on autoplay and trackers that using it without an adblocker is basically impossible, so everything gets blocked.

[darkspace7]

"On the grind" this and trying to "maxx" that, buddy you need to take a step back and relax or that grindstone's gonna mill you in to a grit so fine there won't be enough to collect for your urn.