#CAD Degree Courses

[lenasai]

this week, i'm spotlighting dr. isam's campaign!

i'll let the organizer's words speak for themself:

Dr. Isam is a successful dentist and a loving husband and father who fully supports his family of eight. Prior to the war, Dr. Isam owned two dental centers: a home for 20 employees including his own children. In this latest assault on Gaza, both of his centers were destroyed, destroying his and his entire team’s livelihoods, futures, and dreams. His family consists of his wife and eldest daughter, Sondos (27 years), who holds a degree in interior design; she has health issues that have worsened throughout the war and require immediate attention. His elder twins, Saleem and Ahmed (25 years), have degrees in Medical Assistance and Computer Programming. Saleem is married, has a beautiful two-year-old daughter, and lives with his wife and daughter in the same household as Dr. Isam. His younger son, Osaam (20 years), also has a medical condition that requires immediate and continued treatment, and sadly cannot be found in Gaza at the moment. Given the terrible experiences they have suffered over the course of the past six months, Dr. Isam, is hoping and praying to get his family out of Gaza in order to start a new life away from the pain of war and constant threats of death. His wife needs urgent medical care, and his children need to continue their education and work to rebuild and maintain their physical and mental well-being.

i have donated $15 cad and hope you will consider matching my donation!

ID: Screenshot confirming $15 donation to the above campaign. End ID.

if you cannot donate, please share this post. it really does help if more people see the post. to my knowledge, the organizer does not have a tumblr account and cannot fundraise here.

this campaign is featured on the @gazafunds website and i have full confidence in its legitimacy.

[balioc]

Time to be like Sam Kriss or @kontextmaschine for a moment. Let's completely ignore all the material everything, just for right now, and sniff around the psychosexual currents in the air.

----------------

There's nothing to unite hostile factions like a common even-more-hated enemy.

When I try to think of plausible common enemies for the US's warring culture tribes...

(...well, OK, there are some universally-loathed made-for-TV monsters like the child molester. But being anti-child-molester isn't going to work as a cultural-engineering gambit. The issue is too obvious and baked-in-already to have any juice; it's just going to be subverted into more ammunition for the existing culture wars. So barring that kind of thing...)

...the best I can come up with is George Wickham.

You know: the cad. The fuckboy. The shallow, callous man who uses his limited charm to seduce and exploit women.

Most of the cultural left hates guys like that because they make women's lives miserable. Most of the cultural right hates guys like that because they undermine the sociosexual compact, and crowd out the less-flashy guys who are [understood to be] their moral superiors in most of the relevant ways.

(At this point, of course, each tribe firmly believes that the other one is essentially and irredeemably pro-fuckboy. I think it likely that someone will try to defend that kind of thesis in the notes to this comment, and I think it would have been even likelier without this parenthetical.)

I wonder how far some charismatic leader could get with a loud consistent message of "caddishness is despicable and worthy of condemnation." Probably you'd have to be careful about threading the needle enough to incorporate both "this is fundamentally an anti-shitty-men message, not a misogynist message" and "women have some degree of sociosexual responsibility to do their part in the Great Anti-Fuckboy Crusade, falling for a fuckboy's charms should leave you feeling stupid and ashamed."

----------------

Or, to advance the core thesis in a simpler way:

You do know that it's weird to see a bunch of resentful incels deciding to throw their support behind Donald Trump, right? You do know that resentful incels traditionally hate men like Donald Trump more than anything else in the entire universe?

[troutreznor]

I know for sure that you can't help all families from Gaza that want to be evacuated from here but at least you can help those who come across your life. You have no idea how mentally and emotionally tiring this is. Asking for help is not easy. But when thinking that the price is my family's life and getting out of here safely, it just pushes me more and more to do this until i reach my goal, be able to attend my university abroad and achieve my doctoral degree dream after awarding prestigious PhD fellowship. Please donate and share to support us standing at this hard time. https://gofund.me/d597b8e2

I am sorry for the pain and exhaustion you are going through, of course I will share your link <3

THIS IS A VERIFIED FUNDRAISER, PLEASE SHARE AND DONATE!

$5,089 / $40,000 (CAD) raised from 207 donations

[murderbot]

I know for sure that you can't help all families from Gaza that want to be evacuated from here but at least you can help those who come across your life. You have no idea how mentally and emotionally tiring this is. Asking for help is not easy. But when thinking that the price is my family's life and getting out of here safely, it just pushes me more and more to do this until i reach my goal, be able to attend my university abroad and achieve my doctoral degree dream after awarding prestigious PhD fellowship. Please donate and share to support us standing at this hard time.

https://gofund.me/d597b8e2

of course eman, i am happy to help in whatever way i can

verified by ahmed / 90-ghost

can anyone match or give more than my donation? this campaign started in feburary but they are still so far from their goal

$2,650 CAD / $40,000 goal

[denimsnake]

This is Eman a Biotechnologist from Gaza. Asking for help is not easy. It's not easy at all. You have no idea how mentally and emotionally tiring this is. But when thinking that the price is my family's life, getting out of here safely and achieve my doctoral degree dream, it just pushes me more and more to do this until we reach our goal. I'm here as I try to reach out to more people asking for their help to support our family's campaign so we can survive while all you have to do is literally donating even by just the price of your morning coffee or maybe a simple breakfast, So I think I'm not asking for so much. We're really tired of living under these catastrophic conditions for a whole 10 months. Your generosity will not only change our lives but also remind us that even in our darkest hour, we are not alone. https://gofund.me/d597b8e2

Of course, Eman. I hope you and your family can reach safety soon and you can continue your studies. 💖🇵🇸

Eman was vetted by 90-ghost. Her original account was terminated but the donation link is the same. Her fundraiser is currently at CAD $16k/$40k.

[pencil-inc]

#5

Sometimes I miss the facility. 

I know, that sounds weird, but that was normal for me. An entire era of my life, just living and breathing science and horror, all mixed together into a mush of experience. I try to ignore it though. Push back the memories, try and move on.

Kind of ironic considering what I’m doing.

See, there’s a reason why everybody studying STEM– yes, even the more passive parts of it– takes an ethics course. Before that, the push for innovation– something I think I ended up getting swept into– fuelled most of not all of the coursework and theory we were working on. Always bigger, always better, always fresh and new and original, some reverberation of futurism. Doesn’t matter what it is, just make sure you’re not copying some 10’s or 20’s sci-fi thriller (or do, if you have a permit).

That was the backbone of most of Project PENCIL. (except the copying stuff. That was surprisingly more achievable than we thought; AI generated toons didn’t work out very well for us though)

Ethics can only get you so far in reasonable, level-headed, absolutely sane science. Hence why we left it at the door not long before we gunned it down and kicked it open. But you still have to ensure a reasonable degree of safety and reliability so you can get your results without anything going wrong.

I remember during my first couple weeks, the labs had just finished being built. In one of them, I was on observation duty for an RS test; Rapid Shake. Think of the way you’d open a Coke can if you wanted to ruin somebody’s day. The test chambers are made up of a dome of soft wall panels (I can’t find the CAD file right now so just use your imagination). One of the panels inside the chamber hadn’t been fully attached to the ceiling. They’re made of cushy faux leather stuff, floor to ceiling; good for a wide open space if a toon starts bouncing off the walls. It was hanging right above the Grabber; something we’d retire later for something more multipurpose than a flailing mechanical arm.

I knew it was dangerous. I knew it could hurt someone, staff or toon. But I didn’t say anything. I don’t get personal. I shouldn’t, not here. But you need to understand how deep-seated this whole attitude to PENCIL was, even before LEAD.

I was looking at that risk, that potential for harm… and I was excited. Excited like a little kid hearing an ice cream truck a block away, excited for everything that could cause a catastrophe. Didn’t matter about the consequences, I just wanted to see it happen. I wanted blood on the floor.

We got our toon– a little dog from a pet insurance commercial– and set her in the machine. I didn’t pay attention to the test. All I could think about was that panel; I could have sworn it leaned down a few inches while the Grabber’s hydraulics made the floor buzz.

Here’s what the thoughts of a crazy person sounds like: Fall. Fall. Fall. Fuck it up. Do it. It’s gonna happen. I know it will. Just fall. Fall! Instead of flying birds or stars, we ended up with spiral eyes from all the shaking; something we expected from an anime toon. We swapped her for her best friend– a tabby cat with a company logo stitched to her chest– and we did it all over again.

And I just kept staring.

I pointed out the loose panel, and they sent maintenance to fix it. Heard them muttering something about how good it was someone saw it before something went wrong.

Objectively, I think it’s likely that might have been one of the more tame accidents if it did happen.

There’s a word for that feeling, actually: schadenfreude.

“the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, or humiliation of another.”

Soon enough, it was baked into the core of our work. Pride in creating suffering, and suffering yourself. Without either… what was your work without it?

I suppose it’s that drive that I miss. That verve, that persistence. LEAD was a pretty good work ethic at the end of the day, helping you keep a rapid pace despite the burnout. Now, I work at my own pace on this.

I’m happy to have that grace at least.

— Reference

[twistedtummies2]

Top 5 Portrayals of Charles Augustus Milverton

Our final list devoted to the supporting cast of Sherlock Holmes and his world was the single most challenging to create. I’ve talked about Professor Moriarty, Irene Adler, and Sebastian Moran in previous lists, and all of them are villains I think most would place in the “love to hate” category. These are characters who, either because they are simply entertaining, or because they have some deeper and more complex elements of interest, we actually enjoy seeing in action (to some degree or another), and perhaps even find ourselves rooting for to some degree. Of course, an antagonist of any sort doesn’t HAVE to be likable in order to be effective: they simply need to be good at what they do, which is providing opposition to the protagonist. Some bad guys are meant to be characters the readers - as well as the heroes of the story - find utterly and totally repugnant. A friend of mine refers to them as “punchable” villains, and I think that’s accurate: they’re characters you just hate with a passion and want nothing more than to see them decked out with a punch to the face, if not something better. One of the earliest examples of such “punchable” characters is our topic for today: the Master Blackmailer, Charles Augustus Milverton. Despite only appearing in one story (which, to be fair, is the treatment nearly all of Holmes’ enemies got), Milverton has made his mark as one of the detectives most infamous and despicable villains, mostly because of the fact that not only are the readers meant to hate him…but even Holmes HIMSELF expresses absolute DISGUST with Milverton. The character is written to be the most deplorable slimeball on the face of the Earth, his attitude and actions so vile that even the World’s Greatest Detective - who has faced so many criminals and crooks - despises him. Keep in mind, Holmes holds nothing but respect for Professor Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime and his arch-enemy: for him to so utterly detest Milverton is a sign of just how awful a person this character is.

Milverton is an opportunistic cad of the highest order. He is described as a sort of human snake, with Doyle using reptilian analogies for the character’s motions, appearance, and so forth. In the books, Milverton does what he does primarily for greed: he blackmails people and profits off of their misfortunes, and this is really how he makes much of his living. Nearly everything he owns is due to him weaseling money, power, and so forth out of other human beings. To make matters worse, if someone DOESN’T pay up, he still profits in his own mind: once the dirty laundry he hangs over their heads gets aired out to the populace, everyone else in his grasp, present or future, will KNOW he’s being serious. It’s indicated that Milverton takes sadistic joy out of what he does, as he craves the feeling of being in power and control over others: in some versions, even in death, he shows neither remorse nor even fear, as he still believes, after he’s gone, he’ll have the upper hand. In others - including the original story that bears his name - once he realizes he’s cornered, he cowers and cringes and crawls like the craven worm he is. Either way, any time Milverton is beaten, it is satisfying beyond belief: that is ultimately the way he is meant to be. A smear on the fabric of humanity that everyone - the readers, the protagonists, and I suspect even the author - feels VERY happy to see washed away. To say there are “favorite” versions of Milverton of mine is overselling things. That indicates I actually LIKE the guy in ANY rendition, and I really don’t: no one is supposed to. But I felt, given his reputation and prominence, he deserved some limelight as much as the other characters I’ve covered. So, I looked at a few basics: which versions were the most satisfying to see beaten, which versions were played by actors I have a particular fondness for (despite such a horrible fiend being their role), and which ones did something interesting with the character that I can’t help but praise? Taking all those things together, allow to present - with an almighty asterisk beside the title - My Top 5 “Favorite” Portrayals of Charles Augustus Milverton.

5. Barry Jones, from the 60s BBC Series.

Jones is what might be termed - and you will pardon my blunt and crude analogy - your “basic b!tch” Milverton. He sticks to the source and sticks to it truly, without much reimagining involved. That’s not a bad thing, but I think other Milvertons higher up do a bit more interesting twists with the character. Jones is perfect casting, being a master at playing snobbish and reprehensibly dandified fellows; in another Sherlock Holmes outing, the film “A Study in Terror,” he played such a character in the form of the Duke of Shires: a slightly comical fop who starts off as an unlikeable so-and-so, but eventually shows he has a good heart beneath his pompous exterior. Milverton is essentially if you took that character and removed all likability from his soul.

4. Boris Ryzhukin, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson.

While I think Jones’ portrayal of the Master Blackmailer is closer to the novel, Ryzhukin’s performance is equally excellent, and the adaptation makes an interesting change to the character. In this version, Milverton’s story is the prelude to the events of “The Final Problem,” as he is revealed to be one of Professor Moriarty’s top agents. His case is therefore the catalyst that sets off the chain of events ending in the battle at Reichenbach Falls.

3. Robert Hardy, from the Granada Series.

While I have some issues with the creative liberties taken in this adaptation of the story - which is very rare for the Brett series, I must confess - I think Robert Hardy’s take on Milverton is absolutely perfect, being both accurate to the source and going just a little bit beyond that to make him as creepy and even intimidating as he is slimy and sickening. Not much else to say, just a masterclass of fine acting in the guise of a thoroughly awful dastard.

2. Lars Mikkelsen, from Sherlock.

In this version, the character is renamed “Charles Augustus Magnussen,” to better match Mikkelsen’s Danish roots. The change of name, however, does nothing to disguise this versions nastiness. While much of season three of “Sherlock” was “meh,” I think Magnussen’s episode is one of the best of the whole series, and while he is a totally dispensable customer, the incarnation was very interesting. In this version, Magnussen has the exact same “powers” as Sherlock Holmes, being just as much of a genius and a brilliant expert at deduction as the detective, if not superior to him. He uses these abilities to figure out people’s weaknesses more easily and exploit them.

1. The Version from Moriarty the Patriot.

This is the closest any version of Milverton has come to being a “love to hate” character for me. (The keyword being “closest.”) While we’ve seen a version of Milverton who worked for Moriarty, this version turns out to be an enemy to BOTH Sherlock Holmes AND his arch-nemesis, and ends up being the closest thing to a “big bad” the series has given us so far. He is described as the “pure evil” counterpoint to Moriarty’s “necessary evil” in this reimagining, and is fueled more by his sadistic desires than greed. He's voiced by Kenji Nojima in Japanese, and Kayleigh McKee in the English Dub.

[bublines]

I know for sure that you can't help all families from Gaza that want to be evacuated from here but at least you can help those who come across your life. You have no idea how mentally and emotionally tiring this is. Asking for help is not easy. But when thinking that the price is my family's life and getting out of here safely, it just pushes me more and more to do this until i reach my goal, be able to attend my university abroad and achieve my doctoral degree dream after awarding prestigious PhD fellowship. Please donate and share to support us standing at this hard time.

https://gofund.me/d597b8e2

hello and of course!

Eman’s campaign is verified by 90-ghost and has only received $3,225 CAD out of a $40,000 CAD goal. please share and donate, anything helps

[sinisterexaggerator]

Do you have Ideas on Hondo and Jango's relationship? I imagine that neither of them can trust the other, but Jango knows that Hondo is smart enough that he wouldn't want to provoke a Mandolorian's wrath... For the most part. Hondo absolutely would still, let's say give a tip to Jango's enemies, if he knew for 100% certainly that it couldn't be traced back to him. Or maybe Jango does figure it out, but finds that he doesn't particularly care.

Otherwise Jango would use Hondo as a source of intel. Don't need to worry about any of the pirate king's inflated fees when you have a client that can pay it for you. They're not drinking buddies by any means but Hondo will still convince him to drink or join one of his merry parties before sharing information.

What I really enjoy thinking about if it was Hondo's at the time newly formed Ohnaka Gang that broke Jango out of a life of slavery. He would be grateful towards Hondo, though it was only by coincidence. But once Hondo discovers that the Jango Fett, the galaxy most feared and greatest bounty hunter, was the same one that was abroad that slave ship, he would be thrilled speechless.

Anyway that's all I have... for now : D

Yes, I think about that all the time! The Ohnaka Gang being the one to break him out of slavery. I mention it here in another post, but I do have thoughts about them!

I for sure think it’s a stroke of luck, or a coincidence that they meet. Perhaps the spice freighter was in their territory, somewhere close to the Corporate Sector, or the Tion Hegemony, as that is where they are known to patrol. As Jango was freed by pirates, it just makes sense for it to be Ohnaka in my head, especially as he mentions them to be friends in "Secrets of the Bounty Hunters" and that he thought him to be an honorable man in the Clone Wars.

To that end, legends says Jango "fought them off" to get off the ship. In my head, what I think went down is that since Hondo is familiar with slavery, having been a slave himself, is that he gives him a pass, making it clear he only cares about the spice and even helps him kill those who enslaved him.

They definitely have a history together. Hondo used to work jobs and "run with Aurra Sing" and a group of mercs, even when he was already pirating. We can assume since the new Jango comics have been released that Jango ran with Aurra from time to time as well, and that perhaps they were all in it together at some point.

I do not think that Jango totally trusts Ohnaka, but I do think that Hondo legitimately thought Jango to be his friend, just like he considers Obi-Wan, or other bounty hunters to be his friends. Again, this is me referencing Secrets of the Bounty Hunters, where he talks favorably of others such as Bossk and Cad Bane.

Considering the fact Hondo stayed neutral between Sing and the Jedi, I am not sure if he would sell out Jango, especially if he considered him an ally in any capacity. I mean, Jango has the title before Bane/Boba of the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, and that is a line you do not want to cross. If Jango did find out something like that happened, I do not think he would take it lightly, especially if it interfered with Boba in some way. Hondo is not stupid, he says so himself. Ultimately, I don't think he would want to put himself in that position.

As far as drinking buddies, I can see them being chummy to a degree. Maybe some nights get more out of hand than others, especially if Aurra or Cad are involved. Hondo knows almost everyone, and you know he threw extravagant parties. Considering Hondo complains of no one having honor anymore, and the fact he names Jango as being an honorable man, makes me think he respected Fett more so than not. Maybe Hondo even gave him a ride off that damn freighter, hooked him up with a ship to hunt down his enemies, all for a price, of course... The return of a favor in the future, perhaps. This may also be a reason for Jango not to take the bounty on his head later on, as I am sure Hondo has people after him for his many crimes.

I don't think Jango truly trusted anyone, however, due to his past and personal hangups. Hondo most likely understood this, as his own men are always trying to stab him in the back. And yes, I agree, I bet Hondo was easily a contact for him where he could gain Intel if he needed it, as Hondo kept his eyes and ears open. Information is another commodity one can sell for profit.

Overall, I don't see any reason for them not to be "friends." Of course, Hondo has a reputation for being a scoundrel, for lying, cheating people, and the like. I am sure Jango keeps that in mind during their interactions, but if Hondo pulls through time and time again on information, or shows that his offer of friendship is genuine more than once, Jango may let his guard down, if only slightly. That is not to say that neither of them are not always watching their own backs.

[pyrrhicraven]

Which person in each of your ships is the most clingy / over-protective?

Super Mario Bros: 1000% Luigi no matter who his partner(s) is/are lol

TMNT: Saki is overprotective but I wouldn't say clingy 🤔

Yu Yu Hakusho: Hiei is overprotective and his version of clingy even if he won't admit it at all lol

Danny Phantom: Vlad, the crazy guy would 100% be very clingy at first and will always be overprotective.

Invader Zim: Honestly that one goes both ways They are both clingy and Overprotective lol

Star Wars: Dooku would be the overprotective one where he can depending on which version I'm writing. Cad and Padme would be protective of each other but I wouldn't say overly so.

Batman: I'd normally say Bruce is the overprotective one but it amuses me that his rouges would be the clingy overly protective ones because they all want to be the ones to best him and don't like it when someone else tries to beat him that isn't a rouge 😂

Gravity Falls: Bill. It will always be Bill no matter who he's paired with since he's such a little psycho🤣

Hellsing: I mean Alucard is kind of obvious but with the way I write him he would be a clingy bastard but try to make it seem like he wasn't and he'd be overprotective but that's a two-way street because I couldn't see anyone I've paired him with not being over-protective of him too.

Miraculous Ladybug: ohhh that's way too easy Gabriel or Felix as both have very dominant personalities and even though Marinette is Ladybug that wouldn't stop them from being overprotective of her.

Kakuriyo Bed & Breakfast for Spirits: Ginji and Ōdanna for sure lol Aoi is very cute after all...🤣

hotel Transylvania: Drac of course but I could see Jonny being just as protective.

The Flash: Honestly a lot of that going around for any pairing I write for this one. Barry can be clingy and overprotective. Len and Mick are extremely overprotective of their speedster 😈

Megamind: Another example of overprotective on both sides. I can't really see it any other way. But maybe Mega is slightly more overprotective, he's also very much the one that is clingy too!

The Witcher: Geralt enough said 🤣

Knights and Magic: It wouldn't be Ernesti 😅

Metal Family: Glam of course but honestly everyone to some degree.

Scooby Doo: Uhhh I do have a ship written for this one but it's more a horror version than anything 😵‍💫But Velma would be the 'overprotective' one...

Guardians of Childhood: Pitch would be overprotective considering how much he's lost in his admittedly long life. But Jack would be just as overprotective once Pitch let him in.

Hazbin Hotel: That's a hard one? I mean on one hand, you have Lucifer, the guy everyone just seems to want to spit on but is mega powerful-then we have Alastor, an unrepentant serial killer and someone who won't show his cards. (Though one wonders who the smile is really for)

OK K.O.: Boxman 100% lol I mean That's not to say that Venomous wouldn't have his moments of overprotectiveness but Boxman would be more so.

Highlander: Duncan because that's so in character for him tbh.

[whiterose-bluespace]

Why the fuck don't they build laptops like old Thinkpads, like laptops are one of the things where you can genuinely say "They don't build them like they used to". All the new ones are thin and don't have the really nice keyboards like the old ones do, and a load of them don't even have the clicky touchpad buttons and only have the nipple! At least they’re still waterproof though… But they don't have upgradeable components and aren't serviceable in general, they don't have the metal roll cages that the old ones had which made them both indestructible and deadly weapons! The X220 that I have features the start of that with a soldered in CPU but at least the RAM, battery, and storage are dead easy to replace, with it of course also having that nice keyboard and the little light in the lid in leu of backlighting which is just cute.

But at the same time that soldered in second gen i7 with only two cores is really showing its age. It can’t run modern mobile game ports, it can’t run things like CAD software particularly well (a problem when studying an engineering degree), can’t run other bits of sim software, and the new battery I got is now starting to act up.

I love it to bits still, yet I also want a new laptop at a decent price and there is just nothing that is really as durable. Sure, refurbished laptops fit within my price range including some newer ThinkPad ones, but all of them are still fixated with being as slim as possible to the point of looking like they might snap in my bag! If it dosen't have enough heft to double as a self defence weapon I'm not interested. Where is an actual, durable, laptop that is content to be thick and tall in return for being smaller width and lengthways? While also not costing more than an old used car (Seriously you can get a 2000s Fiesta for cheaper than a load of new laptops). Bonus points for some customisability and the option to ship without an OS so I can slap Debian or something on it rather than Windows.

Anyway, rant over.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Fat Heroines in M/F Romance: Quick Recs

For no particular reason, a few books I love where the heroine is described as fat/plus-sized/whatever, may or may not experience weight-related insecurities, but never loses weight and is always seen as super hot, not the girl who just escaped his notice until she glowed up, by the hero.

(I will add that I've definitely read many more books with this kind of rep, but it isn't always as explicit, and I wanted it to be super clear. And I'll probably add on to this later.)

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean. Callie is very clearly fat, and she does long for Ralston from afar... but largely because she was a literal teenager when she first noticed him, and he doing grown man shit with grown women. Once she's in his notice, he is obsessed, and is super worshipful of her body. Never has a man been more upset that a woman bound her breasts; he is PERSONALLY offended. He must heal them! With his mouth!

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean. Noteworthy for featuring a plus size model on the cover and stepback. Hattie is a total babe, Whit is absolutely about it from the moment he wakes tied up in her carriage, and she ties him up some more after that! I also really love the degree to which Hattie is embraced as a beautiful, vivacious woman who throws this man for a loop.

The Brown Sisters Trilogy by Talia Hibbert. All the Brown sisters are plus size, it's on the cover, and they fall into their own unique love stories. Personally, Act Your Age, Eve Brown is my favorite, but they're all very good.

*Get a Life, Chloe Brown features a heroine who has suffered from chronic pain all her life (and as a TW, the hero is coming off a relationship with an abusive ex-girlfriend) trying to get the most out of life after sitting on the sidelines for years

*Take A Hint, Dani Brown features a queer, witchy heroine and a hero who suffers from anxiety (plus the rare interracial romance with no white people) embarking on a fake relationship after being caught in a compromising situation

*Act Your Age, Eve Brown features two leads who are both on the spectrum as our heroine attempts to "grow up" and ends up ruffling allll the hero's feathers (also, a purply sparkly dildo is utilized super effectively)

All Scot and Bothered by Kerrigan Byrne. Unfortunately not reflected super well on the cover (though it is a beautiful cover otherwise) this book has a heroine who is fat, loves food, and is loved by a giant Scottish motherfucker who watches her eat chocolate and is like "this is the greatest trial God has ever bestowed upon me".

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone. Heroine is a fat porn star with what is essentially an OnlyFans; she wants to break into vanilla cinema, and gets cast in a Hallmark-style Christmas movie opposite a formerly famous boy bander... who of course, is a BIIIIIG fan of her work. Also, bisexuality galore!

The Truth About Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden. Our heroine considers herself plain, as does much of society; the hero is NEVER about that life. Before they're even engaged, she goes on a spiel about how he wouldn't understand her inner thoughts unless he's been inside her, and he does have a sadly aroused coughing fit.

Possession by Adriana Anders. Heroine and hero are actors in a PR marriage of convenience, with the specific stipulation that they won't have sex; and then he gets caught fucking a woman on camera, who looks just! Like! Her! Heroine's size is very clear; she's also Latina, and the hero is pansexual. She follows him to ~kink camp~ and they discover that they're actually quite! Compatible! One of the hottest books I've ever read, so body-affirming.

[galactose-galaxy]

I'm opening commissions!

Its a little rough out here, and I am in need of the additional financial aid

Here are some examples!

And if you want to see a bunch of cat/anthro work I do for fun, check out my deviantArt I charge a 17 CAD/hr, so if you are interested in my work, please DM me and I can give you a quote based on what you want specifically

Though for an example, the small full body and sketchy busts would range from 17-25 and the larger, more polished and painted pieces (or animated ones) may end up around 50-100. Depending on complexity of characters, sketch or linework, posing, and of course, backgrounds.

I will draw: Anthros Feral creatures Monsters Aliens Humans and Humanoid Gore/Violence (to a degree) I won't draw: Detailed Cybernetic/Robotic parts Mechs At this moment, sexual NSFW is closed. If you have any questions, please feel free to DM. I will answer as promptly as possible ^^

[troutreznor]

This is Eman a Biotechnologist from Gaza. Asking for help is not easy. It's not easy at all. You have no idea how mentally and emotionally tiring this is. But when thinking that the price is my family's life, getting out of here safely and achieve my doctoral degree dream, it just pushes me more and more to do this until we reach our goal. I'm here as I try to reach out to more people asking for their help to support our family's campaign so we can survive while all you have to do is literally donating even by just the price of your morning coffee or maybe a simple breakfast, So I think I'm not asking for so much. We're really tired of living under these catastrophic conditions for a whole 10 months. Your generosity will not only change our lives but also remind us that even in our darkest hour, we are not alone. https://gofund.me/d597b8e2

of course <3

THIS IS A VERIFIED FUNDRAISER, PLEASE SHARE AND DONATE!

https://gofund.me/d597b8e2

$14,699 / $40,000 (CAD) raised from 727 donations

[quaranmine]

also about autoCAD! according this rant an older engineer gave me, architects didnt start using autoCAD/other autodesk products until the 90s, when autodesk realized that if they got architects to use their products, everyone else had to lol

YEAHHH!! i found that too, it's buried somewhere in my 1700 words of author notes on tumblr LOL. grian, in this au, is pretty much like most people of the time period in that he knows basically nothing about computers and has probably never used one since they weren't particularly common, but he will very soon or over the course of his career need to learn since architecture is 100% a profession that uses autoCAD. he's going to get dragged kicking and screaming into the computer world sdflsjfsk

I had a fun little dive down the rabbit hole into CAD technologies while writing this chapter. I think I went into the story under the main assumption of "ah, it's the 80s, they don't have any modern technology" but that's not quite true, is it? It's the late 80s, for one--we're one year from being in the 90s. They're very much on the cusp of all of that technological innovation. Also, computer technology has generally existed far longer than most of us think, it just wasn't necessarily accessible to most of the public.

So while I was looking into CAD, I realized it was entirely possible for Mumbo to be learning it for his job in engineering. AutoCAD was released in 1982, which was directly in the middle of when he probably went to college in this AU. However, I don't know if he would have been taught it in his degree at that time since it was so new. He could, however, learn it from his job. I know that at my job one of the reasons I do most of the InDesign and ArcGIS work for my team is "ah, she's young enough to figure all that computer stuff out." I would not be surprised if that happened to Mumbo too. His bosses are probably like "fantastic he's young AND he's interested in it let's train him to do it" sdfjslfskl

Someone else mentioned CAD in one of my comments on AO3 so I was looking it up too. Something I didn't even know: the first 3D CAD product was released in 1987. Additionally, Boeing announced in 1988 that they would use a CAD software to design their 777 aircraft, which was the first aircraft to be designed entirely digitally. I read a different article about that that stated Boeing had used CAD in their engineering process for a few years before deciding to do it fully digitally, so it was definitely part of many company's "process" already within the 80s.

[lantern-hill]

hello! i love your photos, i just added a bunch of your posts to my queue <3 i love your shots of the nature in org. you dont have to answer but i wanted to ask please what camera did you use for “cat on film” ? ive been thinking about getting a 35mm camera but i don’t know which one would give me that soft warm fuzzy look your photos of your cat had :’) thank you

hi, thank you!

the camera i took those on is a chinon gaf memo 35ee,..

...but i wouldn't recommend getting one, to be honest, especially if you're new to film photography. it's a rangefinder focus, which means instead of just turning a wheel around the lens until the image is sharp, you have to line up two tiny versions of what you see in the center of the viewfinder and then take the picture. like this:

you see the tiny yellow rectangle in the middle of the frame? in order to focus the camera, you need to line up the two images within that tiny amount of space. there's a whole bunch of other reasons i don't love this camera, and a few things i like, but i won't go into it. i don't really use this camera anymore.

the good thing is that the "soft warm fuzzy feeling" you want to replicate really has almost nothing to do with this camera. it's more related to the film you use, the settings you use on your camera, and, of course, the lighting in the area where you're taking the photo.

here's another photo i took that has a similar warm, fuzzy vibe, despite the fact that it was taken on a different camera and with different film.

i'm not a film photography expert by any means, but i would say when you're trying to get this type of vibe, the actual lighting in the place where you're taking the photo is the most important.

you also probably want to use a camera that doesn't have fixed focus. Some cameras, especially the really easy to use instant film or disposable film ones, don't require you to focus; you just press the button and move on. that's fixed focus. part of what gives you the warm fuzzy feeling about the photo above is that not every part of the image is sharp.

a lot of the pictures in that cat post are also slightly over- or under-exposed, but none of them use flash, so you probably want a camera that doesn't automatically set off a flash if it detects the lighting is too low.

in terms of getting your first film camera, that can be tricky because there's basically no new ones out there for sale- unless you want to get a tacky plastic disposable or shill out 1000s for a Leica. you're most likely going to have to buy secondhand from a camera store or just some guy online. facebook marketplace is really good for this in my experience.

some buying tips:

-decide if you want a point-and-shoot (you just look through the viewfinder and press the shutter button, done) or a SLR that lets you manually adjust the shutter speed, iso, etc. both are great and i have one of each for different situations.

-in my experience, don't bother paying more than 40$ CAD for a 2ndhand point-and-shoot or $100 for a full film camera unless it's something ridiculously amazing or unless you're buying secondhand from a camera store.

-look up the specs of your camera before buying it and pay attention to the degree to which the camera is automatic. film cameras use a light meter to measure what the shutter speed should be in different situations to capture the right amount of light, but the way they use the light meter differs. if a camera is fully automatic, that means that it measures the light in the room and then automatically adjusts the shutter speed to be correct.

this sounds great, but it also usually means you can't manually change the shutter speed. this can be a problem because, again, you're buying a secondhand camera that's probably at least two decades old. there's a high chance the electric components that automatically measure the light will be corroded or broken or will soon break down, and when they do repairs may be very expensive or even impossible, since you just can't find some repair parts anymore.

the more manual your film camera is, the better it can stand the test of time, because even if the camera's light meter fully breaks down and can't be repaired, you can buy a handheld light meter to tell you the right shutter speed and then manually change the shutter speed on your camera. this isn't to say to avoid all automatic features- all my cameras are to some degree automatic and i like it a lot- but its something to be aware of.

-look up your camera on lomography.com, which has a ton of film photos that you can sort by film and by camera. (i also have my own lomography account, where my photos are sorted by film and by camera.)

-when buying a camera that has a battery slot, open it up and check for any rust or corrosion inside. don't buy it if there's any green or brown on the parts the battery connects to.

i have three other cameras that i have and like a lot:

nikon EM (SLR) - 80 bucks on FB marketplace

yashica fx-3 super 2000 (SLR) - belonged to a relative

samsung ff-222 (point + shoot) - 30 bucks on FB marketplace

i also like the canon T series a lot, my friend has a canon t70.

and the films i tend to use are:

fujifilm superia (my fave; relatively cheap color film. the cat photos are on this.)

kodak ultramax (slightly more expensive. not that different results wise, maybe a little more pastel.)

portra - expensive but pretty

ektar - expensive but pretty

ilford hp5 b&w - cheap. good for testing a new film cam so you can see results without splurging too much.

you can look them up on lomography to see the differences between them.

hope this helps!