#I think it was available on the fox website

[marvelsmostwanted]

Just ventured into House MD tumblr for a minute and remembered that House/Cameron changed my life when I was like 16. OG ship. I also remembered why I used to own a vest like this in high school 🤦🏻‍♀️

[cursed-elements-blog]

If you love Chunt so much give us all available chanter facts.

okie dokie!!! if i get any wrong, I'll delete my account (lying). im also not going to just do a full plot recap!! i will have to reference some plot points though so spoilers for Echo VN.

Chunty wunty was born in 1993 between Spring (probably March/April, i don't remember when his spring break was) and November 1st. He is a north american river otter! he was born and raised within Echo.

when he was a child, he was kind of an asshole! using carl's fear of ghosts to get access to carl's game consoles when he wanted to stay the night and frequently telling lies to get what he wants. Chase tells himself via his inner monologue that his dick is huge. on november 1st 2008, chase got caught jacking off to gay porn (fox and horse specifically) by his parents and then spent the rest of the day avoiding them. he got together with leo the day after that. Chase has arachnophobia. chase is bisexual but tells people he's gay cause he says that it is much easier to do that than to explain what bisexual is. at college he had one single edible and had a terrible intense trip lmao man CANNOT handle weed.

Chunt and Jenna thought it would be funny to pull a prank on Leo, this ended up with Chase breaking up with Leo. he suffers from sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and dissociation because sam-entity is possessing him. he has a somewhat artificial interest in journalism and photography and only really chose that field because Jenna suggested it to him when she told him to try to leave Echo. speaking of Jenna, Chaunter drove her out of Echo and to Payton to escape her abusive family.

after chase broke up with Leo and went off to college, he would still send Leo a bunch of sexually charged messages telling him how he missed Leo when drunk. he's such a messy bitch (affectionate). Chase and Carl used to be roommates in college before Carl dropped out. then Chase roomed with a rabbit and then Vincent. he was a very average student. chase used to have an anchor bracelet that he and Leo wore to symbolize their relationship* *yo i fucking cried when writing this sentence. that got me so emotional holy shit.

this is long so here is a break. more under the cut :3

he stopped wearing the bracelet during college. Chase drowned Sydney because he felt as if Sydney would eventually kill TJ. he then subconsciously suppressed this memory. he used to see a psychiatrist and take meds because he saw a body hanging in the woods shortly after Sydney's death.

Chase has a noticeable but not apparent gay accent. like that valley girl twang. stereotypical gay voice. he has said "haaii" he has said "hey, bee-otch" and he has said "hiiiiiiii~". when he and Leo first got together, they ended up sort of neglecting their other friends. Chase only was available to drive Jenna to Payton because he and Leo were fighting and thus not speaking to each other.

once TJ asked Chase how he knew he was into men, and Chase told him to go to a porn website. Chase loves to swim! he also stinks. Chase's musk actually apparently turns people off, especially on dating sites. speaking of, Chase is on Predatr, a dating app (parody of grindr)

Chase's mom calls his arachnophobia "his little spider problem". chase used to think he was strictly gay but realized that wasn't quite right sometime during his late teens/early 20s. CHase doesn't finish his school project in time in a vast majority of the routes. Chase, Jenna, and Leo used to play platformers together before Leo could really understand english, "double jump that sucker" became a in-joke between the three. the two of them helped Leo learn english.

in Flynn's route, Chase has exactly one good and successful publication before his journalism career goes downhill. he is 26 when he meets Devon and Cameron in Echo. in leo's route Chase is 22/23 when he visits with his boyfriend Kudzu. Chase's whereabouts after TJ's route is unknown! terrifying given how that route ended!

Chase has a body count of 2, killing Sydney and Flynn (only in TJ's route). In Carl's route, Chase once again rooms with Carl in college. Chase is a fucking kinkshamer. Chase tends to assume all christians are homophobic and subtly had behaved rudely to TJ and his family because of this despite their love of him.

when he was 15 he put a fucking gay dating ad seeking a "friend/mentor" while pretending his was 18 by taking a photo of him on a roller coaster and blurring out the face. this plan did not work and he was banned from the sight. probably has a small bladder cause he needs to piss a lot!

Chase went through an emo phase where he frosted his hair tips. god i wish we saw that. Chase thought his little goatee would grow into a full beard. it did not. Chase Hunter is my babygirl!! Chase and Leo went to TJ's christian party thing and spent the entire party making out in Leo's car. Chase bottomed for most of his relationship with Leo. Chase is 5'7. Chase once had Leo put his dick in a hotdog bun and was "shocked" at the result according to Leo. Chase is attending Pueblo University, can't believe i hadn't put that one down yet

Chase's legs are described as "stubby" and he isn't a great runner because of it. Chase doesn't like the idea of getting more help for his issues after having poor experiences with them as a kid. Chase used to get bullied sort of by Clint and Jeremy. Leo's family loved Chase when they were dating. Chase has a high amount of leg specific injuries across the entire vn.

Chase's original last name was going to be Cooper according to Howly. Chase is the first ECHO PROJECT PROTAGONIST!!!! BABYGIRL MADE HISTORY!!!!

im ending it there cause i have work in the morning :/

part 2 maybe ;3

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

Frustrating how a Disneyland fanatic website is doing better covid reporting than the CDC

by Alessia Dunn

If you are heading to Walt Disney World, while there are many things to think about, and making sure you have some vitamin C packed is seemingly now one of them.

Since the pandemic shut down the theme parks, the thought of getting sick at Disney World has tremendously increased. For months, guests were required to wear a face mask, at times, even while walking outside without others around to protect themselves and others from COVID-19.

While park operations have gone back to normal, there are still guests who travel to the most magical place on earth with a face covering — and they may be onto something.

As the world has largely returned to a state of normalcy after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus continues to linger and has begun to resurge.

The United States is currently experiencing a concerning rise in COVID-19 cases, with a steady increase reported over the past few weeks, according to Fox News. This uptick has coincided with the arrival of summer, suggesting a potential return of the virus’s seasonal pattern.

However, experts are warning the public not to become complacent as new variants continue to emerge, making the pandemic’s course difficult to predict.

Since the end of the national emergency declaration over a year ago, the public health landscape has shifted, with a reduction in comprehensive case tracking. Instead, authorities now rely on representative sampling to assess disease severity. Despite this change in tracking methods, available data indicates that COVID-19 cases are likely increasing in at least 38 states.

Wastewater surveillance, which analyzes sewage samples for traces of the virus, further supports this trend. While the current levels remain lower than previous peaks, the data shows increasing viral activity, particularly in the West and South. These regions may be seeing higher COVID-19 levels due to warm, humid conditions that support viral persistence.

The recurrence of a summer surge in COVID-19 cases has raised questions about the virus’s potential seasonality. Public health experts, however, caution against drawing definitive conclusions, noting that while immunity may blunt the peaks of new waves, the virus’s future behavior remains uncertain.

With new variants spreading, large public spaces like Disney World are likely to see increased transmission. Despite being known as one of the cleanest theme parks, Disney World is still a place where germs can spread easily.

High-touch areas, such as lap bars on attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, are touched by thousands of visitors each day, making it difficult to avoid germ transmission at the “most magical place on earth.

Over the past few years, many have complained about visiting the theme parks and getting sick.

While this is certainly something that was likely happening before the pandemic, as Disney World guests can possibly interact with over 100,000 others in a single day, making the passing of bacteria very simple, now, it is becoming a more realized thought.

These realizations have brought guests to the internet to see if others are finding it much more common to get sick when visiting Disney World. The discussion began on the now-popular Reddit post:

“I used to visit fairly often and was usually fine. Of course still some sick days but it was rare and avoidable as long as you just wash your hands and all that. Then I stopped going for a few years and just recently started again. Been here 4 times in the past couple of years now. And every single time… basically immediately… I get the worst illness you can imagine. This recent trip, it was the second day of the trip, and I already felt it coming on. Then the third day came and I was done. Completely sick with whatever it even is. And that was it for the whole rest of the week. Pretty much wasted all but 1 ticket. I got a solid 1.5 days worth of being able to go to the parks. Like I said, this has happened every visit in the past couple of years. It probably seems insane that I even keep trying but, I don’t know, I just keep hoping It’ll be different because I really want to go. At least the other 3 times I was here for 2 weeks so I was able to recover and go back again, but this time I was only here for a week so it was just entirely ruined. And it’s really no surprise that this happens. Everywhere you turn there’s somebody coughing in your face. Standing in lines there a family coughing in your face in front of you, and a family coughing in your face behind you. Not an exaggeration, it’s comical how much that is really true. But anyway I just wanted to see what other people’s experience is. It truly seems that 95% of people in the parks are sick at any given moment lately. I’m not trying to complain about it but I’m really trying to figure out how I can come back in the future and be able to enjoy a healthy vacation. Edited to say that I also drive there. So no flights to blame.”

One Disney guest, as well as a local to the theme park stated that this has always been an issue, as we previously hinted, “Florida Resident here, been to Disney uncountable times since the mid 80s, and always come home with SOMETHING no matter how careful I am. There are people there from all over the country and all over the world. International buffet of germs!”

Others also brought up the difficulty that comes with having to cancel or reschedule a vacation, which can feel nearly impossible for some who have paid in full, taken time off of work, and are not able to get refunded. In that case, many guests with the common cold or worse likely opt to head to Disney and overcome the sickness next to Mickey Mouse instead of their own bed.

Others brought up the importance of using sanitizer, Clorox wipes, and washing their hands when they get the chance to in order to limit the germs that they touch, especially when gearing up to eat a Mickey pretzel.

Regardless of how well you prepare, however, there is always the chance that you can get sick after your Disney vacation. As a local to Orlando, I can definitely say I have caught the cold from Disney World in the past, but for the most part, I do not get sick when I visit.

There have also been many illnesses reported at the Disney parks by guests, which you can read more on here.

[otterloreart]

someone on MLPTP asked for Lil' Litters puppies/kittens so I've been attempting them in the background.

More information about these sculpts (aka down the rabbit hole) after cut

The coloration of the models in my shots were based off the My Little Puppy "Pretty Poodle" family, but models were reused for other sets

For example, Sweet Spaniel family had the "blue poodle" model but a unique sitting spaniel, although it looks like the proportions + ears are the same as the other two

And then the next release had the "Funtime Spaniels" set which had the same poses but was more colorful, and also the puppies with the other "mom dog" sculpts:

The website Toysisters, where I got the above photos, mentioned that the entire second line of My Little Puppies is hard to find so I looked them up and

This was the only My Little Puppy 2nd year release I could find and its a single figure for $75.

Also in the 1980s hasbro purchased the rights to a Barbie competitor (originally made in the UK) called Sindy and reused some of the pet molds in pajama party packs:

And this one also sells for a lot and isn't really available in many places

I don't bring up the prices, btw, as a critique of vintage toy collecting or anything. I don't make these models because I think people should just make new ones all the time. I /like/ that we're preserving old toys.

Rather, I hope my sculpts are used for collectors who have part of a collection and can't find a real vintage one, or people who think it is sweet and want to make a custom one (like they could do their dog or just a fun new thing). It's just for fun and not a replacement

I think what really disappoints me about all the lil'litters characters is they don't have the colorful marks like the ponies. If you didn't know, the original pony marks were made to imitate the marks on an appaloosa horse

And to me, while they aren't the only reason the ponies did well, they're definitely one of the things that makes them unique, like the carebears stomachs or strawberry shortcakes' fruit hat

Like they made a dalmation dog and they didn't even give it like... heart shaped spots. Huge missed opportunity there imo.

Also they did the siamese in reverse dark-light colors and iut looks like a fox. Siamese cats don't work this way, they gotta be darker around the tips for a reason.

Hasbro did release a line called Little Pretty that had a similar conceit, but I find the sculpt of the toys... underwhelming. They look more like Proto-Littlest Pet Shop to me than My Little Ponies:

The one on the left is supposed to be a dog and I only figured that out because she has no ears, just hair...

I much prefer the Lil Litters sculpts, they look more detailed and unique to me, and more similar to the OG MLPs

the My Little Kitty / Lil Litters were actually released concurrently with the Little Pretty line, both around 1990, so the discrepancy in artstyle feels really weird. but also it's just such a weird choice to create two similar looking brands to me? I don't... get it.

This was also year 9 of my little pony so the brand was going wild with the ponies and its interesting to me how plain and early-years the dogs+cats were in comparison

they were giving the ponies neon colors, false eyelashes and built in pockets and decided that their other animal lines would just be... different colors.

anyways my send-off is here are the first releases of lil litters:

[kef-meister]

Nintendo Music

I'll go ahead and say it - Nintendo is just weird. Earlier the year they posted a big FAQ on how piracy is evil and everyone's a criminal - because Nintendo loves that they have a following, but absolutely despises their fan-base.

Since then, we got the baffling Nintendo Alarmo - because I guess Nintendo saw the $99 clock apps on the eShop and figured they'd do one better ... and then since yesterday, Nintendo introduced ... Nintendo Music™?

I downloaded this thing and gave it a try. I've some information already available on the website and app to type down here just so it's in the same place - but also some first impressions and personal takes. Let's-a go.

Data Collection: As with any app, this thing wants your data. It's "the usual", such as what normally is available to apps; log-in info, what phone you use, location and app activity. I mention this, because knowing that your data will be collected and used means you can put a stop to it if necessary. That said, the data collected via the app can be completely deleted by request. (given that I'm in the EU, I'm hoping this is GDPR compliant) Side-note: I'm guessing this might be also be collecting data for Nintendo Alarmo themes. That seems like a Nintendo thing to do.

The App Itself Completely free to download and install, but needs a Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) membership to function. Opens the browser rather than going in-app for your log-in efforts. Feels a little sluggish. Looks and feels like a YouTube Music/Spotify baby. Also immediately tries to be cool by giving you 'character playlists'. I think that's oddly charming.

Music Selection Yeah, this is a meager selection. I think they'll be doing the thing where they will drip-feed more music, since they immediately ask you to turn notifications on when more music drops. So far we got: Switch: Pikmin 4 / PkMn Scarlet & Violet / Splatoon 3 / ACNH / Kirby Star Allies / Super Mario Odyssey / Mario Kart 8 DX / TLOZ: BotW Wii: Super Mario Galaxy / Wii Channels Nintendo DS: Tomodachi Collection / Nintendogs Gamecube: Metroid Prime Game Boy Advance: Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade Nintendo 64: TLoZ: Ocarina of Time / Star Fox 64 SNES: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island / Donkey Kong Country Gameboy: Kirby's Dream Land / Dr.Mario NES: Metroid / Metroid (Famicom) / Mario Bros. The promotional material also lists F-Zero's "Mute City", so we'll see a drop soon enough.

What the app does/allows:

This thing's a streaming service, but does something incredibly un-Nintendo as a treat. I call it that, because Nintendo famously has floundered with a lot of online things .. but I am pleasantly surprised:

Allows song extensions up to an hour in-app (!)

Allows individual downloads for offline listening(!!)

Allows playing the music even when the app is in the background and if the screen is off(!!!). The last point is interesting, because while dedicated music apps tend to do that per default, the most used third-party method for streaming Nintendo's music needs you to pay a premium to do that.

Conclusion: I might not like that this is 'another app' in the pile of apps and distribution systems, but this is a start to solving Nintendo's distribution problem (see the bit about piracy at the top) - which went doubly so for their music. It makes it extra bizarre to me that they allow you to download tracks. Previously, either games had to have a 'music' feature, there had to be specific sales for OST's or people had to go for ... third-party methods.

If you have NSO, consider this app a bonus. I'm hoping this won't get enshittified within half a year.

[ferronickel]

@stainedglassthreads asked about my inspirations when it comes to comics creation, which I am always excited to talk about! (You have unwittingly activated my trap card, so be prepared for a long ramble!)

My comics are primarily a product of the 2014 Image boom and the 2000s webcomic scene....

...and the main sources of my comics craft knowledge are the works of writer Kieron Gillen, artist Jamie McKelvie, and colorist Matt Wilson. They're an incredible team and everything they've done together is worth checking out, but I'm going to talk about two of their comics here. Young Avengers (2012) is a good place to start. Tons of formalism and interesting panel layouts. It's the first place I looked for inspiration when I was planning the design for Looking Glasses. Definitely worth checking out if you like cape comics, but also worth it if you don't, it's pretty stand alone. (Plus it introduces a lot of ideas and characters that Marvel is currently pillaging for the MCU, so it's always nice to see those ideas in their original context before my employers ruin it)

I can't talk about comics without bringing up The Wicked + The Divine (2014, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Jamie McKelvie, colors by Matt Wilson, lettering by Clayton Cowles). It's an incredible comic and a formalist masterpiece. 12 young people are reincarnated as gods, they have two years to live, and also they're pop stars. Issues frequently challenge the way you read comics, or break into completely other mediums (One issue was written almost entirely by real world magazine writers interviewing the in-universe characters). You can see my influences here pretty clearly: the interstitials, the style shifting, my recent (incredibly blatant) reference to Lucifer's transformation. Also the fashion, Jamie McKelvie is a fantastic designer! This comic is a must read for anyone interested in the medium of comics, especially Kieron's writers notes (all available here on tumblr at @ kierongillen), where he breaks each issue down panel by panel. The writer's notes are essentially a free masterclass in comics craft. (and when you've read that, check out the zine I organized with @gen-is-gone and 37 other artists here on tumblr at @iconic-zine) I cannot overstate that this comic is the reason I make comics.

I feel like I can't not mention DIE (2018, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles). Six kids disappeared into their d&d world and returned two years later, now they're adults and their past is coming back to haunt them. It's a fascinating exploration of portal fantasies, and has definitely influenced how I approach the dark world/darkners. (also, if you read DIE and want a good breakdown of the historical stuff, be sure to check out the podcast DIE-Compressed)

Honorable mentions: The visual stylings of Caspar Wijngaard in Home Sick Pilots (2021, Watters, Wijngaard, Bidikar, Muller) The colors of colorist Jordie Bellaire, in this case Injection (2015, Ellis, Shalvey, Bellaire) The work of Emily Carroll Everything from Pretty Deadly (2015, Deconnick, Rios, Bellaire, Cowles) A lot of stuff from Sex Criminals (2014, Fraction, Zdarsky), it's an incredible comic that goes way beyond it's (fairly nsfw) concept. There's a ton of formalist stuff here, and it tackles all sorts of concepts with a level of depth you wouldn't expect from such a silly setup.

In terms of webcomics influence, I am, unfortunately, a bit of a Homestuck. There's a lot to be said about this comic and I'm trying to keep my word count down here, so let's just say that it's arguably one of the most influential webcomics, and while many of it's ideas aren't necessarily unique or are derivative of other works it is singular in it's scope and presence. I find it mainly affects my own work in the way I think about the website design. (Plus, you know, Toby Fox)

Other notable webcomics that have influenced my work:

The works of Evan Dahm Barbarous Stand Still Stay Silent Lackadaisy (and a bunch more, but this has gone on long enough)

[bismuth-209]

what i want to play in Solo But Not Alone 4

So, there's a charity bundle on itch.io right now, Solo But Not Alone 4 is a bundle of 125 solo ttrpg-type games.

By ttrpg-type I mean that they aren't played on the computer, they usually have pdfs to download and then you need to bring the things like playing cards, tarot cards, dice and something to write with yourself (and very occasionally a jenga tower). They're usually rather focused on journaling.

If you want to know which games need which supplies, or what genres the games are, there's a handy dandy spreadsheet you can get here.

now, I've not really played any of the games yet, but there's ones I really want to play, and maybe I can make some of you excited enough to buy the bundle and support the charity Take This too. Take This is a non-profit to benefit mental health in the gaming community, but a little look on their website gives me the idea that their resources are useful broader as well, for example they have links to mental health resources for particular ethnic groups. It does seem pretty English-speaking country centric, but still a worthy charity to support I think.

without further ado! the games

Project ECCO is a game you play in a PLANNER. I've scrounged up an old planner I barely used and I'll be using it to play this game. It's a time travel game and you write your answers to the prompts on the pages of the planner you've "travelled" to. There's different ways to "travel through time" in the game, so you use dice, playing cards, tarot cards and a coin to determine what day you're writing on and what prompt you're fulfilling. I like the variety in methods, and i like that i'll be having limited space to write (although it's VERY little on the weekends. we'll see what i can manage on 3 lines)

If you want to play just this game you should definitely buy the bundle, it's usually 15 USD, while the bundle is just 10.

Corporate Onboarding is here mostly because of the formatting, I'll admit. But the formatting is so cool! It's AVAILABLE AS A POWERPOINT FILE. Also pdf, handy if you don't have the ms office suite. It fits on just 19 slides, but it claims that the average session is about an hour, which sounds about right. It doesn't have a lot of introspection far as I can tell, you need to find all your bosses to report to them without going over 5 warnings, and you have some stats for your character and all that.

Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop is another game worth getting the whole bundle for, normally 16 USD and it does seem worth that.

The game has such cool worldbuilding, you've got different towns and seasons and events throughout the year. I can see myself dedicating a whole notebook to this. And it's got a beautiful pdf (that's kind of formatted for print, but the print book's sold out). Also a fishing mini game you play by dealing a deck of cards.

5 act play is a game that gives you some guidance for the plotting of a play. It uses tarot, but also gives an alternative using dice and playing cards. It really USES tarot, you are expected to have a guidebook or look one up for the meanings of the cards and use them to inform characters and themes, but it does have tables for what you do with some of the cards. It's Shakespeare inspired, using examples from Much Ado and Romeo and Juliet to help you, and you're expected to write a tragedy or a comedy.

The Peace Engine is a game you use a jenga tower to play, which I don't currently have access to, but it looks incredible and I'm considering asking around if I can borrow one. You have to pull bricks from the tower when your scientist gains "burnout" and if your tower falls you fail. It has a complex system and it seems very cool.

Again a game more expensive on its own, so get it in the bundle!

Glyph is a sort of guide where you make sigils, it has a beautiful pdf as well. I like the method it provides. It recommends to be used for enrichment of other games, or just as a fun creative exercise

This bundle runs until the 9th of March 2024!

[yvesdot]

TRANS RIGHTS READATHON 2024

(March 22-29, 2024)

Since people have gotten ahead of me on reading my queer monster short story collection for Trans Rights Readathon, I figure I ought to introduce it. Something's Not Right is a collection of stories featuring a diverse cast of human and non-human characters struggling with what society thinks is right. There are stories about transphobia, stories about trans love, stories about casual hot trans roommates who help you deal with your problems (dealing blood to vampires and witches); whatever bizarre relationship to queerness you could imagine, it's in there.

Anyone who can't afford a copy and/or can't get one at their local library is welcome to contact me directly for a free e-copy, no questions asked. I also have thousands of words of free fiction available on my website, including two explicit novelettes (Long Line and Band Girls) both of which include trans characters.

And a week's worth of personal trans recommendations from my top reads of the last couple of years, should you need it anytime:

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

Females by Andrea Long Chu

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

The Third Person by Emma Grove

Other Ever Afters by Mel Gillman

decolonizing trans/gender 101 by b. binaohan

Bonus links: ko-fi | Patreon

[m3r1m4r5u333]

A quick tale of what it's been like, to be me, a queer, european fan of the tv-series 9-1-1!! Alternatively, "How to create a monster!"

I go on the internet, randomly hear about the show and it's queerness, immediately become interested because yay, that sounds super queer! Obviously the perfect show for me!

Of course I want to watch! I am basically target audience!! How can I watch,

take my money!!

So.. I try to find an easy, legal way to watch the show as soon as the episodes air!

... I find out that I can't.

I think ✨wtf✨

I keep searching for a way. Whoever the fuck makes these deals about how, where, and when to broadcast the show is like:

How about ✨no✨

You're not from the US so... Who cares about your money! Not us! You're european, that's only like an entire continent of potential viewers, why would we care about you?

Me: I know I'm not from the US but pleaaase I'd really, really like to watch this show!

As it airs, legally!!

See, I HAVE THE MONEY, I AM LITERALLY WILLING TO PAY FOR THIS!! You guys like money, right?!

Just please, please, give me a legal way to watch this show, as it airs!

Them:

Me: WHY?! C'mon, we live in modern times, why can't I watch this show sooner?

JUST GIMME THE SHOW,

TAKE MY PINK FUCKING MONEY!!!

I am your target audience, this show is super queer!

Them:

And so the years pass...

Then the series moves from Fox to ABC!!!

I feel a glimpse of ✨HOPE✨ Maybe... finally I can subscribe and watch the episodes legally, AS THEY AIR,

YOU KNOW,

LIKE SOMEONE FROM THE MODERN ERA, WITH AN INTERNET CONNECTION!!!

I try to find out if I can.

ABC: It's on Apple tv! 🤪

Me: What... even is Apple tv?! And what do you mean it's on Apple tv, I don't own an Apple device, I don't even own a freaking TELEVISION! How does that work?

Them:

Me: And are you even sure the show is really available to the Europeans?! I can't find it in my region. When is it available?

Them: Ooh, a squirrel! Nice talking to you, bye!

Me: Please, don't do this again, it would be so much easier and better for us both if I could just watch the show, as it airs, legally, and once again, I'm actually willing to ✨pay✨ for this option, I'd even pay you happily, as I genuinely want to support this content!

See, you get this money: 💸,

I get to watch: 👁️👁️. Win-win?

Them: Hmmph. Fine. European fans can watch it on Disney+👌

Me: Well is it available in my country though? When?

So... I go on my local Disney+ website. For some bizarre reason btw, it's not even in my country's most spoken language - No, the website is in swedish - which is the first language of only about 5% of my fellow finns. (We do learn swedish at school, but only for a couple of years nowadays, for most of us english is the stronger second language. English starts in 1st/2nd/3rd grade, swedish in like... 7th. So. I studied swedish yes, do I understand it? No.)

To my relief I notice there's an option to browse in english, I switch to english. The website is useless, Disney+ just vaguely promises lots of great content.

Me: WHAT content? When?

Disney+:

The information I find online is so poor that I finally turn to my fellow countrymen, and pester my friends to find out if there's someone with a Disney+ subscription who could tell me if the Disney+ in our region even broadcasts the show. A friend tells me yes, it does!

Does it release the episodes as they air? No. When will they air? Who knows! (As of today it only has season 6!)

Me: *screaming in frustration* Why won't anyone take my money!!!

The Show, probably:

Me: WHAT MESSAGE?

djdjdbnfnf What even is this show's and network's motto; be gay, do crime?!

Them:

Me: Why is there no option to watch this show legally as it airs! I am a fan, I am not immortal and endlessly patient!!!

Them:

Me: For fuck's sake I'm not twiddling my thumbs and growing a beard as I wait for an episode to drop in my region some random year in the future. I'll just find another (probably illegal) way to watch.

Anyway! I guess the only way I have to support the show right now is to honk about it like a demented goose, to let my freak flag fly to get it free promo.

Anyone actually stumbling on my tumblr, probably: *is very alarmed by the demented goose, backs off slowly*

The show: Yeah anyway, look, another Top Gun reference, how fun!

Me: Yes... I know the movie. I know how to tag myself here. I am Goose.

Some of the fans displeased with me, a bisexual, for not shipping Buck & Tommy:

You're not a real fan! And you are doing bisexuality wrong!

Me:

[beardedmrbean]

They say no good deed goes unpunished. 

An Oakland, California, City Council candidate, who is running for office on a platform of addressing the city’s homeless crisis and "skyrocketing levels of crime," said she had a bag full of donations stolen by a homeless woman during her campaign kickoff event on Sunday. To make matters worse, she said the police never showed up when she called 911.

Charlene Wang, who is running for the at-large seat in the California city, says the homeless woman grabbed the bag — which contained about $1,000 — at Clinton Square Park at around 4 p.m. Her team confronted the woman and pleaded with her to hand over the bag, but in the end, she made off with her ill-gotten gains, Wang said.

Video of the interaction shows Wang begging the disturbed woman to hand the bag back, but the homeless woman gets angry and refuses to turn it over.

"Can we just get the orange bag please," Wang asks politely to the woman. "When I'm done, y'all want me to take the s--- out so y'all can snatch it and run," she replies.

The homeless woman, who is wearing two hats, a toggle coat and untied sneakers, starts getting agitated and threatens a volunteer while shouting incoherently.

Another volunteer with Wang says he will give her $100 to hand over the bag, but she refuses and says she wants the $100 first. 

Then, Wang's team tried calling homeless services, but they were not available on the weekend, Wang says. They then called the police, who never showed up, having said there were 250 other calls ahead of their incident.

"The complete lack of response we saw from both mental health and police services was unacceptable," Wang told Fox News Digital. "I'm committed to hiring more police and improving mental health services to bring down response times and get people the help they need."

Wang told ABC7 that police told her they would still come by later to file a report, but she insisted that did not happen either.

"I very much tried to have a de-escalatory conversation with her to convince her to hand over the bag," Wang told ABC7. "Offer her a warm meal at the grocery store, even give her money in exchange for the bag, but that did not work out."

CALIFORNIA WOMAN HAD NEARLY $500K WORTH OF STOLEN GOODS FROM DRUG STORES: POLICE

"I can only imagine the trauma she is going through having to live on the streets. I am not angry at her or anything like that, however, I think this is yet another example of first responder service. I was left to fend for myself in an essence."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Oakland Police Department (OPD) for comment. 

Oakland has faced mounting issues such as housing costs, homelessness and crime in recent years, with Wang hoping to tackle these issues if elected. 

Wang is a Democrat who previously worked for the Biden-Harris administration in the Department of Transportation (DOT), although she is running in a nonpartisan election, and no candidates will have a party affiliation listed on the ballot.

"In this [DOT] role, I helped launch a pilot program at the Federal Highway Administration to make construction job training available to people who are coming home from prison," Wang told Fox News Digital. "Those kinds of programs cut people's odds of reoffending in half and are crucial pieces of the public safety puzzle."

Wang's main policy goals include addressing public safety, reducing the cost of living and implementing a "new strategy for homelessness," according to her website. Part of that strategy is to provide homeless people with housing, social services and a job with a new Oakland Corps program to clean up trash and plant trees with the goal of helping to turn their lives around.

In terms of crime, Wang plans to invest in technology and hire more police, noting that Oakland ranks among the nation's highest in terms of violent crime rates while the police force is "unusually small with far below the national average of police per capita."

"I plan to address the skyrocketing levels of crime and gun violence by investing in technology alongside community policing," Wang's website states.

Data released by the OPD in May reported that violent crime rates were down in the first part of the year, with crime down 33% overall. Burglaries had dropped 50%, while homicides had fallen by 17%, assaults were down 7% and rapes were down 21%.

However, a report by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Report claims that OPD is not comparing like with like when reporting its crime figures for Oakland, California, and thus, its perceived dip in crime is misleading. The publications argued the OPD was comparing incomplete 2024 crime tallies to complete 2023 crime tallies, since the 2024 figures take time to be finalized and have been historically under reported when comparing them in this manner.

[forest-is-sleepy]

Im opening up commissions and general purchase stuff. Both for my sewing and for 2d art.

I'll get info sheets made and stuff, but for now I have a list of what everything is, and have tried to provide photos for most stuff.

Here is my portfolio website as well.

http://sleepydesigns.co/

Dm me if you're interested, and we can discuss. I'll remake this post when i get better assets made. I'll take payment on paypal or cashapp. I also have venmo.

Here's a list of some of the stuff i make

Sewing

I make custom dice bags, those are 12-16 depending on the fabric and any add-ons. (Example: mine is embroidered, another has pearls and buttons on it) embroidery can be done but will cost more.

Scrunchies/hair ties. Most of them are cotton, but i make velvet and silk ones. Cotton is 3, velvet and silk are 4. You get a dollar off if you buy 2.

Customizable stuffed animals. You can pick the color, pattern, whatever. on these dolls, and they are made to order. The animals i have are a large dinosaur, large dragon, turtle, rabbit, dragon, and elephant. ( i think thats everything.) These all come with the date it was completed on its paw, so you know how old your new friend is.

Bumblebees!! These are little 7$ plushies that can sit on your desk or sleep with you, each one has a unique patten on its wing. It also comes with the date it was completed, so you know how old your new friend is.

Custom humanoid dolls. This can be from a photo of you or a loved one. Or you can send me art of your character. These are incredibly complex, detailed dolls, and i will work closely with you to make the doll. It's a long process that takes me several hours. As a result, these are at least $200. I only take one or two commissions for these a month at the moment.

I can take other commissions but we will have to discuss that.

Stickers

Potions. Each potion is completely unique. Each painted by me using India Inks. These paper stickers are in 3 different sizes. Small is 3, medium is 4, and large is 5. You can tell me what color you want, and if its not available in the size you want, i can likely make it.

Holographic spider's hat shop. This is a large vinyl Holographic sticker of a jumping spider wearing a water droplet hat, selling other tiny things for others to wear as hats. This sticker is $4. If i have any in may, there's mini paper ones for $2

Milkshake pride stickers. These are paper stickers meant to be semi-subtle pride flags. I have the following flags, and can add more. Lesbian, omni, bi, ace and aro, demisexual, demiromantic, pan, rainbow, nonbinary, trans, and intersex. These are $2 each. I also have a tiny sticker set of all of them for the same price.

Fairy. This fairy sticker is a paper sticker of a fairy holding a mushroom as an umbrella. It is $2

Frog with a tophat. This is a paper sticker of a cute little frog with a tophat. He's rather dapper. $2

Fox leaping. This is a paper sticker of a red fox. It is also $2

Red mushroom this paper sticker will not be remade, i have a few left. It's a cartoony red mushroom in some grass. It's $1.50

? Block i dont think i can really say what brand this is based on. It's a paper sticker. $1.50

Art commissions

It is probably worth mentioning that i have a BFA, so that does affect my pricing slightly (on my illustrative work)

I am flexible in style, and can do a fair number of stylized things. No realism.

$20 for a base sketch

$30 for basic shading

$45 for full shading/the works

Each character after that will be half the price.

A background will be $5-10 depending on how detailed it is. By default you get a plain background

[dertaglichedan]

I don’t know what Fox is thinking, considering how they have treated Tucker Carlson and his team. You drop your most popular host in a way that just antagonizes your viewers and shows no loyalty for all he has brought to the network.

Now, Fox is reportedly showing that same attitude toward the remaining people who had worked for Carlson but who were still working for the network until Friday.

According to Chadwick Moore, Carlson’s biographer, the remaining nine people who worked on Carlson’s show were going to be “frog marched” out of the building tonight after they finished the show on Friday. One former Carlson producer called it “Degrading!” Here’s the email that those people allegedly got:

EXCLUSIVE: @TuckerCarlson’s remaining team at Fox News (nine employees) will be frog marched out of the building tonight at 9:00pm. HR will be waiting outside the control room when they finish tonight’s show to escort the remaining producers outside. One former Carlson producer… pic.twitter.com/kQLVhkS0KS

— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) July 14, 2023

What’s the point in that besides trying to humiliate them? Do they think these people were going to do anything? That’s just treating your employees so poorly. Again, does Fox still want viewers? Because that’s not going to go over well with the folks who are already mad at them for cutting Tucker.

But Carlson may have the last laugh, as may the people who worked for him. We reported before that Carlson was working on the idea of starting a new media venture and now there are a lot more details.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former White House adviser Neil Patel are raising funds for a new media company that likely would use Twitter as its foundation, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

People familiar with the matter told the Journal the new company would run on subscriptions for longer versions of the free videos Carlson has been posting on Twitter for free since he was ousted from Fox News earlier this year.

The shorter videos will still be available for free for users on Twitter and other platforms, with subscriptions required for the longer videos in their entirety, people told the Wall Street Journal. [….]

Carlson and Patel are reportedly seeking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the company. The pair founded the conservative publication The Daily Caller in 2010 and were roommates at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

People familiar with the new project said Carlson’s team recently met with Twitter to talk over the endeavor, which would feature a website and mobile app and potentially air on other platforms beyond Twitter.

They’re looking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars and the word is they already have lined up some financial backers.

Fox sent Carlson a cease and desist letter, claiming he’s still under contract with them. But Carlson’s lawyer Harmeet Dhillon said he would “not be silenced by anyone.”

[someonelookingpraediti]

Subscription Box Comparison - 2023

This year, for my annual book box comparison (it’s happened two years in a row, that makes it annual) I’m comparing five subscription boxes: FairyLoot, OwlCrate, Illumicrate, Rainbow Crate, and A Year of Sanderson. I also received two book-only shipments, and a bonus box to share with you, which isn’t a book subscription: Witch Casket!

Let’s start with some of the boxes I didn’t include this year.  One of the companies I featured last year (Book Box Club) has gone out of business - this is something I predicted, because they weren’t any good. Other boxes I’m not including: The Bookish Box - I think this box looks really good, and I’d love to try it, but they don’t ship to the UK. I could use a third party courier, but it would be very expensive. Fox & Wit - this only comes with one item, so I’m not that invested in trying it, I prefer full boxes. And their website is really quite terribly designed - it’s difficult to navigate, and there never seems to be anything available on their UK site. LitJoy - I’ve tried the occasional one-off purchase from LitJoy, and I can’t deny their quality is amazing. But they persist in clinging to their infatuation to H*rryP*tt*r, which makes me very uncomfortable. They say that they support trans rights, and don’t condone the author’s actions, but their worship of the series says otherwise. In this case, actions really do speak louder than words. But even if they sorted that out - their products are just too expensive. Yes, they’re good quality, but they are incredibly overpriced. FaeCrate - I will never, never order from FaeCrate again. I ordered one box - it was over three months late to arrive, which is apparently very common, and their customer service was not just bad, but they were genuinely rude. When the box finally did arrive, it was just absolute tat, and the entire lot went in the bin. Even the book was uncustomised. And on top of that, there was an item that they’d not included, and a note saying that this item would be sent on to me later. I never heard from them again.

Keep scrolling for my comparison! I've updated my scorecard for this year, which I'm using to rate the books out of 20. Click the Box Name to see a full unboxing for each.

FairyLoot Theme: Eternal Featured Book: Seven Faceless Saints - M.K. Lobb Price (before shipping): £27.50 / $35.90 Total number of items: 4 Items I actually liked: 3 Book Customisation Rating: 12/20 Overall: This is usually one of my favourite boxes - but this month's was quite disappointing. FairyLoot is normally really good, but I have seen a drop in quality recently.

OwlCrate Theme: Let's Rewrite History Featured Book: Midnight Strikes - Zeba Shahnaz Price (before shipping): £29.08 / $35.99 Total number of items: 4 Items I actually liked: 3 Book Customisation Rating: 08/20 Overall: This box has improved massively since my last comparison, last year I was considering dropping this box, but now they're consistently good!

Illumicrate Theme: Live Like Legends Featured Book: Lies We Sing to the Sea - Sarah Underwood Price (before shipping): £27.00 / $35.00 Total number of items: 4 Items I actually liked: 3 Book Customisation Rating: 13/20 Overall: I switched to book-only for half the year, but I went back to the full box as their item quality improved. They're still hit and miss, but vastly improved on last year.

Rainbow Crate Theme: Protect Your Own Featured Books: Ravensong - Cayla Fay and I am Not Your Chosen One - Evelyn Benvie Price (before shipping): £37.95 / $46.97 Total number of items: 2 Items I actually liked: 0 Book #1 Rating: 01/20 Book #2 Rating: 10/20 Overall: This is the first time I'm trying this box, and it'll be the last. Although you get two books, only one is properly customised. And there are only two items, neither of which were much good.

A Year of Sanderson Theme: Cytoverse Featured Book: none Price (before shipping): £32.32 / $40.00 Total number of items: 3 Items I actually liked: 1 Book Customisation Rating: N/A Overall: This one-off Yearly subscription was a complete rip off, and it's made me lose faith in one of my favourite authors. This box comes with either a book or box, and the quality is vastly lacking. It's hugely overpriced, and I've been nothing but disappointed.

This year there are also two upcoming subscriptions that I’m eager to try. There’s a sucker born every minute and, apparently, that sucker is me. One is the new OwlCrate Adult subscription that they’re currently working on. The shipping to the UK makes OwlCrate expensive for me, but I'll definitely try getting both boxes for a while, if I can afford it. The appeal of this is that it's a full box, unlike the FairyLoot Adult subscription, which is book-only. The other is the new Illumicrate Horror subscription. I’m keen to try something other than a Fantasy book subscription, and usually the only options are Romance or Spice, neither of which I’m interested in. This is book only, which is disappointing, but it’s a quarterly subscription, which is more manageable!

The two book-only options I received this month are FairyLoot Adult, and a three-month delayed Sanderson book from January.

FairyLoot Adult Theme: Rotten Opulence Featured Book: The Foxglove King - Hannah Whitten Price (before shipping): £20.00 / $28.00 Book Customisation Rating: 13/20 Overall: I've started skipping months for this subscription, and will probably end up dropping it soon. The books are nice, but they come faster than I can read them, and it doesn't seem as good value without the items, even though it's cheaper.

A Year of Sanderson Theme: Secret Project #1 Featured Book: Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson Price (before shipping): £32.32 / $40.00 Book Customisation Rating: 03/20 Overall: I've made my thoughts quite clear on the overpricing of this subscription. For this month, we only received a book with no items. It was advertised as a "premium" hardback, which it absolutely is not. It's nice, but not worth the amount they've charged.

The last box I'm going to share isn't a book subscription at all! But honestly, it's so thoughtfully put together, and such good value for money, that I had to include it in this comparison post!

The box is "Witch Casket", and as the title suggests, it's a witch-themed subscription box. I've tried boxes with similar themes before, and always been disappointed, but this one blew me away so much that I've decided to make it a regular subscription!

It had an incredible twelve items, all of them exclusives, rather than the wholesale purchase stuff I've received in previous witchy boxes. You often get spell ingredients, candles, crystals, enamel pins, tea blends, incense. Such brilliant value for money - if this also included a book, it would be a perfect box!

[rebeccawangart]

A look back on 2022

I will typically do a blog article at the end of the year talking about all the paintings I did in the year and my plans for the following year. Since this is my first year on Tumblr I thought I would post it here as well for anyone who cares to read my drivel.

2022 was a hell of a year. I completed 19 pet portrait paintings on canvas, 8 pet portrait ornaments, and 4 original paintings (with plans to make at least one more before the year is over!) The ornaments are something new which I added a few months ago, and thought it was a nice addition to my pet portrait offerings. I am already booked into April of 2023 for portraits! I did my very first chameleon commissioned painting, thanks to my sponsorship of the wonderful Chameleon Forums, and already have two more scheduled for next year, which I am eager to paint. I created a wonderful original painting of a capybara which has become my most popular work of this year, as well as a box turtle, another red fox, and a polar bear.

The natural color style really seems to have taken off this year, with almost half of the 19 customers requesting that style. This is a deviation from my typical style, which is using bright colors on both the pets and the backgrounds. A couple of years ago, my most frequent customer requested that I paint some of her portraits with more natural colors with colorful backgrounds, and I thought it was a nice change. After doing a few of these I decided to add it to my choices for customers in the hopes that maybe it would encourage more sales of portraits. Maybe not all customers want bright rainbow colors but like my style anyway. In 2020 I did two portraits like this, and again in 2021. But this year for some reason about half of the customers wanted that style, so I think it was a good decision to add the style choice.

Etsy Store News

My Etsy Store has been doing very well this year. I changed my blanket printer, and the new blankets are much thicker and softer than the old ones. They also offer two sided printing, which is spectacular, and was an often requested option from my customers! I also added 15oz accent mugs to the 11oz listings, and added some more color options. I added several new holographic sticker designs, including the infamous capybara, gecko, peacock, panda, tiger, and mandalas. I added die-cut magnets, which are cut out to the shape of the animal. There are cool new ceramic ornaments as well, most of which are available in circle and heart shaped. Garden Flags seem to be a popular product, and make great gifts! I added a few wall tapestries as well, and will add more with time. I also have three cool holographic art prints which have a crystal shard effect. This was a unique find a few months ago when I saw another artist selling these prints, and I found the company that makes them and got a few to start.

The Upending of the Normal

This year has been a never-ending shit show for artists all over the internet. I myself have not been immune to the shit storm this year. Personally, I have had to close down two long standing accounts, move my website, and deal with the Twitter fallout by opening two new social media accounts. It honestly feels like the entire internet just collectively took a massive shit on artists this year, and I am so tired of it.

New Webhost

First, my website. I have had a website in some form since 1996 when it was hosted by Geocities. In 2000 I created my own hosted website with my own domain name. My site had gone through countless iterations in the past 22 years, from self-taught HTML, to plug-and-play templates, to a Wordpress site. Websites have changed a lot since the early days, and it is hard to keep up with all the changes. I have always been on top of security and safety, and am very careful with how my website is set up. That being said, my former webhost was constantly sending me emails saying that I was over limits, which is impossible, as this site is tiny and uses very few resources. They refused to help me diagnose the problem, so after 22 years I jumped ship to another webhost and could not be happier. It was a hard decision at first, but I am glad I left.

Closing Zazzle Store

Next, I had to close my Zazzle store permanently. I have had that shop since the early days of 2008, and was one of the mass-exodus from CafePress at the time. I have generally been extremely happy with the site and their products. But I can no longer recommend them to any of my artist friends. They have made a series of changes over the years which has really hurt artists and designers on that site, and I almost left in 2020 when they made changes that really impacted the quality of the site. They implemented banner ads for one, which make the site look like a trashy scam site and additionally steer customers away from buying products on the site. Not to mention most of the ads were for actual scam and illegal sites! They introduced collaborations and custom backgrounds, which took away a huge portion of the original designers income from that sale. They also had an issue with products continuing to be allowed to be purchased if the product was a customized one, even if the original product had been deleted.

But the straw that broke the camel's back was the removal of the watermark, the increased size of the preview images by almost double, and the implementation of allowing customers to download a full resolution digital copy of the artwork. The changes basically enable thieves to take designs from the site wholesale. I already have tons of problems with copyright infringement, I don't need to compound it. Not to mention the major lawsuit that Zazzle is facing in regards to possibly illegally obtaining the fonts they use in their product design tools.

So I made the difficult decision to close my store earlier this year. Which really sucks because it actually made me a decent amount of money, their products were great and unique, and their design editor was unparalleled.

Closing my DeviantArt and Artstation Accounts

I have been with DeviantArt since 2006. While they have made changes which have upset the artist community, none compares to the bullshit they puled last month. Not only are they doing nothing to stop the massive influx of AI art on their platform, they are encouraging it by having their own in house AI "art" generator called Dream Up which uses the controversial LAION-5B database that StableDiffusion and other platforms use. This database scraped the internet of 2.3 BILLION copyrighted images without artists consent to train their algorithm, which means the database is highly unethical and rife with theft. Due to this, I abandoned my DeviantArt site and just left up my links.

At the time of writing this article, ArtStation is pulling similar shenanigans, so I have closed that account as well. They have made it explicitly clear in their terms of service that they support AI "art", and will not ban it from the site. They are also shutting off comments of artists who are protesting. And apparently earlier this year they were also deleting posts about supporting Ukraine from their site. So I am done with them now too.

Social Media

I will not get into the Twitter issue here, since it has been discussed ad nauseum for the past several months and I am honestly tired of hearing about it. I hear worse and worse news about it every day. I honestly don't want to leave Twitter because it has been a major factor in driving traffic to my Etsy store, especially since Pinterest took a dump 2 years ago and stopped working for me. But will leave if the dumpster fire gets more severe. It will not be a big loss to me.

So in preparation for that, I have opened two new accounts: Tumblr and Mastodon. I actually had a Tumblr account many years ago, but closed it due to inactivity. Mastodon is very new to me, and so far I have liked the experience. I am stretched kind of thin right now so I think that is enough social sites for the time being.

Reopening TeePublic

I reopened my TeePublic store after it was closed for a year and a half. I originally closed it since I was not getting many sales. Also I really dislike the interface for uploading new art. It is cumbersome, and tedious, and the inability to select different files for each product means that I had to upload new "designs" for different products, meaning a lot of duplications in my store. But since I closed my Zazzle store I needed to make up for the loss of income so I thought I would give it another shot. So far it seems to be doing ok.

Conclusion and Hopes for Next Year

My plans for next year are to basically continue what I am doing already. This year saw so many changes as it is, and I am not really antsy for any other major changes at the moment. I will be actively making spaces in my schedule for original art, which has become a very important part of my portfolio. I will continue to offer portraits, and as always improve my skills and hone my style.

I will be monitoring my Society6 store this upcoming year. It may be on the chopping block if it fails to turn around. I do not have plans to open any more e-commerce stores next year. Instead I will be focusing on driving traffic to my existing stores, as well as adding products and new designs to my Etsy store.

And that is all. Hope everyone has a great new year!

[poeisabellebolton]

I also read through an article about the bake off contestant that baked roadkill into his pies. Personally, I think it’s good that he was trying to be sustainable and that otherwise it would just be a waste however, roadkill is often important food for things like birds of prey or foxes and I’d be worried that the roadkill was diseased or had been sick with something that can affect people.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3239108/Bake-fans-cry-fowl-creepy-Ian-s-ro adkill-pies.html

http://www.sweeneyandtodd.co.uk/pies/

Another thing that I researched was Sweeney Todd pies, they have a website where they have all of the flavours in their pies including “Vicars”. I think that, much like the “Sweeney’s” flavour pie, that it’s just a signature flavour but because of its name it makes you think otherwise.

Something else that I researched was Burke and Hare. They didn’t eat any of their victims but it made me think about what goes into a normal meat pie. I actually didn’t previously know the story of what they did so this article was really useful and quite interesting.

[dankusner]

Reports: Biden ‘garbage’ transcript altered

Stenographers objected to changing document

WASHINGTON – White House press officials reportedly altered the official transcript of a call in which President Joe Biden appeared to disparage supporters of former President Donald Trump, according to published reports.

The change to the official transcript drew objections from the stenographers who are charged with documenting the president’s remarks for posterity, The Associated Press reported, citing two government officials and an internal email obtained by the news agency. Fox News said it also had confirmed the existence of the email.

The revelation comes as the White House is dealing with the uproar caused by Biden’s remarks, which sparked a backlash among outraged Republicans and created a political dilemma for Vice President Kamala Harris just days before the Nov. 5 election.

Biden made the remark during a Zoom call on Tuesday with Voto Latino, an organization encouraging Latino and Hispanic youth to become politically engaged.

On the call, Biden denounced offensive jokes that podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend.

'Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’' Biden said.

He added that the only 'garbage' he saw 'floating out there' were supporters, though it was unclear if he was referring just to Hinchcliffe or all of Trump’s fans.

The White House released a transcript of Biden’s remarks Tuesday night that added an apostrophe to Biden’s quote, which made it read

'supporter’s'

instead of

'supporters.'

White House aides insisted the president was referring to Hinchcliffe, not all Americans who support the former president.

The change to the transcript was made after the press office 'conferred with the president,' according to an internal email from the head of the stenographers’ office that was obtained by the AP.

The news organization said it confirmed the authenticity of the email by two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The supervisor, in the email, said the press office’s handling of the matter amounted to 'a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices,' the AP said.

'If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently,' the supervisor wrote, adding, 'Our Stenography Office transcript – released to our distro, which includes the National Archives – is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff.'

The stenographers office is charged with providing accurate transcripts of the president’s public and private remarks.

Those transcripts are distributed to the public and the National Archives for preservation.

The AP said the two-person stenography team on duty the evening of Biden’s call – a 'typer' and 'proofer' – said any edit to the transcript would have to be approved by their supervisor, the head of the stenographers’ office.

The supervisor was not immediately available to review the audio, but the press office went ahead and published the altered transcript on the White House website and distributed it to press and on social media in an effort to tamp down the story, AP reported.

The supervisor, a career employee of the White House, raised the concerns about the press office action – but did not weigh in on the accuracy of the edit – in an email to White House communications director Ben LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other press and communications officials, the AP reported.

Biden posted a message on X on Tuesday night attempting to clarify his remarks.

'Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage – which is the only word I can think of to describe it,' he wrote.

'His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.'

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates posted the edited version of the quote on X and wrote that Biden was referring 'to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’'

Asked for comment, Bates provided a statement Thursday night to USA TODAY that did not address whether the transcript had been changed.

'The president confirmed in his tweet on Tuesday evening that he was addressing the hateful rhetoric from the comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally,' the statement said.

'That was reflected in the transcript.'

Biden’s comment was met with outrage by Republican lawmakers and Trump himself.

Trump, speaking Tuesday at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, described Biden’s remarks as 'terrible' and compared them to Hillary Clinton’s comments calling some of Trump’s supporters 'deplorables' in 2016.

Harris also took issue with Biden’s comments, telling reporters that while the president clarified his remarks, she does not agree with criticisms of voters based on whom they’re supporting.

Meanwhile, House Republicans raised concerns the White House may have violated the Presidential Records Act by revising the transcript of Biden’s remarks.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, sent a letter Wednesday to White House Counsel Edward Siskel demanding that all documents and internal communications related to Biden’s statement and the inaccurate transcript be retained and preserved.

The lawmakers also called on the White House to issue a corrected transcript containing the accurate wording.

'White House staff cannot rewrite the words of the President of the United States to be more politically on message,' the letter said.

'Though President Biden’s relevance continues to diminish, his words continue to matter, even as they become increasingly divisive and erratic.