#but it's been bugging me for a while now

[pilots-and-protons]

Niche Hot Take

If you’ve watched Voyager and are making a poll about Tom Paris in any way relating to him being:

1: A good or bad Person/Character

2: A good or bad Father/Husband

I think you shouldn’t be using photos of him from “Caretaker”. The man we see in the pilot episode is at the very beginning of a long character growth. He’s at his lowest, and certainly not the Tom Paris who learned and grew enough to become a loyal friend, loving husband, and someone looking forward to being a father. 

I just feel like using Season 1 photos of Tom seems like it’s going to intentionally bias people towards remembering/thinking of him badly.

I mean come on, this:

And this:

Have completely different vibes. At least play the middle ground and go for a photo from Season 3 or 4. It would be like if someone only ever used Season 1 baby-faced photos of Riker. It just feels like looking at something half-baked.

and if you’re gonna put Tom in the DILF bracket, should’ve at least picked a photo from “Threshold” or Season 7 since that’s when he's actually a father.

[spoonyglitteraunt]

This is actually something that's been bugging me each time I see a post about walkable cities pass by. In theory I like the idea. More green, less traffic. I like some nature around. So what's wrong, right? Seems idyllic.

Well, the fact that I'm homebound. The fact that if I want or need to get somewhere going from my front door to the car right next to it, and then going somewhere by said car, stopping in front of the building and using a wheelchair to get into the building is about the only way for me to get anywhere. And even that is too much some days. Especially because parking spaces are less and less common.

So all these walkable city ideas just become even less traversable for me. Because I can't move myself in the wheelchair. Someone has to push me. And my parents are ageing and are also less and less able to go long distances. Heck my mother herself has knee issues that prevent her walking very far. She couldn't go to my niece's performance, because the only way to get to the theatre was parking ten minutes away and then walking an underground tunnel to the building. Because, and here is the thing, they made the city centre car free. Walkable. So where does that leave us? Where does that leave a lot of people?

People keep going, oh but if everything is within easy walking distance it's fine, there is no issue. Easy distance for who?

Some even do think of disabled people and argue oh but we'll make accessible walkways and public transport. That's nice and good plan. But those don't mean much if the problem isn't limited to long distance mobility. No one can take a train to go two streets over. And while decent walkways make pushing someone easier it doesn't change the distance needed to go.

So unless you're also entirely overhauling capitalism and the way people with disabilities get aid, that's not going to solve all issues. Do you know the hoops you have to jump through and cost associated with an electric chair? Which is about the only thing you could potentially maybe replace a car with in walkable cities. But also not entirely, because my brainfog and spatial awareness issues makes traversing itself hard as well. I would love to live in a world where everyone can walk and there is no need for vehicles of any kind other than long distance. But unless you can solve a lot of disabilities and overhaul the rest of society, you're leaving people out in the cold. Or rather, locked in their homes. The disabled, the sick, the elderly. People who seem to just be considered an acceptable loss to many. And that's not ok.

I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm saying it takes a lot more than cars bad, walking good. And most people never get past that.

I study sustainability and part of my degree involves studying green architecture. I am also a wheelchair user. Walkable cities are ableist.

When people hear "walkable cities are ableist" and immediately retaliate they are usually thinking of a theoretical ideal for cities that isn't currently being put into practice. The problem is, there are new, walkable cities being built across the globe and they are not taking disabled people into consideration. These cities are not theoretical.

These communities are usually being built on privately owned land which can give them exemptions from having things as basic as paved sidewalks and roads. Most of these cities had gravel or dirt pathways, and all of them had large curbs or steps leading to the entrances of buildings. Even when sidewalks were present, the buildings were all multistory, which is necessary for a space to be walkable, however, none of the buildings had elevators. There was not a single community shown that I could actually live in.

The able-bodied people in my classes were consistently appalled by the lack of accessibility because I kept pointing it out. None of them had considered accessibility before I was in the class, and several were majoring in architecture.

If walkable cities were built with disabled people in mind then yes, they'd be hugely beneficial to disabled people, but walkable cities aren't just dreams for the future they are being built right now, and they are being built to keep us out. Walkable cities are ableist.

[gray-warden]

I just realized I never posted photos of this really pretty harvestman i came across a while back. Note the green pedipalps and the dark and light spots on its back.

[lilybug-02]

You’re making a lot of promises there Chara…

Part 24 || First || Previous || Next

—Full Series—

I enjoyed doing this little Flashback scene. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled freakout session soon. Having monochrome color is very nice.

Here is a gif of Chara spilling their water because YES. And I spent way too long on it :)

Wow technology is so cool.

[kyonshi-8610]

lifes fleetin do whteve yu want & die 2be a buttrfly aftrwrds

Ta p in to no blurry

[viperwhispered]

Rest

Guess what? I've got more Jamil x reader for y'all. You can also find this on ao3. No warnings, just 866 words of kinda fluffy(?) caretaking stuff with gender-neutral reader.

At this point, you know Jamil’s schedule almost as well as he does. So, when you have the chance, you head to Scarabia’s kitchen, hoping to spend some time with Jamil while he and the other students prepare dinner. 

However, when you enter, it takes you but a moment to notice Jamil’s uncharacteristic fumbling and the tired look in his eyes. The way Jamil’s chopping the vegetables has you worried about him cutting himself with that knife he’s usually so adept with, and it seems it’s only force of habit that’s keeping him on track.

You frown, and when your eyes meet Jamil’s, you can already see him put his guard up.

So he knows what state he is in, huh? And still, here he is.

It seems Jamil is reading your thoughts, all of him telling you drop it before any words are even said.

At least he still lets you lean in and give a quick kiss to his cheek in greeting.

“Hello love. Do you still have a lot on your agenda for today?” you ask, keeping your tone low for at least some semblance of privacy in the busy kitchen.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” is the response you get.

Of course.

It takes a little more pestering before Jamil actually answers your question. Your lips purse. That list is far too long to your liking.

You take a moment to think, juggling your own plans and to-do list against the urgency of the things Jamil mentioned.

“Will Kalim be eating from that?” you ask, pointing at the food Jamil is preparing.

“Yes.”

“Alright, I won’t be touching that one, then. I’ve gotta do a few things but I’ll be back when you’re done here.”

“Don’t,” Jamil says with a glare, clearly aware of what you’re thinking.

Yet even his disapproving look doesn’t have the usual weight behind it.

“Yes. I will,” you say firmly, even as your heart curls inwards with another bout of concern.

Really, when did he get so tired?

And how did you not notice it earlier?

You leave the kitchen before Jamil can protest further, hurrying through the dorm corridors to find Kalim.

Soon you have an enthusiastic – and concerned – supporter for your plans. You have Kalim point out a few reliable Scarabia students to help with a few of the most urgent matters Jamil mentioned – cleaning up the common areas, delivering some paperwork to Crowley, preparing some dorm-wide notices – while you see to Kalim getting his school supplies in order for the following day. You even recruit a couple of third years to help Kalim with his homework.

You’ll see to the rest tomorrow – after all, you do also have a boyfriend to look after.

Your conversation over dinner can hardly be called anything else than an argument – despite Kalim’s best attempts at acting as a moderating force between you two. It is very tempting to ask Kalim to tell Jamil to take the rest of the day off – it’s not like Jamil would be willing to openly disobey a direct order. Still, you really don’t need to remind Jamil of his position on top of everything else that you’re already doing more or less against his wishes.

Eventually, however, Jamil’s had a square meal, the most urgent things on his to-do list are being taken care of, and you’ve managed to drag him to his bed.

“I really wish you wouldn’t push yourself so hard,” you murmur, your arms wrapped tightly around Jamil. You’re telling yourself you really do just want to cuddle, to offer some respite to Jamil. Still, there might also be a part of you worried that if you were to let go, he’d just jump up and get back to working himself to the bone.

Yet, for all his protestations, just the fact that you’ve gotten Jamil to lay down with you speaks volumes of his current exhaustion.

“I can’t just leave my duties, albi. You know this.”

“Making yourself too indispensable, is what you’re doing,” you protest.

Oh, you know it’s not so simple. Not with his background, not with all the expectations and assumptions.

But sometimes you really wish it would be.

Jamil merely scoffs in response to your words.

Still, it is undeniable that he is slowly beginning to relax in your arms, slowly bringing his head closer to yours. His eyes are starting to flutter, too.

“I will still need to help Kalim with his homework, at the very least.”

You wonder who he is trying to convince more, you or himself.

“Amin and Khalil are helping him. They’re basically top of their classes, aren’t they? I’m sure they’ve got it.”

Still, Jamil frowns.

You sigh. He really is not letting go, is he?

“Do you want me to go supervise?” you ask.

And leave you, unsaid yet hanging there right after your words.

“Don’t,” Jamil eventually says, the word barely more than a breath.

It seems he has accepted his fate.

You softly caress Jamil’s hair, listening to his softening breathing.

And when you wake up, wholly unaware of having been lulled to sleep in the first place, it’s to the lightest of touches from Jamil’s fingers.

Tagging @diodellet @twstgo @crystallizsch @jamilvapologist @jamilsimpno69 as per request If you'd like to be tagged for any future works, let me know!

[ratatatastic]

in the champs hat he begged the team to make AND his own lacer hood... in his element im afraid...

[obscenicon]

YIKES!!!!!

[deoidesign]

Someone killed my boss last night and he sent me this I'm so fired

god I can't wait to make this comic.

[thebugthatruinsyourpicnic]

okay im gonna say something annoying

paul matthews wasn't cloned at least 23 times

he was cloned at least 22 times

if you were to clone paul, the first clone made would be 'paul 2', not 'paul 1'

the second would be 'paul 3', the third 'paul 4' and so on

so 'paul 23' is the 22nd clone

[sleepinglionhearts]

Give you 3 guesses what fiancée is playing rn

[theswedishpajas]

[Mii Maker Music]

!!Find the palette in this thread!!

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

Hello! So i know that I am WAY! less knowleged than u re: asiof but I have a question about the Prophecy (AA/PTWP). I did a deep dive on it and GRRM spoke repeately about handling prophecy carefully/not too literally etc 3 weeks ago at Oxford he repeated: "you cannot have a prophecy that comes true way it was written and everbody understands it(..) it has to come true in a way you didnt understand(..)so it bites you in the ass" So rather than "who has the most obvious PTWP clues" shouldnt we theorize "how will the idea of AA/PTWP backfire on the believers" or "how can a unique/unpreditable element fill the role"? Since Im assuming GRRM stance will likely apply to the biggest prophecy in the books. What do you think? do you know theories like that? If anything, I only see "the prophecy is just nonsense!!" but that is clearly also not what GRRM says: not prophecy is bogus but has to be unexpected or "bite you in the ass".

Hey! No, you're far too kind 😭

I completely agree with you, and you raise some interesting and important questions, especially when considering how these ideas reflect back on our protagonists.

The tricky thing with interpreting prophecy is that the characters are operating on second-hand, third-hand, or even more distant accounts, all filtered through their cultural understandings of what a hero should be. Their beliefs are shaped by the information available to them, which is often incomplete or distorted. This means each character's idea of who is the subject of prophecy is largely subjective, influenced by their biases and specific cultural narratives and thus might never present the whole truth! So as readers, we should be very cautious about how we interpret the declarations presented by any character as absolute truth. We will probably never know until the final book is published, and even then it might be murky at best.

I saw GRRM’s comments a few days ago, and they really resonated with me because they align with how I’ve been feeling lately, particularly regarding Melisandre's role in all of this:

“[…] It is written in prophecy as well. When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone.” (Davos III, ASoS)

It's often amusing in fandom to discuss how wrong Melisandre is, and she certainly is almost all the time. But lately, I've been wondering: what if we're wrong too? We focus so much on Melisandre misidentifying Azor Ahai, but what if she completely misunderstands her own role in all of this—and we're too blinded to notice it?

Because the issue isn't just that she's chosen the wrong person. The bigger problem is that she's fixated on providing what she believes are the necessary tools to defeat the Others. She wants to "wake dragons out of stone”, repeatedly asserting that "two kings" are needed to wake the dragon so they can serve Stannis Baratheon. This thinking leads to the burning of Shireen—because someone must die to forge the hero's weapon. Melisandre even sees herself as expendable in this grand scheme. But what if her entire understanding is flawed—not just about who the hero is, but about the very dragon she is trying to awaken?

I've been considering all this because "dragons" in the text don’t always refer to actual winged creatures—they're often symbolic descriptors for Targaryens in visions. For example, Moqorro's visions show dragons old and young, true and false; Baelor Breakspear appears as a dragon falling on top of Dunk; and a dragon egg hatching essentially symbolizes Aegon V. So if we're taking prophecy at face value, just as Mel does, we're left wondering where in seven hells she expects to find her "sleeping dragons".

But the thing is, she already has one: Jon Snow. In fact, her visions in Dance suggest that Jon is the one she is truly searching for. And I often think of these visions as moments where I go, "Oh, come on, Mel! It's not that guy; it's the other one!" Yet I've come to realize that even if she identifies Jon correctly, Mel would still face the dilemma of needing another sacrifice to "wake" Jon's dragon. However, she is likely to resurrect Jon before reconnecting with Stannis, which means that by the time she and Stannis consider burning Shireen, she may have already awakened the dragon - and thus fulfilled the prophecy.

If Jon is the awakened dragon, that adds a tragic irony to the whole situation with Mel and Shireen. Legend has it that the woman (Nissa Nissa) dies for the hero’s glory. But if Jon is the dragon, then does that make Melisandre Azor Ahai in this case? After all, we don't know much about the original prophecy so who knows how much it has been distorted over time?

But wouldn't that be such a twist? Mel isn’t a noble lady or royal; she's a former slave, a mere priestess—a tool, a guide, but not the hero. She never considered that she, a woman, could be R’hllor’s chosen. Yet she would perform an actual miracle in bringing a dragon back to life. And if, like me, you believe that Jon will be born from a funeral pyre (inverting Khal Drogo and Dany's dragon eggs), then the prophecy is turned entirely on its head.

This also raises the question: what about Shireen? What does she, an innocent little girl, die for? Why should she have to die for a dragon that is already living? Why should she have to die to exalt a false hero, when the true miracle worker is actually the "expendable" woman who stands before her? Then we have Melisandre carry the baggage of killing a child for something she had successfully completed before...It doesn't matter if she's able to perform some bastardized miracle and create a shadow dragon, because it would all be all for naught and a wasted effort. To me, this is more satisfying from a character development perspective because Melisandre is no longer a background character. She’s got POV chapters now, which means she has an arc that needs to reach its natural conclusion. It cannot begin and end in service of the men around her. She must reflect on her role and come to terms with her actions—both good (waking the dragon in Jon) and bad (sacrificing Shireen for something she had already accomplished and for a prophecy she had already fulfilled); and this could lead to some compelling writing. This might also answer your question about "how will the idea of AA/PTWP backfire on the believers?”. Because “incorrect” interpretations not only hinder progress, but the cost of human life is perhaps too high :/

Oops, so sorry for the long tangent.....

[salvadorbonaparte]

Can we talk about how two of the big name language learning sites (Duolingo and Memrise) have both simultaneously lost in quality and are trying to completely change their own thing so much that they're nearly unusable now

[clutch-nixon]

I'm gonna say it: there'd be a lot less vitriol towards Sydcarmy if it was an m/m ship, especially if it was another attractive white man. 😒 For example put a man like Luca (sorry for dragging you into this babe) and put him in a Sydcarmy scene like the one under the table or the panic attack without changing anything. I bet it'd SUDDENLY make sense to them. 🙄

[coridallasmultipass]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BESTEST WIDDLE SNAKEY WAKEY.

I can't believe my son is 18!! I estimated a birth date for him to be about a month before I got him in fall of 2006, since he was such a widdle month-old baby sneky. I always try to get a good birthday pic of him - especially after he eats and gets the good yawns in.

Pretty soon, he'll be off to snake college, for snakes. Dunno how we're gonna afford those ssssnudent loans.

Image description below the cut:

First photo is an albino corn snake (species name: Pantherophis guttatus) peeking out from behind a fake flower on a rocky hide (a house inside the tank where reptiles can feel secure and hidden). The snake is flicking his tongue out. Only his head is visible in the photo. Caption on the photo reads: Demo's 18th birthday. August 9, 2024.

Next photo is the same snake, but in a clear, close-up, detail photo. Each scale is clearly defined. He has red eyes and pink cheeks, and pale white patterns on an off-white body. The scales on his head are shaped to follow the different planes of his face. The scales on his neck (and body, not shown) are uniform and scallop-shaped.

The next three photos are sequential. The same snake appears with his mouth barely open. Then, his mouth is wide open in a yawn. His cheeks look so smooshy. His head is shaped the way a snap hairclip opens, curved upwards, and it's funny and cute. His mouth has ridges inside, but no teeth or fangs are visible (because his teeth are too tiny to be photographed politely, and he does not have any fangs). The last photo in the sequence has the snake with his mouth still open, but the top of his head is a normal shape again as he begins to end the yawn.