#in which no conclusions are reached

[mrvelocipede]

I recently tried knitting a small doily from a chart that I don't know where it came from. I have several folders full of stuff like this, that I downloaded years ago, back when Google search still worked. It appears to be a scan from an old magazine.

I'd pulled this one out because it didn't have very many rounds, and I wanted something small and quick. Ha ha. It's turned into a much more extensive project, during which I've changed the bind-off, redesigned some of the chart, and knit three different versions of the thing, with at least one more planned.

I've been doing four chart repeats, instead of the three that are indicated by the photo, but even with that I've been able to knit each of them in less than a day, in between doing a bunch of other things. Which has me thinking about time and money.

If I assume four hours at $7.25 per hour, that's $29. At $15 an hour, I'm up to $60. The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics optimistically tells me a Craft Artist might make as much as $20 an hour. Wow, my small doily might be worth eighty bucks!

Except, obviously, no one is going to pay $80 for a small knitted doily. Probably no one is even going to go for the modest $29. The only likely way to make a couple of bucks on this thing is if I can manage to write, publish, and promote a pattern, and sell it to people who want to knit their own. If I can sell sixteen copies of a pattern at five bucks apiece, I'm back up to $80 again.

But writing the pattern with enough information that someone can knit from it confidently, which means including a lot more information than that bare chart and murky finished photograph, means many more hours and days of work.

And I'm not especially wanting to make money from this. Mainly, I wanted a mat to go under my teapot, now that I've knitted a tea cozy for it, and I figured I might as well knit one. But it sure has given me a lot of not-very-useful thoughts about capitalism and mass production and the perceived value of objects.

[egophiliac]

Have you heard of the "Crowley is Malleus' dad" theory going around? Where Prince Levan (or whatever his name is) didn't actually die and just went out to get some milk and is now known as Dire Crowley, the silly man? The implications of that theory is absolutely hilarious when you think about it

hold on, we can figure this out, we just need LISTS

PROS THAT CROWLEY IS SECRETLY REVAAN/LEVAN/LAVERNE/WHATEVER:

unspecified fae of some kind, with similar coloring to Mal

the animal masks are apparently a Briar Valley thing

has some kind of big blackmailable secret that was alluded to in episode 4, and then as far as I know never brought up again

(unless this was just Azul bullshitting, which is extremely possible)

based on Diablo, which...maybe means something?

has canonically worn Dad Shorts

CONS:

(gestures to Crowley's entire personality)

NO LISTEN Revaan was the guy they sent off on diplomatic missions and to take care of delicate political situations, and...look, I love this dweeb, but would you trust Crowley to be in charge of negotiating your war treaties

despite my brain insisting on reading his name as "Raven", Revaan's title does imply that he was also a dragon (or super into longan berries, I'm not ruling that out)

currently unclear why Lilia "my closest friend Revaan...he is no longer with us...I used to make fun of him for being kind of a priss about eating jerky..." Vanrouge has somehow not noticed or said anything

Malleus' Aloof Anime ~Aristocrat~ vibe had to come from somewhere, and by all accounts it was NOT his mom's side of the family

???:

turns into a bird in the opening, I don't know if that means anything but it's kinda cool, I guess

all that aside, if Malleus and Yuu are any indication, then the Draconias have...questionable taste in their social choices. so anything is possible!

[stil-lindigo]

bedside bouquet.

--

a sapphic comic about a village girl and the fae she fell in love with.

creative notes:

[transmasccofee]

honestly one of my fav things that isn’t ever talked about with Kusuo is that he is honestly when you actually examine him, a pretty normal teenager. He’s insecure, he cares a lot about his mom and is scared of making her mad, he gets invested in other peoples drama, he dislikes PE, he hates being spoiled for things, he has an embarrassing crush that his friends judge him for, he has an awkward relationship with his dad and fights with his brother, he wants to be protected.

Like underneath all the unfamiliar stuff, he is honestly Just Some Guy.

[j-august]

"I sometimes wonder," said Francis Crawford, "if I only exist to be sacrificed to."

Dorothy Dunnett, Checkmate

[cherryblossomchronicles]

I'm halfway through the show, Queen of Tears, and something that I've seen floating across is the anti Hyun Woo sentiment regarding how he treated Hae In initially and was just trying to do it all for the will.

Something to understand here is that in situations such as his, where he was emotionally empty and just a shell of himself who was just functioning, he didn't have the bandwidth to understand the gravity of situation that was Hae In's terminal illness.

In Hyun Woo's mind, he didn't have Hae In's support anywhere, be it against his in-Laws or in the company. She is silent against her family and hostile and argumentative in the company. He doesn't know what all she does for him on the sly or in backstage. He is not aware and Hae In never made the effort to change that situation.

All that pressure, anxiety, gear and emotional drain took its toll on Hyun Woo's emotional capacity. Stuck in a state of constant negativity, his initial reaction to Hae In's illness might be a form of self-preservation. He shuts down completely, unable to process the additional emotional burden of her mortality.

Something to remember is also the fact, that although he was thinking of it, the one thing that pushed him to draft the divorce papers were the talk of their child, whose entire identity and life was being decided by Hae In's family while she had no opinion on that and couldn't care less. This entire situation fueled the fire of resentment burning within Hyun Woo. Here was Hae In, seemingly indifferent to the future of their potential child, the very thing that initially distanced them. It felt like a repeat of their early struggles, where her family held all the cards and Hae In remained silent, leaving him to battle alone.

This perception, however flawed it might be, explains his impulsive decision to draft the divorce papers. Exhausted and emotionally hollowed out, he saw the child issue as the final straw, a symbol of their inability to stand together. He might have been grasping at a desperate solution, a way to force a change in their dynamic, a cry for her to finally fight for him and their future.

Of course, this doesn't paint Hyun Woo as a hero. His actions were undeniably hurtful, a clumsy and emotionally charged attempt to solve a complex situation. But by understanding the immense pressure he was under, the constant negativity seeping into his core, we can see a flicker of vulnerability beneath his anger. He craved Hae In's support, her voice alongside his in the face of adversity. Perhaps, the divorce papers were a twisted plea for her to finally break her silence, to acknowledge his pain and fight for their future together.

Here's where empathy becomes crucial. While his actions are undeniably hurtful, it's important to consider if they stem from malice or a desperate attempt to cope.

Think about it this way: Imagine a cup overflowing with negativity. Hyun Woo's daily struggles with his in-laws, the lack of support at work, and the constant emotional strain have already filled his cup to the brim. When Hae In's illness is revealed, it's simply too much for him to handle at that moment. He doesn't have the emotional space to understand the gravity of her situation, let alone offer support. in fact, it's easy for him to consider her death as an easy escape since his capacity for empathy or his love for her was essentially buried under all that negativity.

[flame-shadow]

Collection of the backdrops I did for the Bug Fables NPC Collab

I wanted to put them all in one post, since I'm quite proud of what I did. :)

[IDs in alt]

[bogkeep]

every day i'm tapping the sign

the sign: we didn't have a satisfying definition of Real Art before the advent of "ai" and trying to define it now only distracts from the actual problems

[randomfoggytiger]

I had this question pop into my head the other night, and you were the first person I thought of to answer it.

I've read numerous times about how Scully continually respected Mulder's wishes to not be addressed as "Fox" and how Diana just completely ignored his preference.

What I'm curious about, though, is what you think about Margaret Scully always addressing him as "Fox". It doesn't seem to bother him, unlike when his own mother calls him "Fox".

Anyways, these are the thoughts that keep me up at night 😜

I think he takes it in stride that his parents or Scully's parents (or the older generation in general) are going to call him "Fox" by default. The world is run on social default; and he's clever enough to realize and expect it.

Further, I don't think he minds when his mother calls him Mulder: I think he uses 'Mulder' as a distancing tactic-- something he insisted on, perhaps, during his Star Trek days or his post-divorce mild rebellions or anything that would set him 'apart' from his parents; then carried it into his professional circles. He tenderly smiles when Tena Mulder calls him 'Fox', he doesn't flinch when Bill Mulder calls him 'Fox', he anticipates and smiles over Diana's 'Fox', etc.

Personally, I think he popped that excuse off to Scully because he was feeling uncomfortable... but 'Mulder' changed between them-- became special to them-- because she took his discomfort in stride and respected his wish.

And, actually, it's Scully who reinforces the 'Mulder' moniker to everyone: "Not Fox-- Mulder" is what she keeps repeating to Melissa, and is how she refers to him when talking to Ellen and Maggie and Bill. I think she reinforced it because that was a rule that was set, and she is zealously guarding it: an extension of her territory, if you will. (Hence, her raging jealousy at Dr. Berenbaum or Diana Fowley or etc. etc.) "You may know my partner, but you must call him by the name I call him by."

[juniemunie]

TEST DRIVE TEST DRIVE TEST DRI-

I have so many thoughts about this entire sequence, from the way Hiccup and Toothless get along to the MUSIC- (the music analysis is going to my tags)

.

But im gonna talk about Toothless pov again

I always think of this is like, the forbidden friendship scene for Toothless the way the actual forbidden friendship was for Hiccup

If Hiccup's scene was Toothless connecting to Hiccup through human things (sharing food, smiling, art and all that)

Then this scene is Toothless' because Hiccup connects with Toothless through flying, something I've always headcanoned to be what dragons (the ones that fly anyway) need not just to survive, but to live and bond with others.

if Hiccup's FF is the beginning of the potential then Toothless' FF is the "end", the moment where the potential is found and fulfilled, the thing that really solidifies their friendship because both has now experienced and accepted the other's unique sides

Just, yeah Toothless sees Hiccup just getting it, understanding why flying is so wonderful, hearing him cheer and whoop in joy like a fledgling's first time in the air, and seeing him at the end instinctively understand what to do-

Like that sudden spin near the end of the sea pillars- and both of them looked surprised they even managed to do that together instinctively- when just a few minutes ago Hiccup couldnt even dodge the two very obvious sea pillars in the beginning

He looks up at this human, this strange clever, brilliant little human who has somehow made this even possible, who has broken every preconception he has, who is now flying with him with a dragon's instinct but baring his teeth in that human way of expressing joy, screaming something he could not parse perfectly in his dragon tongue but understood the meaning all the same.

"We did it."

[luneinary]

thinking about shuichi ryoma parallels ...

[cuchufletapl]

I've just come across a tiktok of a person (who has 90k+ followers and is pretty well-known in lefttok for having well-articulated, intelligent takes, by the way) copying almost word for word that post by weaver-z (with an addition by roach-works) explaining how Divergent destroyed YA dystopian literature, and claiming those to be their own thoughts.

An honestly hysterical thing to happen just two days after HBomberguy dropped his video on plagiarism — in which he theorises that those who steal somebody else's work do it because, aside from their lack of creativity clashing with their desire for money and clout, they think the author so below them that they don't deserve the dignity of being credited and nobody would even catch the plagiarism.

We know this is common but fucking Christ. Finding such a blatant example in the wild during this time is such an experience.

[carriesthewind]

.

[skeleton-squid-b0y]

ALL OTHER idiotsmart characters cancelled. Bill Potts only. she is one of the quickest and most insightful when figuring out the tardis. she knows it can't have been moved into the office whole and she notices when it's moved slightly over the rug. she points out it's silly the chairs aren't closer to the controls and that he named the acronym in english AND that a camoflauge that instructs you to open it is stupid. and then she uses all of that information to conclude the tardis is a knock through that's also a lift. and looks like a kitchen. tell me that isn't the smartest idiot conclusion.

[faelapis]

i should really sleep.... but i'm pretty close to the next "something better" chapter being done... i dont wanna Promise its coming out tomorrow, but we can hope??

[synonymroll648]

headcanon that as sophie ages, she gets more and more off-put by how she still looks twenty at some age past 40. the only wrinkles she has are smile lines and a barely-there crease between her eyebrows that never leaves. no gray hairs. it doesn’t feel like there’s any physical evidence of how much stress aged her too fast.

(maybe she dyes more grays into her hair to feel better about her reflection, the more time passes by. maybe, on bad days, she contours wrinkles into her skin with makeup. maybe the bad days get more frequent as she ages outside the human lifespan. maybe.)