#instead I'm in the Wikipedia web

[6vaguebook]

Researching Egyptian mythology for my wip is like...where do I go? Where is The Texts I must read, the translators and the historians and the people talking about this stuff? Where is everything?! SHOW ME YOUR SECRETS!

[infiniteglitterfall]

friggin faux-Palestinian history, istg

I'm in the middle of writing a post about the difficulties of pinning down details and dates in Palestinian history. This one is just me stopping to vent for a sec.

I came across the Wikipedia page for GUPS, the General Union of Palestinian Students. This is an organization with groups at colleges all over the world. Ish. It's shrunk over the decades.

The page made a bold claim: that GUPS was officially founded in Cairo in 1959, but had really started in the 1920s.

I called bullshit. The only source cited was a dead link to the 2010 version of the SFSU GUPS page, which said the same thing -- no context, no source, and especially, no explanation of how Palestinian student organizing could have started before there were colleges or universities in Palestine.

There were two. They were tiny. And they both taught in Hebrew.

Certainly, there could have been Arab Palestinian students there, who learned Hebrew there, or already knew it.

But were there so many that they started a student group that apparently lasted 35+ years before getting a name??

I could not find one other source for this.

So I deleted it and called bullshit.

Within a day, someone who wasn't even logged in reverted my edit. They told me that I hadn't proven that it was wrong, I'd just said it was illogical.

I started looking up sources and putting together a more detailed edit. In the meantime, I started a topic on the totally empty talk page, politely calling bullshit.

I said that I hadn't been able to find any sources in English OR Arabic that confirmed this claim, and that I thought it was an error made on a dead page.

The same person, now logged in, replied:

"you still haven't refuted the claim. the claim is still on their web page."

BRUH.

IT'S AN ARCHIVE OF A DEAD PAGE. BY DEFINITION, IT DOESN'T CHANGE.

This is exactly how it feels to research any of this stuff.

Every single time, it turns out that people's unsourced online bullshit is absolutely wrong.

Every single time, people just respond by insisting on believing whatever claim some rando made on the internet.

The problem is not that Palestinian history doesn't exist, hasn't been written down, or hasn't been researched. Of fucking course it has!!

(I have literally seen people claiming the contrary in the most wild-ass fucking ways. Supposedly-pro-Palestinian people, acting like Palestinians are wooby powerless fuzzy babbies whose books were all stolen by the cruel Jews 80 years ago, who had no way to replace that historic knowledge, and who have just been standing around ever since. It is the most Western Paternalism shit ever, and it absolutely drives me up the wall.)

The problem is that this is a topic that a lot of people are passionate about. And unfortunately, a whole lot of people are unwilling to back down on literally anything that "feels" pro-Palestinian to them, whether it's true or not.

It's purely going on Vibes, but the Vibes themselves are based on how something compares to the Vibes they get from social media and stuff.

And those vibes are so extreme and vehement that any kind of pushback sounds like You Love Genocide And Kill Babies For Fun.

It's just a fucking vicious spiral.

It's like playing tennis against the tennis-ball-throwing machine. It's not a real game. Nobody is engaging with you. It's just the same shit over and over.

(I was trying to type "shot." But apparently I swear so much that instead of autocorrecting me to "ducking hell," my phone now INSISTS I meant to cuss.)

I ended up getting Google to give me the Arabic for GUPS, and then digging for sources about its actual origin.

It turns out Yasser Arafat formed the Palestinian Students League in Cairo in 1949, and that became GUPS in 1956. This is entirely fucking unsurprising in any way if you know anything at all about actual Palestinian history. Of fucking course he did. This also explains why the first search result I found about GUPS was from the PLO. Of fucking course it was.

[yesterdays-xkcd]

I'm waiting for the day when, if you tell someone 'I'm from the internet', instead of laughing they just ask 'oh, what part?'

Online Communities [Explained]

Transcript

[Hand-drawn fantasy style map with land and sea areas representing populations of online communities, plus some fictious jokes and references. Each area or item is labeled.] Map of Online Communities and related points of interest Geographic area represents estimated size of membership

[A giant continent with:] The Icy North (Yahoo, Windows Live) containing the Mountains of Web 1.0, AOL, Qwghlm, Yahoo Games, Reunion dot Com, Classmates do Com, Faceparty, E-Harmony, Friendster (off the coast of which is the The Lonely Island), My Space containing The Series of Tubes, MySpace Bands, and the much smaller Attractive MySpace Pages, Blurty, O.K. Cupid, Cyworld, Orkut, Facebook, and Livejournal & Xanga - the coasts of which form the Bay Of Angst.

[The Noob Sea is bordered by AOL, the Icy North, MySpace, and an island system off the coast of Yahoo Games consisting of:] Second Life (and the much smaller island Third Life), Lineage, World of Warcraft, Runscape, Ultima Online, EverQuest, Final Fantasy 11, and further off, 2Channel and 4Chan. [To the east is labelled "Here be anthopomorphic Dragons].

[The Gulf of Youtube is bordered by Facebook, Myspace, and the island continents of:] Piczo, Broadcaster, the river Bit Torrent, Flickr, Last.FM, and DeviantArt with the subsection Gays of Web 2.0, and off the south coast and between another island is the Straits of Web 2.0.

[Off the pennisula of MySpace, island of Second Life, and island continents of Broadcaster et al is the Sea of Culture which hoasts the Peer-to-Peer Shoals. The Sea of Culture is separated from the Ocean of Subculture by and island system consisting of:] Digg, Fark, Reddit, Slash Dot, Soviet Russia, and Something Awful, which surround the Bay of Trolls, and Spaaarta (You're The Man Now Dog), Stumble Upon, and Delicious on the south end of the Viral Straits and the north end of the Sea of Memes, the Isle of Slash, Numa, and Your Base.]

[On the south end of the Sea of Memes, mostly made up of the IRC isles with a dotted outline where Usenet is located, is:] Stallman's Airship, Google's Volcano Fortress, Sourceforge, and the Wikipedia Project bridged island system that connects to M.I.T., EnGadget, Gizmodo, and Make Blog.

[West of the Wikipedia Project lies the Blogipelago with:] BoingBoing, Technorati, [something that can be read as T.W.B. or T.M.Z.], Cory Doctorow's Balloon, Sulawesi, Xu Jinglei, Post Secret, the Shipwreck of the S.S. Howard Dean, the Huffington Post, and the Wet Sea.

[North of the Blogipelago lies the Compass Rose-Shaped Island, with the north arm labelled Practicals (Noob), the south Intellectuals (Pi), west Focus on Real Life (I.R.L.), and the east Focus on Web (dot Com).]

(Not a complete survey. Sizes based on the best figures I could find but involved some guesswork. Do not use for navigation.) Spring 2007

[irradiatedsnakes]

Hi! I really like your furry aus! They really inspired me to branch out species in my own. I was wondering how you chose such a wide array— I’ve noticed a bias towards mammals in my own, with birds following close behind. Do you have any tips on collecting species & looking for furry symbolism? Thank you!

HI HELLO so i typed out most of an answer to this like a month or two ago then it got deletd and this languished in my askbox since so let me try again and emphasize the stuff that i think is the most important when i'm making my furry aus

biological interest and diversity

i think the biggest thing that gets my goat when i look at other furry aus is the lack of animal diversity. and, i need to be clear here, this is ENTIRELY a personal gripe/preference- it just kind of annoys me when i see furry aus that are entirely familiar, domestic mammals, yknow? where at least half the characters are dogs and cats. like, no shade to people who do or like those, i cannot emphasize enough how this is a meaningless Me pet peeve, i just really really think furries in general should broaden their horizons and try out more out-there species. and i'm not perfect in this way either: there's an OBVIOUS bird bias in my choices, and a MASSIVE tetrapod bias: almost none of my furries are fish or inverts, despite fish species outnumbering tetrapod species, and invertebrate species outnumbering vertebrate species by massive orders of magnitude.

i think my point is: try getting more unconventional with it. i also really like including extinct species because that's just my jam. pterosaurs, man, consider them

i often will do wikipedia trawls for animals when choosing species for furry aus- i'll have a general idea of the animal i want (ie, horsefly, wallaby) and i'll get to peruse the various families/genera/species under those more general umbrellas til i find something that works either visually or symbolically better than the others.

i'll also say that there will often be a very obvious choice for characters- like, spider for annabelle cane, or something. i encourage, in cases like this, don't go with the obvious choice, see if you can find something more subtly meaningful and interesting. (see: a hummingbird for annabelle cane. they steal spiderwebs in order to weave their nests, but can become trapped in the webs instead and get eaten by the spider.) it can also help to actively try and choose animals- like inverts and fish- that don't usually immediately jump to mind for you.

i also highly recommend getting Specific with it. always do your best to choose a Species of animal, rather than a genus, family, or more general group. it's always more interesting.

2. The Process

so very first thing when i'm choosing a species for a characetr is ENTIRELY vibes-based. like what does this character Feel like. sometimes this step is skipped, if there's like, an obvious symbolic or mentioned-in-canon choice that would make more sense (see: condor callum crown). but most of the time for me: Vibes. i'm just gonna list a few of my dialtown furries and my thought process (as i remember it, may be inaccurate) for how i chose them? hopefully that helps a bit.

oliver, to me, feels like a soft and fluffy mammal. he's outgoing, friendly, kind of an in-your-face personality. just feels like a mammal to me! but he's also a complete freak, so i was like, oh, he has to be a marsupial or a monotreme. the Strange mammals! i decided that, from there, he feels most like one of the megapodes (kangaroos, wallabys, those sorts) to me. kangaroos look too scary and imposing, with a frightening Buff Man kind of vibe, so those were out. went to wallabies, because they get that cute fluffy mammal vibe that i wanted for him. i eventually settled on the yellow-footed rock wallaby: they have bold, stripey patterning that i think fits his vibe, and rufous coloration on their limbs that meshes well with his red color palette.

or let's take randy. vibes here were some sort of Trash Animal, those sorts like pigeons and raccoons that adapt well to living in human garbage and most people regard as a nuisance. randy also feels very Birdy to me. from there, i think it was fig who suggested an animal that preys upon swans, and that's really funny. i eventually landed on gulls: some larger gulls will hunt swan chicks, and gulls are a perfect epitome of Trash Animal. i went with the great black-backed gull in particular- randy jade being the biggest, most imposing, apex-predator ass gull is really funny to me. also: i like great black-backed gulls.

karen! she was pretty straightforward for me: karen very much felt like a bug. some sort of insect or arachnid was my starting point: i felt that the Bug Vibes fit her well and that the segmented leg look would work well for her visually. flies are a group i like a lot and felt fit well here- overlooked, often seen as generic or boring (but are actually really cool), and also i like them. and, like, i couldn't resist the pull of Oh She Should Be A Horsefly. She Needs To Be A Horsefly. much like for oliver, the species was chosen for visual reasons: needed to be brown or tan to complement her color scheme, and i didn't want it to be one of the like, larger/scarier horseflies. band-eyed brown horseflies fit her color scheme and are pretty to look at.

3. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

that's most of what i've got, i think. sorry for the lateness, hope this can provide some direction.

[teecupangel]

Ad Altaïr Anon

Curse ye Tumblr! Why must you prevent me from showing the image of t-posing Altair moments before being sucked into The Cube!! (it's absolutely not me being a first-time nooby asker who has never sent a link through ask ever nu-uh it's all tumblr)

maybe this link will work instead, I'm slightly better with imgur links at least :v

https://imgur.com/a/Hl2elSH

And yeah that's it! I never put one on my computer myself simply because i once tried to mod minecraft in the olden days and messed up so badly that I figured i should just leave that sort of stuff alone.

But AH, my heart! The future and doomed Desmond giving them that slight control over the grey so maybe this Desmond wouldn't have to die 😭

but also lol oh boy would Altair get lost in the sauce surfing the web! It worse than when he was alive with the apple because now he doesn't have to eat, drink, or sleep so someone has to pry him out of the web every once in a while.

(The only real modding I’ve done in a long time was for Mugen back in those days. To be honest though, my brother helped me add characters and stuff hahaha)

The “Altaïr interrupts Desmond’s game using an ‘ad’” idea and its sorta prequel sorta sequel for those curious

“We need to talk about Altaïr’s internet addiction.”

Desmond stared at Shaun’s solemn expression for a fraction of a second before he turned his attention back to the instant noodles he was having for lunch.

He didn’t really like soggy noodles.

“Desmond, this is serious.” Shaun placed his hands on the table and towered over Desmond who was hunched to make it easier to eat his noodles.

That was a bad move.

Desmond could just as easily headbutt his nose at this distance.

“I’m listening, Shaun.” Desmond replied half-heartedly before eating once more.

He didn’t understand why Shaun wanted to talk to him about Altaïr’s internet addiction. It wasn’t like Desmond could stop the man from scouring every web page available in Wikipedia in his endless pursuit of knowledge.

… not that he would want to anyway.

“Desmond, Altaïr has been using the computer 24/7. We have to keep the AC on just to make sure the computer doesn’t overheat. Together with the electricity needed for the Animus and our other devices, two of which are now fully being used by Ezio and Connor-”

Desmond slowly raised his head so Shaun would have a warning to pull away. It was still a close call, Desmond’s head almost knocking against Shaun’s nose but Shaun stood and crossed his arms while Desmond took a sip of the soup before asking, “Are you… are you trying to talk to me about our upcoming electric bill?”

“Not ‘ours’ but the building we’re ‘piggy backing’ from.” Shaun clarified, “They’ll definitely think something is up when they see the sudden spike.”

“Then isn’t this too late already?” Desmond countered lightly, “The bill’s gonna come sooner or later. Might just be better for us to book it.”

Shaun grimaced but did not deny it.

Desmond sighed before he said, “How about this. I’ll tell Altaïr to find us a new safehouse and take care of the logistics and stuff. That’ll be his punishment for skyrocketing some random business’ electric bill.”

Shaun opened his mouth, most probably to argue, so Desmond asked, “Unless you already have the next safehouse in mind?”

Shaun sighed as he said, “I’ll tell the others about it. You tell Altaïr about his punishment.”

Desmond waved his hand before lowering his head to continue eating while Shaun stormed out of the dining room, most probably to bother Rebecca.

Or complain to her.

Maybe both.

Probably both.

Desmond waited until he could no longer hear Shaun’s footsteps before turning to look at his phone that was lying next to the cup noodles.

“Congrats, Altaïr. You got what you wanted.” Desmond mumbled.

His phone’s screen lit up and showed Altaïr in front of his homescreen, arms crossed as he said, “Not yet. Not until we’ve finally settled in a more secured location.”

“More secured.” Desmond snorted, “Just say the internet is too slow for you here.”

“Hm.” Altaïr didn’t even bother to give him a proper reply.

Nor deny it.

“Well, at least wait until midnight before sending the plan to everyone.” Desmond reminded him, “Otherwise, Shaun’s going to find out this was your plan from the start.”

“I know. I’m not a fool, Desmond.” Altaïr said calmly before adding, “Eat a fruit or have salad after that.”

“I’ll eat an apple, alright.” Desmond rolled his eyes, “Please don’t repeat to me how bad it is for my body to keep eating instant noodles.”

Altaïr sighed, “Fine. I’ll leave you with your pathetic excuse for a meal then.”

“Thanks.” Desmond sarcastically said, watching as the screen of his phone turned off.

And he can finally eat in peace…

… soggy noodles.

Damn it.

[punctuation-completionist]

okay! percontation point/rhetorical question mark investigation has been done! i am putting this under a read-more because it's super long but if this causes accessibility issues please tell me lol (i don't remember if it does but i am trying to make my original posts more accessible so...)

tl;dr for anyone who doesn't read the whole thing, i basically just looked through some really old scans to prove the origins of the percontation point (and that sounds really boring but maybe it's interesting? it would be more interesting if progressive punctuation would email me back lol)

. ? ! , : ; ' " – — - · ... [ ] { } ( ) / < >

22/22

bonus:

⁂ * † ‡ ⁓ ~ & ⸺ ��� ⸮ ‽

11/20

so basically, this is related to this post* i reblogged a bit ago because something about the graphic on it was bothering me... here's the graphic in question btw

[image id: a picture with nine punctuation marks in three rows of three. the first row has (from left to right) the acclamation point which looks like an exclamation mark with two stems pointing in sort of a v shape from the dot, an exclamation comma which looks like an exclamation mark with a comma instead of a dot, and an interrobang which is a question mark with an exclamation mark laid over it. the second row has the love point which looks like a question mark with two of the top parts put together to form a heart, a friendly period which looks like a period with a curved line underneath it, and an authority point which looks like an exclamation mark with a curved line perched atop it. the third line contains a rhetorical question mark which is a backwards inverted question mark, a doubt point which looks like a question mark with the top part shaped more like a cursive z, and a question comma which is a question mark with the dot replaced with a comma. end id.]

so, i've done a lot of research on irony punctuation throughout my days—whether it be to argue with a reddit comment or just for punctuation day reasons—and i would say i know a lot about irony punctuation (of which rhetorical questions fall under i guess? according to wikipedia at least)

so, that post was bothering me because the rhetorical punctuation mark i know is the percontation point (⸮) invented by henry denham in the 1580s & the mark used on the post was an inverted form of this

now, here was the easy investigation on who made this graphic. i already said so in the tags of the post, it was by progressive punctuation; they even have a specific page on their website with this information. now when i saw the rhetorical question mark they used, my first thought was, "maybe they're talking about a different rhetorical question mark" but then...

[image id: a screenshot from the progressive punctuation webpage on the rhetorical question mark. it says that the inventor is henry denham, it was invented in the 1580s, and it was invented in london. end id.]

see, so here's the real problem. they're citing it from henry denham when his mark doesn't look like that. so then i did the logical thing and tried to find where henry denham even printed this thing in the first place. and that's where the fun(?) part begins.

❦

so, i have a range in the time periods i'm looking for (⁓1580–1589) and i have a name (henry denham). first question: who's henry denham?

the answer isn't that interesting but it's contextually helpful. henry denham was, suprise suprise, a printer from england. allegedly he's iconic but the most i can find about him is that he's a printer and he invented the percontation point. one website (link) claims the use of the point to be from around 1575–1625 which is kinda not 1580s but. i don't know what the deal with that is. (if i figure it out, i'll explain it) and attributes it to either henry denham OR the translator anthonie gilbie (and denham was apparently his printer?? idk man this is a whole web of shit)

so, who's anthonie gilbie? firstly, the only things i could find were for anthony gilby and not some guy with a weird -ie but that's not really relevant because the guy is also a translator from 16th century england so like. i don't think that's likely they were two separate people. so, anthony gilby is a radical puritan who translated the geneva bible into english. the geneva bible is one of the oldest english language bibles, predating the king james bible by around 51 years so i guess that makes anthony gilby pretty important. shakespeare used it, cromwell used it, milton used it, it's a big deal. gilby only translated the old testament, another guy called william whittingham translated the new testament so that does narrow down the thing slightly

but also, i'm not reading the fucking bible again especially not in old english so. i want to narrow it down more.

and that means we're going back to henry denham ! yay! since the source i was using was the only one that provided anything at all on the origins of the percontation point, i went back to it to see what else it had to say. and what it had to say was that there were two examples, one was the psalms of david† (in roman font) and the other was a book called tragicall tales (in blackletter font). so with those being our only two leads, we have to follow them.

⁂

so i search up "psalms of david 1581" to see if i can find a scan. and the first thing i find is a 1581 enchiridion on the psalms of david (1st edition) that's 795$. yikes. luckily i don't think that's the one but that certainly did freak me out since it was from the same year and shit. anyways. the online geneva bible has 150 chapters of psalms so we'll just talk about tragicall tales first

now what the absolute f⸺ is tragicall tales? and to that i say. well. i don't really know.

except, jk i do apparently know now! tragicall tales was a novel written by a man called george tuberville‡ and published in 1587, and while i can't find any direct statements that it was denham that invented it, it is in blackletter font and printed the same year as the article said so... i think it's a safe assumption to make that this was denham's work. the next thing to do would be to find tragicall tales which i wasn't too excited for given the last time i tried to find a book for this it was almost $800 dollars.

but i struck gold. not only did i find a copy on archive.org (link), i also found a typed out version (link) but the punctuation there is badly transcribed in my opinion so. take what you will from it but. idk man i think i found the right stuff. so without further ado:

and while this is probably the oldest crustiest scan ever and also 400 pages long, i did find something! yay!

[image id: five screenshots from the internet archive scan of tragicall tales, each containing a backwards question mark aka a percontation point. end id.]

now, i know looking at this, it's kinda hard to tell what's going on due to the quality of the scan, typeface, and other stuff, but i'll break it down real quick. the percontation points here are after the words wife, fame/same (it's probably a long s but it looks more like fame if that helps), about, will, and wife again. i tried to get a few that have normal question marks in them to prove what i'm talking about (they're in the second, fourth, and fifth screenshots) you see em? cool, because my eyes might fall out of my face with how long i had to look for these. good lird.

but what about the inverted one? now, i did scour this as hard as i could and the closest one i could find was this

[image id: a screenshot from tragicall tales reading "la mia donna bella è buona". end id.]

but at the same time, the typed version has that as an è and not punctuation of any kind and while i don't agree with the typed version 100% i do think that makes more sense. so there. that's all we got out of tragicall tales. back to psalms!

❦

i was very excited to read this.~ (that's a snark mark btw. i was not) i already had to read the bible once recently for ... reasons? (i'm not super religious) and that was the new american bible not a fucking bible in middle english. so. this is somehow worse. and yet. i ended up trying my best to find it

now seemingly it slipped my mind that unless there was a scanned copy of an original it would likely not have the mark i was looking for because i looked for ages. it was a fucking nightmare. psalms sucks especially geneva psalms. but, archive.org came to my rescue yet again. and let me tell you. it still didn't help

firstly, the geneva bible looks like this.

[image id: a screenshot of a scan of the geneva bible. it has two columns of text along with notes off to the side and footnotes. it is written in middle english. end id.]

if you're lucky (?) the geneva bible looks like this

[image id: another screenshot of a different scan of the geneva bible with a similar layout but it is more yellowed and fancier. end id.]

yes, i looked at two different scans of the same book sue me. or don't preferably. but this did give me one clarifying idea of what i was doing wrong. the article i had referenced said that the question mark was in roman font. the main text of the geneva bible seems to be in blackletter. so i had to look in the side columns. and look in the side columns i did. and yet, that didn't seem to help any either (if anyone wants to look the first one is linked here and the second is linked here; i don't think they're in there though in hindsight)

and yet, there was one last place to search. the psalms of david truly opened and explained by theodore beza. a completely different text by anthony gilby (and his name has the -ies in it in the scans i can find of this so that's also a good omen) and it's still david psalms so i hunted it down. and great news

[image id: a picture of the first page of the psalms of david truly opened and explained by theodore beza. it has the translator listed as anthonie gilbie and printers listed as richard yardley and peter short. it is extremely brown and looks very old. end id.]

it's an even older looking book! (though to be fair, the geneva bible was older they probably just reprinted it more often) (i found it here if that's anything)

quick intro to people: theodore beza was a french calvinist who lived in geneva. he's not really important to this story. peter short and richard yardley were printers who worked for the stationers' company (aka the worshippers company of stationers aka the worshipful company of stationers and newspaper makers) and i will get back to that.

so now we're getting... somewhere? i mean, this book does have cool wood cuttings right?

[image id: a picture of a wood cutting of a man kneeling in front of a book, with light and a fancy frame. end id.]

but does it have percontation points?

[image id: a picture from the psalms of david truly opened and explained by theodore beza. it has two percontation points in it. end id.]

oh hell the fuck yes it has them. look at that! two of em right there! that solves that mystery. and i didn't even have to look at the geneva bible. but it's fineee <- didn't want to look at the geneva bible but whatever

but where's henry denham?

like first of all, the article i was using said "1581" for the psalms thing so either that's a different psalms with percontation points in it or something got screwed up because also... the printers are names on here and neither of them are denham, especially considering the book came out in 1590 and denham quit publishing in 1589 (or maybe 1591? it's unclear). they also confusingly say he was succeeded by short and yardley and while i can't find anything about yardley, i do know that denham also worked for the stationers' company so they were at least colleagues in the printing business . so this isn't denham is seems but also... he did make the percontation point in 1587 in the tragicall tales so i don't think it's a question of inventing it, that was probably still denham. there might be another psalms out there with percontation points in it but who knows? i really don't think we need more proof when we say that this -> ⸮ is the percontation point :}

⁂

so where the fuck did this other one come from‽ because if i know one thing it's that progressive punctuation has generally been right... so what's the deal with that?

of course i did the only logical thing and emailed them. i hate emails but i did it anyways. for you (if people don't reblog this just for the sheer effort i will be mildly saddened. here's a secret interpunct for you for reading all this shit. -> ·)

and of course, i didn't get an email back immediately which was disappointing. in fact, as i post this, i still haven't gotten an email from them (i waited like a week but if they do email me back i'll update you)

so anyways, then what did we learn if i never got an email back? how to do dumb research for a day and learn absolutely nothing new? i mean i actually kinda don't know how to conclude this now that i think about it. i guess we learned that henry denham probably invented the percontation point and that maybe we should start using it more often. and that you should check infographics you see online, i guess? maybe don't check them this intensely though because. that was a lot. :{

* don't you dare go harass the op i swear i will kill you if you do

† apparently these aren't by david according to most scholars but whatever

‡ unrelated as far as i am aware to tommy tuberville, a u.s. senator from arkansas. he seems to be kind of an asshole but i'm not from arkansas so i don't really have an opinion

[jjnonken]

Been a while since I've posted. I've decided I hate Facebook again and for now I'm letting off steam here.

I said before that I'd deleted my long rant and just stuck to a mini-rant. Well, today I'm posting a long rant. Fair warning: This is a rant.

As far as I can tell, there's no good news about the Borderlands movie. They've changed Commander Knoxx's character to be Atlas's daughter instead of General Knoxx, so I guess she'll be Commander Atlas now. That... doesn't matter. Of all the issues I have with this movie, whose daughter she is is probably the least important. Actually, it's not an issue. Her EXISTENCE is an issue, but not which NPC is her parent. Atlas isn't even an NPC, it's just a gun manufacturer, presumably named after its founder. We never see the founder(s) nor, as far as I can remember, hear any backstory. I'm not sure which problem they were trying to solve by the rename.

First problem: We do have to rescue Lilith, Athena, and one other who I won't mention due to spoilers. I can only think of those three. Lilith tells you to kill her if you can't save her... "Better dead than a damsel." Athena engineers her own rescue; you're just the muscle. So there's kind of a dearth of damsels in this franchise. The movie's premise is that Commander uh... Atlas?... needs to be rescued. So, right. Damsel in distress. Kind of immediately contradicts the lore of Borderlands, who has strong women who generally don't need rescuing.

Second is: why General Knoxx's er, I mean, Atlas's daughter? She's a new character. It's like BORDERLANDS ISN'T CHARACTER-RICH ENOUGH, we have to add more just to get the plot started.

Edit: She still shows credited as Commander Knoxx in my web search, including on IMDB. I saw Atlas in the last article I saw on the movie. It's possible it was simply mistaken. I note parenthetically that Knoxx works for Atlas Corporation, and the DLC he's in is Atlas-heavy. Could just be a mistake. Edit to the edit: The Wikipedia article premise mentions her as Atlas's daughter. But she's named Knoxx. I'm fucking confused; which is she?

Next: They have Kevin Hart playing Roland. Kevin Hart is a comedian. Roland is a serious, somber, straightforward guy who never jokes and never laughs, or even smiles. Any humor that happens in relation to him works because it plays off his sober sincerity.

Roland: Oh good, you're not dead. Lilith: That's his way of saying "Hi". Roland: Sorry. Hi.

Why do they need a stand-up comedian to play Roland? Either Hart is trying to branch out and do some serious acting, or... they're making a comedy.

OK, Cate Blanchett is doing Lilith. I don't know if she's the best choice, but I don't know who else I'd recommend. I guess I'm OK with that.

As for Tannis... I love Jamie Lee Curtis, but she's a scream queen that also does comedies. Tannis isn't FUNNY, she's TRAGIC. Again, there's humor, but it plays off her personality, which is informed by her severe social awkwardness. (She's pretty much coded autistic. I don't know if it's canon.) No doubt the trauma she's suffered has exacerbated any existing personality deficits. Or caused new ones. Can Curtis do a sober Tannis? I mean, play her seriously, not deadpan. I don't know. Again, I don't think she's meant to -- this movie is looking more like a comedy every day. Could be worse, but I'm not sure I'd pick her.

Next, we have Claptrap, who is introduced as "The wise-cracking robot" and played by... Jack Black, a comedic voice actor. Thing is, Claptrap does not crack wise. He's hilarious, but that's because, similarly to Roland and Tannis, the game plays off his naive sincerity. He's funny because he's so serious, but clueless. I haven't memorized every line in the entire franchise enough to instantly recall everything that every claptrap robot has said, but as far as I can remember, Claptrap has told MAYBE three jokes on purpose. One is self-referential, spoken by a claptrap who is supposed to be programming the game: "Borderlands? More like Memelands, am I right?" One is spoken right after a hatch is automatically locked, trapping you in the first map: "I hear that getting eaten by bullymongs isn't such a bad way to go." Was that one a deliberate joke? Don't know, so that's my "maybe." And the third is from a side mission called The Iceman Cometh. It's a moderately silly pun that any 10-year-old would be proud of. When you (as a character) don't react, he then EXPLAINS THE JOKE. When you still don't react, he LECTURES YOU on the nature of humor. TWICE. Naive sincerity, not cracking wise. So again, this suggests the movie being a comedy.

So, we have two of the four vault hunters from the first game, Lilith and Roland. The roles of Mordecai and Brick are interesting, in that THEY AREN'T THERE. Why?

Tiny Tina is. She's a psychotic young teen with a penchant for explosives. She's got a connection to Brick, who -- for some reason -- isn't in the movie. She's not the kind of person who needs a bodyguard -- she's the kind of person against whom YOU need a bodyguard. I only bring this up because... ... Krieg is her bodyguard in the movie. Why? I already mentioned her connection to Brick. Krieg doesn't have a connection to Tina, he has a connection to Maya. I don't know when this movie is supposed to take place in the Borderlands timeline, but if Lilith is retired, it'll be between the first and second. Possibly around the time of the Pre-Sequel. We don't see Krieg until BL2, where he's added as the last playable character after the original four plus Gaige. So the timeline doesn't make sense and Krieg's connection to Tina doesn't make sense and Krieg being Tina's bodyguard doesn't make sense. I don't know anything about the actors, I may look them up and try to watch some of their stuff.

Tina doesn't show in the game until BL2, but there's no reason to think she hasn't been around since Borderlands, we just haven't seen her. (But only after the events of BL:PS, since it's Jack's slag experiments on Tina's parents that kill them and drive her into being a vengeful little psychopath.) But Krieg doesn't show up until he becomes a vault hunter? OTOH until then he was living as a psycho... probably on Pandora. So I suppose the timeline might be OK, technically. I'll give them that one. But I still object to the Tina/Krieg connection.

Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi: Gina is an attractive woman, doesn't have Moxxi's curves, and she's 61. She's pretty hot-looking but I'm not sure she really fits the character, physically. Can she do Moxxi's va-va-voom? Don't know.

Charles Babalola: I don't know him. I try not to get upset at race lifts; I'm used to Sir Hammerlock being the "great white hunter" stereotype, but I suppose it doesn't hurt anything if he's black. At least he's British. This is a weak protestation at most. EDIT: Several people have pointed out that he's canonically black, which I never noticed. Well, OK then, that one's on me.

Bobby Lee plays Larry. He's another stand-up comedian. There sure are a lot of those for a serious film, eh? Also, who the fuck is Larry?

Ryann Redmond as Ellie: nobody's going to match Ellie's unrealistic proportions, but Ryann seems like a reasonable choice physically; basically, you just need a plus-sized woman who can act. I don't know anything about her acting but I presume she's competent, at least. Ellie is a smartass, so wise-cracking from her is welcome. So how come they cast a stand-up comedian as Roland but a serious actress as Ellie? The cognitive dissonance is making my brain cramp.

And Eli Roth has left the project and declared that he does not want credit for his writing. THAT bodes well.

This is supposed to be canon. Canon my ass. This is a TRAVESTY. EDIT: Somebody said it's not supposed to be canon. I read that it is. I'll try to dig up the reference when I get a minute. EDIT 2: Sorry it took me so long, I was busy procrastinating. Now, in my memory, when the first announced the movie they claimed it would be "true to Borderlands", but of course that's changed. I must have skimmed over the more recent "canon" phrasing, sorry. Apparently it's changed to "canon for the Borderlands Cinematic Universe", which is not the same as canon to the games. To me that's seems a bit disingenuous, considering that as far as I can tell, the Borderlands Cinematic Universe consists of one unfinished movie. (And calling it a "Borderlands Cinematic Universe" also seems a bit conceited since their first -- and so far only -- entry has been in Production Hell for 9 years and hasn't even finished.) So my apologies for getting the "canon" claims wrong, but I'm still unhappy and I think they're making excuses. They've taken an Action Movie script, grabbed some names from the Borderlands franchise, and pretended that the result is a Borderlands movie. They did that with Sly Stallone and the first Judge Dredd movie, remember? (Maybe you don't, but I was a fan of the comics. Fortunately the second movie was much, much better.) This makes me think of Stallone's Judge Dredd. (Also the anime version of the Lensman, but that one's pretty obscure.)

Anyway, I have more, but I think I've said what I need to. I may watch the movie out of morbid curiosity. I'm not going to dislike it out of spite, I'm not that hateful. I'll try to give it a chance. I just don't like the odds.

[starstuffandalotofcoffee]

I've made the choice not to get mired in arguments so I'm not responding to my own post endlessly but in case people are coming here to be annoyed at OP or whatever I guess my message is that "you're one of the lucky 10000!" is not, in fact, a statement that carries over onto internet interactions. If you were a person I knew socially and we were talking irl and I brought up Kent State and you didn't know what it was I'd probably briefly explain and, if you were an adult educated in the US I would at most be like "you...never learned this?" On the other hand if you see a post talking about something that is presumed to be common knowledge and, instead of navigating off Tumblr, going to your web browser, looking it up, and saying "wow, now I know this" and quietly moving on, you whine about how you were never taught this...you literally did not need to do that. You decided that strangers needed to be aware that you think education ends with high school when you could have never let another person know and no one would be the wiser.

I haven't posted any links because literally, in this case, I do mean "read the Wikipedia article, because it both points out it's on the national register of historical places and covers the basics of what happened." I'm not asking for deep analysis, I'm literally saying hey you should know that the National Guard killed several college students at Kent State University in Ohio during a peaceful anti-Vietnam war protest on May 4th, 1970 and that this is pretty widespread knowledge within the US with a large number of pop cultural references and maybe you should look askance at a 100k+ post that claims this isn't taught in schools.

More generally if your instinct is ever to defend your own ignorance instead of remedying it, I believe that you should feel deep shame about that. I would love for you to be an informed person because you are curious and love learning but honestly if you achieve it because you don't want a bunch of people on Tumblr to laugh at you that works too. Social pressure isn't always the answer, but it can in fact be a great motivator when it comes behaviors entirely under our control. A really effective way to get people to stop saying bigoted jokes is to act like they are cringe and unfunny. You clearly know this, because you're now trying to scold people who are correctly pointing out that you are dull and incurious and susceptible to latching on to conspiratorial thinking in order to defend yourself. You just don't like it when people use it on you.

[tacky-tramp]

Thoughts on Multiverses and Magnuses

Broadly speaking, fiction can approach the concept of the multiverse in one of two ways.

First -- you can take the approach of, say, the Spider-Verse: There are infinite realities, and anything interesting and/or amusing you can think of, exists somewhere. Why is a city in North America called Mumbattan? What possible sequence of events could have led to that? Shuddup. It's cool, so it exists. These stories are wildly fun ... but don't think about them too hard.

Or -- you can take the stricter branching approach, which suggests that a new reality spins off of an existing one every time one thing happens instead of another. This isn't about coolness, per se; it's about alternate histories. What if one specific event had occurred differently? Just one. What would that change? What would the downstream consequences be? How big is the Butterfly Effect, exactly?

Today, I'm trying to deduce which type of multiverse we have in Magnus.

We have, I think, three things to consider:

1. The statement of Anya Villette

2. Stuff Annabelle Cane says

3. The brief premise we've been given for Magnus Protocol

First, all three deal with realities that are almost identical -- only slightly different.

Anya Villette is in a house on Hill Top Road, and then she's in a house on Hill Top Road. The people she knew before still exist. London is mostly the same. She does not exist, and the Magnus Institute is where she expects something else to be; but these are pretty small divergences.

Eowa the Saxon is in a land recently at war with the Mercians, and then he's in a land recently at war with the Mercians. The only difference we're shown is the outcome of one battle. Interesting that the divergence here is extremely recent to the reality-hopping.

We don't know much about TMP's reality yet, but there is a city called Manchester, and there is a Magnus Institute, and that suggests a whole bunch in common with the reality we're more familiar with.

At no point have we been told of fanciful realities where Jonah Magnus is a crocodile or something. So far, we're leaning toward the stricter branching multiverse.

We have heard of one pretty dramatic difference: Some realities lack the Fears, while still having sapient beings capable of feeling fear. At least, the Web believes such realities exist, and believes this so confidently that it's willing to put it all on black. We are given no specific information about what these realities would be like. How much did the Fears affect the march of history?

I wonder if Anya Villette comes from a reality without the Fears -- if that's what the absence of the Institute is supposed to indicate. But that would mean the Fears had almost no impact whatsoever on the state of the world -- under the branching multiverse model, at least. And I find it hard to believe the avatars' wings flapped so softly. In any case, the eight-branched tree and spiderwebs at Anya's Hill Top Road seem to suggest the Fears are there. Or they could be red herrings.

To speculate on Eowa in any detail, I'd have to go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on tenth-century British battles. Let's put a pin in that, shall we? It is interesting that Annabelle claims to know what happened to Eowa on both sides of the gap -- in the reality he started from, and in the reality he landed in, even though he seems to have traveled from Annabelle's reality to another one. How is the Web getting information from other realities? Particularly information about things that happened before the Web even knew about the gap?

As for TMP, I'm going to apply a bit of meta-narrative faith here and suggest that The Magnus Institute will not be a completely unrelated, coincidentally named organization; that it will still be founded by Jonah Magnus to research the Fears and learn how to exploit their power for his own gain. That the Institute, in this reality, falls in 1999 is less interesting to me than the Institute's location. Is Manchester the capital in this reality -- the metropolis where a grand prison would be needed? That seems like such a big historical difference that the Butterfly Effect would likely leave us with no Jonah Magnus at all. Or did Smirke build something else in Manchester, which Jonah used for his own purposes? Or did Jonah attempt a wholly different ritual and therefore end up with a wholly different seat of power? Or was there never a seat of power in the first place, leaving Jonah to select real estate based on its cost-effectiveness and charming views?

Or is this Spider-Verse logic? Is there no specific sequence of events that led to this difference?

I'm pondering this, of course, because I'm creating my own other-reality for a fic. And God forbid my multiverse work differently from the canon multiverse.

Personally, I'm inclined toward the branching model, because I find it fascinating to consider how one difference could change the world. In the case of my fic -- what if the Web hadn't chosen Jon? What if it hadn't steered someone from childhood to become the Archivist its plan required; or was working on somebody, and then, oops, they tripped and fell down an open manhole, and somebody not groomed for its purposes succeeded Gertrude Robinson?

And that, of course, poses another question: Does the Web always succeed? Or did we simply hear the story of (the?) one time that it did? Are there other realities where it never gets its escape -- where it never learns of the gap, where it cannot widen the gap enough, where it cannot get the right people in the right places to make use of the gap? The Web is flexible, but is it infallible? It seems to think it can reliably make it work, over and over again, because isn't that the plan? Getting all the fear it can from one reality and then hopping to the next?

One more multiverse question: time travel??? The Web's plan would seem to require it. If it must jump laterally in time ... well, the End still wins. If the Web can go back, though, and arrive right when its fear supply comes online -- whenever hominids become smart enough to devise plans and fear the plans of others -- then it can do this over and over and over again, perhaps infinitely, and live forever. Anya Villette does seem to go back a few weeks when she goes through the gap. Could be the realities use different calendar systems (another possible red herring), but that has historical implications that make me think they'd be much further apart when she sees them both. Again, assuming a branching multiverse model.

(I'm in favor of time travel because it's extremely funny to imagine Annabelle, having followed her Web to its reality of choice, landing in an encampment of Denisovans or something.)

Now I'm wondering if "widening the gap" was about expanding its range. Eowa went to a reality almost identical to his own; Anya went to a reality that's still extremely similar; TMP may give us a reality that's a little further still; and the Web clearly wants access to drastically different realities.

May send Jonny an ask about this, for him to hold onto for a rainy day when he feels like teasing us with TMP hints.

[guzsdaily]

[Re]starting my self-hosting journey, and why

Day 80 - Jan 24th, 12.024

Yesterday I "woke" up my old computer as a server [again], now the fun part starts. But, why am I self-hosting?

Why self-host?

The short answer: for me, it's fun.

The long answer: to start, if you don't know what self-hosting means, here's a small explanation from our good old Wikipedia:

Self-hosting is the practice of running and maintaining a website or service using a private web server, instead of using a service outside of someone's own control. Self-hosting allows users to have more control over their data, privacy, and computing infrastructure, as well as potentially saving costs and improving skills. Source: Self-hosting (web services) - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In summary, it's like if you used your computer to run something like YouTube, instead of connecting to the internet to use it. Self-hosting can be really advantageous if you care a lot about privacy, control of your data and how it's used, not only that, but if you're a developer, you know have a lot more power in customizing, tweaking and automating services and tools that you use. And because the data and code is on your own machine, you aren't locked-in into a cloud provider, website, yadda yadda. There are people who can explain this better than me, and nowadays self-hosting isn't that hard if you know a thing or two about computers.

Personally, I plan to use self-hosting for three reasons:

Privacy and data control, of course;

Network control, aka. Ad blockers in the hole home's network with something like Adguard Home and a private intranet with Tailscale;

And, the most useful, automation. I already talked about here and there, but I hope that I can automate my social medias, daily journal publications, and things like that using my home server, specifically with something like Gitea actions (or in my case, Forgejo actions).

Maybe something like federalization also, I don't know yet how hard it would be to self-host my own Mastodon or [insert another ActivityPub-compatible instance here] on my computer.

Something which I also plan to do is to run my own Invidious and other frontend-alternatives for myself, I already use public instances and pretty much de-googled my online life nowadays, so why not try self-hosting also? Maybe even open these instances to my friends? So they can also have more private alternatives? Or maybe I'm dreaming too much? Probably.

How to self-host?

If you're somehow interested about self-hosting after this amalgamation of an explanation, and do not know where to start, I would recommend taking a look at CasaOS or YunoHost, these give you an easy-to-use User Interface (UI) to manage your server and services. I tried both, CasaOS being what introduced me to self-hosting, alongside this video on how to install it on Linux and use it.

Nonetheless, this is my third try on self-hosting, because the two previous options didn't serve my current needs and also because I'm liking the idea of using NixOS, which is how I'm configuring my home-server now. And it is being kinda great to share common configuration and code between my desktop and home-server, without counting also the incomparable control of using it instead of the docker-based solutions I mentioned (but again, I wouldn't recommend using Nix in your first try of self-hosting, even less if you don't have any experience with it or programming in general).

I already have a Forgejo instance running now, and I hope that tomorrow I'm able to configure Adguard Home on it, since these are pretty much the two main reasons and purposes of this server. Also, Tailscale is also configured, pretty much just services.tailscale.enable = true, that's it.

I have to admit, I'm kinda loving NixOS more and more, and it's also making me love even more Linux in general. It's always great to learn and try something new. Hopefully in some days I will make a more detailed post about the hole system that I'm creating to myself, it's kinda scary and interesting the scale that this "productivity system" is taking.

---

Today's artists & creative things

Playlist: Braincell.exe has failed to load - A stimming playlist - by Aliven't

---

Copyright (c) 2024-present Gustavo "Guz" L. de Mello <contact.guz013@gmail.com>

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) License

[justin-chapmanswers]

Hi there! So I needed to find someone I idolized for a project, and guess who was my first choice? You! But now I have to write and I have no idea what to put so….help. Please and thank you :)

Oh golly I didn't realize the new ask-answering system doesn't let you respond to just the question-asker instead of the public. Wellll let's just roll with it.

ANYWAY. Firstly, super duper honored thank youuuu you you. Hope I'm not too late on this. Whatchaaaa gotta write about? Just personal facts? Professional journey? Commonalities between yourself and the selected person?

I have plenty of trouble with the same prompt when I would send out job resumes haha. Who the heck am I? I'll Wikipedia it a tiny bit?

My name is Justin Chapman, born February 4th 1997, age 25 (just double-checked!). I am a writer, director, voice actor, and audio engineer on the hip YouTube animated web series, Inanimate Insanity. I would follow Adam Katz's Total Drama camps on YouTubeback in middle school, got excited when he posted auditions for Inanimate Insanity, and I've stuck with it ever since- here we are 11.5 years later. Fun-ner than ever! When I started I just voice acted, but eventually more and more tasks started to open up. And every week is something different! Right now the items on my desk are music pre-production notes/guides, video editing (not for the main episode, that's Brian's job), production oversight, and episode writing. At my core I love writing and I love voice acting, if I could focus on doing those two things every day forever, I'd be an extra happy guy. Everything else is a fun bonus.

Outside of II, I went to a Hollywood Arts-esque media-focused high school and then went onto Emerson College with a focus in Visual Media Arts, aka filmy stuff. I always knew I wanted to work in some area of storytelling, but need quite sure where exactly. Going into college I thought I'd be working in audio engineering, but after a variety of courses I shifted focus to screenwriting, where I specialized for the second half of my college journey. During college I interned at Valhalla Entertainment, a development studio, where I primarily gave script coverage/reports for the higher-ups. Very fun!

After graduating in 2019, I started working at DDO Artists Agency, a talent agency in their voiceover department. I started there as an intern, moved up to part-time audio engineering assistant, and now work as a full-time assistant to the agents. Been there since riiiight before the pandemic, transitioning to remote work has been a wild wild ride.

Now I work on contracts/invoices while helping voiceover talent with auditions by day, and do my ever-changing II work by night. By no means am I naturally a workaholic, I'm quiet lil introverted guy who likes plenty of nothing............. buuuuut over time, the habit of consistent work does leaving me feeling odd whenever I hit the rare moments of not having something pressing on my plate. I'd take a breather, but it all continues to be fun.

Ain't that just the way.

[stoic-whumpee]

I posted 1,065 times in 2022

That's 726 more posts than 2021!

266 posts created (25%)

799 posts reblogged (75%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@stoic-whumpee

@the-three-whumpeteers

@whumpwillow

@a-class-attempter

@whumpadventureprompts

I tagged 682 of my posts in 2022

Only 36% of my posts had no tags

#whump - 581 posts

#whump prompt - 422 posts

#whump prompts - 201 posts

#r prompts - 154 posts

#emotional whump - 146 posts

#captivity - 137 posts

#hurt/comfort - 103 posts

#team dynamics - 92 posts

#r speaks - 87 posts

#aftermath - 80 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i'd make a list of what i'm interested in writing for but most of them heavily depends on the mood of that day and the alignment of the star

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Prompt #90

Leader sent Whumpee on a mission that ended up getting Whumpee captured. The team blamed Leader for what happened, especially Teammate A who was close to Whumpee and who had protested Leader's decision. Leader was full of guilt, and they decided to come to the enemy and exchanged themself for Whumpee. Bonus point if Leader knew that the enemy's leader had always wanted them and they had finally gave in.

Leader now sat in a cell, all alone, knowing that they wouldn't be rescued. And they were fine with that.

469 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

#4

Whump Writing Resource - A List

(Feel free to add more) 

1. Whump Prompt Generator: 

Whumpy Prompt Generator by @whumpprompts

Whump Prompt Randomiser by @janetm74fics

Random Whump Generator by @grovegrocer

Whump Prompt Generator by @theres-whump-in-that-nebula

Whump Prompt Generator by unknown user. (*please let me know if you know who the author is)

Whump Generator by @thatsgonnaleaveamark

Whump Prompt Generator by @thatsgonnaleaveamark

Torture Whump Prompt Generator by @delicatewhumps

Sickfic Whump Generator by @delicatewhumps

Torture Methods by @delicatewhumps

Illness Generator by @delicatewhumps

2. Whump Community: 

Whump Community Directory at @whumpcommunity

The Whumpapedia at @whumpapedia

Bad Things Happen Bingo at @badthingshappenbingo

3. Inspirations/ Starting Point: (Wikipedia is always a really good website for a starting point, check their Reference section of for more in-depth sources) 

TV Tropes

Superpower Wiki

Magic Power Wiki  

List of different types of weapons 

List of Natural Disasters

List of Accidents and Disasters

List of various World Building Guides and Tools 

Web MD A-to-Z Guide

481 notes - Posted June 5, 2022

#3

Prompt #79

Whumpee is framed for a crime they didn’t commit and was awaiting trial in the dungeon. When they got a visit from their team Leader, they were relieved to see someone who would help them prove their innocence. 

Instead of asking Whumpee what happened, Leader glared at them and blamed them for causing more trouble. Whumpee understood that Leader wouldn’t believe them. They knew that they were now abandoned by the team and gave up on fighting for their freedom. 

Bonus point if Whumpee had always been an outcast/troublemaker in the team, and now Leader said they had always expected Whumpee to “go rogue”. 

494 notes - Posted March 4, 2022

#2

Prompt #95

A character who has been used and exploited too many times, who has been pushed into doing terrible things without another option. A character who every single choice they were forced to make made had led to more downfall, who is never offered a second chance. They don't believe they deserve a chance to be happy anymore.

745 notes - Posted June 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Prompt #112

Touch-starved whumpee who doesn’t know how to ask for comfort

- Whumpee who grows up being denied or ridiculed for their need of affection. Eventually, Whumpee learn to just stop asking because they will never get what they want and will most likely be punished for daring to ask.

- Whumpee who are wary of being open or vulnerable to their teammates because their guardians or the people they grow up with see vulnerability as a weakness. Whumpee has been so conditioned that they are not allowed to ask for comfort so they just close off and deal with it themself. And their teammates don’t know they are truly struggling because they have learned to conceal it so well.

- Whumpee who is taught to not be “selfish” (read: to not ask for anything), so they just don’t ask because they don’t want to bother their teammates.

- Whumpee who takes on the role of a caretaker and put their own needs for comfort aside so they can listen to teammate A’s family issues or be the big spoon because teammate B likes to be the small spoon. They see their touch starvation as something trivial themselves, because their teammates need their touch more and Whumpee can handle themself.

- Whumpee who just melts into someone embrace, soaking up all they can get. Whumpee who hides their disappointment and the feeling of emptiness when the arms inevitably let go and they are alone again.

- Whumpee who is too shy to ask, and is a bit closed off and by themself that people think they don’t like to be touch.

- Whumpee who is very selective about whose touch they want, but has to take any physical comfort they can get because they don’t have any other option.  

778 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[dogtoling]

it is the next day in real life gamers and now we are ready to talk about squid sucker teeth. or claws, or chitinous rings, or hooks, depending on the species.

CW for dead animals and trypophobia obviously, this entire thing is about suckers...

(and as always, a disclaimer, i am not a squid scientist.)

So the summary is that most squid have denticulated suction cups. meaning that within the rims of their suckers, to help with grip, they just straight up have claws. And when I say most squid this absolutely includes the small ones, and even non-squids, for example cuttlefish have these as well:

With the tentacular club of cuttlefish (this being the giant cuttlefish), the suckers look really cute and friendly, but actually if you zoom in

YEEOWCH! THEY ALSO HAVE SUCKER CLAWS! in most species the claws are just so small proportionally that you can't really tell, and probably really do more for grip than any kind of brutal mauling (that's what the beak is for). And this is the case for most small species of squid, where the claws can be straight up microscopic.

Thankfully, some species of squid are really big, and in these cases some of them have sucker teeth and claws that we can very much see. Famously, the Humboldt squid grows to be routinely 5 feet tall, and this is what they have on their tentacles:

Similarly, other big squids get a slice of the pie. For example the giant squid, which we almost never see, but from the few times we have seen them, we know that their suckers are no joke:

So giant squid also have pretty impressive sucker teeth - they're smaller and neater arranged than those of the Humboldt squid. The Humboldt is the winner in my heart though.

Next to the giant squid we have to talk about the Colossal squid, which is the largest known squid species by mass. And they have a slightly different approach to suckers. which uh

That's, hm. Yeah so in some squid species, the chitinous rings of teeth take really peculiar shapes and patterns, and in a number of them they actually take the shape of hooks! Tolweb (Tree of Life Web Project) is an extremely good resource for this because they have detailed (and i mean detailed) descriptions of a ton of squid species that other sites (like Wikipedia) has like 1 sentence and no picture on - including detailed images (or at least descriptions) of the sucker.

So let's look at some squid with really bizarre tentacles...

Tentacle of Mastigoteuthis (the Whip-lash squid!), which lacks a typical tentacular club and instead has a shit ton of tiny, itty bitty suckers plastered all over its disturbingly long and spindly tentacles to latch onto whatever prey item shows up. And if you squint, even this thing has sucker teeth.

(You may have seen this squid before!)

Either way, just picking and choosing now, may I present the tentacles of many (unrelated) squid just to show the sheer variety on display:

(wow, the angles! very satisfying!)

Here's a favorite of mine: A. lesueurii, with horrid hooks.

IT'S LIKE A KITTY CAT!

Among Oegopsids, we see a lot of hooks being flaunted (and I'm very impressed). If you thought the sucker teeth was bad, well, this is arguably much worse or better.

very elegant!

Can't get tired of looking at these honestly. And if you ever wondered about what the Firefly Squid has in its arsenal, well... not quite as impressive, but pretty on-brand:

Some mild stabbies!

There's other squid that have teeny-tiny suckers, rather than huge murder claws or massive suction cups.

Then there's also squid with modest tentacles (or no tentacles at all!), but their arms look like this, with enough claws to make sure they're still not fucking around:

cool.

Anyway, I'm literally out of image space for this post, which tells me that I've probably said enough. Enjoy the knowledge granted to you of how cool squid suckers are (and I didn't even get some of the weirdest ones in here!)

I've never seen the sucker teeth you speak on but wish to be enlightened

anon i literally just went to bed but i promise i will follow up this post with SEVERAL fucked up squid suckers tomorrow.

[kittencalledwolf]

Earlier this week I found my nerve to post my experience on Instagram about @theropegeek-archive (@theropegeek). I’ve been laboring over the emotional processing from the trauma that he caused me and what that means beyond just my own hurt and recovery much of this past year.

When TRG read my posting (as well as the ones from my former girlfriend and former metamour which I am reblogging below) he has responded privately to my statement that he doesn't see any of it as truth.

But the thing is, I’ve long given up hope (after literal countless hours over the course of more than a year and revisiting the same topics over and again while trying to help him formulate healthy changes all while he fought them stating I was only trying to control him) of getting him to clear the metaphorical webs covering his eyes to see the actual errors of his ways.

Though it seems the proverbial light bulb above his head has gone off now and once again he is looking to use his “earnest” words of remorse coupled with the “lessons learned” to ploy a wider audience into buying his self delusions of “finally” getting it and seeing the error of his ways.

If this was solely my own isolated experience then his insistence and disregard could make me question myself, but the actual reality is I am only one of many who have been affected by these behaviours over the course of years, and one of several who have bravely spoken up about it recently...And that this community strengthens me to stand up for myself in the face of his delusions.

I will just take this time to briefly paste the Wikipedia definition of gaslighting... "Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity."

Even if we leave sanity off the table.. he played puppeteer with my exgf and I in terms of trying to change my memory and perception of events for months back in 2018 before the major Consent Violation on the 2019 new years stuff was even on the radar. Playing one partner against the other, keeping people unsettled and sewing seeds of doubt in our minds about each other.

There is a big difference between saying something healthy like "I'm so sorry you felt that way, I feel so sad that my actions were interpreted that way. Honestly that wasn't my intention at all but I can totally see why you felt that." And one of TRG’s typical responses like "I've thought about that and you're wrong. I didn't do that at all, I was actually doing this instead."

The first one accepts the other person’s reality and what was experienced while explaining that a communication gap caused a misunderstanding. The second one merely seeks to smother their experience and replace it with his intent and desire from today. That's the gaslighting element.

I think the reason he doesn't see it in himself is that he does it to himself too. He believes his own lies so passionately. He has created his own reality to protect his fragile self esteem and self worth and there is no convincing him otherwise. He needs to believe that stuff because the alternative is a hell of a lot of hard work. So as long as he is lying to himself too...he's not going to see the lies he tells everyone else.

Below, I’ve included the post I wrote sharing a condensed history of what my experiences with Theropegeek have been like since I initially met him in 2013. This has been such an emotionally challenging writing to compose and I have not chosen any words lightly.

If anyone from his past or anyone who has doubts considering engaging with him now or in the future: My DMs are restricted rn, but please feel free to send an Ask and I can message you directly.

[cllynchauthor]

On Aspie Supremacy and the Aspergian

CW: bullying, suicide, aspie supremacy

I feel the need to talk to you guys about what has been happening on autistic twitter lately surrounding the autistic website The Aspergian. I write for The Aspergian. Here are some of my articles:

https://theaspergian.com/2019/05/04/its-a-spectrum-doesnt-mean-what-you-think/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/04/19/person-first/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/04/05/7-cool-aspects-of-autistic-culture/

While I am white, cishet, and speaking, I am in the minority at The Aspergian.

The majority of contributors are mostly either LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, or high support needs.

Here are some of their contributions:

https://theaspergian.com/2019/10/10/stopping-the-stigma-against-people-with-disabilities-interview-with-sbsk/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/09/09/10-signs-i-was-transgender-but-didnt-know-it/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/08/08/the-cage/

Despite this, the name The Aspergian makes many autistic people uncomfortable. Several ASAN members have spoken out condemning the name.

In these days of #AltAutism, the autistic dark web and other aspie supremacists have turned the word Aspergers into a borderline slur.

Aspergers and “Aspergian” are becoming dog whistles for function labels, white supremacy and incels.

The founder of The Aspergian knows that. That’s why she named it The Aspergian.

With every pro-RPM, pro-Neurodiversity, feminist, intersectional article The Aspergian publishes, it gets left wing values all over Aspergers. If you google Aspergian now, all you will find are social justice articles.

And the AltAutism folks HATE IT.

But so do a lot of autistic advocates, for whom “Aspergers” conjures up a lot of trauma.

The founder has trauma from it too, though.

https://twitter.com/theaspergiancom/status/1185068296636375040?s=21

Image Description: screencap of a tweet from @TheAspergianCom reading

When I first told my closest living friend about being autistic, it was the first person I'd told other than my husband. This was her response:

Below is a screencap of a text conversation. The friend is talking about her autistic son saying “at this point I’ll be fucking happy if he ever calls me mom and stops trying to attack me.” Then she says “I think your autism is fucking bullshit.”

Image description: screencaps of more tweets reading:

Though she knew I was going to be tested, she'd continued to use the word Asperger's. I'd been helping her through the process of understanding her son and autism. I loved her deeply. I still do. But she blocked me on social media and told everyone before I was ready to come out.

So instantly all my social media was flooded with all these speculative and veiled comments I could only see portions of, and I was humiliated. I was a new mother struggling and lost my support system. She thought it was sinister I used the same label as her son. Minimizing.

Autism was my diagnosis. She didn't know that I was made to believe I was possessed by demons in my youth or all the hell I'd endured and all the struggles I had like being the last person in my school who learned to read six years late. She knew an articulate adult.

Image description: the next person I told, things went even worse. She outed me in local Facebook groups where I was the admin and parent groups. I had postpartum anxiety and severe breastfeeding aversion but my child wouldn't eat food. So it was BF constantly or a feeding tube. And no meds for me.

So I thought maybe the problem was me saying autism instead of Asperger's. My husband was aspie and always identified that way. I'd been a teacher with largely autistic classes for years. Those with that diagnosis were often intellectually disabled.

Image description: My best friend and one of my oldest and closest friends, both autistic, had committed suicide, and the two living best friends I had blew up my whole social circle. I was afraid to seek help, afraid to go in public, and brutally reframing my whole life and reliving traumas.

I needed help. I joined about 20-30 autistic groups and made the mistake of saying that I was aspie. I didn't want to be insulting and have another incident like what happened the first time I told someone. It didn't go well. I had no idea of the stigma at the time.

And I had no idea why I was being called a supremacist, shiny, a Nazi, ableist, etc. I argued against those claims because I'm definitely not those things. I thought I'd entered a den of extremists. I got booted. Then another group I entered started with, "Oh, there's the Nazi."

In that tweet thread, Terra goes on to say that it occurred to her that her best friend who had recently committed suicide might have sought out the autistic community before he died. And she went to look and found that he had posted and been dogpiled in the same manner. The day before he died.

Terra Vance is desperately anti supremacy. But she is also desperately anti bullying. And she felt that if people couldn’t say “I’m autistic” without losing loved ones and “I’m aspie” without being called a supremacist, then autistic people were being put in a very tight corner.

Especially since Aspergers is still an extant diagnosis pretty much everywhere but North America so people are getting shunned from the autistic community because of their DIAGNOSIS.

That’s why she named it The Aspergian.

And you know what?

The aspie supremacists HATE IT.

They hate that their dog whistle is now a popular and booming hub of Neurodiversity, anti-ABA, and intersectionality.

They hate that The Aspergian is republishing deleted Wikipedia articles of autistic nonspeakers, which the autistic dark web worked hard to get removed.

They hate that we promote FC and RPM and other AAC. They hate that we keep claiming that autism and Aspergers are the same thing.

They don’t want to share space with nonspeakers and black women. They’re a bunch of altright white incels and The Aspergian is getting autism and neurodiversity over their shiny high functioning boots.

Worst of all, we’re reaching PARENTS.

Our most popular articles are not aimed at fellow autistic people. They are aimed at NTs, parents, laymen, trying to educate them about autism.

My article on ABA went viral and made so many ABA therapists angry. It was beautiful.

Imagine description:

“And by some strange magic, we took off suddenly, going from like 100 views per month to over 100k, then 200k, then more and more. We heard a lot of stories that were not being heard. There are parents who read our site to learn about their children posthumously after suicide.

One mother told me that if she had found our site earlier, she would have known that her son's "aspie" diagnosis meant that he was fully autistic. She is filled with regrets. We hear from lots of people who had no idea that they were supposed to have these autistic struggles.

We hear from people in lots of non-white majority countries where autism acceptance and awareness is years/decades behind what a difference our site has made because they had no idea. They weren't reading other blogs and now they are. Now they are understanding autism.”

Understanding autism from a neurodivergent, autism-acceptance, Autism-Speaks-Is-Bad, anti-ABA, pro-AAC website.

The ADW HATE that.

So what do they do?

They stir up shit about the name. The autistic dark web have a bunch of sock accounts which they use to deliberately stir up shit among the #ActuallyAutistic tag on twitter so they can screenshot stuff and repost it out of context to further discredit autistic people.

So they know the ND crowd resent Aspergers. So they deliberately stir up crap about The Aspergian’s name and everybody eats it up.

They also spread lies like that we are racist and don’t have any contributors of colour (they block the BIPOC contributors who argue against this lie).

Image Descriotion:

Tweet from Riah Person (a black autistic advocate) saying

“The .@theAspergianCom has writers

• with I/DD

• that are nonspeaking

• with research background

• that are deaf

• that are blind

• with physically limiting disabilities

• that are autistic BIPOC

• that are autistic LGBTQ+

• with no formal writing skills

The list goes on”

They claim that we plagiarize. But in fact each contributor owns their own content and is free to publish in other places and often they do.

But mostly they bitch about the name.

And I get it. I do. Aspergers brings up a lot of bad feelings and associations, especially since the anti-ND movement started pushing the “Asperger was a Nazi” stuff in order to discredit Steve Silberman’s book Neurotribes.

But we can’t make Asperger’s a slur. It’s still an existing diagnosis all around the world. Happily it IS being removed from the ICD 11 in 2022 but it’s going to take decades to change the assumptions around that word.

Terra wants “Aspergers” to become synonymous with autism. No difference. No barriers. No judgements. Not because she loves or even identifies with Aspergers. Her diagnosis is autistic and she calls herself autistic. But she doesn’t think autistic people should be bullied over a label. It smacks of exclusionism.

The founder of The Aspergian feels that no autistic person should be bullied to the point of death or near-death because of their diagnosis, or because they have been trained to say they have Aspergers so NTs won’t pull the whole “you don’t look autistic” crap.

The autistic community, of ALL communities, should be the most understanding of misunderstanding. We should be the most able to understand that people don’t always mean what it sounds like they mean.

“Aspergers” is not a slur. It is not a supremacist term. At worst it is an outdated functioning label. At best it is a synonym for autism.

And it won’t become a dog whistle. Because The Aspergian won’t allow it.

[roseverdict]

now that i'm on twitter more often i notice i'm Going Off a lot more, too.

so yeah websites take a lot of work but frankly i'm long past the point of McLosin' It. we have an ao3 to the ffn, we have a wikipedia to the paid journals, and we've got a bunch of tumblr alternatives, but i'm like thiiis close to chucking myself into web programming instead of game programming

i've been honing my faed game idea for months! i don't wanna give it up!

but honestly spite has always been a big motivator for me SO