#just some observations.

[mehilaiselokuva]

Unspoken social rules in Finland

big warning before you read: this is just an opinion. I have been reading Reddit and other sites like that a lot, and some people have been asking about unspoken rules in Finland. I moved from the extreme countryside to Helsinki and have noticed these firsthand and since you don't really meet people on the streets back where I grew up, I will focus on Helsinki manners. Again, this is just my opinion and not absolute laws set in stone!

No perfume. Many public places like libraries will have signs that say not to come in if you are wearing scents. You might think your scent doesn't smell THAT bad, but it does. Shower and come back!

If you have a big backpack or luggage, be extra mindful. In trains, there are spots where your luggage will fit without needing to put it in the middle where people walk or, god forbid, THE SEATS NEXT TO YOU?

If you know that you cannot focus on your phone and the traffic in front of you, do not look at your phone while walking. You are expected to make way at all times.

More on making way- both me and you need to make way. If I am approaching on a narrow street walking on the side, you cannot walk in the middle (the other person made way already, right? Wrong.) You must also move to the side as much as possible.

Finnish personal space is big. Whatever European personal space is, you need to double that by two (or three). If a Finn can extend their arms and touch you, you are in their space. If a Finn is for example waiting for the light to turn green and you come to wait at the same crossing, you should stand on the other side of the zebra crossing waiting space (???).

Have headphones on, do not listen to audio without headphones in public. (This one divides people a lot these days. Apparently, the young generation is more OK with this)

If you have to take a call in public transit/inside a public space, talk quietly. This doesn't apply outside, however, yelling is still frowned upon.

General quietness is appreciated. Talk quiet, shut doors quiet, etc.

BIG ONE IN THE CAPITAL REGION!!! Do anything on the right side. On escalators, stand on the right. The left side is for people running down to be somewhere in time. Walk down the stairs on the right. Walk on the right in the hallways and streets. If you and your friend are walking together somewhere narrow, make a queue if someone is coming. Queuing is expected at all times on escalators. You must not stand on The Left Side of The Escalator.

When a public transport vehicle stops at your stop, you will see people waiting for people to come out on the immediate sides of the door. Do not try to get on first. Do not wait for people to get off right in front of the door! Makes the flow of people faster.

Sit on the window seat if a double seat is available. (Idk what kind of people wouldn't) DO NOT SIT NEXT TO SOMEONE IF SPACE IS AVAILABLE, people will move away from you and then it's awkward for both of you.

TLDR: Be quiet and mindful, walk on the right at all times. Be yourself! Have fun!

[stil-lindigo]

Bisan is calling for another global strike!

I saw some posts just outlining Jan 21st, and wanted to clarify that Bisan has called for a full seven days of action.

What a global strike would look like is:

calling in sick to work

purchasing bare essentials ahead of the week so you can observe the general boycott of goods / buying as little as you genuinely can

putting in a concerted effort to elevate Palestinian voices and make it clear that this strike is in support of a permanent ceasefire!

For those who will have to purchase necessary goods during this time, please observe the brands that the BDS movement is asking us to boycott!

♢♢♢

Right now is also a good time to mention some better uses for your money during this week.

Available e-sims in Gaza are running low!!

Mirna El Helbawi and her team are working round the clock to continue to connect Palestinians as Israel does its best to cut them off from the rest of the world.

You can learn how to purchase and send e-sims here, and below you’ll find a list of what is currently needed (the areas in brackets indicate what region you should select to buy e-sims in).

--

CareforGaza is an organisation that does verifiably good work, distributing supplies directly to Palestinian families.

They have a Gofundme set up at the moment, but because of Gofundme’s poor track record regarding refusing to transfer funds to Palestinians, I’d recommend continuing to donate directly to their PayPal here.

Good luck to all of you. Don't turn away from Palestine!

[pepsinister]

sitting at a desk for nine hours a day means I’ve reverted to A Doodler

if I don’t participate in a figure drawing session soon I am going to explode

[grayeet]

I love the pale garden and how it's like a parallel to dark forests. I love how the two divert expectations.

Dark forests, despite their name, are saturated and full of life. Even compared to regular forests, there's a lot more biodiversity than many of the "basic" biomes. There's three whole different trees found there, giant mushrooms, and plenty of flowers. They're one of the biomes capable of spawning a lush cave underneath it. It has its dangers just like any other overworld biome, obviously, but it's nothing overly more than anywhere else. Traversing it can be tricky sometimes and illagers may take residence in the biome's woodland mansions, but it's ultimately a very colorful and lively environment.

Opposing it is the new pale garden. Usually white and light colors are seen as pristine and good, but the pale garden takes it the opposite direction and goes right into uncanny valley territory. It has none of the color of dark forests, none of the biodiversity, none of the liveliness. It has trees and moss that look familiar, but something is off. It has a signature mob, but even the creaking is just a puppet of the trees, not really sentient, not really even plotting against anything. There's "life", but, once again, it's wrong.

I think the pale garden is a wonderful addition to Minecraft's world building as it is, but the deliberate parallel to dark forests? Delicious.

[kettlefire]

Justice League & The Observants

The first time The Observants appeared before the Justice League, they were met with resistance. The JL was more than apprehensive when it came to working with the beings.

A new side of their world was exposed to them. Since the day those things showed up at the watchtower, everywhere the JL turned, there was a new spooky thing to learn about.

The strange beings didn't say much. Appearing in the room through a swirling portal, took a look at the heroes and gave them a mission.

A mission. Like suddenly the Justice League works for them. Something that rubbed all the heroes the wrong way.

Yet, they had to take it. They couldn't let a town get absolutely destroyed and leveled just because they disliked the creatures that told them about it.

It kept happening.

Batman pulls out all the stops to learn more about these so called "Observants". Everything he could find.

It takes him down a rabbit hole. Finding out more and more about the world those beings came from. The Zone.

No one could really complain. The visits from the Observants were always short and to the point. A new problem has arise in the time line and they needed to fix it.

That was until the first time it wasn't one of those things stepping out of the portal.

This time it was a kid. Or something that looked like a kid, and this kid looked pissed.

He demands to know everything that the Observants had asked the league to do. Demands to be filled in.

The anger isn't directed at the JL. No, no. It's directed at the Observants. It seems the league aren't the only ones that despise those all-seeing beings.

He's a king. The kid is a King.

Not what anyone had expected, and it seemed the complication only grew more. The king, Phantom, informs them not to trust the Observants.

The Justice League takes it all in surprising strides. Confirms that they have done nothing wrong, and they haven't. It was simply that the Observants cared more of their own opinions than the betterment of the world.

However, it gets a little harder to keep a straight face when they are introduced to the God of Time.

Made even worse when the God, Clockwork, is a child. If they thought Phantom was a kid, this was a baby.

Except in almost a blink of an eye, Clockwork was an old man.

Things just kept getting more complicating and intriguing.

Before the Justice League knows it. They are essentially thrusted into the Zone's own problems. An inner war was brewing, and Phantom wanted to do everything he could to stop it.

[chrliekclly]

code switching on set

[batman-gif]

"Frank and Gerard early 2000's stage kisses" this "Frank and Gerard early 2000's stage kisses" that. LISTEN! 2022 Ray and Frank forehead kisses. In conclusion . Frank iero.

[sadrien]

forever baffled by miraculous ladybug’s inability to be aired in order

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 136

 There is a small child floating in the Watchtower. 

They’re visibly not human, a too-big cloak of purple (what shade no one knows, all they can describe about the cloak is purple, nothing else) hanging from them as big Lazarus-green eyes glare down in something of a pout. The child huffs, blowing white hair out of their face despite it shimmering and shifting on its own already. 

How the child, inhuman or not, found their way into the Watchtower- without setting off an alarm no less- is a concern. A very large concern, but it can wait because there is a four-year old (if the child is the equivalent of a human child that is) at oldest staring down at them. 

 “Do you know where the speedsters are?” the child piped up after an awkward stare-down, none of the league members present quite sure what to do in this situation. It was probably around time to call Batman… or they could call Flash instead. 

[iamnmbr3]

Harry: I don't think about Draco that much. Just because I happen to remember every single thing I saw him look at in Borgin & Burkes four years ago and coincidentally noticed the second he got a new traveling cloak because I have his whole wardrobe memorized doesn't mean I'm obsessed with him or anything. I'm just generally observant like that. It doesn't mean I care about him.

Ginny: You forgot about the time a piece of Voldemort came out of a diary and possessed me.

Ron: You didn't notice I was eating spiked chocolates right in front of you because you were staring at Draco's dot on the map...AGAIN.

Hermione: Do you even know my parents' names?

Harry: ... Huh. I was right. Draco's skin is definitely a slightly different color than it usually is.

[egophiliac]

I love the idea of teenage Malleus hating his new baby brother Silver but slowly falling for him

words cannot express how much I adore that Mal's reaction to seeing a human baby for the first time was "the fuck is this. why does it look like that. gross." (then he immediately got stuck on babysitting duty and the rest is history)

I am SUCH a sucker for that trope of "non-humans being fascinated by normal human behavior", so between that and all the delicious angst going on I was eating VERY well. >:) Malleus being so impressed that two-year-old Silver can walk, because it took him twenty years to stand on two legs! Lilia barging in on the Zigvolts at 2 AM being like "he won't stop crying what do I do"! Lilia trying to feed Silver rats and Malleus being like "...please just stick with what the books say to feed it"! it is all so. chef's kiss.

[bleue-flora]

[original post]

@marshymashers hope it's okay to respond to you in a post, my answer was getting too long, so here we are. :)

First off, Tubbo isn't autistic. He has stated on multiple occasions [clip] [clip] that he isn't and it is none of our business to question him or diagnose him. That is incredibly disrespectful to Tubbo and anyone actually diagnosed with autism. He has stated that all the way back in 2022 that he is not, so please refrain from going around diagnosing people in real life and spreading false information. It is none of our business what diagnosis someone does or does not have unless they want to come forward and tell us.

Yes, Tubbo is dyslexic, as am I, which does mean he is neurodivergent, however dyslexia and autism are not the same.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): "Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave." [link]

According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH): "Some of the most common learning disabilities are the following: Dyslexia. People with dyslexia have problems with reading words accurately and with ease (sometimes called “fluency”) and may have a hard time spelling, understanding sentences, and recognizing words they already know." [link]

In my post, notice I am not talking about neurodivergence as a whole, but specifically autism and the effect it has on communication and behavior. I also did not and have not said that autism excuses behavior nor is any type of shield to be used to paint Dream as innocent. Again, my point here was not about the wrongdoings, but about the communication I have seen over the past few days that speaks to a pattern that I have experienced over and over for 20 years that only after my diagnosis and people willing to hear me out as a result has subsided. I am talking about a 3 hour stream where Tubbo and Dream repeated the same things to each other over and over and couldn't seem to understand each other no matter how many times they said it. That is what I am talking about. Because I believe not that autism should be used as a shield but as a lens to view the situation more clearly.

All I'm saying is if people went into the discussion with the mindset that this could be a moment of autism misunderstanding not malicious or manipulative intent, then it would be more productive. Instead over and over the assumption is that Dream has ill intent so everything that is rumored and hinted at or said is viewed under that lens.

For example, it is a very common characteristic of an autistic person (or person with adhd) to mix up names. So, on one hand, people could see Dream calling Tubbo "Tommy" multiple times in that stream as Dream not seeing them as separate people and only seeing Tubbo as Tommy's best friend, and using Tubbo as a way to talk to Tommy, or whatever. But in reality, I can say with absolute certainty that Dream just screwed up the names on accident, as is common place for autistic people. There was no ill intent behind it in the slightest, it was simply an accident. That's all. Do you see the difference? By constantly viewing Dream under a lens of malicious intention we are mistaking what could just be a more innocent moment of autistic difference for wrongdoing. And all I'm saying is that until people give Dream the benefit of the doubt or grace that it could be an autism miscommunication, things will never resolve or change.

And yes, execution is at the end of the day the result and it doesn't matter whether you meant to hurt someone or not, you still did. But knowing intention is the difference between Dream being an imperfect autistic guy versus a movie villain. And whether rumors about him should be taken at face value to be true or whether we should give Dream the benefit of the doubt first.

In addition, if we don't take into consideration that Dream sees a situation differently because he's autistic and therefore an explanation of his wrongdoing may not make sense to him, then we are going to just assume he isn't taking accountabilty when in fact, he really just doesn't understand. In the same way, that Tubbo doesn't understand his reasoning.

For example, with the perception that Dream and his friends are misongynistic and sexist:

Tubbo's reasoning:

there are multiple accusations you haven't refuted of you calling a woman a whore + you singled out Aimsey and Hannahrose in your stream + you disrespected Caiti in that situation by getting involved and sending hateful fans after her + downplayed your involvement and the situation's point by not including it in your vid => you are sexist and misongynistic and need to clean up your act with how you treat woman.

Dream's reasoning:

there are multiple accusations you don't refute of you calling a woman a whore there is one accusation that I don't remember but don't want to call someone a liar, from awhile ago when I used whore more in my joking slang with my close friends + you singled out Aimsey and Hannahrose in your stream in my stream I mentioned many creators, including Aimsey and Hannahrose, to highlight my points about rumors, misconceptions and mispeaking + you disrespected Caiti in that situation by getteing involved and sending hate after her I provided information as I was a witness of a situation involving my best friend + downplayed your involvement and the situation's point by not including it in your vid I didn't include it in the video as Tommy didn't call me out for doing something in it and the situation is George's and Caiti's to discuss not mine => you are sexist and misgynistic and need to clean up your act with how you treat woman contrary to Tommy's statement I am not sexist or misogynistic, nor are my friends as there is no proof.

I don't think Dream is trying to dodge accountability, because (unlike some creators) over and over we have seen him own up, apologize and admit he was wrong or out of line and try to make things right in a reasonable manner. He has proven that he can and does take accountability, in this instance he just simply doesn't see why he needs to as he doesn't follow Tubbo's train of thought and reaches a different conclusion, in the same way Tubbo isn't following Dream's train of thought... anyways I really hope that makes sense or clears things up for at least someone lol. :)

[transsongtaewon]

Of course we know that there aren't many childhood pictures left of Yoohyun. But I think there weren't any in the first place of Yoojin.

Sure, when he was really young there was enough to fill a nice album, a cute baby and later chubby toddler adorning the walls, but they drop off when he is five. Nothing new joins what is there and eventually the pictures are taken down.

There are pictures of Yoohyun, many of them clumsily taken and out of focus, fingers poking in the frame of more than a few. Yoohyun looks happy in all of them, often posing somewhere but sometimes also caught unaware, doing his homework in the kitchen or unpacking a lunch box on a park bench.

How do you think their parents felt the first time they looked back through pictures from their beach vacation only to find Yoohyun, learning how to tie his shoes. Did they delete the pictures? How many times? Did they tire of it eventually? Of erasing their son's milestones, so they gave up and bought a new camera for their next vacation?

Of course it's not like there's no pictures of Yoojin. He's there in class pictures (few) and company get-togethers (many), and for special occasions there's even pictures of him and Yoohyun together, looking proud at Yoohyun's middle school graduation, still having to lean down so they're the same height. There's not many of these pictures - you can only ask a stranger to help take photos for so long - but at least they are some proof Yoojin exists as more than the eye that watches over Yoohyun.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

One thing I love about people who are more frum than me is that two minutes after havdalah has seen shabbos away, they're sending you texts, emails, phone calls and it's like clockwork! I find it funny but more than that, I think it's iconic

[queermasculine]

butches who find themselves relating to fictional dudes in the absence of butch representation: what type of guy do you most often find yourself relating to? is there an archetype you feel most closely represents your experience? just curious

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I think Gwen calling Miles parents by their first names really show the difference between white and black culture.

Gwendy girl I love you but get your shoes off the bed. Have you lost your goddamn mind

Idk if it's just me, but in a lot of wider (white) culture the idea is that a host must cater to the guest, making sure the place is inviting and the guest is taken care of. It's the hosts responsibly look after their guests

However in a lot of POC cultures, it's the inverse. To us, Guests must cater to the host, because we understand it firstly as their space.

In our culture, we as guests are there as visitors. And it is on us to act appropriate towards the host. Rather than the host acting appropriate to us.

When we walk into a house, we talk off our shoes.

When she comes over she sits cross-legged on Miles bed with her shoes on.

When we enter someones house or space as black kids we're told to go to the adult of the house and introduce yourself, shake their hand.

When Gwen comes to the cookout, Miles parents have to approach her first and ask who she is. And then she calls them their first names!!!!!

We're even told that as guests we have to ask to get water or open the fridge - or the host can get it for us for their privacy.

Gwen comes in and rips open one of Miles' collectables and don't even think about it after.

And Miles is SHOCKED because he's probably never had a friend act like that in his house before.

As POC we see ourselves as guests given the privilege of being in the space. Whereas general culture sees guests as someone to invite in, and that the guests experience - not the hosts' space - is the primary focus

Gwen is probably acting that way because in her culture the idea is that "Oh - I'm at a friend's house. Let me get comfortable."

Whereas for a lot of us its "Oh - I'm at a friend's house and I want their parents to like me enough to let me in their house again lol"

Idk I just found that interesting