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bullyingfictionalmen · 2 days ago

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LaDS Men x Blind/Visually-Impaired!MC Headcanons

A/N: Not my usual style of writing, but I’m a blind/ADHD girlie myself and was inspired by lovely posts like this one sharing HCs about the LIs interacting with disabled/neurodivergent!MC. I tried to account for a variety of experiences myself and other blind friends have had, but blindness is a spectrum, so please take my preferences and interpretations with a grain of salt :)

cw: fluff, soft LADS boys, brief mentions of ableism

🐦‍⬛ Sylus 🐦‍⬛

also a light-sensitive king, so he inherently gets needing spaces to be dark and glare-free

Buys you all the assistive technology you could ask for. High tech magnifier, Brailler, braille-note, monocular, e-reader

Modifies them all to an excessive degree to have, like, infrared mode in addition to contrast filters to reduce eye-strain

always scouring online for new cane tips, gps and self-driving cars to increase your mobility and independence

if you have a guide dog, that’s his new bestie. Also picks up on the training super fast

teaches you how to fight with accessible techniques, helping you drill the sensation of the correct movements into your muscle memory

you find yourself able to relax around him because he’s so considerate without making you feel like a burden

loves reading to you, whether it be poems, stories, random posts online. He knows you love his voice

anyone trying to deny you an opportunity or entry into a store/restaurant will catch those hands, or the full might of Onychinus

✨ Xavier ✨

buys you the softest blankets/pajamas/scarves because he knows the textures you prefer

really good about using tactile labels around the house and buying products you could easily recognize by touch

uses his Evol to adjust lighting or to teleport you out of overwhelming situations

Low-key jealous of your service animal but his gratitude for their hard work wins out

went through training blindfolded to better understand your needs

consciously and habitually covers your blind spots in battle without being prideful about it or discounting your skill

always stands on the side nearest the road when you’re walking together and points out stairs, curbs and steep inclines

gently reminds you not to apologize for advocating for your needs

🍎 Caleb 🍎

grew up with you so he understands this whole song and dance. He deeply gets the nuances of what you need without asking

can sense it if you’re tired of explaining yourself to a new person and will swoop in to do it for you

enthusiastic about taking you anywhere you need to go, brags about being your chauffeur

overprotective as hell but he does his best not to infantilize you. He just really cares

smoothly points out or guides you around obstacles and rough terrain

offers to read any restaurant menu that has bad contrast or is far away, highlighting items he knows you like

you video call him anytime you misplace something and he has a knack for knowing where you left it

jokes that he is your guide dog

extra-passionate about disability rights and unfair wages

very considerate of your needs when planning dates or outings, but will run new activities by you and never assume you can’t do something

🐠 Rafayel 🐠

tries hard to make his exhibits and pieces inclusive— loves experimenting with tactile elements in his art and arranges for braille and large-print signs at every event

personally narrates the audio explanations in the gallery/ museum tours for your benefit

makes you custom cane charms, labels, helps decorate the cases for your technology to make using it more fun

checks or sometimes does your makeup himself if you’re not in the mood to painstakingly perfect it

woke up in a cold sweat one night and spent the next three days designing and refining a Braille alphabet for Lemurian

will body-block any bikes or people coming at you from an unseen location

goes full Karen in your defense if someone is rude about your needs or refusing accommodations

“watch where you’re going.” “Um, she’s blind??? Feel bad now?”

his blind jokes are pure art—he was wary of offending you at first, but now he’ll participate in banter with you and make you laugh your ass off without being mean-spirited or degrading (unless you’re into that)

❄️ Zayne ❄️

the king of sided-guide, will navigate you calmly and seamlessly through any crowd or tough situation

when someone pulls a stunt like “oh, you’re blind? How many fingers am I holding up?” Zayne will give them the blankest stare and then launch into a dry medical explanation of your condition to make them feel awkward

has extensive knowledge of your medical records/schedule and will remind you of or accompany you to appointments

you catch him reading ophthalmology books in his spare time and have to beg him not to get yet another specialization

the first to notice when your eyes are strained or you’ve got a headache. Ready with a cold compress or painkillers

gently chastises you if you’re overworking or wearing yourself thin. Very aware of activities that consume more energy for you or stress you out

doesn’t usually make blind jokes, but every once in awhile he’ll make the sassiest deadpan comment that makes you cry-laugh

#lads zayne #lads rafayel #lads sylus #lads xavier #lads caleb #lads headcanons #lads mc #lads x reader #love and deepspace

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grison-in-space · 1 day ago

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Hello!

Since my elderly cat just died, I’m starting to bat around the idea of seriously training an at-home service cat. Pesterbot, routine nudges, maybe as much grounding pressure as they can give me (time for a big fluffy boy?), and if they pick up on med-alert cues, great.

I’ve chatted with the local rescue already - I figure I want one cat whose early life and temperament have set them up for secure attachment and assertiveness, and another to be a buddy for them, ok if they’re more skittish of humans. Ideally ~6-8 mo so the adult personality has started to show but I still have some relatively early socialization window.

Any thoughts on rescue vs breeder, breed, how to look for a breeder who *actually* values temperament and health, the odds of known ancestors and a known-good early life making that much of a difference? I’m liking the look of the forest cats (especially NFCs and Siberians) but also, $$$$ (though with a purebred cost is probably just something to plan for)? Or anything I’m missing in thinking through this?

No, I think you've hit just about everything that occurs to me. With a purebred cat(s), you're dealing with a history of selection that might be a little curtailed, which means you'll want to look for genetic disorders known to run in that line of cats and also that you will want to cross-reference opinions from multiple people in the breed if you can. With a rescue cat, you're looking at a whole lot of unknowns that can be really hard to predict, especially with respect to temperament at maturity.

I am not sure that NFCs or Siberians are the best temperamental range for that kind of work, though: you want an opinionated and socially oriented cat, and my understanding of the reputation of the forest cats is that they're like... slightly more active Ragdolls? I'd ping in @pangur-and-grim and @followthebluebell for assessments of breed temperaments. You're also going to want a relatively active cat who is interested in watching what you're doing and responding to your environment: remember, you'd be paying this cat to come interact with you when you're stuck / when an alarm goes off, and you'll have the most success with that if your cat likes thinking and moving with you.

This is also the sort of cat my spouse and I like best--active, bold, interested in interaction, easily bored--and we've been eyeing up some potential purebred options as well as considering rescue after, well, my last rescue kitten developed severe pica at around six months. That's less likely to happen to you with a 6-9mo adolescent kitten--I got Arthur at 10 weeks and he was obviously neurodivergent in some way by then, if only by virtue of his blindness--but it was pretty catastrophic for his ability to have unfettered access to me, for example.

From my perspective, the biggest benefit of purebred cats are that a lot of the cat breeds have selected clearly for specific ranges of temperament over time. It's definitely going to be easier to find someone else going "a bossy, energetic cat who wants to be Interacting With You frequently? boy howdy, I'd love that!" among the ranks of, well, Serious Cat People.... which includes a lot of cat breeders, but not a ton of cat owners. A lot of people seem to pick cats based on color, proximity, and kitten cuteness, which still blows my mind a bit coming from dogs!

I can tell you straight up that the best way to pick a rescue cat by temperament is to (ideally) aim for a foster based rescue, contact an adoption coordinator directly, and explain that you are looking for a cat based on personality rather than based on looks, that you're looking for a fairly high-demand cat, and ask them if any candidates come to mind. (My experience is that not caring about appearance and being open to cats which are not very young kittens motivates those coordinators to think of their favorite individual cats to suggest.)

You could also look for local cat trainers in your area--a specialty that is getting increasingly popular! look near veterinary behaviorists or cat-only vets--and see if they have recommendations, since they probably have a lot of experience with high-demand cats and people who invest a lot into their cats in your area. Basically, find yourself a way to talk to people who have interacted with a lot of the cats locally up for adoption, especially because the ideal temperament for a service cat is not necessarily going to be everyone else's cup of tea for a pet cat.

I can tell you that a big chunk of the people I have found actively breeding for that kind of temperament are involved with the various wildcat cross breeds, particularly Bengals (which is where I'd start rather than Savannahs or Chausies, personally: it's easier to find F5+ individuals, especially if you're looking for people who are really interested in breeding for trainability). My sense with the purebreds based on my reading is that Abyssinians or, if you can find them, Havana Browns might also be worth a look.

Consider if and when approaching a breeder or rescue: what are you going to do if one or both potential cats wash out of service work? Would you rehome them and try again? (To whom?) Would you keep them as ESAs and add a third cat? The natural concern that a lot of people will have about being approached for a service animal, especially one like a cat, is "what happens if it doesn't work out?" I think your plan is to go "well then I still have pet cats," but that should be clear to your potential cat sources, too.

But anyway, that's why I tagged Greer and Bluebell: both of them have way more personal experience with cat breeders and purebred cats than I do, and I think they'd be good resources if you want to aim in a more purpose-bred direction.

#cats #cat behavior #matilda #tagging matilda more or less so it'll be there if I start trying to compile more discussion about service animals maybe

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bitsofsciencelife · 2 days ago

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I would like to add:

Learn a different language! Get your info from unbiased or foreign sources. Most US-based news outlets are filled with propaganda because of USA imeprialism and centrism. Get different points of view.

Learn about other countries. Actually learn. Chat with immigrants, for example. Talk to Chinese people online (like you did with the RedNote app). Learn their histories, the way USA has intervened.

Go get a library card (you can use Libby). Today. You have one of the best library systems in the world. Take advantage of that.

Learn what pseudocience is and how the right wing uses it to scare and manipulate you. Learn about cognitive biases (we all have them as humans) and about logical fallacies. Critical thinking starts here. You need to be able to spot these things to spot propaganda and anti-science rhetoric.

Go follow some good science communicators online because fascists often target science. (Your is no different, just loook at JD Vance and Robert F Kennedy Jr.) If health access was an issue before, with anti-science it gets worse.

Read up on socialism. Start with Marx. Yes, the manifesto. Not just Wikipedia (I love Wikipedia but it's for summaries, an overview source, you can check the references tho!) Get into a (free) Uni lecture, read books, scholar articles, etc. You might not quite understand it at first, but teach yourself to learn. Everyone is capable of complex thinking and learning. It just takes time and effort.

I know it seems like nothing, but educating yourself well and those around you is an act of resistance. It doesn't have an immediate impact but it's important too. There's a reason the high up's are targeting education right now. (TikTok is good for discourse but not as good for learning.)

Draw posters. Do art. Put it everywhere in your town.

Learn a handy skill or craft. Sewing, woodwork, cooking, fixing electronics, first aid, etc. Treach it to others and help the community around you with it. It seems silly but consumerism is part of the problem. Individualism is part of the problem.

If you can, talk to people who are more conservative. Some are forever lost to us and drinking cool aid, but some of them are just worried, scared, ignorant, and thinking they're doing their best. Do not immediately write off anyone who has a more conservative view of the world. Everyone can grow. It might take months or years. Take it on case by case basis. Just listen to them first, and then speculate with them, ask them questions that challenge them. Learn patience like you're a high school teacher.

Don't forget to support climate change action as well! USA is one of the bigger polluters. Especially pay attention to damaging foreign policies and projects USA is doing because it's not always in your news.

life has gone so crazy lately, forgot my sense of humor, so here’s information and advice for my u.s. citizens:

an executive order is not a law. you will see lists circulating of a thousand executive orders trump has made in the past week, but be aware that the constitutionality of those orders are (knowing him) limited, and people and groups are already fighting them through the courts.

immigrants, here both legally and not, are at the most imminent risk. ice raids have begun. regardless of immigration status, i highly recommend checking out immigrantjustice.org and propagating it as a resource. know your rights and the rights of your community members.

things to do:

- chose one issue you care deeply about and organize around it. i’m usually a believer in intersectionality, and it’s important not to overlook how social issues are connected, but trying to mitigate all of the abuses happening in the country right now as an individual is not possible.

- don’t tune out, but control your stream of information. limit your time online, especially if your feed is highly political. vet your news sources. you should not expect to feel normal when reading about the current administration, but avoiding all-out panic and despair is important. believing things are hopeless is self-fulfilling.

- easier said than done, but try to avoid in-fighting. trump-supporting american conservatives (more appropriately, regressives) present a far more united front than those who oppose them. this isn’t to say we should abandon controversial issues, but to focus our efforts on the greatest existing threat and not each other.

peace, love + all of the above. stay safe!

#highly recommend for science communicators:#the eco well #labmuffinbeautyscience #drandrealove #david robert grimes #dr jen gunther #EVN the bioethicist #also read carl sagan #usa politics #dr jennifer lincoln #dr mila marinova

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lovelyyandereaddictionpoint · 16 hours ago

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Yandere Overblot Universe Part 7 (Final)

Rules | Kofi | TWST Masterlist (3)

Mmmh….”

You’re body was full of aching, the stress of running and encountering the worst sides of your friends weighing on you so heavily you debated if you wanted to sleep more

“I would’ve gotten my henchhuman back just fine if the others hadn’t held me back!”

“Grim…you still have nightmares of the overblots don’t you?”

“W-w-what? Who do you think I am? I’m going to be one of the greatest mages of all time those guys don’t scare me!”

“Which is why you came crying to us when they went in?”

“N-n-o!”

Hearing that familiar voice and feeling those familiar paws tapping on your stomach you couldn’t help letting your lip twitch into a smile

“Aw looks like someone’s awake. Care to grace us with your presence (Y/n)?”

The egging in Jade’s voice reminded you of Floyd

Almost like he was warning you to wake or feel the wrath of relentless tickles

So you did

“(Y/n)!”

You held Grim tightly into your chest breathing in the smell of his ash smelling fur

It never felt so good to have your lungs full of his brimstone smelling fur and not ink

Finally looking up you got to see the familiar faces of your saviors plus a growing crowd

“Don’t tell me your terrified of us again herbivore?”

Leona’s there sitting in the chair closest to the bed next to Ace and Deuce like he’s been guarding you this whole time

“If they are they have every right. Tell me Darling what horrors were in there?”

It’s Vil on the otherside his makeup faded around the eyes like he’s been crying

He’s holding your hands so tightly

“Don’ get so worried. They’re strong like me.”

Epel chimes in with a smile, one that earns an awkward look from the Heartslabyul duo

“Not strong enough to not nearly drop them coming back.”

“Shuddap !”

“Hey hey no need to fight you guys! All that matters is that (Y/n) is safe and sound!”

Jamil doesn’t care to comment before shoving himself past Vil to lay something warm in your lap

“I figured they probably didn’t have any real food, so I made you extra.”

The savory smell made you and Grim very excited, both of you looking at the container with anticipation

“Thank you Jamil!”

He looks proud, holding his head away as if that would hide his flustered face

“No problem it’s what any good…friend would do.”

“Yes just like any good friend would insist you have tea before indulging in something heavy.”

“I’m not sure if it’s tea you should be having but something light is preferred.”

“Riddle, Azul?”

Riddle lightly bows his head in a silent apology

“I apologize for not being here when you woke but I had to ensure that the matter of this mirror was taken care of.”

You tilt your head thinking to yourself

It felt like ages ago that you had gone in expecting to follow your friends to some resort a small group was going to

It all feels foggy

But you barely recall thinking about home

Not ramshackle home but your home

Maybe that was why you ended up…there

“I too was working awfully hard to bar that location would never be seen by anyone ever again.”

Azul uselessly added but he was puffing his chest like Grim did when he put out his flames on his own

“Uh thanks Azul and Riddle.”

“But of course, it didn’t matter that such a thing has never happened before you. With a student’s safety at risk we couldn’t possibly still have it be accessible by any means.”

“Yes, yes you can pay me back with a small favor. When you’re better of course.”

“Uh Azul I think you forget they never asked to pay you back.”

“Yeah Azul can’t you wait until they’re not bedridden to try and scam them? That’s like such trash behavior.”

The Octavinelle dorm leader sneers at the ipad you didn’t realize was propped on the end table next to your bed

Lifting it up to look in the camera, you wait for the video chat to properly activate

Ding Ding

Finally you can see the dark expanse of his room highlighted by his screens and a small unfinished strip of blue LED lights

“Don’t turn the camera, the normies wouldn’t understand.”

You giggle, “I won’t but why isn’t Ortho here. Usually he’d be here for you!”

Idia looks off to the side as if he’s contemplating what lie he’s going to tell

“He’s just…doing stuff with the mirror. To keep you safe an all that!

“Aww well thank you too Idia! I really appreciate everyone jumping into help especially you guys!”

Looking at Jade, Ace, Deuce, and Jack who’s been sitting near the doorway of the infirmary and Cater who’s been weirdly quiet at the foot of your bed

Looking past the other dorm leaders you scrunch your brow

“Where’s Sebek and Silver? Not that I demand everyone greet me when I wake up but I want to thank them as soon as possible.”

The others collectively swoon smile at your gratitude before awkwardly avoiding your gaze

“Let’s say they needed to occupy their attention towards someone else who’s going through…a crisis.”

As if on cue the crack of thunder has everyone jumping; the sudden storm making everyone tense

Faster than you can register the door swings open and there is none other than Malleus Draconia who silently demands everyone move

Reluctantly they listen

With an unusual gentleness, he kneels on the floor to somewhat meet you at your eye-level

Cupping your cheeks with his tingly feeling hands where were his gloves

“Are you alright prefect? Breathing? None of your small fragile limbs broken?”

You laugh as you pat your hand against his

Your silent plea to stop squishing your face

He doesn’t listen

“I fwine Tsuno!”

He sighs resting his head into your lap, shoving Grim out of his place out of the way with his horns

“I feel ashamed. To know I could have prevented such tragedy and yet by my actions you were in danger again!”

You laugh and lightly pat his head like you would Grim

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault. Besides I’m sure it could’ve happened to anyone.”

Malleus involuntarily moves his tail tripping Epel who wasn’t too far

Sebek and Silver run in out of breath

“M-Master M-Malleus WE ARE HERE!”

“Glad to see you’re awake, (Y/n). You had us all worried for a second.”

You smile, “Thank you, Sebek, Silver. You guys really saved me back there if you hadn’t come–”

You didn’t want to finish and it seems like no one needed to everyone settling in there original spots around Malleus to keep talking

As if you hadn’t faced their exact inky opposites hours ago

Jack helped you with the IV in your arm, repeating something Crewel had said about refilling it of course Ace teased him about it

“Hey everybody heads up Mama Hounds coming.”

Cater’s warning had the first-years straightening up

The dorm leaders only adjusting themselves so that no one was touching you

Wouldn’t want to be sent to detention now+

“(Y/n)-Pup glad you’re up. I see the little fan club of your remains strong. Are they bothering you by any chance?”

You could see the suffocating grip he had on his crock and the scornful twist of his face

You figured it best to take the edge off before he lashed out someone

“Uh nope. Actually Jack was telling me about the IV and stuff.”

“Hm he did? Good then, pup. The rest of you, back up! After their medicine I won’t allow you all to play watch dog so you might as well start drawing lots now.”

A collective groans fills the room as they reluctantly prepare to draw lots

Blocked by Crewel who changes your IV, checks your temperature, before walking you vaguely through the cocktail of potions and pills he needs you to take

Unable to see the group all you can tell is that every time they pick a winner a new debate is held

While you didn’t condone violence like Ace being thrown near the door, it did feel nice to be wanted? missed

And the fights being anything but the inky use of their overblotted unique magic

“That medicine should be kicking in very soon,” Crewel lays you down lovingly wiping the back of his hand over your face and cheek

Following your gaze he sees you looking at the still bickering group

Hiding his gag he turns to you with a warm smile on his face

“I’ll break it up just sleep now, my sweet pup.” He kisses the top of your head

lingering to watch you lazily blink, submitting to the induced drowsiness

Satisfied he turns and gives the boys a single look which has them take the fighting outside

Escaping the fray is Grim

Who scampers away to curl into your side already preparing to snore right alongside

“I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Thanks Grim I’m happy to be back.”

“Hm,” he’s already dozing off, “I also wanted to say Grim likes you're new choker it’s kinda…cute. But not cuter than mine!”

He’s already out and you’re going over his last words

Choker?

You recall the the outfit change within Blotted Riddle’s domain and the following pain that came from it

Thinking back on it you didn’t remember feeling choked at the neck at all

Looking down you could barely make out the small dangling rose pendant

Instead of being held up by some inky string it was a neat simple woven piece

That didn’t feel the slightest bit restricting

Just snug

You hold the pendant in your hand, noting it’s warmth from hanging on your neck

You search for a clip to undo it, planning to inspect it

But alas you don’t find one and for a choker expected to stretch off of you it was hard to pull off

Even though you were struggling for a bit with it, it dawns on you just how tired you are now

Those meds were really fast

And you suspect your lack of strength to pull it off is thanks to them

Planning to do it later, you settle into the infirmary bed holding Grim close while you sleep

Finally you could rest, having survived those Overblotted friends of yours once again

Happy that you were safe with your real friends, in the real Twisted Wonderland

The Heartslabyul’s Vice dorm leader’s stomach churned at the swirling shards at his feet. Glimpses of his blotted dorm-leader’s angry glowing eyes unsettling him the most. As instructed he had his clones solemnly collect the broken pieces putting them into the various magical satchels. Lining up, each of them handed their respective satchels to the robot boy. Dutifully waiting for him to apply an unmeasurable amount of heat; reducing the shards of the mirror into a silvered, inky slop conducive with it’s magical origin.

“Mr. Crowley? Was this…necessary?”

The headmaster’s golden eyes shifted to his student. Filling him with a sense of dread, he narrowly scraped the surface of during Riddle’s overblot. Nonetheless Crowley smiled apathetically, a faux disguise of pride as he held his hand out to the shards still being collected.

“This was entirely necessary. Our dear prefect has been plagued with the dangerous idea of using the mirrors to return home. It is through my extreme generosity that we’ve deterred them safely.”

Ortho’s attention changed from Cater’s double still taking the pouch and performing his function. A technical noise rang out his yellow eyes darting from side to side as though reading a list of stats.

“This venture, headmaster, gave the prefect four abrasions to their forehead, a mild concussion, sprained ankle, and an insurmountable amount of aches that will leave them bedridden for approximately 3 days. I would conclude this was far from safe.”

Cater almost smiled but the guilt of the events prior to this made him feel…wrong. He had covered for Riddle; calling it a dorm-leader and vice dorm leader meeting when they went through the mirror on a weekend. Meeting up with the Octavinelle heads it felt criminal to quietly stand behind as Crowley spoke about the spell to cast on the mirror–an identical to the one they had for their dorm. Riddle, ever the observer, nodded at him in assurance.

“This is for them. If they believe going home now is best it is our duty as their…friends to intervene.”

The small smile he gave barely soothed his spirit. The smiling dorm and vice-dorm leader of Octavinelle didn’t help.

“Don’t fret a few small illusions to make sure they stay. Do you want them to leave, Cater?”

The sound of his name on the octopus’ slimy tongue, made him shape up. There was only one person that would make him support the strongest students’ unique magic to summon the spirits of their defeated, blotted counterparts. Only for the same person would he actually humor sending his clones to the opposite ends of the island to hide the melted shards.

“Only for you (Y/n)...We did it all for you!”

The worst part about it was that he couldn’t confess. When he held your hand the next day rattling off the hashtags made in your honor, all he could do was lie when he looked at the choker on your neck.

The only shard remaining of a barrier to your world. Your real world.

“Why do you keep looking so guilty, Cater?”

He sighed fighting the urge to curl into your lap and cry,”Nothing I just wish I could’ve been there for you…sooner I mean.”

The smile you gave him made him swoon and want to die at the same time.

“But Cater you were there for me,” could your hand in his get any warmer,”Even if you weren’t there in the beginning it’s like I could still feel you…all of you watching after me! Like heroes prepping to save the day!”

You had no idea how right you were.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 hours ago

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Petard (Part I)

Few things are more wrong than "if you're not paying for the product, you're the product." Companies sell you out when they can, which is why John Deere tractor milks farmers for needless repair callouts and why your iPhone spies on you to provide data to Apple's surveillance advertising service:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

When a vendor abuses you, that's not punishment for you being a cheapskate and wanting to use services for free. Vendors who screw you over do so because they know they can get away with it, because you are locked in and can't shop elsewhere. The ultimate manifestation of this is, of course, prison-tech. A duopoly of private equity-backed prison-tech profiteers have convinced prisons and jails across America to get rid of calls, in-person visits, mail, parcels, libraries, and continuing ed, and replace them all with tablets that charge prisoners vastly more than people in the free world pay to access media and connect with the outside. Those prisoners are absolutely paying for the product – indeed, with the national average prison wage set at $0.53/hour, they're paying far more than anyone outside pays – and they are still the product.

Capitalists, after all, hate capitalism. For all the romantic odes to the "invisible hand" and all the bafflegab about "efficient market hypothesis," the actual goal of businesses is to make you an offer you literally can't refuse. Capitalists want monopolies, they want captive audiences. "Competition," as Peter Thiel famously wrote, "is for losers."

Few lock-in arrangements are harder to escape than the landlord-tenant relationship. Moving home is expensive, time-consuming, and can rip you away from your job, your kid's school, and your community. Landlords know it, which is why they conspire to rig rents through illegal price-fixing apps like Realpage:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/27/ai-conspiracies/#epistemological-collapse

And why they fill your home with Internet of Shit appliances that pick your pockets by requiring special, expensive consumables, and why they tack so many junk fees onto your monthly rent:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/01/housing-is-a-human-right/

Tenants aren't quite as locked in as prisoners, but corporations correctly understand that you can really fuck with a tenant over a long timescale without losing their business, and so they do.

Ironically, monopolists love each other. I guess if you loathe competition, a certain kind of cooperation comes naturally. That's why so many landlords have forged unholy alliances with internet service providers, who – famously – offer Americans the slowest speeds at the highest prices in the rich world, trail the world in infrastructure investment, and reap profits that put their global cousins in the shade.

Many's the apartment building that comes with a monopoly ISP that has a deal with your landlord. Landlords and ISPs call this "bulk billing" and swear that it reduces the cost of internet service for everyone. In reality, tenants who live under these arrangements have produced a deep, unassailable record proving that they pay more for worse broadband than the people next door who get to choose their ISPs. What's more, ISPs who offer "bulk billing" openly offer kickbacks to landlords who choose them over their rivals – in other words, even if you're paying for the product (your fucking home), you are still the product, sold to an evil telco.

Under Biden, the FCC banned the practice of ISPs paying kickbacks to landlords, over squeals and howls of protests from industry bodies like the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), National Apartment Association (NAA), and Real Estate Technology and Transformation Center (RETTC). These landlord groups insisted – despite all the evidence to the contrary – that when your landlord gets to choose your ISP, they do so with your best interests at heart, getting you a stellar deal you couldn't get for yourself.

This week, Trump's FCC chair Brendan Carr – who voted for the ban on kickbacks – rescinded the rule, claiming that he was doing so to protect tenants. This is obvious bullshit, as is evidenced by the confetti-throwing announcements froom the NMHC, NAA and RETTC:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/fcc-chair-nixes-plan-to-boost-broadband-competition-in-apartment-buildings/

Reading Jon Brodkin's Ars Technica coverage of Carr's betrayal of millions of Americans, I was reminded of a short story I published in 2014: "Petard: A Tale of Just Desserts," which I wrote for Bruce Sterling's "12 Tomorrows" anthology from MIT Tech Review. It's a fun little sf story about this same bullshit, dedicated to the memory of Aaron Swartz:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535595/twelve-tomorrows-2014/

Realizing that there were people who were sounding the alarm about this more than a decade ago was a forceful reminder that Trumpism isn't exactly new. The idea that government should serve up the American people as an all-you-can-eat buffet for corporations that use tech to supercharge their predatory conduct has been with us for a hell of a long time. I've written a hell of a lot of science fiction about this, and sometimes this leads people to credit me with predictive powers. But if I predicted anything with my story "Radicalized," in which furious, grieving men murder the health industry execs who denied their loved ones coverage, I predicted the present, not the future:

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2024-12-09-radicalized-cory-doctorow-story-health-care/

Likewise in my story "Unauthorized Bread," which "predicted" that landlords would use "smart" appliances to steal from their poorest, most vulnerable tenants:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

It's not much of a "prediction" to simply write a story in which "Internet of Things" companies' sales literature is treated as a straightforward idea and writing about how it will all work.

The same goes for "Petard." The most "predictive" part of that story is the part where I take the human rights implications of internet connections seriously. Back then (and even today), there were and are plenty of Very Serious People who want you to know that internet service is a frivolity, a luxury, a distraction:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell

They deride the idea that broadband is a human right, even after the pandemic's lesson that you depend on your internet connection for social connections, civic life, political engagement, education, health and employment:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/30/medtronic-stole-your-ventilator/#fiber-now

Writing sf about this stuff isn't predictive, but I like to think that it constitutes an effective rebuttal to the people who say that taking digital rights seriously is itself unserious. Given that, I got to thinking about "Petard," and how much I liked that little story from 2014.

So I've decided to serialize it, in four parts, starting today. If you're impatient to get the whole story, you can listen to my podcast of it, which I started in 2014, then stopped podcasting for four years (!) before finishing in 2018:

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_278

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_292

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_293

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_294_-_Petard_04

It's not that I wanted to make the elf cry. I'm not proud of the fact. But he was an elf for chrissakes. What was he doing manning — elfing — the customer service desk at the Termite Mound? The Termite Mound was a tough assignment — given MIT's legendary residency snafus, it was a sure thing that someone like me would be along every day to ruin his day.

"Come on," I said, "cut it out. Look, it's nothing personal."

He continued to weep, face buried dramatically in his long-fingered hands, pointed ears protruding from his fine, downy hair as it flopped over his ivory-pale forehead. Elves.

I could have backed down, gone back to my dorm and just forgiven the unforgivably stupid censorwall there, used my personal node for research or stuck to working in the lab. But I had paid for the full feed. I needed the full feed. I deserved the full feed. I was 18. I was a grownup, and the infantalizing, lurking censorwall offended my intellect and my emotions. I mean, seriously, fuck that noise.

"Would you stop?" I said. "Goddamnit, do your job."

The elf looked up from his wet hands and wiped his nose on his mottled raw suede sleeve. "I don't have to take this," he said. He pointed to a sign: "MIT RESIDENCY LLC OPERATES A ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY TOWARD EMPLOYEE ABUSE. YOU CAN BE FINED UP TO $2000 AND/OR IMPRISONED FOR SIX MONTHS FOR ASSAULTING A CAMPUS RESIDENCE WORKER."

"I'm not abusing you," I said. "I'm just making my point. Forcefully."

He glared at me from behind a curtain of dandelion-fluff hair. "Abuse includes verbal abuse, raised voices, aggressive language and tone –"

I tuned him out. This was the part where I was supposed to say, "I know this isn't your fault, but –" and launch into a monologue explaining how his employer had totally hosed me by not delivering what they'd promised, and had further hosed him by putting him in a situation where he was the only one I could talk to about it, and he couldn't do anything about it. This little pantomime was a fixture of life in the world, the shrugs-all-round nostrum that we were supposed to substitute for anything getting better ever.

Like I said, though, fuck that noise. What is the point of being smart, 18 years old and unemployed if you aren't willing to do something about this kind of thing. Hell, the only reason I'd been let into MIT in the first place was that I was constitutionally incapable of playing out that little scene.

The elf had run down and was expecting me to do my bit. Instead, I said, "I bet you're in the Termite Mound, too, right?"

He got a kind of confused look. "That's PII," he said. "This office doesn't give out personally identifying information. It's in the privacy policy –" He tapped another sign posted by his service counter, one with much smaller type. I ignored it.

"I don't want someone else's PII. I want yours. Do you live in the residence? You must, right? Get a staff discount on your housing for working here, I bet." Elves were always cash-strapped. Surgery's not cheap, even if you're prepared to go to Cuba for it. I mean, you could get your elf-pals to try to do your ears for you, but only if you didn't care about getting a superbug or ending up with gnarly stumps sticking out of the side of your head. And forget getting a Nordic treatment without adult supervision, I mean, toot, toot, all aboard the cancer express. You had to be pretty insanely desperate to go elf without the help of a pro.

He looked stubborn. I mean, elf-stubborn, which is a kind of chibi version of stubborn that's hard to take seriously. I mean, seriously. "Look, of course you live in the Termite Mound. Whatever. The point is, we're all screwed by this stuff. You, me, them –" I gestured at the room full of people. They all been allocated a queue-position on entry to the waiting room and were killing time until they got their chance to come up to the Window of Eternal Disappointment in order to play out I Know This Isn't Your Fault But… before returning to their regularly scheduled duties as a meaningless grain of sand being ground down by the unimaginably gigantic machinery of MIT Residency LLC.

"Let's do something about it, all right? Right here, right now."

He gave me a look of elven haughtiness that he'd almost certainly practiced in the mirror. I waited for him to say something. He waited for me to wilt. Neither of us budged.

"I'm not kidding. The censorwall has a precisely calibrated dose of fail. It works just enough that it's worth using most of the time, and the amount of hassle and suck and fail you have to put up with when it gets in the way is still less than the pain you'd have to endure if you devoted your life to making it suck less. The economically rational course of action is to suck it up.

"What I propose is that we change the economics of this bullshit. If you're the Termite Mound's corporate masters, you get this much benefit out of the shitty censorwall; but we, the residents of the Termite Mound, pay a thousand times that in aggregate." I mimed the concentrated interests of the craven fools who'd installed the censorwall, making my hands into a fist-wrapped-in-a-fist, then exploding them like a hoberman-sphere to show our diffuse mutual interests, expanding to dwarf the censorware like Jupiter next to Io. "So here's what I propose: let's mound up all this diffuse interest, mobilize it, and aim it straight at the goons who put you in a job. You sit there all day and suffer through our abuse because all you're allowed to do is point at your stupid sign."

"How?" he said. I knew I had him.

Kickstarter? Hacker, please. Getting strangers to combine their finances so you can chase some entrepreneurial fantasy of changing the world by selling people stuff is an idea that was dead on arrival. If your little kickstarted business is successful enough to compete with the big, dumb titans, you'll end up being bought out or forced out or sold out, turning you into something indistinguishable from the incumbent businesses you set out to destroy. The problem isn't that the world has the wrong kind of sellers — it's that it has the wrong kind of buyers. Powerless, diffused, atomized, puny and insubstantial.

Turn buyers into sellers and they just end up getting sucked into the logic of fail: it's unreasonable to squander honest profits on making people happier than they need to be in order to get them to open their wallets. But once you get all the buyers together in a mass with a unified position, the sellers don't have any choice. Businesses will never spend a penny more than it takes to make a sale, so you have to change how many pennies it takes to complete the sale.

Back when I was fourteen, it took me ten days to hack together my first Fight the Power site. On the last day of the fall term, Ashcroft High announced that catering was being turned over to Atos Catering. Atos had won the contract to run the caf at my middle school in my last year there, every one of us lost five kilos by graduation. The French are supposed to be good at cooking, but the slop Atos served wasn't even food. I'm pretty sure that after the first week they just switched to filling the steamer trays with latex replicas of grey, inedible glorp. Seeing as how no one was eating it, there was no reason to cook up a fresh batch every day.

The announcement came at the end of the last Friday before Christmas break, chiming across all our personal drops with a combined bong that arrived an instant before the bell rang. The collective groan was loud enough to drown out the closing bell. It didn't stop, either, but grew in volume as we filtered into the hall and out of the building into the icy teeth of Chicago's first big freeze of the season.

Junior high students aren't allowed off campus at lunchtime, but high school students — even freshmen — can go where they please so long as they're back by the third period bell. That's where Fight the Power came in.

WE THE UNDERSIGNED PLEDGE

TO BOYCOTT THE ASHCROFT HIGH CAFETERIA WHILE ATOS HAS THE CONTRACT TO SUPPLY IT

TO BUY AT LEAST FOUR LUNCHES EVERY WEEK FROM THE FOLLOWING FOOD TRUCKS [CHECK AT LEAST ONE]:

This was tricky. It's not like there were a lot of food trucks driving out of the loop to hit Joliet for the lunch rush. But I wrote a crawler that went through the review sites, found businesses with more than one food truck, munged the menus and set out the intersection as an eye-pleasing infographic showing the appetizing potential of getting your chow outside of the world of the corrupt no-bid edu-corporate complex.

By New Year's Day, 98 percent of the student body had signed up. By January third, I had all four of the food-trucks I'd listed lined up to show up on Monday morning.

Turns out, Ashcroft High and Atos had a funny kind of deal. Ashcroft High guaranteed a minimum level of revenue to Atos, and Atos guaranteed a maximum level to Ashcroft High. So, in theory, if a hundred percent of the student body bought a cafeteria lunch, about twenty percent of that money would be kicked back to Ashcroft High. They later claimed that this was all earmarked to subsidize the lunches of poor kids, but no one could ever point to anything in writing where they'd committed to this, as our Freedom of Information Act requests eventually proved.

In return for the kickback, the school had promised to ensure that Atos could always turn a profit. If not enough of us ate in the caf, the school would have to give Atos the money it would have made if we had. In other words: our choice to eat a good lunch wasn't just costing the school its expected share of Atos's profits — it was having to dig money out of its budget to make up for our commitment to culinary excellence.

They tried everything. Got the street in front of the school designated a no-food-trucks zone (we petitioned the City of Joliet to permit parking on the next street over). Shortened the lunch-break (we set up a Web-based pre-order service that let us pick and pre-pay for our food). Banned freshmen from leaving school property (we were saved by the PTA). Suspended me for violating the school's social media policy (the ACLU wrote them a blood-curdling nastygram, and raised nearly $30,000 in donations of $3 or less from students around the world once word got out).

Atos wouldn't let them re-negotiate the contract, either. If Ashcroft High wanted out, it would have to buy it's way out. That's when I convinced the vice-principal to let me work with the AP Computer Science class to build out a flexible, open version of Fight the Power that anyone could install and run for their own student bodies, providing documentation and support. That was just before Spring Break. By May 1, there were 87 schools whose students used Ftp to organize Atos alternative food-trucks for their own cafeterias.

Suddenly, this was news. Not just local news, either. Global. Atos had to post an earnings warning in their quarterly report. Suddenly, we had Bloomberg and Al Jazeera Business camera crews buttonholing Ashcroft High kids on their way to the lunch-trucks. Whenever they grabbed me, I would give them this little canned speech about how Atos couldn't supply decent food and were taking money out of our educational budgets rather than facing the fact that the children they were supposed to be feeding hated their slop so much that they staged a mass walkout. It played well with kids in other schools, and very badly with Atos's shareholders. But I'll give this to Atos: I couldn't have asked for a better Evil Empire to play Jedi against. They threatened to sue me — for defamation! — which made the whole thing news again. Stupidly, they sued me in Illinois, which has a great anti-SLAPP law, and was a massive technical blunder. The company's US headquarters were in Clearwater, Florida, and Florida is a trainwreck in every possible sense, including its SLAPP laws. If they'd sued me in their home turf, I'd have gone bankrupt before I could win.

They lost. The ACLU collected $102,000 in fees from them. The story of the victory was above the fold on Le Monde's site for a week. Turns out that French people loathe Atos even more than the rest of us, because they've had longer to sharpen their hate.

Long story slightly short: we won. Atos "voluntarily" released our school from its contract. And Fight the Power went mental. I spent that summer vacation reviewing Github commits on Ftp, as more and more people discovered that they could make use of a platform that made fighting back stupid simple. The big stupid companies were whales and we were their krill, and all it took was some glue to glom us all together into boulders of indigestible matter that could choke them to death.

I dropped out of Ashcroft High in the middle of the 11th grade and did the rest of my time with homeschooling shovelware that taught me exactly what I needed to pass the GED and not one tiny thing more. I didn't give a shit. I was working full time on Ftp, craiglisting rides to to hacker unconferences where I couchsurfed and spoke, giving my poor parental units eight kinds of horror. It would've been simpler if I'd taken donations for Ftp, because Mom and Dad quickly came to understand that their role as banker in our little family ARG gave them the power to yank me home any time I moved out of their comfort zone. But there was the balance of terror there, because they totally knew that if I had accepted donations for the project, I'd have been financially independent in a heartbeat.

Plus, you know, they were proud of me. Ftp makes a difference. It's not a household name or anything, but more than a million people have signed up for Ftp campaigns since I started it, and our success rate is hovering around 25 percent. That means that I'd changed a quarter-million lives for the better (at least) before I turned 18. Mom and Dad, they loved that (which is not to say that they didn't need the occasional reminder of it). And shit, it got me a scholarship at MIT. So there's that.

Network filters are universally loathed. Duh. No one's ever written a regular expression that can distinguish art from porn and no one ever will. No one's ever assembled an army of prudes large enough to hand-sort the Internet into "good" and "bad" buckets. No one ever will. The Web's got 100-odd billion pages on it; if you have a failure rate of one tenth of one percent, you'll overblock (or underblock) (or both) 100,000,000 pages. That's several Library of Congress's worth of pointless censorship — or all the porn ever made, times ten, missed though underfiltering. You'd be an idiot to even try.

Idiot like a fox! If you don't care about filtering out "the bad stuff" (whatever that is), censorware is a great business to be in. The point of most network filters is the "security syllogism":

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

I HAVE DONE SOMETHING.

SOMETHING HAS BEEN DONE.

VICTORY!

Hand-wringing parents don't want their precious offspring looking at weiners and hoo-hahs when they're supposed to be amassing student debt, so they demand that the Termite Mound fix the problem by Doing Something. The Termite Mound dispenses cash to some censorware creeps in a carefully titrated dose that is exactly sufficient to demonstrate Something Has Been Doneness to a notional weiner-enraged parent. Since all the other dorms, schools, offices, libraries, airports, bus depots, train stations, cafes, hotels, bars, and theme parks in the world are doing exactly the same thing, each one can declare itself to be in possession of Best Practices when there is an unwanted hoo-hah eruption, and culpability diffuses to a level that is safe for corporate governance and profitability. #MissionAccomplished.

And so the whole world suffers under this pestilence. Millions of times every day — right at this moment — people are swearing at their computers: What. The. Fuck. Censorware's indifference to those minute moments of suffering is only possible because they've never been balled up into a vast screaming meteor of rage.

"Hey there, hi! Look, I'm here because I need unfiltered Internet access to get through my degree. So do you all, right? But the Termite Mound isn't going to turn it off because that would be like saying 'Here kids, have a look at this porn,' which they can't afford to say, even though, seriously, who gives a shit, right?"

I had them at 'porn," but now I had to keep them.

"Look at your tenancy agreement: you're paying twenty seven bucks a month for your network access at the Termite Mound. Twenty seven bucks — each! I'll find us an ISP that can give all of us hot and cold running genitals and all the unsavory religious extremism, online gaming, and suicide instructions we can eat. Either I'm going to make the Termite Mound give us the Internet we deserve, or we'll cost it one of its biggest cash-cows and humiliate it on the world stage.

"I don't want your money. All I want is for you to promise me that if I can get us Internet from someone who isn't a censoring sack of shit, that you'll come with me. I'm going to sign up every poor bastard in the Termite Mound, take that promise to someone who isn't afraid to work hard to earn a dollar, and punish the Termite Mound for treating us like this. And then, I'm going to make a loud noise about what we've done, and spread the word to every other residence in Cambridge, then Boston, then across America. I'm going to spread out to airports, hotels, train stations, buses, taxis — any place where they make it their business to decide what data we're allowed to see."

I whirled around to face the elf, who leapt back, long fingers flying to his face in an elaborate mime of startlement. "Are you with me, pal?"

He nodded slightly.

"Come on," I said. "Let 'em hear you."

He raised one arm over his head, bits of rabbit fur and uncured hides dangling from his skinny wrist. I felt for him. I think we all did. Elves.

He was a convincer, though. By the time I left the room, I already had 29 signups.

All evil in the world is the result of an imbalance between the people who benefit from shenanigans and the people who get screwed by shenanigans. De-shenaniganifying the world is the answer to pollution and poverty and bad schools and the war on some drugs and a million other horribles. To solve all the world's problems, I need kick-ass raw feeds and a steady supply of doofus thugs from central casting to make idiots of. I know where I can find plenty of the latter, and I'm damn sure going to get the former. Watch me.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/30/landlord-telco-industrial-complex/#captive-market

#pluralistic #aaronsw #science fiction #big cable #telecoms #isps #net neutrality #boston #mit #fcc #National Multifamily Housing Council #NMHC #National Apartment Association #NAA #Real Estate Technology and Transformation Center

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pickledkiwiberry · 2 days ago

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Ooh! Oh! I might be able to help here!

Limitation: I don't have dyslexia so there'll have to be some extra trial and error here, but let's see.

Alright:

Option 1 (easiest if available): Macros

If your C-like language supports macros, you can define a list of substitutions to let you use keywords instead of symbols. The C standard library actually has a predefined set of them in a file called iso646.h:

#define and && #define and_eq &= #define bitand & #define bitor | #define compl ~ #define not ! #define not_eq != #define or || #define or_eq |= #define xor ^ #define xor_eq ^=

source: IEEE Std 1003.1-2024 (POSIX)

You can access it with #include <iso646.h> in POSIX systems. If you don't have that header available but you do have macros, you could just copy and paste the list you see above into a header for you to import in all your files.

This is actually defined to help people with non-English keyboard layouts that often don't have easy access to the same set of symbol characters as the creators of C. It may help you with readability.

You're of course not limited to that predefined list! You can #define whatever you like. If semicolons are a difficulty, you could add #define SEMI ; or something of the like!

Option 2 (high effort but most powerful): Transpiler

If macros aren't available or just aren't sufficient, you can write or commission a transpiler -- that's a compiler that instead of outputting assembly or machine code will output another programming language.

A great classic example of this is CoffeeScript. It uses a Ruby-like syntax and compiles into JavaScript, which uses a C-like syntax. This makes it much easier to read for a lot of people. They also add a lot of convenience features to make it easier to write in general.

Depending on the C-like language you're using, there may be a transpiler that already exists using a syntax that's easier for you to read. If not, you could write your own! Or get somebody else to write you one. Writing compilers and transpilers can be really fun! I've done it... too many times.

The key thing is figuring out what syntax you DO like. If assembly is easy for you to grok, maybe something like BASIC would be a good inspiration?

Option 3 (least effective): Special Fonts

Some fonts are designed to make symbols easier to read in C-like languages. MonoLisa comes to mind, but honestly if the issue is dyslexia I think the weird shit that font does would make it worse for you. So, I recommend looking into those options but I suspect it's the least viable.

Note: MonoLisa is a font you have to buy, but I've seen other fonts that do similar things. I just don't recall what their names are.

A note on accessibility in programming

Honestly this field is just a son of a bitch when it comes to accessibility. So many of the languages and tools we use are built on the assumption that you don't even have a mild disability. I have an incredibly mild near-sighted prescription and I still find myself often struggling to work with some of the more arcane tools in our field.

But it doesn't have to be that way. If we work together to make better, more accessible tooling, we can build a better, more accessible industry.

So I hope on of the above suggestions is actionable for you, or at least points you in the right direction. Because UE Blueprint fucking sucks.

Microcontrollers scare me

#programming #accessibility #dyslexia #c #macros #transpilers #compilers #fonts #ue blueprint fucking sucks #i have all visual programming languages #like i understand they can be more accessible #but they all seem to be designed to take as much time as possible to write the most control structures #there has to be a better way #having to convince programmers that accessibility needs to be part of minimum viable product should not be this fucking hard #having to convince companies of the same shouldn't be harder i mean for fucks sake their lawyers should shove that down their throat

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positivelyqueer · 2 days ago

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Sometimes the response to queer community gatekeeping and exclusionism is just “that’s not your business or your choice and you’re being rude right now.”

“Everyone needs to state whether they’re tme or tma” not your business whether someone has a penis or a vagina (which is the real question here when you break it down).*

(*when it is used in a reductive context and not as a lens for discussing systems of oppression - see reblogs for more information)

“Bi lesbians aren’t real” not your choice how someone identifies and what words they use.

“Weird kinky queers are making us look bad” you’re being rude by attempting to excluding queer people from their own communities and blaming them for other people’s bigotry.

“I don’t want to use your neopronouns or put effort into understanding them” not your choice what pronouns someone uses And you’re being rude by not using them.

“Women and nonbinary people* *so long as you don’t look too much like a man, medically transition in ‘masculine’ ways or use he/him pronouns” not your business what a nonbinary person or a woman looks like And you’re being rude by trying to police this.

The problems people make up and the rules they try to enforce aren’t nearly as real or as serious as the actual problems the queer community faces. Problems that are only surmountable if we stick together.

I don’t want to be doom and gloom but there are places in the world that can legally kill me for existing as a queer person. Plenty more where they could do it illegally with no repercussions. Trans healthcare is being restricted if not outright banned (and the difficulty in accessing it even when it is available is violence enough). Queer discrimination is permissible under the guise of religious protection laws. People get assaulted in the streets and harassed by cops.

This is what we’re fighting against. This is what we need to stand together for.

#Queer #queer community #Queer phobia #homophobia #transphobia #Death mention #ask to tag #violence

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technofeudalism · 2 days ago

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i don't think a lot of people genuinely get it because leftists aren't really good at articulating their intentions as a collective. we're much better at just being angry, lashing out and expecting people to catch on. so let me sum it up real quick if you don't understand the recent attitudes from those on the left:

leftists (communists, anarchists, socialists, etc.) recognize that Donald Trump is an existential threat who is tearing shit down and fast. however, as leftists, everything action undertaken is done so with a basic understanding of material reality. in other words, things like context provided from history.

the roadblock that currently exists is that, for several years (and for some, decades), leftists have been trying to explain to liberals that while Democrats, on the surface, do not use the same language and claim to be far different than the Republicans from the perspective of extremely important social issues, they ultimately fail the very underrepresented groups that they claim to support as a result of being effectively the same as Republicans from the perspective of two things that are far more complicated to explain to the average American citizen - economics and foreign policy.

the point is and has always been that the Democrats are ultimately servile to the same corporate interests and foreign backers as the Republicans. go look at Nancy Pelosi's stock activity. look at the companies that she owns stock in. you'll find they're the same tech conglomerates that people are leaving in droves and now calling an arm of Donald Trump's propaganda machine. this is not coincidental, nor is it wholly inaccurate. it would be more accurate, however, to say that that these corporations are an arm of the United States' ultra-capitalist propaganda machine.

the conclusion that this leaves most leftists reckoning with is that, as of today, there is no meaningful institution with the authority, resources, access, money, reach, etc. existing today who serves the interests of the people to form a resistance and put an end to all of this once and for all. there is no ADV or Communist Party of Germany like in World War II. progressive institutions have been gutted by both parties. progressive politicians have been blocked out of leadership roles in the DNC. all we have are a handful of essential grassroots socialist organizations that are in desperate need of resources and people.

therefore, we cannot move forward. we can form a decentralized effort to combat what we're seeing in waves - ICE raids and the like - but eventually, there will be too much for us to combat individually. if the Democratic party isn't coming to save us and they're the only ones who have the expectation of doing so, then you need to realize we need a fully-fueled alternative with some sort of extra-regional support to take their place. again, if you can't get on board with that, we cannot move forward.

#text #blah blah blah #us politics

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geonij31 · 10 hours ago

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Hey Newsies Fandom, LETS TALK LODGING HOUSES (by someone who wrote a 13 page essay on them for a university class)

I’ve recently delved into the world of Newsies Fanfiction and I’ve been going a little crazy over some of the representation of the Lodging House so I thought I’d offer up some FACTS regarding some things I’ve seen. For this I’m going to focus on the N°9 Duane Street Lodging-House.

(If you want a basic idea without doing too much research or reading this post, just go watch the 1992 Newsies, it’s not perfectly accurate but it’s close enough.)

THE LAYOUT: the lodging house itself was 6-7 floors. The first floor was rented out to shops like some apartment buildings.

Floor 2: The second floor consisted of a large dining-room “where nearly two hundred boys can sit down at table” (Campbell et al, 1897, 122), as well as a kitchen, laundry room, store-room, servant’s room and living quarters for the lodging’s superintendent and their family.

Floor 3: The third floor contained the school-room as well as washrooms, leaving the two top floors for the dormitories.

Floor 4-5: Each dormitory was “furnished with from fifty to one hundred beds” (Campbell et al, 1897) with spring mattresses and plenty of comforters. There were also “private rooms” which were squared spaces quartered off by curtains for privacy. These beds, though more expensive, were almost ALWAYS filled.

A couple different sources mention the lodging house having a gymnasium (with a trapeze) but they can’t seem to agree exactly where the gymnasium was. My guess is it was on the 6th floor as mentioned in an article by The Journal. The attic was used as extra space for the winters when the dormitories were full.

COSTS: lodging was 6 CENTS (or 10 for a “private room”) and meals (breakfast and dinner) were the same price. Boys could have as many helpings of a mean as they wanted! Without paying extra! From what I could tell they didn’t serve lunch because the afternoon paper came out around noon and most boys just picked up something while they were out so they wouldn’t miss a prime selling time.

(Don’t forget that most papers cost 1¢ for customers so a newsie would only have to sell 6 papers to stay the night or get a meal)

AMENITIES: THEY. HAD. SHOWERS. They had access to both hot and cold water and free towels. Boys were expected to wash up after entering the lodging house. Also, as mentioned, there was a laundry room. From my understanding it was most often used to clean the sheets of the beds which were used every day, but there were also boys said to be around helping with chores, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were also able to wash their clothes there when they wanted.

There was also a free clothes ‘closet’ with donated clothing for boys to access. It seemed most boys chose not to make use of it out of pride, but it didn’t go UNUSED. When a kid really needed stuff they would give it to them.

SCHOOLING: boys staying at the lodging house who did not receive a pass to stay out late were expected to attend the night school held there from 7:30-9. During the day the lodging house also held trades classes and other such courses for those who couldn’t attend a full day of school for whatever reason.

There’s so much more but that’s the basics of it and some of the stuff I’ve seen people get wrong (both in fanfics AND here on Tumblr) I’ve added photos from the Lodging house as well as some links of interest for those who want to go do their own research.

Campbell, H., Knox, T. W., & Byrnes, T. (1897). NEW YORK NEWSBOYS-- WHO THEY ARE, WHERE THEY COME FROM, AND HOW THEY LIVE-- THE WAIFS AND STRAYS OF A GREAT CITY. In Darkness and Daylight; or Lights and Shadows of New York Life; A Pictoral Record of Personal Experiences by Day and Night in the Great Metropolis (pp. 111–138). essay, Hartford, Conn. The Hartford Publishing Company. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://archive.org/details/darknessdaylight00campuoft/page/137/mode/1up.

^ Chapter IV: NEW YORK NEWSBOYS— WHO THEY ARE, WHERE THEY COME FROM, AND HOW THEY LIVE— THEY WAIFS AND STRAYS OF A GREAT CITY.

Riis, J. A. (1890). How The Other Half Lives. Charles Scribner’s Sons. November 23, 2024, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45502/45502-h/45502-h.htm#Page_82

^Chapter XVII: The Street Arab

Riis, J. A. (1908). The Children of the Poor. Charles Scribner’s Sons. November 23, 2024, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32609/32609-h/32609-h.htm#Page_122

^Chapter XIV: The Outcast and the Homeless

Smallest saving bank in the world. (1896, February 16). The Journal, pp. 19–19. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84031792/1896-02-16/ed-1/?q=Great+Depression&sp=19&st=image&r=-0.421,0.085,1.842,1.398,0.

#newsies #newsies fandom #broadway #newsies jack kelly #jeremy jordan #jack kelly #katherine plumber #newsies katherine plumber #newsies davey #newsies katherine #racetrack newsies #newsies fanfic #history #newsies facts #historical newsies #newsboy lodging house #irl newsboys were so chaotic #i’m so normal about newsies

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sleepypanda01 · 2 days ago

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cb theories/thoughts part 2 (Is Nox stealing Chase's narratonin?)

It is interesting how Nox's aggressive attitude toned down,and I am talking before the time he started warming up to Chase. The first time Nox confronted Chase he was really aggressive and angry.Yet he was willing to come to an agreement in the Cinderfella arc. Having a glimpse into his circumstances,it is understandable that he was mad to see his plans interrupted by an outsider. However,Nox's actions are confusing. It feels like he is torn between wanting Chase to give up but also helping him to complete the stories. Moreover,in the finale he is having second thoughts about continuing with his plans.

The questions that arise this time are the following:

1)Why was Nox suddenly willing to make a truce with Chase when he was so determined to kick Chase out of the books?

2)Why Nox insists so much on following the stories and completing them and even helps Chase when he is supposed to be his rival and wants him outside the books?

3)What is Nox's plan and why is Violet helping him? Is turning into a human his only goal or there is more to it and Violet benefits from it?

4)Why does Nox always assume that Chase will give up?

5)Why is Nox reluctant to carry on with his plans?

1)Nox was really mean at first, making it his goal to make Chase give up. I would like to point out that upon their first meeting, he checked on Silver to see her condition. If my theory in part 1 of Nox being the one who left Silver in the library is true,then he wanted to see if the crack was fixed and when he saw it wasn't,he might had gotten angrier and come to the conclusion that Chase wasn't even useful enough to gather enough narratonin for Silver to get fixed.

Thus,he called him a weak little thing, implying that he is not worthy to have a key and be included in his plans.

Despite all that,Nox was willing to entertain the possibility of Chase being in the books if he completed Cinderella right. Why did he change his mind after all the efforts to make Chase quit? What if their bet was actually a way for Nox to test whether Chase would be suitable enough to be included in his plans?

Why would it matter to Nox whether Chase did the stories right or not? Was it not his objective to make Chase quit and return the key? But he agrees to stop bothering Chase if Chase fulfills that one condition.

However, Nox seems pretty much convinced that Chase is unable to do the story right, so that could also be a plan to make Chase give up. Maybe he wanted him to lose the bet not only because he wants Silver back, but because he thinks this could be better for Chase. What if Nox's desire to get Chase out of the books did not solely stem from anger for interfering with his plan, but also an attempt to protect an innocent person. Maybe Nox secretly wanted Chase to lose the bet so he wouldn't have to use him or endanger him in any way.

This explains his pensive expression by the end of episode 7.He has to use Chase but he does not seem to be too keen on the idea of using an innocent person. Even Chase was wondering why Nox helped him and the answer to that is because it benefitted him in some way.

2) Even if Nox is Chase's rival and wants him to quit,that doesn't stop him from helping him and nagging him about doing the stories right. In the finale,it is implied that Nox needs narratonin and a wish to turn human again since he is some sort of key. If he is a key, it is possible that he can't earn his own narratonin,plus even if he could earn it,he must not have access to any books that he can enter to gather narratonin. For those reasons,the only way he can get narratonin is through Chase and that's why he insists on Chase doing things right. Maybe there are some certain conditions to be met that can allow Nox to steal the narratonin.

Nox also called Chase useful in the toffee arc, implying that Nox is indeed using him for something.

I also wanna mention that in the sick day arc,Nox nagged him that that day had been a waste of time FOR EVERYONE as Chase wouldn't earn any narratonin in his condition. That remark might have come from a place of concern since Nox is not the best at expressing his feelings,but what if it had double meaning? What if it was a waste of time for Nox too because he wouldn't get any narratonin either, because he steals it from Chase ?

Additionally, Chase has been down because he does not earn as much narratonin as Deacon or prunella, which is suspicious.

3) Nox's main goal seems to be to turn back into a human but there could be more to it. If he is some sort of captive, he would wanna escape too. Maybe Violet is helping him out of kindness, like Silver is helping Chase,and in exchange,once Nox is human again he will free Violet and the rest of the keys. (I also have another theory about Nox and the keys that I will analyse in another part concerning the theories I have about ex libris)

4) Nox always comments on how Chase is a quitter and how he expects him to give up on stories,and he is actually stunned he is still there (but not thrilled, which could hint at his guilt for using him)yet Chase always sees the books through to the end.

Even Chase tells him that he doesn't know him so he should stop jumping to conclusions. So where did Nox's assumptions come from?

I think Nox's remarks are more of a strategy to discourage Chase from continuing the stories ,rather than an observation of Chase's behaviour. Even if Chase used to find shortcuts or sometimes changes the narrative,we never saw him give up on a story (except for that one time in rules of engagements arc and we saw him feel bad about it, meaning that Nox's strategy of throwing negative comments at him does work on some level).

I would like to bring up that whenever Chase feels guilty about something, he projects his feelings on others. Maybe Nox has a similar habit and ends up making assumptions about Chase because it is more convenient for him. Nox does tend to project his feelings on Chase a lot. He always made assumptions about Chase,believing him to be incompetent, a quitter and even dishonest and underhanded.It is possible that Nox held onto these beliefs as if he wanted to create a narrative in which Chase was not a good or worthy person, convincing himself to adhere to this perspective while not wanting to give Chase the chance to prove him wrong so he can continue using him without guilt or try to discourage him so he won’t have to end up using him.

5) Finally, we see Nox in the finale being reluctant to carry on with his plans, probably because his plans include Chase without Chase's knowledge. Also,it is possible that his plans could hurt Chase,if he is stealing his narratonin then that means Chase can't have enough for his own wish.Not only that, but if Nox makes his wish then it won’t be possible for Chase to make his wish as there won’t be enough keys. After sharing an intimate moment with Chase and seeing him on the brink of death,he is forced to face his feelings and acknowledge them or even admit to himself that he does care for Chase and that would result in him not wanting to get in Chase's way anymore and prevent him from making his wish. He can't bring himself anymore to keep secrets from someone that he has come to care about, this is why he is hesitant to continue. His words even imply that Chase gives him more motivation to turn into a human again,so I don't think he wants to hurt him,at least not intentionally.

Bonus detail: @gremlinpenguin brought up the theory of Nox being in the transforming process of being a key and that is why he is differentfrom the other keys, which is a very interesting theory and it made me think that Nox could also be using the narratonin to slow down the process of the transformation like Chase is using it to make his mom feel better temporarily.

If you read this far, thank you so much for your time! I would love to hear your thoughts as well!

#cinderella boy #cinderella boy webtoon #cinderella boy punko

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