#reasons to ALWAYS check the sources on wikipedia

[writinginthesecrettrees]

I respect the hell out of this woman.

It's actually depressing how many dudebros just want to glorify Nazis.

[amiti-art]

Cyrene, Apollo and Ares (and how it was actually only Cyrene and Apollo and Wikipedia is not always a reliable source)

Some of you might know the myth in which Apollo's lover - Cyrene met Ares and had a son named Diomedes (NOT the same guy as Diomedes from Iliad) with him.

Except... she didn't.

When I was researching Cyrene some time ago I realised that her article on Theoi (great source btw) doesn't mention Ares at all. I didn't pay that much attention to this back then, after all, most of the myths have many versions so I assumed that the one with Ares is just less popular one.

I was more preoccupied with the fact that Idmon who I always thought to be Apollo and Cyrene's son was not actually always listed as theirs and had like 5 different variants of parentage.

Let's start with Cyrene's children and why Wikipedia should not be used as a primary source.

Her Personal Information Section on Wikipedia lists 3 children: Aristaeus, Autuchus and Idmon. Later in the Family section it's said that she also had Diomedes with Ares.

For the life of me I could not find anything about Autuchus in the ancient sources BUT I found that Anthocus (which is kinda similar) was the title of Aristaeus and was sometimes mistaken for another son of the pair.

So likely it is the same mistake.

Aristaeus is also the one who is almost always said to be son of Apollo and Cyrene and both of his parents appear in his myths.

Idmon like I said had many different sets of parents: Apollo and Cyrene, Abas and Cyrene, Apollo and Asteria (NOT the sister of Leto), Apollo and Antianeira, Apollo and Abas (one is bio father, the other is foster father, I think????). He also doesn't have an article on Theoi so reserch on him is going to be a nightmer. 🙃

And now Diomedes

Wikipedia says this

But does not link any source for this story

What's more: there are sources describing Apollo changing Cyrene into a Nymph and they also don't mention Ares AT ALL. They are also written in a way that suggest that changing her into a Nymph was one of the first things Apollo did after meeting her.

This doesn't add up with this Ares thing at all.

So where did the Wikipedia article got this Cyrene-fighting-Ares story from? Well, I decided to look into edits history and this section was actually deleted a few months ago with this comment.

My honest reaction to this information: 😐

And then the section was revived for some reason.

But you know when it was first added? 2 years ago.

When did Rick's book about Greek heroes came out? 8 years ago.

So right now Cyrene's Wikipedia article is misleading and contains information from a RETELLING stated as facts.

The only thing I could find that was linking Cyrene with Ares was this:

and it doesn't even say if this is the same Cyrene. It could be, but we have to remember that in the myths there were like 14 dudes named Abas (and 5 named Idmon while we're at it.)

+this is a very late source compared to all the other Cyrene's myths.

Other source claims that Diomedes' mother was Asterie

I personaly think those are two different Cyrenes and here's why:

• Cyrene (Apollo's lover) when introduced in the myth is usually accompanied either by her parentage or by some other characteristic like "sheparderss" "huntress" "archeress" "lion slayer" and so on. Cyrene from Ares' myth has nothing to her name which makes me think she was just some random women.

• Non of Cyrene's own myths ever mention Ares (or I couldn't find any), while Apollo is mentioned often.

• Apollo's Cyrene was Thessalian and Diomedes (and therefor his mother likely as well) was Thracian

• There is literally nothing I could find that would suggest that Apollo's Cyrene and Cyrene from Ares myth are the same and since there are many characters in the mythology with the same names (again 14 Abas') labeling these two as one is irrational (Diomedes himself shares the name with one of the Iliad's characters).

Anyway, lesson for today: be careful while reading Wikipedia and always check the sources.

This kinda scares me tbh because how many more of those articles treat retellings as actual sources and were added by fans of the said retellings?

I hope somebody will fix this article because wtf

[bonefall]

Hearing Loss Research Dump

Heyo!! You probably reached through the footnote at the end of the Hearing Loss Guide for Warrior Cats! I often get asked questions like, "How do you make these guides?" and "Do you have sources?" So this time, I tried to keep a bit of a loose "journal."

Unfortunately it got disorganized after a few sessions (since this project ended up taking about 2 - 3 weeks to do) but, hey, hopefully it helps.

I have dumped all of my sources here and explained my thought process as I went along, so that you have a good foundation to go forth and do your own research.

I may update this post with more information and links, or remove sources if, for some reason, it is revealed that the source was harmful or not credible. SO, PLEASE feel free to recommend good educational organizations, documentaries, and blogs here on Tumblr willing to take questions.

This post is set to "no one can reblog" so that you're always seeing the most current version of this post. Just in case a source gets challenged, or one of the sensitivity readers wants their name removed, or I end up adding important corrections, etc.

This is Version 1.0, and it was updated on 1/2/2024.

The research "dump" post is messy, because it's a Bonus Thing that's supposed to go along with the very pretty and ~concise~ Herb Guide that I created.

Session 0

I had wanted to do this for a while, but this RIDICULOUS thing that was said to an Anon and then shared with me almost gave me an aneurysm. I asked if my followers wanted this boosted to the top of my priorities, they said yes, and here we are.

In the process I also looked for input, especially from deaf/HOH followers. I made a note to include tinnitus, unilateral (one ear) hearing loss, and I'm considering doing a second guide just for how to TREAT the ear infections I mentioned would lead to a lot of hearing loss in RiverClan.

An outline of the Herb Guide post was written just before I did any real research, so I had a general idea of the aspects of hearing loss I wanted to talk and learn about.

Sat down to start my research the next day.

SESSION 1: The Basics

My first step is always just a basic internet search, including a pit stop at Wikipedia to read the article, and then follow the sources or find a place that explains the concept more deeply.

Because my project's about anthropomorphic cats, I always start with humans first, then swing over to a search on felines. I'm usually alternating between them because that is how my mind works, hearing something in one and then linking that to some sort of question about how that would look in cats.

From Wikipedia, the World Health Organization, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, I learned that "Hearing Loss" is the blanket term for all lack of hearing, and "Deafness" is when it totally prevents you from understanding speech.

Like blindness, most deaf people can hear a little. Stressed that.

It's also here that I started with cat hearing. First I looked at Purina, but it wasn't a great find, besides a link to common signs of ear infections which I put in my back pocket lmao. I came across Dr. Pippa Elliot's article for Petful.com, and this one is MUCH more informative.

I started thinking critically about a lot of that info. Cats have a much higher range of hearing than humans, a feline society would actually catch hearing loss loooong before humans would catch it in a pet cat. Plus the whiskers. The article actually mentions that when you check a cat for hearing loss, you have to avoid blowing wind on the whiskers or even vibrating the ground.

Very sensitive animals, fascinating. Anyway, back on humans,

There's also FOUR TYPES of hearing loss. Conducive, Sensorineural, Mixed, and Auditory Neuropathy. I also went and found a good explanation from the CDC to double-check Wikipedia.

And it's a good thing I did! Wikipedia did not mention Type 4 at the time of my research, and the CDC's article is VERY straightforward and informative.

Types;

Conducive: Sound can't get through the canal. Usually a blockage.

Sensorineural: A problem with the hearing organs or the auditory nerve.

Mixed: Both of these at once

Auditory Neuropathy: The ear detects the sound, but doesn't send the signals to the brain properly.

From what I can tell from the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Auditory Neuropathy is less well defined and can have overlap with Sensorineural. Sometimes it has to do with damage or malformation of the inner ear hairs, other times it's completely unknown and just assumed to be a brain issue.

So according to that definition, Auditory Processing Disorder is a type of auditory neuropathic hearing loss.

Then I started watching Christmas movies and forgot I was doing research oops. Time waits for no man, nor muppet. Very important that once a year you watch movies that make you cry and also Gonzo is there.

BUT. Throughout this project, I was constantly finding new sources on "the basics" that explained things in different ways. I didn't find all of these in that one session, but I will dump them in a straight list here.

Straight statistics of prevalence of hearing loss in the UK

Two types of inner ear infections (got cut from the guide because I was trying to stay focused on the disability itself, not causes and ear ailments)

Congenital deafness (Helpful, but again, was trying to keep the guide focused on general disability writing advice, not explain every single reason why a person could be deaf. That's for one's own research!)

Degrees of hearing loss (But notably I've also seen these thresholds shift around. This one says deafness starts at 95 DB, but I did also see 81 elsewhere.)

A guide on soundproofing which put the affects of noise on your ears into perspective (helpful with comparisons to degrees of hearing loss)

REALLY GOOD GUIDE ON HERTZ AND DECIBELS (And also comparisons of different decibel levels, in relation to the thresholds of hearing loss)

Tinnitus

SESSION 2: Comparing human and cat hearing

I felt like I had a good understanding of the basics here. The four types, some considerations for cat biology, some tidbits to mention like most people with hearing loss still being able to hear a little, etc.

NOW I'm going to finish reading any sources I opened up in side tabs, and learn about the side effects of hearing loss that I've seen so far. Tinnitus was requested specifically.

But, I felt pretty confident at this point, so I started actually working on the guide itself. It's good because that's when I start getting really specific questions like, "Just how sensitive IS a cat's hearing next to a humans?"

Found this article comparing human and feline hearing, and also went for a source on common causes of ear infections in cats, and compared them to common causes of ear infections in humans. Basically everything WE get, and more. I also remembered a vet that I worked with explaining that humans don't get ear mites because our ear canals are shorter, but honestly I don't really want to hunt down a source on that.

Bottom line is that it seems that cats get ear infections significantly easier than humans.

SESSION 3: Paying attention to deaf and HOH experiences

Started loading up some videos on Youtube, and follow along with presentations from deaf speakers, awareness charities, and so on.

ADHD protip: If you're like me and often feel the need to get up and walk around when you're trying to focus on something, playing flash games on Neopets or a similar petsite while keeping a video popped out is a great way to help with executive function impulse stuff. Firefox and the program Freetube both allow for you to pop open a small window that you can move around your screen.

I absolutely adored this video from Montfort University, which collected experiences from people who were actively losing their hearing. I'm feeling that a lot of folks are probably anticipating the Herb Guide with the expectation it'll talk about fully deaf warriors like Snowkit (And BB!Whitewing, who is deaf in Better Bones), but one of the most important things I'm learning is that partial and unilateral hearing loss is both common, and important to talk about.

That section on people forgoing hearing aids is so bitter. The way that they were reluctant to even "admit" they had a disability (feeling as if it "doesn't count"), felt like hearing aids were for "old people" so they resisted getting a device that would really help, and that one woman who finally realized what her own mother must have been going through when she was in her shoes...

Jeez, man. Ableism really hits us all, doesn't it? You'll reject the small bits of help that were SHAKEN out of the pockets of an uncaring world, just so you don't have to admit you might need it.

I am vaguely aware that there's buzz within the deaf community about hearing aids, with some deaf people actually having extremely negative feelings on them. I didn't manage to find those people though, besides what I remembered from Tumblr posts explaining that cochlear implants tend to destroy what little hearing remains. I also didn't know what sorts of hearing aids exist, just basics.

In any case, it's not what my guide's about. Clan cats wouldn't be able to make devices like that-- so to compensate, I tried to stress that forcing warriors to "assimilate" to able-bodied society is bad compared to "accommodating" them. But I did make a little aside note on the guide itself as a PSA.

ANYWAY I'm keeping that pinned in my mind as I go through this. A LOT of these speakers are talking about their implants and how much they changed their lives, so I'm taking things with a teeny grain of salt, knowing I'm probably not getting the entire hearing-impaired community's feelings on this.

Rachel Kolb's Tedx talk was DEEPLY insightful, she is an absolutely fantastic presenter and her statistics are gutwrenching. I'm also paying close attention to how she described her speech therapy classes, how tactile the lessons are, how she had to hold her hand to her teacher's throat and learned that the trick to an N and an M was to speak it through the nose...

The theme of this part of my research has really been "heartbreaking," honestly. Next I watched this one from a BBC interview, where the speaker talks about how much EFFORT they have to make to listen to others. The casual cruelty of hearing people just not caring enough to reach out and make sure she can follow along in the conversation.

I know it's maybe not the same thing, but I teared up a bit at some parts, because that's something I've also felt as someone who's ADHD/Autistic. How much it hurts when people won't even take the goddamn time to clue you in. Like you're not worth it

Even if it's just for a silly cat community, I really hope the weeks of effort and hours of reading I put into this guide and journal makes someone feel seen. You're worth the time. I promise I mean it

Anyway,

Like The Basics, I kept finding more things as I went through my research, outside of this session.

Struggles of deaf people in life and the workplace

Social struggles, particularly in the digital age

Cochlear implants: Pros and Cons (It was really not relevant to my project here, BUT, I figured it was important enough to even mention in an aside on the main guide.)

Really interesting passage from a married couple losing their hearing

"What is it like to be deaf?" Mentions the link to memory loss in people who are hard of hearing due to the brain "discarding" misheard sentences.

SESSION 4: Relevant questions.

This is the point I was asking more targeted questions, as I was actively writing the bulk of the guide, because in spite of everything this remains a cat project. If I was about to write something and then realized I didn't actually know like... WHAT causes it, HOW it happens, How COMMON a thing is, I would go and find out.

For example I knew that Snowkit had a higher chance of being born deaf, but didn't exactly know why, or how it happens, or how much higher of a chance that was. So, I looked up white cats with blue eyes, and looked up the percentages associated with deafness in them.

Apparently it's rapid degeneration, instead of the inner ear just not forming properly. I could go down that rabbit hole and learn more about why, but at this point, I'm far enough along that I need to start deciding when something isn't really helpful but just interesting. It's REALLY easy to get distracted at this point in making these guides.

That lead to to look at how people tend to handle their deaf cats and make their lives better, which also lead me to a good source on how to clean a cat's ears. That's another thing I had to halt at; because this guide is about DISABILITY, not about treating ear ailments.

When you're doing research this way, I find it helpful to "limit my scope." I've mentioned this technique/skill/advice in the past with some of my cultural expansions for the Clans too. You can see how maaaaassive the guide I wrote got even while staying on topic; it easily could have gotten bloated by even MORE tangential knowledge.

But I do plan to make an ear treatment guide at some point, as well.

I then started trying to learn more about rodent squeaks. How high in hertz they are, when different animals make them, how loud in decibels, etc. I couldn't find very much, because sound/hearing in general is actually WILDLY understudied, especially in terms of non-human animals.

But I did find this article on mouse vocalizations, specifically, and this webpage on various animal hearing ranges.

(though the webpage begs ppl to be careful about making comparisons between the numbers on the page, because they come from different studies with different parameters. But like. somehow i think this is good enough for funny cat project)

Lastly on this topic, I tried to find a good source on whiskers and how well they can "replace" hearing, and ended up finding this EXCELLENT article on allllll sorts of hearing loss related things in cats. It's got it all. Whiskers, common causes, tests. It's great.

SESSION 5: Sensitivity readers

I'm trying to be extra careful with this guide, with the knowledge in mind that this one was highly requested and likely will get decent reach. So, I figured it was more important than usual to speak to disabled individuals who could advise me, to my face, instead of only relying on what I'd seen in my research and secondhand information.

(especially since my style in writing these guides tries to be "simple," trying to limit how much medical speak I use and explaining terms in-depth when I need to use them.)

I spoke to @sylsoddsandends, @s0ulfulsapph1cf, and one more. While talking to them, they brought up even more to me that I hadn't considered.

For example, I did not know that unilateral hearing loss (affects one ear more than the other) actually resulted in a loss of "distance perception," the same way that I don't have depth perception because I've got low vision in one eye. I grabbed a scientific paper to read about it and went forth.

I also got a ton of good feedback about how much I stressed that lipreading is difficult, added some advice on a unilateral HL cat would stand, brought in some notes about chronic pain, so on. I then went to preview it to a bunch of personal friends to give it a couple more once-overs for typos and flow and such.

The last thing I did was reach out to those sensitivity readers again, and ask their permission to link them here. I don't have permission from the last reader yet (which is on me, I should have asked sooner). So there will be an update here if/when they get back to me.

POSTMORTEM

Nothing here yet! I will make an attempt to collect any follow-up questions and such down here.

[chiptrillino]

How the hell do you find every accurate representative culture fashion for the avatar gang? Like it pains me the hell how people this good and hardworking can find these gorgeous cultural clothes and accessories and draw them so well and detailed like you- TELL ME YOUR SECRETS (Please)

idk about accurate. at the end it is still a fantasy world inspired by real life cultures contrasting or soothed out to fit a charakter personality and traits. listen if i spot an option to have a older fire lord zuko with his titts chest out i will go for it and nothing can stop me not even accuracy i say this as if i didn't already do it in private with seethrough material hahah

there is not much secrets behind it though, sorry its research, fact checking. often even the most random things. at least that is my method. you go to google and type in what you need and would like to know. read the wikipedia article for some general understanding on the topic but them go to the source part and check these out. or like double check these. if reading is not your thing there are lots of dedicated youtubers or ticktockers that love to share and explain parts of their culture or tradtions (clothing included. depends on what you research.) contemporary to that or after that you build up your visual library by collecting images on pinterest, or google or websites covering the topic you are researching. make your own folders or pin boards.

an amazing blog for atla real life culture sources is of course or beloved: @atlaculture blog!

https://www.tumblr.com/atlaculture who recently began to dedicate some post in flashing out more water tribe and air normad cusine, also instruments. its a delight to read through.

of course you have an easier time with some research than with other. some things are clear others a contradicting some are barley documented. it is also necessary to have an occasional reality check. like reread your sources see if there is something new. replace what you misunderstood before. don't always go for what looks pretty and aesthetically good to you. there is a reason why things looked like they did. was it the material, was it protection, was it culture.

a part looking at contemporary photography i personally preffere to look at how people liked to depict themself at that time. Statues, wall painting, illustration, old fotos from that time and compare them to current pictures to see how they used to stylize this element or to see what was essential to them. thats probably my old art-history phase flaring up again though hahah. at the end it is also how you Interpret and headcanon the atla world for yourself. before i were able to redesign jet i had to figure out how i want to draw fire nation armor. because to me jet repuporses a lot of the armor from the enemy. a shin guard will be used as an arm protection. the red shirt he wears is fire nation, a shoulder guard that fits will just be used as it is. i just assume that FN armor is better in being fire resistent than earth kingdoms ones.

but fire nation armor is a chellenge on its own again. because is it tang dynasty? is it song? but the collar protector is a typical thai armor element. how do i combine that? is there a history behind it?

speaking about armor what would be the southern water tribe one? if it is lamellar ivory armor, how and why does it look so different by season 3 at the day of the black sun? did the southern water fleet separated form their home begin to adopt EK styles. switching out kuspuk and parkas in for sleeveless wrap shirts and armor with inside plating like they have in ba sing se? because that what was aviable to them?

(appart everything the talk of armor is in general really curious because... what do you wear when you go in to fight against fire??? in the poles you can argure that it is not a concern. if you burn you roll in the snow but in the EK... hm.. they dont have fancy heat resistand clothing like fire fighters have now.... armor is ment to cushion off impact and or slicing. our standard armors conzept can work well against earth-, water- and air bending (to some degree) but fire burns what do you idealy do against that? leather helps to some degree)

while the southern water tribe is clearly circumpolar people inspired (although lacking lots of world-building which you can kind of excusing it with... the war destroyed everything but also... uh.... its a nearly 20 year old show.... ) the northern water tribe shows korean or even mongolian elements. so what do you want to focus on? i personally like to make things connect because these characters live in one world togheter and trade and exchange happens. (yes even during a 100 year war or at least there had to have been a time of influence and the lack of exchange froze(*snorts*) this culture in time) you know... migration? and transition of style and life through out history.

maybe i overthink things to much for just drawing some clothes... -srugs-

[writing-with-emy]

Tw: sh

Idk if you’d be comfortable writing this (if you are not, no worries) but i was just wondering if you would write a poguesxf!reader where the reader comes off as a really happy and genuine person but is secretly struggling with self harm and is cutting herself and the pogues find out or see blood or something and she tries to play it off as nothing but they figure it out and convince her that she’s not a burden and then they all help her get help/get better in their own ways? Again if you’re not comfortable that’s totally fine, I know it’s heavy stuff.

FOREVER WINTER - Pogues x F!Reader

OBX MASTERLIST | PROMPTS | Requests are open!

Shipping: Pogues x F!Reader (platonic) Summary: Above in the request! Word counts: 3.880 words Warnings: explicit content and mentions of self harm, depression, suicidal Thoughts, self-hatred, swear words, mentions of drinking

A/N: Please do not read it if you struggle with something of the above, if you do read it, please keep in mind that you are loved and wanted! YOU ARE ENOUGH! I have put some Numbers under the Imagine if you want/need them. if you know someone who struggles with this or any other mental health issue, please be there for them, they need them and check on your loved ones you never know what there going through right at given moment. And as always, feel open to correct when/if you see writing/grammar mistakes! Eras Tour Festival | Red (T.V.) Masterlist

„That’s definitely not true.“, you Heard the voice of Pope going through the whole chateau. „Of course it is. I read it on Wikipedia.“, JJ threw back at Pope, like it was obviously the best and most reliable source of the Internet. The rest of it was blended out because of the Major Headache you got, maybe you shouldn‘t have drank so much last night at the bonfire party.

You let out an unidentified sound and tried to hide from the sun who shines into the window of yours and JJs room you sometimes shared at John B's place. You put a pillow on your face trying to make it darker, but that doesn‘t help to blend out the laughter coming from the living room. You were still wearing your sweater from last night, better to say you still wore your whole outfit from last night, but the sweater was the important part of it, it was your try to hide the wounds that came to your arm two nights prior. You‘ve been struggling with your mental health for quite a while actually, but your friends didn‘t need to know that. They didn‘t need to know, that your parents, who just were freshly separated, gave you a shit ton of stress because of your friends who weren‘t Kooks or that your grades started to go down or people like Rafe Cameron and his friends who loves to give a lot of shitty remarks on the way you dress or look because you were hanging with the Pogues. No, they didn‘t need to know that and to be fair as much as you tried to talk you into the mindset that it was just a phase of feeling shitty, the wanting of actually ending everything came way more often from day to day. Way more often than you wanted to admit Because you just felt like a burden to everyone and everything.

You had no Idea how long you laid in bed after you woke up, but once you heard the door open you turned to it and saw JJ coming in. „Hey there sleeping beauty, finally awake?“, he asked, walking to the dresser. „I‘ve been for a while.“, you said, forcing a smile and furrowing your brows together because of the headache. „What got a headache?“, he asked seeing your forced smile and the together furrowed brows You just nodded, laying your head against the Pillows. „Well, I don‘t like saying it but, I told you not to drink so much, so.. I told you so.“. He said, smirking. „Just shut up, you‘re the reason I‘m even awake.“, you said laughing slightly. „You didn‘t just say that.“ he gasped, putting a hand on his chest. „Yes I did, what do you wanna do about it?“, you asked, grinning slyly at him. What you didn‘t expect was him taking your pillow and throwing it in your face. „Are you serious?“, you grumbled under the pillow. „Yes.“, he said and you didn‘t even need to look to know he has his shit eating grin on looking at you. You took your pillow, throwing it back in his face, before sitting up hearing your stomach grumble. „I‘m gonna grab something to eat, do whatever you wanted to do when you came in.“, you said, getting up from the bed and going out.

When you came Into the living room you saw John B, Kie and Pope together on the couch talking. John B waa the first to notice you. „Hey, she is awake!“, raising his Coca Cola Can in the air. „Ayyy.“, Pope and Kie said, raising theirs.

You wanted to say something but your stomach came first and grumbled loudly which made everyone laugh.

„I‘m gonna grab something to eat, and then I‘m right back.“, you said smiling, before going to the kitchen. You made yourself some toast with whatever was left over and grabbed yourself a Can of Coca Cola. „So what were you guys talking about earlier?“, you asked, throwing yourself next to Kie. „Oh, JJ just told us a stupid fact about Phineas and Ferb which wasn‘t true.“, Pope said. You just nodded while taking a bite from your toast. „Why are you still wearing the stuff from last night?“, Kie changed the subject. „Oh.. I just forgot to bring clothes to change into, I‘m just gonna drive home later to change and shower before coming back.“, you said, hoping they would believe you. You knew you could always borrow something from John B since he lives here and even from JJ because half of his clothes are here. „Why didn‘t you ask? I could‘ve given you some spare clothes for the night.“, John B stated something you already knew. „I know I just was probably too drunk to think about that.“, you said, giving John B your best smile you could spare right now.

He let it be because pope stated that you were actually really drunk last night, more than usual.

–

A few hours later you came home, hoping that your mother wasn‘t home right now, but to your luck she was.

„Where were you last night, I told you to come straight home after the Bonfire.“, she said, trying to keep calm but slightly failing at it. You knew when your mom was angry, nostrils flared, eyes wide with anger and her cheeks had a slight tone of red which wasn‘t cursed because of her rouge she normally wore. „I slept over at some friends house, I was too drunk to drive and I forget to text you I‘m sorry.“, you knew you didn‘t need to say their names, she already knew where you were so no need to lying, at least that would take away some steam, telling the truth was better than lying to her in those kind of situations. „And were your so-called friends the reason you drank so much?“, she asked, putting quote marks to the “friends” parts. „No I wanted it myself, they tried to stop me even but I didn‘t let them.“, you knew whatever you say, she wouldn‘t believe you when it came to the Pogues,

But to your surprise she just nodded.

„You're grounded for the next two weeks, no Pogues, no drinking and no phone.“, she said, putting her hand out. You turned off your phone before giving it to her. „Now, up to your room, and take a shower you smell like a whole bar of old drunk man.“, she said, scrunching her nose in disgust. You nodded walking up the stairs to your room.

You took off all your clothes, throwing them in your laundry basket, before taking new stuff out and going into your bathroom. You turn the Water on steaming hot before going in and let the heat relax your muscles. You laid your head back letting the hot water hit your face trying to calm your haughty who are spiraling right now. When you looked down you saw your cuts which are starting to heal, the crust on them in a dark red–brownish color the feeling and wanting to cut again coming back up. You finish your shower quickly, before heading out and putting a white towel around your body. Back in your room you sit on your bed, thinking but before you knew it you had a new blade in your hand while standing in your bathroom. The door behind you was closed and locked so your mom couldn‘t come in, you turned the shower on again so she wouldn’t hear you.

And there you were standing in front of your mirror just blankly staring at yourself in your towel with still damp hair, the short time outside nearly drying your hair since today was a really hot day in the outer banks. You knew your friends wanted to look for fish and go swimming out with the boat, but you couldn't resist the urge no matter how hard you tried.

(A/N: I give you the chance of skipping this part because is getting more explicit here with the self harm, so feel free to skip <3)

You just stared and the thoughts came rushing in your head. They don‘t want you. You are just a burden. You are a burden for your family, your friends and the people around you. You are just a piece of shit. You are worth nothing. You are not worthy of love. Do you really think your parents love you? You are.. You.. ..

You couldn‘t bear it anymore, you just grabbed the blade and set the first cut, then the second and the third. You just started going wild, and after you could see the one arm not anymore because of the blood, you started on the other arm, just going absolutely feral like a wild animal trying to kill its prey. You didn‘t even notice that you started crying while doing it, you stopped when your other arm was also full with your own blood.

(A/N: It’s over here, I didn‘t wanted it to Long )

You let the razor blade fall into the sink, breaking down crying not realizing that your blood is dripping in the sink, on the floor and on your towel which you have to throw away later. You just cried, cried because you felt unworthy of anything, friends, love, parents, anything that is normal in someone’s life. And it was triggered just by the little argument with your mom, what you couldn‘t even call that. You had no Idea how long you sat on the bathroom floor crying, but once you calmed down, you got up, you washed your arms free from the blood, the water slightly burning in your fresh wounds, but you tried to make no noise. Before you did anything else, you grabbed your first aid kit from your bathroom cabinet and put bandages around your arms, firmly enough to hopefully stop the bleeding. You changed in your room, you just throw on some shorts, a shirt and a new sweater, before putting on your shoes and throwing some spare clothes in a backpack and climbing out of your window, you had luck that under your window was the roof of the Garage and that your Mom hadn‘t took away your car keys.

Once you got into your car you turned the engines on and drove away. You saw your mom running out, yelling at you from the rearview mirror but you turned on your radio and drove to the Chateau. Was it stupid? Yes. Would you be in more trouble afterwards? Yes. Did you care right now? Absolutely fucking not.

–

The engine turned off once you turned the key, the radio dying instantly, you watched your friends getting the boat ready for a little trip like usual. You just sit there quietly, thinking if you really wanted to go with them, or if you would just be a burden for them? You took a deep breath before mumbling under your breath „fuck it.“, you took your backpack and got out of your car, walking towards them.

„Hey she is back!“ JJ yelled, with two fishing rods in his hands. „Yeah, and guess who is grounded for two weeks?“, you grinned at him. „And then you are here?“, Pope asked. „Well, I don‘t really care. I mean she can‘t contact me, while she is the one who has my phone.“, you laughed. „That’s my girl.“, JJ grinned, giving Pope the Rods before putting an arm around your shoulders. „Well, looks like I have another guest for those two weeks.“, John B said, putting the buckets down. „I‘m just bringing my Backpack in and then I‘m right back outside.“, you said, wending out of JJs arm, going Inside, throwing your backpack on the bed.

–

Like 15 minutes later you guys were on the way to a place where the water would be deep enough to swim and to fish, once you guys found the place, you stopped the boat and let the anchor down.

After a while you had now Idea how much time is passing by, you just realized the sun is slowly starting to settle down, while laughing absolutely hard at one or JJs stupid Jokes, you had funny and actually forget what Made broke down earlier, actually you had pushed those memories and feelings so far back in your brain, that you forgot that you had bandages around both of your underarms when you rolled up your sleeves. You were at first confused as to why everyone quieted down, but when you looked at your arms, you remembered what you did early and faster put them down again looking at every single one of your friends who just stared at you.

„Y/N..“, Pope started. „Yeah?“, you asked like nothing happened. „Why Did you have bandages around your arms?“, kie asked straightly. „What?“, you tried to act innocent, not to let anything shine through. „You know what we mean.“ John B said. „Nope.“, you said while sipping your drink.

And that started an argument about why you have bandages around your underarms.

„Y/N, come on, you can tell us when something is going on.“, JJ said. „Nothing is going on, I had an accident.. that’s all.“, you said, shrugging with your shoulders. „An accident on both of your arms?“, Pope asked, not believing a single word you just said. „Yep.“, you nodded, trying to not let your eyes get watery.

They stared at you again for some time, just in pure disbelief you would lie them blankly in the face.

„I‘m okay guys, it‘s nothing.“. You tried laughing it off. „Stop telling us that you‘re okay, when you‘re clearly not.“, Throwed JJ in getting mad at the fact that you kept your problems away from them.

You just kept quiet looking away, trying to hold in your tears that started brimming in your eyes.

„You know what, you don‘t need to tell us anything..yet. We can just sit here, it's okay.“, Kie said, putting a hand on your shoulder. „But we can‘t help you, if you don‘t let us.“, Pope said, coming to your other side putting a hand on your other shoulder. „I know.. I just don‘t want to cry.. I feel.. Fuck, I feel so stupid for crying.“, you said looking up in the sky, still tryongnto hold those tears in. „Hey.. It‘s Okay to cry.“, John B said, squatting down in front of you, turning and holding your face in his hands so you look at him. „It‘s okay.“, he said, looking you in the eyes. „They‘re right Y/N, all of them.“, JJ said, squatting down next to John B.

You nodded, finally letting your tears break out. The four of them started hugging you in a big hug, all of them embracing you in a hug full of love, a hug that feels like comfort and Home. Once you let go of them, and they let go of you, you told them everything, what’s been going on, the remarks of rafe that were worsened when your friends weren‘t with you, the divorce of your parents plus them hating on your friends and very little else.

„Why didn‘t you tell us that earlier?“, Kie asked. „I didn‘t wanted to be a burden, which I probably am right now, I didn‘t wanted you to put all that on you, especially at the start of the divorce of my parents, I just fell into that habit of hurting myself, when I came home it just was the worst I have ever been with this feeling, I didn‘t even realized, that I was doing it so much and so fast, I just wanted to quiet down my thoughts. I wanted to drain them out and not feel anything..“, you explain to them. „You aren‘t a burden, who told you that.“, John B stated. „Well, I actually heard my Mom say it on the phone while the divorce was still going on. She was discussing it with my father who would keep me. They talked about me like I was an object and not a person.“, you said, staring at your hands.

You didn‘t have to look to know that everyone was looking at you with pitying faces.

„You aren‘t a burden, your mom is fucking stupid to say stuff like this, she doesn‘t deserve you.“, JJ said standing up. You looked at him while everyone said his name in shock. „No he is right..“, you started. „But I don‘t really want to talk about it anymore.. can we switch the theme?“, you asked, drying your eyes with the arms of your sweater.

–

When you were back at the Chateau, you felt someone putting their arm around your shoulders.

„Don‘t worry, we‘re getting you away from that, and out of that dark hole.“, Kie said, going next to you. „Yeah definitely, we‘re gonna kick their asses.“, JJ said, coming next to you with a bucket full of fish. „Thank you guys, you really make me feel safe.“, you said with a light smile. „Yep, and we aren‘t going anywhere anytime soon.“, Pope said, while JJ put his arm around your waist. „Right, and you‘re gonna stay here as long as you need to. See the chateau as your clinic now, and we are doctors and nurses to help you.“, John B said, walking in front of you guys with the other bucket in hand. „I don‘t know if I want JJ as my Doctor or my nurse.“, you said jokingly. „Hey, what does that mean?“he asked, offended. „I think I would be a great nurse or a doctor.“, he started trying to walk past you, Kie and pope, tripping and nearly falling on his face in the process. „Try to learn to walk straight first.“, you said a grin slipping its way on your Lips.

–

„Hey what’s wrong, pretty face?“, JJ asked, sitting down next to you. „I don‘t know if I‘m doing the right thing, whilst staying away from my mom and stuff you know..“, you said.

The two weeks where you normally would’ve been grounded, past way two fast, it’s the beginning of week three, and you actually didn‘t harm yourself in those three weeks. Well, nearly, you tried it a few times secretly, but you were always stopped luckily.

„You‘re doing the right thing.“, JJ said, putting an arm around your shoulder pulling you closer to him. „Then why does it feel so wrong to me.?“, you asked, leaning against him and putting your head on his shoulder. „Well, you Mom expected you to live after her and do everything to make her happy and be at her standards, but right now you‘re focusing on you and not her, that’s probably why.“, he said, drawing little things on your shoulder while leaning his head against yours. „Can we like, I don‘t know cuddle for a bit? I just want to be close to someone for a little bit. Is that okay?“, you asked JJ, looking up at him. „Yeah totally.“, he said.

You both lie down on the bed you're sitting on to cuddle, which actually helped with the way you were feeling.

–

Today was a bad day, a very bad day. You were out with the Pogues like you were for the last few weeks, the last Month you and the Pogues went out nearly every single day and today was not different. You either went to the Wreck, to the beach to surf, out on the boat, or just drove around in the Twinkie even in the middle of the night.

All those things actually helped get you away from your thoughts, well it went well until today. You didn‘t know what was wrong, but today just fell off even though you were excited, because today was a Little movie show near the beach, and you guys decided to go there and watch the movie, that was until Rafe Cameron needed to make a remark. You tried to ignore it, but when he and his friends started laughing, you couldn't bear it and just ran away. You didn‘t make it war away, just war enough to hide between the cars at the Twinkie.

You started crying once you were alone, that just sat you off and ruined it.

„Hey.. Hey..“, you Heard John B coming towards you, before sitting next to you on the floor and pulling you against his chest. „It‘s okay, you‘re okay.“, he said, straddling your head. „I‘m sorry, I didn‘t want to ruin it. I tried to be strong, but I just couldn‘t once they laughed. I‘m so so sorry that I‘m so fucking weak and need to cry..“, you croaked against his chest. „Hey don‘t say that.. This? These tears are not a weakness. This right now is not a weakness.. This all shows how strong you are and how strong you‘ve been. And when you‘re done, look back and know that you were strong enough to overcome what you once thought to be impossible, alright?a, he asked, holding your face in his hands.

You just nodded sniffling. He gave you a kiss on your forehead before pulling you again against his chest.

„Did you really need to punch him in the face JJ?“, Popes' voice was heard. „Yes.“, the speaker answered. „Well, This whole thing sucked, so let’s just go home and watch a movie there.“, Kie said looking at you and John B, who now were sitting in the open twinkie. „Yeah let’s do that.“, you said, giving them a little smile.

Back at the chateau, you guys watched some old movie that John B had there. You were sitting next to JJ, when you looked at him shortly, before putting your head on his shoulder.

„Thank you for Punching Rafe.“, you whispered. „No need to thank me.“, he whispered back. You just smile softly for yourself.

–

A few months later, you started to stay just for a few days at your mothers since her house doesn‘t really feel like a home anymore. To your surprise she couldn‘t care less, a few months ago you would‘ve cried about that fact, but since you way over that because of your friends that are your family now, you also couldn‘t care less. Today you were back at the chateau, drinking and having fun with your friends, when something came to your mind.

„I never said, 'Thank you‘, did I?“, you said out of nowhere. „For what?“, John B asked, with everybody agreeing. „For.. Well.. Everything you did for me the past few months.“, you said smiling looking at every single one of them. „You don‘t need to thank us for that.“, Kie said. „Yeah, that‘s what friends are there for.“, Pope said. „No.“, JJ said, getting everyone off guard. „What?“, everyone said in sync. „We are not friends, we are a family. That‘s what a family is there for.“, he said standing up looking in your eyes.

Smiling, you stand up with JJ raising your Can Beer in the air.

„On us and all the years in the future we hopefully stay like this. Cheers!“, you said looking at your family. „On Us!“, everyone cheers with you taking a sip from their drinks.

All of these Numbers are available 24/7 and charge Free

–USA: 988 (suicide & life crisis lifeline) 1-866-488-7386 (The Trevor project) 678-678 (Trevor project Text [text START]) 1-877-565-8860 (Trans Lifeline)

–UK: 0800 689 5653 (National Suicide Prevention) 0800 068 4141 (Hopline 247 / PAPYRUS) ^07860039967 (Text)

–Switzerland: 143 (die Dargebotene Hand)

–Sweden: 90101 (Självmordslinjen)

–Netherlands: 0800 0113 (Stichting 113Online)

–Irland: 116 123 (Samaritans)

–Germany: 0800 111 0 111 or 0800 111 0 222 (Telefonseelsorge)

–France: 3114 (didn‘t found a name) 1-877-330-6366 (Fil santé jeunes)

–Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (Talk Suicide Canada) 1-877-330-6366 (Trans lifeline)

–Brazil: 188 (Centro de Valorização)

–Austria: 142 (Telefonseelsorge [Samaritan Telephone])

–Australia: 13 11 14 (Lifeline) 1800 55 1800 (Kids Helpline [ages 5-25])

If you want the numbers for your country tell me in the comments🫶🏻

[therealslimsanji]

Seen people say Taz blocking a Twitter user who was saying he should say more for Palestine because Palestine definitely has the bigger unwarranted civillaim causualties currently

When really many civillian Palestinians, Lebanese, etc wholly disagree with both sides in the war (Israeli millitia backed by UN & West Hemisphere- just to show how unfair it is- vs Hamas, Hezbollah, etc.) because both sides are filled with bigots, terrorists & carpet bombers who endanger civillians in their own sides in crowded residential/commercial areas (eg both Hamas & Hezbollah are proven to be hiding weapons in civillian residential areas without the residents' knowledge before they were found out, Hamas & Hezbollah, they also killed Israeli civillians by sudden bombings before, damaging hospitals & schools on both sides' areas. Go to the Wikipedia pages on the wars in Middle east, then track the sources down & fact check them with other sources. eg this one on 2006 Lebanon War: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_war_crimes_in_the_2006_Lebanon_War)

So individuals like Taz not supporting either side doesn't mean supporting the current overreaction & bigotry of Israelis & horrific civillain carpet bombing Gaza area is undergoing. Israeli govt def commiting warcrimes, but so did the militants trying to liberate Palestine & many other places (including Lebanon) from Israel in the past. To the point of people from there becoming agnostic on which they side with in the back-and-forth attacks almost every year.

War will never end. So long as there are corrupt people and said corrupt people hold positions of power there will always be war (this is my belief). There is not a time in our history when there was not some sort of war, battle, genocide, etc going on. There will always be an "us vs them" mentality among humans.

And with war comes suffering, destruction, and death.

If we didn't have those "neutral" people, the ones who realize that both sides are fighting ultimately for their own selfish reasons, then all the ones caught in the crossfire wouldn't receive all the help they do get.

Taz is being chewed out for being a humanitarian basically.

You know, it seems that, throughout history, the people who have tried to advocate for love and teach peace and work to help those in need ended up meeting with very bad fates...

[bookishtheaterlover7]

PSST: here’s some insight for you.

I work in marketing for a non-entertainment industry.

My job is content creation which means:

I write copy for social media, webinars, marketing emails, campaigns, videos, website content, and more. A huge part of my job is making sure what we say aligns with PR and legal approval.

This means, sometimes what we DON’T say means more than what we do.

It can be a bit of a thankless job because when we write something on social media or on behalf of our CEO, we have to say a lot but can’t lie but also stretch the truth just enough to sound exciting but not get us sued. And yes, we often ghostwrite on behalf of higher ups but their names are the ones quoted. Even if they do give us a soundbite, with permission we can sometimes edit it and rewrite. So even actual quotes aren’t always 100%.

Basically….wordplay.

“My wife is from PT.” - truth, but non specific. Doesn’t say a name but basically alludes to what everyone is thinking based on process of elimination.

“I had kinda two ceremonies, one on the east coast, one in PT.” - truth, but non specific. The tabloids ran with conflicting stories like ceremony 1 was held in two different areas, in one state on the east coast. But he doesn’t say specifically which one which means he’s not lying but he’s only not specifying. Plausible deniability.

“I find silence in my husband.” - no names, no confirmation but also sort of confirming.

“My dog” - same as above.

CE’s GQ article where he mentions a non descriptive girlfriend - then a line is inserted by the journalist “he got married to Xyz” not quoted by him.

Same thing with RDJ’s spread and his wife saying “CE’s wedding” - and the magazine inserts the wedding to xyz.

None of these are direct quotes from the people themselves. It’s just implied.

Scarlett in an interview says she “attended a wedding” in sept - again, non descriptive.

All of these context clues are pretty commonly done in content strategy. It’s basically to say stuff to say it for promotion reasons but also making sure we cover our asses. We didn’t SAY he said it, we just added it as an afterthought and if for some reason it’s questioned well at least we didn’t quote him on it.

For example: my company has an office outside of a major city. But we can’t say “our San Francisco office” because it’s technically not SF. It’s in the Bay Area, so we can say Bay Area/Northern California office - but not get too specific. This way we’re not LYING but we’re also kinda keeping it “vague.” Cover our asses 101.

I can’t tell you how many times I have to say things like “nearly a decade of experience” - but in reality it was 8 years and five months. When I say it like this, it makes it sound like MORE rather than less.

“Over a year” - makes it sound like wow it’s been over a year but we’re not telling you just how long because we just want you to focus on the OVER part.

Marriage = stability. If you ignore the person and the pairing, it just looks like oh wow he finally got married! Good for him. Now his Wikipedia won’t show he’s just single forever because God forbid somebody turns 42 and still isn’t married. 🙄

The next time you see anything related to these two, or if you want to chance reading old articles about them - check for those little nuances in the tabloid articles. I bet a bunch of them are purposely contradicting and use “anonymous sources” as the quote to magnify the situation and hype it up to be more intense than it actually is.

Because if an anonymous source says “CE is so in love and happier than ever” - gushes a close friend of the actor, it’s not tech libel or lying because the quote is coming from a mysterious source, not CE. But the intention is inferred. You are to assume he told them this. But if someone were to directly call that out, he could simply say I don’t know who I said that to and the anonymous source won’t have or need to be confirmed. Because if it is a lie at least nobody quoted him as saying it. Nobody will be asking for a retraction.

Lastly. In marketing I often have to hype up things and use flowery language. Everything always has to be “a huge success and totally a blast” - even if the pictures we get at the events show three people standing in a booth looking bored. LOL.

“The private couple looked so in love and were all smiles!” - meanwhile the accompanying photo was two people walking in silence, one doing an Arthur fist and basically grimacing. Nobody looking at each other.

The power of wordplay, y’all. And yes, we hype everything up for a reason. And the reality is often very far from what’s being presented. It’s just business though.

(Hope you find this helpful!)

And if anyone wants to fact check my knowledge, please feel free. I have nothing to hide.

Thank you, Marketing An🫶n!

This whole thing is definitely confusing, but it's nice to know that, a. It's all business, and b. How the business works.

This is all helpful, and really quite interesting 😊 so, once again thank you, and I hope you don't mind if I and a few others will call in to ask the next time something drops 😅

[ghostonly]

So I was grabbed hold of by my music hyperfixation today and it turned out, today's the day I learn more about the history of American music as made by African Americans. Since, you know, they did most of it.

I've known for a long time that American music has deep roots in Black experiences and culture, but it was always such a behemoth of genres and artists that I didn't know what exactly I liked or where to start.

So, today, I figured I'd do what I do best and start with all of it at once.

Okay, not exactly. I'm doing it in chronological order. But in order to accurately order the shitload of playlists and folders I was making on Spotify, I needed to know what order those genres were discovered in.

I am not in school for this, I'm not educated on this and, as a white person, I don't feel like I have the nuance, experience, or understanding to properly write a massive post about this topic, but I did want to share a few articles I've read today, because they were extremely well-written (as far as I can tell), informative, and moving.

Reasons to Read These

African Americans have been the driving force in just about every music genre that's come out of America. If you don't already know that, or want to know more, you should read these.

Do you find music and musical evolution fascinating? You should read these.

Are you queer? Disco is part of queer culture as well and the overlap between Black and queer culture in that time period leans heavily on disco, which is fascinating and part of your own history. You should read these.

If you care about racial tensions in the US, the article that talks about Earth, Wind, & Fire goes into the ways disco impacted racial tensions in the US in the late 70s. It's good knowledge to have under your belt. You should read these.

Bonus shout out to The Get Down on Netflix. I watched this a year or two ago and was obsessed with it for a few days until the fixation passed. This is part of the driving inspiration for me looking into the history of disco and hip-hop so extensively today, because the vibes in the show were just... enrapturing. And, looking at the Wikipedia page for it to double check how it was received by people who know more than me, it does seem to have good reception. I especially like that they involved historical pioneers in its creation (DJ Grandmaster Flash, who invented modern use of turntables for hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc, and Kurtis Blow, all in their 60s and part of the original hip-hop scene in the Bronx). So if you want to watch something that will get you hyped about disco and hip-hop, I can just about promise you that'll do it. Needless to say, I will be rewatching it very soon.

Long but detailed and very well written. Has many artist suggestions:

A shorter summary for someone who wants a quick read:

I hope some of you will click through and learn something with me today c:

[kakiastro]

About Me

Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog! My blog is primarily astrology based with spiritual influences! I’m also an intuitive reader so when I feel called to, I do collective readings.

I’ve been studying astrology since 2019 after meeting a few new friends who had an interest in it,, they were part of an astrology group, and they introduced me to it, I’ve been on this journey path every since! Fun fact, I was going through my 11h projection year! The 11h rules over groups and astrology, and unpredictable situations. I met these people randomly and it just been a domino affect😅

After years of intense learning and studying, I believe astrology to be very real and an amazing tool to help us understand ourselves and those around us. The point of this blog is to teach you and help you understand astrology better.

My big 3 is Capricorn ☀️ Aquarius 🌕 Cancer ⬆️ with a 7h stellium. I’m Saturn dominant so you know I keep it real😅

Here’s a master list of all my post! I constantly add things so keep checking back so you won’t miss nothing😊

Astrology: Transits Predictions

Learning Tools

Paid Readings List

Reading Time: 7-14 days.

Payment: PayPal only

Reading Type: Google Doc so you can always go back to read it

Full Native Birth Chart Reading:

-Full reading: 55$

asteroid add one: 60$

Jupiter Persona Chart Reading

what type of husband/masc partner will I have?: 45$

what types of vacations should I take?: 40$

Juno persona type/type of marriage you will have?: 40$

Solar Return-your year ahead: 50$

Astrology Observations, Tea & Theories

Intuitive Readings (pick a pile)

Fame indicators in Astrology

For general fame indicators

For different industries

Movie and Tv show Astrology

Celebrity Chart Break Down in Astrology

This post has 2 individual post links that’s has a list of celebrity breakdown and predictions for them. I’ll constantly be updating so keep a look out

[autisticlancemcclain]

Somewhat Personal But How Did You Find Out You Were Autistic?

oooou, that is personal!!

funnily enough i found out during covid lol. i’ve always been very outcasted and Strange — not enough that i needed an IEP or that i got overt soecial treatment, but enough that i seriously struggled to get along with people my age. however my mother is also autistic (something she has only found out recently) and most of my family is full of fellow weirdos, so of course ow as told that all of my strangeness was just normal. i had no reason to think that i was autistic, i just thought i was ugly so people didn’t want anything to do with me unless they had to be near me.

i narrowed it down to autism after falsely going through a bunch of other diagnoses. i’m diagnosed with depression, which i don’t have (only seasonal), because some of the symptoms (irritability, strange sleep schedule, mood swings, etc) lined up with things that happened to me when i was overstimulated. i thought i had OCD for a whole, but then i realised that altho im obsessive, i’m not compulsive (i have strong urges to do very particular things in particular orders, but i don’t feel as if i have to do them or my family will die, or i have to do them or i will get sick, etc etc. i do things like wash my hands frequently and obsessively because occasionally they feel dusty for no reason, or i think about germs too much, which is more autistic than OCD but can be both.)

to answer your question better, i knew i was autistic because i kept relating to autistic people in media, and whenever i looked through diagnostic lists and stuff like that i kept feeling more and more seen. i don’t have an official diagnosis (i’m scared that it’ll affect me in the long term such as passport restrictions or job denials) but i’ve talked to a shrink and she’s told me that i seem to match the description lol.

so if you’re thinking you might fit the bill, i encourage you to do some poking around. read some autistic people’s memoirs, check wikipedia sources for more detailed info, do some self reflection. consider using autistic tools whether or not you are diagnosed if they will help (i.e. headphones in noisy places, sensory-friendly clothing, requesting that people speak more clearly to you — i’m too anxious to do this so i just pretend i’m dumb so people over explain things to me lol). above all else i recommend leaning into the weirdo role and allowing yourself to be cringe and strange. eventually people will find you endearing. best of luck and ily <33

[starsmuserainbow]

Headcanon Time - Emotions

This will mostly be about emotions and how it influences a tamaranean. There will be some details here and there, and I tried my best to include many different emotions. (I even checked a wikipedia list of emotions and went through all of them)

Find the text below the cut!

As anyone knowing of the cartoon (and maybe the comics too, though I don’t know if it is similar there) will know, emotions affect the abilities of a tamaranean.

Let’s take a look at what can disable the powers.

Confusion can cause a sudden loss of all powers. The tamaranean still has their resistant body, but most other things don’t work anymore. The strength of the emotion decides just how much of the powers are lost. The first ability to be disabled is flight, next the starbolts and then the strength - which can be drained as far as rendering the tamaranean almost immobile on their own. This  emotion will be present until the topic causing it is cleared out, and even then it might take a bit more until the abilities are fully restored.

Shock can cause the same, but only for short moments usually.

Sadness can disable the powers too, and as I'm pretty sure I mentioned somewhere before, if they don’t manage to get out of their sadness within some time it can be lethal for a tamaranean and they literally die of heartbreak.

Pain can be a strong distraction, too, but only if it is as terrible that the tamaranean would be almost dead already would it be enough to actually suppress their abilities.

Fear is a very bad emotion for a tamaranean to feel. If they are getting afraid, the common reaction of a tamaranean is to fight against that feeling. If this doesn’t work and the fear actually gets stronger, they will lose flight. Their starbolts and strength do still work, but not in any planned way - more as reflexes against whatever happens in their surroundings.

Disgust can disable the tamaranean powers, but it usually only affects the flight. - Which is probably ironic, considering that flying away from the source for the disgust would likely be the easiest way to erase that feeling again.

Anger can be very useful, but also very dangerous. Both for the tamaranean themselves and for others around. - When angered, most of the abilities of the tamaranean are ‘boosted’. They are faster, stronger, and their starbolts can cause more damage without needing to use up more of their energy. They also are more led by their emotions, though, and the angrier they get the more they ignore tactics or caution or the danger they face. - If their fury is - out of whatever reason - growing too strong, the tamaranean can end up in a state of rage. This state of rage allows the tamaranean to blend out mostly all surroundings, and they are only focused on their target anymore, giving all that they have in as many tries as are needed to hit them - and likely kill too. In this state, there is a small amount of their energy radiating off of the whole body all the time, they are very focused on their target and won’t hear anyone shouting out to them. They are dangerously single-minded at that moment, always immediately going for the next attack and not hesitating to aim for cruel/dirty hits or attacks either. They have no defenses up, all of their energy and focus is put on attack, and unless the other is prepared for such rage - or very good prepared against tamaraneans in general - it normally ends deadly for the tamaranean’s target. As their rage burns inside of them, they won’t stop. They might be terribly wounded, even as much that they normally wouldn’t even be able to stand or be awake anymore; but they will keep going, simply fueled by their anger and even ignoring their own body. They can take a lot while in this state, and they can deal a huge lot of damage too without ever stopping in their way until either their target is 100% dead, they are somehow separated from them too far to keep up the fight (like teleportation or something), or they recieve so much damage - usually continuous then - that they can’t get up anymore as much as they struggle against it. This state costs the tamaranean very much energy, and if it keeps up long enough or the tamaranean gives and takes enough damage while in it, they will be entirely drained afterwards, possibly even as much that they are unable to move anymore.

Envy can dampen the abilities, but doesn't really take away any of it.

Happiness is, as has been mentioned in the cartoon, their source for flight. They don’t have to be beaming with joy all the time to fly, but some happy thoughts are required if they want to use flight. - If they don’t ‘watch’ their emotions enough, or the happiness comes very suddenly, it can happen that they accidentally and unplanned start flying or hovering in any occasion. - If a tamaranean suddenly starts hovering during whatever someone is doing with them, that is very likely a prove of them actually being truly happy with either the activity or the other person(s) - unless the tamaranean is intending to pretend to be happy and purposefully acts out these sudden ‘displays of emotion’.

Surprise can cause sudden usage of tamaranean abilities, depending on what the surprise is. If it is something positive and easy to see/understand, it may cause sudden flying. Something like a surprise-attack however can cause desperate attempts at freeing or defending oneself, often causing the abilities to be stronger than what the tamaranean would usually use.

Trust is very important for a tamaranean. It strengthens them not in powers itself, but it allows for more clearance about the emotions, more definition between them and better ways to alter the currently felt emotions. - If the previously built trust is high enough and is then betrayed/broken however, it’s damaging said clearance heavily. If needed and if the tamaranean is still focused enough, they can still fight and use their powers, but once the situation calling for it is over, there will be a sort of breakdown. Including a loss of all powers - and a weakening of the body with feeling sick and not being hungry - for a while, and really dragging the tamaranean down. They will not be of much use during that time, and they will also not want to be of use. Only with a lot of effort, or some time passing, the tamaranean will slowly recover and maybe have a chance at becoming the one they had been before again. The relationship to the person that broke the trust, however, will still be difficult, and by far not as close/intimate anymore as it had been before - if the trust had been broken willingly.

Excitement (in a positive way) is rather similar to happiness. It boosts flight, can randomly cause a tamaranean to start hovering, and it is overall a good thing for them.

Shame causes usually an immediate loss of flight, but the other powers are still intact. The tamaranean might try to avoid staying close when they are ashamed, they are not good at hiding their emotions (because it isn’t good for them) and so they can’t really hide being ashamed either which usually only makes the feeling of shame grow.

One more thing: Keeping emotions inside, hidden and not showing them, can very quickly make a tamaranean very sick. The body gets very weakened and they can barely do anything at all anymore since the whole time the body is fighting with the mind that refuses to let the emotions out. There is a special name for the sickness coming from it, and while there is an easy cure (just displaying the swallowed emotions), there are reasons for still hiding the feelings and if a tamaranean does that for a long time they might end up having lost their powers permanently by the time that they release their emotions again.

[bizarre-blorbo-bracket]

Round 1 poll 20: the Bimodal Distribution from statistics vs Roseanne Roseannadana from SNL

Propaganda under the cut:

the Bimodal Distribution

First of all, it's a math concept. that is already pretty bizarre of a thing to be blorbo-ifying. Second of all, I don't know any calculus, and I don't consider myself a math person (because I hate arithmetic), but I really like this guy for some reason. I mean this graph clearly holds the secrets of the universe. don't you just want to l o o k at it . like you could solve everything in the world with that boy

Roseanne Roseannadana

Where do I start on Roseanne??? She’s lovely, first of all, even if her existence is relatively obscure, except to the diehard SNL fan. She’s not afraid to tell it like it is, even if that ‘is’ involves remarking on other’s bodily functions. Sure, she has a tendency to go on tangents, but she’s a storyteller, always unashamed and unapologetically her. Her “Weekend Update” segments still hold up, mostly due to her absurd matter-of-factness and disregard for the reactions of people around her. And her character design! Pure late 70s business causal flair…complete spunk! She’s a silly twisted gal, what else can you say? I recommend checking out her source material or own Wikipedia page, if you’re not familiar with her character. Vote for Roseanne! It’s always something—if it’s not one thing, it's another!

[rivvenofthelake]

Misunderstood Mischiefs: Rats (1)

Disclaimer: I am not an essayist, or a formal educator, but I do enjoy teaching people about things I find interesting or important. I try to ensure any knowledge I share with others is true and verified, but sometimes I might make mistakes. Let me know if I do, but please be kind ♡( ◡‿◡ )

I have always had a great interest in the awareness and understanding of creatures that inspire disgust in humanity. Some of these creatures include, but most certainly are not limited to, opossums, snakes, various bugs, pigeons, and (as you might as guessed) rats.

So, as of today, May 11 of 2024, I am beginning digging in into research on rats. As of right now, I simply want to understand them, but who knows how many of these blog posts I will end up making, or what direction it will go in.

The first thing I usually do when researching a topic is look up the topic's Wikipedia page (because yes, Wikipedia can be a valid and useful source of information). I pulled up the rat wiki page, but then I had a thought to go to the News tab on Google and just search up whatever news there was about these infamous rodents.

The first several articles, most of which have been written between the last couple of days, were on the recent health issue in Japan involving at least two different people discovering the remains of rats in their bread from Pasco Shikishima Corp (PSC, as I will refer to them). As the incident is still early on in investigation, I wasn't able to find much unique information. One thing I did find in more than a few of the articles was mention of how surprising this is to happen in Japan, seeing as their sanitation and public health regulations are very strict. On the other hand, I did also see multiple mentions of how Japan has been experiencing a recent spur of similar public health issues (or 'poisonings' as one article put it). It's an interesting difference to consider, but, I ultimately found that this event does not (yet, at least) provide much information about rats themselves.

You could argue that, presuming PSC follows the laws of it's own nation (which I am going to assume, because I have no reason to think otherwise as of this moment), this does say something about the intelligence of rats. There are many ways that a rat could theoretically end up in a deadly situation inside virtually any kind of factory or assembly line, with all of the machinery involved. The thing that I think would make them seem smart is how they manage to *get* there in the first place (again, assuming health regulations are being followed).

Investigation time:

How easily can rats get into places they aren't 'meant' to be in? That is to say, places where humans don't want them. Which is virtually anywhere humans are that isn't a pet store.

I think my next post will focus on that, and I will include some links to articles I use for reference, in case anyone wants to check them out. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for either future topics to research or topics related to rats, please feel free to comment or reach out and let me know!

[voidsumbrella]

imo hbomberguy's original video was an excellent rundown of the broader plagiarism issue, but todd in the shadows' fact check vid is really the reason im pissed at this specific guy, and gives me a bit less sympathy for people who fell for his shit tbh.

like missing the plagiarism and less like... relevant misinformation is one thing- im actually pretty sure i saw a post about the disney gay day thing go around a while back and went "huh neat" and moved on without checking, because why would i check that sort of thing, i don't care about the history of disney. and while we can collectively raise our eyebrows at people not picking up on the celluloid closet-tier theft, if you don't have any interest in more in-depth queer theory or history i does kinda track that you wouldn't know these books exist. i watch random essays as mildly informative background noise all the time; i'm not going to be able to cite any of the organic chemistry sources referenced, no matter how common knowledge it is in-field.

but holy SHIT so much of the facts he very confidently stated were such blatantly biased horseshit that they really should have pinged more radars than they did. i cannot fucking imagine listening to someone tell me that american soldiers primarily enlisted in wwii because the nazis were just so sexy and not thinking something was up there. claiming that subtlety in western movies wasn't invented until the 1960s while gushing over the homosexual subtext in disney cartoons is insulting to your audience's knowledge of their own pop culture, and also their grasp on linear time. if you thought his dig at western theater being entirely tell-don't-show held any water i have to assume you flunked english from 8th grade on, and have never seen a production in your life.

i have not watched his videos, and im not planning to, but frankly there is no amount of contextual padding that will make his commentary on asian media and culture in general less xenophobic and/or infantilizing. the kabuki/noh mixup and disregard for even reading the wikipedia article before discussing how their narratives work aside, the whole thing about the big scary chinese government padding their action movie box office numbers as propaganda exclusively designed to intimidate western audiences is 1) stupid as hell, and 2) yet another offshoot of the right-of-center sinophobia that's been circulating for the last couple five years and i really don't know why people are so willing to defend themselves by saying it isn't their fault that they uncritically swallowed his racist bullshit or accepted it as confirmation of their own biases.

i think that's actually what bothers me the most here. his entire platform was built on stealing other people's ideas and reframing them to tell his audience what they wanted to hear. and i get it! everyone wants to think they're smart and cool and know the real history behind everything, everyone wants to hear that they can continue to like the stuff they like that other people are pushing back against- attack on titan isn't really facist, disney has always been progressive, china's just as awful as you think it is- it's really easy to get suckered into that!! it sucks to hear someone you trusted is a liar, and it's embarrassing to get called out for believing something false, but some of this stuff crumbles so quickly under any measure of critical thinking that defending taking it as gospel is more of a self-own than anything else.

hopefully the current teardown has reminded everyone that people on the internet are frequently full of shit and passed out a few more tips on how to be smarter going forwards.

[seewetter]

Fact-Checking All I Post Since Dec 12, 2023

Hi.

This is a pinned post that explains my current ideal method of verifying information.

Firstly: I will always state what work I did (or didn't do) to fact-check a post.

This post will be pinned to remind me how to do my due diligence.

What to do to verify information?

Step 0: Notice suspicious aspects of what I'm reblogging

Calls to Action (can cause people to act without thinking first)

False sense of urgency: use of ALL CAPS as if people weren't going to read it otherwise indicates THEY ARE WRITING FOR AN AUDIENCE THAT THEY DON'T EXPECT WILL READ EVERYTHING including the fine print?

Judgemental statements: somebody is describing something by using insults, loaded language.

Factual errors

Jumping to conclusions

Step 1: Read beyond the Headline

If there is embedded articles, did I click through to read it?

How much did I read?

Who is the source? Do I know the source?

If I trust the source: why? What makes them trustworthy?

If I don't usually trust the source but am sharing anyway, why?

Step 2: Find a Credible Source

Did i check the web address (URL) to make sure the website is not impersonating another source?

Find other sources. I read in a magazine once that its recommended to have at least 3 separate sources confirm something. That way there is likely expert consensus and not a rogue editorial board or a compromised source.

Sometimes 3 sources agreeing might mean they are colluding, so the goal here is to document who is saying what and get a picture of where the information is coming from and how it's being shared.

Did I do a cursory check of the Tumblr user sharing the source?

Step 3: Verify Online Source is Authentic

I use startpage.com (a search engine that Google's things for me so Google doesn't know who is googling & thus won't tailor content to me)

As an IT student, I know that when links show up in purple in search engines that is a feature offered by my browser history, not by the search engine. So if I follow a link on Tumblr, then check with Google or Startpage (or Yahoo or Bing or DuckDuckGo), I can see if the website can be found normally through a web search.

I can also use Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) to check older versions of a story. So far, I don't know of any case where the Wayback Machine has deliberately censored or removed information.

Step 4: What else can I do?

read full article of each source

return to the article weeks later to see if corrections have been posted

check the website. Under "Contact" there should be information about the source. Who are they? I can look them up on Wikipedia to see if the source is known to have issues.

Step 5: Offer my followers some info on how they could improve on my work

Articles I haven't fully read can of course be improved by reading the whole thing

Sources can lie.

Read different opposite perspectives (use search engine to look up keywords that might pop up an opposing perspective)

Read primary sources. Did I reblog about a law being passed? Find the official government website where the law is posted.

If a story seems obviously favour one partisan group, then: A basic question for opposing groups or individuals is (A) did they read critiques of themselves (B) do they have a response (C) does their response contain a kernel of truth or is it appealing somehow (can it be steelmanned?) of maybe even they are more right than they seemed and (D) does their response feel sincere? (E) do they have a sense for what might go wrong with their counter-proposal (F) does their response need a better counter-response?

Step 6: Justify sharing things that I half-research.

For example: I shared this because the idea (perhaps mistaken perception / fantasy) of an internet censorship bill scares me.

Reason: My followers get an idea for why I think the information is valuable and can critique me better.

Step 7: Explain: Will I share more on this story or do more research?

In many cases, I reblog things and not think about them any further unless it circulates around and generates more conversation.

As a person with limited financial means and little interest in policy discussions, I want people who read my blog to like...know about (possibly) serious developments, but I'm convinced the main point of reblogging is to increase the statistical chance that it reaches people who are keenly interested and more dedicated than I am to doing something.

That's unfortunate of course (I always worry about how wars and other nightmarish things exit the media cycle even while still ongoing!) but I don't run this blog to be a downer blog and I also don't run it to be discussing topics that only interest me in that I'd like to see people (including myself, when that is feasible) work together to solve them.

Hopefully (if anyone even reads this) people can relate and won't think the worst of me. Not like I'm the best person anyway. Uh, thanks for reading.

[josefavomjaaga]

Is the quote, "Pourvu que ça dure!" attributed to Napoleon's mother actually real and if so, do you know more of the context around it?

That is an excellent question! I've just checked and saw that French Wikipedia even claims poor Letizia originally coined that phrase - though of course with a Corsican accent: pourvou qu'ça doure!

That claim at least can be easily disproven by a quick check in Google Books. The expression "pourvu que cela dure!" was used quite some time before Napoleon's mother became prominent enough for anybody to notice what she said.

Interestingly enough, I also could not find any mention of her saying that in the pamphlets of the Second Restauration; that's where I suspected the anecdote came from (as it mocks the Corsican accent, thus pointing out the "foreign" origins of the Bonaparte family, while having even Napoleon's own mother doubt her son's rise to power will last).

The very first mention I could find (but maybe somebody can correct me on this?) was as late as 1892 (!), in the writings of one ... here it comes ... Hippolyte Larrey.

Yes, that would be Dominique Larrey's son, who apparently wrote a lengthy essay in two volumes about Napoleon's mother. That's the same guy who also seems to be the reason why, whenever the medical service of the First Empire is mentioned, everybody thinks of one regimental surgeon, while all the other doctors are mostly ignored.

Needless to say that I'm highly suspicious about this. Even more so, as Hippolyte Larrey gives as his source "l'archiduc Charles-Louis d'Autriche" - archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria? Who was only born in 1833. So how would he know what Letizia said during the First Empire?

Unless somebody can provide us with a better source for that quote, I would rather treat it as apocryphal.

From the little I have read on Napoleon's childhood, I had the impression it's best to be very careful. From what we really know, there is no indication "Madame Mère" ever had much of an influence on her son or a special meaning in his life. Much of what is reported about her may just be legend. According to Pierre Branda's biography of Joseph Bonaparte, it's not even clear if Carlo and Letizia were ever properly married in church. At least there's no such certificate, and apparently it was not unusual in Corsica for couples to just move in with each other, and after a certain time they were considered legally married.

We really seem to know very little about that woman for certain.

Thank you for the Ask, and thanks to everybody who has something to add, as always!