#socraticcryptid

[socraticcryptid]

i wonder if there's a Discworld fic somewhere on ao3 with the tag "Major Character: DEATH" because i think that would be hilarious

[jotfabe]

i believe you sent me a scary boop or something? like a 'booooo'? that is incredible and i would love to know how to do that please thank you!

@socraticcryptid It's just a normal Boop, I don't know why they appear that way. It could be random, or time based (the first one I got was about an hour ago) or like a virus (once you get one, any you give are also like that). The viral one would be so fun, like a zombie outbreak in the boops :D

[socraticcryptid]

[socraticcryptid]

I've seen variants of this poll for US states, European countries, and Canadian provinces, but it's feeling a bit one-sided to me, so based on this quiz:

*polls like these have to make decisions about what counts as a country or not, what names to accept for a country, and what counts as being in a particular continent or not. I have just chosen to use the same quiz site as others have used for the other quizzes.

**by Asian I simply mean 'from Asia'.

(I've also made a similar poll for Africa, but that's all I have time for - let me know if anyone makes similar ones for other regions of the world!)

[socraticcryptid]

I've seen variants of this poll for US states, European countries, and Canadian provinces, but it's feeling a bit one-sided to me, so based on this quiz:

*polls like these often make decisions about what counts as a country or not, what names to accept for a country, and also what counts as being in a particular continent or not. I have just chosen to use the same quiz site as others have used for the other quizzes.

**by African I simply mean 'from Africa'.

(I'm also going to make a similar poll for Asia, but that's all I have time for - let me know if anyone makes similar ones for other regions of the world!)

[socraticcryptid]

because i'm curious about the current state of privacy norms on tumblr (clarifications below)

yes this is inspired by age/sex/location

Clarifications:

by share i mean: you've written it in tags (e.g. on posts that say "let me know where you're from in the tags!"), you would provide that information if asked, it's in your bio, you don't actively hide it, etc.

if you lie about one of them, i consider that to be not sharing.

for location, if you share your country (or state/region, if in the US, considering the sheer number of USAmericans on here) then i'd consider that sharing.

for age, if you share a rough age range (like 'early 20s'), I would consider that sharing.

yes i know that gender does not necessarily equal pronouns, but it's similar enough for this silly little poll.

for example: my pronouns are in my bio. i would be open about being an adult, if asked, but don't specify my age any further. i am not from the US but don't share anything more about my location. therefore, i would pick 'gender/pronouns only'.

[socraticcryptid]

The other day I reblogged a post about waitstaff not respecting dietary requirements, and I didn't want to add to it because it's long enough already, but it got me thinking about disability and how it changes how you relate to the world.

I have a few health conditions. One of them is a potentially life-threatening food allergy (I carry an epipen and keep a spare one at home). This allergen is in a lot of foods, but it's thankfully relatively easy to avoid, particularly because I know the kinds of foods it's in, and also because it's an allergy that people generally respect.

This allergy has a minimal effect on my day-to-day life. My other health conditions have a much larger impact on my lifestyle. But my allergy has nonetheless shaped the way that I relate to food and my body. I always think about it when people suggest places to eat. I avoid foods that I've had close calls with in the past, or foods that sometimes contain the allergen. I'm wary of homemade food at potlucks and as gifts. I read the ingredients on everything, not only food but also things like toothpaste and soap, even when I know that there's basically no chance of my allergen being present. If I eat something risky then for the next twenty minutes I'm constantly checking my arms for hives and my lips for swelling.

There's something very strange about the idea that my body considers this food to be such a threat that it enacts a policy of mutually assured destruction. An assassin could kill me with something that is harmless to most other people. Every time I eat something new I'm scared that my body will decide it's a threat too.

Not everyone is as cautious as I am. But this sort of experience, and constant fear of your body turning on itself, applies to so many people. I have a friend who's severely allergic to nuts, dairy, legumes, and eggs. She rarely eats at restaurants and could never go vegetarian because she would struggle to get enough protein. Coeliacs and diabetics have to be constantly careful of what they're eating or risk permanent damage to their bodies. People with severe intolerances, or food-triggered migraines, or heart conditions impacted by caffeine, or any of the other food-related health conditions have similar experiences.

So much of life is centred around food (for good reason - I love food!), and yet so many people who don't have food-related health conditions just don't understand it, and sometimes even those who do their best don't always get it right. I check the ingredients on everything, even if a friend tells me that it's safe, because sometimes they're wrong. An honest mistake, but one that I can't afford.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I guess I just wanted to say that, if I discover that someone I know is blasé about food allergies, I don't bother talking with them about my other health conditions. If they can't even respect life-threatening food allergies then how could I possibly trust them with anything else? They haven't made the effort to understand how disabilities can completely shape the way that you experience the world. They wouldn't understand the concept of having limited spoons or executive dysfunction. They probably don't respect religious dietary requirements either, or sensory issues with food. I wouldn't trust them to understand microaggressions, or structural racism, or the complexities of gender, unless they happen to experience those themselves.

It's like the 'I don't know how to tell you that you should care about other people' meme, but instead, it's 'I don't know how to tell you that you should put yourself in someone else's shoes every once in a while'. Maybe that would make the world a better place.

[socraticcryptid]

actually you know what i'm saving the tags i wrote on another post so i can find them more easily because i really might write this fic when i find the time. it'd be cheesy but so fun, as all the best one-shot crossovers are.

post in question: https://www.tumblr.com/socraticcryptid/762342060254740480/combine-your-first-real-fandom-with-your-current?source=share

#idk i feel like a crossover between doctor who and the murderbot diaries could be good #wherein the doctor travels to mb's world #murderbot and the doctor have a lot in common but they would NOT understand each other (at least at first) #it would be a classic case of incompatible accessibility needs between two barely functional but also hypercompetent neurodivergents #like both mb and the doctor have a tendency to think that they're the only sensible/intelligent ones in the room #but are also unable to communicate effectively unless under pressure #and like most incarnations of the doctor are loud and busy and murderbot is. not that. #(ART and the TARDIS would immediately be besties. like they'd be playing 5D chess in the background or flirting with each other or somethin #(mb and the doctor would be very weirded out by it. their respective human companions would think it was cute.) #and let's say that they have some sort of mystery to solve together #i guess the classic crossover premise would be if some of each of their humans got kidnapped by some enemy #and they had to work together to save them? #i haven't watched doctor who in a while but let's say ruby or yaz or bill were kidnapped along with amena or ratthi #by some doctor who aliens who accidentally hitched a ride with the TARDIS but now want to take over a planet #and while mensah and pin-lee and gurathin and ART's human crew are making sure that no news of this is leaked #(because who knows what GreyCris would do with the knowledge that actual live aliens are out there to be exploited for profit) #the doctor distracts the aliens while mb sneaks in to rescue the hostages #and ART provides back-up while holding a distracting one-sided conversation with the TARDIS on the feed just to fuck with mb #the doctor is very disapproving when mb kills some of the aliens #but changes their tune after mb throws itself in front of an energy weapon blast to save the doctor's human companion #and mb comes to appreciate the doctor's quick thinking and ability to protect themselves #once the hostages are safely rescued and the aliens have been sent back to their home star system #mb and the doctor bond over their pasts of unwillingly killing people they care about (gallifrey and genaka pit) #and over how much they care about their humans but how they still feel a little alone and isolated and different from them #and then (once the TARDIS has recharged from forcefully sending the aliens home or something) #the doctor and their companion say farewell and travel away #end scene: ART revealing that they stole the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and giving it to mb #damn now i want to write this #doctor who #the murderbot diaries

[noworneverphantom]

:0 yes let’s start a chain!! (Yours is so cuteee)

No pressure tags: @sadmushroomgoblin @bbreaddog @creation-infinityschild @timetravellingkitty @herhopeistreacherous @socraticcryptid @anna-jo @eepybubble @deeptiwtf @all-for-geek and anyone else who would like to!!

I made a new picrew! 🌠💫✨🌟

[socraticcryptid]

if tea is leaf juice then uh

is this anything

[All photos taken from Wikipedia/Wikimedia commons. Image description under the cut.]

Image description begins. Image is a Dungeons and Dragons-style alignment chart meme, where the columns are lawful, neutral, and chaotic respectively, and the rows are good, neutral, and evil respectively. Lawful good has the text “Black tea, oolong, green tea, white tea” and an image of those four types of tea. Neutral good has the text “Rooibos, chamomile, and other herbal teas” and an image of mint tea. Chaotic good has the text “Fruit tisanes” and an image of a fruit and nut tisane, unbrewed. Lawful neutral has the text “Matcha latte” and an image of a matcha latte. True neutral has the text “Spinach smoothie” and an image of a green juice or smoothie. Chaotic neutral has the text “Beer” and an image of beer. Lawful evil has the text “Chewing raw tea leaves” and an image of a hand holding several fresh, undried tea leaves. Neutral evil has the text “Kimchi” and an image of six versions of kimchi. Chaotic evil has the text “Fruit salad” and an image of a fruit salad. End image description.

[socraticcryptid]

I think, for me, being genderqueer is like realising that i want to change careers. Not because the job has a toxic work environment - although, maybe, later on, i'll look back and realise that it did - but because it just doesn't suit me.

It's like i grew up with parents who ran a bakery, and i was helping out in the bakery since i was young, and i left school at sixteen to work full-time. And maybe i tell people that I'm unhappy with my work, and they tell me that i should open my own bakery, or try pastry instead of bread, and i can't work out how to tell them that i'm not a baker. That i don't see myself as a baker, that i'm happy to dabble in it, but the idea of a future where i'm still baking bread every day when i'm sixty fills me with despair. That i respect the fact that many people who used to bake bread are happier now that they're baking cupcakes, and i'm happy for them, but that wouldn't work for me.

It would take time and effort and money to change careers. I would always be explaining to family friends that yes, i used to work in the bakery, but i switched to a different profession, and i'm much happier now. And it would be worth it.

Maybe i could live as my AGAB. I don't know. Maybe i would settle into it again as i grow older, or find a way to make it work for me. But i can't see a future where i only ever live as my AGAB and am happy with it. And isn't that enough?

[socraticcryptid]

this morning i saw the city.

i was walking to the bus stop, eyes half-closed against the driving rain and endless too-bright headlights, when i accidentally looked sideways through a crack in the pavement.

for a moment i could see it all.

the city's skin was made of asphalt, with folds where it went over hills, dry and cracking in some places, newly healed in others. the roadworkers up ahead were part of the immune system, putting stitches in the city's skin, leaving pebbled scabs and painted line scars behind.

the houses and shops, rising tall or short and squat, were tiny hairs, sensitive to the slightest movement. the larger structures, the bridges and arenas and skyscrapers, were moles and callouses. the fences and streetlamps formed the little textured dots and pores that i could feel when i ran the pad of my index finger down the inside of my arm.

and the humans, well — the humans and other animals were the lifeblood of the city, moving water and oxygen and hemoglobin from place to place in each day-long heartbeat, releasing waste products into the air and waters and streets to be carried away by the cleaners and garbage collectors of the city's gastrointestinal system.

i stood there, staring, until my eyes began to hurt with the effort of seeing, and i blinked, and the vision disappeared.

i could still see it, though, behind my eyes, as i walked along the footpath stretch mark, and past the textured pores of street signs, and waited under the shelter of the hair follicle of a bus stop. beside the bus stop, I saw a little patch of yellow dandelions, barely staying alive despite the rain.

they were just plants, rooted in a dirty smudge upon the city's skin. nothing more.

i felt immensely sad all of a sudden, and i tried to look sideways at the dirt, too, from a different angle. i couldn't work it out, and then my bus arrived, and i lost the vision entirely. perhaps, though, that was for the best.

[socraticcryptid]

The bots are back again - I've been getting a few each day for the past week or so.

Interestingly, I'm seeing a new pattern. The last three or four have followed me and then immediately liked my most popular post (but no other posts). This post hasn't been reblogged recently, if I remember correctly, and it was originally posted about six months ago, so they might be finding it by searching for popular original posts. I assume it's a tactic to attempt to appear more genuine.

[socraticcryptid]

my most popular fic has been chugging along, getting a kudos every day or so (it's in a bigger fandom but i posted it a couple years ago), and while i try not to measure my self-worth by things like kudos, it still makes me smile every time i get a 'You've Got Kudos!' email from ao3

but today

today it got 24 kudos. 24 whole kudos! and when i checked the fic, it had a dozen new public bookmarks, only several of whom also left kudos (early enough for that email, at least).

One of them commented briefly on the fic, which I definitely appreciate, but I kinda wish one of them mentioned where they found the fic as well, because I'm so curious as to why this several-years-old fic suddenly got so much attention.

[socraticcryptid]

I pity the microwave and its ephemeral sense of self, its ability to measure time disrupted unexpectedly, at any moment, by a brief blip in its power supply, leaving its screen blank but for a blinking glowing colon, waiting for some greater force to rewrite its memory and grant it the ability to rejoin the stream of time. Or, if it is lucky enough to keep some sense of passing time, reset against its will to 00:00, as if born anew.

What must it be like, to be so dependent on a constant flow of electrons? In that brief moment, when the power stops, does it feel terror at the thought that it may never wake again? When it is revived, adrift in time, with no knowledge of how long it had been gone, is it envious of the appliances that did not forget? Even when it is updated, forcefully set to a particular time, does it wonder whether it is being lied to? It has no way to tell, after all, whether the time it displays is correct or not. It is reliant entirely upon the greater forces that use and abuse it.

Does the microwave enjoy being used, being put to its purpose? Does it wait in anticipation for the opportunity to heat food? It eats electrons, after all, but perhaps the tantalising smell of pizza or curry whets its appetite, and that is why it uses more power when reheating food than when in standby. Or perhaps it reheats food only resentfully, hating its inability to consume, wishing nothing more than to be left in peace.

[socraticcryptid]

I know this has been said before, but for anyone who's forgotten (like I had): gender and sexuality labels are useful, but in the end they're just tools.

For example, when I realised that other people actually experienced sexual attraction and it wasn't just made up for dramatic effect, I found the ace community and the asexual label really comforting. And I am so grateful for that, and for all the advice and the cake/garlic bread memes; and for the way that that label let me find other people with similar experiences to mine, and helped me understand that I wasn't broken.

But these days, when people ask me to label my sexuality, I sometimes find the choice of labels restrictive. If a non-queer ally asks, I'll call myself bi or just queer; if a queer person asks, I'll call myself biromantic asexual, or grey-aro ace, or aroace with a desire for queerplatonic relationships, or something like that. The labels help find community and give others a general idea of who you are. But when I think about looking for a life partner, what actually matters to me is what I want in a relationship, and that's not always well-captured by the labels.

Sexuality is a social construct. Humans created labels that usefully picked out groups of people and types of experiences, and called them sexuality. These people and experiences are real, as seen by the fact that they crop up again and again, across time and cultures. The fight for equality is equally real - the increasing awareness and acceptance of asexuality has directly benefited my life, although there is still a long way to go, particularly in the medical field. But these labels are also a construct, and so they don't necessarily correspond to some perfect natural division in the world. If your experiences don't perfectly fit under some existing label - that's normal!

There are as many sexualities as there are people in the world, and at least as many genders. Many many people have complicated relationships with them, and with other complex categories and labels like race, religion, and so on. So if you hesitate every time you're asked to tick the right box on a form, remember that labels are useful - but they don't define you.