#source: some post I saw on FB

[moviesludge]

guy from high school added me on fb a few months ago. i was never really close with him. he was more of a friend of a friend type. i thought I remembered him getting involved in military somehow. And I remember it seeming like he was one of those guys that is very intense. like you get the vibe that he might snap some day and kill somebody or something. freaked me out a bit but I think he disappeared back then. So he pops up as a friend request a couple of months ago. Super courteous and polite guy but political vibes were off to me even though he didn't seem to post anything really overt. Then I posted a MARS ATTACKS painting of three kids that had just beaten down one of the martians with weapons. One of the kids was Black and this guy comes in making a comment about "DEI" something something. I acted like I didn't know what it was and asked him about it. He described it in a sort of innocuous way and I replied like "oh ok" and then he deleted his comment.

He had weighed in a couple times on other posts I made, with a helpful and constructive spirit. He seemed thoughtful and proactive, which I appreciated, but I felt like I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. So Just a few minutes ago, I saw that he posted a link to a Matt Walsh documentary called "what is a woman?". I'm not familiar with that guy or the doc but right away I'm like ughhhh shit. So I look up Matt Walsh on twitter and of course I have him blocked. (I block everybody who sucks), so I check out his profile and of course it's an anti-trans pile of shit doc and the guy describes himself as a "fascist theocracy" guy. I don't consider myself a really sharp guy, but if you're perusing the "market of ideas" or whatever and you see "FASCIST THEOCRACY" you can stop reading. And if you don't, there is something seriously wrong with you.

So you know. 5 or 10 years ago I might have messaged the guy and had a conversation telling him that I don't want to be friends with someone who is into stupid hateful shit like that and posts about it, but I've tried that a few times and it goes about as well as you can imagine. I'm not interested in explaining why you should shut the fuck up and let people live their lives the way that feels right to them, as long as they aren't hurting anyone. That is some basic life shit, and I think you either get that or you don't. And if you don't get that and you feel the need to spread some stupid chudbrain garbage like that, I do not want to be your friend, no matter how nice and helpful and courteous you act towards me. And maybe that's shameful of me. I own that. Because I am far too angry of a person to have the patience to entertain the idea of trying to guide people back from embracing hate and fascism. I know it's probably better to be a good influence to people like that, but I need all the peace and calm I can get in my life right now (especially now), and I go from 0 to psychotically pissed off and stressed out when I have to see people floating dumb hateful garbage in my periphery. Maybe I can work on this in the future and achieve my own robust source of patience and peace, but I'm not there yet.

I've already cut ties with a couple of people I used to work with who were more or less acquaintances. It was the same type of thing as this military guy but I probably was a little closer to them and liked them a lot more. I worked with the guy at Blockbuster and he ended up marrying this girl who worked at the cafe at Borders where I worked. I don't know if he did, but she came from a really religious family. They were both really funny, nice people. Over the years she started to post about all this nutrition stuff. Like you shouldn't eat something that has x thing in it or y thing in it, etc. And then she actually became a sort of social media nutritionist. I don't know if it was like a full time job or not but it always seemed just slightly weird to me. Like the weird you feel when you have a friend who is just way too likely to believe a conspiracy theory and go down an internet rabbit hole. But I never saw anything really overt from either of them. And then J6 happened and I remember the husband was like arguing with me about how the rioters were "trying to fight a wealthy elite system" or something like that. And I was just so pissed off about it that I was like extremely adamant in my replies that these people were all scumbags and shitheads working for trump. So I guess I overwhelmed him with how pissed off I was and he responded like "ok then they should lock em all up" but I think he was just sarcastically agreeing with me so I would stop telling him about exactly what was really happening.

I recently heard someone mention that the nutritionist thing is some kind of common red flag for weirdo fascist qanon adjacent bullshit. I had suspected that to be true but was never really sure until very recently, just after the election when she was praising trump and rfk for the things they did and planned to do. That's where I finally had to draw the line. Although I did see a photo that one of them posted and one of their friends was wearing a "let's go brandon" shirt. I probably should have known then. I think I did but I didn't want to believe it.

I guess this is a good time to praise the people that stay friends with people like these and do their best to influence them. I've read stories about people who really did help their friends back from the verge by meeting them where they are and kind of showing them the harm of what they're doing. It's crazy because I see friends of mine who stay friends with people like this and I like want to punch their friend through the internet. I just cannot stand them. If you can tolerate that shit, you're a more patient and understanding person than I am, and I applaud your efforts.

[roomeight]

I’m so shocked to see all of these things Graham has done. Is there any other allegations/verified information on the other members? I don’t know if it’s right to assume anything but if the other members stay around Graham after all of this (and stuff we don’t know lol) how better are they?

Soz in advance for the long answer - my personal feeling given what journalists have documented, one in the band biography about the band begging the journalist to not publish Graham's drunken behavior, and with how twitter posts @ing Dave or Graham about the allegations were blocked well after being posted so they wouldn't show up in twitter search shortly before the Blur tour announcement/Graham's biography release, I'd wager that the band has some level of awareness of Graham's allegations, if not complete awareness. To what level of detail they know about / how much they know is up for debate. Graham stopped posting on twitter for, I think about nine months when the allegations were posted by britpopabuse on instagram, and started posting as soon as the Guardian journalists backed off, so I feel confident assuming he knew. Eleven mgmt was also emailed without response. Also, Essy saw the instagram posts of the Mexican fans hanging out with Graham at the hotel.

To that end, Dave's gf Michelle D. posted on twitter twoish years ago when britpopabuse allegations were posted that there were many "fake celeb accounts" (seemingly alluding to the finsta Graham instagram account Britpopabuse posted but not explicitly referring to that) and invited fans to email her about the allegations - many who were minors "investigating," who Michelle told that Graham was the victim of a "jilted lover." (Allegedly - this info was gleaned from the Country House Discord members) Important to remember that Michelle and Dave's livelihood comes from Blur making money and Graham being canceled threatens that. Also, Graham crafted a pretty gross narrative of Essy in his biography as "Soraya" so who is to say he didn't tell the band the same story. Again, that is my take.

Unfortunately I don't have screenshots of all of this - well, I may - I don't feel like digging through the archives for them, being honest. Sorry. :-( I know that is like "source: trust me bro," but it is multiple years of screenshots and fandom hell that took a toll on me. I'm sure I could find them again if pressed.

If you want to see in real time the unhealthy fans/band lack of boundaries Michelle and Dave encourage, the coffee and TV fb group is probably the best place to observe. That group comes off as Dave and Michelle being generous to fans, and at first glance, yeah, kinda. The parasocial stuff/lack of boundaries between celeb and fans is a little concerning on there, IMO, having seen the positives and negatives.

I wish I had a more reassuring answer re: the rest of the band but I don't. :/ It haunts me. Damon's music meaning a lot to me and Damon also probably knowing and being complicit are two awful things I have not been able to reconcile. The only grace I'd give is I'm sure this is a massively dysfunctional, toxic group of people with their own unhealthy relationship dynamics, who've known each other their whole lives. They also probably know about the worst of each others behavior. That still doesn't excuse things, though. Even if friendship were not the case, I doubt the band would sell their cash cow for a few vocal fans online trying to surface the abuse that has happened. :/

[sleepanonymous]

I had a question about some of the photos in the Photography folder in the Google Drive - they’re just labeled “Facebook1” and “Facebook2”. I’m assuming that means they came from the band’s Facebook account? Did it say they were they taken by Adamross or someone else? I don’t use FB so I’m assuming they’ve since been wiped from the page.

Hello, tysm for the ask 🖤 I had to pull up the drive and check because there's still a lot that's unorganized in the "photography" folder 😅

The photos in question:

I can tell you that these are from around summer 2019 (based off of Vessel's mask). The thing is, I remember saving these two specifically from *a Facebook*, and I also remember there being more, but I'm not sure if it was Sleep Token's Facebook or the Photographer's. I did a quick scan through the photos on Sleep Token's Facebook and didn't find them.

A little bit of reverse image searching shows that the second photo was used in this article about The Offering's release, which is copacetic with the timeframe. Because of that, I'm fairly confident that it wasn't Adamross who took them, judging from the dates.

I was hoping I had posted them to this blog around the same time I saved them to the drive, so I could try checking source links, but I cannot find them in my blog archive. It's possible I'd seen these images posted by another blog and saved them, but it's also possible I saw them, meant to post them, and forgot.

If anyone recognizes these from another blog/post, please lmk 🙏

[ca-suffit]

Ok so i don't think that the other anon was wrong to ask about the use of the word "gremlin". despite it being from the books, there are plenty of people from the audience who have never read them (and probably never will) and still see the image of a brown man with dark skin tone being referred to in that way. it's very understandable that not everyone who watches the show is going to be comfortable with that.

there's also a way for fans to clarify this, without being rude and invalidating the concerns from other viewers as us "making things up to be angry about". it's easy to see why people, especially poc in this fandom don't enjoy interacting with gatekeepers who deny racism when at least three major characters (louis, claudia, armand) have been adapted as poc. you can not separate their life experiences from how their race is perceived in america or europe. some of you are going to have a hard time in this fandom if you think you can just sidestep or brush these type of conversations under the rug.

thank u for this ask. it's unbelievably hostile in this fandom and it's so much worse when u have an account that focuses solely on race within the story and this fandom's racism. every fandom has racism issues but this one is *fucking awful* for some rly specific reasons. I saw what it did before having an account but having one and being on this end of it is worse. part of what used to get sent to me was asking why I don't contribute more than just "whining." who wants to do anything here tbh?? I'm surprised anyone's even here. I already know a huge majority of the fandom is not in the tags and it's exactly bcuz of this shit. we had a lot of v antiblack harassment campaigns roll thru here too. this fandom fucking sucks.

I also appreciate your last comment, although I have to say to it that this fandom pushes off conversations about race all the time. nalyra_dreaming and virginiaisforvampires and a whole group of accounts ppl talk to much more than this one are always giving ppl excuses for why noticing race isn't important. it is the norm here. ppl buy into it more too bcuz it's fans of color saying it as well, not just white fans. the show has not been helping this lately either by not commenting on the racial aspects of the plot anymore, making it v easy for fans to further say "these ppl who talk about this all the time are delusional, don't listen to them, they're the *real* racists!"

anyway. all of that being said. I have pdfs of all the books and I searched the word "gremlin" and couldn't find it in any of them. it's not a rly important thing or anything but since u mentioned it IS in the books, do u remember an actual source? I'm just curious and asking genuinely. maybe it was a related short story, article, or fb post?

I do have familiarity myself with the fandom from before the show and I made no connection to this either, it's been news to me that his nickname was "gremlin." I'm not doubting that, btw, I'm just saying that even for ppl around before I don't think it's even known outside some specific circles. but ya. either way, gatekeeping and mocking ppl who ask questions, especially questions that aim to be aware of potential racial issues, is not helping anything.

[pissplasmicpantom]

for the last couple of months now ive been workin on reinventin my cyberpunk ttrpg NEON SPIRITS to be more evocative, more explicitly southeast asian, more in-line with my current politics and worldview and also just, more actual textual conveyance of the themes i originally wanted to impart. and part of that was a move away from the traditional 70s to 80s retrofuturist aesthetics that to late 90s to y2k retrofuturism

im far from the first to do it (ttrpgheads, go look up cybermetal 2012) but i realized another reason why i was drawn to the change, besides just the novelty. my primary aesthetic inspiration for NEON SPIRITS' setting is the congested concrete heart i grew up in, the filipino capital of manila, specifically my neighborhood in tondo. living here, u can sense a distinct *old-ness* in its tech culture that u only ever rly see in other parts of the philippines, & the global south more broadly

like some examples:

theres a piso-net near my house (if u dont know what that is, google it), and just a day or two ago, i saw a little kid there playing on one of the pcs; the graphic quality of the game told me it was absolutely made between the late 90s to early 00s. i remember watching on an old box tv and using a landline phone waaay into the 2010s until eventually we switched to a flatscreen and people stopped ringing up the landline. our living room cd-stereo is just collecting dust upstairs now, but we put that shit on play late into noynoys presidency. facebook, THE social media platform that ppl in the west see as for old people, continues to be the hotspot for social media activity in the ph; young ppl have started gravitating to twitter in the last decade or so, but fb is still where we message and post and keep up on online announcements

advanced technology as a class barrier is extremely charted territory for the cyberpunk genre. but in ttrpg worlds, it tends to come in the form of "high tech is commonplace, but the even higher/cooler tech is only affordable to the wealthy"; very "everyones got a phone but only rich people have the iphone 15" kind of energy. it sorta has basis in reality, but its also a perspective that comes from a privileged position, primarily from countries at the core of the geopolitical economy

for countries that live out in the periphery of this economy, we r always the last to get new commercialized technology—even when a household has the kind of wealth to be in proximity to the core. were almost always the source for this tech—whether its the manufacturing materials stolen from our soil or the manufacturers themselves—but its always too expensive to proliferate here at the same time it does for the us or uk or spain or elsewhere in the global north

we hafta wait till it hits the bargain bin for us to actually use it; and by the time we do, its already out of date by a couple years (this is also why piracy is so frequent a practice here even among bougie families like mine)

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on todays volume ! FB is just playing in our faces with this narration (i swear this season must have been zodiac themed at some point , then scrapped for whatever reason)

and i didn't take screenshots of it so i'll just say it now: it's so funny that the "compatibility test" was just picking between two extremely obvious answers for OG LI or casa guy. i 100% preferred kyle's answers over jin's (seriously, whoopie cushions in the house ??) but i picked jin's anyways

like i predicted, MC already has to choose between claudia and bea (meanwhile, players interested in more than one guy have all the time in the world to graft ...😑)

there's really no point in taking the high ground here when talking to liam . like every other "antagonist" in this damn game, he won't remember us being nice to him and he'll act a fool regardless. of course i pushed him in the pool

claudia my loveee 💚 wlw players always get screwed over during casa amor , but i'm glad we at least had this conversation (as much as i love season 2, marisol could never)

i thought the new outfit was cute ... til i saw MC's body busting out the sides 🙄 way to show that the plus sized body type is an afterthought, FB

i know bea had to twist, but i cannot believe she picked liam . just setting herself up for failure, especially since she's well aware he's playing her (not to mention he's not even a good drama source, he's just an annoying af offbrand hamish)

and to absolutely nobody’s surprise, we have to twist. i picked kyle, but i wish we could make it clear it’s a friendship couple

not gonna lie, i'm curious about the "close your eyes and pick at random," ... but considering that FB can't code for beans, it probably selects the guy you picked the most amount of times

back in the villa, and this is the headturner ? i don't like calling ppl—well, characters—ugly , and that's not the problem anyways . she's giving mum, she's giving 1950s housewife, and she's only 23 ! FB, what the fuck were you thinking ??? and i don't mind her being with jin, i mind that we're gonna be forced into some rivalry with her over OG LI when i want claudia

hazel is so damn BEAUTIFUL though , i wish she was an LI 😍😍😍 (and her and hari look good together ! i hope they make it to the final)

we had a pool party, blah blah blah, liam starts drama during the game. bea acts appalled like she's not the one who brought him to the villa . everything kicks off ...

what is theo even talking about here ? being mad at MC for grafting on claudia is one thing, calling her a gameplayer when she is easily the most honest & upfront person in the villa is complete BS ... 😒😒 it's even weirder because: if you've seen my other posts, i keep getting flirty dialogue with theo despite never flirting with him

they're definitely over now but i'd still be down for the throuple 👀

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

https://www.tumblr.com/jamdoughnutmagician/730882062233518080

I hope this is ok and I’m not sure how to just like share it to your wall kind of thing tumbler is still kind of new to me. But the picture made me think of Curtis and Honey immediately and I hope it’s ok I shared it with you. Love there story and the playful Drabble you’ve done. I connected to that so much. My life if chaos at the moment and my bf has been a trouper and so supportive. It’s such a fine line between laughing at the bad stuff or crying and he’s held me when I cried and made sure I’m laughing too. Even if he’s a cheater and tickles..

Sorry that was a rant. Either way love Curtis and Honey and thought I would share. Thank you for the moments of peace when I’m reading your stories!

Hey babes,

its a bit of a process to learn, it doesn't really let you post on walls like FB does, but you can tag someone in a post you want them to see. Or this, this is perfectly fine with me if you wanted to stay anonymous.

Thank you so much for sharing, I can see Curtis pulling this off easily. He would make it so spontaneous too that Honey is in shock for a moment before she is shouting "YES!"

Im so happy that they have been able to be a source of comfort for you during this time, hopefully things start to get calmer and more settled for you babes. Your boyfriend sounds absolutely wonderful though, an absolute sweetheart. That support, knowing when you need some light laughter or just when to cry... oof I love that for you. It's that support we all deserve. I can even forgive him that he cheats by tickling you into giggles.

You are welcome and thank you for reading them! Honestly, they have gotten this far because of you guys letting me know what they make you think and feel. I hope this little thought helps. 💛🐝

And Chill?

Curtis x Honey Drabble

Your nose was stuck in a book, but not one of those fun ones you would become so invested in that Curtis often brought you tea and snacks after a few hours because you had forgotten.

This book was the newest teacher's handguide and it was reading as stiff as a stereo instruction manual. Already you had doodled along all the edges of the pages with random little pictures trying to keep yourself awake.

And the house was quiet, Curtis having left to help Grey and Edgar with a weekend project. So not even he could help distract you this time with it. So when you started humming along with the Halloween theme song, it clicked that the noise was coming from outside of the picture window. "What the hell?" You flung the book aside and got up from the couch to go peer outside.

Moving aside one of the gauzy curtains, you saw Curtis standing in the front yard, his black trench coat tails flipping in the bit of wind bustling the leaves around the yard among the Halloween decorations, above his head he was holding a cardboard sign reading "Horror Movies and Chill?" with a sketch of what looked like Micheal Myers peering around a bush. The music came from what looked like a dusty old tape player at his feet.

You waved quickly before bolting for the door and dancing out onto the porch. "Yes! Big giant YES!" You giggled as he let his arms drop the sign to tuck under his arm and reached to grab his boom box that was still doing the ominous theme song. "I can make us some snacks and pop some beers." You excitedly said while going down the stairs to meet him.

"No need Pretty Girl, already ordered us some takeout. You my Love just gotta get into comfier clothes than those. Although..." He leaned back a bit, smirking as his eyes fell down your teacher's outfit. "Keep on those stockings?"

"I will surprise you... Horror movies and just chill huh?" You tilted up to catch his mouth, sharing a kiss that you both grinned into.

"Cuddles too, all the cuddles Honey. Promise."

"Perfect, just what I was hoping for today, Curtis." You reached for the boom box's volume, turning it up when it switched to the Ghostbusters song, dancing away back up the stairs with a sway of your body, glancing at Curtis over your shoulder.

Curtis was right behind you, crowding you playfully through the door with a press of his body and the graze of his beard against your neck, making you tingle. Tonight was already so much better.

[yuzuyoon]

https://www.tumblr.com/yuzuyoon/758178958334427136/did-you-saw-the-rumor-going-around-about-jks-new?source=share

Idk about the latto collab but i also saw that rumour, some pop sider acct popped on my tl for the first time cause someone rted it, i even saw an acct claims to be army (looks more like jk solo) under it (that's a small acct still but is always ready up on pjms' ass, so how wondered how they ended up under tea acct lol). The tweet said new jungkook music is coming and from comments i got to know that there's one single from him and one western collab from him is coming. So yeah.

Anyways, hope it's not now and will be later cause isn't there some jin music coming and he said he's waiting cause there's jimin's album n all? His album was predicted to be released in nov-dec something.

It's not like we can't compete with jjks Cause I'm pretty sure jm's solo fb is bigger but jk does have token stanner and more than ANYTHING like the only problem here is the comapny cause they're capable of giving jungkook too much and doing shit Sherlock for jm. So the only one who can make difference in jm's and jk's records is that ass company. So yes do stream everyone.

the thing that bothers me so much about these bts solo eras is just the sheer amount that we're getting. if bts were artists that didn't share the same fanbase like they do it wouldn't be so tiring to get release after release over the course of just two and a half years. a part of me is happy for all the releases because i was so worried about losing interest in the group over the hiatus and this is keeping me interested, but also its just annoying to get new content every day. give us time to digest before putting out more

i really dont get why people trust these insider accounts. they act like they're taylor nation for taylor swift where the team actually works for her even though they're a fanbase account. sometimes insiders get legit info, but its always a bit sketch how. they're leaking info at the root and its a bit scary, tbh

anyways i really want jimin to pull a blackpink and end his solo contract so he can remain as a bts member but have control over his own career. i have a post cooking in my head about company reliance vs self sufficiency as kpop artists and i feel like jimin would thrive like crazy if he could actually be in control of everything

[danielforshort]

Northern VA Native Plant Garden

Wow oh my goodness life turned upside down and inside out and overall not great! But in an effort to practice things that would help my mental health I started fussing around in my garden. The new house I'm in has a front yard and a backyard. I've decided to devote most of my attention to the backyard. I spend a lot of time scrolling through Facebook Marketplace and my various FB groups looking for free gardening materials. I'm not really planning on staying in the house past the year (though I'd like to be done moving honestly) so i don't want to invest too much money in the garden. But time and energy are fine to spend; I'm enjoying playing in the dirt so I get an immediate return of "childlike joy at playing in dirt" and a possible future return of "oh I grew stuff!"

My goal is to have an ornamental side of the garden and a raised garden bed for things I plan on eating. Currently i have a ton of yellow bell pepper seedlings (I started them a bit late in the season but it's been unseasonably warm these past few falls and mild winters) and 14 tomato plants! I do not like tomatoes but I do like to grow things and they're so easy.

I'm planning on making my raised bed out of some bricks/pavers/garden stones someone gave me. It doesn't need to be huge or pretty or super stable, just a bit of a container for me to drop some plants in. Someone was also giving away plant soil which was great.

With all the weeds I've pulled up I'm hoping to fake/badly compost them. I'm too impatient to wait the months and months I need for them to properly break down. I've stuck them all in a black garbage bin to hope the 100 degree days will kill off their seeds so I can crumble them up in the bottom of my raised garden bed.

For the ornamental side of things I'm focusing on native Virginia plants! There's a great FB group dedicate to native VA plants and people are always giving away or swapping plants! A very generous woman gave me a ton of plants that I'll detail about later in this post!

First I'd like to document the weeds I pulled! I had so much fun weeding actually. It's a repetitive task I enjoy and I like to identify plants even if they are weeds. I used Google Lens for IDing most of them and it actually seemed fairly good at that. Without further ado a list of the different weeds I saw in my garden during 2+ hours of work :D

Note: None of these photos were taken by me! I was too focused on weeding to take good photos of anything.

Weeds

Erigeron Canadensis (Horseweed)

This one was fun to pull! It came up easily and hadn't flowered or gone to seed at all! I think Alexis Nicole has talked about this one before? I wish it had been growing in a part of my garden that didn't need to be weeded right that moment so I could have eaten some. Apparently "dried leaves can be used as a seasoning with a flavor similar to tarragon" (source: eat the weeds) I'm sure I'll find it again maybe in my front yard and I'll try to save some.

Oxalis Acetosella (Wood Sorrel)

God this one HURT to pull, emotionally speaking! I love wood sorrel so much and its one of those plants I can ID easily. Some of my brave friends will eat it when I offer it but most pass. Unfortunately it was right in the area I needed pulled up for my raised bed. I am hoping I can encourage it to grow in my ornamental side! Alexis Nicole has definitely talked about this one before. It had shallow roots and was easy to pull :)

Matricaria Chamomilla (German Chamomile)

Another one I did not want to pull up but had to! It had pretty shallow roots that came up easily. I actually collected all the ones I weeded and popped them in some water. I hope to replay in my ornamental side of things. Fingers crossed they've survived this shock. I have a couple packs of really old seeds so I've started some chamomile from seed. I don't know that it'll work. I think I have some growing in my front yard so I might try to transplant that.

Lactuca Serriola (Prickly Lettuce)

This plant was my second least favourite to weed. Its roots are strong and run deep. The prickles bit me through my gloves. It was satisfying when I got a good grip and pulled it all up but more often than not I heard the roots snap leaving good chunks under ground. It sucked. A lot of them were super big and tall. I know its edible but didn't save any to forage. I'm sure it will be back.

Solanum Carolinense (Carolina Horsenettle)

This plant is my mortal enemy. It bites you. Its stubborn. Its totally toxic. I hate it. This was the most predominant weed in the garden. It was tall and if I tried to reach around to grab a different weed it would scratch me.

Verbascum Thapsus (Common Mullein)

Lord this plant was a stubborn one. The roots were strong and deep but it was so satisfying when I got it out. I actually couldn't remember this one's name when I sat down to write this so I used the Virginia Tech website (link here) to ID it! It's a great website that lets you select features of a plant and offers ones that fit those criteria.

I had a lot of fun weeding and IDing these plants! I'll have another post up about the native VA plants I'm cultivating. I hope whoever reads this enjoys the post. If its just me I hope I find this useful as I start a garden art journal where I can draw and take notes on all these plants.

[helielune]

i looked at threads so you don't have to

the point of social media is to feel like you can connect with EVERYONE there, and in that sense, since Threads (by meta) is the only twitter competitor with a userbase pre-baked-in, i think they are by FAR the only actual threat to twitter in the near future

i love watching drama from the sidelines so i gathered some info about it, for all of us curious but cautious creatures:

toc: 1. features 2. acct deletion 3. home feed 4. privacy etc

1. threads is purposefully launching with MINIMUM POSSIBLE features. they are not shy about saying this. (wikipedia literally begins the history section of their Threads page by talking about twitter) they saw an opportunity to launch when and where it hurts and they TOOK it, instead of waiting to build an actually full service. and it's WORKING.

as of now, you can post/like/comment, repost, un/follow, mute and block things, and search (for accts). no dms, hashtags, web app, searching for posts, and your home feed IS your explore page (more on this later).

for more details here is a basic rundown of the app so far (nbc news), and here is a list of features they don't have yet (forbes)

2. they are 'looking into' a way to delete your threads account without deleting your entire instagram. (instagram ceo, via threads, and mentioned in other sources scattered around here)

from a slightly tech standpoint, threads is officially built as an offshoot of instagram. it literally calls itself an instagram app. when you sign up, you can only sign up via instagram. so depending on how they developed threads, it's likely that it was literally just easier to build a version of threads that is basically instagram with a hat, where removing the hat removes the body (??). if i give them some benefit of the doubt, maybe they just haven't figured out how deletion should work, since they seem to want every insta acct to have exactly one threads acct (so they'd need to plan ahead in case of returning signups and all). and since they wanted to get threads out as fast as possible, this is just what it came out as.

still, they don't seem to be promising much. imagine if they finish 'looking into' it and decide it isn't worth implementing. lol. also it was still definitely greedy of them to link those deletions together now so no one can leave when they realize there is no functionality yet! the same greedy that made them release this half-baked idea in the first place.

but, if you already made a threads, it is Possible that you will eventually be able to delete it without affecting insta.

3. from what i understand, getting used to threads is like training your fyp on tiktok. (i've also never had a tiktok lmao, but my friends do) it does not have a chronological timeline. it does not even have a Following timeline. you are served whatever the algorithm desires and you just have to deal with it, and you WILL be wading through default shit for a while (the verge but also Everyone is complaining about this lol)

they say that they are working on it too (instagram ceo again, via threads-- with much more conviction than they had for the deletion feature)

4. yes, it is asking for WAY TOO MUCH DATA ACCESS in the app store. meta does this with all of their apps (the general permissions list for threads on the app store is identical to fb's and insta's).

i've seen some people say that threads might not be actively using (or collecting??) every single category. notably, threads does not have ads yet, so a lot of visible surveillance things that fb is known for have not shown up.

this might be true Now (though it's an awfully generous opinion!), but they are At Least actively opening the doors to do so in the future. if you've already agreed to those permissions when downloading or logging into the app, you will NOT be notified if a new update suddenly starts siphoning all the data they ignored before. just so yall are aware.

this is likely not as big of a deal if you already have insta and/or fb downloaded, but it's always great to be informed :)

and yes, meta is withholding official launch in the entire EU, almost certainly because of their data privacy AND new anti-trust legislations. (some links may require subscriptions, but not all) there are other posts about this already though.

basically, threads is hardly even meant to be used at this point. it's almost completely unusable compared to other competing sites, which already existed. it's also run by a Notoriously Evil, massive company, with 114 Blazing Red Flags for personal security. (one for each type of data they ask for, plus 100 extra for saying "other data")

they are launching now to attract as large of a userbase as possible, and then just squatting on it as they figure out which functions to add and how to do that. from what i see, most people are joining for the same reason-- claim their username, and then squat on it as they wait for the app to be functional. no hate to them, because meta is nothing if not a master of marketing, and also there are a lot of legit reasons why you may want to claim your name, or make sure your following can stay with you, etc etc.

but what i'm going to be doing, and recommending to everyone else as well, is just grab a snack and watch this crazy competition from a Safe Distance as it goes down. i said that threads is probably the only twt competitor in the immediate future, because it's the only one with the pre-established market control to be one. but if we don't want to hand our entire society over to a soulless megacorp, we can play the long game. i mean, we're already Here, right? might as well just settle in for a long haul🍿

[oleworm]

I feel like the term “white slavery”, while somewhat broadly used to refer to sex work at the time, was more specifically used to refer to what gets called trafficking now (and then as now, focusing only on kidnapped well off white women, just more openly). And there were just as many panicked stories about good middle class girls barely escaping ~Them~ (Chinese, Jewish, Black) as there are fb posts now about “almost being trafficked” because they saw a brown person somewhere around them. It’s also about drawing a line between sw deserving of care or not

Content warning: mentions of child sexual abuse in the reply, graphic description of abuse in the linked articles; racism, slavery.

Yes, and the OP of the post did respond to me to clarify that that is what they meant! One of my friends had actually been reading about the topic and how allegations of sex trafficking were used against men of other ethnicities who were in romantic partnerships with white women, and against said groups in general. In some cases the woman had even left her white husband for being abusive, but what mattered to public opinion was not the welfare of the woman herself but that she had ceased to be under the control of a white man.

But the reason I mentioned it is that it reminded me of something I read about. Now that I'm typing this, I'm thinking about it a little more. There was a famous case of investigative journalism in the 1880s, so a little later than the period that was mentioned in the post, that did not focus on adult women but demonstrated how easy it was in England to buy and sell children for such purposes. It led to a raise in the age of consent from 13 to 16 and prohibited the different methods of coercion that had been reported to be used, which most people, myself included, would regard as good things. But there is one more thing. For whatever reason, the same bill it inspired happened to criminalise "gross indecency"... Even though it was girl children that had been procured for men, according to the report that everybody read. This is one of those cases that demonstrate how common sense, popular ideas, such as "Of course children must not be sexually abused," can be used to slip in certain political ideas that have nothing to do with them.

It's a tough problem that we have to deal with, that certain political actors (and sometimes, regular people reacting to their emotions) try to pit different social causes against each other when it should be entirely possible for all of them to be acknowledged.

And to change the subject a little, the other thing that came into my mind, since the post did mention the American Civil War, was that to bolster support for the abolitionist cause among whites there was this argument that white women were being held in slavery because of the law of matrilineal descent and subjected to sexual abuses by their masters. The idea was that the war should liberate these white women and children who just so happened to be descended from an enslaved African woman a very long time ago. Here are some photos from one of those campaigns featuring children. (Sorry that the link is from Mashable, the source at the bottom says Library of Congress.)

Which is fucked up! I hate it. We're all human and like you mentioned there shouldn't be a distinction between people that are thought not to deserve abuse and those whose abuse is accepted.

That was a long and rambling post... But I guess I had been sitting on these thoughts for a bit.

[omens-and-more]

Hey blog owner!

I saw these posts about a person's tweet on

https://www.tumblr.com/badomensunleashed/758172990370365440/i-have-seen-people-asking-why-japanese-gets-an?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/badomensunleashed/758174097736892416/httpswwwtumblrcombadomensunleashed7581729903?source=share

I'm not her and I don't know her at all personally but I recognize her picture/username as someone who is very active on BO Tumblr - she went to INK and has been pretty kind to the fan community by posting videos, pictures and gifs and reblogging/commenting. Obviously what she tweeted was kinda weird but it would suck for her to see the community she didn't have to share anything at all with mocking her. Maybe remove the posts? But it's your blog, your choice.

Also - can we stop calling each other dumb?

https://www.tumblr.com/badomensunleashed/758172494119223297/i-have-seen-people-asking-why-japanese-gets-an?source=share

Yes, there arevdifferent levels of maturity and intelligence within the BO fandom on X, FB, IG and even here and we get annoyed or laugh, it's human nature. But given what has been happening with the drama and people leaving and blogs leaving, I think we need to tone down some of the mean remarks towards each other here and those not here. We know what's said here doesn't always stay here (being on B's radar and the burger blog thinking we're serious about Noah being a dad, etc). And there was that anon the other day saying they were taking a break from here because of depression. We don't know what other anons are going through and one nasty remark might be detrimental to someone's mental health. Again, it's your blog your call what gets posted. I do like it here but sometimes people cross the line between funny and sarcastic and being genuinely mean and cruel. So I'm not saying stop the discussions or fun maybe just don't let people get outta line with that they say?

…

[porcupine-girl]

Well, bad news for us, (hopefully) good news for the kitty: her owner finally saw the post the vet made for us on their FB page (three weeks later) and came to get her. I’m trying not to be all judgy about it in most places but I’m going to be very judgy here:

It’s been three weeks. The first week I posted on three different sites (plus the post the vet made) plus called all the vets and shelters near here, and checked those sites for found cat ads every day. They could not have been looking very hard for her. (Plus of course she wasn’t microchipped.)

On top of that, they thought she was a boy! The pet store they adopted her from (I hope they really adopted her from a rescue showing its cats in a store and didn’t like buy her from Petland) said she was a boy. This means they have clearly never taken her to a vet, bc the vet checked very thoroughly and confirmed she’s a girl. I’m hoping that the rescue assumed she was a fixed male (for some reason) and got her her shots but didn’t try to spay her bc they thought she was fixed, so the owners thought she didn’t need a vet again until her next shots. (She had an eye infection when we found her but that’s another issue.) But that also means she’s probably not spayed (which the vet suspected). And I was already like 30% convinced she was pregnant, so now I’m even more leaning that way.

When I posted on next door, I got an email from a guy who lives down the street claiming he recognized her and her owners keep her outside with a collar that says “no petting” (?????) and got her so she can catch chipmunks for them, and basically said I should keep her. However this was less one email and more THREE rather agitated emails, one of which had the entire message in the subject line, so I’m not sure how trustworthy a source he was? LOL

But if he’s right, I’m guessing one of two things will happen: Either the fact that she is a girl will make them realize that they do not have the big tough mouser they thought they did but a cuddly little princess and will bring her inside and treat her right, OR she will be back in our garage within the next couple of weeks. We’ll see.

If she does come back, there is a very good chance I will just offer to buy her from them (or maybe offer to not bill them for the cost of treating her eye infection 🙄)

So I am down about this right now, because we’d basically just officially started thinking of her as our cat and trying to come up with a name for her. (Her name is apparently Edgar at the moment but that is being changed lol) We’re keeping all the cat equipment we bought, since we’d been talking about getting a cat once the rats are all gone anyhow.

So, we seem to have... acquired a cat. As you do. Two weeks ago, when the remnants of Helene were coming through, during a nasty thunderstorm she showed up in our garage, meowing at the door to the house. She walked in like she owned the place, immediately started scratching the literal Persian rug we inherited from my husband's grandparents, who bought it on a trip to Iran back when that was a thing you could just do (it's fine, it's had worse), then climbed into my lap and started purring. The vet couldn't find a microchip, and I looked several places online for lost cat posts and made my own found cat posts in those places, but nobody's claimed her. So we're starting to officially admit to ourselves that we have a cat now, although we still haven't named her.

So that is the backstory for what I really wanted to post which was: Adopting two basset hounds at the same time was like adopting pets, because that's what it was. This is more like acquiring a weird and very opinionated new roommate who has her own schedule and her own ideas about how things should be done.

[anewbeginningagain]

See, I'd like to believe they'd have the decency to retire after this, but as I said about the other stuff, I think that if Skate Canada doesn't at least suspend him, he'll keep going in whatever capacity he can. SC suspends individuals as members, regardless of whether they're athletes or coaches.

To FB/S mind, retiring would be an admission of guilt, and couple that with the fact that he probably doesn't have a fallback career, I think they'll be brazen enough to push for Milan, unless an external force acts upon them. He simply doesn't have any other source of income outside of skating afaik, although the allegations might work in his favor if he decides to go into knife-making full time /s. I actually don't have faith that nobody will hire him as a coach after this, we just saw Josee win 4CC when she literally broke Julianne and had a whole ass book written about her being abusive, and people kept sending their kids to Callahan for years. There was that whole kerfuffle about Joanna in BC but there she was with Aleksa at the Nationals, getting a medal. Don't even get me started on Delilah. There are coaches around the world who you'd think nobody would hire, but all some people see are medals. I mean, I could absolutely see N moving to France and coaching there since he speaks the language and their record on these matters is abysmal.

That's what I meant under them making an emotional decision to support him - they just can't wrap their heads around this person who they've known for so long being capable of something like this, which is understandable to a degree. The part that I don't get is their willingness to take the reputational hit. They're too close to the situation to be making rational business decisions, it seems. Tbh on a certain level I'm interpreting this as hubris, like they think they're too big to fail and whatever they say goes. They could've at the very least put their foot down and advised them to pull out of competition until the matter is resolved, but they're doing the opposite, they're putting their full weight behind them. Another element is that it's other teams of theirs that are losing out in this whole situation - younger teams with more long-term potential. I don't know how they can look Alicia in Paul in the eye, especially after everything they've been through. What happens if teams start leaving them? What happens if other teams sue them? Why is nobody talking about that? If you were a parent, would you keep pouring tens of thousands of dollars into your kid's training, only to see a rapist sent to major competitions over them?

About Scott, even if this hadn't come out, I don't think FB/S would've been willing to leave Montreal and would've only visited. I'm a pessimist and I think that if N doesn't get suspended by the powers that be, IAM will find a way to keep him on their payroll, even if it's in an off-ice, WFH, managerial role. That's what depresses me. This is what happens in skating - people close ranks. Remember what Lavoie said in Gauthier's trial - it's a shame for someone with that kind of skating knowledge to be working at a pizzeria and that he'd un-ban him if he could. Could you imagine? This man is the VP of the ISU. This is how these people think, nevermind the child that guy molested. There's no moral code there, only status and relationships. It's not the real world, it's a bubble. That's why I don't have faith they'll fix the issues from within - it has to come from outside and from above. That's why we have to keep applying pressure.

I think that was the plan they hinted at all along. I also think that physically they don't have it in them to push for two more years, especially him with his knees and back. They will have to face the post-retirement reality at some point and both don't strike me as people who would be able to stay in the negative spotlight for too long, and as we've seen this season they definitely don't strive under it. As they've been basically saying for a while now that it's unlikely they will continue post Montreal worlds I don't think it will be perceived as an admission of guilt, especially as there's an active investigation + both came out with statements denying the accusations.

At this point, I don't think I.AM are taking a reputational hit. Sure, fs fandom is leaving pissed-off comments under their posts (much good that's doing...) and TSL are doing their usual bitchy posts, but other than that and a few news articles the whole thing has been quieter than I expected. I expect Christine Brennan will follow up and push hard the closer we get to worlds, but with no decision from OSIC, no new details coming out (that might happen though, she might be saving details for future articles), and with no additional women coming forward, I expect the news coverage and media attention won't grow enough for I.AM to take a hit. I expect that if that is the case and they feel they are potentially facing real ramifications, they would cut ties at least publicly.

And as for FB/S, they probably feel they pushed hard through COVID and injured to get to Montreal worlds, they stayed and didn't retire after 2022 just for this purpose, it's likely just too important for them to just bow out when they don't have too (and legally they don't have to as of now). Not to mention if they truly think he is innocent their state of mind is probably "why should we WD and do something there's no coming back from and regret it when he's found innocent".

What will happen with his coaching career is something that we will see with time. I'm on the pessimistic side and think that even if he is sanctioned it will be temporary and he will be able to coach after a while. As you so rightfully wrote, we've been seeing abusers all over figure skating and they stick around coaching and sitting in the K&C with elite athletes who went to them for coaching even knowing what they are accused of. It's a systemic failure that will take forever to improve if it will ever improve.

Your last sentence really resonated with me about the need to apply pressure, I can't say I know what's the right way to do so, perhaps having someone like Christine Brenna push for the truth. I just now whatever the skating fandom is doing is not only not helping, but in most cases, it's actually hurting the cause.

[cybermoonmoon]

FB chat with a former listener 'Chris Wedl' to my old radio programs. Hello Chris Wendl. I just received a friend request from your page, asking if this is actually from you. Be well.

Hi Uncle Sidney... you don't know me, but I used to listen to you on BAI during those dark post-9/11 years when WNYC drove me away by cutting out the music, and I felt angry about that, and about violence and jingoism and unnecessary wars... and what could be better for feeding anger than WBAI? Except your show wasn't angry, it was actually uplifting (for those of us who enjoy sarcasm and irony). I was a grad student at the time, so the 1am time slot was perfect for me. The shows I listened to religiously were yours, MORC (I just recently discovered that Bill Weinberg still has a podcast), and Weaponry. I moved away from NYC in 2004 and have wished ever since that I still had the chance to listen to your program once a week. I hope you're doing well.

Hello Chris. Of course we can be friends. I knew there was a listener out there...so it was you! True the station went grim. A few of us tried to keep our humanity...basically by laughing. Sadly, Tom left us 11 years ago, many have left. I retired 10 years ago. Did a pod a few years. Now this and I appear on local radio now and then. Thank you for remembering. I was on air for 34 years. Like I tell my old radio friends '...it was like a long, strange dream'. ...it wasn't but still. I'm impressed at where you are and what you're doing. Hope I helped when you were a student. We have more effect on the world than we know. Which is why we must always be aware and create for the good. Thank you for being out there and welcome to whatever it is I'm doing now. Be well be kind be wise.

"We have more effect on the world than we know"... quite true. Btw, I also was on the radio for a few years, in my youth... WHRB, Harvard radio. I did classical music and some studio engineering. There was a kind of mentor figure there, a native Bostonian named David Elliott, who had been an undergraduate in the 60's and somehow never left the station (we always figured he must be independently wealthy, but no one knew for sure... no one gets paid for working at WHRB).

At a station where most people don't stay more than 4 years, he was the main source of institutional memory and accumulated wisdom. As part of his standard training regime, he gave us a quote that stuck with me, though I can only reproduce it approximately -- I think it came from Edward R. Murrow originally: something like "as broadcasters, we must guard against the temptation to believe that the microphone in front of us makes our words more important than anyone else's". Something many people on BAI should be taking to heart. Anyway, yeah... the internet told me that Tom Wisker is gone now, I miss him too. Glad you're still around!

Hi Chris and thanks for your thoughts and kindness. Tom. He was a very dear kind funny brilliant and wise friend for many years we miss we all miss his unique soul very deeply. As for matters temporal. Indeed Mr. Murrow was most correct. When I taught new producers, I'd take them up to the station's roof. It had a view of the whole City. A wonder an Emerald City. I told them when on the air the were speaking to all they saw and beyond. Their voices were being heard by more than their friends or interest groups. With this dramatic back drop I tried to explain gravity of their responsibility to the truth and objectivity. As always mixed results. Some went on to fine broadcast or arts careers some politics. Two became representatives in State governments. Vermont and New Hampshire. Sadly, as we know others became entrenched in extremist ideologies. A teacher can only guide nudge and hope. I'm sure you're finding this out. However, we must continue in hope. Right, I'm giving sermons...a habit as you remember. A very Happy Holiday Season to you and yours. Be well be kind be brave.

Well yes, I miss your sermons, that's why I reached out.

Take care!

[antonia-gergely]

Current artist research - Katy Moran (b. 1975, England)

When I first saw Katy Moran's work, I got excited. I wanted to experience the physicality of working with paint that is so evident in her many pieces. Mixing abstraction and figuration is currently a big source of interest for me, and Moran's erring on the side of abstraction is something I really enjoy, every time I look at her work.

It's spacious, open and interpretable, but it is also enjoyable as a simple object for those who prefer not to read too heavily into abstract artworks.

More Me I, 2022

FB Beverly, 2023

A short bio:

Katy Moran lives and works in Hertfordshire. She was born in Manchester in 1975 and completed an MA Fine Art in painting at the Royal College of Art, London in 2005. Moran’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Parasol Unit for Contemporary Art, London (2015); the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2013); Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus (2010); Tate St. Ives (2009); and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK (2008). [source: https://www.speronewestwater.com/artists/katy-moran#tab:slideshow]

Interview: Katy Moran in Conversation with Ziba Ardalan, Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art. 2015. Video, 15'04, Youtube.

'It's really useful for me to see the works together'

'To see the journey and progression' - after ten years of her work. I like the idea of seeing art practice as a journey, not as something that develops more than before, just changes over time. I do hope to be more fulfilled with my work as time goes on, but it's nice to see all work as one journey, rather than 'old' and 'new' simply.

'Once I had done the work in one sitting, and I saw a representational image in the work.. I felt that it was almost there but not completely, I found it hard to go back into the work and add paint marks because to me, then, those paint marks felt very conscious and very contrived, and very much a different energy to the energy of the rest of the painting.' Combatted this by signing her work, adding something to the work without changing the energy. Also added collage, to add a different element, again without adding contrived painted marks. (as in Primal Cat) Attaches collage with blue-tack to be able to remove pieces of collage when it gets too far away from her intended energy.

Primal Cat, 2011.

'This fact that you just don't have allegiance to anything.' (interviewer) 'Where does this kind of feeling come from? ... "Here I am, I do what I want", and that's what makes your work so ... memorable'.

This is something I'd like to achieve more of. Painting with intention, but without overthought. The uncertainty, the subconscious, all playing together visually, while having some themes to jump off from. (currently, pomegranate - see prev. post)

The idea of not restricting paint. A constant process of rejecting, turning the canvas, forgetting whatever representational image is seen. 'What interested me in the last painting may the same as the next, but equally it might have moved on and become different.' A freedom and allowing the self to explore, shift, change.

Not getting hung up on wanting to bring one single figurative element to completion, the will and intention to do so can 'kill the potential for other opportunities, further ideas, things that the conscious mind couldn't plan for.'

Ripping things up, cutting them, turning them around, the figurative image that consumes you can be removed, freeing the artist to the world of abstraction and mark-making. This is a midpoint I want to find - not letting the representation overtake the effectiveness of the marks, but still exploring themes and subjects of interest.