#that our company

[skellydun]

I don't think I'm meant to be employed. It really cuts into my goofy silly haha time. and it makes it nearly impossible to have any wow life is beautiful let me take it in time.

[necer0s]

I cannot believe that the company running this Titanic tours thing is actually called OceanGate. It’s like they pre-packaged a PR disaster.

[starryserenade]

Another Fant Drabble (prologue?)

Commentary: AH! I was looking through my docs to try to find a different story I'd left unfinished, and accidentally stumbled upon a prologue I'd written up for the Fantasmic thing. Well, I say that as if both were the same concept. They weren't...necessarily. This one came first...still Parks, I think, but more background lore. Both could technically still work together. I can't decide what I'm going to choose if I continue this story, but I shall share this anyway! (I don't think I've shared it before?)

~~~~~~

What is imagination? 

A passive thought quickly swept away?  Or visions--dreams--yet unseen, seeping into reality in the quietest of ways.  

It’s the beauty of a prayer.  A glimmer of hope.  The impossible wish that whispers, ‘maybe it isn’t so impossible, after all’.   

And then, worn by the world, by its shadows, imagination is the darkest, most dangerous weapon to be found.

It is rare that something so powerful does not manifest a far greater creation.  And, unsurprisingly, manifest something did.  When the first dreamer dreamed, possibility was born.  Though you may better understand this by another name.

Magic. 

The world was shaken to its core and could never have withstood the full force of this new creation.  And so magic took its place in a realm all its own. Fueled by the imagination of those who dared to believe, this realm of dreams grew.  And in return, lent those dreamers glimpses of the stories that emerged within. 

But some dreams were nightmares.  Some dreams were wicked, vile things.  Some dreams had strings pulled by cruel hearts, whose visions blotted the pages of reality in thick, dark ink. Had they been allowed to grow unchecked, they may well have shattered the barrier between worlds, granting them untold power.

Light is not easily consumed by darkness.

Protectors rose to counter the shadows with dreams of their own.  Unwitting though they may have been, their relentless determination to cling to the light of the world was enough. They imagined grand tales in which good and evil might collide...but good would always prevail.  And so imagination--magic--in desperate need of heroes, breathed these stories to life.

There have been countless such protectors throughout the ages.  Some whose tales are known by nearly all the world.  Others who touched but a few, quiet hearts...though those often shine more brightly than any other. But to detail the battles and stories of each and every one would fill a tower of pages to the stars.  

So this story is about the legacy left by just one.  A tiny kingdom within the world you know, where reflections of magic from the realm of dreams managed to slip through...and found a place to reside.  It began with a creature smaller than any other--a miniscule, innocent idea that wriggled through the barrier and into the mind of a Protector in his greatest hour of need. 

And with time, that idea called another.  Then another.  And yet another.  Until this simple imagining summoned countless others by its side.  The kingdom grew, and the light that flowed from it was immeasurable.

But so was the shadow they cast.  

And with every new idea that managed to slip through, drawn in by the tiny, hopeful voice of the first, the gap between worlds widened.

The shadows saw their chance.

And that is where our story begins.

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

Do I Have Any Advice for You

Yes. Life is long if you're lucky and full of struggles. There are many downsides that accompany personhood, but also much joy. We are here to love and be loved, to know and be known, and to pay attention. The gift of our attention is unprecedented in the history of Earth life, and a power to wield with care and attention.

But that is not my advice. My advice is to--if it is at all possible--shed your human skin entirely and become a corporation. Ideally, become a coffee company that donates all its profit to charity. But any kind of corporation will do in a pinch.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, as a corporation you will still be a person, but you will no longer be confined to the decaying bacterial colony known as your body. You will ascend to Corporate Personhood, the highest form of Personhood available to late stage capitalist societies, where you enjoy all the benefits of person status with none of the biological trials and tribulations.

[bagginshieldfamily]

Bilbo: *Does something very obvious to do to help the Dwarfs.*

The dwarfs:

[mossspond]

Liking graphic design but hating capitalism is giving me hideo kojima levels of issues as an artist

[sunshades]

What is happening...

[sergle]

You!! Hey you!! Are you looking for a pair of kittens? Do you live In Or Near Oklahoma? Do you wish you could listen to purring all the time? Do you want a cat that looks like an aye-aye?

long story short, we found these two kittens at the bottom of a garbage can!! I don't like to think about how they ended up in there- but we heard them crying while on a walk, and it's very lucky they were so loud! They were scared at first, but now they NEED to be snuggled at all times. Crazy how adaptable kittens are. I'd prefer to rehome them as a pair, but I'd consider adopting them out individually if that's my only option! Please IM me if you're interested in both/either of these babies, or if you have any questions at all!!

[bogkeep]

there's something so deeply dystopian to me how tech companies don't understand that a forced convenience is not a convenience at all. i'm sure autocorrect is helpful for many, but a function that forcibly changes my actual written words and punctuation is taking away my language. photo filters can be nice but i need to choose using them myself or else i have lost the ability to take the picture i want. i don't want a machine to draw or write for me. taking away the option for me to do things manually feels like violence!!!! all this talk of endless opportunity, why are you RESTRICTING me

[chimaeraonwards]

no ai generated content will ever compare to the absolutely cartoonishly evil plot to cut down trees to prevent workers from striking to get livable wage.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

putting my prediction on record now that the coming decade is going to see the rise of viral-marketed fancy at-home water filtration systems, driving and driven by a drastic reduction in the quality of U.S. tap water (given that we are in a 'replacement era' where our current infrastructure is reaching the end of its lifespan--but isn't being replaced). also guessing that by the 2030s access to drinkable tap water will be a mainstream class issue, with low-income & unstably housed people increasingly forced to rely on expensive bottled water when they can't afford the up-front cost of at-home filtration--and with this being portrayed in media as a "moral failing" and short-sighted "choice," rather than a basic failure of our political & economic systems. really hope i'm just being alarmist, but plenty of this already happens in other countries, and the U.S. is in a state of decline, so. here's praying this post ages into irrelevance. timestamped April 2023

[uruwashi-no-nightingale]

her ass does NOT have a valid permit

[elumish]

Hello friends!

I know it's only August, but I thought I'd start early:

If you have the legal right to vote in the United States, there is no benefit to you in not voting. All that not voting does to you is remove your most powerful legal ability to impact the identity of those who represent you in the government.

By the time you reach the election, by the time ballots are printed and you are filling in a bubble or pressing a button or flipping a lever, your only meaningful choice for who to vote for are the people who are listed on the ballot.

Because we live in a two-party system, in the vast majority of jurisdictions*, you are choosing between members of two parties. If you vote for someone who is not a member of one of those parties, you are throwing away your ability to meaningfully impact who wins that election. It sucks. it's shitty. It's unfortunate. But if you want a third party candidate to have a chance in a major race, it starts years before the election, not when you are standing in front of your ballot in November.

And if you think, they're both the same as each other--they're not. For literally any policy that you care about, there will be differences. Pick the policies you care most about, find the one who sits closer to you and vote for them. That is the only way that laws will move in the direction you want, by electing people who vote for policies that are closer to what you want.

I studied game theory in college, and from my standpoint it was one of the most useful and educational classes I took during my entire academic career, because of this key idea: If you want 10, and your options are 0 or 5, 5 is a better option for you. Something gives you more than nothing, even if you want a lot.

You will not get a politician who agrees with everything you want, unless you run for office yourself. Pick what you care the most about, and vote based on that. See voting as harm reduction. See voting as public transportation. See voting as whatever gets you out to vote.

But vote.

*There are a few independents in office. An independent or third party candidate will not win the Presidency in 2024.

[sleepyminty]

Absolutely losing it that we are now able to be an absolute dick to abnomalities in the new mirror dungeon

Except for lost passenger

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

john WHAT is that low quality picture you posted of the tfios poster WHAT the hell

Not sure how many times I have to explain to y'all that I am an old.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to be the social media intern for a coffee company donates its profit to charity when you are FORTY-SIX YEARS OLD?!

When I learned how to use the Internet, it was made out of green letters on a black screen. I don't know how to make memes!

I don't know how to gif!

I don't know how to upload high-res jpgs to tumblr when I'm on a flight from Portland to Minneapolis and the Internet on the plane sucks!

I don't know what I'm doing. I'm literally just trying to stay alive and sell coffee.

[bagginshieldfamily]

Something I need the fix it AU writers who use Frodo as Bagginsgields child to focus more on:

Gimli meeting a hobbit that looks strangely like Thorin Oakenshield but has the last name Baggins before connecting the dots: