#there's a filter to the filter

[ndostairlyrium]

I think da2 is how it is partially because of Varric's narration, but the visuals are provided by Cassandra's imagination, so let's start to share the blame for Hawke's oiled biceps and Bethany's boobs shall we

[vamprisms]

'not dishwasher safe' don't care i'm crazy. i'd put the holy grail in that thing

[artist-gogh]

The Sorrowful Truth

June of 2020

[acorviart]

not to sound like a boomer, but I need some people to learn how to write emails in a semi-professional (at the very least) format so you're not cold emailing a business/potential employer/any other stranger about formal matters in the exact same way you'd DM a close friend on instagram

the formality/language can loosen up in the email chain once you've established a rapport and you match the other person if they're being less formal, but please don't have the very first email you send a stranger be written in all lowercase ultra-casual sms slang with no greeting or signature and a billion emojis

[incognitopolls]

Hypothetical scenario: someone is on Ao3, looking for fanfiction to read. This person only speaks/reads English, and they set the language filter to only show fics written in English.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[crabussy]

I'm really curious about this!! in aotearoa, every classroom I was in growing up had posters up on how to respond to an earthquake. "drop, cover, hold" was drilled into me from a very young age. I experienced a few growing up, but they were mild because I don't live in areas where they are more extreme. One of our major cities, christchurch/ōtautahi, gets hit by earthquakes very frequently. if you look at a global seismic hazard map, aotearoa is fully lit up in the colour indicating high hazard chance. wild!!!

for reference, in the UK (similar size country) there are around 20-30 noticeable earthquakes per year. in aotearoa, that number is around 100-250!

[ao3commentoftheday]

A useful thing to know about AO3 tags is that they're wrangled by humans. A human being will read your tag, understand what it means*, and then connect that tag in the backend system to other tags that mean the same thing (if there are any)

that's why, for example, the tags

not beta read

no beta

no beta we die like men

no beta we die like mne

no beta we die like [insert character who dies in canon]

unbetad

unbeta'd

unbeta-d

un-beta'd

and a million more versions are all searchable and filterable if you just tag one of them. A Tag Wrangler (the job title of a human volunteer who manages AO3 tags) has made sure that AO3 understands that those are all synonyms, so AO3 treats them that way.

When you're tagging your fic, or searching for a fic, or filtering a tag to find or remove works from the list you do not have to use every possible version of a tag. You just need to pick one - unless using more is a stylistic choice you're making, in which case have at it.

*or research what it means - which is why wranglers really appreciate it if you put (OC) behind the name of your original characters so that they don't have to scour every source they can find to see if it's a named background character in canon.

[lakecountylibrary]

🔥 The beacons are lit; the library calls for aid

The Trump administration has issued an executive order aimed at dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services - the ONLY federal agency for America's libraries.

Using just 0.003% of the federal budget, the IMLS funds services at libraries across the country; services like Braille and talking books for the visually impaired, high-speed internet access, and early literacy programs.

Libraries are known for doing more with less, but even we can't work with nothing.

How You Can Help:

🔥 Call your congressperson!

Use the app of your choice or look 'em up here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Pro tip: If your phone anxiety is high, call at night and leave a voicemail. You can even write yourself a script in advance and read it off. Heck, read them this post if you want to.

Phones a total no-go? The American Library Association has a form for you: https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=23577

🔥Tell your friends!

Tell strangers, for that matter. People in line at the check out, your elderly neighbor, the mail carrier - no one is safe from your library advocacy. Libraries are for everyone and we need all the help we can get.

...Wait, why do we need this IMLS thing again?

The ALA says it best in their official statement and lists some ways libraries across the country use IMLS funding:

But if you want a really specific answer, here at LCPL we use IMLS funding to provide our amazing interlibrary loan service. If we can't purchase an item you request (out of print books, for example) this service lets us borrow it from another library and check it out to you.

IMLS also funds the statewide Indiana Digital Library and Evergreen Indiana, which gives patrons of smaller Indiana libraries access to collections just as large and varied as the big libraries' collections.

As usual, cutting this funding will hurt rural communities the most - but every library user will feel it one way or another. Let's let Congress know that's unacceptable.

[cupophrogs]

Slang

[cheddar-baby]

heres my advice to any followers i have who are young. Don't delete things when you think you've outgrown them or they're cringy. If you make youtube videos just private them don't delete them. Save your files, you can bury them in multiple sub-folders if you think they're cringe now but DON'T DELETE THEM! It doesn't feel like it now but years in the future you will look back fondly at who you were and wish you still had those things.

[platoapproved]

What was that you said about memory? "A monster," was it?

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

....it is just barely possible i have finally found an ethical use for genAI: generating fake reports to bog down ICE/DEI tip lines and their ilk. is this anything?

[wormspoodle]

i think they are so silly

[galactic-glossolalia]

I've noticed at a lot of the social stuff I go to now, I'm one of the few there who doesn't drink, and I was reminded of the smoking poll. So now I'm curious.

(See below poll for some notes)

*"regularly" meaning you drink even when there's no occasion to motivate it. Basically, not just social drinking.

**If you've had alcohol before but don't drink anymore for any reason, choose no.

This is a ZERO JUDGMENT poll! Every answer is equally valid, and you DO NOT have to explain your answer if you don't want to!

[exilley]

I do sort of wish western anime fans would analyze anime and manga from a framework of japanese historical and cultural context. Specifically a lot of works from the 90s being influenced by the general aimlessness and ennui that a lot of people were experiencing due to the burst in the bubble economy and the national trauma caused by the sarin terrorist attack. I think in interacting with media that’s not local to our sociocultural/sociopolitical sphere it’s easy to forget that it’s influenced and shaped by the same kinds of factors that influence media within our own cultural dome and there ends up being this baseline misalignment of perception between the causative elements of a narrative and viewer interpretation of those elements. It’s a form of death of the author that i think, in some measure, hinders our ability to fully understand/come to terms with creator intent and the full scope of a work’s merits