#this is the lowest bar

[auressea]

"In 2019, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls concluded the violence perpetuated against Indigenous women in Canada amounted to genocide."

The House of Commons adopted a motion on unanimous consent Tuesday calling on the federal government to declare ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a national emergency.

The motion was presented by Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan. It also calls on the government to provide an "immediate and substantial investment" to create a public alert system for missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

"I'm very pleased today that all members of Parliament are acknowledging the truth about the history in this country, as a way to move forward," she said.

Gazan is now calling on the government to issue an official emergency proclamation.

"It's one thing to acknowledge the truth. It's another thing to act on it," she said.

Full article

Taggung: @politicsofcanada

[zillychu]

In response to recent events, I'd like to announce that I'm regretfully staying here on Tumblr.

While photomatt has been truly horrible, he doesn't have any sway on global politics like other CEOs on competing socmeds. This place is still the lesser of all available evils, considering the even more prominent queerphobia elsewhere. Tumblr's recent conduct is awful--it's just even more awful everywhere else.

I will no longer monetarily support Tumblr, but I'll be staying because I refuse to give Twitter/Insta/FB/TikTok any traffic. I hope the staff corrects their actions, and I'll be keeping my eyes open for other socmed options.

But for now, I'm staying here and saying this blog is safe for all queer folk. Trans sisters especially, I'm with you.

[indelicateink]

as an american, in s1 & s2, sam reid’s total inability to hide his lowkey contempt for overly fake-chipper american journalists, especially ones who Have Not Done The Assigned Reading know and care about the show, will never not be hilarious and iconic to me

[spac-e-b0y]

I may have cooked here

[starrbitez]

Rick and morty fans are crazy bc we will say “omg sooo cute!!!” And it’s manslaughter by a 14 year old. “Awwww omg so cute” basic human decency. “Omg omg did you guys see that one scene its so wholesome” two characters acknowledge the other one has feelings too

[demontisms]

as much as i love rowena (which is, like, a lot, shes literally my lockscreen), i do not think we as a fandom engage with her character correctly. she was an abusive mother. end of sentence. full stop. is she trying to be better? yes. does she achieve that by the end of her arc? i believe so! but we need to talk about it!! we need to talk about the fact that she was a horrible mom! shes the john winchester of moms! and canon makes this perfectly clear, regularly!

she was, at the VERY LEAST, an emotionally abusive mother!! she raised crowley for 8 years and in that time destroyed crowleys self-esteem and trust and gave him abandonment issues that literally haunt him 400 years later. that's crazy!! how do you do that!!

how do you fuck up so intensely and specifically that your son still hates you that long after but actively doesn't want you dead! what the fuck!??

[mephiles-the-jester]

the best(worst(best)) part about euclidia's destruction is that bill did it to prove himself,, because he says in the book that everyone loved him,,but based on that color-code lullaby from his mom,,,,it makes it sound like he really needed comfort because he was ostracized for his mutation and only felt safe with his parents(or at least his mom,,verdict still out on the status of his daddy issues,,),but even then they took him to the eye doctor to 'fix' him and 'make the visions go away' which he viewed as blinding him,,,,,so like,,no one seemed to believe bill at all,and he really wanted to show that the 3rd dimension he sees was real and that he was right,and thought it would be good for them to see it,,,,but in the process he just tore his dimension apart so horribly his brain literally blocks the memory because he cant confront the regret,especially with his parents fate, considering that after losing ford and getting drunk,he tries to call his dead mom and wonders where they all went,,,,,he wanted them all to see the stars like he did,,,,,,god,,and hes also getting a bad grade in therapy,,something he just discovered on his own and is apparently possible to achive for him

[hyunpic]

[mollywog]

Here is me everlark-ing that time I passed out and took a nose dive into some dude lap at a blood drive (there was no cute banter or romance in my case - only embarrassment)

I used this as an exercise in not overthinking… It didn’t really work; but I tried not to let myself linger…

Ao3 link

“I’m sorry. You don’t meet our minimum weight requirement, you won’t be able to donate today”, Nurse Sae turns the digital monitor towards her to inspect the number. Her shoulders slump.

One pound!

She won't be able to donate blood today over one measly pound! “I weighed myself at home this morning and I had two pounds to spare,” she pleads. She hates the sight of blood, but ever since her sister had received a lifesaving transfusion when she was eight, Katniss has been dead set on donating.

Nurse Sae frowns sympatheticly, “Different scales, different precision.” She gives Katniss another quick once over before sighing, “tell you what: why don’t you go and eat something; See if you can get another couple ounces to stick to your bones and I’ll weigh you again?”

Katniss perks up, “really?” If there’s one thing she can do, it’s eat.

Sae nods before busying herself organizing her stand. She continues casually, “If you really want to know the art of the weigh in you should talk to one of the wrestlers. The things those boys will do to make weight.” She shakes her head, “on second thought, don’t do that; they're not good examples,” she waves her hands in the direction of the offending group.

Katniss looks over to find a pair of blue eyes fixed on her, before flitting away.

Peeta Mellark.

Her stomach swoops. They’ve never really spoken, but this isn’t the first time she’s noticed him looking. He’s seated at the cookie table chatting with some other guys from the team. They’ve already donated and are waiting their required fifteen minutes.

She thanks the nurse and grabs her backpack moving in their direction towards the exit when her feet falter. Leevy, a girl from her neighborhood is giving blood and seemingly not doing well. She looks pale and her breathing is labored. The nurse has taken note as well, reclining her seat and fanning her as she checks the bag volume.

It’s too hot, Katniss realizes, though she was comfortable only moments ago. She’s sweating and pulls at the chest of her shirt for relief. Her breathing is short and shallow and she feels dizzy.

She needs to get out of here.

She stares at the door with renewed determination and urges herself towards it.

She’s not going to make it.

She doesn’t know what will happen next, but her vision is narrowing. New plan: she needs to sit down, preferably on a chair. She knows she must be close to the snack table. Her hands reach out searching until they hit something solid and she clings to it before her knees give out and the darkness closes in around her vision.

…………

She floats to consciousness feeling relaxed and more rested than she remembers feeling in years. The lights behind her lids indicate sun pouring through her bedroom window: it’s late. She can’t believe she’s slept in, she only ever does that when she’s sick. Her head is cradled in her mother’s lap as she strokes her hair. Katniss flexes her fingers and the hand in her hair ceases its motion. She whimpers in protest. A voice close to her ear says her name, but it’s not her mother’s soft tones. Instead a deep rumble, laced with concern.

She knows that voice. Her eyes flutter open and she’s met with Peeta’s concerned stare. He releases a breath and smiles, “good to see your eyes again.”

Her lips quirk involuntarily but then the memories creep in. She must have passed out; How embarrassing! She moves to sit up, but her head swims and she lays back taking the opportunity to inspect her surroundings. She’s been moved behind a privacy curtain and Nurse Sae is busy beside her, checking her blood pressure, asking questions, and gently testing her limbs. Her initial euphoria has worn off to a giddy embarrassment. She’s clammy and chilled, but physically no worse for the wear.

“It’s a good thing you caught her,” The nurse finally proclaims, patting Peeta on the shoulder, “Could have twisted an ankle or gotten a bump on the head.”

“It was nothing, right time, right place.”

‘Mm-hmm’ Sae hums with a sly grin.

Katniss notices Peeta’s blush, though she’s not sure why he’s embarrassed, “well regardless, thank you.”

“Now, I want you to sit here a bit and don’t you dare leave before you finish these,” she places a juice box and 2 cookies next to her. “Unfortunately after that excitement, no donating for you today. If you’re alright here, I’ll leave her in your care.”

Katniss opens her mouth to protest, but Peeta answers first, “don’t worry: our patient is in good hands.”

“I bet she is,” Sae winks.

Katniss waits until the nurse is out of earshot, covering her face before speaking, “I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I did that. I swear I’ve never done that before.”

“It’s alright, really. You’ve actually fulfilled my white knight fantasies. What little boy hasn’t dreamed of rescuing a fair maiden?”

She bites back a smile; she can’t imagine anyone considering her a damsel in distress. More like a feral cat. “Come on, this isn’t your first rescue. What about that time Glimmer Rogers thought she twisted her ankle and asked you to carry her to the nurse’s office?”

“You remember that?” His lips twitch in amusement, “We were in like what… 5th grade? And besides, I think she faked it on a dare.”

It’s a silly thing to remember, but if she really thinks about it, she has plenty of memories of this boy’s kindness, as if she’s been watching and cataloging them for years. She masks this revelation with the last bite of cookie, “well I’m glad to relieve you of your duties Sir Peeta. I’ve got it from here.”

“I don’t know. I take this responsibility very seriously. How chivalrous would it be for me to just abandon you now?”

She rolls her eyes, “What are you going to do? Escort me to fourth period and sit behind me in case I faint again? Abernathy will love that.”

He scrunches his nose, “maybe not.” He pauses, “okay, here’s the deal; you’ll let me walk you to class and then maybe you could offer me a token of your favour.”

“What?”

“Come on, haven’t you been paying attention in History class?”

She hasn’t. They’ve been watching a costume drama about Henry VIII under the guise of learning in Mr. Plutarch’s history class. She vaugly rememebers a jousting scene where the ladies had given the jousters ribbons as good luck charms before their turn. “So you want my hair tie or something?” She laughs.

“That’s one option. Or… you could give me your number instead? That way I can check in on you later… make sure you’re recovering well.” He fidgets with his backpack straps. If she didn’t know better she’d think he was nervous. “If you’ll allow it,” he adds, averting his eyes.

Coming from anyone else she would think it was a line, but Peeta’s a genuinely nice guy. He’s only asking to be kind and she wouldn’t want him to worry if a quick text is all he’s asking. “Okay, I’ll allow it,” she says, extending her phone towards him.

This time when their eyes meet, his don’t flit away and the smile he gives her is so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness, that she can’t help returning it.

[wehaveagathering]

good news everyone! ivan fedotov is NOT a flat earther!

[snorlaxlovesme]

i'm torn between what i want to happen and what i THINK is going to happen. ever since season 2 link click has a way of convoluting the plot to the point of incomprehension and then somehow managing to stick the landing, so I guess I'm expected more of that. i think the majority of this episode will be spent NOT tying up any of the loose threads, but then have a particularly juicy ending that will make me feel like it's all worth it

as for things i'd like the last episode to address:

in the first episode, we never see the conclusion of Vein vs. Lu Guang. Lu Guang somehow ends up injured despite the fact that Vein is the shittiest shot in the world. i want to see an expansion of that scene, (hopefully) with added context when we (hopefully) finally find out WHY Vein is hunting them in the future to begin with. i think it would be a good circular moment to return to the scene we started with

i guess this should be number one, but we absolutely NEED to learn SOMEONE'S motive in this episode. Liu Xiao, Vein, Xia Fei, anyone. we need someone to look directly into the camera at me and say "I am being shady for this reason" because it's been five episodes and these weird dudes framed as villains have been WEIRD but not particularly villainous. so like, lmao what are we doing here

you know what, i'm not even going to keep going with this list because I highly anticipate that 15 minutes of the episode is gonna be burned on Wang Qing, of all people. so yeah. hoping there's some sort of tie-in/clarification of the fight in ep 1 and I hope one of the Hot Heads actually does something more antagonistic than *checks notes* mild stalking? that'd be great

[tincansamurai]

i'm so paranoid about being weird online. know that if i regularly interact with you on these websites we share i consider us buds, but i don't want to be weird. so i leave you alone outside of what has been established via social media interactions. i am the king of thinking of people i directly talk to 1-2x a year as friends despite being scared to talk to them. and now that you know i think that way. i also think it's weird - don't worry, we don't need to be friends if you don't want to. but also we're friends to me until you tell me otherwise

[harbingerofsoup]

spn from s12 and onwards was really we brought mary winchester back to show that the martyred image of her was a fantasy and that when she’s free of angelic interference she’s a complex and flawed character just like everyone else

and y’all were like oh? she’s not 100% dedicated to being a mother after being suddenly thrust back into life after decades? she’s actually the most evil being in the universe

and i just… i need y’all to understand that this take is more misogynistic than the fucking spn writers… i cannot overstate how much you do not want to be more misogynistic than them

[natjennie]

nrb is changing patreon stuff which obviously I understand because they have to make enough money to pay people, they are a business but like. I signed up at the $5 tier mostly for the king's dilemma and the monthly exclusive online board game club but going forward both bgc and the next legacy game will only be available for double that? just makes me sad because I definitely won't have enough money to upgrade so like. I love clocktower but idk if it's even worth it at the low tier when that's all I'll be getting. idk.

[korusalka]

Can't really say what the most inane reasons to have a kid were that people said to me during the last few months, such as "I don't like kids either but they say it's different when they're your own", "I owe one to my partner", "I want to pass down my values" (said by an immature man with addiction issues), or "well, the economy needs them"

[random2908]

We're going through the absolute dumbest drama at work lately with a funding agency. It was looking like it was all going to turn out in our favor (through, like, the stupidest means possible). But today they just threw a curveball at us that is so insane. So insane for a funding agency to meddle in that. That even though we're probably going to win in the end, they might drag our reputation through the mud in the middle.

So. Ok. This guy pretty high up in the DoD got Congress to put a pretty big earmark for our tech in the 2024 budget. (And by big, I mean, if we asked an investor for help they'd laugh and give us twice as much just for us, rather than having to split this government money between us and our competitors; maybe they'd introduce us to their investor friends and it would be 10 times as much. But we're an employee-owned company, and most of us employees are afraid of investors, so that's not happening.)

The catch ended up being that a specific agency within the DoD got the rights to distribute most of it. And that agency decided to make a rule that they were mainly going to consider small-business/giant-corporation partnerships. Well. That's not great for us, a small business who was hoping to just, like, get some of this money. But luckily we already had existing partnerships with two giant corps. The agency split the money into three pots, and two of them were for projects we thought we could do. So we told our favorite company we'd apply for the easy one with them, and our not-favorite company we'd apply for the hard one with them. (Not-favorite because we think they're semi-secretly trying to steal our IP and then use their fleet of literally thousands of engineers, compared to our 35 total employees, to run us out of business.) Favorite company said, great, let's do it. Most-detested company said, wait, we could do both these projects, shouldn't we apply for both? We (and by we I mean my bosses) told company-we-don't-like that we'd apply for one section with them but we didn't think it was a good idea to apply for both because we might look greedy; but they could do whatever the hell they wanted with the other section, if they didn't mind looking greedy.

Both our applications got rejected three months ago. For the harder project, we suspect it went to a completely different technological approach, so, ok I guess. For the easier project, though.... Evil-corp's application won... in which they said they'd hire us to do it under their supervision.

Which means they'd have all the IP. But also, stupid stupid them, they'd have none of the physicists, just the engineers. What the fuck do they expect to be able to do, hiring physicists as simple artisans rather than collaborating with us as thinking physicists, and having no physicists of their own who understand how the tech actually works.

And, here's their hubris, here's the first step from over a year ago when we realized they were trying to steal our own project out from under us: even in the existing partnership, they originally purchased a quantum device and a control box from us. And then collaborated with us on a new device design, but said they'd make their own control boxes from here on out. But they seem not to understand what's actually in the control box, and how tailored it is to the quantum device.

So, ok, we thought: they'd hire us to make the quantum device that they design (oh, cue tangent about how the current iteration--from our existing partnership--that they've designed with their fleet of engineers is unmachineable, i.e. we can't get a vendor who is willing to make the chassis for us; their design skills are hopeless). We'd do our level best to build it very well for them. I'd use one of my spare control boxes (I build/supervise the control boxes) and test it out for them (I'm one of the two testers), and do whatever I needed to to get it working. We'd send them those results, and the device. Then they'd hook it up to the legacy control box they bought from us last year (that doesn't have my newest upgrades), and one of their untrained just-out-of-college techs would try it out, and wouldn't get anything out of it. But we'd have proof that it's just user error, and so they'd lose (can't finish the project) and we'd win (reputation intact, plus the bit of money they'd give us for building it--not much, but something anyway).

This is the scenario that my coworker (the other tester, and supervisor for building the devices) and I have daydreamed about to each other frequently over the past month, to console ourselves about having lost the contest to actually get the grant money.

Meanwhile, our CEO went to talk to the government agency like, we're the leaders in this field, why did you reject all our applications?? And he was like, we didn't reject all of them! We accepted the one with dumbass-corporate-thieves! Our CEO was like, that wasn't our application, we're just a subcontractor on it, it wouldn't involve any of our IP or physics knowledge. And the government official was like... Oh fuck. But I hate Nice-company, you know that right? You know I couldn't let that application through because I hate them? Why did you even write an application with them? (If you knew the name of nice-company, you'd immediately be like, "oh that makes sense." Even though the department collaborating with us on quantum devices has nothing to do with the department making, oh, let's say, airplane doors.) So the government official was like, well, the contract with the smug-idiots isn't finalized yet, I can try to steer it so that you're less subcontractors and more partners in this. And of course, our CEO couldn't say, well, we don't want to be partners with them, because they're thieves and also stupid and mean. But he also knew they wouldn't agree to it in any real way and it was moot. So he just said ok. It's at least comforting to know... I guess... that the government did intend to fund us, in particular, they just didn't read the applications very carefully.

Ok, so that's the first fork, that's been playing out over the last couple months since the applications were due.

But meanwhile, in addition to our partnerships with those two large corps, we also had project funding from a certain branch of the military, and from an unnamed government agency (even I'm not supposed to know who it is, I think). The latter project is sunsetting--it's six years old, a full year past the end of the contract. But the director of that project told us, we should go quietly asking around in Washington DC to see who's disgruntled that the one agency got to distribute all these funds, and see if anyone wants to compete with them by directly sponsoring us (without asshole-corp tagging along). The other project, the military-branch project, is right in the middle right now: we're approximately half done and have about a year left to finish. And it transpired that right after this agency, the one with all the money, announced who the money was going to at the end of September, they then announced who their liaisons would be in each military branch. And they picked some random dude that they're personally friends with in this particular branch, rather than anyone out of the relevant department for this type of tech. So now, the actual department is like "we can't trust whatever end product comes out of this other agency's project." So suddenly, someone who is already funding us--already feels personally invested in our success--has become exactly who the secret-person told us to look for: someone in the government who resents the contest judges and wants to hold a separate competition against them. So, two months ago, they were like "next year we'll end your project, because the future of the technology is this big grant from this other agency." And now suddenly they're looking for more money to throw at us, longer term and in larger amounts. (Not as much as if we'd won the grant competition, but still. Like I always say, we're academia-adjacent; even a million dollars is a lot to us.)

And the third fork: nice-corp is pissed that there's so much prejudice against them for the doors thing, so they want to renew their partnership with us, just to show up that government agency that held the contest.

So we lost the contest, but we might be getting two new projects out of it.

And then today's wrench, back to the first fork. The government agency just told the idiot-assholes that they were going to require the quantum tech be made of a different quantum material than originally planned. (I suspect because it's the material that JPL/NASA really likes.) There is absolutely no reason for this requirement, no reason for them micromanage something like material choice. What's really, deeply hilarious about this weird bit of meddling is that for us physicists, this barely matters; you can make some arguments one way or the other in terms of how well it works for the tech, but we can work with either material. My whole previous job was with the material we're currently using--between that job and this job, I've been using it for 8 years. But my whole PhD and postdoc was with the material that the government agency wants dumb-corp to switch over to. I know both these materials equally well, and so do all the other physicists here. Mainly the difference this makes is... You need to change all the components in the control box to match the material it's controlling! The one part of the project that now-seriously-screwed-corp contractually doesn't want our input on! And changing that many components all at once is never a risk-free undertaking, from a simple engineering perspective; except that we suspect they don't even know how to build a control box in the first place, so "risk" doesn't even cover it.

When my boss broke the news to me this afternoon, I was like, wait, are you telling me I have to build a control box just to test this thing, for free because me building a control box is outside the scope of the project? My boss was like, no. They'll build a control box and send it to us, so we can test the quantum device that we're going to build for them, out of the new material, based on their designs that we have very little input on, even though we're the physicists and they're not.

I was like ...but their control box isn't going to work. My boss was like, nope! I was like, so then the project isn't going to work. My boss, no :) it isn't :). I was like, ok, I know this won't be for another two years, but... how hard should I try to make it work? Because I can try really hard and probably do something. My boss was like no, don't do that. Absolutely do not try to fix their box. If it doesn't work, just tell them it doesn't work. Tell them what doesn't work about it, but not why, don't give them hints. Maybe you won't even know why! You don't know what they're putting in the box, how can you diagnose it for them!

So, yeah, this project isn't going to work, and we're going to look bad for it. But hopefully we'll be getting two additional projects out of it, thanks to spite! And if two of our three projects work then who cares, I guess.