#to avoid cluttering people's dashes

[piracytheorist]

And thus, in order to avoid spoilers, I had to unfollow a blog I actually really liked following. And because of this stupid ass update that tumblr didn't bother asking if we wanted, they'll immediately see that we're not mutuals and I'll feel like I'll have to explain myself because I am actually sad I had to unfollow them. @staff would it even matter if I tagged you, or?

Like this would have been avoided without this notifications update that shows who your mutuals are. Bro. Less than 10% of my mutuals like my posts anyway because I barely follow anyone from my main interest because I want to avoid spoilers. So like. It didn't help at all, and only made things worse for me.

[munsonthings86]

hello, can I request a Steve Harrington fic where r working too hard for school and has been pulling all nighters frequently to keep track. R ends up being too tired and falling a little sick and not leaving the house except for when she has to go to school and her friends notice, Steve notices. Steve comes over, tries to help her and something along those lines. You can write it however you want, you can change it up if you want. Thank you :)

thank you for the request! tweaked it just a tiny bit, hope you enjoy :)

contains: cursing, fluff, overworked reader, soft!steve harrington, forgotten date, 1.0k words

School. Study. "Sleep". It was an endless, mind-numbing cycle that you were convinced was spiraling you into borderline madness. The condition of your bedroom was identical to how your brain had been feeling for the past week: cluttered and chaotic. With empty coffee cups littering your small floral desk, and your blush duvet covering more of the carpeted floor than your actual bed, you could hardly even recognize the room anymore.

The dirty laundry strewn across your floor would often trip you when you walked, but the assignments that you were practically drowning in made it impossible to shift your focus onto tidying the place.

You'd become a hermit; only leaving the comfort of your home to go to school and occasionally, the library, on the days that your room felt like more of a prison than a place of rest. Robin and Nancy, along with your boyfriend Steve, were certain you were avoiding them like the plague. They'd beg you to hangout with them, even bribing you by offering to treat you to lunch at the local diner, but the only thing you could say in return was a dry, "maybe later".

You didn't mean to be cold to them, but you were laser-focused on your agenda, determined to work first and play later. It's what led you to where you were now: head buried in your third textbook of the night, butt aching from being sat on your wooden chair for far too long.

On a Friday night of all.

From your window, you heard people, around your age you assumed, parading the streets and laughing loudly– enjoying their simple, young lives. Something you wished you could be doing too. But your work wasn't going to do itself.

You were color-coding the notes on your flashcard when three knocks sounded at your door, to which you mumbled a soft, "Come in," that even you barely heard. Your mother walked in, a mess of flour and an assortment of seasonings splotched on her apron from cooking dinner. "Honey, Steve's here," she smiled softly, though it was evident on her face that she was biting back the urge to tell you to clean your room, bless her.

The yellow highlighter you had was soon forgotten as your eyebrows furrowed, wondering what Steve was doing here. He usually called first.

Steve gave her a sweet grin when he passed her, leaving the door slightly cracked open, per your mothers request. In his hands he held a large box of pizza and a bouquet of pink roses; looking as dashing as ever with a crewneck and blue jeans adorning his body, with his hair being the perfect kind of messy.

You can't help but smile when you see him.

"Well, this is a rare sighting," he laughed, referring to you, "Should probably get this on camera." He kicked his white sneakers off where your own shoes were piled at, setting the pizza box down on your dresser.

"Very funny," you deadpanned, arms crossed on top of your chest. "What're you doing here?"

Steve approached you, something like a frown weighing on his lips. He taps the bouquet against his chest a couple times when he gently reminds you, "It's Friday."

You almost want to reach into your own body to catch your heart when you feel it completely sink. Friday's were you and Steve's designated date nights, never missing one since the two of you began dating a couple months ago. With the way you'd been so stressed and busy lately, it had completely slipped your mind. Suddenly, you felt incredibly guilty.

"Fuck," your head fell into your hands as you rubbed at your tired eyes, harshly. Your words were muffled when you continued, "I'm sorry, I'm the worst."

Steve shook his head almost instantly, gently resting the flowers down on the desk next to you. "Hey, c'mon," he started, moving your hands from your face, standing you up in front of him. "It's okay, I know you've been busy lately."

He rubbed at your shoulders tenderly and the warm touch melted you. It was the first time you truly relaxed that whole week. "You're not mad?" You asked the question in a hushed tone, looking up at him with glittering eyes that were a bit red, your nose a similar hue. You must've been getting sick. His poor baby.

"Not even a little," he gazed at you with heated, sincere brown eyes and you couldn't will yourself to look at anything else. He kissed your forehead, and it's a bit salty with sweat, but he doesn't mind. "Just worried, is all," he murmured, adjusting the pendant on your necklace that had somehow found its way onto your back.

"Can I help at all?" He nodded at the books on your table.

"Steve, no offense but it's AP Calc," you smiled, lightly scratching at his scalp when your arms found their way around his neck. You laughed when his eyebrows raised as if he was startled, slightly shaking his head. "Christ," he says through clenched teeth, though he doubles down on his offer, "well, then I guess I'm learning AP Calc today. No biggie," he shrugs, pressing a soft kiss to your lips.

"You don't have to do that, Stevie," you spoke against his lips, admiring how unbelievably sweet your boyfriend was. You knew how much he hated school, especially math, so you were more than grateful that he was willing to put himself through quite literal torture, just to make your night a bit easier. "But I want to," he kissed your nose. "Dinner first though, 'cause I know you skipped out on lunch."

Squinting your eyes, you released your hold on him. Sometimes it scared you how well he knew you. "How-?"

"I have eyes everywhere, love," he answered your question before you could even get it out. You rolled your eyes, a smile playing at your lips, already knowing that his "eyes" in question were just Robin and Nancy looking out for you.

💌 1 new message from jojo: writing this while procrastinating on like ten assignments was so funny lol. comments and reblogs are always appreciated! inbox is open!

[bladewinged]

a long time ago, i held a boy’s hand and it felt like nothing. nothing but the roughness of skin i figure i would have gotten on his lips. back then i was too nervous to kiss. i wasn’t used to the flat walls of the bad part of the city, nor the drastic heat which bounces off them. 

i heard a bit of him in my voice when i talked to a stranger while taking the train back home. i had skipped class and went to get lunch. i’ve done it a few times. there’s only so many places for bored students, so inevitably i’ll catch a glimpse of someone i know and dash away. it’s an extension of my general avoidant traits, though i wouldn’t say they’re a drastic factor in my relationships.

either way, i heard him in my voice when the stranger asked me about my father and i said “my father’s a dick” before realizing that i had previously come off as a quiet kind of girl and that was too surprising of a statement to make. i played it off, but the man i was talking to understood. of course he did, just like i understood the boy back then. the man said something that might have been about human nature or generational trauma or other implications of chains. i forget. he was a nice person to talk to. he said that he’d asked a lot of people, men and women, pretty and ugly, and they all said they’d cheat on their lover. i don’t know if that’s true.

back then, i leaned against the shoulder of my date as he watched videos of an anime i used to love. i kinda attract that type- short and nerdy and hiding something in their pockets. that might be why people call me kind sometimes. i don’t mind it. i value putting people at ease. their gratefulness makes me awkward, but i don’t know how to say that in a way which doesn’t sound even more annoyingly “selfless”. 

i stood in the clutter of his doorway as the parents were in the kitchen. he asked me for a kiss. very nicely, to be clear. i declined. i haven’t seen him in a while. we’re in different states. nowadays i wouldn’t do that. it can be wrong of me to entertain someone i know i don’t love. at least he was always sweet. i just finished my pack of gum.

[patchs-muse-hub]

A Basic Guide to Tumblr RP Ettiquite

Install xkit so you can trim posts. It helps threads from getting too long and cluttering dashboards.

Open Starters are for any mutual to reply to. If you see an Open Starter from a mutual that piques your interest, you do not need permission to reply, just do it!

Do not jump into other people's threads without prior consent or being tagged. If two people are writing together and you don't have express consent to join in? Just watch, maybe leave a like if you enjoy watching the thread from the sidelines.

That said, if you see something on your dash and want to comment on it in character? Dash Commentary is encouraged! Just make a solo post giving your character's two cents.

If you follow someone, and they have an interest tracker form? fill it out! They make plotting so much easier! You don't have to do it, but you DEFINITELY should.

Avoid getting too involved in Drama threads/conflicts. Communicate with people, take safety precautions, and protect your mental health.

SEND PEOPLE ANON ASKS! Ask questions about their character! It's a fun exercise, and sending them to others makes you more likely to get some of your own!

• Lastly, and most importantly? always try to find and read a person's rules page before interacting. if the Rules page is a Tumblr post? Like it. Make sure they know you've seen it so that they feel their boundaries have been acknowledged.

[foxpunk]

i dont even particularly mind that there is a page to view exclusively video and gif content. from what i can see, it's not tumblr live levels of fucky privacy concerns, its just a tumblr feed that's filtered to only show video/gif posts. and like, that's fine. i'd even say it's a good thing to have available to users, since i'm sure there's plenty of people who like scrolling through videos, whether it's their primary content or just when they're in the mood.

what i do mind is the absolutely horribly clogged UI it's produced, and the fact i can't choose whether i see it or not.

you'd think tumblr would know by now that their userbase—especially their most steady and long term users—greatly appreciates customization and toggles. and generally, social media trends show that sites which allow users more control of their experience are on the rise (think of how successful and popular bsky's custom feeds and blocking/filtering systems are). it's just a smarter move to give people options, even if it means more time and work to make it possible. making something customizeable and/or toggleable creates space for established users to opt in to their own level of comfort, while still creating an interesting new feature to draw in new users. i'm not sure why they would do this the way they have, especially with the distrust and negative rep tumblr live got (not that this is the same thing, but people can and will associate that negative impression with tumblr tv and being more conscious of that would've helped this go more smoothly i feel).

and for UI/UX...5 buttons for a mobile navbar is already pushing it. now they wanna make it 6?? at least with five there was still a centered button. this is just messy. they already have different dash tabs people can customize and switch between, which scroll on both desktop and mobile to avoid further clutter. why on earth would they not make it something you could choose to add as a tab instead?? it's essentially the same as a new kind of dash feed anyways.

completely baffling experience and interface decisions all around.

[lovesickletters]

https://www.tumblr.com/lovesickletters/778498145749499904/%E2%84%AC%F0%9D%93%81%F0%9D%92%B6%F0%9D%92%B8%F0%9D%93%80-%E2%84%B1%E2%84%B4%F0%9D%93%87%E2%84%AF%F0%9D%93%88%F0%9D%93%89-%F0%9D%92%9E%E2%84%B4%E2%84%B4%F0%9D%93%80%F0%9D%92%BE%E2%84%AF-%E2%84%92%E2%84%B4%F0%9D%93%8B%E2%84%AF%F0%9D%93%88%F0%9D%92%BE%F0%9D%92%B8%F0%9D%93%80-%E2%84%92%E2%84%AF%F0%9D%93%89%F0%9D%93%89%E2%84%AF%F0%9D%93%87?source=share

Snow anon here and...uh nice writing and it was a fun read but...that's black forest cookie...but hey thats OK. Uh may I have a wedding cake cookie one though? The other one? Sorry for being picky or idk...just love that beautiful wedding planner!

Ach, so sorry! I must’ve attached the wrong ask, someone else requested a Black Forest letter and I probably grabbed a different ask by mistake. Apologies my dear! I’ll see what I can do for Wedding Cake 💔

(Also it would be nice to avoid posting long links in general since they can clutter people’s dashes and the blog, I’ll probably know what post you mean by title! 💙💙💙)

[darksonofsparda]

🔥

Send me 🔥 for an unpopular opinion || Accepting

This is something that needs to be said, because I've never seen it being said, but no filter here.

This might come as a surprise, but you know what?

Just because someone writes darker, more taboo themes in their rp writing, DOES NOT automatically mean the mun behind the character likes the same stuff IRL. Crazy, right? (The rest below the cut since it got longer than I thought and would clutter the dash without this)

I've been on this site for quite a long time, back in the earlier days, people were a little more chill about that type of thing, but as time went on and this site changed, people in the rpc have become a bit too judgmental imo. I see it all the time.

"That person proships, they must be a pedo IRL"

or

"That person writes super dark, and ULTRA violent themes, so they clearly must be a pretty messed up person IRL because no one enjoys that type of thing"

How do you know that though? Maybe that person just likes to write darker or problematic themes because they enjoy immersing themselves in rp's that test the boundary and borderline of themes? I'm not saying you can't be uncomfortable by it, but if you ask me, I don't think it's fair to judge people based on the types of themes they enjoy writing, and immediately call them a horrible person. I'm an avid reader, and quite the horror fan, I've read a lot of horror books, and let me tell you, I've read some pretty dark and messed up horror books, and some things can get pretty extreme in terms of gruesome and vile, for example:

If I'm reading a horror book about little kids being brutally murdered in horrible ways you never want to imagine, it doesn't mean I'm gonna become a serial killer and do the same. Yeah, its a brutal fucking book, and pretty damn disturbing, too. And guess what, I liked it. Because at the end of the day, it's a fictional story. No one actually died. It was a story written by an author.

The same can be said about rp themes. We are all human beings behind these screens, with emotions, thoughts and feelings. While it is perfectly okay to be uncomfortable with such themes, I still don't think it's fair to automatically assume the mun is a degenerate who likes the same thing. What we write is about characters who are just that, characters, not real people. Us, the muns, are the real people.

Now I'm not saying everyone online is a good person, there are definitely some bad eggs out there, I've unfortunately met some myself.

I still don't think it's fair to say "They write that kind of content, so they are a disgusting person who should be avoided."

I'm not gonna judge someone and criticize their entire person based on the content they write.

That's like calling Stephen King a sick-minded psychopath for Annie Wilkes in Misery(Which is a pretty messed up horror book, but a great story) or any of his other more fucked up horror books.

In conclusion,

There's way too much shade thrown at people who write darker and more controversial themes , and it's wrong to assume they are horrible. I've met some people who enjoy writing more dark and taboo themes, and they are honestly super lovely people. And guess what? They actually have moral human decency.

Mun does NOT equal muse, and people should NEVER forget that. I know it's always a gamble when it comes to meeting new people, it's just the matter of getting to know the person well enough to tell who's good and who's bad. But don't label someone a bad egg just because of the stuff they write, You'll know if the person is good or not. How? Because if you actually take the time to get to know them, and you tell them that type of content makes you uncomfortable, if they really are a good natured person, they will respect that, and won't write that kind of theme with you, and even give you the tag they use for those threads to blacklist it, so you don't have to see it.

RP is fiction. Yes you may think how your muse thinks, You may feel how your muse feels, They might feel real to you, And you may even have that muse become a part of your being if you've written them for a long time. But the fact remains, that they are not real people They are fictional characters, with fictional stories, and fictional relationships. We're telling a story together, not living a second life. So let's enjoy the stories we write together. Not ostracize others just because of the content they write. Because for all you know, they could be one of the nicest, and most friendly people you've ever met.

[bestofhouse]

welcome to the house md tournament

wherein we will collectively decide which house episode is the best, the cream of the vicodin crop. my overriding philosophy for this tournament is to provide entertainment, even where that might conflict with collecting the "most accurate" data. this is tumblr, not a peer-reviewed study. we can't always get what we want, but i try sometimes to get you what you need

tournament status:

preliminary polls and bracket are being designed. keep an eye out for polls that will help me design the brackets and polls in a way that makes most people happy

polls:

polls will last 1 week and the winner will move onto the next round. any poll that registers a 50/50 tie will be broken by me at my own discretion, because i deserve a little treat once in a while

live polls and results will be linked in this post while the tournament is ongoing

propaganda:

submit propaganda for any episode, any time, through this form right here. to keep posts succinct, i may trim or omit submissions at my discretion, especially if many people have submitted propaganda for an episode. depending on the amount of work involved, for episodes with a lot of propaganda, i may rotate out what's included with each poll that episode survives, or omit it altogether in certain polls to keep things as neutral as possible. i'm making this shit up as i go

i will not rb propaganda -- personally when i'm following polls, i don't want to see it. this might change towards the end of the tournament, but for now i don't want to clutter dashes too much.

be civil to the other human beings around you in my notes. criticizing an episode you don't like is fine, but keep it classy

tagging system:

i will do my absolute best to keep non-poll nonsense to a minimum. you're welcome to send in comments, questions, etc, but know that i may not answer them all (if anonymous) to avoid clogging dashboards.

polls will be tagged with:

#poll

#round [x]

the episode in the format of "season.episode - episode title"

i don't want to clog the main house tag so i will not tag every poll with #house md, though i may sporadically main tag one or two polls per round, especially toward the end

#housetournament

i don't see myself creating any posts on this blog that are not strictly related to the running of this poll, but if i do i'll use #not tournament related. every post that isn't specifically a tournament poll will be tagged #admin. i will tag non-anon published asks with the sender's url (dashes converted to spaces).

this post will be updated as i continue to get my shit together. please be patient while i do this

[distant-wcrlds]

//Okay, so, hiatus is officially ending for some of my blogs. I finished all the replies that I know of, and all of them were from Discord. There are a couple threads that involved planning from much earlier I might prioritize my continuation of with new starters for them, but as far as I know, every thread I'm involved in on here was last responded to by me. I'm not saying that to pressure others to continue, but because if there's any threads I didn't reply to, I am unaware of them and would love to be reminded! Eventually, I'll get a thread tracker set up, but for now, all I have to check such things is the ever unreliable notes section of this app. 🙃✌️

Over the next few days, I'll be updating my rules, reaching out to old rp partners I've noticed are active again, and plotting with potential new ones. Over a possibly longer period of time, I will also be migrating my asks on any active blogs over here. It's just an experiment for now, but I think the best way to get engagement for some of my less popular muses and avoid the annoyance that is reblogging ask memes or ooc posts multiple times is to keep my threads on individual blogs but everything else on my main. I used to recommend not following this blog and only following the individual blogs you were interested in, but I now suggest the opposite, or at least, I think it'll be unnecessary to follow any of my individual blogs. I believe this will be the best scenario for everyone else too, because threads can clutter dashes much more than answers, and this solution seems like a better way to appeal to those overwhelmed by multimuses. I'll reblog answers to any relevant individual blogs, so you won't miss anything except personal (not muse-relevant) ooc posts if you choose to still only follow the individual ones. Whether or not ask memes will ever be reblogged on those blogs depends on if I notice there's a large number of people that choose not to follow this one, but I'm sure it's no less annoying to my mutuals than it is to me to suddenly have to scroll past the same thing reblogged up to 9 times in a row.

That being said, the blogs/muses officially out of hiatus are Batman, Raven, Swelter, Hawke, and Lavellan. All of them except Raven have active threads or plots at least on Discord, but I added Raven because she used to be my most popular muse on an old account, and I'm hoping that utilizing this blog as an ask hub of sorts will generate more engagement with her. I will be updating her information to match her current age and circumstances in her shared universe with Batman (though asks will still default to Teen Titans era until I'm able to flesh out my version of the team getting back together to avoid too much angst and misery in her answers), but I will not be updating my DA blogs to match the current events of canon. The reason Lavellan is being brought back sooner than planned is because I did manage to finish Veilguard a few days ago, but unfortunately, I was mostly disappointed by the game. There were portions I enjoyed, and I will make a clearer post later on what I'm willing to adopt from it into the events of my own muses' canons, but Hawke will continue to default to some time in Act 2 or 3 of DA2 for his answers, and Lavellan will still default to an unspecified period post-Trespasser.

[shieldfoss]

Keyboard shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts in actual use are clearly historically contingent and path dependent - there are no standards, which means there are no ways to avoid conflict - even if you want to!

That is - unless you know every shortcut for the operating system you are compiling for and the operating system doesn't add more shortcuts and no third party programs are installed that were unaware of your presence.

EDIT:

Post got Long, it's under a readmore now so it won't clutter your dash

But please do read it if you have software opinions.

---

Hardware thinks (shortcut) means A

Operating system thinks (shortcut) means B

Background service thinks (shortcut) means C

Browser thinks (shortcut) means D

Open browser tab thinks (shortcut) means E

---

Hot garbage!

In the interest of avoiding conflicting commands it would be great if people could agree on some standards.

I feel like, with [super] and [ctrl] and [alt] and [shift] and [Esc] and [space] and [Fn] - it ought to be possible to do some deconflicting here!

Since the operating system is in control of the keyboard, it can impose those standards unilaterally - it would be chaos during the transition but the future would be much better.

Except no! Inherently impossible!

Because the user will - once again - install third party software and even if we get excellent deconfliction between layers, if you install two different background services that both did their due diligence and ensured that the operating system didn't use ctrl+shift+q+w+g - it is functionally impossible for them to know about each other

Still, I want to sketch something.

NB: I've never used a Mac, maybe Steve Apple solved all of this decades ago for his platform, it seems like the kind of thing he would do. I'm gonna write like he didn't though.

The domain

I'm seeing two ways users interact with software - background/foreground - and two types of software they're interacting with - hosts and clients.

The terms are necessarily underspecified but think along the lines of

Background/Foreground

Is this shortcut supposed to consistently do the same thing every time I use it (for the OS or some background service) or might it do different things depending on which app I currently have focused?

This is muddled by the fact that the background modes have active modes e.g. if you have Nvidia Shadowplay running in the background, listening for input that tells it to turn on or off, you probably also have an Nvidia Shadowplay app that you can actively focus on.

In that case, the software is simply counted twice - it has a persistent background component and a separate component that might or might not be focused.

Host/Client

The difference between Host and Client is essentially whether the developer is responsible for intermediating with third party software. This is obviously recursive[1], I am going to pretend it isn't though.

Hardware

To the extent that your hardware sends messages to your operating system, those can be ignored for the purpose of this diagram. To the extent that your operating system sends messages to your hardware, the hardware can be treated like a persistent background service.

Scenario

You are writing code in an IDE.

Four pieces of software have five different uses for the key "e"

Your OS wants E to mean "Open default Email client."

Your Emoji Picker background service wants E to open the "Pick Emoji" dialog.

Your IDE is currently in focus and wants E to open the Project Explorer pane.

Your IDE has a plugin that format your current tab according to your Editorconfig file.

And finally: You just plain need the letter "e" in your source code.

Today: Any fucking thing might happen depending on how those different apps and plugins have their hotkeys set up.

But let us consider:

[super]+[e] opens the email client.

[super]+[shift]+[e] opens the emoji picker

[ctrl]+[e] opens the Project Explorer pane

[ctrl]+[shift]+[e] formats according the editorconfig

[e] inserts the letter "e" into the source code.

Enforcement between OS, Third party service and active client.

How do you prevent the emoji picker from squatting on [ctrl]+[shift]+[e] and fucking it all up? Especially if it is written by a third party who didn't get the memo?

Easy.

If you press [ctrl]+[shift]+[e] the emoji plugin never sees it. When the emoji picker event loop asks for new events, those WM_KEYDOWN events aren't on the list.

"How?"

From the perspective of the OS, there are three groups of software that may need to know about key events

First party background software (The OS and OS services)

Third party background software (like the Emoji picker)

Active focused client software (First or third party)

When you input a key sequence:

The OS reads through the keys:

If [super] is present, check for [shift]

If [shift] is present in the key sequence, the key events go into the Third Party pool. On receiving them, the Emoji Picker opens the Emoji dialog.

Else only [super] is present in the key sequence: The key events go into the OS private pool, where they are made available only to first party background services. The "default email" hook fires.

Else [super] is not present in the sequence: The key events go into the "focused client" pool, which is made available only to the single, currently active, focused client. They are read by the IDE.

Enforcement within active client

Write it correctly lmao

But it is just recursively the same problem! Please do the same thing!

When the IDE reads the key events out of the OS, it checks for the presence of [ctrl]

If [ctrl] is present, check for [shift].

If [shift] is present in the sequence, the key events go into the plugin pool. Upon receiving them, the formatter activates

Else only [ctrl] is present. The key event goes into the IDE's private pool. The IDE opens the Project Explorer pane.

Else [ctrl] is not present in this key sequence. The key events go into the active editor tab which inserts a single 'e' in the current file.

---

Expanding the shortcut configuration space

"What about [alt]?" Is that button just irrelevant? [Esc]? [Fn]?

Nah, nah. You can do a bunch with all of them. They're fundamentally the same as the shift key here. Maybe the OS reserves for itself the space of all shortcuts like [super]+[letter/number] and [super]+[alt]+[letter/number], and every other shortcut that starts with [super] is available for third party background services. Maybe clients that support plugins (browsers that support sending key events into websites) reserve [ctrl] only and everything else is fair game. However it shakes out.

Really, this is too strict, too. The purpose of the exercise is not to hobble third party background services or third party plugins, it is more to reserve a space to ensure various things don't conflict. Insofar as it can be done without leading to conflicts, you can be much more lax than this.

The two issues that brought this on are both VSCode related, because VSCode has two shortcuts.

Well, it has a lot of shortcuts. But it has two specific shortcuts that I want to talk about: [ctrl]+[b] and [ctrl]+[shift]+[e].

In the Linux keymap (VSCode has three separate keymaps for windows/linux/mac) [ctrl]+[b] opens the side pane, and [ctrl]+[shift]+[e] opens the project explorer window.

Except not for me they don't.

I am writing this text in markdown, and I have a markdown plugin installed. Somewhat reasonably, the markdown plugin feels [ctrl]+[b] should bold the selected text (that is, insert ** on both sides of the text.) And VSCode gives priority to the plugin - when my active editing pane is on a markdown document, I cannot open/close the side pane.

And the fucking IBUS emoji picker is squatting on [ctrl]+[shift]+[e]. Across the whole OS! "Yeah no matter what you're doing, you're probably gonna need emoji so we're taking first claim on incredibly ergonomic real estate for an incredibly niche use case" who the fuck accepted that pull request into my distro?

And, like, is Microsoft going to change the default key bindings for VSCode on Linux because of that insane decision? No of course not.

Are they going to change their idiocy - just to stop inconveniencing Microsoft users? Yeah that is not how I am modeling the situation unfolding I must admit.

That sucks! Shit sucks! And the only good solution is for the OS to say "We are laying absolute claim to (this namespace) for OS and background services and we are giving third parties absolute claim to (that namespace).

Which they're not gonna do but I can waste a day writing about the perfect world I want to live in.

---

[1] "My Mac hosts a VM running Linux hosting a VM running Windows running an open Browser with a tab with an open webapp with a user plugin."

[jjba-smash-or-pass]

the funny thing is that when I started this blog I told myself I'd not make too many non-poll posts as to avoid cluttering up people's dashes. oops.

[gravitasmalfunction]

Comment 1: the events of Look to Windward appear to cement the Culture's general skepticism over Subliming. The actions of the sublimed Chelgrian-Puen highlight a fundamental injustice between the Sublime and the Real, namely that the Sublimed can fuck around with the Real from their ineffable plane of existence, but there is no way for anyone from the Real to hold them accountable or threaten them with consequences.

Comment 2: the inability of anyone in the Real to get justice for the actions of the Sublimed is a contradiction the Culture deliberately wanted to highlight by taking 'responsibility' for the Chelgrian Caste War.

Comment 3: of course LtW is a tragedy. Chelgrian society is a tragedy; it makes a victim and a perpetrator of everyone it touches. Even the fucking Culture.

---

Initially I came down on the side of, actually the Culture were stupid to fuck around intervening in a society that has a direct line to their Sublimed counterparts, because no matter how close to gods Culture Minds are (as near to omnipotent and omniscient as makes no odds to the average non-Mind individual), the Sublimed may as well be actual gods (inexplicable, ineffable, capricious, vengeful, Not Subject to the Laws and Limitations of This Reality etc etc).

Thinking about it further, though, I land back on the Culture's side. Their crimes against the Chelgrians boil down to strategic bribery in return for promises of action toward social progress. Compared to what the Chelgrian-Puen (and whoever or whatever instigated the creation of the Chelgrian-Puen) did to the Chelgrians, the Culture did fuck-all wrong against the Chelgrians, and then I come around to seeing their contrition, guilt and willingness to make amends for their fault as a big fuck-you to the Chelgrian-Puen and other parties no longer resident in the Real, who have intervened longer, harder, and with less benefit to the Chelgrian species and society, and with no remorse or apparent care for the wellbeing of the Chelgrians here in the Real.

(cut to avoid caste-loving cat-people criticism clutter on your dashes)

Not explicitly covered in LtW but discussed in much more depth in The Hydrogen Sonata, Subliming is generally a collective, opt-in affair for mature civilisations who've maxed out their technological development, had and done it all in the Real, and want to embark on new adventures in other planes of existence. From the Real, it is next to impossible to find out what happens after Subliming without actually doing it. But from wherever the Sublimed end up, they are capable of observing, communicating and interacting with the Real if they so choose.

For some reason, a random fraction of the Chelgrian population Sublimed quite early on in their civilisational development. The text is unclear whether those Chelgrians who sublimed were offered it as a choice. Certainly it wasn't on the civilisational agenda of the Chelgrians before it happened, and the text doesn't mention instances of these randomly-selected individuals choosing not to sublime. The whole event smacks of a kidnapping or maybe a hostage situation.

And instead of these sublimed Chelgrian-Puen, the Gone-Before, doing the classic Sublimed act of moving on and never being heard of again, they set up direct channels to their source civilisation/species in the Real. Socially, the entrenched caste system remains (except with the Chelgrian-Puen now at the very top, filling the role of god), and religiously and technologically the Chelgrians' development is directed and facilitated by the Gone-Before. A new class of priest, the Estodians, are the C-P's nominated contacts to the Chelgrians. Soulkeeper technology to record a person's mind-state is introduced, and a Heaven is built to accommodate the mind-states of the dead.

Readers of the Culture series are already familiar with Soulkeeper-type technology, and certainly the ubiquity of the tech is discussed more than once in LtW, in the context of the population of Masaq' Orbital having a relatively high back-up rate by Culture standards. The sun around which Masaq' orbits turned out to be less stable than previously thought, and there is a small but non-zero risk of sudden, unpredictable natural disaster in the form of a solar disturbance. The Orbital itself would survive but anyone on the exposed surface would be toast, hence the advisability of backing-up. In the Culture, practically everything is opt in or opt out and comes down to individual preference, including death.

Meanwhile, in the Chelgrian sphere, caste is still destiny, despite the modest social progress being made on reforming the system, and upon death your personality can go to Heaven, after an arbitrary waiting period, but there is no general option to be re-embodied.

But the existence of the Chelgrian-Puen complicates the moral calculus that usually applies in the Culture universe's inter-civilisational ethical framework, which can be roughly summed up as "only pick on people your own technological equivalents". But the Chelgrians aren't straightforwardly the technologically inferior party. They have their Sublimed counterparts, their Gone-Before, taking an active if unpredictable interest in all things Chelgrian.

Knowing the Culture's fondness for bending the arc of everyone's history toward justice, I can almost imagine the Contact committee meeting where they decide to intervene in Chelgrian politics: after much debate, the Minds come around to the position that intervention is necessary, and even if the intervention is discovered, it's the Chelgrian-Puen who ought to come out of it looking bad for continuing to prop up the caste system.

Hence I think the real miscalculation the Culture made was not that their mode of intervention forgot to account for the fact that Chelgrians are a predator species, but that the Chelgrian-Puen could be shamed into changing their reprehensible ways. Predator species cannot be uniquely predisposed to creating a meat grinder of a society. But what hope of change can there be when the gods are real and taking an active role in perpetuating the meat grinder?

[sesshy380]

Starting new thread to avoid cluttering the dash.

Tagged by @bakawitch

1. Do this uquiz.

2. Do this picrew.

3. Tag people.

Not tagging anyone, but if you see this and wanna do it, consider yourself tagged (with no pressure ofc)

[ailec-12]

For the 50 Random Character Asks:

in an entirely none selfish way (😂😉)I’ll asl for Pippa Pentangle and Hecate Hardbroom tww 2017

although feel free to answer doe anyone you actually have an answer.

5, 6, 13, 16, 23, 25, 32, 35, 44, 50

feel free to just pick a few out of them I can’t choose xD

Thanks so much! Had a great time answering these —I'll put it under the cut to avoid cluttering everyone's dash. x)

5. Best personality trait.

Pippa: seeing the best in other people.

Hecate: loyalty.

6. Worst personality trait.

P: self-centred.

H: narrow-minded.

13. Dumbest thing they’ve ever done.

P: Giving Millie part of her power —a well meaning albeit stupid decision.

H: She'll say it's giving magic to Indigo, but it's actually being nasty to Indigo when all the girl needed after "waking up" was her support.

16. Deepest darkest secret they won’t even admit to themselves.

P: She found it hard to forgive Hecate, even though she would never have admitted to even holding a grudge during thirty years.

H: She found an odd sort of comfort in being confined to the academy.

23. If they were a scented candle, what would they smell like?

P: cherry.

H: apple and cinnamon.

25. 3 things they’d want to take with them if they were dropped off in the middle of nowhere.

P: her broom, a hair brush and Hecate.

H: a portable cauldron, a bag full of ingredients and a notebook to keep track of her experiments —sorry, Pippa.

32. Something guaranteed to make them smile/laugh.

P: Hecate's surprised face whenever she boops her nose.

H: Ada's laughter.

35. Their idea of a perfect day.

I can think of several scenarios, but for both of them I think it would count as a perfect day whenever they finally figure out how to make a potion or spell work after a long research.

44. Their happiest memory.

P & H: the day they met.

50. A memory they’ve blocked out.

P: She sent Hecate a lot of letters a few months after they finished school, when she'd cooled down, but they all went unanswered.

H: the pain and shame of all the times she tried to cross the academy's boundaries after her confinement was enforced.

Character Asks

[phospadparadscha]

a non exhaustive list of things i love about tumblr that have made it the only Usable Social Media(tm), as someone who follows the maximum amount (5000) of people and has seen it All:

-the tags. every othere sm requires tags to be uninterrupted, no spaces phrases and you can write full fucking novels in the tags on tumblr. this created a completely new ecosystem for how conversations and posts are structured on here. ppl post screenshots of tags, mention previous tags, encourage other people's writing and art in the tags, all while avoiding cluttering the original post's text with every reblog when you want to comment. you can make hushed commentary that sometimes gets noticed and adds a lot to posts when its picked up on!

-the ask system. we used to have fan mail on this site a few years ago but i don't know that it was as successful, so the ask and submissions system became the main way to go. its not as common to have themed ask blogs anymore (like "ask rainbow dash" where people draw responses, i've had a few of these kinds of blogs in the past) but it really allows people to acknowledge each other, get questions answered, and interact in a way i think is really missing from the internet in the late 2020s. its abused sometimes and anon hate still shows up on this site, but i think the culture has changed noticeably in that this kind of hate is brushed off more easily in most cases.

-the longevity of posts and how everything is archived. its so much easier to find old posts on tumblr than other places and you can sort archives of people's blogs based on a lot of different types, like photos only or text only, years posted, etc. really cool especially for looking back on your blog through the years and in the age of the New Posts Only its really refreshing to be able to revisit old posts. I see posts on here that show up from 2012 and its such a pleasant surprise since so much of the internet is being overwritten

- the absurdly customizeable color palettes and appearances of the site. its so customizeable and even though desktop blog sites aren't as common of a way to interact anymore (i miss them rip blogs with no desktop versions) you can literally edit the css and html and show your own personal aesthetics as much as you want to.

-the april fool's day rebrands

-the art is so good and photosets allow for longform posts which i never see ANYWHERE else on social media. you can post like up to 30 images in a photo set i think??? which was increased from i think max 10 and its all consecutive. also that we have a read more button to give people the option to choose to open long posts or not.

-the id system. i've seen a lot of people id posts and make posts more accessible. also people providing trigger warnings which you don't get other places tbh like i've never seen anywhere online where you could straight up choose what you didn't want to see so you don't have to encounter it in the wild! its really nice especially for someone like me who has several phobias lol

i could keep going but like.....i love you tumblr as someone who has been here for literally over a decade.

[shibonzakura]

ZoTash fanfic with ANGST!!

Under the cut to avoid cluttering the dash. PLEASE DO NOT REBLOG UNLESS YOU ASK ME FIRST. May have a loosely tied sequel.

PHANTOM PAIN

I'm searching for a whole new beginning An endless void This notion that I sense within me You're still by my side Oh, I feel your presence You'll never leave here But if I reach out there to hold you Every part that's real disappears As I become more present now I can't see through the pain A hollow cut through my veins (the phantom takes his toll) The days that just keep on coming The stain that they leave *I wish I could break this casket But I'm left here to grieve In a world of my own design As I become more present now I can't see through the pain A hollow cut through my veins (the shadows take their toll) And did you leave me anything? You're the phantom of my past… Do you expect me to last, this way? (a scar and a phantom pain)

For once, Zoro wish Tashigi would just listen to him. Finally reaching a breaking point, the marine captain did just that and left, not telling anyone where she was going. Just took up her four swords and let go of her dream just like that. Sometimes people can't follow them.

Sighing in relief that he didn't realize it was coming from him, Zoro thought he was finally rid of the annoyance known as Captain Glasses but this wasn't the last time the pirate hunter would have Tashigi in his life.

The nights when he left Wado to rest and either held Sandai or Enma in his hands is when SHE came. Red glasses, purple solid shirt with a few flowers stuck to the clothing randomly, medium long black hair that wasn't tied up like usual.

He could never see below a certain point but was sure there was blue faded jeans and pink boots on her feet. All that was missing was her pink captain's coat. Good thing. Zoro really never liked that jacket. Reminded him that Tashigi was part of the marines.

Hated the corrupt system, not her. She was one of the only hopes in that place and if she did leave, all that light would be lost. Now is lost. Zoro thinks bitterly to himself. Tashigi had been the only thing holding the monsters at bay.

Pay for his actions was one thing but Zoro didn't mean to have this happen to innocent civilians that the marine captain was sworn to protect. His guilt over his choices is what probably made Tashigi manifest to him this way.

If the pirate hunter was known as the king of hell, then the marine was the queen of grudges. Attaching her spirit to Zoro, even in death. Ghost Tashigi or SHI for short as he didn't believe this to be Tashigi or Kuina. Perhaps this was the spirit of either Sandai or Emna. Both swords were known to be problem children, just like a certain marine.

Didn't matter. SHI always draped herself around him proactively, a far cry in what Tashigi used to always be in his presence. Even being carried by him caused the marine so much stress at being held by an opposite sex. But SHI, oh no. There was no such thing as shame or modesty.

Either way, Zoro didn't care. More like he didn't mind. Just SHI being there calmed and relaxed him like no other. Not even the other mind mirages his head conjured up. And he says he isn't like the Ero Cook. He's much worse if he's appreciating a figment of his mind. First time he thought with his fourth sword.

But dammit, the ghost was so persuasive. Like her talons had hooked in his flesh and soul, leaving a mark that would never fade away. Not even time or promises could distract him from SHI. The power, swords, fame, having a beautiful woman by his side, everything was so perfect.

Screw being the King of Hell or THE GREASTEST SWORDSMAN, he was the fucking 'King of Delusions'. All thanks to Tashigi, who finally let go and conceded defeat. Zoro felt bad for the sore loser because the girl really was something special, to him anyway. Probably why he has a ghost version of herself whispering in his ear.

Telling him to 'Act like a pirate like I always know you were, 'Take this fight seriously, don't listen to Mihawk' 'I see you are using MY sword that was supposed to be mine, how quaint', 'No one else is here. It's just you and me', 'I may change my appearance several times but the copycat wounds always find me, don't they?', and his personal favorite 'RORONOA, I will always be a part of you, no matter what happens or if all three of my own swords break. You still have them don't you?.

Of course, Zoro has all of the swords that Tashigi had collected, even those the pirate hunter had no clue she had. Which included; Kashu, Yamaoroshi, and Shodai Kitetsu, in itself was a cursed sword with a whole can of worms that Zoro himself didn't want to think about at this time. As if the attractive and distractive ghost woman wasn't enough.

Although, SHI had lost some of her more kind attributes, the ghost still let Zoro drink booze, nap, and other things he enjoyed. As much as she weighted him down with thoughts of cruelty, she also gave him the freedom to enjoy life to it's fullest instead of being dragged down by friends and promises.

Zoro is mostly glad that a little part of Tashigi is still with him after everything. Even if she disappears to who knows where, the marine woman is still his Phantom Pain.