#what is website terminology

[thatsrightice]

F-14 Tomcat Variants

A beginner’s guide to identifying and differentiating the different F-14 Tomcat variants using three distinctive, easy-to-spot features: Glove Vanes, Engine Exhaust Nozzle (aka “Turkey Feathers”), and Sensor Pods.

F-14A

NUMBER BUILT: 637 total

INTRODUCED: 22 September 1974

The F-14A’s were the first Tomcats ever produced. The TF30 engines were initially an interim engine used during testing but it was later decided they would be used in full production of the F-14A. A total of 478 F-14As were delivered to the US Navy and 79 were delivered to Iran with the TF30-P-412A engine. Iran was supposed to receive 80 aircraft but the last one was given to the US Navy. Later in production, the final 102 F-14A’s were delivered to the US Navy with Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-414A engine.

IDENTIFYING FEATURES:

✅ GLOVE VANES

The A-variant is the only variant of the Tomcat to have Glove Vanes. They were designed to automatically deploy when the aircraft was flying at speeds greater than Mach 1.4 and retract when below in order to correct the tendency for the Tomcat’s nose to pitch downwards at high speeds. They were notoriously difficult to maintain and the benefit was marginal at the speed they were designed for, so the glove vanes were disconnected entirely and welted shut. The glove vanes were not featured on new F-14 Tomcats, but the outline of the glove vane makes it easy to identify an F-14A or an F-14B/F-14D that was a rebuilt F-14A.

✅ SMALL NOZZLE EXHAUST FEATHERS

When compared to the F110 engines, it becomes pretty easy to tell the difference. When you look at the TF30 engine nozzle, you’ll see a lot of small metal plates, “Turkey Feathers,” that expand and contract when the nozzle opens and closes. It’ll be easier to tell the difference once you take a look at the General Electric F110 engine used on later F-14 Tomcat variants. This is the BEST way to identify an F-14A.

✅ SINGLE SENSOR POD BELOW CHIN

I recommend using the TF30 engine as the best way to identify an A-variant Tomcat as they are the only variant with those engines, however, I am choosing to include a section on the sensor pods for your reference as it is important for identifying the B and D-variants. The F-14A features a single sensor pod located below its chin but can come in a variety of configurations.

F-14A+ aka F-14B

NUMBER BUILT: 81 Aircraft (38 new builds, 43 upgraded F-14As)

UPGRADES BEGAN: March 1987

Initially designated the F-14A+, the upgrade is primarily characterized by the replacement of the Pratt & Whitney TF-30 engine with the General Electric F110-GE-400 engine due to being notoriously problematic. Many of the avionic systems and radars were retained, but the ALR-67 Radar Homing and Warning system was added. The A+was redesignated to the F-14B on 1 May 1891.

In the late 1990’s, the F-14Bs were upgraded again to extend its airframe life and upgrade the avionics system, but it was not given a variant designation due to the lack of major changes.

MAIN VARIANT FEATURES:

F110-GE-400 engines

ALR-67 Radar Homing and Warning system

IDENTIFYING FEATURES:

❌ NO GLOVE VANES

As stated in the section for the A-variant, the glove vanes were welded shut and completely disconnected on all existing Tomcats. On new builds, they weren’t even included in the design, however, if the aircraft is an upgraded F-14A, you might see the glove vane outline. This would be a way you can identify which aircraft were originally F-14As (Rebuild) and which were completely new builds.

✅ LARGE EXHAUST NOZZLE FEATHERS

Because most of the F-14B models were upgraded F-14As, it’s a little tricky to tell the difference sometimes. The easiest way is the F110 engine nozzle’s large turkey feathers. In comparison, the turkey feathers on the F110 engine are significantly larger and fewer in number, making it easily identifiable.

✅ SINGLE SENSOR POD BELOW CHIN

If you see a Tomcat with guide vanes and the F110 engine, then you can infer that it isn’t an F-14A. But to tell the difference between an F-14B and an F-14D, you’ll need to examine the sensors located below the chin.

Similar to the A-variant, the F-14B only has a single sensor pod located below its nose. The B model only had one true configuration with the Tactical Camera System (TCS), however, it may have an Aerodynamic Cover. This image from M.A.T.S. best shows the only possible sensor pod configurations for the F-14 A and B. The bottom two diagrams represent the B-variant.

F-14D Super Tomcat

NUMBER BUILT: 55 aircraft (37 new, 18 upgraded F-14As)

UPGRADES BEGAN: 1991

The F-14D, much like the F-14B, featured many avionics upgrades, including a new AN/APG-71 radar radar to replace the AWG-9 used in the A and B-variants and digital avionics systems. The D-variant, also called the Super Tomcat, featured the same F110-GE-400 engine used on the B-variant. There were many other upgrades to the F-14 Tomcat’s systems in this variant.

MAIN VARIANT FEATURES:

F110-GE-400 engine

AN/APG-71 radar

Glass cockpit

IDENTIFYING FEATURES:

❌ NO GLOVE VANES

As stated in the section for the A-variant and the B-variant, the glove vanes were welded shut and completely disconnected on all existing Tomcats. On new builds, however, they weren’t even included in the design. The rebuilds, however, might have the glove vanes if they were not removed during the rebuild process. F-14Ds upgraded from F-14As may also be designated F-14D(R)s, where R stands for rebuild.

✅ LARGE NOZZLE EHAUST FEATHERS

Many of the F-14Ds were rebuilt F-14As, so it’s a little tricky to tell the difference sometimes. The easiest way, similar to the F-14B, is the F110 engine nozzle’s large turkey feathers. In comparison to the TF30 engine, the turkey feathers are significantly larger and fewer in number.

✅ TWO SENSOR PODS BELOW CHIN

The main differentiating feature between the F-14B and D variants is the sensor pods located below the chin of the aircraft. This variant features two sensor pods as opposed to the one sensor pod of previous variants. This allows the aircraft to have both the Infra-Red Seeker pod and the Tactical Camera System (TCS). The F-14D is the only variant to have both, making it the easiest way to distinguish it from other variants.

[aroacedavestrider]

where in the world do you live where you call it a hydroslurp???? that is a WATER FOUNTAIN

original poll by @t4tfaggot

[quick-drawn]

i'm just saying, if you're like me and have had 3 concussions within the span of a year and have trouble thinking and remembering things now, word hippo is a life saver —

[the-gooftroop]

gonna be honest dont love that there is some kind of resurgence of like, children on this site demanding personal information or some kind of ‘proof’ from complete strangers on the internet before we’re allowed to like…make jokes about ourselves? that do not effect them at all? like who gives a fuck if someone doesn’t have a caard or whatever the fuck to reveal all the intimate details of their lives and medical histories. i don’t care if u wanna post ur whole ass social security number and ur biggest weaknesses or whatever but personally I enjoy my privacy AND my dumb gay little jokes about autism and the myriad of other ways ive been nerfed since conception and no one owes you an explanation or proof

[franavu]

Being a Dutch Jew, here is some information about the violence in Amsterdam that is either common knowledge in the Netherlands, or is from some sources in Dutch that might not be commonly available for an international audience.

First of all about hooliganism, Amsterdam's football club Ajax is known as a 'joodenclub', a 'jewclub', because Amsterdam used to have a large jewish minority, many of whom were supporters of the club, and because several Dutch Jews were members of the team at one point. Ajax supporters take pride in this name. Because of this, there is a good relationship between Ajax and Macabbi, and the match was considered at low risk for football related violence and supporters of both teams mixed freely on the train back to the city center. In fact, only a pro-palestine protest was moved away from the stadium, because the police had recieved information that 'harde kern' Ajax hooligans were planning to stop that demonstration.

On that note, I have seen mixed information on what the Macabbi supporters were singing, but regardless, because Ajax is known as a jewclub, a common chant among the fans of opposing Dutch teams is "Hamas, hamas, alle joden aan het gas," or "Hamas, hamas, all the jews to the gas." Yes, a chant heard at pro-palestine protest is originally from Dutch football. Authorities have been cracking down on it in recent years, but a cursory google found people being arrested over it as recently as may 2023. Somehow, jews have never attacked random supporters of opposing teams at matches where this was chanted. Any Dutch person trying to justify things would be well aware of this.

About media coverage, I get my news about Amsterdam from Het Parool, a left-of-center, Amsterdam-based newspaper, that grew out of a WWII resistance paper. This is the current (about 16:30 Dutch time) front page of the newspaper website. In it the violence is described as an 'antisemitische klopjacht' an antisemitic manhunt. Most articles about it are paywalled, but firefox screenreader mode can bypass it.

Finally, I recognised a lot of the terminology in intenational news coverage from yesterday's press conference by Mayor Halsema (the woman in the picture above), which was also shown live by the dutch public bradcaster. In it an AP reporter asks in Dutch about Macabbi provocations, and they partially quote the police chief's answer, but not Mayor Halsma who came in right after, and said that the violence was in no way justifiable. I'm linking the full YouTube video of the press conference below. It is mostly in Dutch, and I have no idea about the quality of the autotranslation, but at about the 30 min. mark an Al Jazeera reporter asks a similar question in English, and the Mayor's answer in English is very clear.

[apas-95]

tumblr is fundamentally the 'hey op wtf does this mean' website. much of the good, classic examples of tumblr humour are from a specific source - inside jokes and insider terminology being spread outside their sphere, and being received by those not in-the-know as simple comedic absurdism.

in this same manner, tumblr is very susceptible to reactionary sentiments, because the userbase's response to seeing something they don't understand is to laugh and repeat it - which is how a thousand fandom bloggers reblogged a Super Funny screenshot of a channer with a racially-categorised folder of peoples' selfies he collected, using 4chan's homegrown slur for arabic people, 'kebabs', and just blithely laughed along at how silly it was, guessing about which nation such a non-sequitur could possibly be referring to; or how 'reject modernity, embrace tradition' became a casual utterance, because tumblr users just gormlessly parroted a phrase they saw that sounded funny, without giving even two seconds of thought to it; or how 'la creatura' proliferated so much despite its origins being such an absurdly racist image that the average tumblr user might not even be able to identify half the different bigotries at play.

tumblr is a website where, beyond simply not caring to look into things they don't understand, the userbase takes pride in not understanding things, they take not understanding things they oppose to be a sign of moral purity, and they rely on not understanding things they like as a singular source of humour. it is a website where using the word 'transmisogyny' elicits a response of 'none of these words are in the bible'; and using the word 'troon' elicits 'haha what does that even mean it sounds like a teletubby #reblog'.

[raointean]

Silmarillion Survey Essay!

My essay was due last night (submitted it with 6 minutes to spare!) and my professor said I could post it to Tumblr if I wanted to. It's divided into four sections, all marked. The first section is the introduction where I explain the point of the survey, who I studied, and why. The second section is the methods I used to design the survey, get answers, record answers, and control for variables. The third section is results, where I highlight several of the questions I thought would be most stratifying and explain what I actually found (it has graphs!). The fourth section is the discussion where I talk about what I found and what conclusions I drew from that.

I'd love to hear all of your thoughts on the results and my conclusions!

Introduction

            For this project, I looked into age (and length of time in fandom, in one case) affected knowledge and attitudes about fandom language. I investigated several terms and phrases, both from fandom at large and from the Silmarillion fandom specifically. The group I studied was the fandom of The Silmarillion on Tumblr because I am intimately familiar with that internet space (and could therefore phrase the questions in a way that would be understood) and because the majority of Archiveofourown.org (a popular fanfiction website) users are also Tumblr users.

            For the purposes of this paper, I am defining the Silmarillion fandom as a community of practice. The Wenger-Trayner article, “Communities of practice a brief introduction”, defines a community of practice as an entity with three parts: domain, community, and practice. The domain is “an identity defined by a shared domain of interest” (Wenger-Trayner 2). The domain in this case is The Silmarillion. As The Silmarillion is a history book set in a fictional universe, it is incredibly dry at times (there is an entire chapter titled “Of Beleriand and its Realms” which deals mostly with geography) so anyone who reads it by choice is necessarily interested in the work. The second part, community, is made up of “members [that] engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information” (Wenger-Trayner 2). Most fandoms engage in discourse/discussion, create transformative art (mostly written or visual, but I have seen musical as well) and exchange craft advice to better each other’s creative work, but due to the almost academic nature of the Silmarillion fandom, we exchange background lore knowledge, additions to Tolkien’s conlangs, translations, timelines, and character sheets in addition to the regular fandom activities. Finally, the Silmarillion fandom also has a shared practice, defined as “They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice” (Wenger-Trayner 2). As mentioned above, the Silmarillion fandom has shared resources (such as tolkiengateway.net, Nerd of the Rings on YouTube, as well as several established “fandom elders” who are happy to answer questions), stories, established characterizations for “only-mentioned-once-in-a-footnote” type characters, settled linguistic debates, and several research-oriented blogs (such as two of my own) that record niche or new knowledge about either Tolkien’s work or the fandom itself. Almost all of the above (with the possible exception of the website and the youtuber previously mentioned) is unpaid hobby work.

            When doing this survey, I expected to find a rather steep difference between older and younger members of fandom regarding their knowledge of fandom terminology. I expected the 18-25 age group to be the most knowledgeable of fandom terms with the under 18 group to be only slightly behind them and the 26-30 group a slightly further way behind the under 18 group. For the groups over 30, I anticipated that the rate of knowledge would sharply decline and that older fans would be unfamiliar with fandom terminology for the most part. I was… incorrect.

Methods

            There are eight questions highlighted in this paper. The first chart (Figure 1.) is the total percentage of answers that amounted to “I don’t know”, filtered by age. The first table (Figure 2.) looks at the people who did not know the term “Isekai” based on whether or not they were native speakers of English or live in Asia (given that “Isekai” is a Japanese word). The second table (Figure 3.) compares the percentage of people who mentioned that the word “angst” is also present in everyday German, categorized by German speakers and non-German speakers. The third table (Figure 4.) examines attitudes towards the anti/pro-ship terms based on age. The second chart (Figure 5.) examines attitudes towards the term “omegaverse” separated by age. The fourth table (Figure 6.) compares groups of people who could define the difference between “peredhel” and “peredhil”, separated by how long they have participated in the fandom surrounding the Silmarillion fandom. The third chart (Figure 7a.) looks at people who understand the phrase “Fëanor did nothing wrong” as a joke, filtered by age. Finally, the fourth chart (Figure 7b.) shows the percentage of people who used the phrase “tongue-in-cheek” in the 31-40 group as opposed to other age groups (that one was not explicitly asked for in the survey; I simply noticed a steep trend while dissecting the results from the “Fëanor did nothing wrong” question).

            I compiled all of these questions (along with several others) in a google form as a three-part survey. The first part was comprised of basic demographic questions, the second of general fandom terms and phrases, and the third of terms and phrases specific to fanfiction of The Silmarillion. The 418 responses were recorded and examined in Google sheets, which I used to filter the demographic information for ease of synthetization.

            The group I examined was people who participate in the Silmarillion fandom on Tumblr. I chose this group because I am familiar with them, because they are the most likely to be aware of these terms (due to the large overlap between Tumblr and Archive Of Our Own), and because fandom language is (to the best of my knowledge) not well studied. I was able to isolate this group by only posting the survey to Tumblr itself. Tumblr posts are only viewable to Tumblr users, so even if someone were to post a link to the post elsewhere, the only people able to access the survey would be Tumblr users. I further attempted to control by including several fandom related and The Silmarillion-specific questions in the demographic portion of the survey. Anyone who completed the demographic portion would have been well aware of the nature of the survey by the end, regardless of how poorly they understood the original survey posting. These measures, of course, did not stop everyone. I had a few respondents who submitted only the demographic portion or the demographic and general fandom portions. Luckily, due to the Google Sheets functions, such responses were relatively easy to filter out.

Results

(Figure 1. A chart observing, out of all 16,065 answers, how many equate to “I don’t know?” Under 18: 14.24%, 18-25: 5.9%, 26-30: 7.43%, 31-40: 9.17%, 41-50: 13.63%, 51-60: 7.3%, 61-70: 9.7%)

(Figure 2. A table comparing different categories of people and what percentage of them are unfamiliar with the term “Isekai”; a Japanese term which is most commonly defined as “a trope in which a character somehow travels from the mundane ‘real’ universe into a fictional one.” 23.08% of native English speakers are unfamiliar with the term. 27.07% of non-native English speakers are unfamiliar with the term. 20% of respondents who live in Asia are unfamiliar with the term.)

(Figure 3. A table comparing different categories who mention that “Angst” (defined in fandom context as “dramatic, serious, and sometimes dark”) is an everyday word in German. 12.73% of German speakers mentioned it. 1.38% of people who either do not speak German, or did not mention it in their language background, mentioned it.)

(Figure 4. A table comparing the attitudes of different age groups to the terms “anti-ship” and “pro-ship”. These terms are hotly debated in fandom. Those on the anti side of the debate define anti-ship as “being morally against abuse and pedophilia,” and pro-ship as “excusing abuse and pedophilia in fandom.” Those on the pro side of the debate define anti-ship as “puritanical and chronically online people who can’t separate reality and fiction” and pro-ship as “letting people ship whatever they want and separating reality from fiction.” Those under 18 are 4% anti, 4% pro, and 92% neutral. Those from 18-25 are 2.44% anti, 29.27% pro, and 68.29% neutral. Those from 26-30 are 0% anti, 33.67% pro, and 66.33% neutral. Those from 31-40 are 2.2% anti, 26.37% pro, and 71.43% neutral. Those from 41-50 are 0% anti, 46.15% pro, and 53.85% neutral. Those from 51-60 are 12.5% anti, 37.5% anti, and 50% neutral. Those from 61-70 are 0% anti, 50% pro, and 50% neutral (although, admittedly, there are only two respondents in that group.))

(Figure 5. A chart that shows the rate at which respondents cringed (using phrases such as “please don’t make me define this,” “oh god,” and “Nuh uh. Sorry man. Sweet baby rays good lord.”*) within their responses while defining “Omegaverse” (an erotica subgenre within fandom based on outdated wolfpack dynamics. Very popular, but also very taboo). Under 18: 16%, 18-25: 6.71% 26-30: 7.07%, 31-40: 6.45%, 41-50: 12%, 51-60: 12.5%)

*All real responses I received

(Figure 6: A chart exploring the differences between who can correctly identify the difference between the terms “peredhel” (half-elf, singular) and “peredhil” (half-elves, plural) based on how long they have been in the fandom. Those who have been in the fandom for less than a year are 31.71% correct and 14.63% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 1-2 years are 71.67% correct and 10% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 3-4 years are 74.44% correct and 7.78% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 5-9 years are 65.93% correct and 9.89% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 10-14 years are 73.85% correct and 12.31% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 15-19 years are 76.92% correct and 11.59% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 20-24 years are 69.57% correct and 13.04% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 25-29 years are 100% correct and 0% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 30-34 years are 75% correct and 0% incorrect. Those who have been in the fandom for 35-39 years are 100% correct and 0% incorrect.)

(Figure 7a. A chart observing who sees the phrase “Fëanor did nothing wrong as ironic” divided by age. Under 18: 23.53%, 18-25: 35.77%, 26-30: 36.9%, 31-40: 42.67%, 41-50: 22.22%, 51-60: 37.5%)

(Figure 7b. A chart observing the percentages of age groups who used the phrase “tongue-in-cheek” while answering the above question. 18-25: 1.84%, 26-30: 2.04%, 31-40: 9.78)

Discussion

            Observing these results, I can see that, while there is some level of stratification by age and length of time spent in the fandom, it is not nearly as dramatic as I had expected it to be. These results strongly demonstrate the power of communities of practice. These people, across ages and continents, communicate so often and so deeply, that nearly all terms are understood to the same degree by everyone, and nearly everyone has similar stances on divisive pan-fandom debates.

            Were I to do this study again, or a similar study in the future, I would probably narrow the purview by a lot. I would ask fewer questions (or at least, only ask questions of a single type), compare them against only one demographic question, and sincerely consider making them multiple choice. That being said, I do not regret this survey having short answer questions. There were several definitions of several terms that I never could have come up with in a million years. Synthesizing the short answers may have taken more effort on my part, but I learned a lot about my fandom.

@proship-anti-discussion (ship debate was mentioned)

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hi So I go to a Christian school so get tonnes of sex misinformation on the daily

but the other day my bible teacher was talking about porn addiction (bad start I know) and I wanted to know if what he said was in any way accurate

he said that when someone first sees any kind of pornagrhaphic content it sticks in their mind and that’s all it takes to want to see more, does this have any basis in reality whatsoever?

hi anon,

well, yes and no.

if you enjoyed what you were looking at - if it made you feel aroused, if it was interesting to look at, even if it was funny! a lot of erotica is funny! - then sure, it may stay in your memory and make you want to see more. you know, the same way that having a tasty little snack might make you want to have another tasty little snack, or watching an episode of a cool TV show might make you want to watch another episode, or listening to a great new song might make you want to listen to it over and over. porn doesn't have a unique death grip on your brain, your brain just likes things that are exciting and enjoyable. being turned on can feel good, and there's literally nothing wrong with that - on a biological level we're wired for it, since sex is necessary to pass on our genes and continue the species. and even if the sex we're interested in isn't reproductive (sex alone, sex where no one can get pregnant, sex with protection against pregnancy, etc) your brain doesn't care - that shit feels good regardless. so, yes, wanting to return to things that make you feel aroused is as normal as, like, wanting another sip of a tasty drink or to keep playing your favorite video game. as long as it's not taking over your entire life, it's harmless.

crucially, it's not like this is a power that all porn has over every person. porn that does nothing for you - kinks that aren't your kinks, actors or characters using terminology that turns you off, scenarios that simply aren't sexy to you - is incredibly easy to just look away from, and it's not like you're doomed to an instant boner every time you see something even a little bit sexual. people read erotic novels or fanfic in public all the time, and on this very website it used to be incredibly common to encounter gifs of random porn among your scrolling (still possible in some corners of tumblr, but less frequent now). it was very simple see two (or more) people hardcore boning on the dash, say "huh," and then just keep trucking, no worse for the wear.

in my experience I've found that the people who have the most difficulty with obsessing over sexual images are the people who have been most thoroughly trained to think of sex as deviant and dangerous, which makes it very upsetting to see and difficult to get out of your head. folks who are able to conceptualize sex as just a thing that happens that people do sometimes tend to have much less trouble with those kinds of repetitive thoughts.

[sephirthoughts]

Sephiroth's Weight

I have been thinking about this a lot today none of your business is why and I have come to a conclusion, based on 100% scientific facts, solid evidentiary support, and total delusion: Sephiroth weighs, at the very least, 400 lbs.

I don't want to bog us down in too much scientific terminology, but that is what all of us here in the research lab refer to as a "brick shithouse" of a man.

Evidence, you say? Factual support, you demand? This is my lab who are you to make demands! But I do actually have some.

So, according to a bunch of fitness websites, the ideal weight for a 6'7" dude would be 270 lbs. However, men with a more muscular physique, such as bodybuilders, tend to weigh quite a bit more.

This is Dutch actor and tallest bodybuilder in the world, Olivier Richters, for context. He is 7'2" and weighs 350lbs.

And here is totally shredded hunk of 100% certified bio-engineered beef Sephiroth, who clocks in at between 6'7" and 7'0" (by the remake character models, not the outdated and poorly translated old guides).

We know he's slightly shorter than Olivier, and as we can see, he is a bit leaner, but not by a whole damn lot. So, why do I say he must weigh substantially more?

Two words: Ho-jo. That's right, these Hojo-made super-soldiers are built tough as fuck. Even normal humans increase their bone density with regular exercise, and these guys basically live to work out. They are constantly in training or war, lift huge amounts of weight, sustain extreme impacts of all kinds, and cut missiles in half with swords.

No amount of increased muscle strength would matter a damn, if your tissues and bones couldn't handle the extraordinary strain, so it stands to very good reason that due to the genetic fuckery and the mako treatments, their muscle and bone density is much higher than a regular human's. How much higher? How the hell would I know, I'm not a boneologist.

That's why my scientifically magnificent and flawlessly researched rough estimate is around 400 lbs for Sephi, at the very least. Am I right? Maybe. Am I fixating on a detail no one else cares about? Probably. Was this entire post an excuse to post a bunch of shirtless pictures of Sephiroth? WHAT ARE YOU THE COPS?

Anyway, here are some more shirtless pictures of Sephiroth.

[creature-wizard]

How the mythology of starseeds, indigo children, crystal children, rainbow children, etc. harms kids

Something I didn't talk about in my last post is how New Age is often harmful to young children, so I'm going to talk about it here.

Here's a quick rundown on terminology for anyone who doesn't already know:

Starseed: An alien soul incarnated in a human body, typically for the purpose of "raising the Earth's vibrational frequency" (read: convert people to New Age beliefs).

Indigo/Crystal/Rainbow Child: A child born with a spiritually advanced soul, whose life purpose is to bring the New Age into being.

If you do a quick websearch on any of these terms, you'll find that the alleged signs of being one of these overlaps with traits associated with autism and ADHD. Many websites will just straight-out say that these children are commonly mistaken for having autism or ADHD. Sometimes you'll find people who claim autism and ADHD don't actually exist at all, but were created by the conspiracy to control and suppress these kids.

What often happens is that New Age parents see their autistic and ADHD children displaying these "signs," and decide that their kids are one of these special souls. So rather than giving their children the help and support they actually need, they project and burden them with incredibly high expectations. We're talking about parents expecting their kids to be able to work miracles or have access to all of this incredibly advanced wisdom that they simply just don't.

Various people I've seen on this website who were raised by New Age parents have spoken about how this kind of thing messed them up. They basically have religious trauma from it. Deciding that your kid has special powers and a special purpose because they meet a very spurious criteria is not okay.

When I was a kid, I absolutely would have fit most definitions of a starseed. I believed in magic, fairies, aliens, and psychic powers. Sci-fi and fantasy was my jam. I loved to draw and play elaborate games of pretend. The idea of helping and healing people appealed to me majorly. And, well, I had undiagnosed autism and ADHD.

But you know what I didn't have?

The kind of special spiritual gifts and innate wisdom people associate with starseeds and the rest.

In fact, as far as I could tell, everyone around me seemed to be more psychically and spiritually gifted than me, for no reason I could ever work out. It was actually kind of traumatizing, because I felt like something was wrong with me.

So yeah, deciding a kid must be some special, extra-magical kind of soul because they have certain characteristics and interests is really not good. Parents who do this are essentially forcing their own egos onto their children, who will very likely end up traumatized from the whole ordeal.

[windienine]

Lol. Male and female socialization, aka gender, are material realities, it doesn't matter how you felt it didn't feel, even when you narrate instances of violence due to gender non conformity you are narrating gendered socialization. You cannot be a materialist only when convenient. It doesn't matter that you feel or Don't feel white, you were still socialized as such. How intellectually dishonest. A trans-man groveling and performing the "AFAB" guilt expected from them in the community does not change reality

7/10 bait, you're not engaging with me or what i stand for in good faith, but coming to me with M/L gendercrit is a riot.

i'll say something really basic for anyone else who might feel manipulated by this train of thought:

if we take it that gender is a social construct and that social constructs are part of what dictate people's material reality, then we've also got to accept that "material reality" doesn't necessarily mean something that's set in stone by the heavens above. the gendercrit movement on this website also regularly bastardizes the phrase and uses it as a synonym for "biological reality," which also isn't as fixed as some folks might think.

even if the social standards i was held to as a child were feminine standards, that doesn't make me somehow more ontologically female than women. are you, at current, more socially defined by the career you wanted when you were 8, or the one you have now? the financial or ability strata you were in as a child, or the ones you're in now? the social standards i'm navigating right now at age 26 are male social standards, like it or not. they're also queer male social standards. it's a whole thing.

gender is real-as-ordained-by-the-gods when you engage with it as a cis person and fake-and-misguided idealism when i engage with it as a trans man? get over yourself.

and: "the community." genius here thinks there's a global trans coalition that agrees on all of its politics and terminology. yeah. hit the nail on the head. as a matter of fact, the transgender god-empress does give me another eleven seconds of headpats every time i grovel in her presence and renounce my womb and i love to do it. you're so jealous!

the false equivalence with racial politic is also a classic. go back to college and try some of these arguments there; you can clearly afford to if you have the free time to bother me.

[andypantsx3]

my #1 conspiracy theory about this website is that i think hyv gamers just make up terminology to throw around to see if any of us normies notice talking about weakness shred and nihility unit what are u even saying IM ONTO U

[transmutationisms]

thots on astrology? related, thoughts on mbti?

k i like that you guys just pop in my inbox from time to time and invite me to run my mouth about topics and concepts. like truly what else is this website for.

anyway astrology (& sorry, most of what i know here pertains specifically to europe in the middle ages onward) is genuinely such a bizarro historical case of a science whose core epistemological presupposition (a geocentrist and specifically anthropocentrist cosmology) has completely fallen out of favour in both popular and professional discourse, and i don't think most people appreciate how weird it is for astrology to continue existing with this degree of popular and mainstream participation lol. like most fringe science actually bothers to have some semblence of its own reactionary epistemology to fall back on; astrology just doesn't seem to care. it would be like if the medical guilds fully endorsed the position that blood is circulated in the human body by the heart, but then also recommended as treatments for clotting disorders medical practices that only make sense on the supposition that the liver is the origin of all blood and is continuously creating more of it. like no other science that i can think of tries to have it both ways to the extent astrology does. like, one reason phrenology and eugenics are bad comparison points here is because they're very much copacetic with post-enlightenment naturalism and evolutionary transpositions in the social sciences. astrology, like, intellectually is not and yet here it is anyway. ideology innit.

anyhow i assume the reason you asked about this in conjunction with mbti is because today's astrology is largely purporting to provide psychological analysis and is therefore more similar to a system like mbti than to the historical use of star-reading as a predictive science. obviously both astrology and mbti are deeply reactionary in this respect and belong to a larger trend toward attempting to categorise, measure, and taxonomise the psyche, tho an important difference here is that mbti has hereditarian elements, which no form of astrology that i know of does. i think astrology's shift in the personal-psychological direction has to do with a few different factors, including medical astrological practice (orthodox in the european middle ages, then varying degrees of heterodox from the early modern period onward) and self-help movements in the 20th century.

but in any case it, mbti, and similar attempts at psychometry are, like, staggeringly essentialist in conception and practice, and i do think their current popularity reflects some deeply reactionary tendencies amongst people who often (not always) consider themselves otherwise progressive or leftist. it's honestly kind of worrisome how many people will jump on a project that explicitly aims to define static and immutable human 'types' as long as it's dressed in quasi-spiritual or psy-scientific terminology. like i do think we all need to pause and think about the ideological ends and consequences of how we talk about each other and our bodies, minds, and birth circumstances 😵‍💫

[what-even-is-thiss]

This is rather personal so I completely understand if you don't want to respond to it, but how do you manage being transgender in Christian spaces?

I have so many very close trans friends who I would love to invite to church and whatnot with me, but I'm always very concerned about possibly putting them in dangerous and uncomfortable situations.

I do my research before entering most Christian spaces I’m unfamiliar with. I most often stick to ELCA spaces because the organization as a whole is queer positive and I know what symbols and terminology individual congregations use to indicate they’re queer friendly.

I think what’s good to remember is that individual congregations and organizations within the same denomination can have different policies. Like there’s some individual ELCA churches that are homophobic and some individual Baptist churches that are queer positive.

If you don’t know how an individual space feels about queer people it might be worth just asking the pastor or priest. Also in a church setting there’s a difference between being tolerant, accepting, and affirming.

Tolerant means they don’t like you at all but they won’t kick you out. Accepting can often be a we’ll accept you and even be friendly but we might still quietly think it’s wrong. Affirming means they’re positive about it. Yes it’s okay that you’re gay and we don’t care that you’re gay at all. We might even celebrate it.

Different denominations might also have symbols they use on websites or church signs to mark themselves as a queer friendly spot. The ELCA has reconciling in Christ (RIC) congregations for example that use this symbol:

If that symbol is on their website or posted somewhere in the church that means the congregation has voted to have an official policy of being welcoming to lgbt+ people.

Other denominations might have different policies about it. I know from living in urban Texas for a while that affirming Baptist and Methodist churches don’t generally have subtlety about it when they’re enthusiastically pro lgbt because they’ve got a reputation for being nasty towards the gays and so when they’re accepting they tend to advertise that so people know.

When in doubt though, ask. And judge for yourself whether their answer is good enough for you. Some people are fine going to a church that just quietly ignores their gayness but other people want full acceptance and affirmation upfront.

When you invite your trans friends into religious spaces do your homework first and give them an idea of the full picture so they can judge for themselves. Some people will walk stealth into the mouth of conservative hell and some people will wanna wear a rainbow flag during the service. Just make sure your friends know what they’re walking into.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Arno Rosenfeld at The Forward:

The Heritage Foundation plans to “identify and target” volunteer editors on Wikipedia who it says are “abusing their position” by publishing content the group believes to be antisemitic, according to documents obtained by the Forward. Employees of Heritage, the conservative think tank that produced the Project 2025 policy blueprint for the second Trump administration, said they plan to use facial recognition software and a database of hacked usernames and passwords in order to identify contributors to the online encyclopedia, who mostly work under pseudonyms. It’s not clear exactly what kind of antisemitism the Wikipedia effort, which has not been previously reported, is intended to address. But in recent months some Jewish groups have complained about a series of changes on the website relating to Israel, the war in Gaza and its repercussions. In June, a panel of Wikipedia editors declared the Anti-Defamation League a “generally unreliable” source of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, limiting when the organization can be cited in Wikipedia articles. And there was an outcry this fall among some Jewish scholars and pro-Israel activists over edits to Wikipedia’s entry for Zionism to add references to “colonization.” [...] The Heritage Foundation sent the pitch deck outlining the Wikipedia initiative to Jewish foundations and other prospective supporters of Project Esther, its roadmap for fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism. The slideshow says the group’s  “targeting methodologies” would include creating fake Wikipedia user accounts to try to trick editors into identifying themselves by sharing personal information or clicking on malicious tracking links that can identify people who click on them. It is unclear whether this has begun.

[...] Allegations of bias Wikipedia has long faced claims from conservatives that it has a liberal bias. Chaya Raichik, the Orthodox former real estate broker behind “Libs of TikTok,” has assailed Wikimedia’s spending on diversity programming, for example. And a June study from the right-leaning Manhattan Institute found a “mild to moderate tendency” for Wikipedia to more negatively describe some conservative public figures. Several prominent Jewish groups have also expressed concern that Wikipedia is tilted against Israel. A World Jewish Congress has released a report in March said the site’s articles about the Israel-Hamas war were biased in “terminology, framing and lack of context, one-sided sources and critical omissions,” while Aish.com, an Orthodox news website, said in November that it had been “hijacked by digital jihadists.” In May, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal ran a cover story titled “Wokepedia?” that described “seven tactics Wikipedia editors used to spread anti-Israel bias.” The article said that the term “anti-imperialism” had been added to the Hamas page as one of the Palestinian terror group’s ideologies, and the term “antisemitism” removed. Neither term is currently on the Hamas page; editors frequently discuss and change the content of controversial articles.

Radical right-wing organization The Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther is planning to identify and target Wikipedia editors as part of its project to combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism. In reality, such a campaign would serve to intimidate Wikipedia for its alleged pro-Palestinian bias.

[fans4wga]

Strike terminology: a few tips to avoid confusion and misinformation

[image ID: tweet from Maggie Lovitt -> SAG-AFTRA IS ON STRIKE @/maggieofthetown that says, "I know “scab” is really catchy and everyone just learned it this week, but a lot of you outside of the union(s) are using it wrong. So wrong. If you don’t know what it means, just don’t say anything at all!" end ID.]

-> What constitutes "scabbing" and "crossing the picket line" varies depending on the strike and industry.

-> The WGA and SAG-AFTRA have given guidelines for their unions, so check on those (and maybe check with union members) before accusing anyone of scabbing.

-> For instance, theatrical actors are under a different union's jurisdiction so acting in stageplays is not scabbing.

When in doubt, ask a union member or strike captain, or contact the union via their website. The real enemy is the studios and CEOs, not the working-class actor and writer.