#who don't realize that just because they're paying for an op

[laf-outloud]

https://www.tumblr.com/laf-outloud/732195772886548480/is-jensen-maybe-fatphobic-he-doesnt-seem-to

I’m on the bigger side, still in the "more average" area but bigger, and i have a handful of ops with Jensen where he has a big toothy smile, a few where he has a smirk thing, and a couple where he looks icy. I know I’m just one case, but for me, I think he has smiled more often than not. I have a couple ops that aren’t smiling exactly, but he has a nice expression. I think it’s that Jensen tends to hide it less when he’s feeling off. I think the smirky is also a bit of a go-to for him. I have a few more ops with Jared than Jensen (some with both together), and I actually have more big smiles from Jensen, and only one toothy smile from Jared. But, Jared has leaned in closer and hugged me tighter than Jensen. And he’s usually closed mouth smiling.

I agree that they both tap into your own energy a good deal. At my last con, I was just in a good mood and just happy to see them, and both were very friendly, and snuggly in the ops. I think it depends on the general con atmosphere and the photo session atmosphere, too.

The only ops where I think Jensen tends to look really annoyed are heller ones, or when someone is over-stepping in some way.

Thank you for sharing your experience, anon. I've heard that when Jensen turns on the charm (the big welcoming smile), it can be quite entrancing so I'm glad you got to experience that! And of course, the Jared hug that's over far too soon and you wonder if it even happened (at least, that's how it was for me).

"The only ops where I think Jensen tends to look really annoyed are heller ones, or when someone is over-stepping in some way." Completely agree and I have to question why anyone would jeopardize a good photo for their own self-interest or internet fandom points, because, if they're paying attention at all, they'd see how annoyed Jensen looks in those.

I can only imagine how draining it can be for the actors to be engaged for so many photo ops in so little time, especially at these multi-fandom cons, so it's not surprising that they feed off of the atmosphere and other people, and react accordingly (and sometimes with a go-to expression). They are still human, after all.

Also... a snuggly photo op is a wonderful description and sounds very delightful!

[phoenixwrites]

I grew up conservative and Republican. I'm talking, serious conservative values, as in, my father considered Fox News "too liberal" a news source. My dad could forgive me leaving Christianity, but me registering Democrat? That was a bridge too far.

I saw a post essentially claiming that Trump is the only conservative choice for the election, the only one who truly cares for the American people. And it riled up my Old Guard Republican feelings (however latent) because no. However Republican and conservative you are (a minority on this website, I know), Trump is not and never has been Republican and conservative. You are deluding yourself.

Why do I say that?

Let's go down the list. (Please be aware, I am not defending conservatism--that ain't my political ideology anymore for the whole "they're trying to take away my loved ones' rights" issue. But for the sake of rhetorical strategy, bear with me.)

The claim that Trump isn't a part of the liberal elite is absurd. Trump has never felt dirt underneath his fingernails. Trump has never struggled to pay bills. Trump has paid for multiple abortions of his many affairs and mistresses. He is a draft dodger who mocked war heroes. He is a failed Hollywood celebrity that is grasping at fame. There is a reason Never Trump was popular among conservatives during the 2016 Republican primary.

My Vietnam veteran father warned me in 2008 that Putin wanted to reclaim the Soviet Union, that he was a dangerous dictator that put out hits on foreign journalists. Now he's posting videos of Putin doing judo on Facebook. It is insane that to me that the Republican party is so obviously doing a 180 after warning us for thirty years about Russia.

Trump only started caring about the pro-life movement when he realized he could manipulate them. His voting record is pro-choice. He has paid for abortions, had multiple affairs, and yes, is a serial rapist. None of this is pro-life.

Trump has insulted veterans, dishonored Arlington, and didn't have the balls to fight in Vietnam himself, ran away from the draft like a scared little boy. Now, sixty years later, he has the gall to attack Vietnam veterans and make claims on who is and isn't a war hero? He expects me to believe he gives two shits about veterans? Nah.

Trump does not care about Christianity or protecting Christian freedom. This is a big one. You are falling for a con. Trump is not and never has been a Christian; he just saw a malleable voting block. He has never asked for forgiveness from Christ the Savior and considers doing so weak. He has no relationship with Jesus. He does not pray. He had to have multiple "lessons" on Christianity with top Evangelical pastors to make him more palatable to Evangelicals.

Evangelical conservative Russell Moore penned multiple op-eds where he expressed bewilderment and betrayal that his community was blindly supporting a serial rapist that was antithetical to traditional Christian values. He isn't the only one. A large chunk of Evangelicals are sick and tired of defending a lying, cheating, coward and deluding themselves that he loved Jesus.

A significant portion of Trump's former cabinet has refused to endorse him. I cannot stress to you how wild that is to me. One thing about Republicans? They always vote for their candidate. No matter how much they dislike the candidate--that was the whole thing in 2016. A huge chunk of conservatives disliked Trump and thought him vile, but voted for him anyway because that's what you do when you're a Republican. The fact that so many are breaking away and calling him a danger to the republic? That's a big screaming deal.

Women are not safe around Trump. That used to be important to conservatives, protecting women from rapists--that was my dad's main reason for teaching me to shoot competitively.

If you support Trump, whatever. That's your insane delusional business.

But don't pretend that man is any kind of conservative or gives two shits about what true conservatives care about.

And if I may quote my Evangelical mama, "That man is going to Hell and I look forward to it."

[libraryspectre]

Oookay those are OP's original tags, can we stop spreading this post? I'm not trying to dogpile OP, which is why I cut off their url, I just want people to know the context of what they're reblogging. I kept seeing it on my dash and it occured to me that people may not realize that this post was not made in defense of trans men. The idiots OP is referring to are trans men talking about the difficulty in finding men's underwear that meet their needs.

This is in the same vein as that post mocking trans men for wanting jeans made specifically with trans men's bodies in mind. That post was more obviously mocking, I don't remember the exact wording but it said something about how trans men insist they need special jeans for their beautiful curvy hips or something like that. I think people were more quick to identify that as unkind and a bad-faith interpretation, because most trans men, and especially trans men who aren't feminine, obviously do not enjoy having curvy feminine hips. And speaking from experience, it is really difficult to find jeans with a masculine fit that are both durable and can accomodate hips, especially as a fatter guy.

This drowned post is not entirely incorrect, and I think people are reblogging because the reblog chain after it has some good info on finding men's underwear that fit. But OP's purpose is to mock trans men specifically for expressing frustration with men's underwear. Not only that, but in the tags they're calling us TERFs for it. And again, from experience, it isn't as simple as you might think! Most cheap boxers are a material that doesn't have much give, so if you have thick thighs they can be really uncomfortable or downright restrict your movement. Similarly, a lot of briefs don't work for me because the leg holes are uncomfortably tight. Then there's the period issue - I saw people claim you can put pads in boxers and boxer briefs just fine, but that's certainly not anything I've been able to make work. Boxer briefs and briefs also tend to have a lot of extra material at the front that doesn't look nice unless you're packing, which I don't really care about but I can see why it would upset some people. Basically, it is totally possible to find men's underwear that work, I've done it, but it took a lot of trial and error and I've made some compromises others might not be as willing to make. And it's not like you can return underwear once you've opened the package, so there's a financial sink to the trial-and-error process.

Basically, there's been something of a trend of mocking trans men for being frustrated with men's clothing, with the idea that we think we're special because we have beautiful feminine figures we want accomodated. I don't think I need to say why I really don't care for that take. Also, I know the underwear OP is talking about, and they are overpriced! But why do you care if a trans man wants a couple pairs of underwear that fit comfortably and are convenient for both packing and wearing a pad, even if he has to pay more for them? I guarantee most men are not filling their underwear drawer with these things, and again, even if someone is, why do you care so much??

[mercurygray]

I'm going to be a menace for the 'if they had a kid' meme and give you... Billie and Douglass 😏 Juno xx

...Juno, you can't just LEAVE that there, I need a damn backstory first.

It's when he moves to ops. He's been injured, he's been grounded, and she feels sorry for him. No one wants to move to move off the flight line like that. Anyway, THIS happens. He swears up down and six ways from Sunday he'll make it right, they'll get married straightaway, no one needs to know (except all the people who can add, she says crossly) Billie's not thrilled about being Mrs. Douglass but it's better than going home to her mother with a baby and no ring.

They won't let married women fly, they just won't, but Harding will bend a few rules and keep her on as an admin. She's going to stay in England anyway, there's no sense in sending her home, so the new Mrs. Douglass is now working in ops.

Baby comes. Molly's probably with her at the hospital, but it's long and it's hard and she didn't want this, she wanted a goddamn life, and the nurses are all very soothing, it's all right, love, but everyone curses their husbands. Billie almost says she didn't want a husband either but there's another contraction and the words never make it out.

They put him in her arms, all six or seven pounds of him, and she doesn't know what to do. She didn't want this.

Douglass is, of course, immediately in love. He wants to name him Jimmy Junior. Billie spits back that that's her son and he's going to have her name. So he's Mitchell James Douglass. Very Scots looking - hair starts coming in red.

But parental leave is not a thing in 1940, so Jim gets to go back to work and Billie is…at home, in a miserable married accommodation, with no help and no support and she's crying and the baby's crying and after a few weeks of this she finally realizes that it's not really this kid's fault and she's turning into her mother, which is the last thing in the world she wants to do, and finally starts putting effort in to love the little guy. He is hers. Her son.

(They'll divorce, after the war, when Mitch is four or so. They're just not suited. It was the war. Billie gets a job at an airline, eventually gets a chance to move to the European office in Berlin. Maybe meet an also divorced former paratrooper who loves dogs and women who don't settle. You know. As one does.)

Where were we?

Name: Mitchell James Douglass

Gender: Male

General Appearance: ruddy red hair, something of a cherub face, stocky like his dad.

Personality: Obstinate? He and his mom are pretty close but when he doesn't want to do a think he really doesn't want to do a thing.

Special Talents: Card tricks. He picked it up as a way to get people to pay attention to him.

Who they like better: Mom, but that's only because he doesn't see Dad very much. Jim loves his son a lot but eventually he recognizes that marriage was never going to work.

Who they take after more: Billie hates this, but Jim. He makes jokes to make people like him. He's a good kid, but there are times where he is just like his dad.

Personal Head canon: He has zero interest in flying, but loves Colonel Speirs' dogs.

Face Claim: Unsure.

[stupendousfoxthing]

I want to share a post making the rounds that made a lot of great points, but op dismisses the idea of any romantic relationships existing between any two members of the group in the replies. I will never be down with the "no ships are real" crowd because I can't think of a single valid (non-homophobic) reason to think a romance between two men is impossible. A romantic relationship between two people who met when they were young, worked and lived together for the better part of a decade, and enjoyed each other's company so much that when given the opportunity to build lives separate from that work STILL chose each other makes more sense than a lot of other things people will accept as perfectly reasonable (if it's a man and a woman of course). But the homophobia is just one layer to their dismissal, and the post hit on several others. There are so many layers to the shitty way this fandom treats Taekook and Taekookers. The video I shared earlier from an anon tells it like it is. Taekookers are not delusional to believe it's possible there is something there. No matter what antis would like you to believe, they are not literally brothers. Saying they are brothers is literally delusional (believing something is true when there is evidence to the contrary). There is a pattern of suspicious behavior going back years and only intensifying during solo era. I've talked about this before, but during the frenzy over the Dream premiere last year I saw something I thought was funny. I saw two people on Twitter talking about it, talking about Taekook fondly, and saying they felt like it had been a million years since they had seen them together. I realized then that they had no idea about all of the things that had happened with Taekook in the months prior to that. I started to wonder if we get called delusional just because people really do only pay attention to what is laid out in front of them, mostly in official content. Like...yeah, we probably do look delusional if you don't know about 95% of the things that have happened. This would tie back into how the fandom sees Tae as well, and why he is treated like an outsider. If you've been in the fandom for a while, you know how people who go against the company narrative in any way are treated. Tae does go against that narrative. He has talked about the more negative aspects of their position openly more than any other member. Why was he allowed to hint that things aren't all rosy between him and the company in the recent documentary? Look at how the fandom treats those who go against the company, and you will know. Taekook as a ship has a unique ability to create a perfect storm of animosity in this particular fandom that literally has training materials and guidelines written up for "baby ARMY". Layers. Homophobia. Company loyalty over everything. The spoon-fed narratives. The "outsider" and the "privileged" one dating? But they're awkward brothers... Taekookers get treated like monsters, no other group even comes close and it isn't because we're "shippers". I see evidence of that everyday. Other ships/shippers within the group have a free pass to do whatever they want. The fandom loves Namkook, for instance. You can openly romanticize/sexualize them and the fandom eats it up. Tons of people showed their ass with Tae/IU as well. It's not shipping that bothers them. It's Taekook. Taekook challenges what they've been led to believe. Taekookers shine a light on it and celebrate it. That's what pisses people off, and I do believe that when they actually look at Taekook they see it too. We bring something that makes them uncomfortable to their attention, something they'd rather not see or acknowledge. When a Taekook "moment" happens and we haven't even said anything yet but people are already bitching about the fact they can't enjoy it because they know Taekookers will be happy and celebrating? It's not us. It's Taekook as a pair that bothers them.

[bbeeohazardd]

i finally actually fully lined and colored(most of) my Sleepless doodles, but they're only au stuff yeah sorry got nothing in the back :/

anyway (almost) all of my Sleepless au stuff from @merklins and i's chitterings, shout out Merk i love chittering the mad scientists with you, i've been having so so much fun :)

now, under the cut, small details on what au is what, for some important context beforehand, these aus hinge off of our own interpretation of MST stuff and how Sleepless met the MST so yeah pff

First Page(with bonus regular Sleepless doodle)

"Villain" AU (Insomnia) - Sleepless never meets the MST and ends up getting trapped and experimented on by Black Mesa for a time before managing to escape and takes on a life of evil mad science

Mermaid AU - Just a mermaid au, this Black Mesa facility is a marine biology branch that repurposed an old oil rig for their facility, Sleepless ends up as a Luna Lionfish :)

Color Swap AU (Sleepwalk) - Basically generally the same as normal MST, but Sleepless and Doc have different reactions to events and Doc is the one that ends up exiled, it's that one au Mothra made that's technically not an au anymore lmao

Second Page(with bonus Monster AU Benrey):

Monster AU - Sleepless is unknowingly a Bogeyman and ends up moving to a town with other monsters only to end up realizing what he is, and he ends up living a life that is much happier and fuller with the MST :)

Swap AU (Elektro) - The actual swap au, everyone is swapped so Sleepless fell in goop and Doc ends up joining later, Doc ends up later getting cryogenics powers,,,also Sleepless is short because i need just this one thing /silly

Page Three:

Worldstop AU - Hohkay, so, basically, it's Worldstop with the MST BUT, only Doc and Sleepless are the ones with people controlling them, Emmett and Punz respectively, MST are trying to get through the ResCas and Sleepless is a soldier who, for reasons unknown to him, isn't getting any of the orders from the rest of his squad, and he takes it upon himself to travel with the MST to keep them safe(lol lmao) because he thinks they're just regular scientists who need help, and he ends up pretty close with them, but now he and Doc are going through the shared agony of being the avatars for two nerds with a strained friendship playing Half-Life Co-Op while still dealing with the ResCas and the dawning realization that they're in a video game, ngl i don't know a ton about regular Worldstop au so sorry if this isn't completely accurate to that

In Your Dreams Bad End AU (Vigilia) - :) Sleepless fucked up, and now he has to pay the price by working for G-Man

[widowed-mistress]

Okay! As per my last post, things I think people should add to their Steven Universe and Gravity Falls stories.

Grown Up Steven during Events of Gravity Falls

Steven does not need to be in every adventure

Yes, I want him to cultivate a relationship with the twins, BUT I want him to have his own life

I don't just want him to be their protector because they need to learn lessons on their own too

Give. Him friends!!! Wendy and hee group could potentially be friends with him since they're similar to the Cool Kids, BUT u like the Cool Kids, Wendy and her friends doesn't really *think* ahead about other people

For an example of a stark contrast, the Cool Kids take seat belt safety seriously AND grilled the gems for being too hard on Steven. "He's just a kid!" One of the few times an adult stood up for him.

Meanwhile Wendy, who I love very much so, took advantage of Mabel to get an afternoon off from work with full pay after trashing the Mystery Shack with her friends. The Cool Kids have responsibilities and passions they take seriously and realize the sacrifices of them. That doesn't mean they don't act like teenagers and hurt people while being selfish, but they take more accountable. I imagen Steven trying to befriend them only to realize this and back away, making friends with Soos and Stan since their accountability standards are higher.

Stan knowing Steven is "weird" and entrusting him with keeping the kids safe

For a few monsters, Steven's powers are useless, but to make him defenseless against Bill? C'mon now. He SUBCONSCIOUS uses these powers and we see that when he does do things on purpose, he is GOOD at it. His gem is a gem whose main powers revolve around creations and destruction of things dead of alive. I'm not saying make him OP, since that is not fun, but I feel like he gets nerfed too much in these stories. Which is why I emphasize, don't let him go on every adventure

It would be nice for him and Connie to be used as a good example of a healthy relationship for Mabel. She tends to just throw herself to relationship, so her learning indirectly what makes a good relationship could be sweet.

Him and McGucket as friends. Please. Hand and knees, need this.

Even though Mabel and Dipper don't appose each other like Ford and Stan do, their differences are highlighted once Ford arrives, Steven would be a good meadeator between them

Steven could be the PERFECT obstacle during Weirdmaggedon, I'm talking Bill purposefully curropting him obstacle.

I'm talking building up a relationship between the adults in the show and having THEM take care of it. While I loved Future's ending (cried a lot). I also feel like nobody really acknowledged that many of Steven's problems arrived from adults putting their problems on him. It was mostly people saying they WOULD support him now

Grown Up Steven after Events of Gravity Falls

At least ONE person not fully trusting him

The family thinks he's trying to hide that he's "weird," he is not. He is VERY happy that he gets treated like a human while not hiding that he is a gem, actually

Make him friends with the woodland creatures

Can Fall in Either Category

Good adult figures in his life

Normally these stories focus on him being human in Gravity Falls. No! Well not completely. He probably arrives wanting it to start out that way but as he realizes how normalized weirdness is here, he begins to finally embrace both halves of himself. Existing as both gem and human without separating the other. Using his gem abilities but not for life saving events. Let him have his own fountain/garden in Gravity Falls

Stan slowly learning how Steven lived before (van life, eating bits for free at the Fry shop, cooking eggs using a waffle pan, nobody forgot that the only reason baby Steven and Greg didn't freeze when he was a baby was because Vedalia was out of town right?) And they bond over i

[tobiasdrake]

Still venting about my mom but didn't want to take over OP's post any more than I already did. So this is just going to be a big ol' oversharing mess.

Seriously, though. My mom insists that she just recognizes my skills and I'd be a good fit for her company. But she has no idea what I do. Just that I'm good at computers.

The only thing she's ever been able to say about my abilities is that I "type fast, but not as fast as me, wink."

I type 119 wpm. This is a woman who needed me to come to her office once because "The window is supposed to be big. Like, the entire screen, big. But it's just this in this little window now. How do I make it big?"

No shame meant for people who aren't super experienced working in data. But I'm going to need some convincing before I believe that her repeated, insistent job offers are really because she understands the value of my work and not at all because I'm her kid.

During one of my refusals to come work for her, she once actually said to me, to my face, "Everybody has a price." No hint of irony or self-awareness at all.

When I started becoming more politically aware, I'd try to have conversations with her about the things I was learning. Because she was my mom, and I loved her.

As I spent more time living in the lower-class and got to know the experiences of being poor and listening to minority voices and exploring what it means to be neurodivergent and LGBT, I would bring what I was learning to the table. Because I was discovering things I never knew were there, and I thought she didn't know either. I thought she was as ignorant as I was discovering myself to be.

She was not. She had the typical conservative rhetoric in-hand to stamp down on everything I tried to share with her. Drugs. Crime. Welfare.

The day I gave up on her, the day I realized who she really was, was after Trump got elected. When she told me to my face that she voted for Trump because of a Hispanic family down the street that has a nicer truck than hers. "It's not fair, because those people don't have to pay taxes." So she wanted Trump to come in and deport them. For having a nice truck.

I don't even know if they're even immigrants. I don't think she knows either. I think it'd be pretty hard to afford an acre of land in rural America and a nicer truck than a rich white woman's if you were working undocumented migrant wages. So I'm like 80% sure she's racist-ing at documented American citizens.

And it's still not okay even if she's not.

That was the day I realized that she isn't just uneducated about these issues. She is a hateful bigot. She thinks civil rights are over because we solved feminism, the only civil rights cause that matters. And she thinks we solved feminism because she, personally, has a cushy job and plenty of wealth and can live on a horse ranch where she never has to see other human beings again.

My mom has always loved the idea of me. She's proud of having a son. Of being a mom. But we've never had any shared interests or activities. She's upset because she tried to get me into horses when I was a kid, and I didn't take to them.

She warned me when I was five that you shouldn't go behind the horse because it can kick your head clean off. And from that moment on, that's all I could think about any time I saw a horse. Dangerous animal can take my head right off. I did not enjoy any attempt she made to put me and horses in the same space.

And she's always kinda held that against me. That I didn't take interest in the activities she enjoyed, so we never had anything to connect over.

But like. I was a child. It was her responsibility to take interest in the things I cared about. Where was she when I was playing Power Rangers with my friends and getting into roller blading and learning that I loved writing and analyzing and dissecting media.

Where is she now when my family is struggling and all she has to say is, "I don't give handouts. But I do have this nepo-job for you if you're interested. Don't worry, it's because of your qualifications, I promise."

My mom has always wanted to love me. But only on her terms.

[penroseparticle]

Penrose Song Of The Day Day 40: Hell of a Year by William Bolton

Happy Birthday, Me.

Whew. We are all kind of going through it aren't we? I don't think anyone has had an idyllic, easy year this year. Or any year. More and more I'm realizing that all we can be is kind, because, good or ill, better or worse, we keep being in situations and they keep going to shit. So like. Shouldn't I do what I can to make things a little less bad? Even if that kindness isn't deserved?

One story that really stuck with me posted on here was the story about volunteering at a soup kitchen. I'll see if I can track the post down. But they had to keep cleaning the bathroom because it kept getting trashed. An important lesson was learned by the OP of the post- The homeless people who went to that soup kitchen had precious little they could control. The bathroom was being trashed because it was one of the few places in their life where they could exert their will- even if it made things worse for everyone, even themselves. In distress, you will cause damage. But the thing I learned is that. I don't know. Would being mean to them help? Would I not clean the bathroom after a certain point? They made the mess, they "deserve it" right?

And obviously not. It wouldn't make volunteering for them more pleasant, it wouldn't make their situation different, and it likely wouldn't even feel good. The only thing that helps is the slow, arduous, unlikeable truth that the way to make things better is to help, and do right, and work with someone going through it, even if they are not fun to be around. It might not be "just", but it might just be the thing that works.

Flipwise and reversed though, I have issues with foresight- I do not think things through and I don't always get my just desserts for that. I think I am afforded a lot of latitude and grace for meaning well, which is great if a bit guilt inducing. But that's kind of what I believe everyone deserves, right? Aren't I part of everyone? Shouldn't people be kind to me too? If I think everyone deserves kindness, even when they're not "deserving", I'm part of everyone. I'm a person. I get that same grace.

And isn't grace always unearned? "Deserving is fake" and well, kind of in some of the most important ways it is. Maybe someone "deserves" the bad things coming to them, but in the ways I care about, the ways I'm trying to be, I can't let that be the end. That's not how the story is going to go, not when I'm writing it. And I am writing the story of my own life. Joint authorship with the world, but I'm first author. Pick up the pen!

I often have to remind myself that feeling guilty is a start, not a state, and that I am thankful and grateful I get to fuck it up all over again. It sucks. I have an overdeveloped sense of guilt, in that I think. And I need to pay it forward and walk the walk. Be kind if nothing else.

So instead let's look back at all the shit that's gone down and say WOW! That was wack, huh. And maybe steer next year a little differently this time. Every day is a new day, a new iteration of what I am. Who I am. So I'm gonna try and be a little kinder. Be the change. Gandhi that shit. idk.

This is me telling you to let it go, by the way. Guilt is cancerous, it only grows, and it weighs you down. Let's give ourselves that little bit of grace too, if we can.

Anyways, it's been a hell of a year, hasn't it? Back on track, I found this song years ago. A little bit of a chill, easy pop song. Some cutesy ornamentation, a simple drum loop, and a smooth delivery. I have my good friend Al to thank for this (The Algorithm), he gifted me this song on my Recommended for You playlist on spotify. I like it. It was a nice gift.

It's a little melancholy but it's not all doom and gloom. It's sort of quietly hopeful? Some bad things happened, yeah, it's also a bit of a triumph- he conquered his fears! He traveled the world! The time is now, make some memories! Live your life. Incremental progress.

There's been some bad things, and some good things, but it's your life baby. You gotta live it. I still haven't made it but I'm not that far. What a year.

See you next one.

And hey, as always. You could be dead right now. Go listen to something you love.

[emblemxeno]

Finished Chapter 5!

Finally the full party, so I changed Blade management a bit

I gave Rex Wulfric and Kasandra. ! swapped Floren over to Nia, gave her Vess, and she summoned Adenine. Zeke summoned Nim and Zenobia, and I swapped Godfrey and Crossette to him as well.

Speaking of Zeke, he's so fun to play as, because he's good with every damn weapon type it's insane. The privilege of being a hot buff guy does wonders for being OP I guess.

Because I kind of did this chapter over a few weeks, I'm hazy on certain specifics. But I love Leftheria as a location so, so much. Music, the structure, the aesthetic, everything. The only pain is that sometimes I got knocked off and had to wait until I fell in the cloud sea to skip travel back, but that wasn't often enough to be a major annoyance.

Indol is certainly grand lovely to listen to and gaze at, though at this point it's scale does this grandness any favors at this moment. Only two major areas makes it seem smaller than the nation's influence would have you think, though I understand that we only see part of it. Can't exactly give an opinion on Temperantia yet tbh, since it's one and done until you get to Chapter 6 lol.

I realized I haven't talked much about quests, and that's mostly because of a real genuine criticism I have of XC2. I feel no need to comment on any because I don't have much attachment to the NPCs who give them. Of course, I very much appreciate everything they do for building Alrest into a lively place with things constantly going on, and unique cultures and requests to consider! But the people individually are not memorable.

Thinking about it, XC1's problem was memorable quest lines locked behind a tedious glut of sidequests with often repetitive objectives, whereas XC2 trims the fat by making things smoother and less bloated gameplay wise, but with nowhere near as many entertaining NPCs. Fitting that XC3 eventually bridged the gap by doing the best of both worlds, Monolith really saw what worked and what didn't.

Anyway, back to XC2, this chapter IMO marks the end of what seemed to be individualized events, and the beginning of telling a bigger tale. Suddenly, there's a philosophical element to what both Blades and Humans embody in Alrest. Why do humans enjoy the pleasures of making memories, creating culture, and evolving themselves, while Blades reset with every cycle.

War is sparked between a third party that benefits from conflict, and similarly ended by a different fourth party. But who's really worse, in the end? Torna, who spreads chaos and slaughters innocents, or Indol who basically controls the very culture of Blades and the actions of Humans? As Rex says later in the game though, Torna and Amalthus really aren't different, so it's not an either/or situation, they're both different flavors of evil, no matter the backstory or justification.

There's delightful juxtaposition in how Jin victimizes Blades as a whole, while beating down Rex's party, leading the latter to believe he's a weakling after all this time. That leads one to question how someone as "weak" as Rex be the Master, and Blades as powerful as Jin, Malos, and Mythra be the slaves?

Just one amazing set up after another, that inevitably pays off for each chapter of the game's second half. Wonderful.

[rjalker]

Like IDK what to fucking tell you people if you don't think twice before relogging posts like this.

lobotomylives said:

6h ago

I hate artificial weird people so much. Like the ones who are obviously deeply normal to the bone in everything from their disposition to interests to life experiences, but nevertheless try to present themselves as a ~weirdo~ around others as a sort of performance art/LARPING bc they think it'll make them interesting. Tryhard "freaks" who tailor their oddities for the sole purpose of ensuring they come across as chic & cool. The word poser isn't even enough to describe these people. Their carefully crafted idiosyncrasies are as hollow and fragile as an empty vase. They are a pathetic facsimile of a true freak, no depth or value or honesty behind the quirky haircut & offbeat fashion choices. Soulless void people, the human equivalent of a black hole where formerly cool things go to die. I'll take a natural normie over a GMO weirdo any day of the week.

The OP is literally a TERF, whose pinned post literally says "got my blog nuked for "promoting violence" against rapists & pedos"

Who do you fucking think these people mean when they say "rapists and pedos". I'll give you one fucking hint: trans people.

Learn how to spot facist conservative bullshit even when they're not straight up telling you "I hate trans people and spend my free time sending trans people death threats".

Come the fuck on people, it's 2023. It shouldn't fucking take anyone pointing out that OP's a fucking TERF for you to realize that this is a fucking post with shit morals and shit ideology that you shouldn't be agreeing with just because you want to feel superior to unspecified ""fake weirdos""

Lobotomy is also a fucking favorite dogwhistle of both TERFs and white supremacists. Start fucking paying attention. Just because a post has a lot of notes does not mean you do not need to think critically about the shit you unthinkingly agree with because it apparently sounds good to you on the surface.

[laf-outloud]

Not to sound heartless but I don't get why people are so out of sorts at the pricing of Jensen ops thing at CCLP. Like I get how it looks, but at the same time, if he's too expensive then don't do it? If people pay those exorbitant prices to meet a celebrity for 5 seconds then that's on them. It absolutely checks out that he might realize his super fans are willing to pay whatever he charges, like the RC concert, and taking advantage of it while he can. Look at his super stalker Abi for crying out loud. How that girl continues to live in a home despite following him everywhere at the drop of a hat is beyond me. So if he sees that, why is anyone surprised that he wouldn't strike while the iron is hot? It's business and he has showed us on more than one occasion that he's all about that. Not to mention, all the bullshit this guy or Jared or any of them deal with on the regular thanks to this fandom, I don't blame him one bit. I'd charge sky high pricing too, hoping it might discourage my stalkers and other AA psychos. Especially after the bullshit ops Hellers like Alyssa asked me to do at NJ con. So if people are stupid enough to pay those prices, meaning those very AA's I mentioned, then they deserve to be taken advantage of financially in my opinion. Every other company and business enterprise does it every single day to every consumer, so why not them? Am I saying it's right? No. But I am saying this is how it works. And if people are upset, then again don't pay those prices. The less in demand he is, the less opportunities he has to drive up that pricing. It's basic common business sense.

I'm just so tired of hearing everyone bitch about stupid things like this to be honest. If you don't like the guy, cool, then focus on what you do like (not you but the people bitching to you when they don't even plan to go or pay to get those photo ops here or at that event). If you like him but hate the prices, then don't pay them. The whole celebrity thing is overrated anyway. Who gives a shit if you get a picture with Tom Cruise to post to your Instagram or get an autograph from Selena Gomez? How does that make you any cooler or the person to follow or pay attention to unless it helps your career or business? These are just human beings that make more money than we do on a daily basis and their image is out there for the world to see, sometimes repeatedly. That's it. I've run into quite a few celebrities in my time and I can tell you it was nothing to write home about, even if they were really nice and somewhat humble. No matter how good looking or "hot" they may have been. They're human beings that you or I could easily be working with every single day at our jobs or our neighbors or whatever. I even ran into an actor once who was so drunk he couldn't walk properly and nearly crashed into me as I was passing by. His bodyguard didn't see it until we nearly collided because he was so focused on the other direction of the sidewalk we were on (there were more people on that side that were moving towards him). I wasn't there to see him, I was just walking by. Never did I go "omg I just nearly collided into a wasted Oscar winner, where's my phone so I can take a pic?" Human being. Just like us. I've seen them eat, get trashed, give their entourage a hard time, hit on girls, etc. Just like any of us at one point in time or another. There's nothing special about them to the point where we should lose our common sense and use our mortgage payment to pay for a 5 second photo and then turn around and bitch that it "wasn't more special". If people want to pay for a photo op where he's playing Dean, again, if too expensive then don't do it. But if not, then I'd get more people being upset about that.

People need to stop putting all of their stock into things like this, meaning celeb photo ops. A photo op is just a photo. Should they smile because you paid for the photo with them? Yes. Should they be professional in that 5 seconds? Yes. But that's it. They don't need to rub your shoulders or or make you feel unique or special (as I saw one blogger mention that this is why they were disappointed with a Jensen con experience they had and now they're firmly anti Jensen because of it). They're there to do a job. Some people like Jared choose to connect or interact with the fans which is cool but that's going above and beyond, an extra perk. He is not expected to do that. Like when these guys are on stage at a panel. They're there to entertain and answer questions, that's it. Which is why I can't believe people ask them to announce pregnancies or say hello to people that aren't there or stuff like that. This is why celebrities of a higher tier don't do cons, like you will never see Nicole Kidman or Kevin Costner doing them (outside of SDCC or NYCC). A con is a business transaction through and through. These two guys don't owe anyone anything outside of that. If it's too expensive, like say that outfit in the store or that car you're considering, don't pay it. It's that simple. No one is forcing you to do it. Just like no one is forcing you to sign up for Amazon Prime or pay more monthly than the minimum payment towards your student loan. It's all up to you what you do with your hard-earned money. My advice? Don't put all of it (as well as your hopes and emotions) into celebrities. You'll come out far more disappointed than you do pleasantly surprised (Jared appears to be more of the latter from what I've seen).

Sorry if this was a bit acerbic but this shit is ridiculous to me for people to whine and complain about when no one is forcing anyone to pay those prices. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest and I hope you personally enjoy the rest of your weekend.

LOL! Rant away, anon!

I will say that not all celebrity culture is terrible. I've seen multiple people who've expressed appreciation for Jared's willingness to open up about mental health and his AKF campaigns, to the point of helping save their lives. (Though I would hope that relying on Jared and his efforts is only ever a temporary crutch and that people use it as a jumping off point to learn how to rely on their own strength, or find other resources.) All that to say that I understand wanting to meet and thank someone who has impacted your life for the better, and sometimes cons are the only place to do that.

"The less in demand he is, the less opportunities he has to drive up that pricing." This is very true, and I suppose if the market bears it, Jensen can continue to fleece his followers. I just think the optics aren't all that good. The higher prices basically scream money grab and it's just another in a long line of money grabs from this past year that make me think he actually isn't doing as well as some might think financially. But, like you said, if people are willing to pay, why not?

It sounds like you've been thinking about this for a while and I'm glad I could be a place where you could get it off your chest. Whether others will agree, I don't know, but I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend as well!

[something-about-sunflowers]

so using circumstantial evidence to accuse an entire group of fans of being responsible for anonymous harassment is bad when it happens to you guys, but it’s ok when you guys do it to people who hate izzy?

circumstantial evidence

noun

: evidence that tends to prove a fact by proving other events or circumstances which afford a basis for a reasonable inference of the occurrence of the fact at issue

Now, Anon, I'm not sure what definition of 'circumstantial evidence' you are going by but this is the one I'm going by and given it's backed by Merriam Webster I'm gonna assume it's the correct one.

So.

'Circumstantial evidence', in this case would be:

'I made a post that was negative about Izzy' ➡ 'People who are Izzy positive responded to it' ➡ 'I am later doxxed' ➡ 'Izzy fans must be the ones who doxxed me'.

If you'd like to compare:

'We make posts that are positive about Izzy' ➡ 'People who are Izzy negative respond to them' ➡ 'One of us was doxxed/we receive anon hate' ➡ 'Izzy antis must be the ones who doxxed them/are sending them'.

On the surface they do look similar, I'll give you that, but Anon? We have direct evidence that the doxxing on our side and the anon hate we receive comes from Izzy antis.

Direct evidence meaning 'proof of fact'.

The content of the messages we receive explicitly tells us why it's being sent to us. They directly mention Izzy and our enjoyment of him as a character. The person who got doxxed on our side? Their doxxer admitted to sending it because they enjoyed Izzy (and 'dead dove content') and they explicitly expressed intentions to do it to other Izzy fans.

Now, again, unless there is some context missing from op's posts about the content of the message they received, nothing about said message says anything about why it was sent. The screenshot I've seen says some variation of 'your full name and address are xxxxx' and that's it. No mention of Izzy or fandom in general.

Direct evidence vs circumstantial evidence.

All that aside: we don't, actually, 'accuse an entire group of fans of being responsible for anonymous harassment'. If any of you listened at all when we speak about it you'd know this. We may compare the repeated interjections of some of you coming onto our posts/into our tag to harassment, because to some degree it is, but that's not 'an entire group of fans' that's a very specific few of you who go out of your way to make sure other people can't have a good time when they could just block the people who enjoy and post about the things they hate instead (which is something we do a lot of on this side, the blocking).

Something we actually do, and this I suspect is what you might be implying, is point out how our serial harasser uses some of your in-group's favorite talking points. This isn't to say that they are one of you but simply that they repeat your rhetoric and that it's worth examining on your end if someone spewing such consistent hate is agreeing with you on their biggest talking points.

We also ask your end to condemn the anon hate because, as they primarily agree with most of your talking points, seeing that they're not welcome in the groups they clearly want to be in is incentive for them to stop sending hate. It shrinks their platform. The more people going 'hey, that's not okay' the more likely they are to stop because they either 1. realize they have nobody in their corner or 2. realize that there's a reason they're not in the majority and that its because what they're doing is actually morally incorrect.

You'll notice, if you care to pay attention, that every single Izzy fan that's spoken of the doxxing on your end has condemned it. Not a single one of us wants someone like that in our spaces. Every single one of us has acknowledged that it's a horrible thing to go through and that we wouldn't wish it on anybody.

We do not get that same response from yall.

I'll leave you with this: doxxing is a crime. Levying an accusation of a serious crime at people on, at best, circumstantial evidence is dangerous to the people being accused. It could inspire retaliation. It's also dangerous for the op to be assuming that this is all fandom related when they, in the very next breath, speculate it could be their ex who 1. has a history of stalking them, by their own admission and 2. again, by their own admission, knows where they live.

Brushing it off as some petty fandom drama when they could be being targeted again by their ex is dangerous and they should be focusing on their own safety. If it was fandom related then that's a much less serious situation because these types of things don't tend to move beyond scare tactics. It's still awful and still something to be concerned about but it's not as serious or concerning as someone who they know potentially has access to them and who has gone to those lengths before.

And one more time, let me reiterate: If the person who doxxed them is in our circles? That is unacceptable behavior and you are not welcome here.

[deepdreamnights]

I gotta wonder how much of this is OpenAI and others like them and their general approach to business being:

This isn't an exaggeration. Because OpenAI is publicly traded, they have to be honest with their investors, and have openly said "we have no idea how we will ever turn a profit."

Beyond them, most players in the space are looking to get bought by a Microsoft or Sony and jump for the exits before they realize the sack is mostly full of rocks.

OpenAI has always operated under a "we'll use all this investor money to brute-force the largest datasets possible, make something impressive, show it off, and then wait for more investor money to roll in." A process that is by its nature inefficient and expensive.

Ever notice how there was no Dall-E 2.5? OpenAI isn't interested in incremental improvements to their products because they're making tech demos. It's very impressive on first release, but to this day Dall-E 3 doesn't have basic functionality like seeds, upscalers, aspect ratios, post-generation editing, or even the ability to iterate a previous gen.

If your money doesn't come from your users, then you have no incentive to adapt to their needs and you stagnate.

Midjourney, on the other hand, has neither investors nor these problems, because they're selling a product. You pay X amount, you get to play with the super-advanced etch-a-sketch, the simple process of money exchanged for a service. Because they have users to keep happy, they develop features that conform to their needs and develop in response to their behaviors.

And you can refine a model two ways, by expanding the dataset or by giving feedback to the current dataset's output. An active subscriber base gives you a means of doing the latter, and while very few people have a dataset to rival OpenAI's, many outperform them based purely on likes and ranking feedback from users.

This is why Chat-GPT has to be forced into everything. The main use of this tech isn't to replace artists, despite what OP might think. The use of generative AI as an art tool has always been secondary to its use as a toy, and that's what 98% of the userbase is using it for. Text is just the least fun toy in the box (at least as long as you're not allowing it to go NC-17)

Images, video and sound are the Fighting Frankie Action Figure everyone wants, and Chat-GPT says "Horse 'em!".

One of the most common first prompts on Midjourney is for a happy dog or cat playing in the clouds. These aren't people looking to make commercial work.

The AI products that people are going to wind up using and will have actual utility as productivity or entertainment services? They don't need investment because they have something people want to pay for. And the nature of the investment system means anyone who uses it is unlikely to ever make anything that people will want to pay for.

(full article here)

[cranberrymist]

Why I like Tumblr

Can I be honest? This is a total rant post about a lot of stuff, but mainly why I feel comfortable with posting things on tumblr but not other places. I was just scrolling Instagram cuz I like to see my friends and sometimes there's funny hahas. I read a post (probably stolen from twitter) about how the richest person on their block put a note in everyone's mailbox asking for them to try and be quiet for a wedding ceremony they are having in their back yard at 2 pm right? That's all it said. At 2 pm on the dot, their neighbor starts lawn mowing and OP thought it was like the best thing ever. I just don't get it? That's not the main point tho. Main point = the comment section. I hate insta specifically because of the comment sections. It's literally just rancid. 50/50 on whether they sided with lawnmower person which is fine right? But some of the takes like make me physically uncomfortable. The thought that some people genuinely don't care about others makes me feel so weird. Like it's not hard to just be quiet for a little? I know they didn't give an end date to it and at first I was like omg they want them to be quiet from 2pm onwards until the next day and then I realized I'm pretty sure it clarified like wedding ceremony which only takes 20-30 minutes and the fact people are STILL mad??? Saying like 'ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do in my hose that I pay for' was one comment and like,,, they just asked politely?? I get we hate rich people, but honestly? They probably aren't that rich if their having a backyard wedding with some friends and family. And then someone started ranting about Gen Z even though no ages were mentioned in the post and then it turns out HE'S A GEN Z! And he called every other Gen Z (that wasn't himself of course cuz how could he ever relate to us plebs) so many horrible names?? And there's so many horrible comments on Insta that are so much worse than these and it's really horrible when all I want to do is see comments about the post, but there's always so many hateful people in the comments. I'll view a post by like an OF girl I'm friends with who is so sweet and everyone is just calling her fat??? or the n word?? or being sexist (which is expected but I wish it wasn't).

Anyways, I feel like I don't see that as much on Tumblr cuz you can perfectly curate your feed and no one really interacts with things they don't like on here. Like if I don't like something on here I just put it in my filtered out tags or say not interested on the post (or even block the person if I think it's a real bad take) but I never interact with the poster themselves like I'm never going to talk to them unless like they're harassing someone, but even then I'll probably just report. I just don't get why you would interact with things that make you feel bad or upset that don't have to do with human or animal rights nor helping the environment. Like if I say my favorite color is pink and you go mines blue! that's a meaningful moment of connection. If I go my favorite colors pink and you go kys pink sucks blue all the way, I'm going to actually implode and like dm your family on facebook or something with the message (if it's bad enough). Like genuinely I just want to be around posters who either agree with me or are mature enough to disagree and not attack me for my different opinion and I feel like tumblr allows me to do that in a safe way and also anonymously which I love cuz I hate people knowing who I am unless I'm specifically texting them. Also there's so many niches on here and i've discovered so many things that I enjoy everyday now on here and i feel like, for the most part, people are really passionate on here about some really amazing things and I love reading when someone's going off about a niche detail of a show we both love and then I can be like 'wow, you've opened my mind to new things' and that's just the best feeling

[the-firebird69]

There's at least two of these idiot boats out there and you think there are three they all came from the same Marina and it's the jackasses that took the chain design chime design for the pontoon boat and they're huge morons and yeah they're the same idiot said put the brake in the hall in the other boat and they have no idea what they're doing right here they're trying to sell a boat that barely see the float they're looking at flat top boats and they thought why not use a regular boat with low gunnels. So the trying to invent stuff by just looking at things and saying that's what he does and succeeding and it doesn't do anything and really they're complete s*** is but it is a heads up and a warning and it means that people are seeing stuff and that's how we use these guys I tell you what we're getting inundated with these damn messages and I don't know if anybody is picking up anything and doing anything about it is aggravating you keep saying it can we switch into a different mode and then they say they have to use them for something and you have to get rid of them with something so we need more troops and that's the conclusion so we're getting more troops and we're getting them out here pronto look at it right but boy these people stupid. Then they say they saw the outrigger and Sun side and said something about fishing so the idiots tried to do that and it looks stupid and it doesn't work and nobody uses it and now he's saying it's some form of temporarily anchored and it's dangerous no we don't like these idiots already and it's time for them to leave and yeah they're stupid becoming real slow and toot around they try to kidnap her son and that's what they're doing with the design because they say as they're driving away you can't stop us we might swap and he'll get stuck in the muck and they're louder than hell and they throw a huge rooster tail and it's really just like a gift size boat so trying to say they're us with these small light boats to go fast and it just miserable freaking losers and the other idiot is trying to go to a co-op thinking of son wants to work in a co-op and ends up stuck with a bunch of Mormons and the Mac has to fight his way out. But wow those guys are assholes in a Sunday the wind is picking up it's like 5 mph and the guys are saying oh no like a joke but it's true if they get up over three or four inches like they are now we're going to go right over the edge they said they have to watch that sometimes they have to pull the boat out on this side cuz I can't get over there. All three are out and they're going to have an infight. Don't really pay to advertise.

It looks very obnoxious because it is.

We're going to move in there now.

Several things are happening in Charlotte county there's not a ton.

-there are a few people who are winding around with nothing to do and bothering people and this corky guy is one of them and he's an idiot we're going to put an APB on him right now it's for stocking. He's going to get attacked again and everybody sees what he's doing and what he's done and why and he wanted to isolate out west and it's not working people are sending supplies to him from the Midwest and that stopped everybody has stopped and he's coming out there and trying to force it and they stopped because they realized that he was the one who took over and he's the one who got them all killed other bases and areas are gone and they don't want him out there and they need to take over. They're sending in troops now to straighten them out there's a rude little s***

-it's a huge deal but he is a wimp and we should take care of it it was going to. Tons of people are trying to sell us land and they're going to go out west and they're going to buy stuff with the land they sell and or trade some people want pickup trucks or trucks and things like that and they're hard to come by but depending on who it is we might do it and Trump no and we are trying to make deals now we have $4,500 interested parties $3,500 are legitimate it's a big group and they want to barter and today and we figured out something they're going to borrow from the land and they'll try and hold on to it somehow and say we're not doing anything thinking we're small or we'll go away then we'll end up leaving and think they'll come back and some will be trying to attack us and there's a mix there's really nobody who has benevolent and they do it with everyone to a degree and kind of wasted time because of you trade for stuff your fight is it ends up getting taken back because of the fighting and you end up going but that's how it goes don't do that other stuff and they say we won't and most of them end up doing it because that's what they used to doing. There's a huge group of people who are now interested in selling land and they say it's going to get taken and we do understand that and we're up for it and we're buying it.

My son and daughter say it if they sell us tons of land and it's theirs and we hold on to it the max are going to fight us on it and people want that in foreigners

That's part of it the other part is they need the money I need to leave too because Max's going after them and if they're not here in a few days they have a whole bunch of money if not they have no land and no money. We're making a deal with some big shots for a huge bunch of land and it's there's Big lots everywhere and some of it have mansions on them and we would like that and they want to remove things and of course they're entitled to and you'll sit down and you have the lawyer and you go over it and she said good and our son says if you sell to us and can't get there we can put your stuff in the trucks and ship it over she says that's wonderful it's going to take one mountain bike. Just smiling like crazy and says he's ridiculous that way and probably do it and it says we're not these people so she's going to go get the stuff it's kind of weird that way but she figured it out.

We're going to publish he says it's huge and it is

Thor Freya

I want to say something and keep getting cut off cuz you need to do your teeth and he talks forever and I want to say things but okay I have to cut in but it's getting hot and heavy and you and I sometimes it's not massively apparent so I do get that but I just see what you're saying these people are forcing that too I want to keep in touch and I heard you were worried so I'll say this she's kind of a hag but she's trying to do things for you a little bit and you told her about you shipping stuff out there and she kind of gets it so she wants to pick it up herself so this is really what it's all about but I'm just making a comment

Hera

Okay. Moving forward

Zues

Hahaha very similar

Hera

Olympus