#word is free online

[ghoulishrose]

you guys. the web editor is free… onedrive is free…

we all imagine microsoft to be an overpriced piece of shit when in actuality it’s just another flavor of google drive

you. don’t. need. to. pay. to. use. this.

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

URGENT UPDATE ON KOSA.

This is exactly how they were finally able to pass the tiktok ban after trying for 3 years. And this is exactly what I was worried about them trying as a result. Again, all info and resources for fighting KOSA are in the pinned post on my page. Plz spread the word. Even if you don't live in america, Share this with any american friends and mutuals you have. We can still fight this bill we still have a chance at stopping it just like we have in the past. The only reason it hasn't passed yet is because we keep fighting it. Don't forget that. make sure your reps and senators don't know a moment of peace

[mothmandibles]

🇵🇸 May We Be Free, Together. One genocided peoples to another. We stand with Palestine, now and forever. 🇦🇲

Care for Gaza (Direct Paypal)

E-Sims for Gaza (Showing Where/How to give them)

Palestine Children Relief Fund

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Daily Click For Palestine (Help by at least clicking this daily, it may not be much but it counts for something at least.)

BDS's website, remember to follow the boycott.

[mossy-aro]

ultimately i think my insistence on aro positivity honestly is as much a political stance as a personal one.

when i say aro positivity is crucial and that i dislike doomer-ist posts that express sentiments like 'I hate being aro so much I wish I was dead instead’ it's not because I don’t think there can and should be a space for negativity and acknowledging self-hate, or the many ways being aromantic can really suck sometimes. i find that to be very important!

that being said. there is smth here about how self-hate posts are sometimes just arophobia that we inflict on ourselves. and when we put that out into the ether it (intentionally or not) can become arophobia that we inflict on other members of the community. i think there absolutely needs to be a place for negativity and the expression of anger and frustration and self loathing even - these are all good things to talk about because these are things that we experience. that being said, it can also be genuinely upsetting and triggering to people to have what is essentially arophobia shown to them and then have that be validated by other aspec people. your personal thoughts can affect your wider community on a level you may not anticipate. and i understand it i truly do! it took me so long to be able to recover from accepting being aroace - it threw my entire world off kilter and made me question everything about my place in the world.

but my insistence on aro joy and positivity is because ultimately i do believe that building is at the core essence of it all. that ultimately discussions and the purpose of community should be about construction, not destruction. and this is both a personal and a political stance. talking about how much you hate yourself and cultivating online discussions/spaces where negativity about aspec identity is the main and only theme is destructive - if that’s where we let the conversation end. these thoughts can and should be used as a vehicle to look for a path forward!

joy and positivity create a space where the focus can become on forging a path forward, on construction, on community building instead of tearing ourselves and others down with negative thoughts. it’s not productive or healthy when it stops at a place of negativity - it becomes actively destructive to the essence of community.

and i do think that this is especially poignant considering the fact that being any kind of queer, but especially aromantic (and/or asexual) means forging a path for yourself and making your own happiness where there is no obvious way forward. our communities exist mostly online (right now, anyway), there is little recognition of our existence in the real world, the effects of amatonormativity are both pervasive and actively dehumanising, and there are legal, economic and social structures in place actively making our lives more difficult. yes that all sucks! it’s good to acknowledge that. we need to in order to change it. but more importantly, that’s not the end. we are still here and our happiness, our future is for us to determine. even if we can’t change the laws or society, loving yourself and understanding aromanticism as a political identity (as well as personal), as a radical worldview, and as a protest against amatonormativity is essential for both community and personal well being. the personal is political.

tldr. i guess my point is that as a community, we should focus on building, improving, and nurturing ourselves and each other (construction) as opposed to destruction. we should recognise aromanticism and asexuality as political identities as well as personal ones and rely on community and self-love in the absence of anything else as a form of protest and political power. destruction (the recognition of everything that is wrong) is essential as a starting point - but where do we go from there? we rebuild.

[imqueerandadeer]

THEY'RE VOTING ON KOSA THIS THURSDAY JULY 25TH

I already said this under a reblog but I wanna make my own post.

Kosa is the Kids online saftey act and would allow the government to monitor what kids would see online, to qoute "prevent and mitigate mental health disorders"

This bill would raise the legal age your allowed to be on any social site from 13 to 17 and would remove and hide content that exacerbates "self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, and substance use disorders." this would hide social media post educating teens and adults about these things, it would also make it almost impossible for adults and kids alike to acess health info on the internet.

The bill would also put in place a age verification system that would take peoples data to verify they're age and be stored in a huge database.Kosa allows congress to decide on whats appropriate for teens to see, meaning this will lead to mass censorship of any topic not deemed appropriate by our lovely senators!! /s

Lets be real here the first topic they'd want to ban is any and all LGBTQIA+ topics.

This is not about the kids and this has never been about the kids, this is just another thinly veiled excuse for the government to try and have complete control over the youth, and to silence LGBTQIA+ voices.

Although I belive the duty of care part of the bill has been amended so that the state attorney general can enforce the other parts of the bill but not the duty of care bit. (correct me If I'm wrong)

I like many other people would be run off this platform and every other platform for that matter for 4 years.

What we need to do right now is to lobby and we need to make our voices heard.

If any info here is wrong, please, please correct me, I will not take offense, I don't want to spread misinformation

IMPORTANT THING I FORGOT TO MENTION: Even if Kosa passes through the senate it still has to go through the house and I think it has more opposition there

Sources:

Source one

Source two

Read the Kosa Bill Here

Helpful links:

Linktree

Bad internet bills

[imnotkosmic]

Hello, I'm Mohmmed Akram, This is my brother Ahmed

We live in Gaza, which has been suffering from war for more than 10 months.

I had a lot of ambitions and dreams that I was working to achieve, but all that faded from the start of this brutal war.

10 months of bombing, destruction, suffering, displacement and death.

Our house was destroyed at the beginning of the war on Gaza and I had to flee inside Gaza at the beginning since the third day of the war before I was taken out of it (to the south),

So that all our fortunes, memories and lives will be smarted out before October 7th. The costs now are heartbreak and unspeakable and unbearable conditions, in a tent that cannot be described .

It was one of the worst days in which this cruelty and famine were thrown upon us. On that nightmarish day, a school housing a large number of displaced children and women was targeted in this place. My brother Ahmed was injured in the head as he was trying to make a living during these famines.

My brother Ahmed is injured

Unfortunately, due to the presence of many among them, shocks, cases of fainting, needs, medical care needs, problems and difficult circumstances, but your help, my friends, standing next to Ahmed Kakh, is for you. He and his family need help to enable them to overcome this disaster and suffering.

Thank you for your interest and reading, and I hope you can help, if only a little ❤

https://www.gofundme.com/f/ahmed-helped-below-what-we-can-survive-in-gaza

:/

[circular-bircular]

I think there genuinely is an enormous problem in online spaces, I think in part due to the whole concept of purity culture, where everything people say and do online is scrutinized — not just in the case of “Is this person a good person,” but “Does this person represent the values we wish to see 24/7.”

Nobody is perfect, dear lord, and this place is not the place to seek perfection regardless. This is tumblr, home of the go nuts, show nuts rule; tumblr, which is as invaded by fandom and was originally meant to be a pseudo Facebook. People who use this place didn’t come here originally to be activists. And if you did, I'm a little concerned, genuinely, for your mental health and how well you're distancing yourself from difficult subjects and giving yourself the time you need to decompress.

And yet, we keep holding people up to this frankly impossible standard of representing a movement, regardless of what their blog content originally was for. Suddenly, every system on tumblr has to represent a certain Ideal for System Rights! They have to have the right views on system accountability, endogenic systems, plurality as an umbrella, littles, dormancy, fusion, functional multiplicity, parts language, the ToSD-

This is fucking ridiculous. A laundry list of topics that people have on their shoulders, along with every other laundry list of things that people need to care about. Fuck you if you're oppressed in any single way, you need to form opinions on every single one of those things, and if any opinion is out of place, then You Are Not A True [IDENTITY].

Somewhere along the way, many of us (I’m including myself here for a reason) managed to either convince ourselves or be convinced that we need to be Correct in some way about how this all works. That’s prideful and haughty at best, but typically moreso just… so detrimental to healing. None of us will be perfect… and so, when those of us who aren’t perfect are imperfect publicly, we are often harassed or attacked — or some of us attack others, for whatever reason it may be. And somehow, someway, we accepted that this is just how it works.

It's okay to discuss those things you disagree with online. It's okay to look at someone's take about, say, system accountability, or plurality, or littles, and reblog with your corrections and even anger! But you must be doing this with acknowledgement that people will be in different places, healing in different ways, and that there is nothing wrong with that. They're their own person!

But moreover, that's a whole ass blog. That's not a reflection of a person as a whole -- hell, it's rarely a reflection of the person at all. It's just a blog that they can put anything on. Have we not all heard the stories of people who've "Completely Changed" online, becoming people who others cannot recognize? People lie on the internet, intentionally or not.

Even me. I try my best to be who I am in real life here, and I share a LOT of myself with you all. You know I'm a teacher, and engaged, and have the most perfectest little cat in the world. But do you know me? I recently just got to visit an online friend in person (It was absolutely fucking incredible and I can't wait to do it again), and the entire time, I felt like I was just so awkward; I really struggled to stay present and talk more, which is something I don't struggle with nearly as much online. Believe it or not, I am not this long-winded in real life.

Maybe that's not lying, but it's not who I am. It's me being fundamentally different online than in real life. You all see me entirely through just the blogs you know me through. Maybe it's circie bircie, maybe you know my D&D blog, maybe you know me through positivitycombopack, or maybe this just shows up randomly on your dashboard. Maybe you don't know me at all.

And that goes for every person you see online. Do you actually know them? Do you know their beliefs? What they stand for? Why they believe those beliefs?

Or are you just seeing a blog?

[sybilazu]

“UGH, you actually LIKE *insert random piece of media*? Its plot is SO one dimensional and the characters are-“

Listen, listen, listen.

I said that I liked it. I never said that it was good

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[canisalbus]

just a quick ask to tell u it makes me super happy seeing the detail u go into when pointing out stuff u like about other people's art of ur ocs :3 it's so rare to see but it's so so motivating!! <3

Thank you! I don't take any interest for my art for granted, and if someone goes through the trouble of drawing my characters for me, I feel like trying to write a proper response is the least I can do. For a visually oriented person, receiving gift/fan art is a huge deal, it means someone considered my goobers worth their time and effort, they've probably been thinking about them more than a little and found them inspiring in a way or another, and I find that terribly flattering. It's extremely fun and interesting to see other people's takes on them. And I've drawn stuff for people as well, I know how nice and rewarding it feels to receive a response that is longer than a word or two. Positive comments like that can linger in people's minds for a long time, at least for me they do.

[piplupod]

i am not going to touch several queer discourse topics going around with a ten-foot pole but i will say that i think perhaps people would be more chill and less quick to jump on being angry if they actually grasped that nonbinary people exist and intersex people exist, and both of these groups are (generally speaking) not going to have a traditionally acceptable experience with gender and sex.

the binary is not real, both in terms of gender and biological sex.

there are complex experiences beyond your own, ones that you may not understand. you get to decide how you react to that.

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

KOSA IS BACK: UP FOR HOUSE VOTE. CONTACT YOUR HOUSE REPS AND SPREAD THE WORD

Below this video I’ll link the resources and call scripts again as well as the stop kosa link tree

We need to be annoying the absolute shit out of our house reps between now, and whenever the vote is. Call and email every day you can.

I got permission from my mom and my grandma to use their email accounts so I can email my house rep not just once but 3 times a day.

If you’re not American, but still wanna know what you can do to help?

If you know ANYONE who lives in America or have American friends, tell them about this bill and share this info with them.

Remember the only reason the bill has taken so long to get this far and has already gotten stalled is because we keep fighting like hell to kill it.

Spread the word!

REBLOG. DON’T JUST LIKE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING

[projectnewmoon]

Project: New Moon - Headcanon

Sonic was a feral child in the sense that he spent large chunk his most formative years in the wild without anyone to raise him.

Although he's technically rejoined society and has even become a world-renowned hero, his years as a feral child have greatly affected him even in adulthood. It's lead to a lot of his eccentricities, like his habit of disappearing for long periods of time without telling anyone, and some of his animalistic traits (which were later exacerbated by the return of his Werehog form). It's also lead to a lot of struggles growing up, like difficulty speaking and communicating in general as a child.

He does not know where he truly came from, who his parents are, where they could be, or even if they're still alive. He also doesn't have any legal documentation of his existance (ie. birth certificate, ID, social security number, etc.) He doesn't care about any of these facts much, however. Getting any legal documents is a pain he'd rather avoid, and he's got a family in Tails and the rest of his friends, so he doesn't feel the need to seek any of these things out.

[good-to-drive]

Once you hit your mid 20s a lot of online discourse starts to read like the jabberwocky, and that's actually a good thing

[rethcore]

Just for the record, every time you like one of my palia tag rants it only encourages me to make more palia tag rants.

And also I appreciate you and feel seen asdfa thank you ;u;

[gooberjam]

hi!!! tw: sappy, but: we were friends a longlonglong time ago (i think we were first friends on SKYPE) and i just found access to my tumblr and all my old pal's accounts and all my reminiscing had me basically weeping. i'm so glad to see you seem happy and you're still working on your art (which is SO BRILLIANT NOW???) and you're keeping the true spirit of john egbert alive!!! i was going through a lot of very serious stuff back then and despite the fact that i didn't share it, i really attribute you all for getting me through that, and i remember those times so incredibly fondly. thank you for keeping your blog in PRISTINE condition bc i was really able to take a very thorough journey down memory lane. :')

😭❤️✨