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I am a poor, queer, trans, disabled person living on an unlivable benefit system. i write, i paint (pouring, abstract space and ocean, and colour), i read tarot; if you want to help, consider hiring me or commissioning me, dropping a donation, or getting me something off my wishlist

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1. In a totalitarian state, anything you can find to do that is neither forbidden nor compulsory is an act of liberation.
2. In a totalitarian state, wasting the authorities time and resources is a positive good.

My fellow Americans, act accordingly.

if you're worried about the new ToS for AO3, please remember that you are primed to distrust because of the way politics are intertwining with the internet right now. remember to look into definitions yourself, fact check, and look through the logic lense before jumping to conclusions.

AFAIK right now, the update clarifies terms that have already existed. it's not changing as much as it is clarity-rewriting. i'm still looking through the legalese (law student, i'm learning as I go) and I will be checking in again later, but don't despair.

however, don't get lax. download fics, connect with the authors, build out your communities. comment and bookmark and save, and please don't stop writing.

UPDATE:

the privacy policy update Ao3 asks you to agree to is vague, but already required. in the same way your IP address is required when submitting content, personal information is provided when a complaint is submitted about you--to email you. and address the complaint.

in the same way that any investigation from a department of law requires a business to provide information, Ao3 is asking you to agree that, in the occurrence of a legal investigation, your personal information (IP address included) will be given if legally required.

NOW, this means:

1. An investigation has to occur (uncommon);
2. The investigation involves you, due to a complaint or a suspicion of criminal involvement (situational);
3. The investigation specifically requires your personal information to be resolved (very rare);
4. Ao3 deems your information necessary, and divulges it in accordance with law (a clear layer of common sense between you and reckless investigation)

so. what can you do to avoid this occuring?

• Don't do crime;
• Don't harrass people;
• Don't put your real name/age/address/SSN online;
• Clearly warn your works in tags and notes;
• and follow the general rules of online safety

there. we're not over project 2025, we're not over the safety of ao3 being threatened via law, but your personal information will not be divulged without Very Clear Proceeding Steps visible to literally everyone around you that scream "WE'RE LOOKING AT INDIVIDUALS". the government simply does not have time to target every single person online. this is something every online service has to provide--in the case of a personal investigation.

so don't become the subject of a personal investigation, and you should be fine.

Out of all the explanations I've been reading today for this, this is the one I've found the easiest to understand and most helpful, so I'm reblogging in case this helps anyone else. I was worried about the update because the last time I read the TOS was when I created my account years ago and don't remember much lmao.

But yeah, don't be complacent in case the current situation changes but it should be fine for now. Probably. Check for yourselves and read the TOS in case you're still doubting is the best advice I think I can give here.

Hey here is your friendly reminder to not tell your nice boss stuff.

I’m at the executive management level for my very small company and I have 4 people who report directly to me. I am a nice boss. I’m friendly with my employees, I treat them like professional adults, I actively try to create a positive work environment, and I mentor them and make sure they’re advancing in their careers. I do my best to shield them from the rest of management doing stupid shit. My employees like working for me.

The other day one of my employees came to ask if she could change her hours on Mondays. I said yes immediately because it’s helpful for me to know when she’s here and when she’s not, but as long as she gets her work done I don’t care when and where she does it. She then proceeded to tell me that it was so she could attend therapy and like … I will never use this information but … as a general rule don’t fucking do that.

Do not tell your employer shit about your mental or physical health except for the bare minimum needed to request a reasonable accommodation. Even your nice boss can fire you, even your nice boss can unfairly change your working conditions, and even your nice boss at some point is probably going to face pressure from their superiors.

I’m not saying don’t trust your boss with anything ever. I’m just saying that anytime you are in the workplace you need to keep your private information private. You can still have a good relationship with your boss. Your workplace can still be pleasant. But if it ever feels like disclosing private information is required in order to have a good relationship with your boss, please see that as a red flag.

This post got a like out of nowhere and I only vaguely remember writing it and I’m not entirely sure which of my employees inspired it, but it still holds.

While the Onion buying InfoWars is indeed extremely funny, very few of the posts I've seen commenting on the sale have mentioned that the families of the Sandy Hook victims apparently agreed to voluntarily reduce their lawsuit payout as part of a deal to ensure that the Onion would acquire InfoWars wholesale, rather than having the company broken up and auctioned off piecemeal, as the latter course could potentially have allowed some of those pieces to end up back in the hands of Alex Jones' cronies.

Like, yes, it is in fact very funny that InfoWars is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Clickhole, but the real props go out to the Sandy Hook families who saw the opportunity and willingly gave up the additional millions of dollars that could have been realised by stripping InfoWars for parts in order to make that happen.

heres the realest shit ever: literally no one is going to pressure you to do drugs in high school

literally no one

an encounter i had in 10th grade in a bathroom

person: hey we’re about to smoke some pot do you want some?

me: nah i got a test in like 20 minutes i just have to pee

person: alright good luck

actual highschool party I’ve been to

person: I brought beer!

people: aaaaaaa yyyyeeeaaahhh

person: want some?!?!

Me: no I don’t drink

person: GOOD MORE FOR US HERE’S SOME SODA

On the bus:
Dude: Do you want a cigarette?
Me: Dude I’m asthmatic. I’d die.
Dude: Okay, cool, cool.

6th period math:

friend: hey, you want a weed brownie?

me: nah I’m good.

friend: cool.

Lunch

Some girl: You guys wanna smoke weed in the stairwell??

Us: not really

Girl: Okay friends, if you want any later my name’s Zoey, i always sit here

Guy: do you want a cigarette?

Me: I don’t smoke

Guy: good, don’t start

(that happened on multiple occasions with different people)

Seriously I was pressured into reading the Twilight books 1000x more than any drugs or alcohol

The last one

The terms afab and amab are very much about the social construct aspect of gender, as in, they refer specifically to the letter on your birth certificate that was assigned to you, not any trait you innately possess. Yet I routinely hear people using these terms as a euphemism for biological aspects of sex, because I guess they think it sounds more progressive or something.

"afab tweens get very emotional at this age due to hormones," "archeologists think this skeleton belonged to an amab individual due to hip measurements," stuff like that. I keep waiting for someone refer to a wild animal as afab or amab.

"afab" is not synonymous with "has a uterus" or "has two X chromosomes," intersex people with XY chromosomes can have an F on their birth certificate.

If you're talking about something biological it's fine to just say "male" or "female" in contexts where that makes more sense.

happy 3-year anniversary to this iconic video :)

Forever love having on-recorded-media the moment Tom Hardy realized his inside thoughts became outside thoughts and did so ON CAMERA.

i love truck stops in winter bc i love a little good old fashioned reconnaissance. i’m at a wyoming truck stop eating taco bell with a bunch of random truckers discussing road conditions like we’re in a high fantasy tavern & inn and we’re warning each other about monsters and highway men. everyone talking about where we’re coming from and going to and how bad it’ll be getting there.

THE tallest man i’ve ever seen in real life just stopped me in the hallway by the coin operated laundry apropos of nothing and asked “which direction are you going?” i said east and he said “good” and walked away.

i caught up with him and asked why and he said “west’s no good right now. i just came from there.”

apparently a truck jackknifed and has traffic backed up ten miles but he sounded for all the world like he just found his village raised to the ground by an evil mage’s army

Though minimum wage just increased, it is still not enough to be considered a living wage, according to a new report.

At the start of October, the minimum wage in Ontario rose to 17.20perhour,markinga3.9percentincreasefromthepreviousrateof17.20 per hour, marking a 3.9 per cent increase from the previous rate of 17.20perhour,markinga3.9percentincreasefromthepreviousrateof16.55 per hour.

But, the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN) says that it still falls short in order to live comfortably in the Greater Toronto Area. Per their report, published Monday, the living wage for the GTA is 26perhour—26 per hour — 26perhour—8.80 more than the current minimum wage. Compared to last year, the GTA's living wage was $25.05 an hour.

A "living wage" is the before-tax income an adult needs to make to cover basic necessities, like the costs of food and shelter, the network said.

Full article

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned “forever” into the only acceptable definition of success.

Like… if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it’s a “failed” business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don’t actually want to keep doing that, you’re a “failed” writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it’s a “failed” marriage.

The only acceptable “win condition” is “you keep doing that thing forever”. A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a “real” friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a “phase” - or, alternatively, a “pity” that you don’t do that thing any more. A fandom is “dying” because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things.

I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it’s okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success… I don’t think that’s doing us any good at all.

a load of bands would be happier if they embraced this too, we think - like sure the fans might be unhappy, but bands are allowed to be like “yeah it’s really been fun but now we’re not doing it any more”

Also shout-out to the Swedes for just borrowing the French "adieu" into their vocabulary and just spelling it "adjö"

German has borrowed the italian "Ciau", spelling it "Tschau" and only using it as a goodby instead of also a greeting.

I had completely forgotten about this, this is fantastic.

If you enjoyed "ciao" becoming "tschau", you'll definitely want to hear where "tschüss" (German, also meaning "goodbye") comes from!

Borrowed from German Low German tschüß from earlier adjüs, from Dutch adjuus, back-formation from adjuusjes, from French adieu.

We can't let the French keep getting away with this

I mean the french very much aren't getting away with it. Everyone else is taking their language and running off with it cackling with glee. We're all getting away with fucking up french words on purpose

official linguistics post

The other day my French stepdad said "toute à l'heure" for goodbye/see you later, and the way it sounded like "toodle-oo!" hit me like a brick

I started French classes yesterday and my teacher kept going on about how French "stole" so many Latin and German words (and I should have an easier time than some others in the class, being German and having studied Latin in High School), and all I can think of is: "If you knew how many of YOUR words WE stole right back..."

I’m so tired. Folks, folks…please, your local amateur historian is crying.

1. No, the Israelites did not actually slaughter and drive out the Canaanites from the Levant;

2. No historical or theological figure that pre-dates the Roman Expulsions was Palestinian, as the land was not yet called Syria-Palestina and there was no ethnic or national grouping by that name/identity in the region until well over a millennium after;

3. No historical or theological figure that pre-dates Mohammad, Prophet of Islam, was Muslim;

4. No historical or theological figure that pre-dates approximately 30-40 CE, was Christian; and

5. The Jews did not kill the Jesus figure.

Some intellectual honesty and historical literacy? As a treat? Please?