An Army of Awesome

boy oh boy sure am glad that during this crisis I get to experience Capitalist Plenty

and not Socialist Deprivation

rlly makes u think

that first map tho… damn

read the asterisk tho…

f u c k

Interesting…

if higher education was free and without unnecessary barriers people would have a much easier time learning skills they find difficult that could be particularly valuable in crisis, 

like difficult medical fields which many tend to put off for fear of not finishing and still going in financial ruin, or never being good enough to go anywhere with it as we can see folks with 4.0s be denied from medical schools.

but the heads of things like medical schools would rather create artificial scarcity to keep doctors paychecks up and then run around screaming when things like corona hit.

ok.

don’t forget the artificial cap on doctors in the usa was an intentional and unnecessary thing that has now left us here.

For years people have been warning that artificially deflating the number of doctors in the USA would lead to devastation and here we fucking are.

Shockingly, if you want people to have skills necessary for the survival of our people … you have to make those skills accessible. Who could have foretold this???????

I asked my kids if they’d prefer a secret garden or a secret library and my son shook his head and was like “I don’t trust the secret gardeners and librarians”

Me: what if there aren’t any gardeners or librarians.

Son: there’s always a librarian. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. And it’s a garden, there has to be someone taking care of it or it isn’t really a garden.

Me:

Me: this was supposed to be lighthearted

Daughter: don’t trust the secret librarian.

Son: any librarian who hoards a library to themselves is hiding something.

Daughter: /nods seriously/

Me: why are you two talking as if from experience should I be concerned

The kids are right Jazz

But what if I want to be the secret librarian?

Me: what if you were the secret librarian?

Son: wouldn’t be a secret library. I have nothing to hide.

Daughter: so not a secret librarian. A good librarian.

Me: you two are on a wavelength I can’t understand

im sorry i have to point this out but TWERFs are smart. keep reading. they intentionally employ tactics that they know will get people to switch to their side.

they know how to argue people in. they were argued in. they know about nontransfemnine people’s latent transmisogyny and they know that we are not as vigilant as we should be. they make popular posts.

they are undercover. they pretend to be allies. there are nonbinary TWERFs and TWERFs that are WOC. keep reading. these people have been coerced in and know how to coerce others in. there are many different ways, and there are many different things to look out for.

when i say don’t argue with TWERFs, when i say ignore them and don’t give them a platform in the first place, it’s not a giving up tactic. it’s because TWERFs know that if they can point out one tiny flaw in your logic, or spout some bullshit that some nontransfeminine person has thought about before, they’ve hooked someone.

TWERFs count on preying on the young and impressionable, the people that don’t know or talk to transfeminine people. this has to be pointed out. the only reason i know this is because i am not transfeminine and i have seen many of my peers, not transfeminine, fall to them.

stop arguing that they’re stupid. don’t let your guard down.

EDIT: and they are only one specific type of transmisogyny so watch yourself

I feel like it’s pertinent to explicitly say, although OP touched on it:

When TERFs “debate” you, the purpose is not to convert YOU to their ideology. The purpose is to change the mind of onlookers. Even if you are 100% confident in the necessity of maintaining an alliance with trans women, there is at least one of your followers who is NOT.

Don’t debate TERFs. Don’t boost their ideology. Don’t let them misconstrue your words and thereby paint you (and, by extension, the entirety of the transfeminine populace) as ridiculous.

It’s so much more important to make space (on you blog, but more importantly, offline) for the voices of trans women. Share the writings of trans female thinkers. Listen to trans women. Talk to trans women. You might just make some friends in the process.

Using wrong grammar is my shield against people who care too much about fake shit

I don't wanna be like it's that deep but being from a region with an accent and manner of speaking that gets made fun of a Lot if someone is like gonna tell me to not talk like where I'm from Im like oh thank god u saved me the time of having to get to know you and find out you suck.

Ur not gonna my fair lady me just go to bed

If u don't like me at my "warsh" you don't deserve me at my college degree or whatever

NO DONT WORRY THE HILLBILLY WHO GOES TO HARVARD IS A GOOD JOKE. OKAY

So a hillbilly gets into harvard. Hes the first person in his family to go to college, his family are farmers and auto mechanics and stuff, he worked super hard to graduate high school much less get his scholarship to an ivy league. His mama drives him all the way up from Virginia in the fall. On his first day, he is walking across campus and cant find the building his class is supposed to be in. So he politely stops another student to ask the way.

This guy is obviously old money ivy league and he obviously can tell that the hillbilly isn't. He kinda sneers like "can I help you" and the hillbilly says "excuse me but could you please tell me where the chemistry building's at?"

The other student gives him a look of utter disgust and pulls away and says "it is IMPROPER to end a sentence with a preposition"

"Oh, I'm sorry" replies the hillbilly. "Can you please tell me where the chemistry building's at, asshole?"

This is SUCH a grandpa joke I love it thank u pip

Remember when Nintendo was like affordable and most kids, even lower class could grow up playing them but then they randomly decided to release a console for $200 and the controllers cost like $70 each to replace and all the games cost at least $60. Remember when you could get a dslite for under a hundred dollars and the games all at most cost $40 so even like less privileged kids could get one game for Christmas if we were all good with money, and it was the cheapest most obtainable system in the market of video games. Remember that?

Conifer tea is one of my favorite seasonal treats. Eastern white pine is my favorite, but our tree has gotten too tall to reach the lower branches, so I’ve settled for spruce tips. The bright new growth is less bitter then the older needles and tastes very good with a bit of sugar. Very fresh and cheerful flavor—but you should strain it before you try to drink it, unless you want a throat full of soggy needles.

There are a few inedible conifers, so before you try eating them, make sure you know what you have. Yew might kill you and a handful of pines can make you sick. And, as always, don’t use anything from a tree that’s been treated with pesticides or herbicides.

Ship, what's the pretty purple something in your cup amongst the conifer needles?

A wood violet. Their peak blooming season was several weeks ago but there are still some about. They’re tasty, too.

imagine going to your job and one of your coworkers is the drinking out of this motherfucker:

what a power move. like, if nobody else says anything you can’t call them out because then you have to reveal your own degeneracy.  you just have to sit there knowing that that smug bastard got away with it.

“Neat logo! Is that a gaming company like Razer?“

“Eh, more of a toy company, actually.”

Friendly reminder im hilarious

Tumblr’s tagging is such a valuable social media tool, because it offers an…indoor voice. A way to talk on content without throwing a rock through the creator’s window.

OKAY NEW POST

my paypal account has been blocked off! I originally thought it was because I’d missed payments on paypal credit but having checked on my account it’s giving me different reasons - saying it’s due to the ‘nature of my business’ which makes me very suspicious that they’ve just decided that I’m doing SW through it or something (untrue! I DO do sex work but not through paypal! lmao xD)

so anyway my PA actually set up a bank account for the sake of fundraising for me yesterday anyway so I’m just going to post the bank details for that but I think that will mean only people in the UK can help out :(

Sort Code: 11-64-77 Account no.: 09616263

I don’t even know how much I need anymore xD £150 for storage plus £230 to maybe clear my paypal?? if that’s the issue?? plus any more you want to throw me for much-needed food and possibly clearing my other two credit cards that are also overdue and not working because I lost a £500/month FSSW income to covid xD

so yes I am just straight up begging for whatever you can give me to survive on at this point I have completely maxed out and ruined every credit and overdraft option I have and have no way of getting any other income (have been TRYING to transition to online SW for a good 5 months beFORE covid flooded the market and it’s just not going well…) and my fantastic PA has applied for all the benefits for me and there’s literally nothing to do but wait at this point but the wait was, again, ridiculous BEFORE covid flooded it, and we’re looking at probably at least another month before I see any of it and I have no idea how to survive in the meantime OTHER than through all of your kindness at this point >.<

TL;DR shameless begging. please give me food and help me clear my debt enough that things work again. love you all. thank you for helping this multiply-disabled sex worker survive this fucking fourth bout of homelessness <3 <3 <3

Joe Russo when Tony Stark said “billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” in the first avengers

so far, I have quotes from the russos on how they think Cap is old fashioned and needed to go, how black widow was damaged and needed to “complete herself” how tony “needs to go.” they clearly don’t care for thor or ant man, thinking them idiots. They don’t seem to respect Falcon or War machine (I wonder why) so who DO they like?

Why were they given control over a movie franchise where they hate all the characters?

Completely agree. Here are the quotes they’re referencing btw

This really freaking annoys me. If you’re in charge of a movie franchise then it is your job to embrace every character, to help them grow and overcome their differences. But no, NO! These asshats kill off every single character that they hate and are acting like complete babies just because they don’t like them. If you don’t like them so much then fuck off! Go and work on something else! Just stop ruining the MCU!!!

They both literally just hated everyone. Here is another quote I haven’t heard a lot of people mention either

Loki: h-

Joe Russo:

this is so funny tho

Oh they hated everyone that explains why the movies are like that

I’m still floored that Disney protected Anthony Russo from legal consequence after he openly admitted to driving to Robert Downey Jr.’s house after filming wrapped, every single day, and throwing several dozen eggs at it. For the entire duration of filming and post

OK WHAT THE FUCK I SRSLY HATE THE RUSSOS EVEN MORE NOW THIS EXPLAINS WHY EVERYTHING AFTER CIVIL WAR IS SHIT

when will money-hungry executives stop handing beloved franchises to white men who hate everything about these franchises

The very excited blonde lady owns the resort where this is taken. She’s super excited because this is the closest they’ve ever come in before. Everyone else is less excited because this was taken crack of dawn; when blonde lady realized how close the whales were coming, she ran around waking everybody up to see it.

A good, wholesome post.

I’m so happy

#keep him away from the beakers pls #he absolutely fucking WRECKED the chemistry lab

RB IF YOU AGREE

One of my favorite aspects of Megamind is the hero/villain dynamic of Megamind being like “Metroman!!!! My ULTIMATE NEMESIS” and Metroman just being like “Hey whats up my funky lil blue pal?”

Okay so while we’re all struggling to find jobs, keep jobs, pay for food, or pay our rent, the government gave away eleventy hundred brazilian dollars of our money (OUR money) to the exact same useless trust-fund assholes who created this situation in the first place and it didn’t even do shit.

There’s a fucking pandemic happening.  We have basically no infrastructure to handle such an emergency.  We have to keep going to work and exposing ourselves and our loved ones and our communities to possible infection because we’re all one or two missed paychecks away from starving to death.  Those of us who can’t work are facing homelessness because we can’t pay rent, i.e. we can’t afford the usurous and ever-rising fees that a guy who contributes nothing to society but happens to own a building charges us to be in a building.

Oh, but the landlord might have to pay his mortgage!!!! Bitch I wish I had a mortgage

The for-profit healthcare industry is so determined to not handle the crisis correctly that they are *seriously considering* shuffling life-saving medical equipment away from elderly and disabled people and letting critical COVID-19 patients just fucking die.  There’s no fucking reason to do any of that, except that it’s more cost effective.   Because that’s what The Market demands, is blood sacrifices.

And speaking of blood sacrifices for The Market, they’re also talking about lifting the state of emergency and sending everybody back to work in the middle of a fucking pandemic and just accepting all the tens or hundreds of thousands of people who would be killed by that as reasonable losses in order to make the stock market go back up.  "Hey man, I’m sorry about your kids and I’m sorry about Meemaw and I’m sorry about your friends with respiratory issues, but they’re just useless eaters anyways and we just gotta get that line to point up.“

The presidential election looks like it’s gonna come down to an epic battle between one conservative rapist and another, different conservative rapist.  

Meanwhile the planet is still heating up and we’re still disappearing people into camps in the desert.

Is this the world you want?  Are you just going to accept this?  Are you really just going to say “yes sir, thank you sir” and take this lying down and wait for shit to just go back to normal?  Like a dog?

Or are you going to fight?

Because I got news, man:  It’s not going back to normal.  Not ever.

You need to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself:  Am I going to take this?  Am I going to stand up and fight?  Or am I going to force my grandchildren to suffer the shame of laying a coward’s bones in my grave?

https://www.socialistalternative.org/get-involved/

Get the fuck involved

US: mutual aid / rent strike / dual power

UK: mutual aid / rent strike

GLOBAL: mutual aid / rent strike / general strike

We’re starting our good battle, we know we’re gonna win Because we’ve got the gun thugs looking pretty thin And which side are you on? Which side are you on? Which side are you on, boys, Which side are you on?

RISE UP, MY PEOPLE

-CACKLING-

like my brother said today, stop wishing for a revolution. be the revolution.

“I own an apartment building in Houston with 32 units. This is my sole source of income.”

… let me get this straight. The average rent in Houston is $1338 (1 bed: $1148; 2 beds: $1446). Every single month for who knows how long you were paid thousands of dollars x32 and you didn’t save anything?

And yet you expect tenants on a minimum wage to save enough money to pay off your mortgage?

Landlors really expect people to sell their own car and borrow money from friends and family because - in the mist of a pandemic where some people barely have enough money to eat - they feel entitled to your money.

Landlords don’t provide shit. Builders, plumbers and electricians provide housing. Landlors just buy buildings and hoard wealth for themselves, while leeching off people in need.

We just organized a work stoppage and got policies changed to make us safer in two days :)

Couple things to remember:

1. These people are fucking cannibals and have no hearts or souls or shame and will not stop until they are stopped

2. They scared. We are many, they are few.

KEEP FUCKING FIGHTING

Fight

Fight hard

Fight to win

This fuels me with so much hope! I’ve felt so hopeless watching from the sidelines! LET’S GOOOOO APE SHIT BABYYYY!!!

Is it finally happening? Are people finally at the breaking point of living in this shit dystopia that we can finally just go feral?

get their asses

Please, God, if nothing else for all this shit this year has been, let it begin here, let this be the spark!

https://www.iww.org/content/join-one-big-union

https://iww.org/projects/gdc/join

https://incarceratedworkers.org/

Just do it

Just go buck wild

Y’all don’t understand I BEEN ready to go feral

get their asses

Don’t you just want to lose your minds? Go absolutely Ape Shit? Become Rabid at the doors of the bosses, owners and employers?

The one’s that have turned you against your Fellow Workers.

I know many of you are afraid to rise up now. So many of us(myself included) have to care not only for ourselves, but others. But joining a union, a renter’s collective or a community solidarity program can do the one thing the bosses and the capitalist pigs are really afraid of.

All of us. Waking up. And standing tall.

Together.

I posted a scathing letter to my job on another website about our lack of PPE.

They tracked me down in only 21 hours.

I had to take down the post and issue an apology, but we have masks now.

The weirdest guy I ever met in a church was this boy who referred to “Buzz Aldrin and his husband” going to the moon. I was completely baffled, and when I asked if he’d misspoken, he got really angry and accused me of being deliberately ignorant of the facts. It turned out that he was somehow comvinced that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were married. It took five Wikipedia articles to convince him otherwise.

The moon landing was fake: tired, passé, heard it before

The moon landing was an elaborate marriage proposal: fresh! sexy! I’m going to be thinking about this for months!

Romcom where two dudes in the 1960s fall in love and come up with an elaborate plan to become astronauts to get married in space because gay marriage is illegal everywhere but it can’t be illegal on the moon

Might make things a little awkward for Mike Collins.

He was the officiator

This is an excellent take. He officiated in orbit, and the landing was their Honey Moon.

Oh my god they were moon mates.

Everyone involved in the making of this pun should go to their rooms to think about what they’ve done.

My mother didn’t believe me when I said the reason her phone keeps displaying ads for dog car harnesses is because it eavesdrops on her spoken conversations.

“Watch this,” I said. “I want to buy a wetsuit. I need a wetsuit. Where can I get a wetsuit? Bring me a wetsuit. Wetsuit size small. Women’s wetsuits. Wetsuits for children. Wetsuits for dogs. Discount wetsuits. Hot single wetsuits in my area? Sexy wetsuits. Wetsuits for sale. Purchase me a wetsuit. We need to get a wetsuit. Spend money on a wetsuit! I want to get a wetsuit. Where did you get that wetsuit?”

Her phone is now advertising wetsuits.

Former web developer, AI/UI dev, and data analyst for various things (including targeted marketing on social media) here.

If you have accounts like Facebook and Google +/Gmail, or any app that requires permissions to read & write your surface settings, then this is why it happens. Your default settings for location and other permissions (mic and camera) are enabled for constant read-write.

What does this mean?

You can toggle your permissions for these apps for conditions like Never or While Using App. Keep in mind that if you have apps opened up in the background of your phone, then you're technically using them. Make sure to close them out completely when you don't want to use them.

But why?

When you have your location permissions enabled for apps, this data is collected and used for targeted marketing. Google is the biggest offender.

Example of how to stop active data collection

You can pause permissions on Google accounts:

You can toggle app settings for surface permissions off:

Friendly Reminder

The more you create accounts by using your Google or Facebook to login, the more active data collection you offer to these companies. Unfortunately, Facebook will never not offer you the chance to not have ads showing on your newsfeed. However, you can shut off channels of active data collection by signing up with an email address and a good ol' password instead of using SSO (single sign on) with Google or Facebook.

This cyberpunk future is so lame

2020 Mood