We've met a few times.

I think one of the most important steps in becoming a good game designer is accepting that there are things that are important to a well-realised game that you just fucking suck at. I've seen any number of game design manifestos by up-and-coming tabletop RPG authors that fundamentally boil down to "the set of things that are vitally important to a well-realised game is conveniently identical to the set of things that I feel I'm good at writing; the set of things that are stupid non-fun bullshit that people are only fooling themselves into thinking they enjoy is conveniently identical to the set of things I feel I'm bad at", and there's only two ways that ends: either you get a clue and realise that there are important things you'll always need help with, or you turn into Ron Edwards and start writing thinkpieces about how certain ways of pretending to be an elf cause literal brain damage.

Every child abuse survivor who has done even 2 secs of healing inherently understands why we should not be mindlessly supporting “parents rights.”

Just another way the right is using warm fuzzy language to describe truly heinous things.

Thank god for the adults who taught me things my parents wouldn’t. Thank fucking god.

"art is about Love--" maybe take a look at some art that explores the deep cruelty and violence of the human condition, feel your soul shudder in your chest, and develop a greater appreciation for the vast world we live in

L + ratio + you are arrogant enough to presume that every single piece of art made across the eons must adhere to your narrow and self-centered view of what it should be

Covers for Exlibrium: Second life issues 33, 34 and 36

The TikToker teaching Yucatec Maya, an Indigenous Mexican language

Judy Heumann passed away today. She was an amazing disability advocate who was on the forefront of disability activism for literally decades. She founded Disabled in Action, lobbied for independent living for disabled people, partipated in the longest sit in of a federal building in the United States with the 504 sit in, worked with multiple presidential administrations to improve disability rights, and so much more. I cannot stress how much she did for disabled people and how much she'll be missed. May her memory be a blessing.

[image description: a black and white photo of Judy Heumann during the 504 protests in 1977. She has short hair and glasses and is wearing a "Sign 504" sticker on her jacket. She is speaking into a microphone]

Judy Heumann is widely considered the mother of the disability rights movement. She has been fighting since the very beginning, and she never stopped.

This is important.

This is what people are.

We want to be useful, and we want to make people happy

Pay attention to this.

Motherfucker effortlessly whipped out a balloon animal while talking about entropy and looking like a regular contributor to the Washington Post. I wish him nothing but the best in life

I love the idea floating around tumblr that both Bruce and Dick introduce Jason like he’s five because he is “my son” or “my baby brother” to them and he just surprises everyone with his tank build.

Might I pose that Jason is so used to it that it doesn’t even clock for him anymore

Dick Grayson at work: Hey I’m sorry, do you think you could watch my baby brother for a sec? Bruce can’t really pick him up rn.

His coworker: oh! Okay don’t even worry about it but for how long? I’m not the best with kids

Dick half listening: you’ll be alright! he loves to read so he won’t be on your toes … just keep an eye on your squad car keys… oh! There he is!

A six foot, 225 pound linebacker of a man walks in: hey 👋

Coworker: 👁👄👁

Dick: jaylad! I brought you a book you might like! This is my coworker, they’re gonna be here for a while, if you need anything, within reason, ask them okay? I’ll be right back buddy.

Coworker: 👁👄👁

Jason, carding through his book: …would he get fired if I drove one of the police cars without permission?

If not is it like a fine or like, jail time?

Dick motherhens every one of his siblings but Jason the most

Like they’re all enjoying their Doritos, orange slices and caprisuns on a roof after a long patrol and Duke is like

…WAIT A DANG MINUTE

Happiness Will Come To You.

when tho

When You Least Expect It. Probably Late March

reblog for happiness to come for you in late march!

I reblogged this last year and I hung out with blink-182 backstage on March 30. Reblogging again because it worked the first time.

honestly, last year one of the best days of my life happened in late March

— Steve Maraboli

I NEED PRIVACY, NOT BECAUSE MY ACTIONS ARE QUESTIONABLE, BUT BECAUSE YOUR JUDGMENT AND INTENTIONS ARE.

10 or 11 little ducks have been spotted crossing the dash board

stupid leftists and their belief in *checks notes* the intrinsic value of human life

Reblog if you would burn down the statue of liberty to save a life

Here’s the thing, though. If you asked a conservative “Would you let the statue of liberty burn to save one life?” they’d probably scoff and say no, it’s a national landmark, a treasure, a piece of too much historical importance to let it be destroyed for the sake of one measly life. 

But if you asked, “Would you let the statue of liberty burn in order to save your child? your spouse? someone you loved a great deal?” the tune abruptly changes. At the very least, there’s a hesitation. Even if they deny it, I’m willing to bet that gun to their head, the answer would be “yes.”  

The basic problem here is that people have a hard time seeing outside their own sphere of influence, and empathizing beyond the few people who are right in front of them. You’ve got your immediate family, whom you love; your friends, your acquaintances, maybe to a certain degree the people who share a status with you (your religion, your race, etc.)–but beyond that? People aren’t real. They’re theoretical. 

But a national monument? That’s real. It stands for something. The value of a non-realized anonymous life that exists completely outside your sphere of influence is clearly worth less than something that represents freedom and prosperity to a whole nation, right?

People who think like this lack the compassion to realize that everyone is in someone’s immediate sphere of influence–that everyone is someone’s lover, or brother, or parent. Everyone means the world to someone. And it’s the absolute height of selfishness to assume that their lives don’t have value just because they don’t mean the world to you. 

P.S. I would let the statue of liberty burn to save a pigeon. 

also, there is an extreme difference between what things or principles *i* personally am willing to die for, and what i would hazard others to die for. and this is a distinction i don’t think the conservative hard-right likes to face.

an example: so, as the nazis began war against france, the staff of the louvre began crating up and shipping out the artworks. it was vital to them (for many reasons) that the nazis not get their hands on the collections, and hitler’s desire for them was known, so they dispersed the objects to the four winds; one of the curators personally traveled with la gioconda, mona lisa herself, in an unmarked crate, moving at least five times from location to location to avoid detection.

they even removed and hid the nike of samothrace, “winged victory,” which is both delicate, having been pieced back together from fragments, and incredibly heavy, weighing over three metric tons.

the curators who hid these artworks risked death to ensure that they wouldn’t fall into nazi hands. and yes, they are just paintings, just statues. but when i think about the idea of hitler capturing and standing smugly beside the nike of samothrace, a statue widely beloved as a symbol of liberty, i completely understand why someone would risk their life to prevent that. if my life was all that stood between a fascist dictator and a masterpiece that inspired millions, i would be willing to risk it. my belief in the power and necessity of art would demand i do so.

if, however, a nazi held a gun to some kid’s head (any kid!) and asked me which crate the mona lisa was in, they could have it in a heartbeat. no problem! i wouldn’t even have to think about it. being willing to risk my own life on principle doesn’t mean i’m willing to see others endangered for those same principles.

and that is exactly where the conservative hard-right falls right the fuck down. they are, typically, entirely willing to watch others suffer for their own principles. they are perfectly okay with seeing children in cages because of their supposed belief in law and order. they are perfectly willing to let women die from pregnancy complications because of their anti-abortion beliefs. they are alright with poverty and disease on general principle because they hold the free-market sacrosanct. and i guess from their own example they would save the statue of liberty and let human beings burn instead.

but speaking as a leftist (i’m more comfortable with socialist tbh), my principles are not abstract things that i hold aside from life, apart or above my place as a human being in a society. my beliefs arise from being a person amidst people. i don’t love art for art’s sake alone, actually! i don’t love objects because they are objects: i love them because they are artifacts of our humanity, because they communicate and connect us, because they embody love and curiosity and fear and feeling. i love art because i love people. i want universal health care because i want to see people universally cared for. i want universal basic income because people’s safety and dignity should not be determined by their economic productivity to an employer. i am anti-war and pro-choice for the same reason: i value people’s lives but also their autonomy and right to self-determination. my beliefs are not abstractions. i could never value a type of economic system that i saw hurting people, no matter how much “growth” it produced. i could never love “law and order” more than i love a child, any child, i saw trapped in a cage.

would i be willing to risk death, trying to save the statue of liberty? probably, yes. but there is no culture without people, and therefore i also believe there are no cultural treasures worth more than other people’s lives. and as far as i’m concerned the same goes for laws, or markets, or borders.

Well said!

This is an excellent ethical discussion.

The first time I came across this post, randomslasher’s addition was life changing for me. I suddenly understood where the right was coming from, and I had never been angrier.

This is also why so many people on the right fail to see the hypocrisy of trying to make abortion illegal when they themselves have had abortions. They can tally up their own life circumstances and conclude that it would be difficult or impossible to continue a pregnancy, but they’re completely mystified by the idea that women they don’t know are also human beings with complicated lives and limited spoon allocation.

This is also why they think “get a job” is useful advice. In their heads they honestly do not understand why the NPCs who make up the majority of the human race can’t just flip a switch from “no job” to “job.” When they say “get a job” they’re filing a glitch report with God and they honestly think that’s all it takes.

This is also why they tend to view demographics as individuals. They think that every single Muslim is just a different avatar for the same bit of programming.

Borrowed observation from @innuendostudios​ here, but: there’s also a fundamental difference in how progressives view social problems versus how conservatives view them. That is, progressives view them as problems to be solved, whereas conservatives do not believe you can solve anything.

Conservatives view social issues as universal constants that fundamentally are unable to be changed, like the weather. You can try to alter your own behavior to protect yourself (you can carry an umbrella), and you can commiserate about how bad the weather is, but you can’t stop it from raining. This is why conservatives blame victims of rape for dressing immodestly or for drinking or for going out at night: to them, those things are like going out without an umbrella when you know it’s going to rain. 

“But then why do conservatives try to stop things they dislike by making them illegal, like drug use or immigration or abortion?” And the answer is: they’re not. They know perfectly well that those things will continue. No amount of studies showing that their methods are ineffective will matter to them because effectiveness is not the point. The point is to punish people for doing bad things, because punishing people is how you show your disapproval of their actions; if you don’t punish them, then you’re condoning their behavior. 

This is why they will never support rehabilitative prisons, even though they reduce crime. This is why they will never support free birth control for everyone, even though that would reduce abortions. This is why they will never support just giving homeless people houses, even though it’s proven to be cheaper and more effective at stopping homelessness than halfway houses and shelters. It’s not about stopping evil, because you can’t; it’s about saying definitively what is Bad and what is Good, and we as a society do that by punishing the people we’ve decided are bad. 

This is why the conservative response to “holy fuck, they’re putting children in cages!” is typically something along the lines of “it’s their parents’ fault for trying to come here illegally; if they didn’t want to have their kids taken away, they shouldn’t have committed a crime.” It doesn’t matter that entering the US unlawfully is a misdemeanor and child kidnapping isn’t typically a criminal sentence. It does not matter that this has absolutely zero effect on people unlawfully entering the US. The point is that conservatives have decided that entering unlawfully is Bad, anything that is not punishing undocumented immigrants – due process of asylum and removal defense claims, for example – is supporting Badness, and kidnapping children is an appropriate punishment for being Bad.

#ivan karamazov#enters the chat (@the-world-lit-or-unlit)

This is really long but please read it

that’s enough emotions for a whole year. ciao

The earlier in the year you reblog this the better it gets

"The One Spirit Team has been working tirelessly to help as many families on the Rez as possible through this intense winter season. Road conditions are making it near impossible to distribute firewood and food. Many homes are without power or a reliable and safe heat source.

Any donations received at this time will be used to purchase firewood, supplies, and food to take care of those critically in need."

Donations can be made here:

Donations to Oglala Re-Member organization, which also assists people living in the Pine Ridge Reservation, can be made here:

It's about to hit us here in Oklahoma and the rest of the southern states that are not used to this level of cold.

Please take this seriously if you live somewhere this is going to impact significantly.

I just sincerely hope texas' power grid doesn't fail them again.

but at least a small blessing is that this isn't bringing much precipitation with it and the worst of it will be the wind.

Anyway. Stay inside, wear layers, and bundle up. Get your cold weather shit prepped now if you haven't yet.

0.0?!

This is "if you go outside you will have frostbite in minutes" type cold, this is "your car may not start up" type cold, this is "your schoolboard should be advising you not to send your kids to school by foot" type cold, i live in Ontario and I've only ever seen it get to -44C here.

If you are in this swath of area and have never experienced this type of cold before please take whatever precautions you can. in extreme circumstances like this the best way to do that is to isolate activity to one or 2 rooms of the house that have as few outward facing windows as possible, make sure you wear lots of layers and even insulate those layers by putting wadded up paper between them, keep your extremities covered, keep your face covered, if you have blankets or pillows to spare and non-carpet flooring lay those out to help insulate the room, you can hang bath towels in front of any windows to help absorb the cold. Please limit going out to as little as possible, and if you have to make sure anything that can be covered is indeed covered, if you have to wear denim please layer something underneath it, wear ur heaviest fabrics, double up on socks and gloves if you need to, if you can get thermal underwear you can always layer those. When in highschool and had to wait at the buss I would often microwave some potatoes or perogis and keep them in my pockets to warm my hands as I waited for the bus. Keep extra blankets and candles and clothes in ur car. For whatever reason if you get wet and you're outside, please find somewhere to get inside while you dry. If you live in an area that's getting this and you don't have winter clothes like scarves or mitts take whatever thick insulating cloth you can find and use that instead. it might not be comfortable but it will be better than frostbite, I promise.

This is the type of cold that also comes in insanely dry so if you are prone to nosebleeds this will be a problem. Make sure you have moisturizer for ur hands and lip balm so you don't end up cracked and bleeding on top of freezing, its a shit combo.

I know this isn't a 100% on theme for this blog, but please take care!

People have been so kind as to add more advice on how to deal with this type of cold in the notes of this post, so don't forget to check those too.