I assumed this was going to go in the direction of a serious diatribe on abuse, so the reaction image took me OUT

i want to attend a terry pratchett book club that includes at least one gen x or older british person because i feel like there must be so much brilliant stuff that is going right over my young american head

Probably! I'm still getting jokes on reread now, in my thirties. But if you don't have any gen X brits who are also Pterry fans close to hand, may I present to you L-space? It's quite an older site, built out of the old Usenet alt.fan.pratchett listservs, and it includes quite a lot of helpful metadata on everything Pratchett published.

In particular, L-Space contains the Annotated Pratchett File, being a repository of all the references anyone could suss out from about 1992 on, usually verified by asking Pterry himself if he'd meant to do that or not. There is also a set of annotations available in a crowd-sourced format through the Lspace Wiki.

Annotations make getting the jokes funnier and you get to learn more about the layers of meaning in the work, plus you can chase weird rabbit trails off them in your own time. I highly recommend anyone who enjoys Discworld and knowing stuff spend some quality time with one of the book annotations at some point.

Hey bro/ster I'm super sorry to have to be the one to break this to you, but uh sometimes being a socialist means, you know, putting your dreams of terrorism down for a minute and talking about public policy and how your proposed form of government would like, uhhhhh................ work.

an acquaintance told me i had the subtle guardedness of someone who “learned social skills the hard way” and i’d honestly have much preferred they took out a gun and shot me

I'm just going to leave this here, because this woman said what I've been trying to articulate for ages much more effectively and succinctly than I've been able to

ATTENTION MUTUALS:

Pinning this, because everything she says in this video is so important. And if I see ANY of my mutuals (or anyone else for that matter) reblogging and/or pushing anything even close to the "don't vote" narrative, I'm blocking you on sight from now on.

I'm SICK of these takes that all just amount to "don't vote," because that's how Trump won in 2016. Because of idiots not voting. I know. I was there. I was one of them. And it's one of the biggest regrets of my life due to all the damage Trump did. And if you're too ignorant to know what a disaster he has been for our rights, and for the world, and what a boon he's been to far right extremists everywhere in the world who make Biden look like a saint, then... *exhales deeply.* Just google it or something.

Also lemme just repeat one thing she said in this video ALL of you need to get through your heads:

THE GOP WANTS TO CONTINUE THE GENOCIDE OVER THERE AND START ONE HERE TOO.

So it's not like you're actually helping anyone by not voting. You're just being selfish, short sighted, and foolish.

the ache of nostalgia

Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not fucking blue.

I have been waiting for this post all my life.

They are indeed purple, But one thing you’ve missed: The concept of “purple” Didn’t always exist.

Some cultures lack names For a color, you see. Hence good old Homer And his “wine-dark sea.”

A usage so quaint, A phrasing so old, For verses of romance Is sheer fucking gold.

So roses are red. Violets once were called blue. I’m hugely pedantic But what else is new?

My friend you’re not wrong About Homer’s wine-ey sea! Colours are a matter Of cultural contingency;

Words are in flux And meanings they drift But the word purple You’ve given short shrift.

The concept of purple, My friends, is old And refers to a pigment once precious as gold.

By crushing up molluscs From the wine-dark sea You make a dye: Imperial decree

Meant that in Rome, to wear purpura was a privilege reserved

For only the emperor!

The word ‘purple’, for clothes so fancy, Entered English By the ninth century

.

Why then are voilets Not purple in song? The dye from this mollusc, known for so long

Is almost magenta; More red than blue. The concept of purple is old, and yet new.

The dye is red, So this might be true: Roses are purple And violets are blue

.

While this song makes me merry, Tyrian purple dyes many a hue From magenta to berry And a true purple too.

But fun as it is to watch this poetic race The answer is staring you right in the face: Roses are red and violets are blue Because nothing fucking rhymes with purple.

Hirple - To limp or walk awkwardly

Cirple - An old Scots word for the hindquarters of a horse

“Roses are red, violets are purple,

My boner for you has caused me to hirple.”

…

DYING. I AM DYING.

Ein lieber Besuch (A Lovely Visit) 1894

— by Max Kurzweil

Hi I have a question about Pacific Rim. Given that the sparring is just A way to test for drift compatibility and any activity that requires people to collaborate and anticipate each others moves works, including stuff like multi player video games

They are piloting a Jaeger together in my imagination

#hate this. im in the shatterdome trying to coordinate my jaegers in the field fighting for the fate of humanity #and these two chuckleheads over here won’t stop doing bits on the open channel #they keep defeating kaiju with slapstick routines and its INFURIATING

yeah the worst part is it's actually working for them

“The stone corrupts all those who wield it, it is fueled by their ambitions and dreams. So we need someone with no ambitions, no dreams, someone who doesn’t care about what the future holds for themselves. That’s why we found you.”

The first thought, in a moment like this, probably should not have been what came to your mind. Well, fuck you too, you thought, half incredulous and half apathetic. You leaned against the doorframe with one shoulder and eyed the group of three wizened people before you. Why was it always the elderly who came with big quests or brought important items that had to be hidden away?

Also, if you didn’t care about the future, didn’t that mean you didn’t care about the stone either? You might as well give it to someone else. Maybe someone better suited than you. There was this little girl across the street who had an acorn necklace and played in puddles and always sat very still until the every last stray cat felt safe enough to eat what she brought them. Maybe the stone should go to her, she at least gave a shit.

You debated arguing or refusing, but your disinterest won out in the end. “Sure,” you answered, holding out a hand for them to plop the stone into. You weren’t scared of it, especially since it looked utterly unremarkable. If you tossed it into a river, no one would be able to tell it apart from the other rocks.

The three wizened elders, apparently the smartest of their magic circle, exchanged grave looks and you waited until they were done with their silent communication and their leader stepped forward.

“We entrust you with the Stone of Possibility, never use it and always hide it,” they said, voice solemn and carrying the sort of undertone that spoke of great importance. You blinked slowly. “Give it to no one, no matter how noble their hearts, how pitiful their tale or how silver their tongue.” You couldn’t help but imagine a genderless person sticking out their tongue dripping with mercury.

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when i say i like hiking, i don’t mean “eight mile backpacking trip with special gear and an emergency beacon” sort of hiking, i mean a three mile loop to go look at pretty things and then a huge brunch after.

this is in no way a slam on hardcore hiking, it’s very fun, but i mostly just need to lower people’s expectations when i say hiking is a hobby of mine

"No no, that's ranger hiking. I like hobbit hiking."

As someone that has grown up surrounded by beaches and done surf life saving, I know how the sea works. Lots of people dont. Every summer multiple tourists die here because they don’t respect the sea, if you’re going to the coast, here’s a thing I saw on Facebook.

wow.

reblogging for all of us that grew up in land locked states, then visit the ocean and are used to just plunging into a lake.

These are not unique to the sea btw. Rip tides are also a danger in other large bodies of water, like the Great Lakes

I had heard of rip tides, but I would never have guessed they were the calm-looking part. If I had been looking for a safe space to wade, I would have avoided all of the white parts (turbulent! terrifying!) and gone straight for the rip.

lake michigan has rip tides and strong currents and also the highest kill count of all of them because people think of superior and huron as The Scary Ones. lake michigan has beautiful beaches along very big cities, and eats tourists like popcorn. do not underestimate lakes, but particularly not the great lakes.

Kyiv-based artist Alexey Kondakov uses surrealistic documentary photography to superimpose figures from classical artwork into everyday scenes of modern life. He is renowned for his Photoshopped collage series in which Kyiv, Ukraine served as the backdrop for characters from old world masterpieces. The artist merges the past and the present, showing with a deft eye how classical figures fit seamlessly into contemporary situations that, in themselves, are timeless.