marie howe, in an interview with krista tippett of on being

Posts that Tumblr will blaze:

• Blatant NSFW that breaks community guidelines

• Christian proselytizing

• Vent posts

Posts that Tumblr won't blaze:

• Spoilers for a shitty game that lines a transphobe's pockets

🔥🔥🔥🔥

I miss when library books used to have little paper pockets inside with a list of all the people who borrowed it and when... I hate that this is now exclusive knowledge of librarians. I do care that a miss Mariana borrowed this book in 1985 and then Dario in 1997. They're my brothers and sisters

but really, there's a million reasons why it's an issue for users and staff of the public library to have immediate access to a record of who has borrowed a specific item and when.

and that's not even about keeping the information "privileged" to the library staff, these days they don't even keep a digital record of an item's history of borrowers; once you return a book, there isn't a list of everyone thats ever taken that book out that your name gets added to (though they probably take a tally of how many times it is checked out for circulation statistics).

i think the card system is a remnant of a culture that could only exist in the world before the internet as it exists today, where this identifying kind of information wasn't always readily at your fingertips, even for those at the "information professional" level.

don't get me wrong here, i do understand the nostalgia factor to it as being part of a different time, but i think it's always important to understand why this kind of system has its flaws and has been (at least in north america) taken out of practice

bear in mind that US public libraries spent most of the past twenty years fighting off lawsuits that they were prohibited from disclosing to the public because when 9/11 happened the federal government wanted a list of every person who read certain books and the librarians had a really bad feeling about where that kind of policy would end up going, for some reason.

not keeping the records in the first place is a way for the libraries to protect themselves when they stand up for your privacy.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_FBI_has_not_been_here.jpg

This was a thing in multiple libraries. We really want to protect your freedom to access information.

they were prohibited from telling us when the fbi had been through to check who was reading what. so they told us when they hadn't been. anyway librarians are heroes for privacy and freedom of information

the actual reason I consume mediocre media is because I have bad taste. the deeper secret pretentious reason is because I think there’s something very revealing about bad media that you don’t get with good media. when you watch a poorly executed plot point unfold, you see the machinery behind it. you see the gap between what’s actually on screen and the true goal the author is striving for. if it’s particularly awful, you can even measure just how poorly mismatched the author’s skills are with the story they’re trying to tell you. watching a poorly executed narrative play out feels like you’re discovering something, because you see all the wiring and guts underneath that better authors hide from you, in the same way that movies hide boom mics and books make you forget you’re turning the pages. if a story is good and executed well you just see the story. but I want to see the guts and wires!

also I like complaining a lot

round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and

I'm screaming from this post on a librariam group

i sent this to my mom (she’s a librarian) and she immediately responded with these

UPDATE

you have to pretend to be a wizard sometimes, for your health. the obvious method is d&d, but you can also open the dishwasher on cold mornings and raise your arms dramatically as you're enveloped in the steam, or you can find a really good stick to walk around in the woods with, or you can run a bizarrely dedicated rp blog on tumblr. but it's an important component of human well being to occasionally pretend to be a wizard.

On a lighter + adjacent note i love dis tweet + these QRTs of it ^_^... literally...

I literally spit water all over my screen.

For context

Is it lost? Is it trapped? Is it home? Is it innocent? Is it hunting you? Can you feel it watching you? Is it the house?

Calling my OCs bastards is so amusing. Sir. Sir you created them. You are their only parent

i love having ocs with professions i know nothing about its like This is Scientist Sam she works at the Science Factory

It's been a while, y'all. Life is going... Not great but not awful. I had an unexpected bill a few weeks ago that I'm still hurting from, and I fudged my budget this week by mistake (bad mathing moment). I've not wanted to ask for help from anyone, but I finally opened my little shop so... If you need some stocking stuffers or whatnot, check it out? It's a little sparse at the moment, but that should hopefully change soon.

Check out my little shop on Ki-fi if you'd like to help me out and pick up something cute in the process!

My friend finally got her shop set up! She makes the cutest little things. Right now there’s sets of sparkly gummy bear earrings, and more pretties are in the works. Please take a peek! This is a great chance to support an artist that’s just starting out selling her crafts. Plus, tis the season for stocking stuffers, gifts for loved ones, and present exchanges at work.

Look how cute these are!

And if you could all help by sharing this around, the more people that see this, the better.

“One more thing, sir. You told me you couldn’t possibly have been at the crime scene at that time on account of your alibi, that being that you were at home playing your PlayStation 3. Now, forgive me, but if that’s true, I just gotta ask– how could you have been playing your PS3 if the PS3 has no games?”

“Why, Lieutenant, the PS3 is backwards compatible with many PS2 games. I was simply playing one of my many PS2 games at the time of the murder. Surely you are at least familiar with Kingdom Hearts? I’d be happy to show you my save file if it would put your mind at ease.”

“Ah, gee. Kingdom Hearts… Yeah, that one’s a classic. one of the best ones, even. My wife loves that little Sora guy. No, I agree. You’re right, sir. I should’a thought of that. Well, I’ll get outta your hair, then. — Oh, one more thing…

I just remembered something you might find a little interesting. See, you’ve got one of those black models. With the top-loading tray. And those PS3 models are backwards compatible. … but only for PS1 games. Kingdom Hearts wasn’t on the PS1, though, was it? …”

“Oh… yes, how very… observant of you, Lieutenant. Well, I… suppose I must have been mistaken. My memory of that dreadful night - it’s all jumbled, you see. It must have been one of my other games from my PS1 library. Spyro, perhaps. Or– yes, now I remember. It was Final Fantasy 7 - the character of Cloud is in both that game and in Kingdom Hearts. I must have simply gotten my wires crossed. How silly of me.”

“All right, then. That explains it. Well, have a good night, then.  … Oh, uh… I figure I oughta let you know … we did have your memory card searched. We didn’t see Final Fantasy VII on there. Must’ve been a glitch or something. Might wanna get that checked.”

“Now, see here, Columbo, perhaps if you were spending more time looking for actual clues, rather than harping on my gaming habits, you might have caught the real killer by now!

If you have anything more to say to me, you can kindly say it to my lawyer.

So, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Twitch stream scheduled for noon, and I do not care to keep my followers waiting. Good day, sir.”

“Certainly, sir, I’ll be outta your way now. Oh, – gee. Gosh, I nearly forgot. I figured I’d mention. We did get one lead. On the murder, sir.

We determined from Mr. Elbertson’s autopsy that he was repeatedly beaten in the back of the head with a small, blunt object. No bigger than about 157 mm longways. Likely a, uh … analog gamepad of some kind. Dualshock, that’s what the lab boys told me. You got any idea what sorta console uses those? I only ask ‘cause you seem to know about these sorta things. What with you being– well, being a gamer.”

all stories need "stopping at Burger King", anyone who went to english class knows this. it can be a metaphorical burger king, or a metaphorical stopping, and they don't have to order the whopper, but all stories must stop at burger king at some point

Pro Tip: The Way You End a Sentence Matters

Here is a quick and dirty writing tip that will strengthen your writing.

In English, the word at the end of a sentence carries more weight or emphasis than the rest of the sentence. You can use that to your advantage in modifying tone.

Consider:

Do you pick up the subtle differences in meaning between these three sentences?

The first one feels a little angry, doesn't it? And the third one feels a little softer? There's a gulf of meaning between "what you said didn't matter" (it's not important!) and "it didn't matter what you said" (the end result would've never changed).

Let's try it again:

That first example seems to kind of side with her, right? Whereas the second example seems to hold a little bit of judgment or accusation? The first phrase kind of seems to suggest that she was so sad she couldn't cry, whereas the second kind of seems to suggest that she's not sad and that's the problem.

The effect is super subtle and very hard to put into words, but you'll feel it when you're reading something. Changing up the order of your sentences to shift the focus can have a huge effect on tone even when the exact same words are used.

In linguistics, this is referred to as "end focus," and it's a nightmare for ESL students because it's so subtle and hard to explain. But a lot goes into it, and it's a tool worth keeping in your pocket if you're a creative writer or someone otherwise trying to create a specific effect with your words :)

Brought some ghostly friends to the Halloween/Nanowrimo kickoff party, including a powerful boy and a very squishy boy

UPDATE: Luna yass-ified my blob

i think we should go trick or treating on tumblr on halloween. going to send asks saying ‘trick or treat’

ok ok fun plan if you’ve liked or reblogged this post you’re on my list on blogs to call on on halloween. trick or treaters are very welcome at mine!

also if you’re planning on doing this, i’d recommend you only do it to blogs who’ve interacted with this post as not to annoy people!

you guys really like this idea- huh! guess i’ll expand? you can do it however you want, but this was my idea in more detail:

treats can be images of candy from your country! or something nice, such as a wholesome or funny meme!! doesn’t have to be high effort! (high effort stuff is of course cool though!)

tricks could be vaguely cursed images (such as the ballpit) or cursed facts- all in good fun! nothing harmful (that’s something i’ll ask everyone to stick to- no actual harmful stuff!)

but oh gosh i’m excited now! this might be a thing!