this is among the most interesting posts i've ever made because the responses are truly ALL over the board

Gonna start a promising new career as a Tumblr fake etymologist

Did you know that when people say "hey dial it down" that's a reference to the old days of the internet when you'd "dial up" to get online and "dial down" to get off and touch grass

When you say you're a "fan" of something it's because you "make it cool"

Gonna start a promising new career as a Tumblr etymology fact checker

You're gonna tell everyone I'm correct about everything right? *venmos you $30* *venmos you $50*

Gonna start a promising new career as a Tumblr investigative reporter focusing on etymology fact checking fraud

[calling my cousin in the mafia] Hey remember when you said you owe me one

Happy birthday to me!

“Anger is an acceptable form of grief. You don't have to make your emotions palatable to those who are unmoved. Rage isn't the curse, apathy is.

In the absence of relief, our collective conscience can atrophy. You begin to believe this is the way it has to be. Resist. Dehumanization of the suffering is by design, but it is not an inevitable one.”

—Cole Arthur Riley, Black Liturgies, January 2024

Arame Fall by Virginia di Mauro for L'Officiel Baltic Magazine February 2024

something i've noticed. people seem to think the most nature-y nature is forests. so forests are always prioritized for conservation, and planting trees is synonymous with ecological activism. my state was largely prairies and wetlands before colonization. those ecosystems are important too. trees aren't the end-all be-all of environmentalism. plant native grasses. protect your wetlands.

deserts also!!! it sucks so bad that people think of desert as 'wasteland' just because it's not suited for western european style ag development, they're beautiful and delicate and valuable ecosystems and, i think it's good to point out that humans have been living willingly in them for thousands of years

^ Note the 'turning the desert green' propaganda used by Israel to claim that they're putting 'empty' land to use when in fact they're destroying the ecosystem that's already there, genociding the people that live there and cutting down the food trees they have cultivated over generations.

Boycott ExpressVPN

There is some pretty shocking footage out there of the Baltimore bridge collapse early this morning. I've already seen some incredibly wrong, incredibly insensitive Hot Takes about how shitty the bridge was to have fallen after being bonked by a boat, etc

Please don't be that person.

The facts will come out. Speculation is silly. In addition to loss of life, the Francis Scott Key bridge was a major arterial in that region's highway system. Its loss will be felt for years, and not just to daily commuters.

Baltimore harbor is closed. No shipping at all. This will impact supply chains in ways we cannot even assess yet.

It's pretty fucked up.

Hey y'all, Baltimorian here.

“ever notice how all nonbinary people are afab?” no but i have noticed how every single amab nonbinary person ive come across is either forcibly labeled as a trans woman or a cis guy who just Loudly Gay 

Agony

*grabbing mlm shippers by the shoulders* guys nobody needs to be the twink. nobody needs to be the sub. nobody needs to be the femboy. they can both be big fat hairy men who bask in each others masculinity or they can both be unspeakable monstrous creatures with inhuman genitalia it’s okay I’m holding your hand. Let me show you the way

I would argue this isn't "People are just too fucking stupid" rather it's "policing exists primarily to enforce terror on parts of society and our community they deem undesirable"

so we're just not gonna have a national conversation about how Boeing killed one of their own employees to keep him from talking to the press

like we're really not gonna address the fact that he died of a "self inflicted head wound" literal hours after Boeings lawyers asked him to stay an extra day. We're not gonna speak on the fact that he told his family "if I die, it wasn't suicide " before he went to go testify. None of it huh

Oh? You haven't heard? I'm not surprised with how hard the media are parrying it

THAT TOO. LMFAOOO

I feel like this fandom is going backwards when people deny luisa is a feminine character. nobody is claiming she’s feminine because of things like crying and having emotions but she quite literally is shown wanting to be feminine in the bridge of surface pressure the part where she talks about what she desires. Also it’s a very conscious choice to make her feminine when you read the art book and see how they wanted to break the stereotype of masculine= muscles. The whole point is luisa wants to be seen as MORE than her gift. She never got to embrace her femininity the way the other madrigal girls did because she’s always working! Why are we trying to make it out to be a bad thing that luisa is feminine? there’s already so many female characters portrayed as masculine for having muscles and encanto is one of the only times they consciously wanted to break that. let luisa wear a twirly skirt and like glitter you cowards

are they really “fem presenting” or do they just have boobs. are they really “masc presenting” or do they just have facial hair

why should palestinians have to leave behind their land because israel wont stop killing them. why should anyone have to leave behind their life and memories and sentimental value just because an aggressor is left unchallenged. please think this sentiment through and delete it from your thoughts. instead of blaming an oppressed people for living in a hostile land, ask who is making that land hostile to live in.

Don't get me wrong, I don't give two shits about the English Royal Family, but this PR crisis they're in right now is just wild. Every time you think they're done digging themselves deeper, they haul another bucket of shit up from the bottom of the well they're in.

Is Kate dead? Of course not. Is the PR team still, for some inexplicable reason, acting like they're covering up her murder? Yes! And I for one find that fucking hilarious.

We should sacrifice one politician every March 15th to satisfy the spirit of the Roman Empire

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and all endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)