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@talistrongbackcommless

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

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Might I add:

The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

The woman who raised the changeling alongside her biological child

The human who died of radiation poisoning after repairing the spaceship

The adventures of a space roomba

Cinderella finding Araura (and falling in love)

I don’t know a snappy description but the my nemesis cynthia story certainly lives in my head

I am in love with you /p

What about the one with the princess locked in a tower learning to become a wizard? That’s lived in my mind for years and I haven’t seen it in a long time

Making sure i get as many of these as i can!

Honestly, in my work as a therapist, I’m seeing this A Lot, and tbh I still don’t have a satisfactory approach to it. A heavy dose of Existentialist “create your own Purpose” tempered with “when the plane’s going down, put your own oxygen mask on first”, but… yeah, there is no ethical way to work on individual emotional distress without acknowledging the systemic socioeconomic, geopolitical fuckery going on at the moment, and the sheer grief that comes with it.

This is one of those areas where like on the one hand as a chronic moderate-severe depressive this shit hits me hard and on the other I’m watching people technically more mentally healthy than me struggle with the vast pointless mess of existence for the first time and it’s a trip.

Some tips from the inside, in case they help:

- life has always been pointless. Or rather, we have always been unable to control the relative point-fulness of life. The factors involved in opening the possibilities of who can have a large scale impact where are so insanely complex that they can at best only be pieced together imperfectly in retrospect

- the only thing that has changed is your awareness of this fact. No, seriously. The sun will eventually swallow the planet; at any moment without our knowledge or control the sun could flare in weird ways that will kill us all; etc. There was geopolitical and socioeconomic fuckery as bad or worse going on before: you just didn’t see it. Promise.

- you do what you can with what you have. You do what’s in front of you. Humanity has survived all of this before; it may survive it again. It may not. You can only do what you can: take what lessons exist from the past and apply them.

- sometimes it is just that bad and they are totally out to get you. The question is, what do you do about it?

- almost without exception in human history the answer has been “build community; support the one you have; reach out to connect MORE and to make the world more kind and less hateful than before.”

- recognize you’re trying to tackle god-level problems with a brain originally meant for keeping small proto-fish from being eaten. Treat that part of your brain like a very anxious toddler or rescue pitbull. Give it small measurable victories and successes even if you have to make them up. Make sure it’s fed and watered and has enough rest. Medicate it if you have to - there’s nothing wrong with that. The opposite, in fact.

We are hairless plains apes living in a thin skin of atmosphere between spinning liquid superheated death and the void of absolute cold, sustained by the radiation of a supermassive explosion that will kill us at the slightest excuse. We have always been unlikely and implausible and probably doomed which means every moment we are able to live, thrive and help others do so is an incredible victory. Don’t quit now. ❤️

Holy fuck I needed this

Kindle the Light, Shelter the Light, Protect the Light, Be the Light.

We can none of us save the world alone, we can only save each other: by thus is the world saved.  Everyone helps someone.

Please read this. It brings focus and comfort.

Herschel normally plays in the Large Dog group at daycare because he is Too Intense for the Shi-tuzs, but yesterday he was kicked back into small group for "Playing too hard with Big Herschel".

For context, My terrible goblin baby is a 38lb corgi "Big Herschel" is a 140lb Rhodesian Ridgeback, also named Herschel

...and by "Playing too hard" they apparently meant "Your wretched crime baby has figured out how to do a WWE-style flying tackle off the top of the sunning/shade platform (4ft high platform to dogs to lie on or under) and Big Herschel was starting to get scared to go near it."

Fortunately, there was a Basset hound in smalls to sumo-wrestle with so he still got to play but Baby dog. PLEASE.

So APPARENTLY he's been doing his Flying Squirrel Maneuver for months now, it's just never been a problem before because Charleston plays in the same group and if he sees Herschel jump off that platform he anime-teleports across the playground to counter-tackle Herschel out of midair in what I can only assume is an activation of Charlie's Older Brother Instincts.

This has interrupted Herschel's Reign Of Terror From Above on previous occasions, so the staff didn't feel the need to tell me.

But it was Warm and Sunny yesterday and Charlie could not be arsed to get up from where he was cosplaying a solar panel on the same platform. Herschel was essentially running continuous laps onto the platform, into the air, on top of the tallest dog in range (mostly Big Herschel), and back up the platform at high speed, so Big Herschel was taking a flying corgi to the face every four seconds for a bit there until someone finally caught Herschel and dumped him in with the Basset Hound.

The Basset Hound's name is Leia and she is ALSO apparently a major criminal that understands how RFID tag collars work, so I assume she and Herschel will have a Phinneas-and-Ferb style giant robot built by the end of the month.

loafed-beans-deactivated2020082

I know many of you out there are feeling a bit down. Have a crow to Wouldn’t it be Nice by the Beach Boys to lift your mood.

He stops and looks both ways?!?

You wanna know what makes this better?

Crows normally walk. This one seems to have both legs working, so he’s not hopping out of necessity, he’s doing it for fun. Corvids can sometimes be seen doing things like this for no evident reason other than enjoyment.

This is my new favorite post

I can’t ever not reblog.

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endershards

Have some happy crow vibes

it is human nature to weave strings of yarn, threads, or fibers together to make cloth and textiles

humans will see a soft cellulose plant material or downy animal coat and say is anyone going to twist that staple fibre in order to make a cohesive thread and then not wait for an answer

Seriously, spinning as a craft is ancient. Archaeologists recently discovered three-ply fiber that’s around 46,000 years old, blowing the previous “oldest fingers” out of the water by thousands of years.

But get this: It’s made from fucking TREE BARK. Can you imagine the dedication, foresight, and experimentation involved in figuring out how to harvest and spin that? On top of everything, it’s also lace weight. What the fuck, Neanderthals?

Also, big ole slow clap for the article writer.

it’s very cool that neanderthals managed to get yarn out of bark fiber, but i think you might be under the impression that all tree bark is like, oak, or sycamore, or something, and only exists in ‘thick chunk of wood’ or ‘flake of wood’ form. but there’s lots of bark like elm and cedar that peels away from the tree in long, tough strips, like so:

like, look at it. it’s string. it’s obviously string. you don’t actually have to be a genius to look at this and think ‘ah! string time :)’

i’ve picked up shed pieces of elm bark on a golf course, stripped and combed out the fiber with just my fingernails, and started hand-twisting good strong cordage right then and there as i walked. you don’t even have to soak it first, though i think if you want finer/softer cordage it helps to soak, beat, and comb the fibers.

the people of the pacific northwest, where there’s so many cedars, developed really wonderful textiles out of cedar bark fiber, pounding and soaking and combing it a bit like linen. i’ve never gotten to touch any, though i’d really like to.

here’s a whole page on all the different stems and barks that can be used for cordage! how cool is that?

so, not to denigrate the skill and intelligence of ancient people, but if you already know how to hand-spin grass and hair, then spinning bark is an extremely obvious and easy thing to do as soon as you encounter the right kind of bark.

ANCIENT STRING YES GOOD

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life actually gets better when you leave the house consistently btw like im serious

if you don't know where to go, just wander! go to the store and don't buy anything, go to the library just to sit and do whatever you were going to do at home, go to a park and just walk around/sit outside for a bit (weather permitting, of course)

just put some headphones in and walk around the block a couple times if you really have nothing else to do, just getting a bit of air and change of scenery is so good for you

me the first few weeks of forcing myself to go on daily walks (it gets better tho)

i really need tumblr to learn the concept of “if you physically cannot do this then this post is not talking about you” because jesus christ.

Name: Wendigo

Area of Origin: Algonquian speaking cultures; Ojibwa, Saulteaux, Cree, Naskapi, Innu

Although depictions vary from culture to culture, the Wendigo is consistently described as a supernaturally malevolent and cannibalistic being, associated with the winter and cold, as well as with famine and starvation. According to the most common descriptions among Algonquian cultures, the Wendigo is an emaciated corpse, with rotting and desiccated skin pulled tightly over a framework of bones… with eyes pulled deeply into its sockets, tattered and bloody lips, ashen in complexion and reeking of an odor reminiscent of decay and corruption. In some variations it is attributed to be a giant, and that whenever a Wendigo ate another person, it’d grow in proportion to its last meal; It would never be full and satisfied, and was thus seen as both gluttonous and insatiable, but also dying from starvation. The common pop-culture appearance it has now, notably as an undead caribou-human hybrid is most likely taken from a combination of the Tariaksuq and Ijiraq, as first-hand stories and accounts usually don’t describe the presence of antlers and other associated features.

i went to a tiny counterserve diner once and accidentally poured sugar instead of salt all over my hashbrowns and was eating them sadly anyways. the waitress took them away and started making me another one and I tried to protest, but she just snorted and said "we're not catholic here". now every time i'm doing something painful out of obligation i think about how that is not repenting, this body is not a catholic establishment, there is no nobility in suffering.

I'm just a sucker for good diner content

I think somewhere people got confused and now think that "privileged" equals "oppressor" and "having privilege" equals "has the power to oppress".

It doesn't.

Would love to hear more about this, because I understand the first part, that privileged doesn’t automatically equal oppressor, but I don’t think I know enough to understand how having privilege doesn’t equal having the power to oppress.

Having privilege does not automatically grant you power.

I have working legs. This does not mean I am systemically oppressing people who need mobility aids, and it doesn't mean I have the power to do it, either. If I got elected to government and passed legislation that removed elevators and ramps on the basis of "Well I don't need them", then I'd be systemically oppressing people based on walking privilege.

It's exactly what I was saying on the other post; existing doesn't mean oppression.

You do not have mobility problems with your legs at the time of this posting. I do, but I can still walk with relatively little assistance as long as my pain is low and the terrain is not actively working against me. That doesn't mean the stairs in your house or apartment are oppressing me, or that your ability to climb them with no negative effects is oppressing me. You have the privilege of not needing to worry if you can actually make that climb and thus more avenues are open to you- you don't have to worry about the expense of buying a house with no stairs, you don't secondguess if you can actually take the flight, entire venues and employment/schooling oppurtunies and city streets and businesses aren't completely inaccessible to you because they exist on the third floor with no fucking elevator, you don't suffer sleepless at night when you were forced to take stairs you shouldn't have climbed. But unless *you*, specifically YOU, designed these stairways in these places with no other way to access the upper floors... it's not like you not needing to worry about that is directly oppressing me.

You CAN contribute to it- "why should stairs need to be accessible" "who even needs ramps and elevators" "I mean if you can walk you should be able to take a couple steps" "why do I need to make room for you on the elevator or wait for you to catch up" and my favorite "wow the world's youngest senior citizen" usually said when walking with my cane. But until that line is crossed, you existing as someone who can walk without pain unassisted is not directly oppressing me.

And that's the thing. Actions are oppression. Existing as someone with privilege does not mean you automatically oppress people.

"Having privilege" is morally neutral. Society is what bestows you privilege. That is completely out of your control.

"Oppression" is morally repugnant. Actions that contribute to the harm of others are terrible and bad and you should not do them.

Too many people conflate the two.

It occurred to me as I hit reblog that this clarification may be really valuable for explaining oppression vs. privilege to people who resist acknowledging their privilege, as well as for people lumping oppressors with privileged parties.

And yes, sometimes having privilege directly leads to oppressive actions - almost always when that privilege is unacknowledged, and the privileged party is making generalizations, assumptions, statements, or decisions assuming that everyone enjoys their level of privilege (accidental) or that every worthy person does (now you're an asshole)

But any attempt to lump someone into the group of oppressors because of privileges they appear to have cuts one off from potential allies and closes the communication lines down in a way that only serves to divide us when we probably have more in common than not.

the uncommon allergy haver to anticapitalist pipeline

in January 2023, companies became required to label sesame on all products it was present in, and undergo rigorous cleaning procedures to prevent sesame contamination, after it was declared the 9th "major" food allergen in the United States.

so, instead of considering this a mandate to give a single shit about people with sesame allergies, almost all American companies decided to just add sesame flour to all their relevant products. because apparently that was cheaper.

it's almost impossible for me to find hot dog and hamburger buns without sesame now. and I am one of the lucky ones. I'm someone who just so happened to notice the label updates, not get caught unawares and have a severe allergic reaction. I'm someone lucky enough to be surrounded by multiple choices of supermarkets, and someone with the incredible privilege to have parents who'll help me search the shelves, and cover those costs that my allergies rack up. not everyone with allergies/other intolerances has all or any of those privileges to begin with.

most food allergies will never be prevalent enough that under capitalism, it will be profitable to give them the level of accommodation that they deserve. I speak from experience with a wide portfolio of hypersensitivity quirks when I say that the rarer the food allergy, the worse it gets.

and here's the thing: I can live without hamburger buns, with only superficial decreases in my quality of life. but sesame isn't my only rare allergy, and ever since this legislation hit, I've been lying awake at night, afraid of what I might lose access to next.

I've been lying awake at night wondering what I'll have to do to live, to obtain enough safe food to survive, if any of my other allergies get this same treatment. and I reiterate. I am one of the privlidged ones.

what these companies have done is completely legal. what these companies did has also cut off up to over a million people from what were previously safe, affordable staples of their diets. a system that has any incentive not to accommodate the dietary needs of any population is not a system that can be allowed to exist. this is the uncommon allergy haver to angry, fuming anticapitalist pipeline.

[Image description: two screenshots of tumblr tags, reading:

"also pea protein. mcdicks just added pea protein without any proper warning so if you got a legume allergy, don't eat their buns."

"did you know pea protein and pea flour is a thing. i didn't. but i sure found out quick after i ate frozen nuggets and when i got gravy from a restaurant. now i have to check fucking everything because i've also found pea protein in ice cream of all things." End description.]

thank you @butchwelddone and @insidejupiter respectively for these psas. signal boosting here for all my fellow legume-allergic folks, stay safe (and stay away from McDonalds buns)

My dad has a cow milk allergy, my sibling has a coconut allergy, one of our close friends is allergic to most spices, wheat, and soy. If we’re lucky, we can find a product that any two of them can eat. Almost anything that calls itself “allergy free” is loaded with coconut.

Also! Fifteen years or so ago, all the whipped toppings went from being dairy free to advertising how they were “made with real cream!” Not to mention various other foods that followed the trend, and really screwed everyone over for having cow’s milk and whatever original milk alternative they used to cut costs both in everything.

So, yeah. For-profit food my belothed.

USAmerican corn-allergy-haver here l love you all and I think we should burn it all down.

By the way the practical [miserable] advice is to cook most things from scratch for yourself and to eat out rarely and only at restaurants you've completely vetted.

The advice that fucking nobody ever tells you about and that is why I literally went back to school to get a degree in nutrition is

If you suffer from a food allergy that cuts you off from bread and cereal products in the US you probably need to supplement your diet with vitamins because the primary source of folate in the American diet is fortified cereals and a severe folate deficiency is basically a form of anemia.

You can supplement this with vitamins but :) if you have :) grain allergies :) make sure :) that your allergens :) aren't used :) as fillers in :) the vitamins :) :) :) :)

Either you can take folate/folic acid on its own or you can take half a daily prenatal vitamin to meet the RDA for folate.

I have wheat, corn, and sesame allergies. I eat out about once a month and have to bring my own food to weddings, conferences, and anything else that will take me away from my own kitchen. I don't go to theme parks because there's nothing I can eat there. Backpacking and camping are difficult because pre-made camping foods contain my allergens and it's hard to carry foods that I know I can eat. If I go out to eat with friends no I don't I go out to have a cup of coffee - oh, is artificial creamer all you've got? nah it's got cornstarch in it, that's fine, I'll just drink it black that's okay oh wait all you've got is decaf that's fine I'll just have water OH you are using eco-friendly corn plastic cups well that's okay I am at least here being with people I'll eat when I get home. I am not on at least three medications my doctor recommended because corn is part of the product and I can't afford to have the meds made at a compounding pharmacy. Corn is in all of these things because it is RIDICULOUSLY cheap which is at least partially as a result of subsidies and is also at least partially as a result of the scaling economics of monocrops for agribusiness.

It is ten dollars cheaper to get 21 ounces more mac and cheese *shipped from canada* than it is to buy one of the pre-made foods that I can actually eat.

You may say "oh, well that's because that's the weenie organic brand that uses artisinal cheddar, of course it's more expensive than kraft" and I would have to say:

THE WEENIE ORGANIC BRAND ALSO DOESN'T PUT FUCKING CORN IN EVERYTHING.

Anyway. This has done extremely normal things to my ability to feed myself, maintain my health, and socialize as well as my desire to do arson.

Imagine being buried alive and then seeing this little guy with a backpack suddenly arrive

It gets better. The little backpack has a two-way radio.

So you’re trapped under rubble, and then a rat shows up. Flicks a switch on its little tumtum. And starts talking to you.

The Rescuers live action adaptation looks good as hell actually

"average cat owner spends 3 years in prison" factoid actualy just statistical error. average owner spends 0 years in prison. Miette's mother, who kicked her body like the football and went to jail for One Thousand Years is an outlier adn should not have been counted

“My friend told me a story he hadn’t told anyone for years. When he used to tell it years ago people would laugh and say, ‘Who’d believe that? How can that be true? That’s daft.’ So he didn’t tell it again for ages. But for some reason, last night, he knew it would be just the kind of story I would love. When he was a kid, he said, they didn’t use the word autism, they just said ‘shy’, or ‘isn’t very good at being around strangers or lots of people.’ But that’s what he was, and is, and he doesn’t mind telling anyone. It’s just a matter of fact with him, and sometimes it makes him sound a little and act different, but that’s okay. Anyway, when he was a kid it was the middle of the 1980s and they were still saying ‘shy’ or ‘withdrawn’ rather than ‘autistic’. He went to London with his mother to see a special screening of a new film he really loved. He must have won a competition or something, I think. Some of the details he can’t quite remember, but he thinks it must have been London they went to, and the film…! Well, the film is one of my all-time favourites, too. It’s a dark, mysterious fantasy movie. Every single frame is crammed with puppets and goblins. There are silly songs and a goblin king who wears clingy silver tights and who kidnaps a baby and this is what kickstarts the whole adventure. It was ‘Labyrinth’, of course, and the star was David Bowie, and he was there to meet the children who had come to see this special screening. ‘I met David Bowie once,’ was the thing that my friend said, that caught my attention. ‘You did? When was this?’ I was amazed, and surprised, too, at the casual way he brought this revelation out. Almost anyone else I know would have told the tale a million times already. He seemed surprised I would want to know, and he told me the whole thing, all out of order, and I eked the details out of him. He told the story as if it was he’d been on an adventure back then, and he wasn’t quite allowed to tell the story. Like there was a pact, or a magic spell surrounding it. As if something profound and peculiar would occur if he broke the confidence. It was thirty years ago and all us kids who’d loved Labyrinth then, and who still love it now, are all middle-aged. Saddest of all, the Goblin King is dead. Does the magic still exist? I asked him what happened on his adventure. ‘I was withdrawn, more withdrawn than the other kids. We all got a signed poster. Because I was so shy, they put me in a separate room, to one side, and so I got to meet him alone. He’d heard I was shy and it was his idea. He spent thirty minutes with me. ‘He gave me this mask. This one. Look. ‘He said: ‘This is an invisible mask, you see? ‘He took it off his own face and looked around like he was scared and uncomfortable all of a sudden. He passed me his invisible mask. ‘Put it on,’ he told me. ‘It’s magic.’ ‘And so I did. ‘Then he told me, ‘I always feel afraid, just the same as you. But I wear this mask every single day. And it doesn’t take the fear away, but it makes it feel a bit better. I feel brave enough then to face the whole world and all the people. And now you will, too. ‘I sat there in his magic mask, looking through the eyes at David Bowie and it was true, I did feel better. ‘Then I watched as he made another magic mask. He spun it out of thin air, out of nothing at all. He finished it and smiled and then he put it on. And he looked so relieved and pleased. He smiled at me. ‘'Now we’ve both got invisible masks. We can both see through them perfectly well and no one would know we’re even wearing them,’ he said. ‘So, I felt incredibly comfortable. It was the first time I felt safe in my whole life. ‘It was magic. He was a wizard. He was a goblin king, grinning at me. ‘I still keep the mask, of course. This is it, now. Look.’ I kept asking my friend questions, amazed by his story. I loved it and wanted all the details. How many other kids? Did they have puppets from the film there, as well? What was David Bowie wearing? I imagined him in his lilac suit from Live Aid. Or maybe he was dressed as the Goblin King in lacy ruffles and cobwebs and glitter. What was the last thing he said to you, when you had to say goodbye? ‘David Bowie said, ‘I’m always afraid as well. But this is how you can feel brave in the world.’ And then it was over. I’ve never forgotten it. And years later I cried when I heard he had passed.’ My friend was surprised I was delighted by this tale. ‘The normal reaction is: that’s just a stupid story. Fancy believing in an invisible mask.’ But I do. I really believe in it. And it’s the best story I’ve heard all year.”

— Paul Magrs (via yourfluffiestnightmare)

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please god above can someone explain to me why we're still working on self driving cars when trains exist

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"we're training them to interpret road signs!" Train goes same place every day. No road signs.

"when forced to choose between old lady and child, which is more ethical for the car to hit?" Fence around train track. Nobody on the road.

"people with disabilities preventing them from driving themselves can be independent" Yes but also. Train.

"reduces the dangers of fatigue with long distance trucking" Train.

"the technology is not yet price effective for the average driver" Train.

Seriously come on choo choo bitches let's goooooooooo

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criminal profiling is just astrology for cops

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taking a forensics class and watching the professor explain one by one how criminal profiling, hair microscopy, and bite mark analysis are all pseudoscience responsible for ruining innocent lives, and how on top of that, fingerprint analysis, despite being significantly more reliable, is subjective and prone to contextual bias. and also bullet striation analysis has the same issues. and also bullet lead analysis doesn’t work. and also handwriting analysis has an error rate high enough to render it useless

damn i'm almost starting to think the entire criminal justice system only exists to provide the illusion of protection while justifying state violence idk