01/04/2017 00:05:55 ¶ ●

## Getting rid of nazis on your blog

queeranarchism:

> Hey, if you’re sick of nazis on your Tumblr but you keep on having to block new ones, Tumblr’s most recent experimental feature can probably really help you out. It’s called Reblog Graphs and you can test it here.

> Basically, what it does is show you a network of how your post was reblogged and who were big influencers in getting lots of reblogs. That’s useful in general but extra usefull if you want to know who to block to get rid of shit on your dash.

> For example, this post that I wrote got a lot of notes and when I use Reblog Graphs is generates this graph:

> I’m the yellow dot and all the other dots are reblogs, the bigger the dot, the most reblogs originated from that reblog. Next, I can click on the dots and see who they are and what content they added. For example:

> When @thatdiabolicalfeminist reblogged my post the result was a lot of supportive reblogs, helpful feedback and conversations that I want to have.

> But check out the other cluster:

> When wogbeginatcalais reblogged my post the result was a stream of hateful comments by white supremacist, nazi blogs and nazi trolls. Not stuff I want and one reblog started all of it.

> I had blocked a lot of white supremacist blogs when the hate started, but according to Reblog Graph I missed out on quite a lot of the most important blogs that were causing my post to be noticed by these shits in the first place. By blocking key nazi dots in this chain, I can now more effectively stop nazi shits from finding my posts. Good to know!

> That’s all. Happy Tumblring.

05/04/2017 12:50:15 ¶ ●

## After vote to kill privacy rules, users try to “pollute” their Web history

beemill:

> > Steve Smith of Cambridge, Massachusetts contacted Ars and Gillula after our recent article about how the US Senate vote to eliminate ISP privacy rules affects users and what Internet users can do to hide their browsing history. He’s a subscriber to this new browser pollution approach.

> > “Perhaps more constructively than using a VPN or Tor, fill up your monthly bandwidth allotment with data pollution,” Smith wrote to us. “You’re already paying for the bandwidth, so use it all if your ISP is going to sell your private data. This has the dual benefits of obscuring your actual browsing habits, and, if enough people adopt this practice, discouraging ISPs from selling private data.

> > “I’ve written a Python class to do this for my household—it crawls for links it finds using random word searches—and have shared the code,” he continued. Smith’s code is available on GitHub. Internet users often have to worry about data caps, but Smith set the default rate to use 50GB a month, or about five percent of a 1TB data cap.

> > Smith’s “ISP Data Pollution” project isn’t the only such effort. For instance, there’s a project called “RuinMyHistory” that opens a popup window that cycles through different websites and a browser plugin called Noiszy designed to “create meaningless Web data” by visiting various websites. […]

08/04/2017 03:33:17 ¶ ●

## Love, Faith, and Fantasy - Just what (and who) does Jake English want?

revolutionaryduelist:

> ## UPDATE: Sorry about the dissapointing news on 4/13 today. I imagine many fans won’t be in the mood to read this right now, but I thought it’d be a better way to spend the day than being dissapointed. So maybe you will. Either way, I put a lot of love into this. I hope it helps.

> I want to begin this post with a mea culpa.

> In the wake of the last post covering Jake’s awareness of events unfolding around him, I was lucky enough to receive feedback from a number of really great people. Among that feedback was the idea that I was kind of overstating things with regards to Jake’s intelligence to the opposite extreme.
> I feel that this is true! Not because I don’t think Jake is aware or that he was an actively getting Jane to lean one way in her answer–I still think that’s correct, and in fact I have more evidence to present in favor of it under the cut.
> But I worry in my zeal, I presented a skewed image of how I think about Jake–essentially, I was trying to correct what I perceive as the fandom problem of invalidating Jake’s intelligence completely and painting him as a moron. I think it is a fair criticism to say I overcorrected in that endeavor.

> I’m hoping that admitting that my choosing to tone down certain claims is a direct result of valid and insightful criticism will allow you to give me the benefit of the doubt, and make it easier for you believe I am being genuine in approaching this subject and interested in and willing to incorporate feedback where I find it logically consistent. This is important to me for reasons that will soon become obvious.
> That disclaimer out of the way, please click on the cut to see what I have to say.

> If you do, by the way: Thank you. It means a lot to me.

> Keep reading

09/04/2017 03:17:24 ¶ ●

omgcheckplease:

> Check, Please!
> Junior Year #17 - Dib Flip
> back« start »next

> ☆ more #omgcp! | about | blog ☆

> ★Reblogs help spread the comic!★

09/04/2017 03:26:43 ¶ ●

revolutionaryduelist:

> hmmm. I wonder if maybe that post would be better served if i broke it up into several sub-essays, since the smaller jake ones seemed to do better. I’d be interested in hearing people’s thoughts if the length put them off

It was kind of exceedingly long. Interesting, but very big. And covering a somewhat disparate collection of topics.

11/04/2017 22:08:08 ¶ ●

revolutionaryduelist:

> armsocks:

> > armsocks:

> > > dirk is absolutely an annoying STEM major

> > john (MBA or something): hi

> > dirk: Your degree is pointless; your career will be obsolete in five years tops. You will never be able to do what I do. Have fun with your easy m

> dirk’s, like, introductory description includes reference to him being a pop culture enthusiast and his main interests include philosophy and history , and his interest in “Stem” pretty much never shows its face in the comic outside of being the result of a handful of projects he worked on across his teenage years

> It’s to the point that even Bro–who is the worst dirk possible–engages in art and makes comics and stuff far, far more than he ever engages in robotics. You’re thinking uncharitably of Jade or maybe Jake here, not Dirk. Or, you know, Caliborn who is the exact kind of annoying mra who would value “practical” skills over art so

> nah

Dirk snapping together the Brobot out of off the shelf parts, then spending weeks carefully fashioning the perfect metal sunglasses (also ROBOTIC HAIR) to complete the look.

Dirk fucking up his make-your-own-AI kit so bad it turns sentient and proceeds to haunt him for three years.

Dirk carefully explaining the nuanced narrative implications of stuffing a toy rabbit into a standard-issue Protectabot shell.

I mean, I’m interpreting and adding a little more detail here than is explicitly present in the text, but eh, felt like writing this.

12/04/2017 13:56:53 ¶ ●

## Concentration camps are opening in Russia.

shamwowxl:

> not-so-secret-nerd:

> > childofwestwind:

> > > Do not let us die again, we where left once before because of a part of ourselves we can’t control.

> > > Don’t let is die, don’t ignore our cries.

> > LGBT concentration camps are Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov solution to the “gay problem”. This is real. This is happening right now

> > Here

> Statement from the Russian LGBT Network:

> > We are grateful to everyone who contacted us and asked how they can help. What do we need now?
> > - Help us to spread the information about the fact that the Russian LGBT Network is ready to evacuate people. Please think for whom this information can be useful. You can spread the information publicly or personally. Everyone who needs help can contact us by email or call the Hotline (8 800 555 73 74). The call is free all over Russia.
> > - In accordance with the Russian legislation, every citizen can apply to the Investigative Committee with the demand to investigate the information about the crime published in mass media. We encourage everyone to apply (the template of the claim will be published tomorrow).

> > We understand that many people want to help those in need. But please remember that any uncoordinated actions can put in additional danger people in need and those who are ready to help. Therefore, we do not recommend to collect the addresses of people who are ready to provide temporarily shelter.

> > Be aware, that the situation with the human rights in the North Caucasus is truly difficult. Now people’s lives are endangered and the only way to help is the evacuation. The Russian LGBT Network has the necessary resources to evacuate people, there is a team that already makes every effort to safe lives. That is why we ask everyone to share with us the information about people in need and any offers of assistance.

> the highlighting was mine- don’t dm people asking if they’re ok and if they know about this. even if you think your messaging system is secure. encryption is a two way street, and if their end is NOT secured it doesn’t really matter what your end has. especially since those arrested have had their phones confiscated, you do not want to give the authorities any more evidence. however, if you are in a position to do so, posting about it publicly will increase the odds that those who need this information see it.

12/04/2017 14:11:16 ¶ ●

## Overdue reply re: Classpects

revolutionaryduelist:

> > @yer-a-wizard-hannah

> > Hello!!! : D I’d like to start off by saying I’m loving your character analyses so far!!! They’re extremely interesting and you make a ton of good points. ^u^ I was thinking, maybe it’s symbolic of the fact that Jane and Roxy were unable to form romantic bonds with Jake and Dirk ((not just bonds in general)), whereas Jake and Dirk entered a relationship with one another??

> > And I’ve always figured that the active/passive classes had to do with the way they interact with their aspects. So someone with an active class would have direct control over their aspect while a passive player would have indirect control over their aspect- their aspect is affecting them rather than being affected by them. I don’t think knights are a passive class because that would throw off the balance of the beta session. According to the general consensus, witches are active, seers are passive, and heirs are passive as well.

> > The session would most likely have two of each, just as there are equal gender ratios in each session. The cherub session and both of the troll sessions have equal numbers of passive and active players, as well. If we keep the “pages are passive” idea, the alpha session is balanced as well, with a passive player of each gender and an active player of each gender, like the beta session. Not sure if my views on the passive and active classes are true, of course, that’s just how I’ve always seen them. ^u^

> Heya! First off, thanks a ton for the messages and sorry it took me so long–it’s been a busy couple days. That’s an interesting point with regards to Jake and Dirk and I’m inclined to accept it if for no other reason than….im gay.

> As to Classpects: For the longest time, I felt that way too. The problem with the view as I see it is basically that I don’t really see how it makes sense with Pages–they clearly have control over their Aspect, and in fact only really seem to pull things off when they operate on their own WILLS as well as their control.
> I’m about to post an updated and fleshed out version of the Knights vs. Pages argument as part of reposting Love, Faith and Fantasy as a shorter series, so I won’t get into it too much–but basically, the view doesn’t really square with Pages for me, nor necessarily Passive classes as a rule, at least not in all cases.

> Aranea lit him up, but she didn’t ask for a Brain Ghost Dirk–that was all Jake, and it was what Jake wanted to do specifically. Jake activates his powers willingly to face Caliborn, too. Tavros communes with his own knowledge and awareness and wins over trolls the same way.

> It’s arguably Karkat who just so happens to form relationships with people without even being aware he’s doing it–as with his incredibly implausible victory against Clover.

> But basically, I don’t think the Aspect acting “through” the player is the most important criteria for determining whether a class is Active or Passive. I think the description Calliope gives about thieves/rogues acting “for themselves” or “for others” is much more important, and even there Calliope says the situation is much more complicated than it seems at first glance.

> Using that core definition, I say Knights act “for others” and Pages act “for themselves”, and that’s really the whole of my argument. As for it destablizing the active/passive ratios, I agree that that bothered me too…until I realized the WAY it destablizes them means each Sburb session challenges it’s group of players in the most unfair way.

> The session that calls for constant action and frenetic pace gets three passive players. The session that calls for patience, no activity, and thinking about your co-players and forming stable bonds gets three active players. Seems to me like that’s in line with Sburb’s sometimes unfair sense of humor, especially given it’s something they’re meant to rise above, not fall prey to.
> Like I said though, I’m making a post about this that should make this case much more strongly. I hope I’ll be able to hear what you have to say then once again. Thanks! :)

This got me thinking about the alternian troll teams and their respective sessions. See, one of the big revelations about them is that they seemed separate, but were really one big 12-session all along. In hindsight, this is blatant foreshadowing of a sort for the alpha and beta kids, so I went back and checked out the balance of those teams.

Blue: Heir, Maid, Rogue, Prince, Witch, Mage. 4 active, 2 passive.

Red: Knight, Seer, Bard, Page, Thief, Sylph. 2 active, 4 passive.

They even have the knight and page on the same team, so they’re unbalanced no matter what stance you take on that question.

12/04/2017 15:13:33 ¶ ●

revolutionaryduelist:

> 413jane:

> > So recently I made a post about the Thoughtwave Tiaratop AI that’s controlling Jane at the beginning of the split between the retcon and Game Over timelines.

> > After looking at a lot of the responses to it, and doing more research into the whole section of the comic, I’d like to make a small revision.

> > I am not saying that the actions she takes are somehow entirely removed from Jane’s persona, only that her being under the control of the AI absolves her of what would otherwise be damning guilt.

> > Jane is clearly not the type of person who would kill Rose out of jealousy, or enslave Jake in order to breed an “empire” of human children. And she definitely isn’t the type to tackle someone and attempt to kill them while sleeping.

> > The point of this preamble, and the original post was to explain that she isn’t acting of her own accord, because recently a frightening number of people have been ignoring that fact.

> > If, and only if, you understand that Jane is not fully responsible for these actions, please continue reading. If you refuse to admit that she wasn’t in control of herself, don’t bother looking at my posts.

> > Keep reading

> This post is glorious and if this is the root of all this Jane discourse that sprung up today I am glad for it. I never parsed Jane’s tiaratop breaking that way and I’m not 100% sure I buy it in the sense that if Hussie was going for that he maybe didn’t establish it well enough…

> …but one could also say that about Brain Ghost Dirk and I like this reading a lot so frankly I’m adopting it, Jane loves her friends and that love breaks tiaras fuckers thanks. In fact this reading dovetails really nicely with the Classpect stuff I wanted to talk about soon re: Jane, so I might be citing you on it if that’s alright.
> Anyway Jane Crocker owns as does every Alpha, thanks

I’ve always interpreted the tiaratop’s controlling intellect as a modified version of Jane, downloaded and modified by the tiaratop itself in a manner not unlike how Hal works. By that logic, it could easily be inferred that the reason the tiaratop is removed post-roxydeath isn’t just because Jane overcomes it, but also because it/she overcomes itself/herself, ceding control of Jane after recognizing how harmful it/she’s being to herself. Not a certainty at all, what with being a theory built on another theory, but a fun thought at least.

15/04/2017 20:44:18 ¶ ●

## why you should not dismiss research unless you rly truly mean it

downtroddendeity:

> sidereanuncia:

> > tvatemybrain:

> > > jedusaur:

> > > > Internet, I am a queer researcher of queer health and I have something to say.

> > > > A few weeks back, a study went viral about the relationship between marriage equality policy and queer teen suicide rates, and a lot of people reacted thusly: “queer mental health is better when we’re not discriminated against! BREAKING: SKY IS BLUE, WATER IS WET”

> > > > This happens a lot. People see research about a thing ~Everyone Already Knows~ and they mock it. Now I want to make two things really clear:

> > > > 1. Everyone does not already know.

> > > > 2. This shit can lose these projects their funding.

> > > > Did you know that media coverage is a crucial factor in funding allocation? When we submit our application for grant renewal, we have to provide a list of news articles about our research so they can decide whether the public cares enough about us to let us keep doing our work. And most research doesn’t get all that much coverage, so individual reactions can really matter. If the primary reaction to our publications is eyerolling, we legitimately might not be able to continue.

> > > > I’ve seen some frustration from people who believe this research funding would be better put to use “actually helping” the affected populations instead of–I don’t know, pinning them under microscopes or whatever it is they think we do. But funding for policy initiatives is driven by research. I know you wish politicians would listen to individual voices telling them where the problems are, but that’s honestly not a smart way to direct limited resources. We need solid evidence. And a lot of the areas that need the most attention aren’t obvious–who knew bisexual people are at a much higher risk for physical and mental health disparities than gay and lesbian people? Who would have guessed that transgender folks are more likely than any other group (including straight people) to be military veterans, but overwhelmingly don’t claim their benefits? I’m sure some people noticed these patterns, but they definitely weren’t common knowledge within the queer communities I’ve grown up around, and those findings are leading to direct action as we speak.

> > > > I get that it can be frustrating to feel like your identity is being reduced to facts and figures for the benefit of red tape. But trust me, the researchers aren’t your enemy here. Most of us are queer too. All of us are just as frustrated by this crap as you are. We are doing our best, and I swear to you this work really is making a difference. Please don’t sabotage it.

> > > I’m reblogging this because it only has 9 notes, and it should really, REALLY have a lot more.

> > Also, given the current US administration’s plan to stop collecting data on LGBTQ identities as part of the census, we are in need of accurate, useful data now more than ever.

> Plus the ability to cite peer-reviewed evidence of these sorts of things and quantify the extent of “obvious” effects can be pretty important to researchers who are working in adjacent fields that don’t produce the sorts of headline soundbites that get mocked on social media.

> And often headlines and summaries are misleading and reductive- a study about wage gaps across a variety of demographics might get headlined “Women Still Make Less Than Men, New Study Shows” when the bulk of the paper is about the intersection of race and gender identity, and I’ve seen people on Tumblr mocking a study about the flavor compounds in food across the Indian subcontinent, conducted by Indian scientists at an Indian university, as “LOL white people don’t know how to cook.”

15/04/2017 20:51:01 ¶ ●

I made this for @revolutionaryduelist and they encouraged me to put it up on Tumblr so I did. It’s a song. About Dirkjake.

17/04/2017 12:02:33 ¶ ●

arrghus:

> I made this for @revolutionaryduelist and they encouraged me to put it up on Tumblr so I did. It’s a song. About Dirkjake.

So. Lyrics. Someone asked for lyrics but I can’t reblog their post because I can’t really reach it because I’m not very good at Tumblr. Lyrics are just the Snake Eater lyrics but with “Jake English” instead of “Snake Eater”, “Sburb” instead of “Crime”, and in the bridge talking about Snake walking through rain and eating frogs, it’s “Someday you sit watching movies, and some day you fend off a lusus”. I never really bothered to write them down before since I already knew Snake Eater’s lyrics. I know I swallowed some sounds here and there, and I have a hearing disorder myself so I can totally get wanting lyrics.

What a thrill With darkness and silence through the night What a thrill I’m searching and I’ll melt into you What a fear in my heart But you’re so supreme!

I give my life, not for honor, but for you (Jake English) In my time, there’ll be no one else Sburb, it’s the way I fly to you (Jake English) I’m still in a dream, Jake English

Someday you sit watching movies And someday you fend off a lusus This ordeal, the trial to survive For the day we see new life

I give my life, not for honor, but for you (Jake English) In my time, there’ll be no one else Sburb, it’s the way I fly to you (Jake English) I’m still in a dream, Jake English I’m still in a dream (Jake English)

18/04/2017 11:08:57 ¶ ●

polararts:

> drtanner:

> > chakrabot:

> > > slitheringink:

> > > > artofcarmen:

> > > > > fyeahwhovians:

> > > > > > raygender:

> > > > > > > themediafix:

> > > > > > > > Breaking news: The D.C. Appeals Court just killed Net Neutrality.
> > > > > > > > This could be the end of the Internet as we know it. But it doesn’t have to be.
> > > > > > > > Tell the FCC to restore Net Neutrality: http://bit.ly/1iOOjoe

> > > > > > > they want to make the internet like tv. with channels and paying to get to specific websites and things. net neutrality = not doing that

> > > > > > This impacts every internet user. Please signal boost the hell out of this and sign the petition if you are American

> > > > > I do not reblog things like this very often, but this affects me both personally and my business as a freelance artist.

> > > > > In the economy here; cash is already strapped as it is. You bet your ass companies would suck the ever living life out of misc. art sites.

> > > > > I don’t want it to ever come down to me choosing between groceries or purchasing a new tier package via comcast to be able to access tumblr or DeviantArt (let alone not guaranteeing I’ll even be seen by my customer base since they may not want to pay out their asses either). It doesn’t seem important to most, but I do 90% of my business online entirely.

> > > > > Please sign up, fight for this and share it with your followers/friends/family and urge them to give them hell as well.

> > > > Not writing related, but this is incredibly important. While we pay for service via ISPs, the internet has been a relatively free space where everyone, no matter their income level, is able to connect, access a wealth of information, and express themselves. The Internet has become a major part of our culture as human beings and the notion that ISPs might be able to limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more is utterly sickening. A lot of us are cash strapped as is, and I’d rather not be limited even more by someone else’s greed. Net Neutrality is essential and I hope you guys will understand why it needs to remain.

> > > > -Morgan

> > > > P.S. Signal boost this if you’re able.

> > > “ limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more”

> > > limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

> > > limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

> > > limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

> > > limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

> > > DO YOU WANT THIS? NO?? CLICK THE LINK. REBLOG.

> > As I understand this ruling, it means that businesses now have to pay extra to ISPs to have access to their websites through that ISP provided at a reasonable speed. If you don’t pay, users’ access to your website will be slowed to a crawl - so independent people and small businesses can forget about getting onto that high speed access tier.

> > This means that the American internet is going to be firmly under the control of those who have the most money. You’ll only get to see the content of those who can pay the ISPs to provide access at a reasonable speed. This means that you can expect to see skewed representation of just about everything, with those bigger businesses who can afford to pay ISPs a premium for access deciding what you can and cannot read, view and consume on the internet.

> > This is not something that we have in the UK. Our ISPs compete with each other to provide higher speeds, better services and lower prices, but because there’s a monopoly in the US of a few ISPs who provide services, they can afford to do this to you. You can’t go anywhere else, after all.

> > Everyone in the US needs to sign that petition, call their representatives, write angry letters and do whatever you can to tell your government that this ruling is Not Okay.

> Maybe you guys are sick of this post but It’s really important to freelance artists and pretty much everyone who uses the internet, so here it is again. \o0o/

22/04/2017 13:12:54 ¶ ●

obviouslyinvisible:

> naamahdarling:

> > naamahdarling:

> > > lireecrirerever:

> > > > 8prometheus8:

> > > > > feministingforchange:

> > > > > > apersnicketylemon:

> > > > > > > anti-feminism-pro-cats:

> > > > > > > > apersnicketylemon:

> > > > > > > > > The real irony of the people who make jokes about being triggered is that they tend to idolize the military/veterans as if combat related PTSD isn’t a real thing that also has triggers. Y’all make fun of the people you call hero’s when you’re making fun of the teenagers with PTSD from non-combat related issues, you can’t separate the two.

> > > > > > > > Most of the people making fun of triggers are making fun of all the bullshit “”“triggers”“”, as in the people calling a mild uncomfortable feelings triggers.

> > > > > > > The problem with making fun of a trigger is you genuinely do not know whether they are ‘mildly uncomfortable’ or if that is a thing that is genuinely causing severe anxiety, depressive episodes, or stress responses. Most of the “““““bullshit”““““ triggers I’ve seen being made fun of are actual trauma survivors who have their trauma associated with something unusual or strange. Because the thing that triggers their PTSD or panic is odd, people, not unlike yourself, are writing them off as “whiny babies” or “triggered sjws” or call their trigger bullshit because they cannot understand the association.

> > > > > > > For examples: Sirens are one of my triggers. When I hear sirens I get an immediate panic response. This was due to being in an active war zone as a child (The response is significantly worse if it is an air raid siren or sounds too similar to an air raid siren.). If you didn’t know I was in an active war zone though, it might seem silly to see an adult panic and attempt to get to a safe place because an ambulance, fire truck, or police car went past them.

> > > > > > > I have a manager who is triggered by the presence of police. Specifically police, other uniforms are fine (i.e. security in the mall does not set off her panic response). Her trigger is severe, if a police officer talks to her, she starts panicking and sobbing and cannot control it. This is because when she was young, two police officers threatened her repeatedly and psychologically abused her for 6 hours while they tried to find out where her brother was (yes, this was illegal. Her parents were not home at the time, and were unaware she was alone as the brother in question was meant to be watching her). If you didn’t know that story though, it might seem silly to see an adult woman burst into tears and have a panic attack because a cop said ‘hi’ to her.

> > > > > > > I have seen posts by an abuse survivor talking about how the sound of a garage door triggered them, due to abuse by a parent. They associated that sound with the abuser returning home and the abuse beginning. The sound became a trigger because their mind associated it to that. I saw another post by a rape survivor talking about how she was triggered by the sight of eggs because she made eggs for her rapist after he’d raped her. Her mind associated eggs with the trauma due to the two being connected at least in her mind.

> > > > > > > Brains are weird. Trauma doesn’t make sense. The point is, YOU do not know if someone is ““““bullshitting”“““ or not. You do not know how someones trauma associated itself with something odd, which is something trauma really does all the time and making fun of trauma survivors because you don’t understand the association between their trauma and the item that triggers their ptsd or anxiety is absolutely wrong and absolutely hypocritical if you think any other form of trigger is acceptable or okay. You don’t get to decide other peoples trauma triggers. They didn’t even get to decide them, and to tell someone that you’re okay to make fun of them because what upsets them doesn’t make sense to you is absolutely not okay.

> > > > > > > I should note too: Phobia’s are real triggers too. People have panic attacks when exposed to their phobia’s in the wrong way. I need certain pictures tagged because I am absolutely terrified of heights, which is a pretty common phobia. People can have serious phobia’s to everything and anything though, and there are things I am not afraid of that others are that may seem strange to me, but to them are very real and very frightening. Just because it seems odd to you, doesn’t mean it isn’t still real to the person experiencing it.

> > > > > > This post needs a zillion more notes. As a Complex PTSD sufferer I truly hope that people will someday stop policing others’ triggers and health problems as if they have a single clue.

> > > > > > Just BACK OFF and let people LIVE.

> > > > > And PTSD has ALWAYS had odd triggers, this isn’t just a modern thing. My grandmother couldn’t do anything with the reservoir on the back of a toilet because when she was nine, she was gangraped. When her attackers were in their stupor, she took all of their guns and put them in the reservoir of their toilet, and ran through the street naked until someone helped her. Having to put the weapons she KNEW they were going to use on her behind the toilet stuck in her mind, that was what became a trigger for her brain- along with being unable to go outside in her bare feet ever again.

> > > > > One of my closest friends is triggered by someone touching his hair, because one of his stepfathers swung him around by his hair and smashed him into things. Now any time someone touches his hair, he gets so badly panicked he just vomits on the spot.

> > > > > And then you have people with conventional ptsd triggers like me- it’s hard for me to see blood and violence in certain contexts. Oddly, it’s fine in video games, but in movies or TV shows- ESPECIALLY if it’s suicide- it triggers me. Because through my suicide prevention work, I’ve WITNESSED suicides, so as a result it triggers my ptsd.

> > > > > Brains are strange and unpredictable in what they associate a situation to, and what becomes a symbol of trauma. But it’s not anyone’s job to gatekeep the subject, because it does absolutely no one any good. When someone says something triggers them, you need to respect it. And you also need to respect that triggers can generate different responses. My grandmother would get quiet and skittish when triggers. My friend vomits when triggered. I get enraged and frustrated when triggered- an unconventional response to a conventional trigger.

> > > > > Some people cope so well that they only get ‘uncomfortable’. I’ve even seen one person who would get a ‘high’ because their body would try to release a shitload of dopamine in response to it, and then they’d crash. Shit’s weird, and all you can do is respect what someone says about their own boundaries.

> > > > Also, there’s a common misconception that trigger warnings are always about avoiding the trigger. That’s just not the case. A lot of times, a person is able to view a trigger and be perfectly fine if they were warned beforehand and allowed to mentally prepare. I’ve heard it compared to the fact that people can get used to and tune out a noise like a smoke detector beeping if it happens in a regular and predictable way. But random, unpredictable beeps cause immense psychological distress to almost anyone if you are forced to listen to them long enough. Letting people know a trigger is coming often helps mitigate the reaction.

> > > This is such excellent commentary.

> > > Two things to add. Perhaps @anti-feminism-pro-cats might appreciate this specific thing.

> > > I was once asked to please tag cats. And I was like “Oookay, bud, I’ll try, but like, ¾ of my life IS cats, so I can’t promise anything…?” Because that just seemed really weird to me.

> > > And then, even though they didn’t have to, they actually wrote back and said, basically, “Hey, the reason I’m asking is because I had to witness people torturing cats in a situation I couldn’t escape, and now I just … can’t.”

> > > Oh shit.

> > > So I said “Hey, holy fuck, I’m sorry. Do you need me to tag all cats, or just housecats? What about cartoon cats? I just want to help you out, friend.”

> > > And again, even though they didn’t have to, they came back and said “Cartoon cats aren’t too bad, but what I really can’t handle is seeing kittens.”

> > > Fucking … fuck.

> > > And I’m not gonna lie, that fucking hurt and chilled me to read. Just … the story there. I don’t want to know it. It makes me sick just imagining it. So I now tag for cats.

> > > It’d be easy to say “It’s stupid to be triggered by kittens.”

> > > But, uhh, I really don’t think that situation is “stupid” at all. I think it’s fucking tragic. And that person had the guts to ask, knowing that they might get made fun of for it, and then they were even kind enough to explain, and I’m grateful to them because it taught me something I intellectually but did not yet viscerally understand.

> > > A healthy person, or even just someone with different triggers, can’t understand the significance behind triggers. And triggers can be really fucking weird or even seemingly inappropriate.

> > > So I got to make a choice. I could say “If you can’t handle cats, seriously, I’m not the blog for you.” Understandable, I suppose. Or I could say “JFC that sucks, and the rest of the goddamn internet is flooded with untagged cats. Maybe … maybe I can do this one thing so that they will feel safe reading my blog? Maybe I have the power to actually … help a little?”

> > > And obviously, I made the latter choice.

> > > Here’s another thing.

> > > Recovery is a process, and eventually a lot of people move away from needing trigger warnings. They are a helpful tool to protect yourself during a certain stage of healing. That healing might take a really long time, and it might never be complete … or … it might only be necessary for a few months or years.

> > > So you aren’t “coddling” people by tagging for [x thing you think shouldn’t be a trigger], you’re enabling them to engage on their terms. Engaging on your own terms is literally the only way to make progress, therapeutically, so asserting that trigger warnings hinder progress is just not factually a correct statement at all.

> > > You personally may choose not to tag for anything, and that’s fine. You are absolutely allowed to run your personal space however you want, and people shouldn’t bug you about it.

> > > But what you don’t get to do is decide what a “stupid” trigger is (hint: there isn’t one, there’s only fucked up situations that leave fucked up scars) and whether or not someone is experiencing severe or mild discomfort. You can’t know that. Their reaction isn’t even a good guide to how they are feeling inside. They may seem only mildly uncomfortable. You don’t see them losing their shit later because something hit them way worse than they thought it would, and they thought they were okay at the time but … hahaha, nope.

> > > I guess … a lot of people seem to think that there’s this whole category of “special snowflake” people wandering around saying “I know how to get sympathy and validation: I’ll ask a total stranger to tag for cookware because I’m ‘triggered’ by spatulas!” Just as if that’s liable to elicit the kind of validation truly lonely and desperate people need.

> > > Or maybe … maybe they think there’s all these people who are so unacquainted with “real” pain or fear that they think their mildly uncomfortable feelings about Furbys compare to, and this is so often the example used and I think that is so wrong, combat vets who can’t handle fireworks.

> > > What it comes down to, it seems like, is trying to extrapolate a story from the trigger so that you can say “Stop crying, you don’t have it that bad!” Which is ridiculous. As someone above pointed out, triggers can seem nonsensical even within the context of the instigating trauma. I remember the eggs post. The things that stick with you about trauma are not always just the things you expect. You can’t actually guess anything about a trauma from a seemingly inexplicable trigger beyond “Wow, fear of paintbrushes, plastic cups, and raisins … I bet that’s a story.”

> > > And if that story that they imagine doesn’t match what they think is a “valid” trauma narrative, then they feel justified in dismissing it. Completely missing the fact that there’s no such thing as a “valid” or “invalid” trauma narrative, because trauma is a really strange and subjective thing. Also completely missing the fact that it’s not okay to try to make that judgment to begin with.

> > > A lot of people seem unwilling, for some reason totally alien to me, to make that empathetic leap and say “Okay. I don’t need to know more. I believe you.” They want to police other people’s experiences. And that’s just one of the worst impulses of humanity. It’s really nasty, and it gets applied in so many horrible ways to mental illness of all kinds. It needs to stop.

> > > Ultimately, it costs you nothing to be cool about it. It costs you nothing to take what people say at face value, or to believe strangers and not comment on their mental health issues. It costs you nothing to say nothing, even if you don’t believe them. Because you are inevitably going to be wrong, and why risk making yourself look like a clueless, deliberately oafish asshole?

> > > I’m really confused as to why this is an issue, except certain segments of the online community take great pleasure in being critical of other people’s attempts to cope, because they have invested a lot of their self-image in being “smart” and “discerning” and “no-nonsense” and “not gonna be fooled” … and they really enjoy tearing down people who are saying “these things are unfair” or “these things are hard for me.”

> > > “You aren’t really hurt/traumatized/oppressed!” is a truly unpleasantly common thing to hear these people say. Often they will even say it outright. Other times, it comes across indirectly.

> > > It’s not at all surprising for anti-feminists to also be anti-trigger-warning, and I think this is probably why. I know it was the case for me for a very long time. Then I kind of … grew up, I guess? Enough bad shit happened to me and to people I know that I acquired sympathy. And realized that, actually, my own traumas have left me with some pretty weird issues, things that make me uncomfortable but which other people are unlikely to consider inherently threatening. So I had no room to judge.

> > > It’s sad, because it’s actually a whole lot less effort to believe people when they talk about their experiences than it is to sit there, smoldering with disdain and resentment over the person who really can’t abide milk, of all things, and asks that it be tagged for.

> > > If you’re angry about trigger warnings and are lashing out about it, just … go ask a mutual friend for a hug or something. Go do something self-affirming. Because the trigger warning thing is not about you or for you. You might as well spend your energy doing something nice for yourself. You’re lucky not to have to wrestle with a fear you very well know is ridiculous. Enjoy that and move on. Don’t waste your time thinking about how many people are wrong to feel the way they feel. Just let it go.

> > I also want to emphasize something said above:

> > > A lot of times, a person is able to view a trigger and be perfectly fine if they were warned beforehand and allowed to mentally prepare.

> > This is huge.

> > I can engage with my triggers.

> > I can do it voluntarily on my own terms, and the effects can, depending on circumstance, be pretty minimal.

> > I can do it with warning on someone else’s terms, and depending on circumstance I can be mostly okay to messed up but still mostly functional.

> > Or I can do it without warning at all, and depending on circumstance, fall apart a little, or a lot.

> > If given control of the situation, I can get away with a “yuck” feeling and then move on. If not, I may need medication to bring me down. It can fuck me up for a couple of days if I was not allowed to choose when/how/whether to engage. If I am, hey, wow, look at that, I’m mostly all right.

> > This is not evidence that it’s not that bad. Like with a lot of illness, disability, and mental health stuff, just because I can do it sometimes doesn’t mean it’s okay all the time.

> > This is how these things work. Period. This is actually what recovery from trauma looks like, this is how it works, this is what you have to accept if you want to accept that any trauma at all is valid.

> > It really is a useless endeavor to try to draw conclusions about someone’s trauma from whether or not they ask for, use, or need trigger warnings.

> > And tbh, even if they come right out and say “I don’t have PTSD, I just hate seeing pictures of dogs, I’m so triggered lol”, that’s them being horrendously disrespectful of mentally ill people. It’s not an excuse to then be even more disrespectful by using that to draw conclusions that allow you to dismiss the very concept of trigger warnings as stupid.

> > There are people who fake entire illnesses, okay? Who lie about having cancer or whatever. But we don’t take those people as evidence that people who have, you know, actual cancer must be lying and pretending to be special snowflakes.

> -please tell me if any of you need things taggin and ill try to remember what needs to be tagged

25/04/2017 11:13:12 ¶ ●

cup-o-fear:

> quinndolyns:

> > people seem to have trouble understanding why i’m an anti-capitalist, so i’m going to try and put it into simple, real-life terms.

> > i work at a restaurant. i make $12 an hour, plus tips. minimum wage where i live is relatively high for my country - the national minimum wage is $7.25/hr, and has not been raised since 2009. before taxes, working full time, my yearly income is about $22,000 a year. ($25,000 if you count tips)

> > at my job, we sell various dishes, with an average price of about $10-$15. we get printouts every week detailing how much money we made that week; in one week, our restaurant makes about $30,000. (one of our other locations actually makes this much on a daily basis!)

> > i’m not going to go into details, but after the costs of production (payroll for employees, rent for the building, maintenance, and wholesale food purchasing) are accounted for, the restaurant makes an estimated profit of $20,000 per week.

> > this profit goes directly to the owner, who does not work at this location. the owner of my restaurant has actually been on vacation for a few months, but still profits from the restaurant, because they own it. i have met the owner exactly twice in my year of working here.

> > to put this into perspective, the owner of this restaurant earns in 2 days what they pay me in one year. and that’s just from this single location - the owner has several other restaurants, all of which make more money than the one i work at. this ends up resulting in the owner having an estimated net worth of tens of millions of dollars, even after accounting for the payroll for every single worker in their employ.

> > now, i have to ask you: does the owner of my restaurant deserve this income? did they earn it? did their labor result in this value being created?

> > the naive answer would be “yes”; the owner purchased the location and arranged for the raw ingredients to be delivered, did they not?

> > the actual answer is “no”. the owner may have used their initial capital to start the location, but the profit is a result of my labor, and the labor of my co-workers.

> > the owner purchases rice at a very low bulk price of about 25 cents a pound. i cook the rice, and within a few minutes, that pound of rice is suddenly worth about $30. the owner did not create this value, i did. the owner simply provided the initial capital investment required to start the process.

> > what needs to be understood here is that capitalists do not create value. they use the labor of their employees to create value, and then take the excess profit and keep it.

> > what needs to be understood is that capitalists accrue income by already HAVING money. the owner of my restaurant was only able to get this far because they started off, from the very beginning, with enough money to purchase a building, purchase food in bulk, and hire hundreds of employees.

> > that is to say: the rich get richer, and they do so by exploiting the labor of the poor.

> > the owner of my restaurant could afford to triple the income of every single person in their employee if they felt like it, but this would mean that they were generating less profit for themselves, so they do not.

> > the owner of my restaurant pays me the current minimum wage of my area, because to them, i am not a person. i am an investment. i am an asset. i am a means to create more money.

> > when you are paid minimum wage, the message your boss is sending you is this: “legally, if i could pay you less, i would.”

> > every capitalist on the planet exploits their workers for their own gain. every capitalist, even the small business owners, forces people to stay in poverty so that the capitalist can profit.

> This is a really good post

26/04/2017 17:25:52 ¶ ●

## You'll Teach Me And I'll Teach You: Do Pokemon's Mechanics Actually Work?

sam-keeper:

> sam-keeper:

> > sam-keeper:

> > > > Pokemon has a brilliant mechanical narrative where you’re encouraged to treat your pokemon as living creatures, and use them to fashion an identity for yourself… or at least that’s how it works in theory. In practice, do Pokemon’s mechanics actually work… and is Ian Bogost right to suggest that maybe chasing after narrative in games is a lost cause?

> > > > Reload the Canons! is an ongoing Storming the Ivory Tower project where I play through The Canon of videogames. Except I’m not playing the original games. Instead, I’m playing only remakes, remixes, and weird fan projects. This is the canon of games as seen through the eyes of fans, and I’m going to treat fan games as what they are: legitimate works of art in their own right that deserve our analysis and respect. You can support Reload the Canons! and my other projects on the Storming the Ivory Tower Patreon.

> > If you enjoy articles where I drag other writers I have very good news about this one

> Morning bump!

27/04/2017 15:40:33 ¶ ●

nickel-bolas:

> themetaldude:

> > emboardom:

> > > reinerashitaka:

> > > > reinerashitaka:

> > > > > Reminder to not buy the new kings quest game because it was made with stolen funds

> > > > https://m.reddit.com/r/gamegrumps/comments/3cgyrp/whats_this_about_the_new_kings_quest_being_made/cxpy03k

> > > Here are some screenshots I got on my phone when the original post first came out:

> > This is important. I don’t even read Homestuck and I feel sick to my stomach for these guys. I’ve been debating buying King’s Quest for a while now, but this shuts that thought down. This is actually disgusting. Everyone should know about this whether you’re a gamer or not.

> WHAT THE FUCK

30/04/2017 10:54:44 ¶ ●

royalsuggestion:

> royalsuggestion:

> > royalsuggestion:

> > > Fat girls and fat boys are honestly worth so much more than y'all give em credit for

> > Fat transgirls and fat transboys are absolutely included in this!! Nonbinary people too!!!

> Hey could you maybe reblog this part of post