once in college my friend asked me to come along on a date she wasn’t comfortable with because she knew that I would step in and ruin the mood on purpose if she gave me the signal that she wanted out

I came along, it was awkward, she gave the signal, and I immediately dumped a glass of ice water over my head and said “oh no looks like you have to drive me home immediately to prevent hypothermia” but then she and her bad date thought this was so startling and funny that it broke the tension and got them talking. and then I had to sit around for the rest of their date dripping water and shivering because she decided she was enjoying herself.

FWIW, "mauve" was one of the coal-tar dyes developed in the mid-19th century that made eye-wateringly bright clothing fashionable for a few decades.

It was an eye-popping magenta purple

HOWEVER, like most aniline dyes, it faded badly, to a washed-out blue-grey ...

...which was the color ignorant youngsters in the 1920s associated with “mauve”.

(This dress is labeled "mauve" as it is the color the above becomes after fading).

They colored their vision of the past with washed-out pastels that were NOTHING like the eye-popping electric shades the mid-Victorians loved. This 1926 fashion history book by Paul di Giafferi paints a hugely distorted, I would say dishonest picture of the past.

Ever since then this faded bluish lavender and not the original electric eye-watering hot pink-purple is the color associated with the word “mauve”.

Oh! Just like the Victorians did to the Gothic, where actual Gothic cathedrals which had been built to be bright and full of light were portrayed as dark and gloomy places, because that's what happens after a cathedral is filled with candles for several hundred years.

maybe a crazy take idk but i dont actually think many scenes in stories are 'unneccesary' i think they just make people uncomfortable and rather than try to understand the significance of that discomfort and why the author mightve deliberately inflicted it, decide that discomfort = bad, therefore that scene + the author are both bad

i cant really tell you how many times (as a csa victim, as someone with an ED, and someone whos struggled with suicidality) how many times one of my real life experiences is called 'unneccessary' despite making complete sense with the path a story is taking. despite being very honest and unglamorized in their depiction.

i think that there is absolutely instances of the abuse people face being made a spectacle of that is 'in poor taste', but this has somehow evolved past 'please handle these subjects with care' to 'its bad to even discuss them at all'.

That post about how Angeal is willing to steal from people who are poorer than Genesis's family made me remember a theory I bombarded @birdblacksocialclub with ages ago, so I want to have a little ramble about it here.

Angeal says he would not steal from the trees belonging to Genesis's (foster) family because they're friends. it would be dishonourable to steal from your friend. But I have another theory about where this line of thinking came from other than Angeal's sense of honour.

One of the few things we know about Genesis's foster parents is that they were reporting back to Shinra, albeit they later chose to lie to them when they 'got attached' to him. Notably, Gillian (Angeal's mother) chose not to and refused to let Shinra anywhere near Angeal save for the existing surveilling that was being done in Banora. This makes total sense, she tried to leg it with him as a baby and was caught, so she clearly didn't want Shinra involved with Angeal in a big way and refuses to acknowledge anything about her life in the Jenova project.

Genesis and Angeal are childhood besties. It's likely they were in and out of each others pockets, but the economic difference between them had to mean that Genesis was more likely to want to give him things. Unfortunately, those things came via his foster parents and by extension, Shinra - the very company Angeal's mother is trying to get to leave him alone to live out his life relatively quietly.

My bet is that Gillian told tiny Angeal that he shouldn't take things from Genesis, that it isn't honourable, that it was considered charity and they had some pride and he internalised that as not taking things from his friend. From his perspective, the issue is that they're friends and it's a matter of respect and pride between them.

From Gillian's? It's trying to make sure

a) Angeal is not in Shinra's debt due to Genesis not understanding where his foster parents loyalties once lay and he's more likely to stop offering if Angeal is the one to shut it down than if she does

b) instilling the idea that Angeal shouldn't take things from people in power because it might land him in some trouble some day, especially if she's wary of someone of the suited variety showing up one day

and c) that said foster parents don't see enough of Angeal to ever include him in their observations because she knows they're not normal kids

(those blueprints for the copy tech were archived with Project G, they absolutely knew when they were kids that they had some abilities, just not enough as to be as sure a bet as Sephiroth was)

It might have been about honour for Angeal but I think it probably started as a way to try and keep him away from Shinra's scope. At least, until the war kicked off and he signed up anyway.

Maaaaan as a fellow type one do I feel this. Especially before diagnosis. See one of the problems of High Blood Sugar is frequent Urination and thirst. So picture this 9 year old girl dancing on one leg because BOY HOWDY I GOTTA GO. but since I'm asking for the potty so often the teachers must think I'm playing hooky or something because they don't let me go. the obvious happens and yanno what my teachers did? Give me a hand? Maybe call my parents because this is unusual behavior? That would be far too sensible. They threatened to suspend me if I ever have another accident.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes 3 months after this threat, the medical staff saying if I had let things go any longer I would have been forced to stay in the hospital for a month.

i’m already living in a time loop it’s called being employed

The International Phonetic Alphabet consonants found in English, with keywords and relevant parts of the mouth highlighted and colour-coded. (Source.) 

Pronouncing each of these in sequence is a very strange and amusing physical sensation, and I highly recommend it.

haha look it’s where those noises live in your dang FACE, TRY IT

Very helpful actually

I hate when people say ohhhh your pets only love you because you feed them. as if that wasn't the first form of love any of us felt. get real.

So true. Food is literally what we use to tell animals we won't hurt them. We give them food and then don't do anything to them and the animal learns you're a cool dude, and becomes open to bonding. When you bond, you Know your pet loves you. It's the primary way we get feral kittens to start trusting humans. It's no different really with people and how we come together, we bond over meals all the fucking time.

Also like. There is no higher praise than knowing an animal feels safe enough to come to you with their basic needs. That's why I like when it's cold and my cat comes to sit on my chest. She could go directly to the heater and often does when I'm at work, but does the heater cuddle back? Does it thumb rub her ears and talk to her in a voice she recognizes as contented and pleased?

*in lifestream*

Angeal: I can't believe you assassinated President Shinra.

Sephiroth: Well, 'assassinated' implies it was politically motivated. I killed him because he was a dick, so technically I murdered him.

Angeal: That's not better.

Technophobes need to apologise for "just put it in plain English you stupid machine!" because, well for one the decline in accurate error messages in favour of simplicity has contributed to the rise of tech illiteracy, but also because now whenever an "app" has a net connection error it will pop up a box saying something like "oo ooopsie! Your super duper feed went poo poo. We'll try again soon!" which having said to me by a corporation is about 8 million times worse than having to hear the word "network".

To no one's surprise

This website is a self fulfilling prophecy of mild annoyances

Dude save some for us homely guys

Michael Rayner

Official Strifesodos Week Prompt List!

Strifesodos Week will take place from October 7th-13th! I wanted to give people as much time as possible to work on their stories and artwork!

Check here for the Guidelines

And check here for the AO3 Collection

Yet another reblog! Please share so more people will participate!!!!

today I learned that in 2008, the city council of florence overturned dante’s sentence of execution if he returned from exile. yes, dante’s inferno dante, who died in 1321.

but the funniest part of this is not that they were debating the exile of a man who has been dead for over 500 years.

the funniest part is that the vote was 19-5. five people voted to uphold dante’s exile.

The objectively funniest part of this is actually that the city that holds his remains, Ravenna, refused to give his remains back. This was a ploy from florence to have his remains moved back for the tourist money and its been ongoing for a long time. Florence had a fake tomb built in the city to trick people into visiting, and have tried to force the return of the remains.

His actual caretakers have been very steadfast in keeping them hidden, moved, or generally out of reach to respect his choice in life to never, ever, ever return to florence, even when he was first offered the chance to return. This is at this point an almost millenium long feud that florence is really, really mad about losing

so basically the five people who wanted to uphold his exile were in the right