"crochet can't be made by machines" went from being a cool fun fact to being a call to action of "so if you see mass manufactured crochet in Target, that was made by a person and they were underpaid and you should boycott it" which is true, it was made by a person, but EVERY item of clothing you own (that you did not purchase from a company using ethical labor) was made by a person being underpaid (at *best*.)

Sewing machines are operated by *people*. Knitting machines are operated by *people*. Yes lots of the process is automated but you cannot tell a machine "make me a t-shirt" or "make me a knit cardigan".

Higher awareness of fast fashion, and the true human labor and abuse behind it, is GREAT, but let's not pretend that the crochet hat in target is THE problem. Every article of clothing in target is the problem. "All clothes are made by people" is the jumping off point here into understanding this issue it's not just crochet it's the whole thing ahhhhHHHHHHHHHH

as a clothing history researcher in the US, I hear a lot of "clothing used to be handmade! [including a human operating a sewing machine in that category]"

and I always respond with, "it still is"

a lot of people don't realize that clothing production...really hasn't changed that much from the days of early 20th-century sweatshops. the sweatshops just aren't in most western countries anymore

this:

and this:

are the exact same thing. just with more electricity, theoretically more regulations (which are often ignored), and different people working the machines

I don't actually know very much about Taylor Swift so take all of this with a grain of salt and also keep in mind I'm not claiming to be correct this is just what I think based on what I do know. Anyway

I really do think taylor swift has a level of insecurity about her vocals which you can kind of hear in the progression of her music; how she tried incorporating more complex ad libs into her final choruses on like reputation or whatever and she isn't doing that anymore which of course is down to the styles she's playing with lately and it becomes kind of a chicken-egg thing (is she doing that less because she's using different styles or is she using different styles so she can do that less) but I also think this is reflected in her emphasis on herself as a writer/storyteller and her pivot into less vocally-demanding genres. (Inhale) I also think you can hear this in her commitment to style over technique, leaning into diphthongs, making no effort to alleviate the tension she holds in her throat; it's a genius business strategy because there isn't anything generic about her voice. Her sound is distinctive and that helped her build and maintain her recognizability. I also think she has spent her career being scrutinized and criticized by people who are looking for her weak points, which of course her raw vocal ability IS a weak point (LET ME BE CLEAR I'm not saying she's a BAD singer I just think she doesn't have enough raw vocal talent to have built a career on pure vocals and I think she knows that. She has a lot of vocal strengths but that isn't what this post is about), and the feedback loop this eventually created is that she thought she had to look to her writing and lyricism to stand out as an artist, which has also been important to her success but I think recently she's pivoted wayyyy too far and is trying to completely rely on what she and other people think is her greatest strength when really it's not her greatest strength at all. Her greatest strength is in the ability to make a tight pop song with accessible progressions, concise hard-hitting lyrics that make no attempt at being overly poetic, and a STRONG MELODIC HOOK. She has abandoned even trying to compose an earworm and I think that's one of her biggest problems. We need to ban her from streaming platforms and make her reliant on getting on the radio again

So, there's a lot of USians around who are very clearly fucking fed up with their political choices this election cycle, and planning to sit it out.

And I get it! What's the point of voting if there's no one to vote for?

The thing is, I'm Australian. In Australia, voting is compulsory. We don't get to sit out our elections, and I'll be real honest with you - we don't exactly get better choices than you lot. So how do you vote if there's no one to vote for? You find someone to vote against. And there's always someone to vote against.

Now, we have the pleasure of preferential voting in Australia - We get to rank every candidate from 1 to X, and I'll tell you, there's something so cathartic about putting the biggest bastard of the lot at the very bottom of your preferences. I understand that USians don't get that option - you get to mark one person, and that's it.

That means that you get one shot, so aim it at the biggest bastard of the lot. The candidate you most utterly detest. Put your vote in the worst possible place for them. Don't even think about who that vote's going towards, that's not the point. Remember, every vote is a vote against someone. Make sure you fuck up that someone's election day!

My deepest darkest fantasy is that I collapse on the street and I am rushed to the hospital. They perform a bunch of tests and find out I am severely deficient in some kind of vitamin. Then I start taking the vitamin and I become the happiest cleverest person alive because all my problems were caused by this one deficiency

Moreover, everyone gathers around to be tremulously compassionate and discreetly admiring: all this time, you lacked the Vitamin? And yet you persevered?

This entire scenario happened to me last week and it was validating and overwhelmingly relieving as you could imagine

Spencer, early 19th century | IMATEX

This post is so fucking old–the old anon icon? Non-rebloggable asks? The gray bar at the bottom? Truly a relic

people are still reblogging it. incredible. love u all

Did Galavant get cancelled because it was too good for this shitty world?

Do not cite the old magic to me. I was there when it was written.

Sometimes I look at the Big Hair People in the comics I wrote back then and have to remind myself that, actually, they were, if anything, understated.

Okay but how did they all get their hair like this? I'd do anything to have this kind of volume.

It's permed, then heavily teased, then sprayed with about half a bottle of Aquanet while you blow dry the hair with your head upside down, then you blow dry the bangs while combing them higher and higher and spraying the other half of the can of Aquanet. You have to add so much hairspray that your hair feels lacquered.

I'm not even sure they make hairspray with that kind of hold anymore?

to get that kind of volume you have to be willing to put a hole in the ozone layer

You were not crazy, folks, and I need to lie down.

29 BILLION?!?!

The IRS has collected more than $500 million in back taxes from delinquent millionaires (MarketWatch)

How a Maneuver in Puerto Rico Led to a $29 Billion Tax Bill for Microsoft (ProPublica)

IRS Free File (btw your taxes are due THIS MONDAY!)

we should hype up bottom surgery more i think. both twitter transphobes and chronically online trans people really like to be disgusted at phalloplasty, vaginoplasty, ext. and i really think we should treat them as cool and sexy and neutral like top surgery scars or whatever

As of tomorrow I will be 49 weeks post bottom surgery. And lemme tell you...it's pretty great.

There was a level of constant dysphoria from having a dick that I didn't even know I had until it was gone.

Vaginoplasty is pretty amazing. I'm very, VERY happy about having gotten it.

Some things to keep in mind:

I say this because a lot of the negative shit around bottom surgery hinges on people NOT knowing about the healing time and using the shock value of not-yet-healed surgical wounds. Bottom surgery is FUCKING AMAZING, but yeah, it can be gross and painful at first.

I had my surgery done at GRS Montreal. The staff there are AMAZING. They were kind, patient, and helpful.

Here's some bottom surgery facts:

Dilation is a pain in the ass for the first 4-5 months. Not because it hurts, but because you have to do it so often. After that it becomes more like "here is an hour a day that I set aside for me time". At the end of the first year you will only have to do it once or twice a week, at which point it definitely becomes more like just setting aside a bit of time to get in touch with your womanhood, just to relax.

Dilation doesn't hurt (though it can be uncomfortable in the first month or so while the swelling comes down). Your new vagina is a part of your body and your body takes care of it. It is honestly pretty neat!

Bottom surgery is legitimately AMAZING. It has been practiced for almost 100 years. It is established medical practice. Do not let transphobes dissuade you from it!

I’m paying to force seven thousand strangers to see a photo of my late husband having fun with his dog. Tumblr Blaze is totally worth it. XD

Thank-you to all of my new Internet stranger friends for being so gracious about having my post shoved onto your dashboards. I loved reading all of your kind tags and comments! Both Martin and Bosco have been gone for several years now but for 24 hours, they felt very present in my life. I greatly appreciate this gift. ❤️

Reblog to have your dashboard be visited by the spirit of joy that death can end but not erase.

Love that this is well beyond 7000 people now and still going

@leavescrown Exactly! It’s a beautiful gift. Martin and Bosco out there travelling around the Tumblr community, continually making new friends.

I hate so much that professors who still can't figure out how to send messages on Zoom think they're capable of spotting AI writing. Professors are just feeding essays into AI detectors with massive fail rates with absolutely zero critical thought about the tools they're using. I moved across state lines. I've spent years of my life trying to get this degree. But at any moment I could be expelled because I got a false positive from a detector that tells you ChatGPT wrote Anna Karenina.

#I Kinda feel like there must be more scrutiny to this to ensure student safety from being wrongfully accused without definitive proof

My friend was placed on academic probation because their essay tripped the automated AI detectors. His probation only lasted until the humans in the community standards office made time to manually review his essay -- that wound up being sixteen whole days.

There's a scholarship for our school's study abroad program, but you can't apply if you're on probation. And there's a strict deadline. My friend wasn't able to apply, even though he would have been perfect for the program, because the mindless program started beeping, and the humans in charge didn't care enough to come check until after the scholarship deadline had already passed. He can't afford to go on his own. This likely means he won't be able to attend classes during the summer even domestically, which means he won't earn credits during those three months. That pushes back his graduation timeline by a whole semester. I cannot stress enough that these crazy arbitrary braindead-version-of-HAL "detectors" are wreaking havoc with real people's lives.

[Image ID: A comment by catsruleokay that says "This is a big problem with international students. My friend was accused of using AI because 'his english doesn't sound natural'. People who use translation software often get accused of it as well. /end ID]

nasa: we're going to shoot three rockets directly at the sun during the total eclipse. for study and research purposes.

me: oh cool

nasa: we have named the rockets apep. this stands for atmospheric perturbations [in the] eclipse path.

me: oh cool

nasa: apep is also the ancient egyptian deity of chaos and darkness, who ceaselessly seeks to extinguish the sun. we launch these rockets directly at the sun in the name of apep.

me: oh... cool?

if gods are kept alive by their followers then NASA is single-handedly the caretaker of SO MANY GODS

i am thinking abt this sooo muchh

Boop