Me: here’s this scientific study on how people that are for free-roaming cats and criticise keeping cats indoors have no evidence to base their criticisms on and ignore any sort of research on the harm cats do

people, with zero hint of irony: actually it’s totally fine to let cats free-roam. I let my cat do it.

Me: 

Unironically what is the issue with allowing free-roaming cats if you don’t live in areas with coyotes or hogs? I’ve never really heard about it being bad, so why is it?

aside from other welfare issues for the cat (cars, unkind humans, dogs, poison), free-ranging cats decimate wildlife populations and have driven a number of species to extinction

Isn’t that just nature tho??

your introduced domestic housepet is not part of “nature,” no

No matter where you live,

-cats can get hit by cars. In colder places, cats also tend to curl up above car tires for warmth and then get killed when they car owner pulls away from their parking spot

-cats that aren’t spayed or neutered contribute to cat overpopulation. That’s more stay kittens out there without homes and spreading disease.

-cats can get locked in sheds or barns if they sneak in when someone isn’t looking, get injured and starve.

-domesticated cats don’t need to hunt for food, so they hunt for play instead. If they are not getting the stimulation they need at home, they’ll break the neck of a bird or squirrel and then play with the body until they get bored of it. This is harming the local wildlife.

-cats can get caught in traps set by less-than-kind humans.

-cats can get attacked by dogs or other larger animals.

Look, I’m saying this as someone who currently owns an indoor cat (who used to be a stray) and used to own two outdoor cats (who are now dead), you are taking a huge risk letting them roam outside, both to their health and the local ecosystem.

“But it’s not fair to keep him cooped up inside all day! He’s an animal! He’s bored inside!”

Then you need to buy him some toys and play with your cat more. Even a crumpled up paper ball or a shoelace is fine if you don’t want to spend very much. Your cat just wants to play.

“My cat is allowed out all the time and she’s never died. She’s smart!”

And I’ve gone swimming in the ocean every summer and never drowned, therefore, drowning is a myth, right? Throw away the life vests and tell the lifeguards they’re fired because I’ll be just fine. I’ve also never died in a car accident, so let’s get rid of seatbelts while we’re at it.

You know what happened to my very first cat? He contracted feline leukaemia and had to be put down. My second cat? He had been a strictly indoor cat until I moved and left him in my parents’ care. He was found dead under their neighbour’s back patio. They only found him because of the stench. My dad thinks he ate something poisonous.

Jfc people, please stop treating cats with less care and respect you’d treat a dog. Stop treating them like they’re disposable pets. Stop acting like you know more than veterinarians and years upon years of data. If you can’t be a responsible cat owner, then you shouldn’t have a cat.

Jfc people, please stop treating cats with less care and respect you’d treat a dog. Stop treating them like they’re disposable pets. Stop acting like you know more than veterinarians and years upon years of data. If you can’t be a responsible cat owner, then you shouldn’t have a cat.

Looking for a random cause of death for a character? Click here.

Looking for a random city? Click here.

Looking for a random city that people have actually heard of? Click here.

Need a random surname for a character? Click here. (They also give prevalence by race, which is very helpful.)

Helpful writing tips for my friends.

smallirishpotato

OH SHIT.

A couple more resources I have open constantly:

Random motivations for your characters here!

Need some character quirks? Here and here! 

Having trouble with backstory? Here! (They have an option for fortunate and unfortunate backstories)

y e s

REBLOG TO SAVE A WRITER

I am going to need these so I’m rebloging this.

Frodo Laid a Geas (and other invisible magic)

This was so obvious when I realized it, but I think most people miss it, because we’re so desensitized by D&D-style magic with immediate, visibly, flashy effects, rather than more subtle and invisible forces of magic. When Gollum attacks Frodo on the slopes of Mount Doom, Frodo has the chance to kill him, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says:

Frodo: Go! And if you ever lay hands on me again, you yourself shall be cast into the Fire!

Frodo’s not just talking shit here. He is literally, magically laying a curse. He’s holding the One Ring in his hands as he says it; even Sam, with no magic powers of his own, can sense that some powerful mojo is being laid down. Frodo put a curse on Gollum: if you try to take the Ring again, you’ll be cast into the Fire.

Five pages later, Gollum tries to take the Ring again. And that’s exactly what happens. Frodo’s geas takes effect and Gollum eats lava.

On further reflection:

All the other people in the franchise who were offered the Ring declined to take it because they were wise enough to know that if they used its power – and the pressure to do so would be too great – they would be subject to its corruption.

Frodo uses the power of the Ring to lay a geas, and then five minutes later at the volcano’s edge, succumbs to its corruption. The Ring has gotten to him and he can no longer give it up. Because he used its power.

On further further reflection: I’d have to read the section again, but I recall that after throwing Gollum off and laying the geas, Sam observes that Frodo seems suddenly filled with energy again when previously he had been close to dead of fatigue. He hikes up the mountain so fast he leaves Sam behind – and doesn’t even seem to notice that he’s left him behind. 

Could he have been drawing on the Ring’s power at this point in the story? At this point in the story we’re relying on Sam’s narration, and Sam doesn’t know what’s going on in Frodo’s head, so it’s hard to say for sure. Having used it once, after spending so long holding out against it, was that the breach in the dam?

Which means that the moment that Frodo succumbs to temptation is not the moment at the volcano – it was already too late by then. The moment he is taken by temptation was when he used the power of the Ring to repel Gollum.

If so, this ties in neatly with discussions I’ve seen about how Tolkien subscribes to a “not even once” view of good and evil – that in many other works it’s acceptable to do a small evil in service of a greater good, but in Lord of the Rings that always  fails.

Re-reading Fellowship of the Rings, and I got to this passage in Lorien:

In other words:

Frodo asks Galadriel, herself carrying a Ring of Power, “Could I, hypothetically, use the power of the One Ring to do something magical aside from turning invisible?” and Galadriel replies, “Yes, hypothetically, you totally could, assuming the magic you want to do involves laying compulsions on others, but I strongly recommend against it, because it would fuck up your brain.”

This was in the first book. At the end of the third book Frodo uses the Ring to fuck Gollum up, forcing him to throw himself into lava if he disobeys Frodo’s commands.

Talk about a chekov’s gun.

Got to this point in my re-read and uh. This was a lot  less subtle than I remembered it.

…

Yeah.

Hero

Can we just let him out on good behaivor? Cause that’s fucking outstanding.

“I’ve been getting these emails saying that, y’know it’s not my position to judge anybody. And I wanna make it quite clear that I didn’t judge him. Y’know I know God is the only judge we have. I just set the appointment up.”

I don’t even believe in God and that’s still a badass quote.

My nigga said he set the appointment up. Legendary.

His lawyer was smiling like a proud father

Y’know I know God is the only judge we have. I just set the appointment up”

I don’t condone killing as punishment, but that was a statement.

He murdered his girlfriend. He took advantaged of a young, depressed, financially destitute woman and murdered her. 

But thank gosh he drew a line at kids, eh? Fucking stop, tumblr. Seriously. Stop praising a man who literally preyed upon a young woman and strangled her to death. Fucking what the fuck.

Can you please give a source for the “financially destitute woman”?

@acrowdofstars do have a source or link for more information about the “financially destitute woman”? I’d very much like more information.

Original conviction was for the strangulation of a woman that he claimed was an assisted suicide, but which neither the police nor the woman’s family believe. She exchanged letters with Sandison (who lied about his identity), and after losing government assistance, she became depressed. He got her high, then attempted to hang her with suspenders before finally strangling her in bed. He was sentenced to life. 

I don’t like pedophiles either, and I wish they didn’t exist, and I think the asshole he killed deserved to have a terrible life, but we shouldn’t be saying “Oh, he should be released!” and acting as if this absolves him of all wrongdoing. You should never praise someone taking the decision of life or death into their hands, especially not someone who has now done it twice that we know of.

Edited because I didn’t know how to link on tumblr.

Hero

Can we just let him out on good behaivor? Cause that’s fucking outstanding.

“I’ve been getting these emails saying that, y’know it’s not my position to judge anybody. And I wanna make it quite clear that I didn’t judge him. Y’know I know God is the only judge we have. I just set the appointment up.”

I don’t even believe in God and that’s still a badass quote.

My nigga said he set the appointment up. Legendary.

His lawyer was smiling like a proud father

Y’know I know God is the only judge we have. I just set the appointment up”

I don’t condone killing as punishment, but that was a statement.

He murdered his girlfriend. He took advantaged of a young, depressed, financially destitute woman and murdered her. 

But thank gosh he drew a line at kids, eh? Fucking stop, tumblr. Seriously. Stop praising a man who literally preyed upon a young woman and strangled her to death. Fucking what the fuck.

every time i listen to “you’re a mean one mr. grinch” i can’t help but sit there and think “what did the grinch do to hurt you?” because dude just stands there for 2 minutes and 58 seconds and drags the grinch into the dirt

he stole christmas, kayla! stop with your #notallgrinches propaganda!

you know what if someone told me i was a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce i’d probably be bitter enough to steal christmas too 

Interestingly, though The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is narrated by Boris Karloff, the big musical number is sung by the late Thurl Ravenscroft - an American voice actor better known as the voice of Tony the Tiger.

My headcanon is that the Grinch and Tony the Tiger had a bad breakup, and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” is the resulting breakup song.

Did this really HAVE to be the first thing I see when I opened up Tumblr?

Yes.

oh god theres art

@altadude you know what must be done.

ive been avoiding reblogging this honestly but just. What the fuck. What the fuck tumblr

i fucking love this website

MY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED And yet I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts.

“why aren’t u talking abt this one Problematic thing involving that actor/show u like??”

listen. i am tired. im putting down my pitchfork. i’ll acknowledge that thing was bad if it was but im tired of vilifying ppl for their mistakes just bc they’re famous. i want to enjoy things. i want Peace

For a long time I was second guessing everything I liked because they did this or that wrong, the actors did this, the writers did that, they left out this or ignored that… It’s just too much.

It’s just so tiring. Acknowledge where they can do better, but give yourself a break for the things you like. No one is perfect and you can like things that aren’t perfect.

Boom, there it is.

All-or-nothing thinking is so draining and toxic. It’s okay to say “I’m aware of x, y, and z, but I really like a, b, and c.” It’s okay to have a multi-faceted, nuanced understanding of the people and things around you.

I just can’t get behind the whole “this person said/did this one bad thing this one time, therefore they are literal human trash #deleted forever bye!” all-or-nothing culture it’s toxic and it’s draining, and it puts people in the awful position of being a hair’s breadth from “unproblematic fave” to “garbage person” with zero possibility of being allowed to grow or change this kind of all-or-nothing thinking is *exhausting*. people fuck up. people grow. people make mistakes and sometimes say imperfect things and sometimes act shitty. people can also learn and change and move on but it takes grace and compassion

Also because it’s a dangerous way to think about ourselves. If only pieces of shit do bad things, then you are faced with being a piece of shit when you make a mistake. This means either blowing mistakes out of proportion and having an existential crisis instead of learning, apologizing, and moving on, OR refusing to acknowledge mistakes because you, a Good Person, would never do something Bad. 

It’s the reason people think being called racist is the worst insult, because if they were racist, they would be a Bad Person, and they know they’re not. But that also means they refuse to consider they might be a good person (note the lack of caps) who sometimes behaves badly. 

Just… chill. We’re all doing the best we can, and we’re all fucking it up sometimes. 

THESE SCROLLBARS ARE UGLY AF WHAT ARE THEY DOINGGGGG

SERIOUSLY. 

i was aiming for a little style change( attempt unsuccessful TT^TT 

Attempt extremely successful.

x

“Those poor boys”

“She deserves to be punished too.”

“I’m not saying I support rape, but-”

“Sorry to say - she deserved it.”

“She put herself in harm’s way”

“But if she was fingered, then that’s not rape.”

“She ruined their lives.”

“Well she didn’t exactly say ‘no’..”

“Yea, but did you see what she was wearing?”

“Boys will be boys!”

“She should know better than to drink at a party…”

Cannot not reblog.