a massive explosion just rocked the capital city of lebanon, beirut. footage of the explosion has been captured, and it is horrific and terrifying. dozens and maybe even hundreds of people have been injured and the reports have confirmed at least 10 people dead. reports are still coming in.

hospitals are overwhelmed. the lebanese red cross has sent out an urgent message in need of blood donations of all blood types. open transfusion centers to help aid in this disaster are currently

if you have loved ones in lebanon or you are aware of someone who has loved ones in lebanon, i strongly urge you to reach out to them as soon as possible. if you don’t have loved ones in lebanon, i hope you at least spread the word to help others and keep beirut in your thoughts today.

this all started just barely two hours ago, and the reports are still coming in with updates. keep an eye on the news, if you can. stay safe. 

the country of lebanon and it’s people have been struggling intensely recently due to political unrest, famine, covid-19, and an economic crisis. please read this twitter thread by a lebanese user for more information and how to help, along with this carrd

additionally, a carrd has been made concerning the beirut explosion and it consists of information on emergency relief, access to breaking news about the catastrophe, and, especially, information on blood donations.

multiple lebanese twitter users have urged against monetary donations as they will have a far far smaller impact than intended. what they are asking for is blood donations and raised voices, along with the sharing of these resources on current events in lebanon.

please keep your heart, mind, eyes, and ears open to lebanon, the city of beirut, and its people right now.

had to share this

Mona Alkurd , one of the Palestinians Israel is trying to kick along with 28 families out of their decades long homes in Sheikh Al Jarrah , the last Palestinian block in Al Quds ( Jerusalem ), to complete the restriction of the area to Israeli Jews .. simply an Apartheid by settlers.

“ Your posts and tweets are treasures to us “

Here a rough translation of what she said:

“ It falls on us and Palestinians and the honorable people supporting us with posts and tweets. You have no idea how much that means to us. Everyone who shares even one short post or tweet. Don’t feel like you’re doing nothing. Those posts and tweets are treasures to us. Help us get our cause heard. We are 28 families. 500 individuals. If we are removed, then there will be no Palestinians in Al Quds. And in the end, Allah is our hope. And it falls on us. And we will remain here to our last breath defending our lands and homes”

Palestine's case is one of the rare ones where retweets, hashtags, reblogs, etc... are one of the most effective forms of support (besides boycotting and protesting) because donated money goes nowhere and petitions do not work in an apartheid state that seeks to eliminate its victims openly. We need the rest of the world watching and protesting and speaking out.

I’m a weak bitch. I see “all hurt no comfort” and “angst with no happy ending” I scroll past.

So this is just a PSA, y'all should never sign a contract until you read it. I’m talking in rl right now. I just got through reading my employee handbook/service contract and my bosses slipped in a lot of bullshit like telling me I can’t complain about my job on social media, demanding I work off the clock in the name of good service, expects me to show up on time during inclimate weather, and considered disability or religious accommodation a direct threat to the company.

These are all things I took issue with and brought to my employer for further discussion before signing the contract. Most of my coworkers signed without reading, treating it like an internet terms of service contract.

Tl;dr real life is serious shit, lawyers write contracts to protect your employer FROM YOU, read contracts before you sign them - fucking ARGUE about contracts before you sign them

Also important to note, and something my bf has repeated to me many times: a contract is a negotiation until it is signed, and YOU ARE ALLOWED TO AMEND IT. Tech companies often put some bs in there about “we own everything you make while you work for us” which broadly applied also means anything done on your own time. He always ALWAYS does write-in amendments with initial and date to state that they only own things done FOR the company, on company time, because there have been companies that enforced that bullshit when somebody had a personal side project the company decided they wanted to steal. There’s only one company that threw a fit at his attempts to amend it and he considered that a huge red flag and refused to sign, turned down the job.

Never. EVER. Sign shit without reading it. Also: if your prospective employer won’t let you take the thing home to read before you sign it and says you need to sign it then and there THAT IS A RED FLAG. The job I had that turned out to be abusive as shit was like that. Every other job I’ve been able to bring the contract home to my parents to have a more experienced set of eyes on it. It’s also common practice in some fields to have one’s attorney look over it before signing. So never let them tell you that you can’t look over it with someone else. That’s a fat load of shit. For “lower level” jobs they may not accept amendments to the contract but if they won’t even give you the proper time to read it over, they’re trying to pull some bullshit on you and you’re going to regret it if you sign. Even if there’s nothing bad in what you signed it’s an example of how they are going to treat you while you’re there. Take it to heart and run like fucking hell.

Please also tell your coworkers. Inform others. Tell everyone. Please, for the lovee of everything TELL PEOPLE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO DO THESE THINGS.

Companies BANK on the fact you’re not going to read it. Then they slip in shit like ‘you can’t talk about your wages’ because they want you to keep quiet, so thy can pay that guy six bucks, and pay the guy over there fifteen and pay you eight. They want you to accept it all blindly. PLEASE DON’T STAY BLIND.

Yes, I’ve lost out on jobs because I wanted to read it and they didn’t want me to. Or they wanted m to resign and I said no to to the things they added that I pointed out were unfair and borderline illegal. 

Read shit. Tell everyone else to read shit. BE INFORMED. 

Absolutely 100% good advice ☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼

Never ever ever sign shit without reading and re-reading it! Take it home, show it to someone more experienced, if you can, show it to a lawyer. A contract is supposed to work for both sides. A company in Toronto tried to make me sign a contract with clause that in event of me leaving the job I will not work in a similar position anywhere in Ontario. Yeah, right, not enforceable in court, dudes, you can’t prevent me from making a living. Read the shit and don’t let them intimidate you. 

Hi. I‘m a lawyer. Ask for at least 24 hours before you sign a work contract. You do not have to sign within 30 seconds of the contract hitting the desk. It is absolutely standard procedure. It gives you time to show it to a lawyer or go to a public counselor and have them look it over. In-room signing is another way companies blindside and intimidate you. Don’t be rushed. This is an absolutely normal thing to do. People who try to harangue you or hurry you along are sketchy.

“reblogs aren’t important you’re just whiny”

yeah because when you see this

tell me you don’t get annoyed.

tumblr’s algorithm only cares about posts that are reblogged, it doesn’t count likes. posts don’t get promoted or circulated when they only have likes (the way instagram functions), only reblogs matter for increasing reach on tumblr as a platform.

support content creators.

like y'all are fuckin killing tumblr (& content creation) but okay

you think that’s not a lot of notes? that’s cute.

but yeah, tumblr’s system definitely doesn’t advantage non-popular artists, but there’s a big problem from within the community too. i have over 400 followers and i consider myself lucky when more than 2 people reblog my art, so imagine how much worse it is for people with even less followers.

reblog content creators, guys. liking posts doesn’t do anything.

THIS!

Reblog art and writing.

Seriously if you like something, SPREAD IT!

Sorry to break it to you but they’re all right. Tumblr isn’t Instagram. Likes don’t get us anywhere. Everybody’s “drop a heart and keep scrolling” mentality has murdered all of my original content sideblogs. Each and every one of them.

don’t like this post. spread it

All six reblogs are me.

JUST LET ME BE.

Reblog if you are an asexual positive blog, believe asexuals exist, and are willing and able to create a safe space for your asexual friends

As an Asexual myself, YES

As someone who is now 99% sure they might be ace…

YES. THIS. BOTH SIDES NEED TO SEE THIS.

As an asexual, I deal with this a lot, and it’s not okay :/

As an asexual, REBLOG YOU COWARDS

ASEXUALS ARE REAL AND 1000% VALID AND FUCK EVERYBODY ELSE WHO THINKS THEY AREN’T

MY BEST FRIEND IS ACE, SHE DEALS WITH THIS SHIT A LOT AND IT’S NOT OK!

Be happy!! There are people who support you too!!!!

!!!!

As someone on the ace/aro spectrum aces are 100% valid. Anyone who thinks otherwise can fuck off.

Another one is doctors and therapists telling you you need psychosexual therapy to “cure” your lack of sexual attraction.

If you have ever experienced this, no, you dont need curing.

Yyyyyyyeeeeeesssss

Should go without saying.

i am definitely everyone in that second comic

aces are valid, aces are real, aces are NOT broken, aces are amazing and always welcome and safe on my blog

Ace people are valid, and while I may not be asexual I love and support everyone who is!

As an occasional ace, I say VALID

op and every aro/ace who sees this, i love you 🖤🤍💜

As a arospec and ace person we are valid! our feelings matter, we are so fucking amazing.

people saying aro/ace people don’t deal with discrimination can come back once they look at the corrective rape, the “fixing”, and lack of understanding towards this community. they deal with discrimination as much as any other identity.

support those aro/ace people who may be sure of their identity, questioning, or even closeted. support ace/aro people like you would anyone else.

Hello fellow Aces! Whether you’re aro, gray, Demi or still figuring yourself out, you’re always welcome on my blog!!!

executive dysfunction be like *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels bad* *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels bad* *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels ba

I recently learnt that executive dysfunction can be broken down into two main categories: anxiety that your attempt won’t be satisfactory, or confusion about where to start or how to break it down into steps. As much as we feel bad about it, it’s extremely important to remember that it is NOT laziness and we in fact shouldn’t feel bad.

hey reblog this instead

My mom (the only family I had) died, my cat died, and then my mom’s house got burglarized and vandalized

Hi, I’m Yas, I’m a biracial disabled lesbian and my girlfriend got outted, I had to put my cat to sleep, and then my mom died all in the same week. If that wasn’t enough, my birth father tried to hide my moms death from me because I live out of state. I got physically and verbally assaulted at the funeral home by my uncle and my dad refused to help pay for anything because I got my mom cremated like she wanted. When my father and my brother and everyone else realized I was the sole next of kin that was of age and in full control of everything, they started harassing me and sending me death threats, along with my godmother and a bunch of other people. They think there’s some kind of money to be inherited by my mother’s passing, but the sad truth is that we were extremely poor and my moms disability check wasn’t even enough to cover rent, and I had to pay for everything else like groceries and medical bills with my credit card and my only savings.

If that STILL wasn’t enough, as soon as a family friend I had stupidly trusted ratted to my father and brother that I was on my way back to california and was almost there, they broke in and stole anything of value (furniture and TVs I had worked really hard to buy for my mom) and destroyed the place causing upwards of $5,000 in damages, my landlord estimates. I’m going to be held financially responsible for it since my name was still on the lease. The police would not let me make a police report in my home state, so I had to drive 8 hours and make a police report, I had witnesses, my brother even called the landlady (who is willing to testify) and ask her if she could “open the window so he could get in and get the wires to the tv and couch he was trying to sell” which was a full confession. The police really aren’t taking it seriously considering when I called to correct some information they told me the detective that’s been assigned to my case was “on vacation”. I had to change my number due to the death threats (police won’t do anything about them, I’m in the process of at least getting a restraining order), and within hours my father sent a “well check” to my door as a subtle way to let me know he still knew where I live.

I already had 5k in credit card debt from taking care of my mom because I couldn’t work anymore, I kept having breakdowns and my body was deteriorating and it seems like I have Crohn’s but I have no insurance to get it treated or checked out. I haven’t even had a second to grieve my mother, who was the most important person in my life and I worked an extremely physically demanding job 50 to 60 hours a week (usually more) for years just to make sure all the bills were paid since I was 15 to make sure she was ok and I was trying to even go back to work and damage my body even further just to save money to move her out here with me when she died. I’m really broken. I’m angry. I’m only 24 and I feel completely alone and any “family” I had left is threatening to kill me over money that doesn’t exist. My girlfriend had to put the $2200 of cremation expenses on her credit card. I’ve had to make 3 separate 8 hour trips so far to my homestate to get this all situated. I lost everything when my mom died and somehow I owe even more after her death. Right now I’m looking at owing a minimum of $12,200 and that’s not counting the gas and expenses of consistently driving and getting everything filed and such. I have severe anxiety, depression, PTSD from the abuse my father put me and my mother through, my body feels like it’s dying every morning I wake up and I just want to give up. I keep having panic attacks and manic episodes. It’s been really hard to hold it together to get all this done. I’m just really struggling, I miss my mom, and everything is adding up and I’m scared that my father and/or brother will try to break into my apartment here.

My mom was a really sweet and open minded person and deserved better than being harassed to death by my dad and brother over a child support case she didn’t even have control over. There’s even more shit to this but I’m not gonna make this post even longer. I’m not even asking for money for a memorial because I just don’t have the money. I have negative money at this point.

If you can spare anything, I would really appreciate it. My PayPal is @jessaminewaters. I have a Venmo too or zelle if that’s easier, you can message me if you have any questions. Signal boosts are appreciated ❤️

Honestly, I think the whole “don’t pay the writers” thing boils down to the notion that everybody thinks they can write. It’s the old saw about the novelist at a cocktail party having to hear someone say, for the millionth time, “I’d love to write a book someday.”

Someone–Stephen King? Pretty sure I saw this in a Stephen King foreword–once said they’d like to say to a brain surgeon, “Boy, I’d love to do brain surgery someday.”

We treat “the ability to put words into a sentence” like it’s just the same as “the ability to form a coherent narrative that engenders a variety of emotions within the reader and puts them in a scene and shows them what they didn’t see before”.

And that’s like me drawing a stick figure and saying I’m an artist.

Writers are constantly devalued because everyone thinks they have a book in them and don’t realize the level of skill and commitment it takes to finish even a short story, much less a whole book. 

This goes well beyond fandom, but man, I would’ve hoped fandom would know better.

***REBLOGS AGGRESSIVELY***

FUCKING THIS. 

THANK YOU. 

Thank you for writing this.

I feel like other creatives become collateral in this attitude too. I would have many dollars if I had a dollar for every time someone came up to me with a “great idea” they want me to illustrate for free. (I can assure you the kind of people who do that have really terrible ideas)

@ any of my British moots, please suffer with me at the knowledge that not only do most Americans not have kettles, they apparently make toast in the oven 🥲

@jbunnys-world ur literally hurting my brain

I- 👁👄👁 @starlightauroras-main we are about to throw hands istg..why have a kettle if we can just use the microwave and the stove top?????

PLS ?? You just flip a switch and it boils the water in a safe, contained environment for you?? How to you get the water out the microwave ?? Don’t you burn ur hands?? 😭😭

WHAT??? We use a bowl thats appropriately sized and use a towel to get it out??? Have younever made ramen via microwave before???

Obviously not coz I have a KETTLE that has a HANDLE so that I can safely pour the water wherever it needs to go 😭😭😭

AYO AMERICANS DONT HAVE KETTLES?? you’re telling me you have to pull out a pot, wait for your stove to heat up and THEN you wait for the water? my kettles done in under a minute- I could never have the patience for a stove 😭 aND RAMEN MICORWAVED- I’m losing it. My lovely American moots pls buy a kettle...and a toaster...pls...?

PLEASE DON’T SCROLL

even if you only reblog, that’s enough

1st of February, 2021

i was debating on whether or not i should post this on tumblr but seeing as there haven’t been posts about this yet, here it is. i’m exposing my real location and nationality but it doesn’t matter.

if you have been active on twitter, you may already know #savemyanmar is trending. long story short, there has been a military coup. several nations have released statements but i want to share insight on what’s happening in the country.

memes about a coup have been circulating around for a couple days and when i slept at 2 am last night, we were still under the rule of the National League for Democracy (NLD). while they are not technically democratic, they are the closest we’ve got. when my mother woke up at 6 this morning, she was notified that the country was now under the rule of the military.

banks services are no longer available. wifi was cut at around 7-8. some people got wifi again earlier but many got it barely thirty minutes ago. this is bad for businesses especially ones that require international communications. additionally, international students like myself are experiencing anxiety; how do we pay for and attend classes if we’re not sure wifi is a given?

myanmar has a long, complicated history with military governments. the last time the military went into rule was in 1962 and only stopped in 2011, following the 2010 elections. there was a huge protest in 1988 lead by students that resulted in lots of death. during the military junta, resources like rice, water, oil, were scarce. the gist is military rule is bad for us.

all of my followers are not myanmar citizens, i’m sure but as part of the international community, please help us. here is a petition that you can sign (although i’m not sure if that can do much). there may be protests in front of myanmar embassies so look out for those. most of all, please help spread awareness. 

the people here are coping with dark humor, primarily in the form of memes but we don’t know how long this rule will last, even though the official statement said only a year. here’s something that pretty much sums up our coping mechanism:

again, even a reblog helps

update :: all telecommunication means will be cut off at 12 am MMT

why would i fuck a demon? simple, the status. imagine rolling up into hell already havin had ur back blown out by one of their own. imagine you and a gang of other losers standin at the gates of hell, they’re all crying, scared to death about having a pitchfork up their ass for eternity and you just walk into the arms of your sugar demon? legendary.

I’ve only ever seen this in screenshots.

I’m blessed.

pretty shitty how baseline human activities like singing, dancing and making art got turned into skills  instead of being seen as behaviors

so now it’s like ‘the point of doing them is to get good at them’ and not ‘this is a thing humans do, the way birds sing and bees make hives’.

I know I’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating.

This is a thing humans do; you don’t have to be good at it to enjoy it.

☆ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TXT’S RELIABLE LEADER, CHOI SOOBIN! ☆