if your character doesn’t look like a magical girl what’s the point of even playing dnd

@evion

Y’all I finally got my Meds refilled (fucking Walgreens) and I’m feeling super inspired. I’m gonna bedazzle a machete stay tuned

SIDE ONE DONE. I use E6000 glue so I’m gonna let it cure for a few hours, maybe overnight before I do the other side.

I THOUGHT IT WAS A HYPERBOLE

As a woman, I should be allowed to be as unreasonable, unaccountable, overemotional, as any man.

Goddamn right.

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!

Across the United States, there are 556 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native nations. Each one has it’s own unique history and culture. American education has not bothered to tell us that Native people lived in peace and effectively governed themselves before the Europeans came along. American education has not informed us that Native Americans have been slighted ever since, not even being recognized as citizens (despite the fact that they were here first) until the 20th century. 

But we don’t have to push these facts aside. We can stop celebrating a man that began a genocide and a terrible theft of land and culture, and start celebrating Indigenous Peoples for their rich history and their equal contributions to society.

To all Indigenous Peoples out there: we’re glad you’re here!

We will stand with you in your continued battle to be recognized as legitimate human beings instead of the stereotypes perpetuated by Columbus and those that came after him.

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day! Especially to all of my Indigenous followers! I hope that you have a great day! And please know that I stand with you today and always! 

Commissions

  So “Mass Panic” aside, I need money until I can find a new job, as I am essentially starting my life over. Thus I once again open the doors to commissions. I will do character/monster illustrations, sfw and nsfw. If you want background imagery it will cost a bit more, because those take time and I’m not well practiced with it. You can message me directly through Tumblr, my twitter, or at dmelin89@gmail.com.  Examples & prices below:

Keep reading

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlK8gN_hWx5/

@biomechanicaltomato

Continue Reading.

THIS IS UNUSUAL CONTENT FOR MY BLOG BUT

Y'ALL THIS IS HUGE

!!!!!

Just going to point out that as much as this excerpt here describes it as affecting “fertility” and oh woe, they can’t get pregnant as easy…uh, it’s also something that can make them fucking miserable and POTENTIALLY KILL THEM Here’s the thing: ovaries normally do produce cysts. They’re supposed to! To an extent. They produce like, a tiny number, maybe one, each menstrual cycle, because the egg that is ready to be hypothetically fertilized, is PUSHED OUT to the fallopian tube, by an actual cyst. This is the normal process, in the “4 out of 5″ women who don’t have PCOS. In PCOS, though, my understanding is that the cyst production does not happen in this nice, orderly fashion, only happening approximately every few weeks; instead, it goes haywire and happens all over the place and WAY too much (hence “polycystic”).  Left unchecked, this can cause the organ to become damaged, it can cause it to swell and even press on other things in the abdomen and put OTHER parts of the body at risk, can cause all sorts of awful things. IIRC ( @tekka-wekka I think you know more about this than I do, by all means please correct me if I’m wrong about any of it?) it tends to cause a lot of pain or heavy bleeding during many people’s menstrual cycles and, as noted, causes them to be more irregular - so it’s basically a disability, one that can be LIFE-THREATENING. And guess what the main treatment for PCOS is, to keep the cysts in line and regulate the menstrual cycle properly? Hormone-regulating pills. You know, the ones normally labeled “birth control”.  This was what Sandra Fluke was testifying about a few years back, during health care debates, by the way. She had a friend who had EXACTLY this condition, and the fact that Georgetown’s student health coverage would NOT cover her “birth control” medication meant that she went without it for three months…and her ovaries, filled with cysts, enlarged so much that she required EMERGENCY SURGERY (to remove them entirely, IIRC).  Which is why Sandra Fluke was FIRMLY arguing for increased access to “birth control” medications; because leaving aside questions of autonomy, it’s an actual literal life-or-death health necessity for many people! Such as those with PCOS in specific! But I digress. My point is: this is a condition that goes beyond “fertility” issues; it requires a LOT of people to go on pretty much (IIRC) permanent hormonal regulation to carefully regulate their menstrual cycles in order to NOT DIE. Because, left untreated, it can, in fact, literally pose that risk. (And depending on the specific hormonal birth control in question - this may have the trade off of things like a higher stroke risk, so that’s…that’s a thing, too, oops) So uh. This? This is REALLY good news. But not JUST for folks with PCOS who want to have biological children; it’s literally just good news in general, because this could be LIFE-SAVING research?? I just wanted to point that out because, like, I don’t think a lot of people are aware of PCOS and how it can potentially KILL YOU,  and there’s a lot of misconceptions about ovarian/uterine health in general, and like… and I think some folks might scroll past this thinking it’s mostly about “fertility”? When it’s actually a condition that impacts WAY more than that, and chances are very very good you actually know someone with this condition, whether you realize it or not.

Reblogging for the additional info. Most of the folks I know with this don’t give a shit about fertility. They just want to stop needing S5+ painkillers to function at least 25% of the time.

The thing about this is, if IVF drugs were an effective treatment for PCOS, there wouldn’t be so many women with PCOS who go through multiple rounds of IVF. 

IT’S NOT CAUSED BY BEING FAT.

If there’s one thing I want people to take away from this article, it’s that PCOS IS NOT CAUSED BY BEING FAT.

(Or at the very least, not caused by the person who has it being fat. DFK how maternal weight is involved, but since PCOS is hereditary, more likely PCOS also isn’t caused by your mom being fat.)

The connection between weight and PCOS is that because fat tissue has a role in hormone production, being fat can exacerbate symptoms somewhat. However, PCOS also causes weight gain, so telling people with PCOS to lose weight is useless advice. It just so happens that people with less fatty tissue who have PCOS, have slightly more manageable symptoms.

And peopel took this to mean that fat causes PCOS, because people hate anyone who weighs more than like 90lbs.

There’s a lot to unpack here. +the flexibility to get in that pose +the balance to stay on the skateboard +the strength to pull back a bowstring with your toes +the dexterity to hit a target while moving +the coordination… not hand-eye, but foot-eye …I don’t know what to do with these things now that I’ve unpacked them…

A lovely pattern welded Tulwar with a silver koftgari grip, India, ca. mid 19th century, from Oriental Arms.

Kaskara with Snake Fuller, 19th Century

The double-headed snake fuller is incredible. According to the Instagram account of Sean Belair, the pommel is also a rattle!

HAMAA: Historical African Martial Arts Association is the place you wanna go if you’re interested in learning how to use a kaskara.

Do you want to hear more about him as I create him? I’ve got a sketch of a backstory (pending details on worldbuilding from my DM), some fun quirks and flaws, and a general idea of appearance (and more in-depth thoughts on gender identity and presentation).

His name is Gwillem, and I’m very, very much looking forward to playing him. I’ve never played 5e (outside of AL at Free RPG Day) and I’ve never done rogue properly either.

That was YOU? That’s amazing! Welcome to Rogues, and to 5e! You’ll do GREAT. :D

Okay, with 5e Rogues you got your wits and that’s it, so if you’re used to handling combat like a powerful caster or a tough tank, it might be a bit of a shock, lol. Here are some tips, possibly useful for others too.

New to 5e? And new to Rogues? Have no fear!

1. Learn how sneak attack works.

This diagram is very nice. Remember you can do it once per turn (not round!):

2. Learn how action economy works.

1. Your MOVE will get you where you need to be (before, after, or in between the rest of your actions).

2. Your ACTION will typically be for attack.

3. Your BONUS ACTION can be used defencively or offencively.

4. Your REACTION can also be used defencively or offencively.

3. Learn how to get advantage.

The standard proactive method is to attack while hidden, but there’s more. There’s a list here, and another one here, including useful Rogue tips. But, even one source of disadvantage cancels advantage, and 5e is a bit… loose. Your DM may be more or less liberal with applying ad hoc disadvantage on rolls. So if that happens a lot in your game, the only reliable way to get sneak attack is to coordinate with your allies, and attack foes who are already engaged in melee combat with one of your buddies. (It’s a still a lot better than the 3.5/Pathfinder flanking requirement.)

4. Lean how to skill.

Skills are awesome, embrace them. :p

…Okay, that came out a lot more complicated that I intended. :p I swear it’s easier than it looks, and definitely easier than learning to play a caster. Feel free to send stories (or Gwillem’s backstory and quirks, anything you fancy), hit me with questions, and if you need more specific tips, tell me what level you are and what other classes you got in the party.

Good luck and WELCOME! :D

Akali The Queen Of Rap

The point of voting blue in 2018 isn’t to make the US perfect. We cannot accomplish that in one fell swoop. There’s gerrymandering, voter apathy, voter suppression, and generations of older party-line fucks we have to deal with.

Voting blue in 2018 is to make it less immediately threatening for PoC, LGBT+ people, the disabled, and any other marginalized demographic. It’s a stopgap against Republicans who are aligned with Nazis, white supremacists, and sexual abusers.

Correcting politics in the United States is going to take decades of new voters staying on top of politics and not falling prey to apathy, like our predecessors. 

People telling you not to waste a vote on 3rd Party this midterm aren’t saying “never vote 3rd party.” Republicans have united behind one utterly heinous front. We need to unite behind Democrats, for the time being.

Strive to be more like Mr. Torgue for 2018.

@grimreapersprint

T.T ♡♡♡

Chickasaw Nation: The Fight to Save a Dying Native American Language

A 50,000 year-old indigenous Native American tribe that has weathered the conquistadors, numerous wars with the Europeans, the American Revolution and the Civil War is now fighting to preserve its language and culture by embracing modern technology.

There are 6,000 languages spoken in the world but linguists fear that 50% of them will become extinct within the next century. In the US, 175 Native American languages are spoken, but fewer than 20 are expected to survive the next 100 years.

The language of the Chickasaws, known as “Chikashshanompa”, is a 3,000-year-old living language that is categorised by Unesco as being “severely endangered”.

The last remaining monolingual speaker of this language, Emily Johnson Dickerson, 93, died in December. Now the tribe is scrambling to make sure that its language does not become lost.

Dwindling native speakers

The Chickasaw Nation consists of 57,000 people, including 38,000 who live in 13 counties in Oklahoma, a state designated as the Indian Territory which boasts rich oil and natural gas preserves.

“There were over 3,000 speakers of Chickasaw in the 1960s,” Joshua Hinson, director of the Chickasaw Nation Language Department tells IBTimes UK.

“The last native speakers who learnt the language at home were born in the late 1940s. From that point on, with people leaving Oklahoma for other parts of the US, mandatory schooling and political pressures to be bilingual in English, the number of people dropped, and now, our youngest native speakers are in their 60s.”

There are now only 65 native speakers of the Chickasaw language who are also fully bilingual in English, and only four to five confident conversational speakers who are under the age of 35.

Modern Chickasaw people in Oklahoma live in houses on land held in trust for the Chickasaw Nation by the Federal government.

They have been Christian since the Civil War, although religion co-exists with traditional native Chickasaw customs.

Some customs have died out, such as the native doctors and practice of native medicine, but others, like the role of the woman as a matriarch in the family and in government, have continued, and 60% of the community’s leaders are women. Read more at: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/chickasaw-nation-fight-save-dying-native-american-language-1447670

the only post of mine to go viral lmfao but for a good cause <3 

fuck it until you make it

gather round, folks, that i may pass down the tale of Fuck-It Jonn, because that dude is just the GREATEST FUCKING CONMAN in the WORLD, and he WASN’T EVEN TRYING. he absolutely fucking STUMBLED ON ACCIDENT into THE SCAM THAT WOULD DEFINE HIS ENTIRE LIFE. the lie that transformed his ENTIRE EXISTENCE out of SHEER RANDOM BULLSHIT.

and his sole motivation was to EAT FINGER FOOD.

consider:

in the Wayback Days™ before i was born, the people who would later become my parents had this friend named… yeah, let’s say jonn. i’d rather not say his real name. bitches not snitches, and all that.

so. france in the late 80s. jonn and my parents had just finished school and all found jobs in computer engineering. (not that they STUDIED computer engineering, mind you. no, they were all studying how to become fish farmers or some shit. but those were simpler times, when knowing how to turn the fucking screen on got you a comfortable salary at the ripe old age of 24 years old.)

except that jonn, who was a chill hippie kind of dude, was bored to death by his desk job. so bored that he decided to just up and quit. “fuck it”, was basically jonn’s motto. fuck it, he’d find something better! fuck it, and things would work out! EXCEPT (as you may have guessed) THEY DIDN’T. for months and months he didn’t find another job. and so he ended up depressed, struggling, and eating dinner at my future-parents’ tiny apartment, three times a week, so he wouldn’t literally starve.

time went by. jonn was still unemployed. so before his resources hit rock bottom, jonn did the only logical, reasonable thing. what’s that, you ask? begged for his old job back? went back to school? crawled home to his parents? ha ha! obviously you do not share jonn’s ADVENTUROUS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT. and also you lack his BIZARRE LOGIC AND PLAIN WEIRD APPROACH TO LIFE.

what jonn did was: say “fuck it” (again) and leave for thailand.

because you see, thailand was cheap by french standards. so cheap that even a penniless dude on unemployment could live there for weeks on end, spending much less than he would have in france, as long as he didn’t mind roughing it. and jonn didn’t mind! “fuck it”, he’d said. and by god, he would stand by his words!

so jonn gamely scrounged up the money for the plane ticket and then… yeah. basically bummed it out in thailand. for two months. seeing the sights. sleeping on the street. making new friends.

and one of these news friends turned out to be very adept at FORGING PAPERS.

huh, jonn said to himself (probably high at the time) this sounds not at all shifty and more like a ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY; what could POSSIBLY GO WRONG. my new thai best friend is even offering me a FAMILY DISCOUNT. for fake papers. fuck it! let’s have some!

as far as i can tell, jonn… didn’t even need fake papers?? like, he was literally just trying not to pass up on an opportunity here. so he smoked some more weed (i can only assume) and got A BRILLIANT IDEA. fake ID card? LAME. fake driver’s licence? HACKNEYED. fake medical degree? PEDESTRIAN. no! jonn got himself a fake press card.

but why??

well, OBVIOUSLY, just so he could get into cultural events for free - conferences, art premieres, etc - and eat all the finger food. that was his grand plan. stroll into press-only events, wave his poorly-made card around, and gorge himself on canapés. no more going hungry! ever! jonn would live off tiny slices of toasted foie gras and flutes of cheap champagne for the rest of his life!

so now jonn, Very Obviously Fake Journalist™, is back in france and he’s DOING THE THING. and guess what? this was before google. before facebook. before linkedin. impersonating a journalist was very easy. if people asked where you worked you just said you were freelance, then steered the conversation to current politics and stealthily devoured the entire buffet while everybody was busy debating.

and so. this is what jonn is doing. his monumentally stupid plan is actually working. this is how he eats. with thai-made fake papers and sheer fucking confidence. and of course people start noticing him eventually! jonn is always fucking there! at all and any events in paris! because, again, THIS IS HOW HE EATS! but it’s always the same people running around in these circles, anyway. so nobody’s surprised to see the same dudes popping up over and over again. jonn blends in! and jonn is very good at making friends. and changing the subject. and eating canapés.

and then ONE DAY

one of jonn’s newfangled journalist friends (a REAL journalist, mind you, who has NO IDEA that jonn isn’t What He Seems) basically goes: “dude i’m so swamped rn. everyone wants everything all at once. fuck. shit. are you swamped too?”

“oh, for sure,” jonn says through a mouthful of his twenty-ninth serving of canapés that night. “not a second to myself”

“god. fuck. tell me about it. shit. i’m just so damn swamped.” Real Journalist shakes his head. “if i could only find someone to cover for me on this one article.”

now, i know i said before that jonn was smoking weed. but i must confess now i said it for humorous effect. i have no idea if jonn’s ever been within five hundred yards of a blunt his whole life. but what you must understand is that jonn is Chill™ on like. a soul-deep level. his whole mind is one long exhale of smoke followed by the words “fuck it”. this is a man who left his job for no reason, lived in thailand on a tourist’s visa for two months, got fake papers there for the lol of it all, and is now living off press-only events in paris. jonn was BORN HIGH.

SO. when RJ asks him: “dude. jonn. you said you were working freelance. i know you’re busy but don’t you think you could maybe cover for me? just this once?”

jonn NATURALLY answers: “fuck it. sure”

then goes to an unemployment center and applies for one of their free one-week classes. on journalism. jonn spends ALL OF ONE WEEK learning How To Write An Article Like A Real Journalist With A Real Press Card. then writes the article. basically bullshitting his way through that thing. half-assing the life out of it. faking his heart out. because why not? FUCK IT.

i have NO IDEA if he actually did a good job or not. but it was in fact good enough for RJ who really must have been truly swamped, and was so truly grateful that he told all of their mutual journalists friends. who were ALL SWAMPED. i’m given to understand it’s the natural state of the journalist in the wild.

and so jonn is now REGULARLY COVERING FOR ALL SORTS OF JOURNALISTS.

not making much money i assume. but still, not bad for a dude who studied journalism for five whole days.

and well, it’s kinda fun! better than moping around at home waiting for the next free canapé press-only premiere. so jonn keeps at it. and eventually it occurs to him that hey! he spent two months in thailand. why not make an article out of that? so he writes himself a lil paper, retelling his Bumtastic Adventures in the Land of Thai People, Cheap Living and Forged Papers (That Last One Having Nothing to Do With Him Personally of Course). and he’s kinda proud of it. so much that he gives it to his journalist friends. can they maybe pass it around? see if anybody would be interested in publishing it? for a modest fee and some more canapés?

and yeah. someone was in fact interested in publishing it. and that someone was:

THE

NATIONAL

GEOGRAPHIC

(french edition.)

so jonn got a REAL press card. got a FULL-TIME JOB at the national geographic. and spent the REST OF HIS WORK LIFE traveling abroad for six months, then going back to paris the rest of the year to write about his wacky journeys. he’s retired now, having published several books full of his articles and photographs. he’s bought a b&b in the french countryside with all his money. and continues to say “fuck it” to any problem that comes his way like the absolute fucking legend he is.

as far as i know, none of his journalist buddies nor his boss ever found out about any of this.

@ral-across-the-universe this is one of your relatives