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Elspethdixon

@elspethdixon / elspethdixon.tumblr.com

Nepotism hire at the war crimes factory.
Name: Elspethdixon (she/her) Age: old enough to remember the break up of the Soviet Union, but not old enough to remember the Vietnam war Likes: Juggernaut slash pairings, hurt/comfort, woobie villains, old 616 canon, and the het ships only bad fangirls like. Dislikes: MCU characterization in 616 comics. Mindwipes. Sauron/Galadriel. My fic: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Elspethdixon/
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Reblogged solsticelosthermind
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"Why can't the freaks on AO3 just go and make a site for all the gross stuff and leave AO3 alone."

Because AO3 is that site. Because AO3 was that site long before you decided AO3 was better than the sites you bullied us off of before, and I can promise you if someone somehow comes up with a fanfic site you like better specifically for the 'gross stuff' you'll try to bully us off that too so you can benefit from it.

AO3's specific core purpose is to preserve fanfiction, yes, but it was also instigated as a host site for the fanfiction that kept getting yeeted off other platforms like Wattpad. Its designed to preserve all fanfiction, not just the fanfiction you, personally, think is 'allowed' to be written.

AO3 is the site for all the gross stuff the freaks make. We've been there just as long as you. We've been funding it just as long as you have. AO3 has specifically said you have a place here. The timeline was literally:

Wattpad/FF.net/LiveJournal purge fanfics > AO3 is born > The people who's fics got purged moved over to AO3 > AO3 gains popularity as the best functioning site > The people who pushed for the fics to be purged off Wattpad move to AO3 > The same people try to push for AO3 to purge fics.

AO3's source coding is open-access. You go make a polished, strict, rigid site where nothing 'icky' is allowed. You go make a site where you can control what is hosted. We already have our space.

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AO3 was specifically made for the stuff likely to be purged from other sites.

It was built around "we need to own the servers" so we wouldn't have to deal with anyone else's judgment calls about what was acceptable in fanfic: Not corporate sponsors, not evangelical religious groups, not "save the children" activists... and not other fans who think that The Gross Stuff should be banned from public view, only shared via private email after you've sent in a request heavily laden with special keywords.

Some of the founders remembered when slash fanfic was kept under the table at the dealer's room, distributed with brown paper wrappers only to people who knew to ask for it specifically.

And they said: Fuck that. Our art is not a crime and we're not going to be ashamed of it. If you are ashamed to have your art next to it - there's a whole wide internet that's ready to host your G-rated genfic.

AO3 was built for the stuff that was unwelcome elsewhere.

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Don't make me tap the sign but this is the sign:

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Reblogged mikkeneko
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You know what day it is! April 10th is Gopher tortoise appreciation day- everyone’s favorite holiday!

These stalwart reptiles are crucially important to their habitat in the southeastern United States, and are in fact considered a keystone species due the fact that their burrows provide homes for hundreds of other animal species.

Every year on April 10th we shine a light on these threatened turtles and celebrate their contributions to our planet. I’ll be sharing lots of gopher tortoise content today as my way of celebrating how lucky we are to have this species!

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Reblogged fierceawakening
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“8 in 10 married women have changed their surname which means they don’t have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name. 69 million women would have to get new IDs to vote under the Save Act. The GOP is trying to silence women across the country.”

-Tiffany Muller, President of End of Citizens United.

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Reblogged
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i was going to do a rant about this before seeing this tweet but imma just leave this here

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This goes hand in hand with pushing for only queer people to play queer roles. Which in theory sounds like a good thing to push for authentic representation when so much of the past stuff was bad.

Except the actual real world outcome has become queer leftists abusively dog piling any actor they deem "inauthentic" leading to actors being forcefully outed against their will before they were ready in an attempt to make the abuse stop. Including children. People have been justifying psychologically tormenting literal children for not publicly disclosing (and being firm and set in) their gender and sexuality in order to work.

In many wants it's set back queer media and made people just as afraid of queer roles ruining their careers and their lives as they were when bigots were doing it. Which is not an improvement to the situation! It's really only giving cover to people who want none of this to exist.

We could have just praised the process we wanted to see. Personally I love seeing Jim Parsons take that big normative sitcom money and fucking off to make emotionally powerful queer films with it casting queer actors whenever he can. But praising that will always be more constructive than bullying Kit Connor. If Daniel Craig wants to spend the rest of his career making charming gay detective movies about helping marginalized woman get revenge on abusive rich assholes, then I don't care what his sexuality is because it's still pushing queer media far forward.

We could have positively addressed rainbow capitalism by supporting queer-owed business. We could have accepted that mainstreaming queer iconography at Target (much of it designed by queer people who got to pay their bills making it) would make space for people buying that small batch t-shirt at Pride. It's not like people only ever buy one t-shirt in their life.

A closeted-for-safety trans boy buying his first binder at Target could have created an opening for the next one to be from Shapeshifters. Instead he may never get the chance to know what it would feel feel like to take the first step because the wrong packaging could endanger him and the (fair) price mightbe unaffordable.

We can't built perils into doing better. We can't keep calling nigh-impossible next steps"the bare minimum" and tearing into them for every imperfection if we want people to do them at all. At minimum that's a burnout machine. At worst it gives bigots leverage to maker sure we have nothing. Kindness and enthuses support of what we want to see happen makes way more progress.

Unfortunately many leftists are still so stuck in the purity-sin-redemption mentality, even when they surface-level reject Christianity, that instead of growth and change everything keeps getting treated as blasphemy unless it's perfect. Even though perfection is impossible. So the whole well is primed to be poisoned by the people who genuinely hate us.

#reblogged for truth#puritanism in a gay hat
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Reblogged
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Jewish cultural institutions reeling as Trump defunds arts and humanities - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The shuttering of federal agencies that support museums and arts organizations could cause a ripple effect in lost funding, Jewish arts admi
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A museum holding one of the most important photography collections of pre-Holocaust Jewish life wanted to scan thousands of images and make them accessible to the public online. 
As part of the fundraising to digitize the archive of the renowned Russian Jewish photographer Roman Vishniac, the museum, known as the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, applied in November for a $250,000 grant from a federal agency called the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
But last week the agency was effectively shuttered by the Trump administration, which called it “unnecessary” in an executive order signed by the president in March. The agency’s staff are on leave and its $290 million budget, most of which goes out as grants to museums and libraries throughout the country, is frozen.
The most significant consequence of the cuts is not the loss of any single grant opportunity: The Magnes, which is part of the University of California, Berkeley, is expecting to make up the difference through additional fundraising from private donors, according to executive director Hannah Weisman. 
“The real concern is the ripple effect,” Weisman said. “If I don’t get a grant here from a federal agency, I’m going to go talk to a different donor who may already be talking to a peer of mine. It puts a strain on funding sources across the sector.”
The cuts go beyond museums. Virtually all federal grant-making for arts and culture is in jeopardy following recent and expected cuts across government agencies. The Trump administration on Thursday gutted the National Endowment for the Humanities. The National Endowment for the Arts is likely next, according to the American Alliance of Museums.
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Reblogged
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Utah becomes first state to ban LGBTQ+ pride flags in government buildings and schools
Utah has become the first state to prohibit flying LGBTQ+ pride flags at schools and all government buildings. Republican Gov.
AP News
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah became the first state to prohibit flying LGBTQ+ pride flags at schools and all government buildings after the Republican governor announced he was allowing a ban on unsanctioned flag displays to become law without his signature.
Gov. Spencer Cox, who made the announcement late Thursday night, said he continues to have serious concerns with the policy but chose not to reject it because his veto would likely be overridden by the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Starting May 7, state or local government buildings will be fined $500 a day for flying any flag other than the United States flag, the Utah state flag, military flags or a short list of others approved by lawmakers. Political flags supporting a certain candidate or party, such as President Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” flags, are not allowed.
The new law could stoke conflict between the state and its largest city. City buildings in liberal Salt Lake City typically honor Pride Month each June by displaying flags that celebrate its large LGBTQ+ population. Local leaders have illuminated the Salt Lake City and County Building in rainbow lights to protest the flag ban each night since the Legislature sent it to Cox’s desk.
Andrew Wittenberg, a spokesperson for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s office, said their attorneys are evaluating the law and the capital city does not yet have information on what it will do once the law takes effect.
The bill’s Republican sponsors, Rep. Trevor Lee and Sen. Dan McCay, said it’s meant to encourage “political neutrality” from teachers and other government employees. Opponents argued it aims to erase LGBTQ+ expression and take authority away from cities and towns that don’t align politically with the Republican Legislature.
In a letter to legislative leaders explaining his decision, Cox said he agreed with the “underlying intent” of the bill to make classrooms politically neutral but thought it went too far in regulating local governments. He also noted that by focusing narrowly on flags, the law does not prevent other political displays such as posters or lighting.
“To our LGBTQ community, I know that recent legislation has been difficult,” Cox said. “Politics can be a bit of a blood sport at times and I know we’ve had our disagreements. I want you to know that I love and appreciate you and I am grateful that you are part of our state. I know these words may ring hollow to many of you, but please know that I mean them sincerely.”
Cox’s decision came hours after the Sundance Film Festival announced it was leaving its home of four decades in Park City, Utah, for Boulder, Colorado. The flag bill created eleventh-hour tensions as some residents worried it would push the nation’s premier independent film festival out of state. Festival leaders said state politics ultimately did not influence their move from conservative Utah to liberal Colorado. They did, however, make “ethos and equity values” one of their criteria in a nationwide search for a new home and referred to Boulder in their announcement as a “welcoming environment.”
Utah’s flag law goes further than one signed last week in Idaho that only applies to schools. But Idaho Republicans are also advancing a separate bill to ban government buildings from displaying certain flags.
Florida lawmakers have advanced a proposal to ban pride flags and others that represent political viewpoints in schools and public buildings after similar measures failed in the past two legislative sessions. Some federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, also have limited which flags can fly at their facilities.
Other flags permitted under the Utah law include Olympic and Paralympic flags, official college or university flags, tribal flags and historic versions of other approved flags that might be used for educational purposes.
#brought to you by mormonism#everybody thank the mormons who made this possible#(fuck mormons)
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Reblogged a-dinosaur-a-day
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This was the museum I went to often in my childhood. I'm no longer able to visit unless I visit family, but this place holds a special place in my heart.

As stated in the article, they hold around 7 million artifacts- many of which are orphaned fossils, with the museum taking in collections that otherwise would have been trashed.

Please consider buying a Paleozoic Pal, but I'll also leave a direct donation link as well.

Donate — Paleontological Research Institution
Paleontological Research Institution
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THE GIANT EURYPTERID BODY PILLOW IS BACK IN STOCK

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I JUST WENT INTO A FUGUE STATE AND BOUGHT ME A 16 INCH CUDDLE BUDDY WITH PLATED TEETH!! DUNKIE, MY BELOVED!!

Screeching aside, anyone who can afford to, go look through their shop! They got clothes, and cute gifts, and books and all kinds of other awesome stuff! Ye, the shipping sucks, but we need to keep our museums alive! (the good ones, not the British Museum of Thievery XP)

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HE’S HERE! MY BIG BOY IS HERE!! (And yes he is my BIG boy despite only being 16 inches, you shush!)

He took nearly a month to get here, but that’s because of ALL THE ORDERS THEY’VE BEEN GETTING! OVER 1800 ORDERS! This is why I love the online community!!

Now if you don’t mind I’m going to tuck Duncan into my sweater and go work on the piles of stuff I still have to do 😅

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For anyone curious what's happening with the PRI they're digging themselves out! An anonymous donor gave them $1 mn which they used to secure a stay on the forclosure for the rest of the year and they're approximately a third of the way to buying their way out of the mortgage.

Donation spike gives Museum of the Earth new life but future remains uncertain - The Ithaca Voice
ITHACA, N.Y. — Following a surge of donations sparked by The Ithaca Voice’s reporting, the Museum of the Earth — one of the last natural his
The Ithaca Voice|Judy Lucas
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