Condoms Are Only 98% Effective When Used Correctly.

the GM: the field is populated with ornamental flamingos.

the monk: i don’t know if my character’s ever seen a flamingo before.

the GM: roll to know what a flamingo is!

the monk: *gets a nat 1*

the monk:

[GIF ID: An extremely muscular, shirtless person does a standing windmill on a soccer field filled with several dozen plastic flamingos. Then, they kick every single flamingo out of frame in a frenetic rage, then rage-run offscreen. End ID.]

great white sharks are able to detect electromagnetic fields emitted by movement of animals, they are so sensitive that they can detect variations up to a billionth of a volt. At close range this allows them to hear heartbeats.

Medicine should never have been privatized in the first place. The concept of profiting off of human desperation and the need for life-saving medicine is, philosophically, intrinsically, and morally wrong both as a fundamental concept and in practice. The fact that Martin Shkreli was ever able to buy an AIDS drug and increase its price 5000% is indicative of a problem even bigger than a truly evil, despicable, and selfish human being; it is indicative of the problem of the current system of for-profit pharmaceuticals with obviously inadequate price regulation.

my least favorite aspect of the “slytherins are oppressed uwu” thing that keeps happening is when people try to say that J.K. Rowling has “anti-slytherin bias” because she shows the school-age slytherins as all being snobbish and 100% deserving of the reputation they have

like you guys know hogwarts is not a real place, right? there isn’t actually any such thing as slytherin. 

Jo Rowling is not a journalist who failed to report the story objectively because she has a personal vendetta against slytherin house borne of pervasive anti-slytherin prejudices in our society

She’s an author who made up slytherin and decided that the majority of them would be exactly as big of dicks as everyone thinks they are. Rowling literally can’t be anything but objective with regards to Harry Potter canon. She’s literally omniscient in the world she created, and if she wrote Slytherin house as being just full of dicks, even the 11-year-olds who are sorted into it (of their own free will, you can’t be officially sorted into a house you don’t want to be in, the first year slytherins wanted to be in slytherin and most of them, even muggleborns, know how much importance slytherin places on elitist snobbery in possible students)

If you think racist, classist, status-obsessed, snobbish slytherins are the exception rather than the rule, the problem isn’t that J.K. has an anti-slytherin bias, it’s that you have a pro-slytherin bias, and a bias in favor of the house that caters to both the privileged and supremacists by design is not a bias you should be proud of having

However, the thesis statement here is this is fake. You’re literally saying that a woman who pretended a whole planet of wizards for your entertainment is somehow wrong about how the world she made up operates. It’s like when the Supernatural writers said they spell Castiel’s nickname “Cass” and the fans said the writers were wrong. I agree that’s a dumb way to spell a shorter version of “Castiel.” Supernatural is a dumb show. However, if you find yourself saying that you, a fan, are more of an authority on canon than the literal writers who make up the canon for your consumption, you have overstepped your bounds as a member of the audience. 

Have headcanons about nice, non-racist slytherins if you insist. Say the books would have been better if Harry’s slytherin classmates had been more three-dimensional, or if the series had explored the idea of students going to slytherin because they expected it to be the “ambitious” house and being mortified to find out they’re actually stuck in the racist house. 

Please, though, put the “Rowling’s anti-slytherin bias” card back in the deck and leave it there forever, it doesn’t make sense and it shows me you think “the person who wrote the story told the series of events they made up inaccurately” makes more sense than “like the omniscient narrator and many of the characters said, there’s a problem is slytherin house.”

tl;dr: harry potter is a good book but it’s made up so why are you trying to spare the feelings of pretend racists

#PrisonStrike

I’ve seen almost nothing on my dashboard about the prison strike so far, so I thought I’d make a post about it.

On August 21st, prisoners throughout 17 states began a prison strike, after a riot in Lee Correctional Institute in South Carolina. The strike is supposed to last until September 9th. The strikers issued ten demands:

Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned men and women.

An immediate end to prison slavery. All persons imprisoned in any place of detention under United States jurisdiction must be paid the prevailing wage in their state or territory for their labor.

The Prison Litigation Reform Act must be rescinded, allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address grievances and violations of their rights.

The Truth in Sentencing Act and the Sentencing Reform Act must be rescinded so that imprisoned humans have a possibility of rehabilitation and parole. No human shall be sentenced to Death by Incarceration or serve any sentence without the possibility of parole.

An immediate end to the racial overcharging, over-sentencing, and parole denials of Black and brown humans. Black humans shall no longer be denied parole because the victim of the crime was white, which is a particular problem in southern states.

An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws targeting Black and brown humans.

No imprisoned human shall be denied access to rehabilitation programs at their place of detention because of their label as a violent offender.

State prisons must be funded specifically to offer more rehabilitation services.

Pell grants must be reinstated in all US states and territories.

The voting rights of all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees, and so-called “ex-felons” must be counted. Representation is demanded. All voices count.

Corporations like Whole Foods, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Walmart, Starbucks, and more have used prison slave labor, where prisoners are paid $1.00 a day to make millions for bosses. In a country where slavery is abolished in name only, where we imprison more people than any other country, and where the majority of inmates (despite a recent decline) remain people of color, it’s important for outsiders to assist any way we can.  

If you want information about the strike, as well as actions you can take, check out It’s Going Down. The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is also posting updates on Twitter.

Keeping our promise to be transparent about state-sponsored disinformation campaigns

Hey Tumblr,

This past March, we made you aware of steps we took to take down an Internet Research Agency (IRA) disinformation campaign operating on Tumblr in the lead up to the 2016 U.S. elections. The IRA is a Russian state-sponsored group that attempts to influence global political sentiment using Tumblr and other platforms. Our efforts helped indict 13 people who worked for the IRA.

We said at the time that we would be on the lookout for additional evidence of fake Tumblr accounts affiliated with state-sponsored disinformation campaigns.

In the days leading up to November 6, 2018, we were provided information by law enforcement authorities, including a list of Tumblr accounts allegedly tied to the IRA. We immediately initiated our own independent investigation and we have now identified a total of 112 accounts that we believe to be IRA-affiliated. These accounts appear to be relics of past IRA activity. None of the blogs contained any content related to the 2018 midterm elections, and all of the blogs were dormant since the 2016 election cycle.

Although these blogs posed no threat to the 2018 elections, consistent with our promise in March, we:

Immediately terminated these accounts and removed the original posts;

Left reblogs of posts from these accounts in place for transparency purposes;

Are notifying you if you liked, reblogged, replied to, or followed one of the accounts; and

Have added the accounts to our public record of usernames linked to state-sponsored disinformation campaigns.

U.S. intelligence officials and law enforcement continue to warn that we will see attempts at foreign influence in the future. We remain committed to closely monitoring for signs of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns and will continue to review any information made available to us.

There are also things you can do to help stop the spread of disinformation and propaganda.

Be aware that people want to manipulate the conversation. Knowing that disinformation and propaganda accounts are out there makes it harder for them to operate. The News Literacy Project has this handy checklist for spotting their tricks.

Be skeptical of things you read. Disinformation campaigns work because they know people don’t fact check. Look for reliable sources, and double-check that the source really says the same thing as the post. You can also check Snopes and Politifact. Both are award-winning resources and usually have the latest viral claim fact-checked on the front page. 

Correct the record. When you see people spreading misinformation—even unintentionally—politely say something in a reblog or reply. If it’s your friend, send them a message to let them know.

Most importantly, we’ll continue to keep our promise to be transparent with you.

OK, I am nervous--

http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/chazi-wants-to-be-in-a-body-she-understands-and-loves/345076 but I have made my campaign.  I know people are poor, and I’m afraid this will go nowhere. I can’t share this on FB yet–if ever.  Please–even if you can’t donate, PLEASE reblog.  Please.

I think in the rush of fics and headcanons to make Geralt apologise to Jaskier because that’s (rightfully) what Jaskier deserves, we do tend to demonise Geralt a bit too much. 

He’s a man that’s been emotionally, mentally, physically, and psychologically abused, and tortured, since he was a little kid. Abandoned like trash by his mother, raised in an environment that wasn’t going to nurture him and consistently gave corporal punishment. He learned that emotions are a weakness, that staying alive meant being alone because nobody but a fellow witcher could be trusted - and that ‘trust’ can be dubious at best with witchers not from the same school. 

Ostracised by many different races - not just by humans - and has lived his life in a cesspit of evil and unimaginable horrors clutching onto his morals like a lifeline because they’re all he’s got besides his swords and his horse. It’s implied that he talks to Roach because that’s the only conversation he gets with a being that doesn’t want to do him harm, doesn’t have ulterior motives with him. 

Geralt is fucked up.

He’s not gonna have the communication skills of someone like Jaskier, who’s grown up in the lap of luxury as a viscount and someone who was university educated. In fact, a lot of his humour is deadpan and misses the mark and hurts other people probably without him realising it. 

“But twenty-two years is a long fucking time!” I hear you yell, and I get it. But 22 years is a blip on the radar for someone who has lived just over a hundred now, staring down the barrel of a couple hundred more of the same treatment from the people he tries to rescue. 

Please don’t make Geralt needlessly cruel in your fics and headcanons. He is not. His attitude is that of a man who’s been tortured for most of his life and doesn’t know what to do with the kindness he gets, so he keeps it at arm’s length.

I think we need to keep in mind that not only does Geralt need to apologise for hurting Jaskier, but he also needs to start coming to terms with his own trauma in our fics and headcanons, and understand that whilst it does not excuse how his actions have hurt other people, it does give him an opportunity to grow as a person and be kinder and more considerate of the people he cares about. He just needs to be given the chance.