ignova

ignova , 2 months ago to random

Queen Tabby has that classic 'majestic indifference' personality that some people don't like about cats. she doesn't seem to give a shit about anything other than food. but she gets so excited when she thinks you're going to play with her, it kind of breaks my heart.

#cats #CatsOfMastodon #TabbyCat

ignova OP , 2 months ago

she waits all day for me to take out that cheap little mouse toy. she will GALLOP up to me when she notices the signs that lead up to playtime. (she waits for the dog to be leashed up, because he will chase her if she plays while he's free.) then when you give her the mouse, she sings a weird little song with it in her mouth and rolls around on the floor. cat joy is real

ignova , 2 months ago to random

#PennedPossibilities 279. Does your MC or SC have a favorite type of food?

Lucifer believes an honest appetite is a sign of the will to live. she takes the hedonist view that pleasure, beauty, and enjoyment are what justify Creation - without them, suffering makes every new life a net loss for the universe.

her favourite foods are therefore full of the things we're supposed to feel guilty about enjoying. lots of fat, salt, sugar (for desserts), & meat. also wine. and don't skimp on the butter.

ignova OP , 2 months ago

you might find Julia Child an odd source of inspiration, but she has an almost perfectly satanic attitude to food. she hated our modern 'fear of food,' and the way eating was becoming more and more of a moral performance. (the Oscar Wilde quote was a fun coincidence, too.)

pick that food up off the floor. dump in another splash of Vermouth. pile on that butter. it's your only life. make it count.

#PennedPossibilities

futurebird , 3 months ago to random

There can be something unseemly about a powerful person using their power to protect themself, their family. But there is also something dangerous in abstaining. Because the failure to use power when it is appropriate, when it is in keeping with civil human relations and expectations of good conduct implies the power does not exist. It implies craven weakness.

You can't even protect yourself or your own!

That is what we see. Not some impressive noblesse oblige.

ignova , 3 months ago

@futurebird i think in some movements there's a danger of equating powerlessness with moral authority. i.e. there's something about being downtrodden that makes you intrinsically better than other people. when taken to an extreme, this can actually create an incentive to remain powerless, instead of seeking the power that's within reach.

but power is good. power is what enables you to do useful things that help people. but it comes with responsibility, from which some people shy away.

loren , 3 months ago to random

i originally thought that the kinglets were snacking on little tree buds and i guess i was techically correct if you consider whatever these little bugs are "little tree buds". anyone know what bugs they are? some kind of scale insect?

a zoom in on the bugs that the kinglet was picking off the branch

ignova , 3 months ago

@loren if they are, those little guys are being good pals for the tree

futurebird , 3 months ago to random

My dear sweet elderly mother just told me about a conversation with one of her neighbors. (They live in a small rural town in PA)

This neighbor is a white guy and ... he sincerely thought that my mom had "Obamacare" because Obama made it for black people only. Or something like that.

"Well at least you've got that Obamacare."

I want them to move back to NYC. I wouldn't trust that guy to call a damn ambulance. Mom insists he's nice. And to be fair he has done some nice things IDK. WTF

ignova , 3 months ago

@futurebird i think this illustrates the difficulty of holding people responsible for supporting fascists in our current disinfo shitstorm. these people are both the victims and perpetrators of malicious lies. if you sincerely believe a ridiculous thing like 'Black people get unfair advantages in medical care' or 'gay people are out to molest your kids and nobody is willing to stop them'...wouldn't you vote for someone who promises to put a stop to these things?

ignova , 3 months ago

@futurebird there's a lot to feel discouraged about in the current political landscape. in a weird way it's actually a hopeful sign for human nature - to look at exactly how much money, time, and effort evil needs to spend to convince ordinary people to do evil. it takes a whole propaganda industry, and decades of devious political manipulation. even then Rs still lost in 2020, and they can lose again.

futurebird , 3 months ago to random

Why is anti-vax content so popular. Looking at places like Fox news, Rogan, others who fed into that content (and made it more legitimate seeming to many people) the only reason I can detect to make such content is that it's popular with a segment of the population.

So, that explains why people make it. To make money.

But why is it "popular" ?

ignova , 3 months ago

@futurebird another angle is probably anti-intellectualism & resentment. doctors & health experts are cast as Elites by cynical populists trying to undermine trust in science. people who are insecure about their own achievement & / or scientific knowledge love stories about how these Elites are actually stupid & wrong.

(people trying to legitimize this sentiment by invoking a US context fail to account for why antivaxx-ism is still popular in countries with socialized healthcare systems)

futurebird , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

Things people say, nod and agree with, but did we really think about that?

"Short form video content is bad it makes for short attention spans."

Been hearing this a lot with reference to tiktok. But, it's been around since I was a kid. (MTV is bad, see MaxHeadroom satirizing this through blipverts)

OK, the way that tiktok can induce slack-jawed zoned out infi-scrolling seems "bad" because that seems like manipulation.

But short form content? Is it really bad?

ignova , 3 months ago

@futurebird i think short form content works well for some subjects but not others. politics IMO becomes propaganda when everything is forced down to simplistic hot takes, memes, and bumper sticker slogans. (the key word being 'forced,' as happens with restrictive character limits.) a sprinkling of those things is not harmful, but when that's all the discourse on a platform is? intelligent conversation dies.

for other subjects like e.g. watching a dog get a bath, short form is really just fine.

futurebird , 3 months ago to random

Don't use "crawled out from under a rock" as an insult. Most of the things that live under rocks are much nicer than the people who get accused of being like them.

ignova , 3 months ago

@futurebird maybe not a rock but this little guy crawled out from under a log, and he concurs

futurebird , 4 months ago to random

It's this: "boys are cannon fodder and women are property, there is no third option" as @mhoye recently said

It's always mystified me how angry and threatened conservatives are by non-binary people . . . existing and in other ways by asexual people simply . . . living. The anger & hysteria feels out of proportion until you remember the huge threat validation of such choices represents to their ideas of order.

A third choice destabilizes the entire system.

ignova , 4 months ago

@futurebird i think about this sometimes, but i find it hard to pinpoint the visceral, emotional reason people revolt against gender nonconformity. in reality i don't think humans are driven by abstract principles like 'reinforcement of the social order' or whatever. i think they feel some primitive, inarticulate panic urge, and then they justify it ad-hoc with the nearest available excuse. it's not conscious. 1/

futurebird , 4 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

Did you have "sex ed" (sometimes called "health class") in school? Did it help you in any way? Hurt?

Which of the following apply (check more than one if needed, so if you had a multiple classes at different ages check both)

If I could change one thing about the education we had it would be to have more focus on the reality of rape and the nature of consent. These topics weren't addressed much beyond a cartoon version of bogey men jumping out of bushes and I think it left many unprepared.

ignova , 4 months ago

@futurebird compared to what i've heard about other people's experiences, particularly in the US, my sex ed experience in Ontario was not that bad. there are things i would change about it. there were lots of dated videos shown in health class, and the usual emphasis on 'just say no' instead of a more complete understanding of consent. but it could have been worse. we did at least learn enough factual information about sex, contraception, & STIs to keep ourselves safe.

18+ futurebird , 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to random

The more I read about Nex Benedict the more it seems a direct consequence of the transphobic bathroom law & Libs of tiktok getting her teacher to resign.

They was attacked by 3 older students in a girl's bathroom.

They want to make trans people ... disappear. One way or the other.

I want to say "see? look what you did?" But.

This is what they wanted to do.

Lex liked playing Minecraft had a cat named Zeus. Had strait As. I want to read all I can about them & remember them.

18+ ignova , 4 months ago

@futurebird the details of the medical follow-up (no ambulance called, discharged before dying at home) are suspicious for medical discrimination as well. i don't know enough about head trauma to know if whatever complication caused Nex's delayed death could have been foreseen by the medical staff. but it sure is fishy as hell.

lowqualityfacts , 5 months ago to random

I believe it.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

ignova , 5 months ago

@lowqualityfacts he's from the same species as Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart