All skirt/dress wearers when we discover they have functional pockets 😍

It’s also worth mentioning that this is the guy who posted this: 

His name is Jim Sterling and he is a rather… colorful games journalist who actually uses his platform to report on stuff like horrible working conditions, abuse and even stuff like sexual assault in the games industry.

He also raised concerns about the addictive nature of stuff like loot boxes and micro transactions long before anyone else did. 

They recently came out as non-binary “gender trash” (his words, not mine) and uses he/they/any pronouns according to his Twitter. Give their videos a look see if you are interested in hearing about workers rights in the creative industry.

we love and appreciate James Stephanie Sterling in this house

i would like to share that they are using exclusively they/them pronouns at this time :-)

Jim used to be a relatively big name reviewer back in the Angry Trillby Reviewer Days until they suddenly ‘quit’ their job with the very prominent games journalism company they worked for and were summarily blacklisted by the entire AAA industry.

Why? Because a massive scandal broke at the major game publisher Ubisoft revealing a culture of systematic sexual abuse, including high-ranking officials within the company that would regularly drug and rape female employees, which management and HR seemed fully aware of and would protect and move around the perpetrators Catholic-church-style. Reviewers were told not to talk about it and, when it became impossible to contain, to not talk about it where it’s “irrelevant” – that is, never mention or hint at any such stuff when actually reviewing and promoting Ubisoft games, because it’s a separate thing, see, no need to distract from the game (Ubisoft’s goal here was to be able to continue to advertise their games to players who hadn’t heard about it, and wait out the scandal until those who had just assumed everything was dealt with and forgot, which worked).

Jim refused. They knew this would tank their career, they knew they were throwing away an incredibly promising future. They did it anyway.

James Stephanie Sterling in one of a very small number of game reviewers out there with an actual fucking spine and a moral code made from titanium. They’re still effectively blacklisted from the industry, because since then they’ve refused to reform and play Good PR Robot like reviewers are supposed to do (because the AAA games industry thinks ‘reviewer’ and ‘critic’ are synonyms for ‘PR person in a gig economy’), shining light on repeated abuses and scandals in the industry, both internal scandals like this (discrimination, worker abuse, fraud, the normalisation of crunch culture and not paying workers) and ways at which the AAA industry scams players (abuses of early access, loot boxes and ‘pay to win’ mechanics that used to be the realm of free-to-play games now dominating paid titles while the prices of those titles also go up, abusive subscription models and ‘always online’ services, fun little tricks that companies love to pull with “remastered” games, and lately NFTs). Jim’s usually a good six months to a full year ahead of the curve on spying out this bullshit, able to see and warn about it before it becomes trendy enough for other reviewers to touch, and the result has been being continually silenced by game companies and passively buried by algorithms due to illegitimate DCMA takedowns, incorrect copyright strikes spurious lawsuits, being frozen out of gaming news, and whatever other nasty tricks people can pull. They came out as nonbinary very shortly before hitting a million subscribers (despite the forces agaisnt them) and then suddenly lost a lot of subscribers over a short period of time. Which was surely a complete coincidence. Yep. Just a coincidence. Have they backed down on literally anything? No. Because they decided to do this properly despite the cost and they are NOT fucking around.

They also call out particularly bad bullshit of indie developers (we’re talking the con artists and bigots in indie development in particular), not just AAA, which once hilariously resulted in a tiny no-name developer attempting to sue them for TEN MILLION DOLLARS. (Well, I found it hilarious after the fact. It was incredibly frustrating and somewhat stressful for Jim at the time, if one of the more ridiculous silencing tactics.) You can see them report on that here:

I'm going to be honest, I think that cyberpunk was probably pretty innovative when it started off in the 1980s but now it (and it's various "punk" spinoffs) just kind of linger over the science fiction genre like a miasma and it's time for someone to come up with something new.

Like a lot of breakaway scifi subgenres, cyberpunk asked questions about heavy social and political topics by taking the emerging technology of the day and dialing it up to 11, projecting a dystopian future where all of the (then) contemporary concerns had reached some impossible nightmare zenith:

Problem is, the cyberpunk dystopia happened: We hit the upper limit of what dysfuncitonal economies and broken goverments and capitalist profiteering were able to exploit and it's all down hill from here as the value extraction systems cannibalize each other.

Cyberpunk has gone from being dystopian to being nostalgic, a retro throwback to the days when the cultural assumptions about personal agency in a world full of infinite growth were still somewhat possible. Yeah, the world was shitty, but you could still be an ultracool badass who smashed the system before going down in a blaze of glory.

Flash forward to the day and systems are smashing themselves (plus all of us, and the world in general) to pieces trying to siphon the last little slivers of market percentage into shareholder's pockets.

If you wanted to make a genre that was as topical for right now as cyberpunk was for it's time, I think there's two directions you could go..

Wow i just found two new articles with headers that fucking completely misrepresent that wat Michael Moore's recent open letter said:

what the fuck man, are you expecting people not to actually read the rest of the article?

do you think people aren't going to read this part?

fuck off with that, the man is 100% cool with Luigi

look at my lawyer dawgggggg im going to jail😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

i'm learning absolutely insane fucking things on the wikipedia page for penn jillette of penn and teller

In that radio show he also talks about getting it installed in his home (before patenting it) and explaining to the tech that he wants a water jet placed for a woman's sexual pleasure and the tech at first assumed he wanted a jet angled to shoot water up at 90 degrees (that is, into the vagina). Which I imagine would be neither fun nor all that healthy. Penn had to explain how he wanted it to hit the clitoris, which apparently this tech had just forgotten existed or something.

I lost my copies of this radio show ages ago but anyone who knows where to get it, I recommend listening to it, because his explanation of just how Debbie Harry gave him this idea is fucking hilarious.

sorry, what???

He lost all the skin on his scrotum because Bees. You know how it is with bees.

I'm telling this from memory so I might get a couple of details wrong, but a while ago, Penn and Teller did a bit where they produced a shitton of bees onstage:

Now, Penn is an experience raconteur who did at this point in his career lean into producing a lot of bombastic energy onstage, but you might notice that he's a little off-kilter in this act, talking faster and more scattered than usual. That's because he is high as all fuck on speed. I don't know what he's like recently, but at this point in his life, Penn did absolutely zero drugs, as in 'does not drink caffeine' levels of zero drugs, as in 'filming a scene with Criss Angel where they have cigarettes in their mouths was a big deal drug-wise' level of drugs. But their medical guy said that if they insisted on doing something very very stupid like getting into a small box with hundreds of bees and absolutely no protection, they' need to take a precautionary drug (which Penn says is basically a low dose of speed, although I'm not sure how accurate his information is on that) so they don't die if they get stung by a fuckoff amount of bees.

He got stung by 24 bees.

The next day, Penn finds himself with a somewhat distressing medical issue -- all the skin is pruning up and peeling off his balls. Naturally, he goes to his GP immediately, because like. That's not the kind of symptom you wait and see on.

The GP takes one look, gives a world weary sigh, and says, "What did you take?"

Penn insists he hasn't taken anything. He never does. He doesn't do drugs.

"Yeah, you've been saying for years that you're completely clean, but this is something I only see in long-time users who have been taking unsafe levels of drugs. Have you been lying to me? What did you take?"

They have a sort of medical stand-off, doctor's expertise vs. Penn's memory. The doctor insists that it would take sudden high levels of toxins in the body to do this, Penn insists that he doesn't take anything. Until he suddenly remembers that oh, yeah, he did take something.

He tells the doc about the precautionary 'speed' that their medical guy gave them. "Could that do it?"

The doc says that no, that drug in that weak dosage shouldn't do something like this. This is quite puzzling. Oh, and what was that drug for?

"Oh, for the bees."

"... The bees?"

"Yeah, we were working unprotected with hundreds of bees."

The doc stares at him. Asks if he was stung by the hundreds of bees. Penn says that yeah, he was stung by 24 bees.

The doc stares more. "Get out."

"What?"

"We just had this whole long conversation about how this could have happened and you didn't think to mention the TWENTY FOUR bees that injected TOXINS into your body yesterday?? You didn't think that was worth mentioning? It was the bees. It'll grow back. Go."

"Should I put anything on it, or...?"

"Salt! You can put salt on it, for all I care!"

Penn did not put salt on it.

He also once grilled his dick on a hairdryer.

That one was one hundred per cent his fault.

I mean they're all his fault but that one was especially his fault.

it's extremely critical that you see the photo of the perp walk for luigi mangione as being propaganda. i've seen so many people wave it off and instead fawn over his looks. and trust me, i know it ended up being kind of pathetic and weird - but please don't brush it off as a "modelling opportunity" for him. it's a fucking terrifying message the police are sending.

i want to make a few comparisons here, in case you're not from the US or familiar with why the perp walk thing is something to pay attention to. just to set the groundwork for why this is a purposeful, unusual, and cruel act by the nyc police - for why this is not a common occurrence and for why that matters.

the prosecution alleges the show of force is due to the charge of "terrorism." for comparison, in june 2015, tsarnaev was found guilty for the boston marathon bombing, which killed 3 people and injured hundreds. his actions are considered to be an act of domestic terrorism. i have spent the last hour looking through google for pictures of similar to mangione's perp walk - and so far, i have found zero. i also just do not personally remember a moment like that, despite living in boston at the time.

they allege that luigi is a stone-cold killer who carried out a longterm plan, making him particularly dangerous. again for comparison: in nyc, recently cory martin was found guilty of the killing of brandy odom. the murder was planned and premeditated to steal insurance money. and yet no staged perp walk. why didn't her life matter enough for a "show of force"?

but mangione gets paraded by a veritable army of police officers as if he is a rabid animal. for a single citizen who allegedly killed one other single citizen, the "largest perp walk ever" occurs.

so what is the "strong message" that the mayor and the police were trying to send here? the mayor speaks as if mangione is already convicted of terrorism. there is a very thin number of people who feel threatened by the CEO's death. none of us felt like mangione needs to be under massive armed guard.

the message is that you shouldn't resist. they are trying to "make an example" of him - that if you behave badly and kill a single rich person, you'll be treated as if you killed hundreds of people. you will be treated worse than a man who was found guilty of terrorism. you will be considered guilty without trial. the message is that the rich are a protected class, and you cannot touch them without massive punishment. they are trying to prevent a revolution by showing dominance and force against you.

the message is that the police are a puppet of the wealthy and that the law is not equally applied across class disparity. it is "some are more equal than others." it is "one life is more precious than another."

the show of force wasn't for luigi. it was for us. it was a warning. they are trying to remind us who is really in control.

why is religious Christmas imagery all so joyful and pleasant? where is the inherent horror of the birth of Christ? A mother is handed her newborn child, wailing and innocent. Her hands come away sticky. Red. Simply by giving her son life she has already killed him. He is doomed from the beginning. Her love will not save him from suffering. Because the thing cradled in her arms is not a baby, it is a sacrifice: born amongst the other bleating animals whose blood will one day be spilled in the name of what demands it. the night is silent with anticipation. Mary, did you know? That your womb was also a grave?

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"fuck it we ball" is for stress about the future "it is what it is" is for stress about the past and "this too shall pass" is for stress about the present thank you for coming to my TED talk

Why don't they make stained glass fish tanks? Give those fish Catholic guilt

fascinated by the implication that it's the stained glass that gives catholics the guilt

I FOUND THE. FISH CAN’T SIN POST.

On a slightly more entertaining note, stained glass scenes that depict Bible events or fire and brimstone were originally intended to help get across the Bible’s texts to illiterate peasants, as priests would be the only ones expected to be able to read - often art in the church centered around scenes of hellish torture or lament to scare the congregation away from sinning.

So in a way, the guilt is stored in the stained glass

i do write for attention, actually, because that's a normal reason to create art

did you hear about that actor performing a play in front of a crowd? clearly only doing it for attention

im trying to say something and im not gonna say it in an empty room

"Members of the Teamsters union went on strike at Amazon early Thursday in a labor action at seven facilities in four states coast to coast just ahead of the holiday gift-giving rush.

Amazon said that its operations will not be affected by any of the union’s actions. Although the Teamsters claim to represent 7,000 Amazon workers nationwide, that accounts for less than 1% of the company’s US workforce."

"Amazon shows no indication it is willing to reach a deal with the Teamsters or even recognizes that the union speaks for any of its workers, despite the union declaring that employees at numerous Amazon facilities have signed cards asking to join."

source 1

source 2

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REMEMBER: THIS IS NOT A BOYCOTT.

The point is to shop as normal and show Amazon that it cannot keep up with orders without workers.

Shop as normal.

Do not boycott.

Don’t scab for Amazon.

I mean, counterpoint, boycott Amazon anyway because they suck?

Like, I'm a big proponent of "soft boycotting"; you don't have to sign a contract in blood saying you'll never buy from a company. Just look elsewhere first. If you take just five minutes longer to look around you'll often find what you're looking for elsewhere. You might even find it at a better price, or from a local retailer you want to support. Do a little bit to help break the Amazon monopoly.

Listen man, you can do whatever you like but encouraging boycotting during a strike is detrimental to the strike.