I have evil furry convention plans.

*Tips wings*

M'neuver

This fucking post I made 9 years ago was honestly slept on

Seems to be bunny in the trough Thursday

Never been so glad for it to be Thursday

The deep sea fish mugs are also out of the kiln & I'm really happy with them (well, as always I have some minor tweaks for next time, but overall think they're pretty dang cool)!

I'm continuing to work away at my shop update, tho actual date-choosing is on hold because Canada Post might go on strike, which would require me to figure out alternate shipping options (eek). Here's hoping the approach of the holidays = the postal workers getting what they want to avoid the strike?!

Paradise Tanager (Tangara chilensis), family Thraupidae, order Passeriformes, found in the Amazon Basin of South America

photograph by Murali Nagarajan

A group of willow ptarmigans (Lagopus lagopus) in winter plumage in Lapland, Finland

by Tim Melling

Them [the news website] having a lot of articles on top surgery and bottom growth but like no info on the affects of estrogen/progesterone on your genitals and bottom surgery is so...blatantly a bigotry issue.

good lord, the difference in register in this article on transfem HRT vs this article on bottom growth on transmasc HRT is just so gross?

like, the bylines:

good lord.

the transfem HRT article is fucking full of half-truths and outright mis- and dis- information

jesus christ that's also an effect of estradiol! ESTRADIOL LITERALLY CAN DO ALL THAT ON ITS OWN.

SHUT THE FUCK UP. SHUT THE FUCK UP.

"patients will begin by taking anti-androgen drugs to reduce T levels before beginning to take estradiol" WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.

THAT'S LITERALLY JUST BAD FUCKING PRACTICE YOU FUCKING ASS.

there is no evidence for any of this being the case at a higher risk than just a given cis woman existing.

for who asshole. for who??

and you know what, i'll give them credit, at least the writer and the medical provider, Dallas Ducar, they got to do this crap are both transfeminine, but jesus christ. this article fucking sucks ass.

A more fair comparison is between their article on masculinising HRT and the one mentioned above.

bylines:

"Feminizing HRT, or hormone replacement therapy, is a common treatment for gender dysphoria"

and

"Testosterone HRT, or hormone replacement therapy, can leave people feeling more confident, alleviate gender dysphoria, and in many cases saves lives"

Make of that what you will

Following this both describe their HRT in broard strokes, in terms of physical effects both speak plainly. However their concluding sentences are phrased diffrently

"For some people, feminizing HRT can make their body feel more in line with their mind."

"People who take masculinizing HRT have reported feeling less psychological distress, experiencing more sexual satisfaction, and otherwise help them feel more comfortable in their body and mind."

Now one difference that will immediately jump out at you is the length difference, I don't know and won't guess why that is the case.

What I will say is that one of these articles seems much more interested in emphasising how few people benefit from it then the other and, that one of these seems less willing to elaborate on what the tangible benefits are.

But something I find quite interesting is on the preceding line in the mHRT article:

"Taking HRT has been shown to greatly improve the mental health of many trans people and in many cases save lives"

A plainly stated sentence that emphasises the life saving nature of HRT? I'm sure they had something like that in the fHRT article, I mean this sentence even talks about HRT generically so they could even just copy and paste it!

They don't say even once that feminising HRT saves lives. Not once. So that's an interesting decision.

Of course that isn't the only interesting thing. Both articles do state that one doesn't need to take HRT to be trans, however I, just for fun, decided to count how many instances of that sentiment were stated in each article:

the fHRT article states that you don't need to take HRT to be trans seven times. the mHRT article only says it once.

7 to 1

Now that on its own wouldn't be an issue if the fHRT article didn't seem to spend every other moment talking about how few people benefit from feminising HRT.

Now also for fun I decided to count how many times each article says that there is only a chance that HRT provides any benefits.

8 to 1

I'm starting to see a pattern.

humour me just one more time, how many times does each state HRT is life saving?

0 to 4

I hope this isn't to poorly written, I came into this trying to do my usual unfeeling disection of articles, but these articles managed to quite piss me off.

I am pleading once again for white liberals to read The New Jim Crow and see how racist policing and law enforcement is 1) bipartisan and 2) the key to how people of color (Black people specifically) are systemically, violently, and purposely kept in check in this country. Begging y'all to see that someone doesn't have to say a slur to be antiblack in the entirety of their belief system, that the status quo you live under is maintained by the suffering (both current and potential) of millions

The New Jim Crow (PDF)

Potato do not be playing with y'all lmao, get this free education!

I'm thinking of Symphony of the Sixth Blast Furnace by Evgeny Sedukhin again...

hmm okay i'm trying to dig up a source on this painting, to see if i could find it in any higher quality

but i can't find any evidence of its existence from before 2018 lmao

and searching the artist's name only gets me like 6 pages of results on google

and a little artist showcase page on arthive for this guy with exactly 1 painting listed

and a biography that spells this guy's name like 5 different ways

which i'm pretty sure is because it's machine translated from something

very mysterious

oh doing his name in russian gives me some actually useful results, why didn't i think to do that

Солнечный город "Sunny City" - No date given.

Мир "World" - No date given.

Чусовские просторы. "Chusovskie expanses." Canvas, oil, 1997. Exhibited at the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Nature.

Осень "Autumn"

ooooh this one is really nice

Огни трудового Тагила, "The Lights of Labor Tagil" acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery in 1986.

октябрь "October" 2009 cardboard, oil, 29.5x39.5 cm

Осень на Чусовой, "Autumn on Chusovaya" 1999, canvas, oil, 79x100 cm

Чугун идет "Cast Iron is Coming" 1976

okay that's all the art this article had, i'm really glad i could find some this artist's other works!!!!

If your response to the information "an alarming number of people simply cannot read well enough to function in the society that was built around them" is "wow I'm so much better than them" i think you need to kill yourself

It's not like education will fix every problem but it is almost certainly one of the most important things to push if we want an improvement in material conditions for everybody. Writing off your auntie because she gets overwhelmed trying to decipher densely packed text and "professional" language is not going to build a better future for anyone.

This ridiculous animal has discovered that my pajama pants have pockets.

And she has the nerve to look at me like I'm interrupting something. Ma'am, these are MY pants!

This is the most ridiculous thing she's ever done. Nakajima has fallen asleep in my pocket, turning these into Nakajammies.

My role on the leftist commune will be to find a big rock and sit down

Once so ensconced it'll be up to me to do all of the pondering. Most of the considering as well, and the contemplating.

My roll on the leftist commune will be off the giant rock, downhill into a river.

Wheeeeee!