Middle-Earth locations (part 1)

"lying is wrong" what evangelical nonsense is this???

listen to me. lying is morally neutral. and for many people in shitty situations it's a survival tactic.

lying in order to cause harm is often wrong, because causing harm is generally wrong. lying is also done for a myriad of other reasons, including because it isn't safe to speak truth, or because privacy is a thing and damn what an incredibly invasive question to ask in the first place.

truth is earned, my friend.

also, sometimes lying is funny. sometimes it saves time. sometimes it's easier, sometimes it accomplishes a goal, sometimes the truth is nobody's business, or is tricky to articulate, or you don't know what the truth is but are expected to have an answer regardless. sometimes you just straight up want people to stop bothering you. sometimes lying is an experiment to see how much you can get away with. sometimes you just want to be a little mean, yeah.

and in none of these situations is lying automatically "right" or "wrong" it is simply a tool that people will use, and that you will have to make your own decisions about based on situation and context.

climb out of the dark pit of assigning moral values to neutral behaviors. that's puritan thinking that's got its greedy fangs in you, rip 'em out by the root

I love my job, but reblogging employment jelly for someone else I love.

oh please oh please

I'm certain this is on Tumblr somewhere, but I haven't seen it around, so I'm sharing it myself

you have to outlive donald trump

imagine how funny the internet will be on the day he dies.

appalachian gothic this southern gothic that what about new zealand gothic . one-lane bridges and abandoned sheep sheds . the inherent emptiness of it all, 78% of the land uninhabited, the rolling valleys and drizzly gorges left to the patupaiārehe that dance in the fog and play their pūtōrino to lure children away . cows lowing in the paddocks, empty hometowns. why would the people stay? there's no more gold in ōtākou.

don't stop in the small towns. the locals don't want you and the chips taste like river water . curling smoke from a chimney; isn't that house empty? peeling paint and mouldy floorboards, copper doorhandles long since departed from their rimu doors - you've seen that in a movie, you're sure of it. strange noises from the bush - tūī are great mimics.

dirt roads, boarded up shops and burnt down houses. locals, bound to the land, whisper of how they 'can't wait to leave this shithole. move up to the city. start again.'

an anglican church stands in the middle of town , starkly white and imposing . do you really think god is listening? down at the bottom of the world?

Human: I don't get this whole "Earth is a death world" thing. Like, obviously it wouldn't seem like one to us, but why is it one to you guys? Are your home planets *that* much more free of disease and predators and stuff?

Alien: Oh, yes. Earth is far more hostile than our home worlds.

Human: Huh. Wonder why.

Alien: I suspect it's due to Earth's high iron content blocking the fae from disposing of such minor threats.

Human: Yeah, I guess that

Human:

Human: what

Tiny fairy in alien's translator headpiece: Shut up, they think we're mythical, it's *hilarious*.

Alien: I mean... Sure is a mystery, huh?

whut

sibling relationships are like. im trying so hard. look at me the same way you did so 12 years ago that summer when everything was okay. i miss you (im right here). is this tragedy? i knew you once

cannot tell you how nice it is to be on the other side of this process. My sister and I are happily supportive of each other, even though neither of us has the slightest idea how the other one's life works.

Apropos of (almost) nothing: I'm the kind of pedant who dislikes calling tentacle porn "tentacle porn" not because I think it's aberrant but because, 98% of the time, what's being depicted are octoform arms or tendrils, not tentacles. Tentacles are defined by the clubbed ends, which are the only part that have suckers. If it's tapered and has suckers all the way down, it's an octoform arm; if it has no suckers at all, it's a tendril.

You're welcome.

This site has gotta be the weirdest way to learn things

new knowledge for me and all my fellow mobster fuckers dropped

Eh, boss. We nose you and Tony are ya know, badda boom, but I thinks ya made a typo dar.

Gawd damn it, Frankie. This is what I get for trying to type with these tentacle thumbs.

woke up this morning, rolled over, and very confidently tried to blow out my alarm clock like a candle. absolutely no precedent for that.

Ebeneezer in 1742 wakes with a start as for some reason he has put out his guttering candle by slapping atop it ith the palm of his hand. His hand is burned and his nightgown and cap are spattered with hot wax.

i meant to empty my contact lens case of cleaner and instead launched my allergy pills down the drain. wasn't even holding the lens case

once confidently pointed my car keys at the door out of my house and pressed the unlock button

when I used to drive I once walked to the front and bend down as if to start the crank. like. an a fuckin olde timey car. I never did it before or again but I will never forget how second nature it felt nor the cold breeze of 'what the fuck' that instantly followed

i once got home and tried to eat my dog's squeaky ball like an orange. thank god i didn't try to eat it like an apple, because after trying and failing to peel a small tennis ball for a couple seconds to get at the fruit, the rest of my brain kicked in.

lili reinhart they could never make me hate you or even slightly dislike you 🤍

you have to outlive donald trump

you do. you must. think of that day.

in singing if we have trouble with a long/difficult phrase, one trick is to think only of the last few notes, so you don't get bogged down in the middle.

Imagine the flourish of that news.

(college stuff) everyone give it up for the humble arapaima

my mom said we can go into the woods and howl if your mom says it's fine

that one hot goth outside the diy venue smoking her menthols while u nervously try to remember how to talk to people