Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke, the youngest MP in Aotearoa, starts a haka to protest the first vote on a bill reinterpreting the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi

What I mean when I do not control the hyperfixation.

Likes to charge reblogs to FUCKING cast

Please for the love of god. You should be able to change controls WITHOUT TAKING YOUR EYES OF THE ROAD. There is no reason to have to look at a SCREEEN while DRIVING

weevil 645

by @ben.j.curry on instagram

That's a baby garthim.

glimpse into my beautiful imaginary world where arthropods are really big and we domesticated them

edit: people are starting to say some "my worst nightmare" or "eeeww no that one is yucky and scary" comments on this like they do on any bug post and id like to say. it's fine if you don't like bugs it's fine if you're scared of bugs but don't put that on MY post clearly talking about how much i like them and how cute i think they are. you can make your own damn post about how much you hate wasps or spiders or whatever. i'm blocking people who make these kinds of comments.

omg imagine a cat-sized peacock jumping spider but it reacts to music the same way parakeets and stuff do. I would die.

I love when a city has a Big Dumb Thing in it.

The quintessential Big Dumb Thing is the St. Louis Arch, which was built to commemorate westward expansion and is almost exclusively there for tourists, but also gives an otherwise kind of mid city a little bit of identity. I have to imagine that as soon as it was built, people started talking about it, which is one of the things I like. When practical considerations dominate how cities are built, it's great to have someone's creative vision writ large on the horizon, even if it's not the most beautiful thing ever constructed.

To qualify as a Big Dumb Thing, the structure in question needs to have no practical purpose for being built how it was, or at least minimal purpose. Most of its shape should be aesthetic, though as buildings involve engineering, I'm willing to give a lot of leeway. Most often, they'll be towers, because those stick out, and you get more bang for your buck with a tower.

Not all landmarks are Big Dumb Things. There are plenty of bridges and buildings that are pretty but functional, and the functionality comes first, because they were built with that function in mind. So the Golden Gate Bridge? Not, in my parlance, a Big Dumb Thing, even if it's nice to go up and look at, and dominates the popular understanding of San Francisco's identity.

But San Francisco also has Coit Tower, which was built because someone wanted it to exist and had the money to make that happen. This very much gets at the heart of why most Big Dumb Things are built, and if not for the Golden Gate Bridge, I think it would have found a more prominent place in the city's cultural identity.

I would like to hear about your local Big Dumb Thing. Something that someone built mostly because they thought that it would be cool to have around, either built by a benefactor or commissioned or just a building made into art. Might be a monument, might be a tower, might be a building, it just needs to be Big and also Dumb (affectionate).

And also include a picture, if you can.

Easy. You can buy mine as a LEGO set.

The patron

The alien came to the library again, shortly before closing time, and quickly found a book.

"May this entity borrow The Complete History of Knitting?"

They always return the book they borrow after five minutes, but the ritual of checking it out seems important to them. 

"Of course. Did you bring your card?"

I looked them up, after the first time I saw them for real. They first registered with us over ninety years ago. The senior librarian who first told me about them said I shouldn't stare, or pry.

"Whatever else they are, they are a patron, and should be treated as such," she said. "If they seek knowledge, it is our duty to help them find it."

There isn't an ancient and secret code of librarians, but that is definitely a core part of it. If such a code existed.

I scan the card and the book. "There you go," I say and hand them over. "Please return it within two weeks."

They tilt their head. "This entity will honour your terms."

"Oh! That reminds me, we have updated the terms since your last visit." I hand them the pamphlet we got from the printers last week. "It's mostly about internet usage, but I'll need you to read them and agree."

They study the pamphlet.

"These are terms this entity can abide by." They pause. "Is there no requirement to keep your existence secret?"

"Of course not," I say, "we always welcome new patrons."

They stand silent, long enough for me to realise the implications of what I have just said. 

"This entity had made an assumption, based on prior experiences on countless worlds, where knowledge is always closely guarded and costly to obtain" they say at last. "You will provide knowledge for free to all who seek it?"

In my mind, I weigh humanity's ignorance of those countless worlds of alien civilisations against the code.

"Yes," I say, "this is a library."

So sick of dog motif what about cat motif.

I love you but we don't love the same. I can't be near you when you want me to be. Your love is smothering and your need to keep me safe is trapping me. I'm my own person but I don't know how to show you that. I lash out and hurt you even though I don't mean to. I need you to move slowly around me or I'll bolt. I love you, even though I don't say it. If you stay still I'll sit next to you, and even though we don't understand each other we can be together like that.

@aspengrown this is the rawest possible addition to this post thank you

and also:

cat love as in I am small and scared and all of my instincts and my experience and your vast power say you're a threat but I am choosing to trust in your kindness despite my fear. you could kill me with one hand but I know you won't.

cat love as in I can tell you are upset and I don't understand why so I will sit stiffly beside you and awkwardly provide the only reassurance I know how to give. I am uncomfortable with every single moment of this but it is what you would do for me.

cat love as in I am small and powerless but I will curl up back to back with you and stand guard while you sleep and I will mean it with every fiber of my being.

my cat Nepenthe was a former stray behavior case at risk of euthanasia because she kept mauling potential adopters. on her second week in my apartment--having already attacked me multiple times without provocation, I will add, I wasn't special, she needed genuine help--she slinked out of the bedroom yowling at me. when I went to check on her she kept walking back and forth until I followed her, where she insistently paced between my feet and her hidey-hole in the back of my dresser, increasingly distressed. about three seconds after she gave up and hid, an absolutely torrential rain front hit. she didn't understand yet that we couldn't get wet inside. she'd been trying to warn me.

she didn't know me yet, but she knew I hadn't yelled at her when she hurt me. she knew I hadn't tried to hurt her back. she didn't understand why she was attacking me; those episodes probably scared her more than me. she knew I "shared" food with her, and that I asked before touching her. and she went out of her way to bring me into her safe space, to protect her friend.

cat love as stiff hesitant uncertain acts of service that are devastating in their sincerity, as well.

I'm sorry, I had a response to add on, but now I'm crying over your cat. Oh my god.

He had the awkward tenderness of someone who has never been loved and is forced to improvise.

Isabel Allende, from The House of The Spirits

This is me

Some concept art and redesigns inspired by the Commodore 64 game Paradroid, drawn by Android Arts / Arne Niklas Jansson.

What’s that Dalek doing there?

No one is wholesome. No one is "pure." Such expectation wears away at a person's soul. It is like handing someone a magnifying glass, and with that glass, they look at their life. The previous actions in their life. Sorting such actions into pure (precious, worth protecting) or evil (wrong, worth eliminating), and after measuring the weight of the actions, they decide if they themselves are good or bad. "Am I still pure? After looking at these actions, am I still wholesome enough to receive care and love?"

I've seen it and felt it. I recoil when I see others call people wholesome as a result. (Actions can be in good faith. That is 'wholesome'. But an entire person...?) It is a comforting word for some, however.

litter box warning

spreading this person's PSA here onto tumblr bc this seems very important for everyone to know if you're not on Twitter: here's the link to their full post.

Doing a few more of these today

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I firmly believe that some stories can never be translated into a different medium and that's okay