Ok, I've seen this sentiment before, but the amount of Kindle Unlimited ads I've been seeing is forcing me to repeat it-

Kindle Unlimited is offering two free months of unlimited ebooks. As a trial. Which will then become a paid subscription.

Your local library is offering unlimited ebooks all the time. Forever. No contracts, no predatory practices, no tracking of how long you spend on each particular page in the hopes that information about your habits can be sold for a profit.

Use your library. They want so badly to give you all of the things for free.

The Library Is a Magical Place and You Should Fucking Go There

The Library Is

a Magical Place and You

Should Fucking Go There

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

I’ve been getting ebooks from the library (I have three local library systems that I’m entitled to get a card with, and I use all three) for a few years now, and I’m reading more and more widely, and discovering authors I then want to buy new releases from, and who’ve influenced my writing. Library ebook programs are great.

As prev said, find out if you're entitled to a card in more than one library system! I'm entitled to two (the second system only lets me have an e-membership where I can't check out physical stuff, but that's all I want from them anyway, and I didn't have to go in person to sign up). It increases the number of ebooks and audiobooks I can access, which is already pretty good. I believe the Libby app is used by most if not all public libraries in the US, and it works pretty well -- you have the choice to read your ebooks from a phone or tablet, or send it to a Kindle, or download a PDF.

In my area at least they also have free, unlimited access to digital versions of a lot of magazines -- The New Yorker, Nat Geo, Time, and many others, with no wait times or limits or due dates.

Libraries friggin rule.

✨ Please reblog the polls before the poll ends to make them reach out to as many people as possible, but KEEP IT SPOILER-FREE to make people listen to the music with an open mind 💖

Artists and titles will be revealed after the poll's conclusion, check the original post for an update! ✨

I haven't listened to this song in years, never owned the album, and don't even consider myself a fan of the band...but I still recognized it within a few notes.

That is testament to the absolute grip this music video had in me as a child.

shirt that says "i'm not high i just love saying insane sentences that don't make sense"

"why is my mental health so bad" -> oh yeah I haven't gazed fondly at a large body of water in a month

I haven't seen the ocean since before the pandemic and it's really taking a fucking toll.

Okay but for real if you live in Maricopa County and voted by mail PLEASE go check the county recorder's webpage to make sure you didn't get flagged for a signature issue!! Apparently something like 12k are still waiting to be cured and we need every single one of those votes to send Kari Lake back to the fucking shadow realm where she belongs and also REPLACE Kyrsten Sinema with someone who's not going to do a stupid little curtsy while they tank progressive policies in the Senate!!

THERE IS STILL TIME PLS CHECK IF YOU LIVE THERE!!! Also maybe check even if you don't live there, I made sure mine got counted in Pima, we can make Blue Arizona happen!!! Check your ballots!!!!

IF YOU LIVE IN NEVADA CHECK YOUR BALLOTS AND ALSO ANSWER YOUR PHONE THEY MIGHT CALL YOU TO TRY TO FIX A REJECTED BALLOT!!!!

Use this link to make sure your vote counted in Nevada!

So I can't remember if I voted in the 2016 election.

I voted in the primaries, I remember that. For Bernie actually. I didn't like Hillary; I fell for the decades of smear campaigns. The right wing has been shining a spotlight on any real, perceived, or straight up fabricated less than savory detail about her since she was a political advocate in college in Arkansas who insisted on wearing pants when pants were not "professional" for women. And I, old enough to know better, fell for it.

2015 and 2016 were two of the hardest personal years of my life. I had lost my job, my cats had been super sick, we'd spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to pinpoint a mysterious health problem my partner was having, my mom had to have surgery on a crushed vertebrae -- there was a lot. I was exhausted, I wasn't excited by the Democratic candidate, and the polls all said Hillary had it in the bag. I meant to vote. I thought about it. But to this day, I don't know if I actually did. I have a sneaking suspicion that I didn't, that I ran out of time because I kept putting it off. My memory has trauma shaped holes in it, though, and I don't know for sure.

I do remember the gut punch of the election results though. I remember the breath stealing feeling of panic. I remember writing electors and asking them not to certify. I remember donating to Jill fucking Stein who said she was going to sue over the scandal with the voting machines.

(She did not; she kept that money for herself like the grifter she is.)

Most of all I remember crying for the entire month of January, because I knew what a Trump presidency meant. I watched as multiple queer and trans friends contemplated - and in some cases, carried through - plans for suicide because they were so terrified for what would happen to them under that government. (Note: I understand the impulse, but please do not do their job for them if you can help it. They don't deserve that and neither do you.) The trauma of several online contacts not existing anymore because they took what they saw as an emergency exit.

And I don't remember if I voted. I am haunted by the suspicion that I and others like me simply were not excited about the candidate we had, and had other concerns that took precedence. We relied on everyone else showing up in our place. Friends, there is no one else to show up in your place. You are the only person who can cast your vote.

If I could go back to 2016 now, I would drag my ass off the couch and go stand in line for however long it took, because not voting means I was complicit. It means I did not stand in the way of the damage I saw coming. I did not take what action was available to me to prevent or reduce harm.

I will never do that again. And honestly? You shouldn't either. There is no scenario in which handing over our basic safety without even the bare minimum of resistance is the moral high ground. It is just regret waiting to happen.

I know what I'm talking about on this one, ok?

Thanks for listening.

The Thin Man (1934), directed by W.S. Van Dyke

This is an AMAZING pun costume. Absolutely flawless.

it cracks me up that there was a secret society of American journalists who, from 1965 to 2006, slipped the phrase "it was as if some occult hand..." into articles

this all started when one guy used the phrase in an article and his friends thought it was so hilariously out of place that they all started using it

it drove their editors crazy but they kept doing it

that was like. the whole thing. they called it the Order of the Occult Hand and all it did was put a random metaphor into as many news articles as possible

they picked a new phrase in the early 00s, which has not been revealed yet- to my knowledge

Holy shit, how does that even happen? It's as if some occult hand

it does still make me insane specifically how many queer people lovingly embrace astrology. I went to a poetry workshop yesterday that was genuinely quite good but also included an option to disclose astrology designations during introductions and so many people broke out some variation of "I'm a [x] sum but I have a [y] placement and it SHOWS" girl no it doesn't. that's meaningless correlation you completely invented the causation

I'd say that rejecting biological determinism in favor of space gas determinism isn't the slay the astrology queers think it is but if I'm being completely honest I fear that many members of our community haven't even really rejected biological determinism so much as sprinkled a layer of glitter on it

As a desi queer, I absolutely endorse this and WISH I could start biting people in the notes going "it's just a hobby! peace and love teehee".

I realise western astrology is a different beast, but here in India, people have been :

...because their horoscope was "inauspicious". Here's an example of a woman who died because of it, here's one who was attacked with acid by her family. Yes, the brunt of this is borne by marginalised populations (like us! queers!!!), why do you ask?

Astrologers are almost always Brahmins (upper caste), and love to tout this as a "science" that dates back to the Vedic Age before Mughals Muslims came in and ruined it. Our Hindutva government has introduced astrology courses in colleges to show that "Indian" (read Hindu) knowledge systems were so sophisticated in our glorious past. (Same govt that told us ancient Hindus invented aeroplanes, wifi, and atomic weapons).

Please, for the love of god, think about what your fun little hobbies mean.

new con banner finished 💀🌿

Headlines across eight years. Who you vote for really does matter. None of these headlines delve into the Boar's Head listeria outbreak because I can only post ten photos in one post. But the slaughter house self regulate headline? Yup, that's why.

There's currently (as of Oct 30 2024) a recall of over 600 varieties of frozen waffles and pancakes. The list includes Kodiak Cakes, and store brands from Trader Joe's, Safeway, Whole Foods, Target, and many others -- because they're all manufactured by the same company. The list has been expanded since the recall began, so even if you've heard about this, you'll want to check the list.

There's another active recall on Costco salmon products that I haven't looked into because I don't have any -- tbh it's hard to keep up, but it's worth doing.