A bird explaining to a hedgehog crossing so it doesn’t die.

!!! ok but that’s legitimately what it’s doing!! That’s a corvid right there (looks like a hooded crow, to be precise), which means it’s intelligent enough to recognize, a) cars are dangerous and streets should be treated with a certain degree of caution, b) this car’s slowing down for them–cars do that sometimes–which means they’re not in imminent danger, so it doesn’t have to fly away just yet, c) that hedgehog’s still gonna get killed if it doesn’t MOVE, FAST (cars can change speed very quickly and the hedgehog’s still in the way), and almost certainly also d) if the bird does nothing it gets a free lunch.

Y’all, Y’ALL. This bird is consciously deciding to put itself in danger in order to save the life of a very stupid creature. A creature which, if the bird did nothing, could be free food. 

i can’t - look if you follow me you know I have a thing for corvids, but this is - like!!! People are always saying “ah yes they have sub-human intelligence and don’t consider anything that isn’t immediately necessary for their own survival/pleasure,” but! Whether or not it can do philosophy, this crow is clearly demonstrating compassion. Even if it’s just the kind of compassion a toddler shows to a snail, a social creature that instinctively recognizes the potential for emotion in other beings, that’s still huge and cool and important and corvids!!! are! neat!!! 

They’re incredibly smart! And kind!!!

i kid you not this is the biggest reason i am less terrified of hypothetical awe-inspiringly powerful AI than i might otherwise be: i think that it is actually part of the nature of existence that understanding predictably, though not 100% reliably, yields compassion.

Activism is not cold-calling.

Activism is not cold-calling, and this is critically important to understand.

I'm seeing a lot of posts on here about 'building bridges' and 'finding community,' and then (extremely valid) response posts saying "BUT HOW??" And I'm going to explain something that can be very counter-intuitive: there is strategy involved in community.

As a longtime volunteer labour organizer, I’ve taken and taught many trainings on the strategy of talking. Something that surprises a lot of people is the very first thing you do in a union campaign. You sit down with your organizing committee, take out pen and paper, and literally map it out. You draw a physical map of the workplace: where are the entrances, exits, break rooms, supervisor offices. Essentially, ‘where is it safe to have a union conversation.’ Then you draw another physical chart of your coworkers. You sort out who is union-friendly, openly hostile to unions, or somewhere in the middle, and then you plan out very deliberately and carefully who talks to whom and in what order.

Consider: If Vocally Leftist Jane walks up to Conservative David and says "hey what do you think about unions," David is going to shut down immediately. He's not inclined to listen to Jane. But if Jane talks to Moderate Jason and brings him into the fold, then Jason is a far more effective strategic choice to talk to David, and David may actually hear him out without an instant reaction.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: If Conservative David turns out to be Alt-Right David, and could be dangerous to follow organizers, we write him off. We are not trying to reach Alt-Right David. We are trying to reach Conservative David, who may actually be persuaded to find solidarity with other employees as fellow workers. Jason is a safe scout to find out which one he is. It does no one any good if Leftist Jane (or even Moderate Jane who is a visible minority) talks to Alt-Right David and puts herself on his radar. Not only has she done nothing to convince Alt-Right David to join a union - she's probably actively turned him against the idea - but now she's also in danger and the entire campaign is at risk. NOBODY WANTS THIS. Jane was NOT a hero for doing this. The organizing committee was foolish and enacted a terrible strategy to everyone's detriment.

Where you can make a difference is with people who will listen to you. You having a conversation with your well-meaning but clueless Centrist Democrat Auntie, and maybe gently helping her understand some things the media has been glossing over, is way more strategically useful than you marching up to MAGA Neighbour You've Met Once and trying to "build community" or "understand" them. They don't care. They're impervious, dangerous, and cruel. But maybe your beloved auntie will think about what you said, and then talk to her friend Anna who IDs as "fiscally conservative" but didn't vote because she can't bring herself to get on board with Trump. Then perhaps Anna talks to her brother Nic who has MAGA leanings but isn't all the way there yet. Proto-MAGA Nic would not have listened to you, nor would he have listened to Centrist Democrat Auntie, but he might absorb some of what his sister is saying.

This is not a cop-out or an echo chamber. This is you spending your time and energy strategically and safely. You are not a useful activist to anyone if you’re dead. Anyone who is telling you to hurl yourself directly at MAGA assholes like cannon fodder has no understanding of the strategy behind community building, and you should feel comfortable writing them off.

Last point: If you are tired, emotionally devastated, and/or in danger: take a break. This post is for people who would feel better jumping into action, not for people who are too overwhelmed to even think about it right now. You are worth so much even if you’re not actively Doing Activism, and your rest is worth more than “a break period so you can recharge and Do More Activism.” We all deserve the individual dignity of being worthy of comfort, rest & safety just on the basis of being human, outside of whatever we're doing for others' benefit. To deny ourselves that dignity is to devalue ourselves, and that’s the absolute last thing any of us should be doing right now.

okay. holding ur hands as i say this. look me in the eyes. i know this is overwhelming so here's where we start. if he wants you dead then your first act of resistance is survival.

Alright, folks. It looks like we're going to war.

I do not mean that we should do violence. But I do think that as Americans, soldiers are our best mental model of organized, entrenched collective action.

What this means for you, day one:

I don't know what fighting is going to look like. I don't think it will be violence, and I don't want folks to do violence. I'm using the language of warfare because I think it's easier to imagine what that looks like. We're going to do something.

Our mental image of collective action is really passive - we're just going to march and look really upset and they'll feel guilty and change.

That hasn't been working. The alt-right doesn't feel guilty when they see the harm they've done, and they aren't swayed by marches and protests. We need a new plan.

If anything, I think this election may have been a referendum on deprogramming the alt-right by convincing them that their cult is insane. It didn't work.

We need some kind of active resistance. Smarter and more experienced folks than me will come up with what that looks like. But for now, day one: eat something. sleep. We're going to need you.

looks like october is…. octover

i’m queueing this for next year

Its nowvember

And what about it

Heaven forbid women do anything

Very specifically the origin story as written by a government safety worker with a secure retirement and unlimited access to decent coffee.

‘We are warning you this is hot because we crippled a woman and would rather mock and discredit her than pay her medical bills’ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

‘This sign is here to remind you that dangerous areas are marked out with the different grey paint, because the safety yellow that indicates safe zones was ugly to our Scion of apartheid overlord. Death count: 2’

So there's something I want to say re: intentionally withholding your vote, and I want to do it without coming across as condescending or dismissive.

I've worked as a field organizer in two campaigns, 2010 and 2012, and my job was to help turnout the vote for Democratic candidates up and down the ticket. Technology may have changed, but people are still knocking on doors for specific voters the way they were 12 years ago.

If you say you're not voting/voting 3rd party, the campaign volunteer is supposed to mark that and move on. Their job, in the final month of the election, is to make sure the campaign's supporters have all the information and resources they need to cast a vote.

They aren't collecting data on why you're withholding your vote. They aren't submitting opinion polling results to the campaign. Something like 155 million people voted in the 2020 election, and if you say you're not voting, the campaign is not going to waste a volunteer's time and morale begging you to vote when there are literally millions of other voters to turn out.

Let me repeat that: The campaign does not track why you're not voting. They simply note your vote is not a priority for turnout and move on.

I say this because I see a lot of promotion of non-voting like that's a boycott, when the function is not the same. A boycott is a coordinated mass refusal to engage with an institution—which sounds similar if you see a vote as a good or service to withhold. Unfortunately, it's not.

A vote is a choice you're making as part of a community hiring committee. Your abstention doesn't prevent someone from being hired. It just lowers the threshold for the worst candidate to succeed.

All this to say: In my direct experience as an organizer, abstaining from the vote sends a message. That message is not "You need to try harder to win my vote." It's "Don't waste time on me."

All of this. Yes.

I’m also going to say that completely painting the map blue will do FAR MORE for All the lefty causes. It indicates enthusiasm, that people who do lefty things will keep their seats, with get to stay in office and build power.

Politics isn’t consumerism. It isn’t buying a thing with a vote.

Politics is community power. You organize with your community to use power.

Use your goddamn power to shift things left by voting and painting the goddamn map blue!

And then call, write, and visit the office of your newly elected representative to tell them what you want done with that power.

pls tell me what ur great grandparents did for a living in the tags if u know... mine were dairy farmers, bakery workers and a security guard lol

I'm not saying there are parallels, but...

You can't "Russia psyops" your way out of Holocaust Harris aiding and abetting a genocide

Okay. So, first off what I'm talking about in the video is a well documented, real thing we know that has happened. Your complete dismissal of it is, frankly, bizarre.

Secondly, what's your goal here? The US is a two party system. Either Harris or Trump will be elected President. Now it's true -- neither candidate is willing to walk away from the Israeli government. but while Harris seems unwilling to do so for geopolitical reasons, Trump is a zealot who wants to "finish the job."

Discouraging people from voting for Harris will not save a single Palestinian life. Trump is Netanyahu's preferred candidate. And frankly, Trump wants to do so much worse here in the US. He's coming after immigrant populations, queer rights, women's rights, and so much more. Trump also wants to withdraw our support from Ukraine and abandon NATO.

There are people who will die here in the US and abroad under a second Trump administration.

Over the next four years it's likely two more Supreme Court seats will come up, and who gets nominated will 100% depend on who holds the White House. The reason we've lost things like abortion access in the United States is because of a conservative majority court put in place by Trump. The makeup of the court for the next forty years depends on what happens now.

So, in short, how do you propose we stop this? How do you propose we save lives? "The Revolution" isn't coming, and there are real human lives on the line right now.

If you don't have real solutions to stop a second Trump presidency, you aren't actually helping anyone.

(Also, this "Holocaust Harris" stuff is such bullshit. I get that her position on Israel isn't that different than Biden's, but she's not actually in power right now? The US Vice President has zero say over foreign policy. The biggest power they have is breaking ties in the Senate, showing up as a mouthpiece for the President when they aren't available, and having a heartbeat. Daniel Webster turned down the Vice Presidency saying "I do not propose to be buried until I am dead," for a reason)

Guess who blocked me instead of actually defending their principles.

Just guess.

do u think omegaverse acknowledges covid-19 and the generation of people who permanently lost their sense of smell like how are they all scenting each other now is the omegaverse economy in shambles

actually pheromone sensing works differently from normal olfaction, since humans in our world don’t have a functioning vomeronasal organ (VNO), we don’t have any data on how covid-19 would affect a functioning VNO in omegaverse AUs

Actually there is evidence that covid probably would affect the VNO and it stands to reason would accordingly impair its function. Briefly:

In conclusion the omegaverse economy IS in shambles.

OP this is very well-written but im still hung up on how you came onstage dressed as a clown only to tear off the costume and reveal yourself as a biologist

This is excellent and from the perspective of 2024:

dark science beyond belief

Guys, Netflix is going to make a modern day adaptation of Dorian Gray and they're making Basil and Dorian brothers

oh god

It's real

Oscar Wilde did not do TWO YEARS HARD LABOR for y'all to call Basil "Dorian's artist friend" and make them BROTHERS

inspired by the quiz i saw for the countries!

take this quiz to see how many USA states you can name in 10 minutes, because i was curious to see if i still remembered. i got all but blanked on wyoming, maryland, and oklahoma. (and i only got nebraska, missouri, and mississippi in the last 10 seconds. when i blank out i BLANK out.)

News - If you live in the US, you can now watch all 200 episodes of the original 90s Sailor Moon anime on Viz Media’s Youtube channel for free! Viz also added all of the Inuyasha TV series and movies, as well as more recent shows like Death Note and Hunter x Hunter. 

There’s also the first season of the first Ranma ½ anime.

“Living weapon” covers a lot and all of it is hot

this is the funniest fucking billboard possible. who the fuck paid for this