@simchallah / simchallah.tumblr.com
I have absolutely no idea if theatre education folks still follow me because I'm barely on here but if you do, consider taking this survey for a friend of mine! She's looking for people who work as directors, acting teachers, or costumers putting on plays in extra-curricular settings with students between 11 and 18 years old. The study is about how theatre educators respond to and consider student body image and dieting when they arise in the classroom or rehearsal room.
*at the ADHD wizard meeting* sometimes i just find it difficult to hocus-focus
have you tried abracadadderall?
it’s a material component for spells requiring Concentration
contrary to popular belief i think calvin's adhd is, funnily enough, medicated. he takes extended release ritalin every morning alongside his chocolate frosted sugar bombs. this is because he appreciates being more easily able to focus on his various Schemes, Projects, and Machinations while more effectively ignoring schoolwork
calvin's dad pulling up to the house and seeing the whole driveway covered in a (completed) snowman recreation of the entire terracotta army and he takes a deep breath and greets calvin's mom with "i see calvin remembered his methylphenidate today"
platonic third base: when you get to know someone well enough that they start making mortifyingly specific observations about you
yesterday i was chilling with my friend and there was an ice cream van outside and every time the jingle played i'd look out the window and after the third time i did this my friend said, accurately, 'i think you want to get ice cream but you're scared of the ice cream man.' devastating
Finally some good fucking news
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i am, cryying;
“Defining feminism as a commitment to gender justice means that it cannot be reduced to a matter of personal ethics, choice, or style. Instead, feminism is a commitment to social change. This is sometimes obscured by misinterpretations of the “second wave” U.S.-feminist slogan “the personal is political,” and by stereotypes of feminists as preoccupied with “politically correct” conduct. “The personal is political” was a powerful slogan expressing radical insights. These included the insights that one’s so-called personal life can be a site of injustice and domination whose inequities stem from social arrangements rather than individual personalities; that so-called personal problems therefore often have systemic causes; and that so-called personal decisions about matters such as sexuality, self-presentation, and eating often have political significance. Although these insights were, in their time, revolutionary, accepting them does not entail that feminism can be equated with “lifestyle” choices. To the contrary, taking seriously these insights suggests another popular slogan of second-wave feminism: “There are no individual solutions.” Personal choices are important, but feminism is more centrally concerned with transforming the social contexts within which such choices are made.”
— Alison M. Jaggar, Just Methods: An Interdisciplinary Feminist Reader
i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.
there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.
anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.
if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.
since this post blew up, i've been wanting to do an addition with all of the recommendations from the comments and tags. but there's a lot of them. some people might be crazy enough to sit down and seriously put them all in one post with descriptions. those people are honestly sick in the head.
anyway, here's all of the recommendations from the reblogs. not all of them are text-based, but it's a great mixture of styles. also don't forget the links in the second paragraph of the OP which will take you to FMHY where there are a bunch more games listed.
thank you to everyone who contributed and the creators. please be sure to show them some love where possible.
"The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined American Airlines $50 million for mishandling passengers with disabilities and damaging thousands of wheelchairs over a five year period.
A DOT investigation, which covered incidents between 2019 and 2023, revealed that American Airlines not only failed to provide proper wheelchair assistance but also damaged wheelchairs and mobility scooters. The mishandling of wheelchairs—sometimes leading to injuries—led to numerous complaints, including several from the Paralyzed Veterans of America.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg emphasized that American Airlines "appeared to be one of the worst offenders," but the problems that investigators found "are not confined to one airline." He said the department is conducting similar investigations into other airlines, but he would not name them.
"The era of tolerating poor treatment of wheelchair users on airplanes is over," Buttigieg told reporters, adding the airline's mistreatment of travelers with disabilities was "not just undignified but unsafe." ...
According to Transportation Department figures, from 2019 through 2023 American Airlines mishandled more than 10,760 wheelchairs and mobility scooters.
However, Southwest Airlines had more incidents at more than 11,100 mishandlings and Spirit Airlines had the highest percentage of errors in several of the years, according to the department.
American Airlines has vowed to make changes, investing more than $175 million this year to improve services for disabled passengers such as infrastructure and training. According to a consent order, the company will receive a $25 million credit for its efforts, including compensations paid to affected passengers.
Still, the penalty remains far higher than previous fines, such as the $2 million levied against United Airlines in 2016, which was reduced to $700,000 after United got credit for compensating passengers and other spending.
DOT officials said the size of the fine against American reflected the large number of incidents, which included damaging wheelchairs or taking too long to return them to passengers after flights.
In addition, the fine coincides with new proposed regulations that aim to strengthen protections for disabled travelers, making it a violation of federal law if airlines do not return wheelchairs quickly and undamaged, and mandate annual training for staff handling disabled passengers."
-via Newsweek, October 23, 2024
gritty realism is when there is violence against women, and the more violence against women there is the more grittily realistic it is
Guys they reintroduced Galapagos tortoises to espanola island and they’ve essentially terraformed their environment, knocking over invasive plants so that endangered albatrosses (who need space to take off using the ground as a runway) have returned and established nests!
"The report, by the Children’s Society, found that British 15-year-old girls are the most unhappy in Europe.
British girls aged 10-15 are “significantly less happy” with their life, appearance, family and school than the average boy — and their happiness is still declining.
Boys’ life satisfaction, meanwhile, remains broadly stable. (…)
But I still didn’t have an “aha!” moment about why this so disproportionately affects girls until… I talked to some teenage girls.
It was at a party, and I went to vape with them on the patio. Because I take my nicotine like children do.
“Duh — it’s the boys,” one said when I brought it up, as all the others agreed.
“The boys?” I asked.
My last book, What About Men?, had been all about how much boys struggle these days: their loneliness; their suicide rates. I’d spent the past year feeling very sympathetic towards boys.
“Yeah, well, who do you think they’re taking out their unhappiness on? It’s us,” another girl said.
“One boy at school used to draw a picture every day of how ugly I was,” a third girl said. “Every day for two years.”
“They’ve all got ‘Rate The Girls’ polls on their WhatsApps,” the first said. “They mark you down for weight gain, haircuts, what you say.”
“But then, if you’re hot, it’s just as bad, in a different way, because they’ll be talking about how they want to f*** you.”
The girls discussed coping techniques. Bad news: none of them worked.
“The only way you can stop them is if you become ‘one of the boys’ and hang out with them. But then,” the second girl said with a sigh, “all the other girls call you a slut. Because you’ve gone over to the boys’ side.”
“Surely it’s not all the boys?” I said. “There must be some nice boys?”
“Oh, yeah,” one girl said. “But they keep their heads down. Because… well, look.”
She showed me the Instagram account of her friend. Under every picture she posted of herself — smiling in a new dress; with her dog — dozens of anonymous accounts had replied with the most rank abuse.
“Fat.” “Slut.” “You gonna try and kill yourself again, for attention?”
“They’re all boys from her school,” she said. “And look, this one boy tried to defend her.”
I saw a series of messages from a brave teenage boy, posting things like, “You’re all big men, leaving these replies under anonymous accounts.”
As I could see, this boy immediately became a target too. Mainly accusations that he was “white knighting” this girl: “You wanna f*** her, bro?”
“So,” I asked, “you don’t think it’s social media pressure to be beautiful, or the economy, that’s making girls so sad?”
“Well, yeah, them too,” the first girl said. “But, Monday-Friday, 9-3, I’m not on social media. I’m not… in the economy. I’m just with these boys. And no one talks about how horrible they are.”
I thought about another recent report, showing a 30 per cent ideological gap between Gen Z men, who are increasingly conservative, and Gen Z women, who are increasingly progressive.
I thought about Andrew Tate, who has nine million mostly young male followers — and faces human trafficking charges, which he denies.
And I thought: maybe these girls are on to something. Maybe more people need to vape with teenage girls and ask them for the school gossip."
something has gone deeply wrong when "focusing pragmatically on issues you can influence and working to make life better for yourself and your community" is considered an unserious distraction while "endlessly exposing yourself to media about distressing situations you can't control" is considered political engagement
