Something about Gay Birds

Was inspired by the previous post a while back, and had been working on this on and off for a long while.

more detailed drawing of the harpy dragon!!

This is a bucket. Anything you don't want to take with you into 2024, feel free to drop it in the bucket. I will be burning the contents (with Hellfire) at exactly 11:59pm on New Year's Eve.

I offer you more Hellboy and Mothman to start the year!

I can help you out with one, but not the other

So as many of you have probably already heard, Jazwares, the company that produces Squishmallows, is donating to charities that support Israeli soldiers and the IDF. They’re also supporting Canary Mission, which has been doxxing people who speak out against Israel. BDS hasn’t called for a boycott against them, but I can’t in good faith spend my money on their products, and I would strongly encourage everyone who enjoys plushies to really think long and hard about if you want to give your money to a company that’s helping support genocide!

But the holidays are coming up, and lots of us enjoy plushies and were fans of Squishmallow, and were planning to give Squishmallows to friends and family this year.

Fortunately, there are a number of great plushie companies out there, and I want to promote some of my favorites in the hopes that folks will get their plushie fix from a source that doesn’t side with Israel. So without further ado:

Fluffnest

Fluffnest got their start on Kickstarter a few years ago, and I adore the round shapes of their PuffPal plushies! My favorite is Pete the Possum, which is probably the best possum plush I’ve ever seen. I’ve also got a beautiful moth from their Kickstarter and I’ve been wanting their bats for ages. They also recently had a Kickstarter for an Animal Crossing-esque video game featuring their plushie characters and it looks fantastic.

Squishables

I can’t get over the plague doctor plushies. They’re so perfect and cute, and they’ve released other variations of them called Alter Egos, like a ghostly version, an alien, or a really sweet cottagecore one! They’ve got a ton of variety, but what I like the most are the fantasy plushies. There’s a lich! There are dragons and demons! Cryptids! Biblically accurate angels! A lot of really fun stuff!

Also they do a lot of great charity work! Right now they’re doing an auction for the Food Bank of New York City.

AfternoonFika

AfternoonFika is a very small business of only three people, but their plushies are extremely cute. They tend to sell out fast, so I recommend following them on social media to stay on top of any restocks! They recently released a line of dinosaurs that are precious, and of course I love their iconic cactus cat and cinnamon bun bunny.

Jellycat

Jellycat has been around since 1999, so they’re the oldest of these companies. They’ve got great designs, a ton of variety, and a lot of their plushies are made to be cuddled on and not just displayed. All three of my tiny nephews sleep with a different stuffed dog from Jellycat. My mom has a sun and several succulents that she uses as decorations. There’s a little something for everyone who enjoys plushies!

Littlesofts started in late 2021 so a lot of their plush are in the preorder stage (the ones above were JUST announced a few days ago and I think is their biggest launch so far) I've been extremely happy with my ultra-snuggly trans raccoon !!! (preordered in june and received in october and can be ordered now)

link to the wall street journal

link to usa today

link to the cooler screens brand impact page; warning, contains some looping animated images

the cooler screens commitment to privacy pledge

and a different wsj article from 2023 about the lawsuit between cooler screens and walgreens lol

the people behind these technologies claim that their system is preferable to standard marketing, which often seeks to build a highly personalized profile of each potential or active consumer, whereas their own devices use this method of constant surveillance to react to anyone who comes near the camera.

the american association of advertising agencies has a page about ['the danger to the advertising industry' because of] consumer privacy

also here's a solink page which describes the utility of in-store surveillance cameras, particularly surrounding the notion of employee theft, including "grazing" (ex, eating a fruit without permission)

getting too lazy to collect more articles, but you can probably just go find writing on surveillance culture by yourself, and eventually come to your own conclusions if you're still skeptical or uncertain.

final note: in the last few years self-checkout kiosks have come under greater scrutiny since they added cameras as well — you know, that little image of your own self, miserably scanning your dumbass groceries? the idea behind this is the promotion of "self-surveillance," relying on a sense of internal shame to dissuade shoplifting. that is, you see yourself the whole time, and the stress of perceiving yourself as obedient or criminal allegedly does some psychological bullshit to keep you from scanning items inaccurately. like, you exert social pressure on yourself, via this simple manipulation, and your "deviance threshold" determines whether or not you scan your produce as chemically-treated or organic.

Today’s example is: Phylactery

In d&d:

In real life

That’s right. they named the evil artifact that the evil undead spellcaster hides their soul in after a Jewish ceremonial object.

when you come across that you should at the table paralyzed wondering

Do my fellow players know this is anti-Semitic?

If they don’t know and I bring it up will they be mad at me for ruining the fun?

If they do know and I bring it up will revealing myself as Jewish be dangerous?

Attention goyim: Jews don’t use the word phylactery. That’s stupid and greek. They’re called Teffilin.

(Image sources: https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/treasuresofheaven/)

Also op’s insistence that “before d&d Phylactery only had one definition” is just an outright falsehood.  A phylactery is a fancier word for a reliquary, which is an ornate sealed container that holds a fragment of the mortal remains of a Catholic saint, usually a bone.

Gee, what magic item could that have inspired in D&D? Hm?

nothing frappucino

battery acid spaghetti

The Flavor

white gilgamesh

the sludge

dragon cum

peg nog

fistbumping lesbians

the concoction / "potion of extended bad taste"

the horsepussy

vanilla extract

They’ll notice that their posters are disappearing. The quicker and more consistently that happens, the more demotivating it is for them.

Other people will notice that the posters are disappearing. This reminds everyone that fascism isn’t wanted here. Which is a good message.

On top of that, razor blades behind wheat pasted posters are pretty easy to spot. Like, have a look at the next wheat pasted poster you see and notice how you can see the entire texture of the wall. Wheat pasting literally soaks the whole poster in wet stuff so it maps perfectly on the surface below it and every tiny detail of the wall is visible through the poster.

A kiss.