obsessed with the way my robotics team lead talks
sheâs reinventing hieroglyphics
Sheâs the only person who truly understands how emojis were meant to be used.
Aqua Utopiaď˝ćľˇăŽĺşă§č¨ćśăç´Ąă
Not today Justin
Acquired Stardust
sheepfilms
occasionally subtle

Kaledo Art

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Show & Tell

Love Begins
Cosmic Funnies

tannertan36
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
Peter Solarz

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shark vs the universe
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@g2-lpi
obsessed with the way my robotics team lead talks
sheâs reinventing hieroglyphics
Sheâs the only person who truly understands how emojis were meant to be used.

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>First, weâve discovered that about a quarter of all the internet connection in or out of the house were ad related. In a few hours, thatâs about 10,000 out of 40,000 processed.
>We also discovered that every link on Twitter was blocked. This was solved by whitelisting the https://t.co domain.
>Once out browsing the Web, everything is loading pretty much instantly. It turns out most of that Page Loading malarkey weâve been accustomed to is related to sites running auctions to sell Ad space to show you before the page loads. All gone now.
>We then found that the Samsung TV (which I really like) is very fond of yapping all about itself to Samsung HQ. All stopped now. No sign of any breakages in its function, so Iâm happy enough with that.
>The primary source of distress came from the habitual Lemmings player in the house, who found they could no longer watch ads to build up their in-app gold. A workaround is being considered for this.
>The next ambition is to advance the Ad blocking so that it seamlessly removed YouTube Ads. This is the subject of ongoing research, and tinkering continues. All in all, a very successful experiment.
>Certainly this exceeds my equivalent childhood project of disassembling and assembling our rotary dial telephone. A project whose only utility was finding out how to make the phone ring when nobody was calling.
>Update: All4 on the telly appears not to have any ads any more. Goodbye Arnold Clarke!
>Lemmings problem now solved.
>Can confirm, after small tests, that RTĂ Player ads are now gone and the player on the phone is now just delivering swift, ad free streams at first click.
>Some queries along the lines of âAre you not stealing the internet?â Firstly, this is my network, so I may set it up as I please (or, you know, my son can do it and I can give him a stupid thumbs up in response). But there is a wider question, based on the ads=internet model.
>Iâm afraid I passed the You Wouldnât Download A Car point back when I first installed ad-blocking plug-ins on a browser. But consider my chatty TV. Individual consumer choice is not the method of addressing pervasive commercial surveillance.
>Should I feel morally obliged not to mute the TV when the ads come on? No, this is a standing tension- a clash of interests. But I think my interest in my family not being under intrusive or covert surveillance at home is superior to the ad companyâs wish to profile them.
>Aside: 24 hours of Pi Hole stats suggests that Samsung TVs are very chatty. 14,170 chats a day.
>YouTube blocking seems difficult, as the ads usually come from the same domain as the videos. Havenât tried it, but all of the content can also be delivered from a no-cookies version of the YouTube domain, which doesnât have the ads. I have asked my son to poke at that idea.
#stealing#blocking adds is effectively  content if you want to phrase it that way#you can acknowledge that and still be ok doing it#I personally am just fine with jt#If adds were less intrusive Id be more willing to turn addblock offÂ
Blocking ads is absolutely not stealing. The ads<>content agreement is between content hosting platforms and advertisers. The only role of the viewer in this arrangement is as the product. We are the product being traded, lured by content, not a party involved in the transaction. At no point was our agreement sought or expected.
If viewers are not watching ads and thus the platform is not delivering product to the advertisers, thatâs an issue between the platform and the advertisers. Viewers arenât stealing anything, morally or immorally; we never agreed to any transaction.
It should also be noted that if you have any usage fees or limits on your connection, any ads will directly negatively impact you, either from you getting charged for the data transmitted to show you ads you didn't want, or from them eating up your data allowance, forcing you to restrict voluntary usage to avoid fees.
I setup pi-hole with an old raspberry pi 3B in about an hour and stopped having to explain to my mom not to click on the fucking Roku ads. And malicious software clicks have gone from a dozen a day to 0! It has been amazing! Seriously, if you live with a computer un-savvy person it is a godsend.
I can barely contain myself right now
holy shit
HOLY SHIT
holy CRAP.
Artists, creators, students, and researchers of all types, take note:
Digitized photos and text. 2D and 3D object renders. Music and other sound files. Videos. Research datasets. Collections metadata.
On a Creative Commons Zero license: Take what you want. Use it. No permission or attribution required. Yes, even for commercial use.
There is a lot wrong with the world at the moment, but the Smithsonian⌠the Smithsonian is right.
The archive includes fashion images!
âsource?â i can feel it in me bones
"A ship can never truly love an anchor." dude shut up. a ship without an anchor gets dashed against the rocks. it's useless, completely at the whim of the currents. a ship loves an anchor so much it carries it everywhere it goes. the anchor gives the ship the world to love. dude.
DUDE DON'T YOU DO THIS TO ME

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the dog's treat is a food so scrumptious but please beware of the dog's trick
obsessed with this message, thank you
Obsessed w how the gangs' all posed in this scene ngl
A group of queer friends, at one of their shitty apartments, pausing the board game they were playing to have an impromptu group therapy session
aw man you just know fred is going through it with his dad right now
Almost every ex-Catholic I know, myself included, still has at least one saint they like enough to keep around in some form. The number of ex-Catholics still burying St. Anthony in the back yard is not insignificant.
Listen I may not want anything to do with the Church or Jesus or all that, but the saint-powered folk magic taught to me by older women in my family? I'll keep that part, that part is rad. Especially since priests usually don't want you doing it.
I'm curious but I'm Jewish so I have no idea what you're talking about. Saint-powered folk magic?
God, okay, so Catholicism has a TON of little practices that totally qualify as folk magic, often practiced by women, but almost no Catholic granny will actually call it that. Growing up I learned all sorts of """prayers""" that are basically just magical spells. They can vary from country to country, depending on what other cultural influences are being blended with the Catholicism.
For example, burying a statue of St. Joseph (not Anthony; I got my saints mixed up) to help sell a house. It's also common to make offerings to statues of St. Anthony to help you find things that you've lost. Old Catholic ladies praying the rosary to enact specific wishes, things like that. God and Jesus never really enter into it--you're basically doing fancy rituals to ask the saints to make things happen and intercede on your behalf with God.
And, of course, how could I forget relics? "Let me pray and make offerings to this piece of bone taken from a dead saint, so their spirit in Heaven will entreat God to help me with my problems."
[ID: screenshotted tags from stargazing-enby that read, "#I never heard of these#But I did hear that if you want good weather you bring eggs to St Claire#catholicism." End ID.]
[ID: screenshotted comment from fabledshadow that reads, "I carry a St. Christopher medal with me, and Iâve never been seriously injured while traveling. Going to go ahead and hang on to that one lol it makes me feel better anyway." End ID.]
Also, no one loves candle magic quite like the Catholics. "Light this specific candle in this specific manner while saying these specific prayers" was, like, an entire THING when I was growing up. Candles for the dead, shelves full of offering candles that are never allowed to be blown out (only to burn out naturally), keeping candles lit to represent the presence of Jesus and Mary, baptism candles, advent candles, candles on a buche de noel, on it goes.
This is what scared the shit out of my older Christian relatives. I never met a single Catholic growing up but I heard about some of this stuff from fanatical protestant aunts and uncles, who were taught by their churches that Catholicism is "occult." There's a ton of Christians who think Catholics are in fact Satanic witches.
I've been a recovering Catholic for far longer than I was a badly practicing one at this point, and Me and Saint Tony? We're tight. Don't really truck with any other sort of god-botherering, but...Tony's okay.
An expert sees no reason book protections couldnât be rolled back âthe way Roe v. Wade was rolled back.â
âTim Anderson disagrees. Heâs the man trying to get the books declared obsceneâand, in the process, change obscenity law in the United States. Anderson, a lawyer and Republican Virginia state delegate whose district includes Virginia Beach, will argue the case later this month. (Another Republican, Tommy Altman, filed the petition; Altman recently lost his primary for a House seat in Virginiaâs 2nd district.) The petition is a new twist on recent right-wing attacks on materials that address sexuality, gender, and race. Rather than demanding that school boards or librarians remove books, the current case takes the books to court, using an obscure Virginia law that would allow the judge, if she found the books obscene, to ban bookstores, libraries, and even private citizens from selling or sharing them, everywhere in Virginia.â
We told you. We fucking told you.
Start learning to love the word ŃаПиСдаŃ: weâre going to be practicing it a lot, again.

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people misunderstand what âgifted kidâ actually means but itâs ok itâs fine itâs cool itâs good
itâs not about actually being gifted, itâs about an initial higher scoring on standardized testing that means little to nothing or being good at learning in the way elementary and middle school wants you to, so you get marked as âadvancedâ. in reality, maybe you had faster development in certain areas, but the issue with being a gifted kid isnât that âeveryone told me I was so cool and special for reading and then I actually wasnât :(â itâs âI wasnât properly taught to handle things not coming easily to me, but the adults around me were counting on me not being a âdifficultâ child in school.â
people who use it as some weird bragging method or interpret it that way are ignoring the way a lot of school systems force certain roles on students to simplify the learning process. If your kid doesnât need to take notes to understand a science concept bc they get it naturally, well thatâs good, but now youâre not teaching them how to take notes and theyâre not learning that important soft skill. but because âgiftedâ kids are easy and donât show that theyâre falling behind in learning in other categories that are harder to quantify, they eventually fall behind after that catches up to them. Itâs about the failures of a one size fits all school system trying to compensate in the worst way possible.
And also the thing where âgiftedâ kids are super likely to also be neuroatypical, which they donât get screened for because they appear to be doing well in school. Or âYou canât be ADHD/autistic/etc, because youâre doing so well in school!â. Or being shamed for developing mental health issues/generally not being able to keep up with school work later, because you USED TO BE able to do it just fine.
Or the assumption that just because you can read well or you like math class, youâre somehow more EMOTIONALLY mature than your little kid brain is actually capable of being.
Or gifted kids whose parents and teachers put immense pressure on them to Do Great Things and Save The World and youâre like. âIâm 10 and I have no idea how to do that, but everyone is saying thatâs my job?â.
This is the best âgifted kidâ post out there. I never took notes until college because I didnât have to, snd when it got challenging I had to literally teach myself note taking at age 18. It also fucks with your perception of asking for help - youâre advanced, youâre competent, you should be able to understand every topic easily. Asking for help/going to office hours/asking for a tutor feels like failing when you were praised in your early years for not needing to do that.
The Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia, March 5, 1933
world_embroidery  @suzibart
Unmute !
Audio & visual:
Man holding beer: âWanna beer?â *holds beer next to wall?*
Man, muffled: âYeah!â *punches through wall, grabs beer, makes hole larger pulling beer through*
Important detail: both have incredibly broad Australian accents

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Zuko is Autistic
Since I made a post a while ago claiming that Zuko was autistic, some people have been asking for the âproof.â It seems fitting for me to provide said proof now, since itâs autism acceptance month. Iâm going to try to be as comprehensive as I can, but if anyone has anything to add, feel free to do so! That said, please do not come on here to tell me that Zuko is not autistic. This is my headcanon, and these are all the things about Zuko that I relate to as an autistic person.Â
Alright, buckle up, kids, because Zuko is autistic af and Iâm coming with all the receipts - and there are a lot of them.
Letâs start from the beginning. A lot of austistic people develop tactics early on that help us to âpassâ as allistic. When unsure of how to act in certain social situations, Zuko tends to mirror Azula. When he was younger, he was shown copying her sense of humor.Â
He threw a rock at a baby turtle duck and laughed, saying that this is how Azula feeds turtle ducks. Because Azula thought it was funny, he assumed his mom would think it was funny, too. It wasnât until Ursa asked, âWhy would you do that?â that Zuko even considered it might not be universally funny.Â
Zuko is shown laughing at things Azula thinks are funny more than once as a child. If Azula is not laughing directly at Zuko, he usually joins in on the laughter, even if he doesnât understand the joke.Â
Another time Zuko tried to copy Azula was after she demonstrated her skills to their grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon. Zuko immediately attempted to demonstrate his own skills, even though he was not prepared.Â
Another thing that some autistic people struggle with is fine motor skills. When Zuko tried to prove to his grandfather that he was as skilled as Azula, he tripped both times he attempted to fire bend. He has obviously improved since that moment, but it took him a long time to do that.Â
âYou have yet to master your basics. Drill it again.â
Zuko was at sea for three years with Iroh, seemingly doing nothing but training to get strong enough to capture the avatar. After three years, he was still working on his basics, as Iroh points out. Other benders have been shown to become masters much quicker than Zuko. Katara became a waterbending master after one episode. Aang mastered all four elements in the span of about a year. By the age of 12, Toph was already an earthbending master, and she taught herself. Zuko has had to work a lot harder than them to properly control his fine motor skills. It isnât until heâs mastered his basics that he is able to progress as a bender.Â
Since Ozai was obviously not the most supportive parent, Zuko may have had to figure out other ways to hide his autism.Â
Another tactic he used was to practice social interactions before they happened. In this scene, he is shown giving a practice performance to a frog:
âThe thing is, I have a lot of fire bending experience, and Iâm considered to be pretty good at it. Well, youâve seen me. You know, when I was attacking you?âÂ
Obviously, this practice session was necessary, because Zuko said plenty of things here that could have easily further escalated the situation.Â
Even while using tools like mirroring or practicing social interaction, we all have moments where things might just feel a little off to allistic people.Â
Empathy
A lot of autistic people feel empathy differently than allistic people. Some of us might not feel empathy, some might experience hyper empathy, and some might just have a hard time expressing empathy. I suspect Zuko is leaning towards low empathy, or has trouble expressing empathy.Â
Exhibit A:Â
âMy first girlfriend turned into the moon.â
âThatâs rough, buddy.âÂ
Notice how Zuko found it easier to talk about himself. He answered Sokkaâs questions about Mai, and the conversation was moving along smoothly. It wasnât until Sokka shared personal information about himself that Zuko seemed to be out of words.Â
Exhibit B:
Toph just told Zuko that her parents gave her everything she ever asked for, but not the one thing she really wanted: their love.Â
Zuko spends half of this conversation looking the other way. When he does look at her, notice his expression. He probably has no idea why she is telling him this, so he doesnât know how to respond. And on top of that, he was under the impression that they were supposed to be looking for Aang.Â
A lot of autistic people have what you might call a one track mind (which Iâll get more into later). Itâs hard for us to switch focus from one thing to another.Â
Toph wanted to partner with Zuko because she wanted a life changing field trip, but Zuko just wanted to find Aang. He was able to have âlife changing field tripsâ with Aang, Katara, and Sokka because he was actively focused on helping them with their specific problems. He had time to mentally prepare to help them. There was careful planning involved in each of those missions. He canât help Toph in this moment, because her problem is conflicting with the problem they already have: finding Aang.
In both of the examples above, Zuko acknowledges the hardships that Sokka and Toph went through. âThatâs rough buddyâ and âI know you had a rough childhood.â This may be his way of trying to show compassion, even though it might come across as cold.Â
Zuko takes things at face value
Catching things like sarcasm, body language, metaphors, and âreading between the linesâ can be difficult for autistic people. This also gives us a reputation for being gullible, because it can be difficult to tell when someone is lying without being able to read the cues.Â
The first and most obvious example of this is what Zukoâs entire arc revolves around:Â
Capturing the Avatar
Ozai had just fought his own son, a 13 year old, in an Agni Kai. He burned Zukoâs face, intentionally causing permanent damage, and then banished him. All of this because Zuko spoke out of turn. At the time that Zuko was banished, the Avatar hadnât been spotted for over 100 years.Â
Knowing all of that, it seems likely to me that Ozai was being cruel and sarcastic when he said that Zuko could come back after capturing the Avatar. It would be like saying âwhen pigs fly,â since at that point the Avatar was thought to have been gone forever.Â
Iroh, of course, knows this. Thatâs why in the beginning of the series, he kept reminding Zuko that the Avatar had not been seen in 100 years. He didnât want Zuko to get his hopes up. Zuko, however, spends every minute for three years training to fight the avatar, and the second he sees something out of the ordinary, he automatically assumes that it is the the avatarâs doing. Itâs kind of a miracle that he was right.
Capturing the Avatar = restoring honor. This is an example of both taking what his father told him as fact, and seeing things as black and white, which is also commonly associated with autism. Ozai told Zuko that capturing the avatar would restore his honor, so Zuko became obsessed with finding and capturing Aang. He truly believed that doing so was the only way to restore his honor and return home. It took Zuko years to realize that he could restore his honor in a different way than what his father told him.Â
He automatically believes Azula when she says he can come home
âFather regrets?â
It had been three years since heâd seen Azula, and he immediately took what she said at face value. He is excited to be going home, and he is frustrated with Iroh for being skeptical. When Iroh points out that he has never known Ozai to regret anything, Zuko says âdid you even listen to Azula?âÂ
Zuko takes what Azula says as fact, just like he has always done. This is why, as a child, he had to constantly tell himself, âAzula always lies,â because she probably had a habit of fooling Zuko. But now that it has been so long, without the constant reminder that Azula always lies, she takes advantage of the fact that Zuko trusts her so easily, and he falls for her lies once again.
He doesnât catch on to Jinâs body language
In the episode âThe Tales of Ba Sing Se,â Zuko meets a girl named Jin. He immediately is threatened by her, because she keeps looking at him (eye contact is another thing that can be a challenge for autistic people). He assumes she knows they are fire nation. Despite the fact that he has seen her constantly smiling at him, he is completely surprised when he finds out she has a crush on him.
When Jin asks Zuko on a date, he shows up looking like this:
I think most people would catch on that this is Not A Good Look. But when Jin messes up his hair, Zuko gets frustrated. He says, âIt took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair!âÂ
So, Iroh told him this was a good hairstyle, and Zuko trusts Iroh, so he took his word as truth, and went along with it.Â
Later on in the date, Jin tries to kiss Zuko. Just before their lips touch, he holds a coupon in front of her face, exclaiming that he brought her a gift.
Zuko likes Jin. He risked a lot to light up the fountain for her. We know he wanted to kiss her, because when she kissed him later, he let her, and he even kissed her back for a moment before he bolted. But in this moment here, he missed the signs that said she was about to kiss him (the hand holding, Jin closing her eyes, leaning forward, etc), so he moved the conversation along in a way that he felt was natural, by giving her a gift.Â
He doesnât realize that Sokka and Suki want time alone
Zuko runs into Suki when heâs about to go into Sokkaâs tent. Sheâs clearly embarrassed, but Zuko doesnât catch on.
âSorry, do you need to talk to Sokka, too?â
Suki says no, so Zuko enters Sokkaâs tent, to find Sokka like this:
There are roses everywhere, candles are lit, Sokkaâs hair is down, heâs posing. Sokka was waiting for Suki to arrive, not Zuko.Â
But Zuko doesnât catch on to that, either, so he sits right down and asks Sokka for advice, totally oblivious to what was supposed to be going down.Â
He canât explain what is âoffâ about Azula
A lot of autistic people have trouble recognizing patterns. Zuko has known Azula his whole life. He knows what her hair usually looks like. He knows what her makeup usually looks like. She doesnât usually have dark circles under her eyes. She usually has better posture. I could go on.Â
Azula challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai looking like this:
âI canât explain it, but thereâs something off about her.â
This is something I struggle with, too. If my mom dyes her hair, I can tell something is different, but it may take me a few days to figure out exactly what has changed. I think this is what was going on with Zuko here. He knows something is up, but he canât immediately recognize that Azula has cut her own hair poorly, or that her makeup is different because she did it herself, or that she has dark circles under her eyes, or weird posture, etc.Â
Sensory issuesÂ
Sensory issues are also associated with autism. This can manifest in sensory overload and strong reactions to physical contact, among other things.
One way Iâve learned to avoid or come down from sensory overload is to self-isolate and meditate, which is something Zuko does very often. This can also be a way to recharge spoons or mentally prepare for something that might be exhausting. Â
This explains why Zuko would react so strongly when someone interrupts his alone time. He needs that time to prepare for every other moment in the day. When this time is interrupted, he lashes out, and has trouble containing his emotions.
Physical contact
Zuko doesnât always seem to know how to react to physical contact and affection. He reacts negatively if he isnât prepared, or if he isnât comfortable with the person. Even if he genuinely likes the person who is touching him (Jin, Iroh, Toph, Katara, etc), he still doesnât seem to know what to do.Â
If Zuko is comfortable with the person who hugs him, he allows them to do so, but he still almost always looks flustered. He doesnât always hug back, and when he does, it sometimes takes him a moment to process that heâs being hugged before he is able to return the gesture.
Difficulty Changing Plans
As I mentioned before, autistic people sometimes have a one-track mind. We may have difficulty changing plans, and may tend to see things as black and white, with no gray areas. All of these things describe Zuko to a T.Â
Zuko tends to get frustrated over any change of plans, but thereâs one example Iâd like to focus on.
Letâs talk about that angst coma. You know, that time Zuko got physically ill after he did something that completely altered the course of his life?Â
Thatâs the one. The thing is, change is hard. And it can be especially hard for autistic people. Zuko spent the last few years working towards one thing, and one thing only: capturing the avatar. Then, in one day, everything changed. He made a decision to free Appa, which was completely counter to what he has been working towards this entire time.Â
Iâve had âangst comasâ before, and I know other autistic people who have had similar experiences. Sometimes you really do just need a few days in bed to recuperate and adjust to big changes.Â
some side notes that are worth mentioning:
Zuko takes Irohâs metaphors literally
He repeats Irohâs metaphors without understanding them, and they come across differently
It took him a minute to realize when Aang insulted him, because the insult was dressed up like a complement. âHey, that was actually pretty smart of you.â Zukoâs first reaction is to smile proudly at the praise.Â
That scene when Aang wants to sit by Katara (bc he likes her) and Zuko is all, âI donât get it, whatâs the big deal? Just sit next to me.â
He saved Irohâs smelly sandal when he was separated from him
He has a special interest in dao swords
Inaccurate self image (in his imagination he pictured himself without his scar)
He replays memories in his head of times when he thinks he may have said the wrong thing
He has meltdowns when things donât go as he plans.Â
He sometimes messes up jokes when heâs trying to be funny
He paces back and forth a lot, perhaps as a way to stim
In conclusion Zuko is autistic af. I rest my case.
This is tumblr, not school, but Iâd like to award this essay with an A+.
âCorporations supporting things like BLM and Pride is largely performative and shouldnât be overly praised or focused on. Theyâre just trying to do what they think will earn them moneyâ and âCorporations openly showing support for things like BLM and Pride are incredibly importantâ and not mutually exclusive ideas.
Corporation support is not the source of social change, itâs the visible indication of it. A mall covered in rainbow flags with âpride month sales!â is nothing that makes LGBT people more accepted, nor do tweets from companies about supporting the BLM protests do anything to stop police violence, but they DO show the shift in public mindset. Corporations donât take risks. They donât make bold statements that they feel are unpopular or will lose them money or support. Theyâre a litmus test for when a statement or symbol that has been taboo becomes a commonly held belief.Â
When a corporation makes these kinds of statements, it means that the people out there fighting every day for these movements are having an effect. Their fight is causing a change in social perception to the point where businesses who carefully choose every single thing they say can post about solidarity with protesters and feel confidant that they are saying something that represents the feelings and beliefs of the majority. A mall being covered in Pride flags is a sign that the country will accept a mall filled with Pride flags. That those working to make social and cultural change are succeeding.Â
This this this this FUCKING THIS.
When I was a kid, back in the 80s, in a city often called the buckle of the Bible Belt, big corps like Target would have burned their own stores down rather than openly show support for the LGBTQ+ community. Iâm serious. And today I went and participated in the corporatization of my own identity and am now wearing a cute shirt that I bought at a nationwide chain store. In fucking Oklahoma. I wish I could explain to y'all why that actually means something to me. And I have to admit it gives me satisfaction to know that it makes some people very, very angry to see that merchandise there, openly displayed. (We went to a second store to see if we could find a particular shirt in my GFâs size, and when I had to ask where the display was, the older lady associate was actually really excited about it. That would have been unthinkable too. Things are very fucking dark right now and we could lose ground very quickly, any minute, but this is proof thatâŚyesâŚyes, it matters. We have made immense progress. We will have to work to maintain it and work harder to advance it, butâŚguys. Itâs Tulsa. And I bought a Pride shirt in a fucking Target.)