Going Rampant

Oh hey pals, new AO3 scam just hit!

Just like the tumblr scam where they pretend to be "the support team" this is also a scam.

I edited out the link because I GUARANTEE if you go to it you will get your computer hacked and your AO3 or discord account stolen.

I am so mad because I got this 30 seconds after posting a new fic.

DO NOT FALL FOR THESE SCAMS.

No legitimate website support will EVER contact you like this!

i mean can you imagine how fucking cool a buffyverse show set in 1970s new york with a slayer like nikki wood as your titular character would be? there is sooo much unexplored about her.

was she called while she was pregnant, before, or after? who is robin's father? why isn't he in the picture? what was her day-to-day like; she clearly didn't have much help seeing as she was out late slaying with her young son. what was her interpersonal life like —that made her finally give into spike???

and besides the captivating character exploration that this show would present, can you imagine the rockin soundtrack potential? the costuming, the set design!? and i'm gonna need it to be shot on film (with good lighting and og btvs effects).

I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.

Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.

So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.

Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.

Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵‍💫

Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.

Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.

I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.

Not only is Jenna Jacobs (the character in the green coat) partaking in homophobia, but the other character, President Josiah Bartlet (and as a consequence, The West Wing’s writers), are unintentionally partaking in a form of anti-semitism - anti-Judaism. This is because Bartlet is making it out as though the Torah (The Jewish holy book often called the “Old Testament”) is an archaic and cruel manuscript, which often leads to the even worse assumption of “if the Torah is evil and Jews follow the Torah, then Jews must be evil”. Ideas like that have previously lead to countless pogroms and even a Holocaust - which is why anti-Judaism is so harmful.

 Let’s debunk Jacobs’ claims and answer Bartlet’s questions though: 

Ancient Hebrew is a difficult-to-interpret language. As a result, there is a wide variety of Jewish interpretations of this verse - many Jews do believe that Leviticus 18:22 states that homosexual acts (differing from homosexuality) is an abomination, but many don’t - see an in-depth study of the text from this point of view here. As Jacobs is so obviously taking a Xian interpretation of the text, I’d also recommend gaychristian101.com for info on the Xian New Testament’s supposed anti-homosexual verses as well if you’re interested in that. 

 Exodus 21:7 does tolerate female indentured servitude (not slavery), and we know that servitude can be one of the most unequal institution on Earth; Yet to Jews this tolerance is so obviously about the redistribution of wealth and in an ironic way, using that very institution to achieve equality that it’s almost funny other groups could interpret it any other way. Think of it like this: In ancient times, if you were a woman who’s parents couldn’t afford to pay a dowry, you couldn’t find a husband, and in such a patriarchal society that was practically a death sentence. So the Torah came up with a solution. It allowed impoverished parents to send their daughters to work for wealthy families and in return for her work, after 6 years she could marry her master or one of her master’s sons (Exodus 21:9-10 makes it clear that at this point she is to be treated equally as a wife, and not as a indentured servant); If there was any objection to the marriage, she can be redeemed for a lower sum of money and either way, the cycle of poverty is discontinued and a social construct is changed. See here for a better in-depth study. 

According to the Talmud (A secondary Jewish holy text) there are 39 categories of work. According to Exodus 34:21 it is prohibited to perform these 39 tasks on the Sabbath (which is a Saturday, not a Sunday like many believe) and Numbers 15:32-36 does designate this prohibition a capital crime; But what many don’t realise is that the Talmud also has a ridiculously complex list of requirements for the death penalty to actually be carried out, which you can see here. The list actually makes it so hard to impose this punishment that commentators for centuries have concluded that the death penalty is only designated as a punishment to warn against the severity of the crime, not to actually be carried out.

The Torah prohibition against crossbreeding things, including seeds, is called Kil’ayim. The Talmud dedicates no less than 77 Mishnahs (work of rabbinic literature) to the discussion of Kil’ayim and why it’s prohibited. Like many things in Judaism, no one is 100% sure why it’s prohibited but some commentators have suggested that it’s because when we crossbreed we are being arrogant as we are implying that G-d didn’t create all necessary things already. It isn’t forbidden to benefit from crossbreeding however.  See point 3 for info on capital punishment.

Sha’atnez, the mixing of linen and wool in garments, is a subcategory of Kil’ayim, meaning we aren’t 100% sure what it’s rationale is, but we can guess; One common explanation is that mixing a thread from an animal (wool) and a thread from a plant (linen) constitutes a form of witchcraft, which is prohibited for a myriad of reasons, including the fact that superstition when taken too far can be dangerous and because it can imply that one has a god complex. Again, see point 3 for info on capital punishment. 

We need to start commenting under other people's posts about how to properly warn for flashing lights and eyestrain. We need to be emailing and calling companies about their possibly triggering advertisements that could induce seizures. We need to stop tolerating ableism and start speaking up for the more vulnerable.

Also, stop putting epilepsy warnings. That's like saying "warning: schizophrenia" on a post including unreality or "warning: dyslexia" on a post with a typing quirk. First off, the disability mentioned isn't the only group of people that this could trigger. Second, it doesn't truly get the message across and instead makes it worse for those with the disability-- scrolling through the epilepsy tag on Tumblr should get you to view the content of other epileptic people, but no, you just get a bunch of flashing lights and eyestrain, even though you could instead tag for, oh I dunno, flashing lights and eyestrain.