My thoughts and art

Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless has his own language. It’s a simple enough language once you learn the basics.  Here are a few translations of Morpheus to English…

_______________ 

“Perhaps.” - Yes.  Definitely yes.  Yes, but I don’t want to actually say the word “Yes” to this for various reasons, usually out of pride, sometimes something else, but usually pride.

“You dare…” - The Morpheus equivalent of “I can’t even…” or various swear words.

“I did not need rescuing.” - Thank you for rescuing me.

“I was doing perfectly well on my own.”  - I was NOT doing perfectly well on my own.  I was in deep shit.

“I believe I was quite capable, given enough time, of rescuing myself.” - I have no idea how I was going to get out of that…

“Petty hedge-magick.” - (Actual meaning: Novice or amateur spellcasting.) Morpheus meaning:  Something I woefully under-estimate. 

“…help me… …please…” - I am weak, defenseless, and completely at your mercy and if you nurse me back to health we shall never speak of this again and no one else will ever hear those words uttered from me. I am going to lose consciousness now.  Bye. 

“After a fashion, I can.” - It’ll happen.  Might take me a few decades but it’ll happen. I can do it.  I will do it.  But I’ll be lazy about it.  Don’t rush me.

“I mislike (insert random thing here)” - I hate this thing!

“I feel cold.” or “It is cold.” - I am traumatized by what is currently happening.

“What could possibly go wrong?”  - Equitable to Sarah saying “It’s a piece of cake.” in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth.   He might as well say “Everything is about to go very, very, very, wrong.”  

“I am perfectly self-sufficient.”  - Oh, God, I am so lonely!  Please, hold me.

_______________________________  

Bonus:

Daniel:

“I walked.” - You REALLY want me to sit here and explain the mechanics of interdimensional travel to you right here and now?  No.  This is easier.  And technically true.

“Time to go for a walk.” - I have a mission. (or) I have to set right one of Morpheus’ many f–k ups.  Keep supper heated for me until I get back.  Also I’m being cryptic because of wibbly wobbly Timey Wimey… stuff. 

“Eat the rich” means 1%ers and billionaires

middle class is closer to poverty than being a multimillionaire

“The rich” does NOT include children of billionaires (come on we’re at least slightly better than the plagues of Egypt)

Upper middle class children SHOULD NOT feel guilt over having money

Being aware of privilege and using your privilege to help others IS NOT a guilt trip

Constantly feeling guilty helps no one

Billionaires, however, should feel guilty over hoarding wealth.

Upper middle class is NOT rich

Black Lives Matter

           2/2 so I was wondering if large birds just hate human transportation or something haha. Thanks for your post, very interesting.            

(In reference to a comment I made about kayaks being incredibly rude in Swan Culture)

I’ve been looking at my inbox like “I am not some kind of ECCENTRIC BIRD WHISPERER,” but I actually know the answer to this one, and it’s hilarious.

Large birds don’t have a particular hateboner for human transportation, but wild turkeys have two unique properties that make them behave ridiculously when they collide with human populations. For those who aren’t familiar with them, wild turkeys are large, boisterous birds that tend to interact with humans most frequently around the autumn which is convenient for Thanksgiving and mating season in early spring. Most of the time, they live peaceable lives in the woods, but around November they run around in flocks bothering innocent citizens and picking fights with vending machines, and then they usually go away again.

The toms, or dominant males, can stand up to 4 feet tall and weigh up to 24 pounds. They’re the ones that do the fancy displays:

The First Unique Turkey Property: Now, wild turkeys are a little bit like betta fish, in that they perceive any shiny/reflective surface that shows them a reflection as actually containing Another Turkey, and they react accordingly. When they react to the Other Turkey - usually by posturing aggressively and flaring their fins feathers majestically - the Other Turkey ESCALATES THE SITUATION by posturing as well. At some point the real turkey loses its temper and attacks, pecking and scratching and trying to take the fucker apart, only to find that the Other Turkey has protected itself with some kind of force field.

So to a wild turkey that has encountered enough autumnal car-related psychic battles, the completely logical conclusion to take away from them is that cars contain demonic spirits that must be subdued. Other examples of things that wild turkeys are compelled to vanquish include… well, other reflective things.

To address this, cover reflective things (you can rub soap on your car to make it less reflective) and frighten off the turkey if it’s keeping you from leaving your car.

The Second Unique Turkey Property: This is a little bit embarrassing for all concerned, but you have to think about it like a turkey would. You see, humans are oddly compelling creatures to a hormonal turkey. We have bare faces with interestingly positioned lumps of flesh, we gobble our speech in a way that almost sounds like Turkey, we strut about on two feet showing off our long sexy legs, we strut about in family groups, we often have access to really good food, our clothing is big and bright and colorful. Turkey faces change color with their mood; human faces are all kinds of fascinating colors, plus additional fantastic decorations. To wild turkeys, humans are a type of turkey, and further: many humans are either Intimidating Sexual Threats, or Exciting Sexual Beings. 

Now, I am very sorry about this, but not only can wild turkeys be kind of reverse furries, they also have unexpected ideas about gender and sexuality. So to some female turkeys, “male” humans are excitingly sexy and they will follow one around for embarrassingly long periods of time, cooing attractively - meanwhile, the tom turkey and the subordinate males will be OUTRAGED by the COMPETITION presented by the interloper, and will attempt to subdue “him.” And “female” humans are likewise at risk of being passionately seduced by the dominant toms, or quietly propositioned by subordinate males - or the females may attempt to recruit you into their existing social system - as a junior member, of course. They have a strict pecking order.

Unfortunately for humans, your preferred gender may not necessarily actually translate to the gender that turkeys decide you are. And some turkeys may decide you’re “male” while others will decide that you’re “female,” so that will be confusing, and some dominant female turkeys have “male” sexual traits - like beards and tail fans - anyway. They recognize and remember humans, so if you had a particularly exciting encounter with a specific turkey, it will probably remember you.

Also unfortunately for humans, the fine distinctions between Turkey Seduction, Turkey Competition, and Turkey Networking are usually a little bit lost, and all of this behavior seems to be the same thing - it mostly consists of a large dinosaur-like bird trotting at you, possibly screaming and pecking and flapping, and can be worrying. If you are in the car and the turkey can see you, and it wishes to continue a previous encounter, it may well insist upon this in a frightening way.

Turkeys don’t give a shit about human “gender” and “authority,” as the many available videos on the internet of turkeys attacking police officers, reporters and mailmen will assure you. They just make logical decisions that are perfectly natural and reasonable to turkeys, and humans react by running away.

So what do you do about this? Well, DO NOT RUN AWAY, this means you that you are a Submissive Turkey and their behavior will escalate. Turkeys can learn the meaning of “no,” and you don’t have to be bullied by them.

The Humane Society has some tips to establish Dominance over wild turkeys, which will lead them to see you as a Strong Independent Turkey Who Don’t Need No Man. This will reduce their attacking and nuisance behaviors, but it may make you look like a fool.

And the Massachusetts Fish and Game website has a huge resource explaining all the subtleties of wild turkey behavior and how to combat the nuisances. Essentially, you must not attempt to make friends with them or attract them; once they arrive, you must “be bold” and establish Dominance, and encourage everyone to do the same.

If the turkeys are aggressive around children and the elderly, all sources agree that if they become a danger, you can contact the relevant authorities and have the turkeys removed or destroyed.

Anyway, that’s why turkeys attack cars. The take-home message is: the cars are too shiny and you are possibly a sexy turkey.

IT’S THE THRASHING/PADDLING MOSTLY

AND THE BODY LANGUAGE

you just look like you’re flapping towards the swan with Filthy Intent, going extremely fast, skimming over the water and flailing your wings around threateningly, which in Swan is shaped like the beginning of a territorial charge, so they go “TIME TO FIGHT BITCH”

How much do swans hate kayaks?

in 2012 in Chicago an imported mute swan straight-up killed a man in a kayak. Plot twist: the man was his own caretaker.

Asbo, a UK mute swan who actively attacked boaters in Cambridge until he threatened tourism, was eventually removed from the river… to be replaced by his son “Asboy”, First Of His Name, who continues his father’s legacy.

Tyson, a UK mute swan of the Grand Union Canal, also chases kayaks fiercely enough to warrant news coverage - although the “chase scenes” aren’t actually that scary. Here he is doing a territorial charge.

See when Tyson moves from busking (holding up his wings and padding menacingly) to a full on flying charge, with his wings pumping up and down? That’s what kayaks look like they’re doing when they paddle towards him. Swans are territorial (they firmly believe that they own property) and this charge would indicate that he is being directly challenged for possession of his property. Since some male swans are willing to defend their property to the point of death, this is Problematic during kayak season.

Also, swans just hate kayaks. Canoes are a little better and powered boats don’t bother them (many of them genuinely like powered boats and recognize friendly ones.)

This was related on boater social media: a well-known lady who has a garden that backs onto the canal made friends with a swan family. Sadly, the pen (female) died, leaving the cob (male) as a single parent. Now, that cob is renowned for disliking kayaks and canoes, and with several rambunctious youngsters to raise, he often forgot his parenting duties in the thrill of seeing them off - or he’d have to compromise his chasing to go back and protect his babies. Anyway, one day there was a kayak race and a constant stream of kayaks went shooting through his territory. Within a few hours of “seeing off” the flow of invaders while also protecting his babies from them, cob exhausted himself completely. He gathered up his babies and dragged them up the bank and into her garden, where he presented the brood to the lady, and then passed out on her patio. She entertained the babies - and apparently had a lapful of napping baby swans for a few hours - until the cob woke up and felt ready to cope. Thankfully the race was over.

That cob has a new mate now so hopefully she won’t be called upon to babysit again.

Human: … Spin?

However, they only have teeth on thier bottom jaw!  they have corresponding holes in their top jaw for the teeth to lock into, which makes hanging onto a slippery, boneless squid:

It should be noted that the human here isn’t in particular danger of being eaten on purpose, but an accidental swing of it’s multi-ton head, a clip from the teeth, or being directly in the line of it’s sonar could seriously injure or kill them- Divers that have been in the direct line of echolocation for a sperm whale calf have described being hit with the soundwave like “being kicked by a horse” and some have suffered internal organ damage.  Sperm whales, like other large whales, aren’t particularly aggressive towards humans, but they are still very large wild animals who behave in unpredictable ways.

Waffle House is one of the few chains in America that’s open 24/7/365, and where you can get both breakfast and lunch/dinner options at any time (I have had so many Breakfast Cheeseburgers at Waffle Houses). The food is really good, and people eat there at all times of the day or night, but it’s particularly popular as a late-night post-drinking spot because it’s all that’s open and it’s the kind of food that tastes especially good when you’re hammered.

Part of Waffle House Protocol is that all the servers and cooks greet every single customer as they come through the door. It sounds lame, but I’ve never been to a Waffle House where that greeting didn’t feel completely heartfelt. My mom is a health nut who could barely find anything on the menu she was willing to eat and yet she describes the Christmas Day lunch we had there one year as one of the nicest meals she’s ever had because everyone was so warm and welcoming. That sense of camaraderie gets turned up to 11, of course, at 2 a.m. when everyone’s shitfaced.

The jukeboxes have Waffle-House-themed songs on them (once you have heard “Raisins in my Toast” you will be earwormed forever) and there is an arcane system of hash brown ordering: scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, topped, diced, peppered, and/or capped. The hot sauce bottles say “Casa de Waffle.” 

Once, in Oxford (UK), my husband and I walked past a kebab van very late one night and he said “why do I smell Waffle House”

The location of most Waffle Houses means there’s some… classism that tends to get tied up with Anti-Waffle House Discourse, which is probably lending itself, in part, to this being such a fraught topic. (I’m looking at a map and apparently I was born and raised right in the middle of the Peak Waffle House Density Zone)

And you can tell it’s still bad because they’ve put Ceiling High Plastic Dividers between every booth and blocked off all but like 2 tables at the counter and after a certain point at night? It’s carry-out only. Period. No exceptions.

Anyone who wants to tell you we are fine? I will post pictures of Waffle House not being fully functional 24/7 and go “no we’re not.”

So I’m between night shifts and need to go to sleep, but let me try to address this point by point and you can tl;dr to the boldface if that helps, I know it’s a wall of font.

I understand that, especially in a time when a pandemic is a huge cultural focus, things that are scary and sound very bad stick in the mind a lot more, so let me say: i get why you feel the way you do.  Humans are programmed to be cautious first and foremost, because Survival, haha.  So!  I’m sorry you’re scared.  I definitely get that.

The paralysis you’re talking about is a condition called Guillan-Barre syndrome--obviously a severe side effect, and one that’s very frightening to read about, although as I look into it the numbers I’m seeing for total recovery seem optimistic in the 70-80% range.  Notably, though, vaccines only account for a small fraction of GBS cases--certain kinds of food poisoning, or even the flu itself, are much more likely to trip it off.

((For more data about vaccines and GBS with a long list of cited sources and studies, the CDC has a page about this specific concern [here]))

RE: side effects in general...I’m always torn how to respond to concerns about side effects, because obviously however safe things are I can’t say 100% nothing bad will ever happen.  But as quickly as the news about these vaccines has moved forward, the process behind them has been in the works for much longer, and even if they roll out in January as planned, they’ll have months of clinical trials behind them.

Regardless...lemme be real with you, chief.  Compared to something that was intentionally engineered to be as helpful and safe as possible?  This virus scares me a WHOLE lot more.  Just in the last few days, I know three different people who have lost family members to COVID, in two cases from COVID-induced pneumonia and one from a thrown blood clot that led to a heart attack.  My hospital has two full ICUs and three nursing floors packed with corona patients; several hundred of our caregivers are out quarantined with it, including a coworker and friend of mine in her 20s who had to go to the ER a few days ago because she could barely walk across a room without getting winded.

It wraps all around our house through the rooms and under the trees and it’s wonderful.

Every year she hides the Christmas Vampire

This started when I was a very small got child and spread to all of my friends, including my best friend from elementary school who I just so happened to grow up and marry. Now that we have grown up and moved nearly 600 miles away we still always go home for a week at Christmas for multiple reasons, including the Christmas Vampire.

Needless to say we still partake and things have gotten heated.

Stay tuned for the epic conclusion and to see my husband and father in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s sooty costume when I find the Christmas Vampire First!

Bad news for trans kids in this country.

truely a sad day for trans rights in the UK.

I hope that entitled bitch is proud of herself, punishing and potentially killing others because SHE regrets a decision she made with full consent.

what a selfish cruel thing to do.

I will never forgive her.

She has blood on her hands.

What’s also alarming is the judge declaring that 14-15 year olds cannot consent to puberty blockers because they “can’t understand the implications”. Replace “puberty blocker” with “contraceptive pill” or “abortion” or “morning after pill” and you see why real feminists are extremely alarmed.

If a 15 year old can’t give informed consent to puberty blockers, how can they give informed consent for any other medical interventions?

The lawyer who supported Bell and this awful mother has gone on record saying he wants to tear down Gillick competency https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system/gillick-competence-fraser-guidelines#heading-top, which is the protection in place that allows kids under the age of 16 to consent to things like contraception and abortions and so on without parental consent or knowledge. It specifically exists to PROTECT vulnerable young people and allows doctors and other professionals to give them the support and treatment they need even if it goes against parental wishes and gives them the right to confidentiality and privacy.

It literally PROTECTS girls and yet the terfs happily employed a man who is pro life and wants to destroy those rights.

This ruling has specifically gone on record saying that 14-15 year olds are “unlikely” to “understand the long term risks” which is one of the Gillick competency tests “ their understanding of the risks, implications and consequences that may arise from their decision “. A judge has stated that anyone under 16 cannot do this, thus anyone under 16 is immediately according to this ruling “not gillick compentent” so incapable of accessing any of the treatments they’d need INCLUDING contraception, support for substance abuse and even getting help with getting away from abusive home situations.

These cultists don’t want to protect women and girls at all, they never have and they never will. All they care about is hurting trans people and they’ll trample over everyone else and erode the rights of their own children to do it.

it’s fucking twisted and demented and just flat out fucking evil.

“Yes good”

“AND EAT THE BAD ONES”

“Wait no”

“EAT THEM”

You better watch out

You better watch out

https://makeamazonpay.com

Original post can be found here.

Slide 1: White text on black background. White star of David in the corner. In all caps: “Why is it so Scary to be a Jew Right Now”

Slide 2: White background with a large Venn diagram. Top text reads: “There is hate coming from all sides right now and no one is even trying to hide it”

Below this text is a four circle Venn diagram.

Top Circle: “Nation of Islam: Louis Farrakhan and his followers who call us “satanic termites””

Left Circle: “Far Left: Anti-Zionists believe we’re all racist imperialists and blame us for the Israeli government”

Right Circle: “Far Right: White supremacists are “racist” against us (even though Judaism is not a race)”

Bottom Circle: ““Mainstream Antisemitism: your everyday bigot Holocaust deniers. “Jews control the world”“

The middle overlap between all four circles reads: “have openly said they want me dead” and the other overlaps repeat this same message but broken up to a couple of words per overlap.

Slide 3: White background with a bar graph. Top text reads: “We are grossly outnumbered" Text continues down the right side: “The combined IG followings of 5 of the most vocal celebrities spreading dangerous antisemitism this month outnumber the total US Jewish population by OVER 7 to 1. (Stephen Jackson, Desean Jackson, Ice Cube, Nick Cannon, Diddy). Ice Cube and Diddy alone have each spread antisemitism to more followers than there are Jews in the ENTIRE WORLD. We literally can’t do this alone.”

The bar graph to the left of the text compares the Instagram followings of the above celebrities (in red) with the world Jewish population (in grey).

Left column: “Four [sic] Vocal Celebrity Instagram Followings

Stephen Jackson 89.3K

Desean Jackson 1.4 mil

Nick Cannon 4.9 million

Ice Cube 17.8 million

Diddy 17.1 million”

(The column continues to the top of the slide, with Diddy’s follow count presumably running over the top)

Right column: “Entire World Jewish Population

Total US Jews 5.7 million

Jews of the Rest of the World 9 million

Total: 14.7 million”

(This column reaches less than half of the visible left column)

Slide 4: large red number and smaller white text on the red background.

“2107 hate crimes against Jews reported by the ADL in 2009. The highest # of hate crimes since they started recording in 1979.”

Slide 5: White background with two pie charts. Top Text reads: “Jews make up just 2% of the U.S. population...” Bottom text reads: “...But were victims of 57.8% of all religion-based hate crimes in 2018. (The next highest is anti-Islam at 14.5%)”

The pie charts are black with copper slices

Top chart: compares total US population with Jewish population using statistic above. “Jews” is a tiny tiny sliver of the larger “Rest of US Population”

Bottom chart: compares hate crime percentages from above. “Hate Crimes Against Jews” takes up more than half of the chart compared to “All Other Religion Based Hate Crimes”

Slide 6: Title is white text black background, rest is white background. Title reads: “If it’s such a big deal why aren’t more people talking about it?”

1. “They’re scared.

For non-Jews, vocalizing support of Jewish people feels vulnerable and unsafe. What will people think of me? Will it look like I’m taking away from another movement? Will it change how people perceive me politically? Will people think I don’t care about Palestinians?

For Jews, standing up for ourselves is vulnerable and unsafe. Will people believe me? Will my coworkers judge me? Will people equate me with the Israeli government? Will I lose friends, respect? Will people see me differently? Will people think I’m taking away from another movement? Will people think I’m being dramatic?

2. They don’t want to.

A lot of non-Jews don’t want to talk about it because it doesn’t effect them. Others don’t want to talk about it because they believe what they’re hearing is “the truth”. And some, frankly, just don’t care.

For Jews, talking about it can feel like a lost cause -- “They’ve hated us for thousands of years and are going to hate us anyways so why bother”. For others, it is simply too painful.”

Slide 7: Black background. Large white text reads “Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it either. But if I don’t call out antisemitism, who will? Sadly I am afraid to know the answer to that question. And that is exactly why it’s so scary to be a Jew right now.”

Slide 8: Red background. White text in quotation marks reads: “If we’re going to be outraged by injustice, let’s be outraged by injustice against anyone. -Kareem Abdul-Jabbar”

Slide 9: Red background. White title text reads “ What Can You Do?”

“Non-Jews: We’re not asking for much. Call it out. Make it clear you stand against all hate. Believe us. Be open to learning, growing, and questioning what you’ve been taught.

Jews: Speak up. While you’re standing up for everyone else, don’t forget to stand up for yourself. Very few others are.”