but lets not forget sergei prokudin-gorskiy, who developed a similar process in 1902, published in 1903 and then toured russia to take hundreds of color photographs:

More TMI - I passed a MASSIVE clot after my fourth birth. At this point I already knew this could happen - it’s normal. What I DIDN’T know, was that I had caused it.

My post birth contractions were so bad after the birth that it felt like full transition labor. And they don’t give you anything for the pain. So I used a hot water bottle, without the nurses knowing, and it caused me to bleed even more. I lost so much blood that by the first time they sat me up to go to the bathroom, I fainted. It took three more tries until I could sit up.

Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is, the next morning I passed a clot the SIZE OF ANOTHER PLACENTA I KID YOU NOT, and I know what is and is not normal. So I called for the nurse and through the door told her I had passed a huge clot, and her response was - “It’s not big. I know what big is.” She hadn’t even looked. So I rolled my eyes and said, “Yeah, no. It’s big, I’m telling you.”

So, sounding extremely put upon, she asked me to open the door. I did, and after a long pause she goes, “Okay, yeah, that’s a little big.”

YOU DON’T SAY.

The point I’m trying to get across is that this shit is so common - women not knowing this stuff is so expected, and it keeps getting reinforced. People don’t expect you to know anything, don’t teach you anything, and then make you feel like you’re totally ignorant and a burden for your lack of knowledge when THEY WON’T SHARE.

Fucking learn EVERYTHING you can when it comes to childbirth, girls. It is the single most empowering thing you can do for yourself. And if you missed something, that’s okay. But the more knowledge you arm yourself with, the more in control of your situation you’ll be.

A few post partum tips:

DON’T use a hot water bottle - lol.

ONLY pads - NO tampons. Tampons can cause severe infection, not to mention, you probably don’t want to be shoving anything up there any time soon.

If you’ve had stitches, sitz baths DO help relieve the pain. Another great pain reliever? Dampen some pads and freeze them. Let one thaw slightly and use it on top of another pad. This will help with the pain as well as reduce swelling. Change the pad out as soon as it’s thawed completely. This REALLY helps on the first couple days after giving birth.

If you pass a clot, don’t sweat it. Even the one I passed, which was fucking massive, just required that we keep an eye out to make sure it didn’t happen again. If it does, talk to your doctor.

Take a pain killer half an hour before nursing. Because YES - your uterus is contracting after you give birth, to get back to its original size, and nursing causes much stronger contractions. Taking nursing-safe painkillers won’t prevent the pain, but it will reduce it. 

Buy disposable underwear for the first few days after birth. They will get VERY dirty. Or use your ratty old pairs that you’re ready to get rid of. Double up on pads - line them all the way up your ass-crack. I am so serious. And wear dark pants.

Pee in the shower. You do NOT want to wipe down there right after birth because ow. Peeing in the shower lets you just rinse afterwards. Especially if you’ve had stitches, peeing in the shower, with the shower-head rinsing AS you go, keeps stinging to a minimum. And fuck everyone else - keep on peeing in the shower until you feel ready to move back to toilet paper. Middle of the night and need to pee? Get your pants off - get in the shower and just go.

IME bags of frozen peas in your underwear with proper covering (you don’t want to get frostbite) are the best sort of cold compress.

Those contractions during nursing?  They are v v important.  They shrink your uterus, helping your body get back to normal faster (and helping you pass blood quicker).  They hurt.  Keep drinking red raspberry leaf tea (which hopefully you drank during your third trimester).  It should help not only with the contractions, but with your milk supply as well.  Take a nursing-safe NSAID if you can.

REST.  I know this is especially hard for people who are already parents, for poor folk, for people with a ton of responsibilities in general.   This is when you call in the cavalry, if you’re lucky enough to have support.  FRIENDS AND FAM of birthing persons, leave the parent alone with their baby.  Do a load of dishes.  Pick up.  Check to make sure the parent has their baby supplies handy (as in, within reach).  Bring them food.  The more they rest, the faster their body heals, and the shorter the bleeding period will be.  If it tapers off and then ramps back up, YOU’RE DOING TOO MUCH.  Slow down.  This is the perfect time to learn that, as a parent, you can’t do it all.  Always prioritise your kid.  If there’s one time you’re allowed to just let shit go, it’s during your babymoon.  (Google is telling me babymoon now means a trip you take with your partner before you have your baby.  What.  No.  “Babymoon” means the first week after your birth.  When the hell did that switch happen?)   REST.  REST.  HOLD YOUR BABY.  SLEEP.  NURSE.  EAT.  This bonding time is imperative.  You and your baby deserve this time.

My first pregnancy/child birth was a nightmare and most of it wasn’t even from lack of knowledge, but because I didn’t expect, or demand respect.

My second, while still painful and bloody and I only had 4 weeks of maternity leave (vs the near year I was home with the first), was not traumatic and even helped heal some of the trauma from the previous one.

Shortly after the success of The Buddy Program, Parton learned in dealing with teachers from the school district that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different developmental levels. That year The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.

During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995: The idea being that children from her rural hometown and low-income families often start school at a disadvantage and as a result, will be unfairly compared to their peers for the rest of their lives, effectively encouraging them not to pursue higher education. The objective of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free of charge. What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, mailing thousands of free books to children around the world monthly.

On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of “Coat of Many Colors” dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write.

Are y'all high?

Bruce 

- an average human dude - has no superpowers to speak of - trained fighting for like, 10, 20 years tops - uses fancy but breakable human-made gadgets

Diana

- literally a deity - “only a god can kill another god” - trained fighting for 500 to 2,000 years (depending on who you ask) under Antiope, the greatest general in the history of a legendary warrior race - can fly - can literally level a building with a single punch - can control lightning - able to take punches by someone capable of crumbling a gun with their bare hands - can toss a tank with her bare hands like it’s nbd - has magical weapons originally made for & owned by gods

Being a man doesn’t give you the ability to defeat a deity who’s trained for centuries under the best of the best, has magic powers, and magic weapons, you twats.

1. …Did you actually read my original post? At all?

I’m perfectly aware of Batman’s fighting abilities and tactical skills. 

However, you’re blatantly ignoring the fact that while Bruce is “an expert in all forms of martial arts [and] a master tactician” SO IS DIANA. 

What’s more, you’re also ignoring the fact that Diana has trained for between 25 to 100 times longer than Bruce has, and under MUCH more qualified and skilled tutors than the League of Shadows could ever hope to be in their wildest dreams.

Like I point out in my original post, Bruce has trained for maybe 20 years under the instruction of some rando ninja assassins. 

Diana trained for 500-2,000 years (depending on which version of her you’re going with), and her instructor was either the greatest general in history or War itself. And you can bet your ass her training included tactical planning.

As Batman once put it, “she’s skilled… a warrior born”.

So in arguing that “he could beat her because of his training” what you’re saying is that a man with only 20 years of training could beat someone who’s trained between 25 to 100 times longer than he has. 

That makes as much sense as saying a guy with no training whatsoever could beat Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. 

“if anyone has a weakness he knows it, and he has contingency plans for all members of the justice leagues”

HE LOST

BADLY

NO

No he’s not

Clark has studied the science of a planet that is MILLIONS of years more advanced than earth

Diana comes from a culture where they can cure all injuries and disease with a magic ray and build invisible jets 

Cyborg can literally access all human knowledge just by Googling with his Brain

Barry can read at super speed and learn any skill he needs in a second

Bruce…is a man who spends most of his time in a cave and throws exploding knives at people

Batman is perfectly good at what he does in Gotham, but people acting like he’s somehow better than the rest of the Justice League is just….PAINFULLY ridiculous

“kill it,” the captain says, but the ice is melting in his eyes.

“we can’t,” the first mate says desperately, praying she won’t have to fight her captain on this. “we can’t. we - i won’t. we won’t.”

“i know.”

x

“daddy,” she says, floating in a tub of seawater in the hold, “daddy, la-la, la-la-la.”

her voice rings like bells. her accent is strange; her mouth isn’t made for human words. it mesmerises even the hardiest amongst them and she wasn’t even trying. the crew has taken to diving for shellfish near the shorelines for her; she loves them, splitting the shells apart with strength seen in no human toddler, slurping down the slimy molluscs inside and laughing, all plump brown cheeks and needle-sharp teeth. she sometimes splashes them for fun with her smooth, rubbery brown tail. even when they get soaked they laugh. they love her.

“daddy,” she calls again, and he can hear the worry in her voice. the storm rocking the ship is harsh and uncaring, and if they go down, she would be the only survivor.

“don’t worry,” he says, and goes over, sitting next to the tub. the first mate, leaning against the wall, pretends not to notice as he quietly begins to sing.

x

“father,” she says, one day, as she leans on the edge of the dock and the captain sits next to her, “why am I here?”

“your mother abandoned you,” he says, as he always has. “we found you adrift, and couldn’t bear to leave you there.”

she picks at the salt-soaked boards, uncertain. her hair is pulled back in a fluffy black puff, the white linen holding it slipping almost over one of her dark eyes. one of her first tattoos, a many-limbed kraken, curls over her right shoulder and down her arm, delicate tendrils wrapped around her calloused fingertips. “alright,” she says.

x

“why am I really here?” she asks the first mate, watching the sun set over the water in streaks of liquid metal that pooled in the troughs of the waves and glittered on the seafoam.

“we didn’t know any better,” the first mate says, staring into the water. “we didn’t know- we didn’t know anything. we didn’t understand why she fought so viciously to guard her treasure. we could not know she protected something a thousand times more precious than the purest gold.”

she wants to be furious, but she can’t. she already knew the answer, from reading the guilt in her father’s eyes and the empty space in her own history. and she can’t hate her family.

“it’s alright,” she says. “i do have a family, anyways. i don’t think i would have liked my other life near as much.”

x

her kraken grows, spreading its tendrils over her torso and arms. she grows too, too large to come on board the ship without being hauled up in a boat from the water. she sings when the storms come and swims before the ship to guide it to safety. she fights off more than one beast of the seas, and gathers a set of scars across her back that she bears with pride. “i don’t mind,” she says, when the captain fusses over her, “now i match all of you.”

the first time their ship is threatened, really threatened, is by another fleet. a friend turned enemy of the first mate. “we shouldn’t fight him,” she says, peering through the spyglass.

“why not?” the mermaid asks.

“he’ll win,” the first mate says.

the mermaid tips her head sideways. Her eyes, dark as the deep waters, gleam in the noon light. “are you sure?” she asks.

x

the enemy fleet surrenders after the flagship is sunk in the night, the anchor ripped off the ship and the planks torn off the hull. the surviving crew, wild-eyed and delirious, whimper and say a sea serpent came from the water and attacked them, say it was longer than the boat and crushed it in its coils. the first mate hears this and has to hide her laughter. the captain apologizes to his daughter for doubting her.

“don’t worry,” she says, with a bright laugh, “it was fun.”

x

the second time, they are pushed by a storm into a royal fleet. they can’t possibly fight them, and they don’t have the time to escape.

“let me up,” the mermaid urges, surfacing starboard and shouting to the crew. “bring me up, quickly, quickly.”

they lower the boat and she piles her sinous form into it, and uses her claws to help the crew pull her up. once on the deck she flops out of the boat and makes her way over to the bow. the crew tries to help but she’s so heavy they can barely lift parts of her.

she crawls up out in front of the rail and wraps her long webbed tail around the prow. the figurehead has served them well so far but they need more right now. she wraps herself around the figurehead and raises her body up into the wind takes a breath of the stinging salt air and sings.

the storm carries her voice on its front to the royal navy. they are enchanted, so stunned by her song that they drop the rigging ropes and let the tillers drift. the pirates sail through the center of the fleet, trailing the storm behind them, and by the time the fleet has managed to regain its senses they are buried in wind and rain and the pirates are gone.

x

she declines guns. instead she carries a harpoon and its launcher, and uses them to board enemy ships, hauling her massive form out of the water to coil on the deck and dispatch enemies with ruthless efficiency. her family is feared across all the sea.

x

“you know we are dying,” the captain says, looking down at her.

she floats next to the ship, so massive she could hold it in her arms. her eyes are wise.

“i know,” she says, “i can feel it coming.”

the first mate stands next to the captain. she never had a lover or a child, and neither did he, but to the mermaid they are her parents. she will always love her daughter. the tattoos are graven in dark swirls across the mermaid’s deep brown skin and the flesh of her tail, even spiraling onto the spiked webbing on her spine and face. her hair is still tied back, this time with a sail that could not be patched one last time.

“we love you,” the first mate says simply, looking down. her own tightly coiled black hair falls in to her face; she shakes the locs out of the way and smiles through her tears. the captain pretends he isnt crying either.

“i love you too,” the mermaid says, and reached up to pull the ship down just a bit, just to hold them one last time.

“guard the ship,” the captain says. “you always have but you know they’re lost without you.”

“without you,” the mermaid corrects, with a shrug that makes waves. “what will we do?”

“i don’t know,” the captain says. “but you’ll help them, won’t you?”

“of course i will,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes. “i will always protect my family.”

x

the captain and the first mate are gone. the ship has a new captain, young and fearless - of the things she can afford to disregard. she fears and loves the ocean, as all captains do. she does not fear the royal fleet. and she does not fear the mermaid.

“you know, i heard stories about you when i was a little girl,” she says, trailing her fingers in the water next to the dock.

the mermaid stares at her with one eye the size of a dinner table. “is that so?” she hums, smirking with teeth sharper than the swords of the entire navy.

“they said you could sink an entire fleet and that you had skin tougher than dragon scales,” the new captain says, grinning right back at the monster who could eat her without a moment’s hesitation. “i always thought they were telling tall tales.”

“and now?”

“they were right,” the new captain says. “how did they ever befriend you?”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22498384/chapters/53760817

Krita is a painting program that has been around for a while, and in the last few years, underwent major changes and improvements.  Because of these improvements, many artists are using it not just because it is free, but because it offers amazing features.  These are by no means all of the great things Krita has to offer, but simply some of my favorite features of the program.

1. The Brush Engines.

Yes, engines.  As in plural.  There are many.  And they all do different things.  There is no way you could possibly capture all of its possibilities with one screen shot, but here are just some of the possibilities. Along side standard round, square, and shape, and textured brushes, there are brushes that smear, blend, and create interesting abstract strokes.  There are brushes for filters, and one of my favorites, the Experiment Brush, which is basically a pre-filled lasso tool. 

Brushes also support weighted smoothing, or brush stabilizers.

This is incredibly useful for line art.  And while I do not usually use this feature, it is something that I feel many programs are lacking, such as Photoshop.

But its brushes aren’t the only thing about Krita with variety.

2. Color Selector Customization. 

Whether you prefer something basic, or something more complicated, Krita will likely have what youre looking for.  You are not likely to find yourself missing your other program’s color wheels.  There are even more options than this, and other color selectors.

Gotta love that customization.

Krita also has some great naviation tools.

3. On the fly rotation, zoom, and brush sizing.

With krita, zooming, rotating, and brush size scaling are all smooth, and dynamic with the use of hot keys.  These are features I miss when in other programs.  To zoom, Ctrl+Middle mouse button, hover over the screen to zoom in and out.  The same with shift rotates (press the ‘5’ key to reset rotation).  Holding down shift and draging your brush on the canvas dynamically changes its size, allowing you to see the change, and get the exact size you want without brackets. Brackets also work, if that’s what you are used to.  Krita also has highly customizable hot keys.

4. The Pop Up Pallet

The pop up pallet is a set of your 10 favorite brushes (which you can edit), and a built in color wheel that appears when you right click on the canvas.  It is incredibly useful for switching between those few brushes that you use in almost every picture.

5.  Real time, seamless tiles creation.

Pressing the W key in Krita will infinitely tile your canvas, and allow you to work real time on simple to complex tiled images.  You can zoom in and out to see how your tiles work form a distance, and paint freely to create seamless artwork easily, without having to check using filters and manually tiling. Very usefull for patterns, backgrounds, and games.

6. The Symmetry Tool

This one goes without saying, Krita supports both horizontal and vertical symmetry, along with a brush that is capable of radial symmtry with as many directions as you like.

Go nuts, kid.

There are many more reasons why this program is awesome.  And it is only going to get more awesome.  And the coolest thing about it, is that it is 100% free.  So go check it out!  There’s nothing to lose. Krita isn’t for everyone, it can be hard to get the hang of, and it is not meant for photo editing, it is a program completely focused on digital painting from start to finish. 

Here’s a whole list of free/open source art programs I’ve compiled: Free & Open Source Art Programs  

Thanks for reading! If this post helped, please consider reblogging it or sharing it with your friends! ❤️

this is especially for the white members of this rpc, please use this as a chance to educate yourselves on how you can unlearn ignorant & racist behaviors. these are just some sources i’ve found, but there are plenty out there for you to look at which i actively encourage you do. i ALSO HIGHLY ENCOURAGE PPL TO SHARE THIS OUTSIDE THEIR RP BLOGS, if you have a non rp blog, other social media, etc, please feel more than welcome to share this around and especially share this information with your other white friends / family / acquaintances.

WHITE PEOPLE, ENOUGH: look at power and control. this women goes into a tedtalk about systematic power and control, and calls to white people to stop writing off and dismissing important discussions on race.

HOW TO BE AN ALLY— DON’T.  she talks about when white “allys” get too overzealous and self proclaim themselves as allys despite making the narrative about themselves, speaking over black voices, and what better approaches you can take to support black lives.

ON PRIVILEGE same girl as above breaks down what privilege is, how people respond to realizing they have privilege, the knee jerk reaction of guilt, why you shouldn’t fall into guilt, and what you can do to use your privilege to support marginalized groups.

HOW RACIST ARE YOU: Jane Elliott’s blue eyes/brown eyes exercise. it tackles the topic of ignorance and oppression, and exposes internalized racist or ignorant behaviors in these adult people. it is a tense and difficult video to watch (esp if you are white), but it’s a good exercise for challenging your own views and ignorance. here’s another video where she does the exercise on college students. 

10 WAYS TO SUPPORT THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT. this article has lots of helpful information for how you can be supportive of the movement as a white person.

other ways that you can start unlearning ignorance that i can just list off the top of my head:

self evaluate. does the topic of racism and black oppression make you uncomfortable? do you get defensive, anxious, or tune out of conversations when it comes up? that’s a big red flag right there and it’s time to challenge that behavior.

listen. when someone calls you out on your behavior, something you said, something you did, whatever it is, LISTEN TO THEM. white people can never understand what it’s like to be in a PoC’s / black person’s shoes, so we are BOUND to make mistakes that will be insensitive, dismissive, and ignorant. the best thing you can do is recognize your mistake, listen to someone who is calling you out on it, apologize, and correct your behavior. here is a good video that talks about how to handle getting called out for problematic behavior.

self educate. yes, it’s very nice and helpful of others to show you what you can do to support black lives, teach you black history, offer the statistics and other sources, but understand it is NOT up to black people to educate you. unless that person is being paid to do it, they are NOT obligated to be your teacher. do your research. not only does this take the weight off black people’s backs to show you (not that they should have to explain to you how they’re being oppressed to begin with, because they SHOULDN’T), but it allows for yourself to become more invested by taking the initiative on your own as you are making the conscious decision to educate yourself rather than waiting to have it spoon fed to you.

speak UP. do NOT be silent on these topics. understand that we are conditioned to be complacent with racism, because we do not experience it. and because we cannot experience racism, it’s easy to become uneasy when it’s being discussed— as it is an experience we cannot personally understand. DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU FROM SPEAKING UP. white compliancy and white silence is AS BAD AS THE A POLICE OFFICER SHOOTING A BLACK PERSON. there is no TIME to worry about your discomfort or feelings when lives are literally at stake here. if you see someone spouting racist bullshit, cracking racist jokes, harassing black people, SPEAK UP AND DON’T LET IT SLIDE. as a white person you have a privilege that others do not, use that privilege to shut people the fuck down when they’re being racist and ignorant. challenge others and spread awareness to other white people. remember: white silence kills.

shut UP. and while you will feel encouraged and even eager to speak up about these issues, learn when to stop talking. learn when to shut up. you CANNOT speak for black people, as you do not walk in their shoes. do not use this movement as a chance to take center stage and paint this as a story about you— BECAUSE IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. use your privilege to boost black voices, but do not speak over them. listen to them, advocate for them, but do not speak over or for them. 

Xoxo

-Designer