Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid

Tumblr went and Made It Weird. So, I’m not staying. This blog has been purposely blanked to delete all newly-flagged content so the account isn’t suspended. I’m not picking through five years of drawings to contest the mislabeled stuff. It’s not worth it. 

Iron Circus Comics will maintain a presence at @ironcircuscomics, but my content can now be found on:

Twitter: Iron_Spike for personal stuff, like politics, art history and some of my drawings. Ironcircuscomix for news on the books I publish. Very Active.

Facebook: Personal Facebook is not used. Iron Circus Comics has a Facebook page here for news and announcements. Active.

Drip: Support me and my personal work, like game dev and comics, here. Sporadically Active.

Pillowfort: Pretty new. The place to go to see some of my new art. Find it here. New.

Ello: Squatting my name, in case this becomes a thing. Inactive.

meanwhile…

Rolling and exposing belly- attacks you when touched Does not mean: Give belly rubs! - haha I tricked you!  Actually means: I’m playful! If you reach for my belly I’ll grab your arm and bite it because I think we’re playfighting! 

Lazily exposing belly - still attacks when touched Does not mean: tricked you again! Actually means: I’m showing you my belly because I trust you. Please don’t break that trust by invading my personal space. I might accept a belly rub if I’m not ticklish and I know you well. Snapping at you while being pet Does not mean: I suddenly decided I dislike you! Actually means: You’re petting me in a way that gives me too much restless energy. Please focus on petting my head and shoulders instead of stroking the full length of my back next time.

Staring and blinking slowly Does not mean: I’m smug and think I am smarter than you. Actually means: I like you! But I don’t need to get up in your face to show it.  I can just sit over here and blow kisses at you to show you I am glad you are around!

Yes, the legends are true. Cats headbutt you to show their trust and affection. They also do it to show “hey look I see you as family.” Lions do it with members of their pride to say the same. It’s not just because they want food.

Cats nibbling is indeed literally cats grooming you. It’s what mom cats do to their kittens. If a cat is gently biting and/or licking you, they’re now your mom.

Meowing can simply be for the mere fact they want to say hello, want to play or be pet. Again, not just for food.

They barely meow at other cats (except for kittens, they meow at mom cat), mostly just humans. There are exceptions but overall, meowing is almost always for us.

Cats squinting/slow blinking is indeed basically the equivalent of us smiling and/or kissing.

Cats, like humans, prefer to get things without having to work for it- which isn’t very common within other animals.

Cat massages or making biscuits is because they happy! Kneading is another way of saying “hey I like this moment here I enjoy you and my life.”

Cats recognize us by smell, sound, taste, and touch. They recognize us after years as their long term memory is extremely good. This is why abused or neglected cats are so easily scared or hard to connect with. If your scent changes over the years or just in the day, your voice will them it’s really you. Also, they will only remember you if you had impact on their life. If you just existed in the same house, they obviously won’t care.

And yes, they know our patterns in the day. You notice it when it’s beneficial to them (feeding time!). They will often wait for you to come home as well.

To remember: cats think we are interesting as hell. They watch us do everything because we’re fascinating!!!

notice how when you’re unfamiliar but nonthreatening, they might loaf facing you and sorta halfway watch you. you’re not fully trusted, but you’re ok by them.

when you’re familiar and liked, they’ll often sit near you facing the same way. imitation of poses is a weird little way cats show solidarity. they do it to each other too. check out these bff’s:

they are doing this on purpose. it’s a buddy thing. so if you’re watching tv and a cat sits next to you and pretends to watch tv too, they are basically calling you bro and declaring friendship.

and if they really love and trust you, they’ll turn their back on you and go to sleep. they’ll sleep facing a wall in your presence, or lounge where they can’t see the room. this isn’t a snub, folks, this is true kitty love. they’re saying, “i feel safe when you’re around. i know nothing’s going to sneak up on me, because you’re here. i feel so safe i can stick my head under a pillow and snore with my butt pointed at you.”

So when said horde did arrive, they saw the general sitting outside the city’s open gates, drinking tea. The horde sent a couple of emissaries over to see what was what, and the general greeted them cheerfully and invited them all to come and take tea with him.

The horde decided that this was a scenario that had “MASSIVE FUCKING TRAP” written all over it in beautiful calligraphy and promptly fucked off.

so this story is the Romance of Three Kingdoms, and essentially takes place between Zhuge Liang, resident tactician extraordinaire, and Sima Yi… OTHER resident tactician extraordinaire.

The two were both regarded as tactical geniuses and recognized the other as their rival. Zhuge Liang had a reputation for ambushing the SHIT out of his opponents and using the environment to his advantage, thus destroying large armies with a small number of men. Sima Yi (who kind of entered the picture later) was a cautious person whose speciality was unravelling his opponent’s plans before they began. So it was natural that the two would butt heads; however, since Sima Yi tended to have more men and resources, he started winning battles against the former. Which, y’know, kinda sucked.

On to the actual story: Zhuge Liang is all like “shit i gotta defend this city with like 10 men.” Literally if he fights ANY kind of battle here, he WILL lose; his only option for survival is not to fight. And that’s looking more and more impossible until he hears that his rival is leading the opposing army. And then he gets this brilliant idea. He basically opens all the gates, sends his men out in civilian clothes to sweep the streets, and sits on top of the gate drinking tea and chilling out and basically makes the whole thing out to be a trap

When Sima Yi comes he’s all like “yo come on in bro”

and Sima Yi is like “yeah he’s never been that obvious about his traps before. this is definitely a bluff” and he’s about to head in when he realizes

wait. he knows that i think he’s bluffing.

and so he gets it in his head that maybe, just MAYBE, Zhuge Liang has this cunning plan that will wipe out his army - recall that he has a pretty good handle on what his rival is capable of. And after a long period of deliberation (which is just like “he know that I know that he knows that etc.”), being the cautious man he is, SIma Yi eventually decides to turn his entire army around and leave.

Zhuge Liang later points out that the plan was based specifically on the fact that he was facing his rival; if it had been anyone else, there’s no way it would have worked. A dumber or less cautious person would have simply charged in and won without breaking a sweat. 

Well, that day was super foggy (which Zhuge Liang had predicted. Did I mention he was also a freakishly accurate meteorologist?). So the enemy across the river sees a fleet of boats armed to the teeth with what appears to be half an army of men. They panic! and start firing arrows like crazy. 

Zhuge Liang lets this play out for a while, then he’s like, ”Ok guys that’s enough.” They calmly turn the boats around and go back to base, where they dismantle the scarecrows and pull out all the enemy’s arrows.

Especially since it makes Zhuge Liang look like this:

A forty hour work week is considered full time.

It’s considered as such because it takes up the amount of time we as a society have agreed should be considered the maximum work schedule required of an employee. (this, of course, does not always bear out practically, but just follow me here)

A person working the maximum amount of time required should earn enough for that labor to be able to survive. Phrased this way, I doubt even most conservatives could effectively argue against it, and out of the mouth of someone verbally deft enough to dance around the pathos-based jabs conservative pundits like to use to avoid actually debating, it could actually get opps thinking.

Therefore, if an employee is being paid less than [number of dollars needed for the post-tax total to pay for the basic necessities in a given area divided by forty] per hour, they are being ripped off and essentially having their labor, productivity, and profit generation value stolen by their employer.

Wages are a business expense, and if a company cannot afford to pay for its labor, it is by definition a failing business. A company stealing labor to stay afloat (without even touching those that do so simply to increase profit margins and/or management/executive pay/bonuses) is no more ethical than a failing construction company breaking into a lumber yard and stealing wood.

Honest Posters of Our Relationship with Technology

1. Hiding porn on your computer? Wow, previous generations never did anything like that. Nobody ever hid adult magazines under their bed so much that it became a trope in movies. Nah. Never.

2. Online/skype date? Yeah, you can talk face-to-face with the people that matter to you even when you can’t get out to meet them physically, isn’t that amazing?

3. If I was lost and dying out in the wilderness somewhere, and I saw some… I dunno, some outpost that had wifi for some reason, you bet your ass I’d get tf over there and use it to get help/use a map/tell people where I am.

4. Did you know you can read books on your smartphone/tablet AS WELL AS being actively social??

5. I’m pretty sure technology is not to blame for kids getting pregnant/overweight/depressed. Side note, isn’t it great that those kids can use the internet to search for help and advice?

6. In a world where everyone is so much more connected thanks to social media, it’s really useful that you can block people who hurt you and protect yourself. I don’t really see the downside here.

7. It ain’t technology’s fault that some asswipes use their phone while driving. Just let those schoolkids text their parents to tell them when they’re gonna get home in peace.

8. Yeah, selfie sticks aren’t cool. But it IS cool that people can save their memories in pictures and photo albums at the click of a button, without needing to buy cameras and film, get the film developed, and then have big ol’ photo albums sitting around the house everywhere?

9. I swear nobody’s typed like that since 2009. But hey, culture, slang and dialect change with times regardless of whether it’s spoken or typed.

10. You’re right, poster. Happiness is being able to chat to your family and friends no matter the distance. Especially when they’re online and able to respond quickly. That’s nice.

I haven’t turned on the news today, but I will in a few hours. If the top story is anything other than TRUMP DECLARES HIMSELF ABOVE THE LAW, I will lose my fucking mind.

Every single political journalist needs to be getting Republicans in Congress and in State Houses all over the nation on record about this: do they agree with Trump’s assertion that he is, essentially, a king.

I just … if any democrat in my lifetime made this claim, Republicans would – rightly – be drafting articles of impeachment, or at the least making it very clear in writing that our Constitution clearly and unambiguously does not allow a president of any party to claim this power.