I need to save this for every time some person is like “waaah they crossed my boundaries” and then does nothing about it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DL7TYCpsEDe/
Lee on Slavery
Do not honor a man who took up arms against his own country in order to defend the right to hold other men in bondage.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/4UB9LtcJY3
Good post about “therapy” dogs
A friend recently reshared this, and I thought it worth reposting here.
https://dirtamericana.com/2025/04/therapy-dogs-business-interior-violations/
I don’t believe there is an actual “licensure” program for service animals, so I take issue with that part of the author’s thesis. However, other than that, I generally agree.
It is fine (in my opinion) for a business to declare itself pet-friendly, subject to health department laws. However, the service animal exception (for normal businesses that don’t allow pets) should only be used for real service animals.
Unlike other examples of community self-policing overreach, like saying “but you don’t LOOK disabled” to someone parking in an accessible parking spot, I do think it’s appropriate for untrained animals to be shamed out of public spaces.
The correct usage of “emotional support animal” status is for things like housing restrictions: an apartment complex that normally disallows pets, for example, can be compelled to accept an ESA. (Which is apparently a distinct category from Therapy Animal?)
Anyway. Just being the same type of curmudgeon as the original author over there. I don’t like being jumped on or licked by dogs. (Cats are fine by me, but I’m well aware that cats cause even worse allergy issues than dogs do! Don’t bring your cat to an enclosed public place!)
Hoid on the Passions
I recently saw this image shared around (I’ll try to grab alt text for it), and it’s a great example of the Just World Fallacy.
Reposting someone else’s thoughts on Skrmetti today
My friend shared this (itself a copy of another post), and I wanted to signal-boost it, because I think it’s important.
Skrmetti just came down and obviously it didn’t go our way, but listen to me. Listen.
I am not a parent but I have parents in my life and one thing I have learned from them is that young people will take their cue from you on how freaked out to be about things. If a young person falls down the best response is not to go “oh no oh my god you’re hurt,” because then they go “oh no oh my god I’m hurt” and it makes everything worse — the best response is to go “sick wipeout dude totally tubular” and high five them.
And the non-profit industrial complex invariably describes gender-affirming care for young people as “life-saving” because the subtext is “if trans young people can’t get puberty blockers they WILL kill themselves.”
Not having access to gender affirming care before puberty is not a death sentence BUT if we all uncritically repeat the fear that it is, the young people will take their cue from us on how freaked out to be, and they will believe that all they can do in response to Skrmetti is die.
It is really important right now that we make sure our trans young people hear other stories than that. They hear “there is a future for you” and “there is community for you” and “you don’t have to pass to be loved” and “not having access to gender affirming care before puberty IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE.”
That we show them that we are trans adults and we almost invariably didn’t have gender affirming care before puberty and we are loved and beautiful and happy. The story of trans joy and trans beloved community NEEDS to be louder than the story of trans suicidality today.
Our kids are depending on us to tell them the story they need to hear. Don’t let your panic override that responsibility.
There is a future for you. Your Elders survived this. Yes, it will suck more this way. But: this, too, shall pass; even if it does so like a motherfucking kidney stone.
Or, for the Cosmere fans in the audience: You will be warm again.
This Blue sky post may be the source:
https://bsky.app/profile/andyeyeballs.bsky.social/post/3lrvbrowlds2z
Can you prove you are a citizen?
Please go read this post by John Scalzi.
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/03/well-can-you-prove-youre-a-us-citizen/
Even if you think you’re not in the demographic being targeted here, you still need the ability to back up your citizenship if you are detained.
Along with calling your representative to oppose these kidnappings by masked men, you need to make sure your documents are someplace safe that a friend/ally/lawyer could access if you get picked up and accused of being from somewhere else.
There are things we cannot control, and things we can control. We can’t individually change public policy. But we can control our own behavior, and prepare for the worst case scenario.
Word of the day: Hypernormalization
I found this article on the Guardian to be a helpful framing of the current, well, Everything.
End of life planning
To go along with “I’m dead – now what?” I wanted to share this link from the Order of the Good Death.
End of Life Planning
You should have an Advanced Directive so that your family and friends know what your wishes are with regards to your care in case you become incapacitated.
A difference: basic social interaction
Today I saw this Instagram video and the comment section just made my head explode.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJTXEX7OsMq/
Person A: Oh, I love your tattoos!
Person B: Uhhhh, okay?
Person A: …Actually, they’re UGLY!
So, obviously, I would never go straight to that third line there. But I believe very strongly that Person B’s response is rude, and not in line with appropriate social behavior in public.
We are all humans together in this world. As the meme goes, we live in a society. And like the concept of small talk, small interactions like this are the grease in the gears that helps make everything better and more smooth.
Carolyn Hax recently called the opposite behavior (like saying “uhh, okay” to a compliment) “a lye bath in the gears” (because it strips out the grease, and I think that’s an apt description.
Of course you don’t “owe” anyone anything. Technically, no one owes anyone anything ever unless explicitly agreed to. But I, for one, do not want to live in that shitty Ayn Rand-esque universe of Emotional Libertarianism. I want there to be a baseline level of connection and communication with my fellow humans, out there in society.
So. For your “how to human” script, here is how a good interaction goes:
Person A: Hey, I really like your tattoos/hair/T-shirt! (Nothing about their body shape or body parts. Hair does not count as a body part.)
Person B: Thank you!
That’s it. That’s the script. After this interaction, they both go on about their day. It is not appropriate, as strangers, to try to force a more intimate interaction; but this much is fine and appropriate.
Chivalry
Today I had a small epiphany: throughout the course of my life, I have had men and boys tell me that they wished chivalry was still around, so that they would know how to talk to women and girls/structure their interactions appropriately.
…Those guys were probably just on the autism spectrum.
Gonna chew on that for a little bit.
Anyway, a bonus How To People that I observed in a conversation today: if you are talking with someone (perhaps while walking towards the parking lot together) and the conversation dies down, it is okay to say “Well, good chatting with you, talk to you later!” and just wander off/speed up your pace/slow down. This is an accepted script for How To End A Conversation.
Emilybook 