Author: elenloth

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A bittersweet discovery

I’ve been playing Expedition 33, an excellent video game. (This post does not contain spoilers.)

After I discovered a certain character, and recognized his voice actor, I hollered “IS THAT JEAN DE FUCKING FLORETTE” or thereabouts.

The voice actor was, indeed, Gerard Depardieu.

But I discovered very quickly that he had allegedly Me Too’d some people.

And I am very tired of all this. Depardieu was the voice of my early adolescence. I watched SO MANY French films that he starred in. (If you don’t speak French, think Kenneth Branagh, but less conventionally attractive.)

But with all that said: I’m not going to let it ruin my enjoyment of the game. He may be a bad person, but the game is bigger than just that one fact about him. (And if you draw your line someplace other than where I did, that is your prerogative and that is okay.)

Wheeeeeeee

Edit: My friend informs me this is not true, and I cannot find the thing that confirmed he was, so I will chalk this up to either (a) having dreamed it, or (b) finding an incorrect AI summary and not realizing that’s what it was. But who knows! A

Anyway, sorry for the misinformation!

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Personal Incarnation Finance

My friend just pointed out that if you have the expensive kind of Magic cards, that’s a cardstock portfolio.

I will be using this joke at every opportunity.

If you are a person who’s fortunate enough to have the expensive kind of Magic cards, I recommend that you maintain a listing (perhaps a private deck list on Moxfield, or similar) to track the value of your “portfolio.” Cards can appreciate in value without you realizing it, especially if you’re not currently in the game.

When it comes to realizing (making real) those gains, though, I don’t have any advice. It’s not always easy to find a buyer, and if you’re unfamiliar with internet marketplaces it can be too easy to get scammed.

My own Magic card strategy is “buy and play,” rather than “buy and hold.” (Although I don’t get as much play as I would like.) (No, I will not edit that sentence.) In general, I recommend that people who collect things do so because they enjoy the things, not because they think it’ll have a payoff. (See: my grandmother’s Hummel figurines.)

But it’s never a bad idea to keep an eye on collectible value, just on principle.

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Other people’s thoughts

I think this is a really good explanation of why it’s important to not assume what other people are thinking.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL9yBL_NJzc/

I used to have a friend who would get SO CONVINCED that other people hated her, based on various indicators. As an outsider to her interactions, my perspective would generally range from “hmm, I don’t think they actually thought anything about you at all” to “I think they were actually sympathetic” to “they’re just in a bad mood, but that doesn’t mean they hate you.”

It’s much better and less exhausting to not assume everyone hates you.

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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!)

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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

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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.