I changed a thing on this blog for the first time since 2011. MeepBacon was soooo 2011, lol. Gotta get with the times and become a knight. Queer, autistic, they/them
It drives me insane how many people dont realise how often they break the law and that if the full force of it was ever applied life would basically be unliveable. Like between traffic violations, petty workplace theft, account sharing and piracy alongside how common it is to have been in posession of some illegal drug at some point in your life. People still manage to get away with thinking “criminals” are people who commit crimes not just populations that are surveilled enough to be routinely prosecuted
One of the most fun character concepts that I’ve had that I’ve never been able to fit into anything is The Most Appropriate Socialite Lady. Nobody dislikes her, but she is, indeed, very Appropriate, always seeming to do everything precisely to social etiquette, even according to social rules that nobody else knew were a thing. If there is a protocol to how to behave or respond in any given situation, no matter how obscure or how long ago it was that this was written down in some Refined Society Etiquette Book, she’ll know it. So she is a bit old-fashioned sometimes, but not in a regressive way.
Every time there’s a situation where nobody actually knows what the right way to respond would be, they quietly glance at her, because either she knows exactly how to handle this, or if the situation truly is without precedent, her educated guess of what should be done must be the right one. Someone might even write it down for a future etiquette book, of how This Most Polite Well-Mannered Lady responded to this awkward situation.
She doesn’t judge people, and is never rude about people breaking Good Manner Rules on purpose (as pointing out someone doing so would be impolite), but the way she seems genuinely surprised and confused whenever someone breaks the protocol that nobody else might even been aware of makes people feel self-conscious or awkward sometimes. And she politely pretends to not notice that. She is very kind, very sweet, but also extremely Appropriate.
So even if this isn’t a Victorian style gentlemanly “fine ladies are fragile and must be sheltered from the world”-style society by default, people still feel the need to behave well and be on their best formal behaviour around her, not out of fear of judgement but because she genuinely is that way and nobody wants to upset her. And if someone who doesn’t give a shit about protocols upsets her on purpose by deliberately doing something that’s fucking rude, they’ll be discreetly moved to a different location before getting the shit beat out of them because fuck you for upsetting her.
The thing is, she’s actually just autistic as hell. She originally started reading up on social etiquette as a way of masking, but it became a special interest for her, and she isn’t just thrilled to teach you how to properly fold a napkin to help you better fit in to the Refined Society, but because she fucking loves infodumping. She’s not trying to set herself apart, gatekeep, judge others or show off how she’s better than you (like many others of her background would), she just genuinely enjoys having explicitly and clearly written rules and instructions on how to behave in society.
Also the tactful and graceful way in which she doesn’t pay notice to veiled insults, or people accidentally saying something insulting to her, isn’t always an act. A lot of the time she genuinely just does not notice.
It’s never been more lonely or isolating to be a young person than these last 5 years. Meeting actual people you can connect with takes a lot of energy and time so at the end of the day it’s the vulnerable people that are being left behind
And sometimes I lay awake and think ‘’What if I will forever be this lonely little thing? What if I die like this?’’ so im putting effort into preventing that. But I know not everyone is able to do that. I guess what im trying to say is that I suspect there are a lot of lonely people and these numbers will only increase. So if you’re lonely rn I just wanna say that you’re not alone in this. It’s just really hard
happy disabled pride to everyone on disability-related waitlists, to everyone who’s about to get on them, to the addicts, to the ones who use controversial language like ‘severe needs’ or ‘wheelchair-bound’ when describing themselves, to ones who were born disabled, to the ones who acquired, to the ones who are dying from it, to the ones who have it degenerative and doubly so if it freaks them the fuck out, to the ones who hate being disabled, to the ones who love being disabled, to the ones who do disability activism, to the ones who are filled with rage, to the ones who’re in bad situations because they cannot take care of themselves, to people who use any sort of disability aid, to the people who have carers, to the people who are in pain, to the people who will be meds on the rest of their lives, to the people who are crying, to the people who don’t get why we’re supposed to feel proud, to the people who support each other in this world, to the people who are unaccomodated, to the people who’ve been to prison, to the ones who’ve been killed, to the disabled people of colour who often feel invisible in online communities, and to the disabled people of colour who feel invisible in real life, to the people who have to hear their disability be a joke in common language, to the noncompliant, to those who cannot mask, to the ones who aren’t sure if their disability is invisible or visible, to the ones who’s disabilities definitely is very visible, to the ones who’s disability has been a cause of pain and hurt, to all the non sterilisable sides of disability that we are all constantly living in. i love you all.
capitalism corrupts everything it touches, even weather forecasting
US private media companies like AccuWeather and The Weather Channel take publicly available forecasting information provided by the National Weather Service, a publicly funded government service, and repackages it into their own forecast and disseminates the info.
In 2005, AccuWeather lobbied to attempt to ban The National Weather Service from sharing predictions with anyone besides commercial entities. In 2012 they successfully blocked the NWS from producing a free app for the public.
This allows there to be an inaccessible filter on free, timely, and accurate weather information and forces it to be distributed through for profit apps. Even free apps are bogged with ads and delayed alerts.
The G Word with Adam Conover covers this extensively and I highly recommend watching that episode or reading the transcript here [x] but I will sum it up, starting with an episode quote:
“Imagine a future where extreme weather warnings live behind a pay wall.” In 2015, AccuWeather received warnings from the NWS that a tornado was heading towards Moore, OK, a city that has been decimated by F5/EF5 tornadoes twice. They only notified users that were paying for the app.
Follow your local meteorologists on social media, especially if you’re in an active weather area.
If you’re in tornado prone areas, follow storm chasers on social media and check the Convective Outlook during your tornado season.
Get a NOAA weather radio or tune to your local NWR station! They are the most reliable source of weather information in the event of a power outage and the coverage area is extensive. They cover all hazards including severe weather, wildfires, dust storms/haboobs, heat/cold warnings, and any other warnings the NWS would put out. Here is information specifically for Deaf/HOH accessibility.
