Neopets discourse is always funny to me because whenever drama starts up 90% of the time it's over something that's just objectively really silly

For example, right now there's neo-billionaires threatening to quit the site over a rare item being released, which wouldn't be funny except the item in question is a tiny pea wearing a Santa hat

Art by Yinka Shonibare

1-2. How to Blow Up Two Heads at Once (Ladies) 3-4. The Age of Enlightenment: Adam Smith 5-6. The Age of Enlightenment: Gabrielle Emile le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise de Chatelet

My boyfriend was showing me his cat and I leaned over to kiss the cat on his soft little baby head and he went "meow" and scrambled away because I'd been wearing my headphones and I accidentally jabbed him with the microphone.

And I said "Damn, this is exactly like in the Iliad"

When I was little, my dad hired a Cambodian refugee called Jack to help him drywall a dining room ceiling. Jack spoke very little English; he'd recently gotten a part time job in a little Asian deli not far from our home and needed to pick up some extra work. He was very kind to six year old me and my exhausted mom; he brought us day old leftovers from the deli counter often, and liked to tuck the knuckle of his index finger into the dimple in my cheek whenever I smiled at him.

He soaked up construction skills and other information like a sponge, and by the time he left my dad's tiny construction company he'd gotten his GED, learned to drive, reunited with his sister and her family, and had begun remodeling a vacant business on the rich side of town into a Cambodian restaurant. He invited us to their grand opening on lunar new year, and I'll never forget when he gave me a red envelope with five dollars in it and told me, "tonight I am the luckiest man in the world, so this will bring you luck, too."

Years later, my dad told me that Jack had witnessed his parents' murder during the khmer rouge, and was immediately separated from his sister. He had to cross the killing fields at Choeung Ek alone, on foot, eating grass and insects to survive. He somehow made it to Cam Ranh on the coast of Vietnam, where a distant friend of his father's put him on a boat to Seattle. Jack was nine years old.

I tell this story because, even though I haven't seen Jack or any of his relatives in thirty years, I pray he's well and happy and eating like a king tonight with everyone he loves, celebrating the long overdue demise of the pestilential sonofabitch who tried to wipe them out.

Fuck Henry Kissinger's pathetic ghost, and fuck all those who praise him. Fuck Imperialism. Fuck the genocidal war machine. Drink deep for the freedom of all souls tonight, my friends. And tomorrow, keep fighting.

its horrid that gazans have to post their private, painful moments of saying farewell to their dead families. its so fucking terrible they have to post it online instead of being allowed privacy - and all so that the west can see their suffering because it doesnt even believe them. and even when they show it openly, the west still lies and fabricates lies and fake narratives. they literally have to humanize themselves. what the fuck. how does this not fill you with anger

You’d think this would be a bigger story, tbh.

if your friend asks you to misgender them in front of their family, do it. if your friend asks you to refer to their partner as their roommate or friend, do it. if they ask you to deadname them, do it. allyship is about prioritizing the saftey of marginalized people, especially when it comes before your desire to fight their oppressors.

i hate that seasonal depression has that acronym

The absolutely funniest thing about shepherd dogs is that the way to distinguish a well-trained professional herding dog from a random untrained one is that a well-trained shepherd doesn't start herding before being given permission, and stops when ordered to do so. An untrained herding dog is still going to herd. It's just not up to you what, when, and where.

The Deep

Stop motion animator Adam Pesapane uses man-made objects to portray deep sea creatures.

My cats have this meow that means "please come with me to fix this" after which they'll lead me to the problem in question, usually a empty (or 'empty') food bowl or a closed door they want open. They look at the 'problem', they look back at me, clear message.

What fascinates me is how this illustrates what they percieve as being in the realm of my 'power.' I control the food, I control the door, sure, but my cats love to sit on the balcony in the sun, and it has happened plenty of times that on a rainy day they come get me, go to the balcony and show me... the rain. "Please fix this" they say. "Please get rid of the wet"

"Silly kitty," I say, "I can't control the rain." I then walk into the shower and turn on the rain.

Word of mouth really kept me away from Scott Pilgrim for like a decade cause I was told it's this shitty book aimed at incels and he's a pedo and then I read it recently cause of the netflix anime and it's like "this guy sucks and all his friends barely tolerate him and he's trying to feel like a big man by leading on a 17 year old girl he's not actually interested in and everyone including the narrative acknowledges that that's pathetic and he should grow up. anyway let's explore how men see women as a means to their own self actualization but fail to acknowledge that they have lives of their own" like wow this is the book yall were talking about?

Its important to me that everyone is aware of r/whatismycookiecutter

changing should never be shameful

the thing that bothers me about dragon riders is that the dragon absolutely does not have to let you climb on its back. your ability to 'ride' the dragon is entirely dependent on the dragon allowing you to do that. it could fly just fine without you sitting there. which means you are not a dragon rider, not really. that beast is not your pet. you're the dragon's pet. you're its trophy wife.