Bo Thompson

There are times when it helps to be around others and times when it becomes the source of a struggle. I'm going to get off social media for a bit. I recognize no new thoughts are entering and a handful are going round and round for me. I hope you all do the same if you find yourself there.

It's Wrath. The anger that grew to such proportions that it became a cardinal sin. The fury that saw gods reach their hands towards the earth to smite the unclean. It's Wrath, and its greatest danger isn't how loud the crackle or bright the glow but just how easily it spreads and grows.

Concentration camps and death camps are two different things. Death camps are an escalation. Yes this is an important distinction!

Lawsuit Claims Hasbro Misled Investors Regarding Sales of Controversial Magic: the Gathering Anniversary Set - IGN A new lawsuit filed by shareholders of Hasbro against the company and its directors alleges that company leadership "concealed the true reason" that its widely-criticized, incredibly expensive Magic: ...

This is SPICY. A lawsuit from investors alleging that MtG has been printing so many sets to cover weak returns elsewhere in Hasbro's portfolio, and that they intentionally price manipulated the 30th anniversary set... Let's see how this goes.

I see a lot of folks citing Gandhi today, and I would respectfully ask them to review his thoughts Between Cowardice and Violence, in particular when the line is crossed with regards to impotence and "defending what is yours." Because Gandhi did not believe impotent nonviolence was acceptable.

You don't have to offer condolences or try to intimate a closeness to the loss that you don't feel... But the most basic thing you could choose to do is not actively make it worse for someone in the first throes of loss. If you fail that test of decency, I'm fine throwing your whole existence away.

In the wake of tragedies like these, I do a bit of preventative self care: I go look at replies to grieving posts from people who personally knew any victims and just block anyone who defamed the dead or used the tragedy as a gotcha, because I sincerely don't want to know those people exist.

Remember: In the depths of your fear, anger, and despair, someone is having a completely normal day. It isn't fair or right; it's just life. And they aren't mocking or disrespecting your struggles by continuing to have that normal day; they're just living. They shouldn't have to apologize for that.

Somehow I'd never heard bad French tips called Spanish advice but that's easily the funniest thing I've heard all day.

It is! It's often one of the things that Francophiles from Japan come back the most disillusioned about (after body odor). They dreamed of these perfect croissants that would somehow transcend Japanese bakeries... and then they don't. 🤣

I swear, every time!

Friend: When I was in Paris I found this beautiful little cafe down a side street. Right out of a movie! They served the most adorable little cup of espresso and there I was biting into this gorgeous croissant...

Me: How was it?

Friend: Like wet cardboard.

Me: Ah, Paree!
🤣🤣🤣

There are of course amazing bakers and chefs in France; Culinary and pastry arts are one of their biggest cultural exports. Buuuut it's kind of a running joke that most world travellers will tell you the worst croissant they've ever had is almost always France. No, I don't know why. Nobody does.

I'm reading comments on a cool creme-filled croissant ball and a reply war follows where someone says she should open a place in France, only to be told by an American "Ummm France is home of croissants, I doubt they'd be impressed."

I know they're American because Parisian croissants often suck.

It becomes super clear that Bronte is noting he belongs to a different social class, one that the British can recognize on sight and have accepted as lesser, in a way that really only fits someone who has been racialized. Otherwise, much of his story seems like everyone just collectively abused him.

It's a weird omission I've seen, but it makes certain parts of the story *finally* make sense. Example: Catherine states marrying him would "degrade her" and it's just taken as a fact despite him being adopted into wealth. After Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley treats him like a servant or *fieldworker*.

Yeah, something about seeing anything empty out of clutter feels so liberating!

Yeah, they discuss his dark, brooding looks, he's referred to as Moorish, his spats of anger are clearly attributed to his race and upbringing, and Bronte likens him to a Romani (the slur, of course). A huge part of his identity is "the guy who isn't one of us and every mistake is because of that."

For those curious a month in, my email account has a total of nine emails in it. Three of them are for record keeping and the other six are ongoing communications. It feels unhealthily good.

Like, he doesn't need to be Black, but he definitely needs to be some race that you could recognize from across the room as different from the rest of the cast. The casual colorism in the story just doesn't make sense if he looks like he could have grown up down the street from Catherine.

I collect niche shit and I'm always down to share it. 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, there are still locations that exist but that bubble was fully burst by the pandemic sadly.

I will never bother watching a Wuthering Heights where Heathcliff is not painfully and obviously a different race. I consider that to be integral to his portrayal, specifically how every character seems aware of it at a glance. Casting a typically attractive White guy completely misses that point.

TL;DR: They started scamming franchisees so badly that something like 1000 locations closed from 2015-2020, alongside a class action lawsuit against them by 50 franchisees for basically charging franchise fees and then running with the money. Remaining gyms started exiting the franchise.

Lord save me from another White talking head or pundit crawling out of their solipsistic hole to lecture on what is and isn't policing. How about this: If you have never had to go through law enforcement processes except as a victim, shut your fucking mouth. You quite literally don't know shit.

Unless someone blinks, a bunch of people are about to experience a harsh lesson about the limits of diplomacy when one side feels entitled to use violence and the other operates with restraint. At some point you kinda need to become okay with the idea that the right words can't solve every problem.

A lot of people are out here wishing the worst for Bill O'Reilly, but I for one hope it escalates. Despair is so much crueler when the road ahead is a step down rather than a step forward.

Every horror story I think "I can't believe it's gotten this bad" followed immediately by "I can't believe they're so bad at this that I'm hearing about it."

I don't know which is wilder to me: What our government is doing and baldly lying about, or the fact that we used to have amoral government agents who could get away with the horrible things they're doing but, ironically, highly qualified people were the first ones they pushed out of service.

I just saw a youtube video where they showed a walking leaf insect and someone in the comments asked "Where does that thing even keep it's organs? How does it breathe with such thin lungs?!?"

I regret to inform you biology may have missed a few interesting lessons for them.

I definitely don't think affluenza is a Thing, but I do think that there's a certain level of money you reach where psychosis becomes easier to develop because you're too successful, wealthy, and isolated for people to either see it for what it is or address anything you don't want to discuss.

Wild, I just read through some of the history and that is WILD!