Calcium Supplement - 🔞

Surrealist type painting with a central standing female figure in a long pink dress holding a Mexican flag with buildings and machinery behind her to the right and ancient Mexican artifacts and iconography to her left

Self-Portrait on the Border Line between Mexico and the United States, 1932, Frida Kahlo #womensart

personally, i find recurring large dollar donations stressful. if i'm getting $500/month from 350 people, it doesn't hurt too much when a few of them move on. if i'm getting $500/month from 5 people, literally any churn at all could spell instant disaster. small donations are THE foundation!!!

i know for a lot of folks "what you can afford" feels insultingly low, but it very much is not. just a couple hundred people giving $12+ a year can be life changing! recurring small dollar donations are the most important kind of support you can give BECAUSE you can afford to pay them a long time.

when we're swamped with mutual aid requests, it can feel *wrong* asking for help. but without donations, this already barely-sustainable job becomes straightforwardly impossible. PLEASE, if you can, donate 2 or 3 bucks a month to your favorite creators BEFORE you know they need it. they already do!

the fact that ian made his goal and then some in just a few hours is huge, but it also speaks to the importance of supporting the creators you like *before* they're in crisis. he expected this to go unnoticed, had little hope of making *anything*. that antipathy didn't come from nowhere!

We're about 3 lines deep into the "first they came for" poem. It's not a very long poem, folks

🎯

we need to talk about how completely fucked the economic model of youtube is. if Ian can't do it without going into massive debt, what hope do the rest of us have? self-employment taxes screw us over on a job that barely pays a living wage if you're lucky. but where else does one take these skills?

Love is Not Enough by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, published November 17, 2020 on ohjoysextoy.com/loveisnotenough Page 1 The comic starts with a younger Erika and her first girlfriend soaring through the air together with large angel wings on their backs. Young Erika is caressing her girlfriend’s face as her girlfriend embraces her from behind. Erika narrates, “The first time I fell in Real Love, I was flying high on a cloud of euphoria. It was my first Real Relationship and I knew I had found my Forever Soulmate.” “Until.” “Suddenly.” With a serene expression, Erika’s first girlfriend snips off Young Erika’s wings with a pair of shears. The next frame shows Young Erika right before she hits the ground, frozen in shock and disbelief. “She dumped me.” In anguish, Young Erika curls up into a ball on the floor. “The heartbreak made me physically ill, I had never experienced pain like this before.” Our current Erika steps into the frame to stand next to her past self, who has started crying alone. Erika puts her hands on her hips and looks at Young Erika with an understanding expression. “Aw, kid,” she says.

Young Erika sobs out, “All I did was love her and then she threw me away for no reason!” Erika reaches over to pat her younger self. “Well, honestly, you were kind of a dick.” “WHAT!” Young Erika yells back defensively. She angrily pushes herself up to glare at her older self, before pointing a finger at her. “Hey, who are you, anyway?!” Erika shrugs reassuringly. “I’m you. About 20 years in the future. Listen, you weren’t a dick on purpose, you’re not a bad person (and neither is she!). You’re just… young, you’re inexperienced with being a partner, and you’ve got some pretty unrealistic ideas about love.” Young Erika grumbles, “...Unrealistic ideas about love…? Love is love! What more do you need to know?” Erika takes Young Erika’s hand to help her get up. “C’mon,” Erika says. “Let’s you n’ me go down a trip down the River of Love.” Young Erika strikes a “Woe is Me” pose as the two make their way over to an inflatable raft with a paddle. She cries out, “What we had was MAGIC! Two souls combined! Such a pure connection can never be replicated!” “Go home, Erika, you’re drunk,” her older self responds. “ExCUSE you?!” Erika says, “Seriously! When you first fall in love, your brain is flooded with neurochemicals that make you high as balls.” An illustration shows a watering can pouring out a stream of neurochemicals including Dopamine, Serotonin, and Norepinephrine over a brain.

The stream from the brain continues to flow down to form a river that the two Erikas start to ride down in their raft. Young Erika leans over the side of the raft to run her hand through the flowing neurochemicals. She starts to cry. “What, so ‘love’ is just a buncha chemicals? LOVE IS A LIE!!!” (A note says, “Actual thing I actually said.”) Erika continues to paddle the boat. She replies, “Love is real, you’re just not in a sober mindset about it early-on.” “You think being in love with someone is this stationary state…” An illustration shows two people holding hands while enclosed in a glass cloche labeled “LOVE” with a heart for the O. “... When really it’s this living entity that’s constantly in motion.” The raft the two Erikas are in splashes around as they ride out a sudden wave. Erika calls out, “It never stops changing!” The water starts to calm. “Sometimes in ways that make you happier.” The water suddenly rushes down, dropping their raft down and forcing Young Erika to cling onto her older self. “Sometimes in ways that make you sadder.” The two continue down the river as the water starts to calm again. Young Erika hugs her knees close to her chest. “Well, I’m hella sad now,” she says. “I won’t ever love again.” Erika turns to look back at her and says, “It’s true, you won’t ever have this love again because every time you love someone, it will be different.” Young Erika looks down, looking sad and resentful, like she doesn’t want to hear what Erika is saying but she is resigned to it anyway. Erika continues to talk. “We’re humans. We’re a social species, programmed to seek relationships. We need love, but at the same time…” “Love is not enough.”

At this, Young Erika finally turns and looks back up at her. Erika leans in closer to face her younger self. “Two people can really love each other and still not be good partners together. Love by itself is not enough to keep a relationship afloat long term. A healthy partnership needs mutual support, mental and emotional nourishment, communication, negotiation, acceptance, boundaries, forgiveness… Love can’t fill all those roles itself. Sometimes the most loving thing to do is end a relationship before the things that don’t work rot into something dysfunctional or toxic later.” Young Erika angrily blows up at this. “... ‘loving thing to do’?! She HURT ME!!!” Young Erika flails about with spirals in her eyes as she continues to vent. “She betrayed me! She used me! She didn’t try hard enough! She never REALLY loved me! She threw me away! She’s a BAD PERSON! I hate her!” She sobs, holding her head in her hands. Erika moves over to comfort her. “Getting dumped sucks,” Erika says. “I’m sorry.” She brings her younger self in for a hug.

Love is fun! Love is exciting. Love is powerful. Love is... not enough. A relationship requires more than love alone to be sustainable in the longterm, says this comic from the archive by @erikamoen.bsky.social. (1/2)
www.ohjoysextoy.com/loveisnoteno...

Is It Dangerous to Keep Getting COVID-19? Common as they are, reinfections may have lasting impacts.

“People who had gotten COVID-19 at least twice experienced higher rates of short and long-term health effects, including heart & brain issues, compared to those only infected once.”

Rather than “building immunity”, repeat Covid infections are slowly killing us.

#LongCovid

time.com/6553340/covi...

DO NOT SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION. Do not answer questions about your immigration status, where you were born, or your criminal history. 4 NO COMPARTAS INFORMACION PERSONAL. No respondas preguntas sobre tu estado migratorio, dónde naciste o tus antecedentes penales.

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING. Do not sign any document without speaking to a lawyer. 5 NO FIRMES NADA. No firmes ningún documento sin hablar con un abogado.

SPEAK TO A LAWYER. Consult with a lawyer ahead of time. If you are arrested, ICE will not provide you with a lawyer, so be prepared. CONSULTA CON UN ABOGADO. Consulta con un abogado con anticipación. Si te arrestan, ICE no te dará un abogado, así que prepárate

Pt. 2/2 ⬇️

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS IN CASE OF ICE: CONOCE TUS DERECHOS EN CASO DE ENCUENTRO CON ICE:

DO NOT OPEN YOUR DOOR. ICE cannot enter your home without a warrant signed by a judge. Tell the agents to show you the warrant by sliding it under the door. NO ABRAS TU PUERTA. ICE no puede entrar a tu casa sin una orden firmada por un juez. Diles a los agentes que te muestren la orden deslizándola debajo de la puerta.

ASK THEM TO LEAVE. If ICE doesn't have a warrant, tell them you do not consent for them to enter your home and ask them to leave. At work, ICE cannot enter employee-only areas without permission. 2 PÍDALES QUE SE VAYAN. Si ICE no tiene una orden judicial, diles que no das tu consentimiento para que entren a tu casa y pídeles que se vayan. En el trabajo, ICE no puede ingresar a áreas exclusivas para empleados sin permiso.

REMAIN SILENT. You have the right to remain silent. If the agents ask you questions, tell them, "I wish to remain silent." PERMANECE EN SILENCIO. Tienes derecho a permanecer en silencio. Si los agentes te hacen preguntas, diles: "Deseo permanecer en silencio".

It is perfectly legal to know your rights and to educate others about them, too.

EVERYONE in the United States, citizen or not, has rights. I will not allow this administration to intimidate us from helping you know about them.

Here’s our shareable guide ⬇️: (pt. 1/2)

On Feb. 14th I try always to give honor to one of the greatest contributors to American democracy in our nation’s history, Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery, Douglass never knew his actual birthdate, and adopted Feb. 14th as the day. His penetrating insights about our country inspire me daily.

hi kaygee :)

jacking off is unrealistic

hell yeah masked up!!!!!!! thank you!!!

Carnegie built those libraries (and invented the modern concept of philanthropy) specifically to distract the public from his fraud, monopoly and theft. And he taught the following century of billionaires how to do the sane. youtu.be/0Cu6EbELZ6I?...

Apprentice learns that knights think they’re dying when they’re horny

“Likes are useless” wrong. They let me know someone saw my art and thought “I would like to put a little heart of approval here”

YouTube video by Technology Connections LED Christmas lights which don't hurt the eyes: it finally happened!

If you've been following my Christmas light saga... this year's video has made me happier than ever!
youtu.be/qSFNufruSKw

Having friends and being kind is awesome

Started playing Thief today for the first time, really cool! Outside of 2D point-and-clicks (and King's Quest 8/System Shock 2) my knowledge of '90s western PC games is pretty spotty. I like how self-consistent the controls/level design feels so far (did the 1st mansion level)

a world map but all the continents are just south america in different sizes and orientations

The world if everything were South America:

I say this without hyperbole or boastfulness: this is the most thrilling and beautiful episode of actual play combat ever recorded. Every vivid detail described, each decisive character-motivated turn, the musical score *alone*. I’m so grateful to be part of this team. This is why I play the game.

a screencap i took yesterday

Mini Odette grinder by Hodge Podge Entourage in their sunset fairy dragon pour.

I never really got around to posting my collection on Twitter but I'm gonna work on getting pics of it all to post throughout the week. I'll go ahead and start with the lovely Odette grinder I got today from @hodge-podge.bsky.social

researching neurodivergent stuff, autism and adhd and ocd and anxiety and tourettes and dyslexia and and and

so much changing in even just the last few years, big changes in medical understanding and even community knowledge to come i think

A smooth galaxy from the Galaxy Zoo: Hubble project, classified by 49 volunteers.

A smooth galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the COSMOS survey.

It is at redshift 0.14 (lookback time 1.84 billion years) with coordinates (149.86952, 1.84715).

49 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

The cover of Piranesi, a little goat, dude on a plinth playing a double flute

Piranesi, I realized in this, my second read, is my favorite book. Don’t research. Just go read it. It’s short.

If you’ve read before, and are considering rereading, I’ll remind you that The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; it’s Kindness infinite.