The Wageworker, Lincoln, Nebraska, May 31, 1907

Every time I'm forced by circumstance to hand-sew something, I remember a fairytale I once read. There are lead-up shenanigans as the humble protagonist helps small animals and meets the princess and all that, but in the climax, the princess rigs a contest for her hand by setting her own task: sew her a dress in a single night.

The noble suitors, who have never sewn a thing in their lives, sabotage themselves by their own ambitions: they choose difficult fabrics to work with and cut huge, elaborate patterns and select gems and pearls and beads to sew onto it, and snip such long bits of thread that they lose time detangling their stitches, and ultimately resort to pinning bits together as they run out of time, so that their offerings initially look beautiful and flashy, but when the princess tries them on they stick her with pin ends and fall apart as she moves.

The humble protagonist uses a very simple pattern without embellishments and sews using short lengths of thread (snipped off and threaded for him by little birds of course) which don't tangle and therefore save time. His dress is plain by contrast, but holds together and the princess is able to move freely in it, and so he wins the contest and her hand.

I particularly think about the bit about threading the needle with shorter lengths of thread, needing to tie off more often but avoiding tangles and thereby saving time.

I then ignore that piece of wisdom passed down through who knows how many years and proceed to cut the longest damn length of thread I can manage because I hate tying off beginning or ending knots and I will not subject myself to more of that even if it does mean more tangles along the way.

I'm sorry but you're wrong, there's traces of cheese-pasta casseroles in England and Italy since the 14th century, while the same dish may have existed in France but is far from popular there. If the english took it from somewhere it's Italy, not France.

In France our pasta casserole does not have a cheese sauce, it's baked in milk or cream with cheese just on the top to make a crust.

The only french thing in mac and cheese is the sauce, it's a béchamel with cheese (called Mornay sauce).

just some of the the changes in design for the Penguin Symbol on old Penguin Paperbacks 

he did a little dance and for this crime he was imprisoned in a bubble

They liked his little dance so much they gave him a spotlight

family album

i figured yall would appreciate this photo

original instagram post from vinnikolaus

obsessed with whatever dynamic this is:

benoit and his pathetic little meow meow who can do no wrong

It's also important to note that PBS-funded programs are trying their best to stay afloat despite this! If this news angers you and you have the financial ability to donate, PLEASE throw some money at your local public broadcasting station! If you don't have a local PBS, consider Oregon Public Broadcasting, which has been in continuous operation for over 100 years (first radio, then TV).

^ this site will show you your local station as well as stations that have lost 50% or more of their total revenue

the corporation for public broadcasting has officially shutdown as of today. please donate to your local pbs

Hope people help spread this around!

With Viewers Like You.

pornhub.com/search/redemption

pornhub.com/search/forgiveness

someone is putting up pictures of me around town and they all say I’m ‘wanted’. which is nice

truly from the bottom of my heart i hate the level of enshittification etsy has reached because it's still the best place to buy patterns for my hobby and every time i go scrolling through endless ai-generated bullshit to finally dig up a human-designed pattern i like, i'm hit with a deluge of 'popular!! 563 people are looking at this right now!! it's in 134632 baskets!! you must buy immediately!!!' it's a pdf file. it's a fucking pdf file. do you get off on trying to give people fomo over a fucking pdf file. fuck off. get diarrhea forever.

and that's not even touching the ai-generated patterns with hundreds of 5-star bot reviews that are stupidly easy to spot if you know what to look for. but most beginners don't know what to look for, so they're straight-up scammed into buying based on a nice picture. then their 'hey, i made this and it looks nothing like advertised' comments get buried under hundreds of 5-star bot reviews, and this is how someone who might have otherwise discovered an interesting and fulfilling hobby drops it, thinking the pattern's fine, everyone else likes it, so it's on them for not being good enough. it pisses me off so much, you have no idea.

anyway, here's some shops selling amigurumi (crochet soft toys) patterns fully created by crafters. i've either bought and made patterns from them or saved them for later, meaning i already checked that they aren't ai-generated. i might make a post later on how to spot ai-generated amigurumi patterns, but i wanted to give these a shout-out. go buy from them if you can, it's cool stuff and an interesting skill to learn.

whenever possible i linked to a store outside etsy, but not all pattern creators have one, so it's 100% worth checking them out and supporting them despite the absolute tar pit they operate in. also whatever creative hobby you're curious about, don't let an ai-generated picture discourage you from trying it. you are a god capable of summoning something out of nothing and generative ai is a pathetic little string of mathematical operations with ideas above its station.

I AM GOING TO SCREAM AND SCREAM AND SCREAM to the heavens until everyone knows about the Etsy competitor goimagine!!!

The founder of GoImagine refuses to go public or sell the platform: NO SHARE HOLDERS TO APPEASE!!

They have a STRICT vetting process for sellers: NO BOTS, NO AI, NO DROP SHIPPING, HAND MADE CRAFTS ONLY!!

You can narrow down stores you're shopping from by STATE! EASILY SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES!!

2% of every sale transaction is donated to charity!!!

This is baked into the platform. Right now they're partnered with four different charities to fight childhood hunger, provide relief childcare for families dealing with domestic violence, end childhood homelessness, and fund art accessablity. HELPING KIDS!!!!

I have a shop there that I will be stocking soon! If you're a creator, their basic ship front is FREE and you get 12 listing slots! The next size up is only $5 a month and you get 200 listings, and the topn you're at $15 gives you 1,000 product listings and a whole ass customizable store front website. That's cheaper than anything else on the market rn.

Current downsides that will not remain downsides: they're only available in the USA but they're planning on expanding into Canada soon. And they've been mostly focused on growing their seller side, so not a lot of buyers know about them yet. But!!! That why I tell everyone I can! Shop with them! List your products with them! Use a platform that has a dedicated mission for community good and is there to support sustainable creator markets, not create endless bloated corporate growth!!!!

And dump Etsy yesterday.

we need more mean butches in media that never reconnect with their feminity and never feel longing for the nuclear life they gave up on. and I mean nowwwwww

AND THEY DONT BECOME COPS

villain going to the goon shelter to pick out a new henchman

this energetic and diabolical boy was rescued from a goon hoarding situation… he loves pulling levers, gloating, and turning cranks with great abandon. prefers to be the only goon. needs an active lair with plenty of enrichment.

now this fella comes with some baggage. his previous villain was going to have put down when he refused to perform unsedated human vivisection as a form of torture. one of our agents intercepted the execution and brought him to the goon shelter. would thrive in an environment of G or PG-rated villainry.

on the other hand, if you’re looking for something a little more… advanced… then this fine lady over here would make a great challenge for an experienced villain able to set firm boundaries. she will NOT be released to first-time villains; proof of prior henchpeople must be demonstrated before adoption approval. high prey drive. under no circumstances should she be left alone with children or small animals. must sign waiver releasing the goon shelter from responsibility if her behavior is deemed excessively depraved.

These two are pair-bonded and may only be adopted together. Up for anything, they are fiercely loyal to their employer provided their needs are met and they are permitted to hold hands. They look alarmingly similar to one another but it is undeterminable whether they are close blood relatives or lovers who choose to dress and style themselves in identical ways. Habit of finishing each other’s sentences with rhyming couplets; we have not attempted to train this out of them. Will answer to whatever names or titles you give them so long as they are complimentary and/or rhyme.

Will you help this goon find his forevil lair? He’s been returned to the goon shelter six times now but we refuse to give up on him. A vile little rat of a man, he’d be the perfect accomplice to someone willing to overlook his unfortunate heterosexuality. If gay-coding is not your style and you don’t expect it from a henchman, please consider giving this little guy a good home in your dastardly schemes.

This guy is not your typical goon. He was rescued from a high-kill shelter after being deemed unfit for henching. His deep baritone voice, his darkly handsome good looks, and his flair for the dramatic have made prospective employers pass over him time and time again, making him the longest resident of the goon shelter. But don’t judge a book by its cover—while his appearance and demeanor suggest “villain”, his real passion is taking orders and faithfully serving a master. If you’re secure in your villainry and not prone to jealousy, he may just be what it takes to turn your base into a lair.

To me every picture of a princess and a knight is butchfemme

I can't stop thinking about this video I saw of this guy selling his music in what I think is a super cool physical format. Like. Look how cool this is

When I was in high school in [year redacted] I had a USB like this that lived in my wallet. It's not new tech, but I'm glad that it's coming back around.