I was searching the Latin/Greek section of a used bookstore for some ~aesthetic~ antique Latin books, and I came across this beautiful 1889 tome:
This is going to look great on my “look at me I’m a pretentious twat” bookshelf.
But then… the first few sentences read:
“In 1875 delegates of the Oxford University Press proposed to me that I should undertake the compilation of a new Latin-English Lexicon, of something the same compass as the Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott. I acceded to the proposal in the expectation, for which I had at the time what appeared to be good grounds, that I should obtain adequate assistance in the work. My hopes were, however, disappointed.”
Ouch.
He goes on to detail how he spent 12 years working on A all by himself. Then the university asked him to publish what he had, so he threw together the rest of the book, clearly caring less and less the further he got in the alphabet – the entire Q section has four entries – and published… this.
Obviously this is going straight onto my pretentious twat shelf as a goofy conversation starter, but it is interesting and potentially useful if obscure Latin words are your thing. (Did you know “ramen” is a hapax legomenon meaning “a small chip or shaving”?)
So if you ever come across a really obscure Latin word or name that you can’t find anywhere, hmu… but only if it starts with A.
The app is called Be My Eyes and allows blind people to phone or message for help. The app seems to allow video and photos to be sent and the sighted person on the other end can send a message to the blind person, answering whatever inquiry they have.
[This is a set of screenshots about the app called Be My Eyes.
First photo: The overview page for the app. The top says “Be My Eyes- helping the blind.”
Second photo: The preview page on the app store. It shows two phones. The one on the left is titled “Volunteer” and says “Join the community and help it grow.” The one on the right is titled “Blind.” The phone under the title has “Call first available volunteer,” written in large font.
Third photo: More previews. Shows the messages between two people texting each other. The visually impaired person sent a picture of two cans of food, and is asking which one is beans. Another example shows the person sending a picture of their milk carton, and asking if it is expired.
Fourth photo: An iphone lock screen. A notification from the app says “a blind or visually impaired person is calling for help.”
Fifth photo: The profile page of a sighted user named Francis, who speaks English and Español. The top says there are 74,768 Blind and 1,033,846 Volunteers using the app.
Sixth photo: Text that says “Learn how to answer a call. When a blind or visually impaired person requests help, the app notifies multiple volunteers, and the first to respond is connected. The notification might look different whether your phone is locked or unlocked. Here you can try both scenarios.
Seventh photo: A notification from the app on an iphone home screen. The instructions say to pull the notification down or tap it to answer a call.
Eighth photo: The same notification on an iphone lock screen. The instructions say to tap it or slide it to answer the call.]
Please reblog the version of this post with image descriptions. It’s a service for blind folks, posted about in a format blind folks don’t have access to (without the descriptions).
Also, if you’re willing to download and use this app but you don’t go out of your way to add image descriptions to the images you share, please reevaluate that! Contact me if you need help adding image descriptions to things.
This app is actually very useful. The way sighted people are talking about it is not.
We are raising money so that our voices can be heard in the upcoming election. Your contribution will help us with: (1) transporting tribal members to the polls; (2) purchasing ID cards for tribal members, and; (3) filing voting information paperwork.
The Trump administration is working on a plan to severely narrow the legal definition of gender, according to a report in The New York Times on Sunday.
The proposed policy, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, would define gender “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” meaning it would define gender as either male or female as determined by genitalia at birth. Any dispute about an individual’s gender would require genetic testing. This would have major repercussions for the transgender and gender nonconforming communities ― particularly in regard to health care.
Since the Trump plan was revealed, protesters have been gathering online ― often using the hashtag #WontBeErased ― and in person around the country. On Sunday night, several hundred people gathered in Washington Square Park in New York City.
But there is still a lot of work to be done to make sure the trans and gender nonconforming communities are protected.
You’ve likely seen people coming out in droves to encourage others to vote; it’s one of the most important things you can do as an American. Casting ballots at the federal, state and local levels affects transgender rights. Check Vote.org for ways to promote turnout in your area. Call your friends and family members nearby to go to the polls with you, and remind those in other states to vote too.
Educate yourself
Being an ally isn’t just patting your trans or nonbinary friends on the back or retweeting them occasionally. It’s about respect and fighting for their rights. The first step to being a good ally is educating yourself on the basics — knowing someone’s preferred pronouns, avoiding stereotypes and learning what policies in government directly affect the trans and gender nonconforming communities. You can find a primer on those issues and more here.
Promote helpful resources and trans-led organizations
While many “prominent national organizations are not led by trans or nonbinary people,” many are and need help on both the national and local levels. Some of those organizations, according to Out magazine are: Audre Lorde Project, Casa Ruby, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, Fierce, Organizacion Latina de Trans en Texas, Southerners on New Ground, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Trans Latin@ Coalition, Trans Law Center and Trans Lifeline. More comprehensive lists can be found at the Trans Justice Funding Project and Borealis Philanthropy’s Fund for Trans Generations.
Sharing numbers like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255), the Trevor Project at 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386) and Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 can be immensely helpful for those in crisis.
Share the work of trans activists and journalists
Groups like Lambda Legal, the ACLU and the Transgender Law Center are legal organizations that ofter extensive information about trans rights and policies that affect them. Keep an eye on their social media pages to see if they’re holding events you can take part in or to share their messaging.
Additionally, sharing the work of trans and gender nonconforming journalists helps spread the messaging being put out by the community for the community. Too often, work about the trans community is written by people who are not members of that community ― which can be completely OK, as long as it’s done correctly. This piece in Them does an excellent job of explaining the problem with media organizations not hiring trans reporters to cover trans issues.
You know, if you don’t vote, you are in effect saying that all this shit they are pulling is okay. You accept it. Is that really the person you want to be? Vote. Please.
I decided to make a new post cause the old one is still getting reblogs, but donations have stalled for a bit.
I am still in the process of waiting for my goddman unemployment benefits to kick in, and wasn’t able to pay this month’s rent. Therefore any reblog, any donation is highly appreciated. IDK how much longer it will take, and my energy and motivation are continuously drained.
If you want to help out, my paypal is annikafasse@yahoo.com
In return I can offer to help with German coursework/homework, or german-to-english translations, just dm me.
I’m really at my limit here, any help is appreciated.
I want to have this elvish language and culture be inspired off China and Mandarin in this fantasy world I’m working on, but since I’m doing all the language bits in pinyin I can’t help but worry about what people might think when they see a word like “dōng” or “wáng”, which means winter and great respectively but both of which have like… different connotations in English
One of the most toxic pieces of writing “advice” I have ever gotten, bar none, is “real writers write every day!”
And yet I see it touted constantly by writers and those who support writers, often bringing up the example of “Steven King writes 8 hours every day!”
Here’s my counter-advice to anyone and everyone who has heard this “real writers write every day” crap.
It’s a lie. It’s an absolute, outright lie, to say someone can write every single day without fail. Even the people who do it professionally take breaks. Even the people whose entire livelihoods are based on the written word will take time out and just relax. And that’s not even bringing up writer’s block or anything similar to it, or just feeling like you don’t want to write today.
That’s all okay. I’ve spent weeks not writing before getting back to it, I’ve dropped projects and started them months later under new names, I’ve done all manner of things that so flagrantly fly in the face of the statement “real writers write every day” that frankly, for a long time, I started to think I wasn’t a real writer.
But that’s bullshit. You can take a break for any reason. Depression, work, illness, and and so forth may actively stop you from writing. You could spend time with your loved ones, or playing video games, or cuddling a dog, or going out to a bar, and choose to not write. That doesn’t make you a fake writer, it just makes you a human.
“Real writers write every day” is, and always will be, a lie. Don’t fall for it.
god this is a big ask but I really wish there were like….. a site where you could plug in your state/district/whatever and tick some boxes on issues you prioritize and then the site would give you a rundown of the potential candidates in your area and where they stand on those issues in like….. clean simple bullet points. gimme the cliffnotes, I literally do not have the time or energy to comb through god knows how many articles and shit to figure out who to support, just tell me what their stance is on X, Y, and Z, and that’s gonna have to be enough.
It goes through who’s on your ballot and explains things like that based on your address.
this is really great. it gives you bullet points on what each candidate has said and done on each issue.
very illuminating, frankly, seeing the candidate’s own words and actions. for instance, under ‘defense/veterans’ the republican candidates almost always say something about a well-funded military, and the democrats almost always say something about getting veterans the medical care they need. makes it pretty obvious that republicans don’t care about soldiers once they’re done with them.
Rather than writing up a whole other thing, this is what @dadhoc wrote for the fundraiser:
Hello friends!
As many of you are aware, Mandy’s been having a heck of a time with their KD Smart Chair. It’s been fritzing out on us at conventions and events, and finally sparked out and died quite dramatically at HLG Con in Atlantic City a couple weeks ago.
To make matters worse, we were struck by another vehicle on our way there, and are going to be stuck paying the deductible since no witnesses stopped and the other driver is refusing fault.
After talking with the fine folks over at Wheelchair and Scooter Repair for an estimate and tossing on the cost of the insurance deductible, we’re going to be out of pocket about a grand. This is, to put it mildly, not money we have right now.
Mandy needs their wheeled legs back, as we depend upon their mobility at conventions and shows in order to make a living. Once we’ve got the money, we can order the repairs and have their chair back and running in short order.
Every little bit helps! Thank you in advance, so so much!
***
So, …yeah. Our car needs repairs and my chair completely died and it’ll cost at least this much to get the car fixed and have a tech assess if my chair can even be repaired.
Hopefully it can because otherwise we’re looking at funding a whole new chair.
Anyway, here’s the fundraiser. Please help if you can and share if you can’t. Losing my mobility has been emotionally crushing.
willowfoot 