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 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 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...

“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...

Pt. 2/2 ⬇️

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.

jacking off is unrealistic

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”

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)

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

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

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.

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.

On today’s episode of the Bluesky Tech Minute, we’re talking cybersecurity. What are would-be hackers trying to get their hands on – and what can you do to keep your sensitive information safe? Get cyber-smart in 60 seconds:

Introducing the Bluesky Tech Minute, a minute-long show hosted by yours truly in which I take you through the ins and outs of the day’s tech news. Find out all about the latest developments in the tech sector – and what they mean for you as a consumer:

Alt Text is a gift that lets you practice poetry and read images for details, practicing Alt Text makes you pay attention to what matters about an image, what specifically you're trying to convey, and how you're trying to to convey it

next episode of Pretty Good drops monday on patreon www.patreon.com/SecretBase

Daffodil - Makes Ya Think

"i hope this site doesn't end up like the last one :(" Hope has nothing to do with it--DO YOUR PART! Twitter & Truth Social are dying. Their users are used to farming outrage for engagement. Don't give them any! 🚫 Don't argue with them! 🚫 Don't quote them! ✅ #BlockAndMoveOn

Friendly reminder if you want a bunch of awesome Indigenous folks in the gaming space to follow: Indigenous Steamers pack go.bsky.app/PzKwBP Indigenous Vtubers go.bsky.app/7bbXm1i Indigenous Game Devs go.bsky.app/Nam1deD Indigenous Creators (streamers, critics, artists, etc) go.bsky.app/FYdNh1Y

This what MLK’ s daughter has suggested we do. Great list.

Yes, libraries are invaluable for their collections and public services they offer, but also social contact without the expectation to interact with anyone or spend any money is so important to so many people

The drop has droppified! We hope everyone enjoys our fine selection of dragonic goods! The HPE crew is off for the evening. We'll be back at it first thing in the morning to answer messages and process combinations! ☺️

Reminder to new folks to go to your settings and make sure you have replies turned on and whatever content filters you want switched on or off, the default is to not show you replies with less than two likes and hide all the dicks

Some helpful tools for image posting on this app.

🩷✨🩵✨🤍 My Trans Friends 🤍✨🩵✨🩷 There are many people more eloquent than I, but I just want to say, I’m thankful you’re here. Im happy I know you. I’m happy you’re making the world better by just living as yourself. I remember the past to help forge a future with you

SmallBu did a lot of this pilot! We helped Pen and Jack and their team craft the animation style, as well as animated a bunch, and did revision work on the other animation. It was wonderful to help make something unique with Inspidea. This is a special one.

If you don't have money but you do have time, find an organization that's doing the work and see what their volunteer options are. Are you a whiz at navigating bureaucracy? Go volunteer with your local housing organization to help people get their vital records. Etcetera.

Appending to thread because it's useful: a link to information for vital records requests in all 50 states bsky.app/profile/necr...

9. If you have a family history of other issues that they can screen for, get the screening: if you have a family history of heart disease see a cardiologist, of brain aneurysm consider having a magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA) scan, etc.

8. If you have a family history of cancer, get a baseline screening for it: mammogram for breast cancer, colonoscopy or Cologuard for colon cancer, dermatologist visit with full-body exam and documentation of all skin abnormalities for skin cancer, etc.

7. If you produce sperm and don't want additional children, or are regular sexual partners with someone who has a uterus even if they are using long-acting birth control, consider a vasectomy. They're easier to get than hysterectomy or tubal ligation, because of course they are.

For the best odds of success, check out the crowdsourced list of cooperative doctors from Reddit's /r/childfree subreddit: www.reddit.com/r/childfree/...

6. If you have a uterus and don't want future pregnancies, consider trying to find a sympathetic GYN who will help you convince the insurance company that a hysterectomy is medically indicated: it's hard but possible, especially if you have a documented history of painful or heavy menstruation.