A Few Years Ago, When I Was Living In The Housing Co-op And Looking For A Quick Cookie Recipe, I Came

Laika: 1954-1957

Opportunity Rover: 2004-2019

Watch Tracy Chapman Start a Quiet Revolution

You guys may be too young to remember, but I remember tuning in on TV with 600 million other viewers to watch Stevie Wonder live at Wembley Stadium for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday celebration tribute in 1988. There were technical difficulties and Stevie Wonder couldn't go on yet. The crowd was antsy, milling around, singing their own songs. The TV cameras were rolling and the show had to go on, so TOTALLY UNKNOWN ARTIST TRACY CHAPMAN GOT UP ON STAGE AND PLAYED FAST CAR ARMED WITH ONLY HER GUITAR.

The crowd fell silent. Captivated by the absolute raw honesty and talent on display. Did we know we were witnessing history? A black queer artist who would rocket to fame and win a Grammy for this song the following year? I don't remember.

What I do remember is getting to the end of the song and not caring about Stevie Wonder any more. I wanted to know who this woman was!

Watch Tracy Chapman stun a rowdy crowd into silence:

tumblr blackout proposal

tumblr mobile has steadily become near unusable these past few updates. not just from a user experience perspective (which is important enough in itself) but also from an accessibility perspective.

examples include the new way the image viewer works (if you can call it "working"), the tumblr live button replacing the profile button, and that newly created blogs will be forced to have their main dashboard tab be the 'for you' page.

the demands of the protest would be along the lines of:

reverse the recent image viewer update

scrap the new users 'for you' page default setting

let us turn off tumblr live indefinitely

increase efforts against spam / porn bots

make reporting abuse and hate speech as easy as reporting as reporting spam

let us go nuts show nuts again... for real this time

remove flashing ads, including not accepting blaze campaigns for posts with flashing in them

commit to improving usability and accessibility, and listening to users!

(suggestions welcome!)

to protest against these usability issues, and inspired by the recent reddit blackout, i propose a 48 hour blackout (where you don't use tumblr at all). preferably of both mobile and web (since web has problems too) but mobile is the focus here.

[edit: a 'blackout' is when you don't log in, or interact with the site at all, for [x] amount of time.]

I suggest from the 30th of June.

this marks the end of pride month (for the "queerest place on the internet") and the start of disability month (since accessibility is a massive issue here).

tumblr office is in San Francisco, USA, so the times and dates will be calculated using their time zone (PDT).

you can find out the times and dates for your timezone here.

i can't afford to blaze this post so please spread it around as much as possible! protests only work if significant numbers show up!

edit: tumblr rejected the blaze campaigns for this post because they know it would hurt them. let's make this an indefinite blackout - it's the best way to get results.

edit 2: plain text version of this post

I know life is hard but somewhere on earth a little transmasc child has found a bug and is chasing his sister around the yard in circles with it. And a little transfemme child just got into her mother’s makeup and looked at herself with poorly applied paint and smiled. Okay?

| Everlasting | Would you stay here?

In hopes of inspiring younger generations, NASA created this series of gorgeous retro travel posters that encourage you to imagine a future where common space travel is a legitimate possibility. Source

What is something to look for in 2024?

Things to look forward to next year (or if reblogging in 2025, tag yourself with which one was your favorite):

Vladimir Putin admits he is not from St. Petersburg Russia, but St. Petersburg Florida.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is cancelled after Epic Games demands 150% of its profits.

Donald Trump's anus prolapses during a debate. He lies and says it didn't, and keeps debating until he passes out.

Joe Biden resigns so that Kamala Harris can prove her worth as the new president.

Kamala Harris names Tom Hanks as her VP.

Kamala Harris resigns so that Tom Hanks can prove his worth as the new president.

Dune Part 2 is cancelled by Warner Bros for a tax deduction. Timothée Chalamet rallies the extras to attack Warner Bros HQ, David Zaslav is eaten by a sandworm during the fight.

The Summer Olympics are canceled due to Covid. Not the disease, but athlete Covid Johnson Jr, who should've known not to light the torch that way in public.

The European Union breaks up due to a fight that began on stage at the Eurovision Song Contest over a performance of Sweden's controversial ballad, "Hej Estland, du luktar som Lutefisk."

Apple Vision Pro bombs due to its price, which is several times the gross national product of Canada, per unit.

Canada is annexed by Denmark when it tries to buy an Apple Vision Pro.

Tom Hanks is elected president of the United States of America.

Tom Hanks foots the bill for a release of Hollow Knight: Silksong on Steam and Nintendo Switch, becoming the most popular president in history.

The character of "Mickey Mouse" Enters the public domain.

Disney violently overthrows popular president Tom Hanks, starting the Second American Civil War and retaining the rights to Mickey Mouse.

The Second American Civil War is cancelled by Disney for a tax deduction.

Jessica Biel announces her marriage to Justin Timberlake will become polyandrous with the inclusion of Lance Bass and one Backstreet Boy to be named later.

Why don't they make stained glass fish tanks? Give those fish Catholic guilt

in this house we believe:

this place is not a place of honor

no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here

nothing valued is here

what is here is dangerous and repulsive to us

the danger is in a particular location

the danger is still present in your time as it was in ours