Some Sites For When You’re Bored And Looking For New Music

Another AO3 thing I’m curious about, how do yall decide if something is good enough to read? Usually I follow a rule of 1 kudos for every 10 hits. One because it’s easy math and two it’s yet to fail me. Thoughts? Do you just go for it and pray it’s good?

hate incidents against elderly East & Southeast Asians have skyrocketed recently, especially in the Bay Area (article) (thread) . here are some:

an 85 year old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was tackled to the ground and murdered in SF

an assailant pushed down a 91 year old Asian man, followed by 2 other elderly men and women, in oakland

a 52 year old Asian-American woman was shot in the head with a flare gun 

there have been over 20 assaults and robberies in Oakland’s Chinatown targeted towards the elderly in the past 2 weeks

a 61 year old Filipino man’s face was slashed on the subway in nyc & no one assisted him

a Vietnamese community center burned down in oakland

this is not new – since the pandemic began, attacks on Asian-Americans have spiked:

an 89 year old Asian woman in brooklyn was set on fire in July

an Asian woman in brooklyn was doused in acid in April while she was taking out her trash

almost 3000 hate incidents against Asian-Americans were reported from march to the end of 2020 (keep in mind, most incidents are unreported)

this is what happens when white supremacists refer to the coronavirus as the “china virus” & “kung flu” and promote rhetoric that harms Asian communities. today is the start of lunar new year celebrations & attacks are expected to increase. as a response, local governments across the us have stationed increased police presence in chinatowns, but a white supremacist police system, which will not protect our elders and will also threaten Black lives and safety, is not the solution. most Asians are unwilling to report hate incidents because we do not believe police will help, and last week, police shot and killed Christian Hall, a 19 year old Chinese-American, during a mental health crisis. we can’t accept tactics that uphold white supremacy. what we need is aid for our communities:

thread of donation links

sign up to accompany elderly Asians while they run errands, etc

gofundme for funds to distribute amongst Bay Area + elsewhere community organizations

gofundme for Vicha Ratanapakdee

gofundme for VACCEB (the community center)

keep up with Stop AAPI Hate

lunar new year is our biggest celebration & is supposed to be a time of joy and family, but due to white supremacy & xenophobia, our communities are hurting. it is incredibly painful to see our elders – who our cultures place a huge amount of respect and reverence on, and who often don’t even tell their families about these hate incidents because they don’t want them to worry – being targeted in this way. please donate if you can & spread whatever resources you come across. i will update this post with more links as i find them.

While every force available in the world is searching for the 5 people in the oceangate submersible, a boat filled with mostly Syrian and Pakistani refugees sank under still “unknown” circumstances off the coast of Peloponnisos, Greece (with the coast guard present). More than 600 people drowned but guess which of the two is making headlines

“Girls gays and theys” <- uninclusive while trying to be inclusive. Bad. Makes me uncomfortable.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and other distinguished guests” <- inclusive but far, far too formal

“Alrighty gamers” <- Incisive of everyone, informal, and fun to say.

I know it’s not hard to point out reactionaries hypocrisy when it comes to like safe spaces or hug boxes or whatever but genuinely how much of an echo chamber do you have to exist in for you to think this is a reasonable thing to say

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

lets fucking goooooooooooooooooooo

BOOK RIOT

How to Support Your Library in the Wake of Rising Fascism

We are all aware that libraries across the United States are under attack. Here are some ways you can help.

We are all aware that libraries across the United States are under attack. Thanks to groups like Moms for Liberty and other outspoken “concerned citizens,” there has been actual legislative action at multiple levels of government to limit what libraries can do and provide to their communities. Even in the places where there hasn’t been that kind of action, those same concerned citizens have mounted acts of intimidation to instill fear and block access...In light of this, I’ve heard many iterations of the same question: how can we help? What do libraries and library staff need right now?