OK so, I have been making proxy cards and tokens for Magic the Gathering for my personal use by cutting out art from photos, comics, etc that I bought and own. Obviously I don't feel morally or legally wrong in that.

But what if I were to sell such an item? Keep in mind, I am NOT reproducing anyone's art. I had bought it either secondhand or from the comic store or wherever. Artists, how would you feel about that morally? And is that illegal to do?

I would not feel morally right reproducing someone's art, but this feels like a grey area to me since I'm using something I bought that they made. I make music but I do not yet have any visual art skills beyond having taken a graphic design class.

Most people making peripheral MtG stuff only sell creature and artifact tokens anyway to avoid being sued by Hasbro, and release their art/designs as images that others can print for free.

It probably just boils down to "ask permission" I guess.

I'm editing a story right now, and they use this construction with no speaking verbs a lot:

Rachel was finishing washing the dinner plates, “I know this will be hard on them, but Shelby needs to go on home."

I know you could replace that comma with a period, but I wonder if it's common to use a comma or semicolon to avoid slowing the reader too much?

This next one makes more sense to me because laughing could conceivably be a speaking verb:

Maddie's laugh was laced with sarcasm, “Mark, looks like you’ve got a friend.”

That one could even be a colon...

Am I overthinking this? Should I just replace them all with periods?

The iron absorption of lentils isn't great, though... but I'm trying to think of ways to increase my iron intake because mine is low.

The hardest thing is that you have to soak the lentils overnight. And you will need a blender or food processor. The best part is it's high in protein.

In 5 to 15 years, Russian :gamer:s could have a portable console.

No paywall. Lots of glib jokes about the russia-ukraine war and balconies in the article though.

It's 2034, on the morning of January 25th in New York City. I wake up, roll out of bed and quietly open the window to let the 70 degree dirty air inside without waking my 7 roommates (all sleeping in here with me, of course). Then I check my VR glasses to see where the cheapest Wendy's breakfast sandwich surge pricing is and put it in Googazon Maps. The subway was abolished in 2028, but the cheap Wendy's today is only a 40 minute detour from my car commute to Manhattan. I have to take a second detour around the Bronx because the levies broke again today. I catch a morning war report from President Hunter Brandon's State Department to make sure the highway wasn't bombed by American Zionist drone strikes.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1928681

The rest of this story has been in the hexbear megathreads, but I'll probably compile it into a post someday. It's mostly me using facts and logic, along with ethos and pathos and Norm Finkelstein's book Gaza to convince them that Israel is a genocidal ethnostate.

Report: February 26th 2024

I am still continuing to radicalize my parents on Israel/Palestine as often as I can get away with. Today, I explained to them what white phosphorous is and how often Israel is using it. And where it is manufactured (it's the USA, folks, in good old St Louis, MO).

If you don't know already, white phosphorous is

NSFL description of a banned weapon that Israel uses weekly

this sticky goo that bursts into flame on contact with the air, then it burns the skin of the victims and poisons you by entering the holes that just burned up, causing liver damage and eventually multiple organ failure.

Also mentioned that Israel destroyed nearly every hospital in Gaza, so no treatment for those women and children burned with chemical weapons.

My mom searched "white phosphorus israel" and saw that Israel did a white phosphorus attack on a Jabalia refugee camp on October 31, killing 195+ civilians (they're all civilians, it's a FUCKING REFUGEE CAMP).

Source here, debate perverts: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/31_October_2023_Jabalia_refugee_camp_airstrike

I asked my dad "What you are supposed to do when evil wins and your country is funding it?" (Thanks JT for the excellent framing device). He had a long think about that one.

The rest of this story has been in the megathreads, but I'll probably compile it into a post someday. It's mostly me using facts and logic, along with ethos and pathos and Norm Finkelstein's book Gaza to convince them that Israel is a genocidal ethnostate.

Report: February 26th 2024

I am still continuing to radicalize my parents on Israel/Palestine as often as I can get away with. Today, I explained to them what white phosphorous is and how often Israel is using it. And where it is manufactured (it's the USA, folks, in good old St Louis, MO).

If you don't know already, white phosphorous is

NSFL description of a banned weapon that Israel uses weekly

this sticky goo that bursts into flame on contact with the air, then it burns the skin of the victims and poisons you by entering the holes that just burned up, causing liver damage and eventually multiple organ failure.

Also mentioned that Israel destroyed nearly every hospital in Gaza, so no treatment for those women and children burned with chemical weapons.

My mom searched "white phosphorus israel" and saw that Israel did a white phosphorus attack on a Jabalia refugee camp on October 31, killing 195+ civilians (they're all civilians, it's a FUCKING REFUGEE CAMP).

Source here, debate perverts: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/31_October_2023_Jabalia_refugee_camp_airstrike

I asked my dad "What you are supposed to do when evil wins and your country is funding it?" (Thanks JT for the excellent framing device). He had a long think about that one.

Comrades, on a recent mutual aid comm post, I received 8 upbears on my bump comment and zero other bump comments. This is a ROOKIE MISTAKE! Don't just give me heckin comment upvoterinos, BUMP IT YOURSELF! The more people that see mutual aid comm posts, the more mutual aid happens. You don't necessarily need money to contribute in this regard.

Comment mutual aid poats to bump for active sort. Also upvote the post, which helps it show up on Hot.

livestream on friendsofbigbearvalley.org

I heard that the official sour warheads soda isn't sour and at least one user on here is sad about it.

You should know that Malic Acid and Citric Acid (and also Lactic Acid, often used in sour beers) are available as concentrated food-safe powders. You can use them in mixed drinks, including turning that boring apple, grape, watermelon, or lemon-lime soda into something you really shouldn't pour down your throat. Nobody is stopping you.

For people who aren't spice-lords or sour-lords, here is a video with some more "normal" and less extreme culinary uses for acids from America's Test Kitchen on YouTube.

Invidious private version of the video link: Why Acids Are as Important as Salt | What’s Eating Dan?

CW: I will discuss body dismorphia, or the (seeming) lack thereof I feel when thinking what it would be like to have been assigned the wrong gender. Also I describe sexual roles and thinking about having different anatomy.

Ok, so I've previously read Trans Liberation by Leslie Feinberg and I care about gender insofar as it takes to ensure all gender nonconforming people get healthcare, feel safe in public life, etc. I also will/have changed my language as much as it takes to make my trans comrades feel comfortable. With that out of the way:

I am a cis male, and I guess I am mostly okay with the body I've been given. I prefer to be called him, but I would only be a little annoyed if someone used she/her or they/them to describe me. If I try to imagine my body with a vagina and developing breasts in puberty with my current state of mind, I don't feel very much discomfort. I don't feel particularly attached to the role of penetrating another partner as a gay guy who enjoys bottoming more than topping. If I was forced to wear dresses to church growing up, I don't imagine I would be very distressed.

I do value the relative ease of building muscle that comes with having a male hormonal profile, and I guess dealing with having a female hormonal profile could be alarming, but mostly because it's not what I'm used to. But before puberty, I also wasn't used to having a bunch of testosterone.

On some level, I understand that it can be traumatic to be the target of violence and hate speech, or to be denied medical care. I'm speaking from a position of relative privilege.

Does this mean I'm possibly non-binary? Or something else? I feel content to be assumed as male, but I don't feel that strongly about it. And the title question again, does anybody else who is cisgender or otherwise just not have strong feelings about their own gender?

Fucking hell, man.

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