conspicuous 

my wife, upon learning that pubes can be straight: Thats not bush,,, thats just grass

Does anyone remember what happened to Radio Shack?

They started out selling niche electronics supplies. Capacitors and transformers and shit. This was never the most popular thing, but they had an audience, one that they had a real lock on. No one else was doing that, so all the electronics geeks had to go to them, back in the days before online ordering. They branched out into other electronics too, but kept doing the electronic components.

Eventually they realize that they are making more money selling cell phones and remote control cars than they were with those electronic components. After all, everyone needs a cellphone and some electronic toys, but how many people need a multimeter and some resistors?

So they pivoted, and started only selling that stuff. All cellphones, all remote control cars, stop wasting store space on this niche shit.

And then Walmart and Target and Circuit City and Best Buy ate their lunch. Those companies were already running big stores that sold cellphones and remote control cars, and they had more leverage to get lower prices and selling more stuff meant they had more reasons to go in there, and they couldn't compete. Without the niche electronics stuff that had been their core brand, there was no reason to go to their stores. Everything they sold, you could get elsewhere, and almost always for cheaper, and probably you could buy 5 other things you needed while you were there, stuff Radio Shack didn't sell.

And Radio Shack is gone now. They had a small but loyal customer base that they were never going to lose, but they decided to switch to a bigger but more fickle customer base, one that would go somewhere else for convenience or a bargain. Rather than stick with what they were great at (and only they could do), they switched to something they were only okay at... putting them in a bigger pond with a lot of bigger fish who promptly out-competed them.

If Radio Shack had stayed with their core audience, who knows what would have happened? Maybe they wouldn't have made a billion dollars, but maybe they would still be around, still serving that community, still getting by. They may have had a small audience, but they had basically no competition for that audience. But yeah, we only know for sure what would happen if they decided to attempt to go more mainstream: They fail and die. We know for sure because that's what they did.

I don't know why I keep thinking about the story of what happened to Radio Shack. It just keeps feeling relevant for some reason.

It used to be that in this land you could walk into your local apothecary, descend down the spiral stairway in the back to the underground apothecary, walk out the inverse front door of the underground apothecary, walk around the back of the underground apothecary and find some sort of unusually handsome and colorful jester-magician or weird flesh creature with a chorus of stolen voices living inside/next to a metal dumpster or cage who would sell you glass jars that contain floating ghostly motes of ethereal purple flame for a cheap cheap price. Nowadays you'll be lucky if you can even find 3 jars of ethereal GREEN flame for less than 2.50$ inside the normal underground apothecary. ugh. what happened to this country i stg :\

Hey, I know you meant this rhetorically but I'm majoring in paraeconomics and I actually have a great explanation why this is! Basically, the ghost motes you used to get in the beneath were harvested from the shadows of inverted souls (soul-beings that are the mirror opposites of ones in limbo, that exist like parasites in the shadow realm) by fae fleshlings and lesser magekind of the grey realms, but after the 1097145th angelic decree, they closed off the cosmic immateria portals from faefolk and lesser arcane arts in preparation for the 99th A-D war, which resulted in millions of demonic casualties that littered the barrier and cosmic immateria realms to an extreme degree. The angelic order saw this itself as an existential threat to universal order so they formally recruited the merchant clans of the grey realms temporarily to aid in the cleanup effort, which is why green motes flooded the market - they're made from incineration and purification of infernal hellfire and demonic organic residues (most likely), and are tenuously deemed safe for consumer use. But after a short period the angelic order ended their contract with the merchant realms and they dumped their entire stock at once, aiming to get an edge on the universal market. Instead this has resulted in a shortage in stock of motes and increased prices, as well as the dishevelment of independent faeling and magekind outfits. It's really quite tragic how drastically war can disrupt the richness of the ethereal oddities economy.

Hey, PSA for my fellow disabled people: UPS workers are trying to negotiate a new contract, and it looks like it's leading to a strike soon. Now, I am absolutely all for this, they need safe working conditions and should strike if need be, but for us?

Please contact your doctors and make sure you're prepared in any way possible. This will affect many of you, whether that's through med deliveries, oxygen tanks, or other one-use supplies. If you live in America, try to get in contact with an insurance case worker for resources and advice if you're able.

Stay safe, and hope that the precaution isn't necessary.

Today (July 19th) is Changing Places awareness day!

[Image description: a photo of the changing places toilet with the features listed below /end ID]

What is a changing places toilet?

A changing places toilet is a toilet which can be used by disabled people like me who can’t use a standard accessible toilet. This may be because someone needs extra equipment, and/or room for carers to help them. The main features of the changing places toilet are:

1. Lots of room! Changing places toilet must be at least 12 square metres. This means that there is plenty of room for a wheelchair user to turn around as well as room for up to 2 carers.
2. A peninsular toilet! This is a toilet which has enough room on each side were wheelchair to be positioned for transferring. As with standard accessible toilet there are grab rails on each side.
3. Accessible washbasin! The washbasin must have room underneath for a wheelchair user. An adjustable height washbasin is preferred.
4. A ceiling hoist! This allows people who cannot transfer independently to be able to safely get out of their wheelchair. A person brings their own sling which is hooked onto the hoist allowing them to be lifted.
5. An adult size changing table! This allows people need help with undressing to use the toilet, or help changing incontinence pads to have their needs met safely and with dignity. Without a changing table, many people have to resort to lying on the toilet floor to change their pads which is unsafe, undignified and unhygienic.

Why raise awareness?

The lack of changing places toilet means it’s hard for disabled people like me to leave the house. It’s limits our ability to socialise, access work/education, exercise, travel, and even attend hospital appointments. (In the UK there are only 93 hospitals with a registered changing places toilet).

I have to plan my entire life around the few changing places toilet that exist, which massively shrinks my world. It’s incredibly difficult for me to travel (less than 2% of train stations in the UK have a changing places toilet), go days out, visit the hospital, and otherwise experience the world outside my house. Hopefully one day every event like Pride or music festivals will have a mobile changing places toilet, and there will be public changing places toilet with 24/7 access in every town, as well as changing places toilets in public buildings like leisure centres, libraries, museums, cinemas, tourist attractions and shopping centres.

More info including what you can do to help the UK campaigns for more changing places toilets can be found at changing-places.org

whenever my program freezes

if you have a custom domain set, DO NOT UNTICK THE BUTTON on blog settings. you’re not allowed to add it back. (nope, that’s not mentioned anywhere on blog settings itself.) if you switch hosts and need to update nameservers, congrats! you’re fucked

custom domains were a feature that’s been available over a decade, but they’ve been unceremoniously removed. the idea of “legacy” domains is a joke

this is doubly egregious because they absolutely could be selling domains for people that don’t have one, while still allowing those of us that already had a domain to keep using ours. they also don’t even allow you to pay to use your own. so if someone bought a domain specifically to use on tumblr, if they accidentally untick the button then poof! they’re fucked because they can’t re-buy their own domain from tumblr 

it’s honestly pathetic how much of a transparent cash grab this is at worst, and how badly implemented this was at best. this is what happens when you accept incompetency as a modus operandi bc “lol quirky hellsite”

i highly, HIGHLY recommend not investing in this feature due to that incompetency and lack of transparency

cannot stop thinking about them...........

been watching more tiktoks from this twink and honestly this is one of the most interesting academic discussions i've seen in a while

oh seems very suspicious to see the barbie movie tumblr pop up on my dash after the strike. maybe it was made before, but I’m actually seeing it now

remember:

there’s no boycott on going to see new media

but there is a promotional blackout

don’t do the studio’s marketing work for them

I just checked their archive. They created it Today, July 17th.

prior to the strike they did not have an official tumblr lmaoooo

don’t reblog their shit

like riot grrl as a scene wasn’t like woopsie daisy can’t believe no WOC wanted to sign up and join us there was legitimate hostility towards WOC during that movement that’s been documented as well as the inability for many riot grrls to understand intersections of oppression and their own role in upholding it

i mean sonically and aesthetically you can like the riot grrl movement but lets not pretend like there wasn’t huge and glaring flaws about it like every other feminist wave or scene that was primarily white women

Further reading for those interested!

Why I Was Never A Riot Grrrl

A personal retrospective and review of the documentary The Punk Singer and its glossing over of the racism and classism of the riot grrrl scene

Alternatives To Alternatives: The Black Grrrls Riot Ignored

Interviews with prominent women in the punk and riot grrrl scenes of the 90s, with perspectives from inside and outside. If you read nothing else read this one.

Evolution of a Race Riot (via POC Zine Project)

collaborative zine of punks of color published in 1998

Punk Anteriors: Theory, Genealogy, Performance (via POC Zine Project)

Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory vol 22. A compilation of writing by female punks of color. Recommended article to read: Riot Grrrl, Race, and Revival by Mimi Thi Nguyen

@poczineproject is also on tumblr! please check them out and support them, they do such vital archival work