I was watching Donkey Skin (absolutely gorgeous costuming - the kind of thing we’ll probably never see again) and the ending involves a helicopter showing up out of nowhere. It’s kinda shocking, because the film is set in a sort of fantasy medieval Europe.

Another film that does this is Buñuel’s Simon of the Desert. ::: spoiler spoiler The Devil transports Simon to a modern day club at the end. :::

To use a movie that more people might recognize, Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s ending with everyone getting arrested by modern cops kinda does this, but the shock of the anachronism is lessened by the fact that there are modern day scenes sprinkled throughout the film.

Are there other films that do this? I mean less like The Village where the reveal is

::: spoiler spoiler they were always in the modern era. ::: But more surrealist films that use the sudden jump to the modern day to shock the audience.

I was denied sedation/effective pain meds before a procedure pretty recently. Despite the fact that I spent the entire time literally screaming in pain, they dismissed it as “anxiety” and did nothing to help.

I also received very little when I first came into the hospital - as my body was flooding with literal shit and I was fucking dying. They let me writhe and roll around for hours before they mercifully knocked me out for my operation.

I’m traumatized to the point where watching movies where people experiencing pain is upsetting. I was watching fucking Avatar the Last Airbender and wincing every time someone got punched or kicked.

I also go back to getting my IUD put in - again, another extremely painful procedure that is “not supposed to hurt” so there is no option for sedation or effective pain meds.

It feels like asking for pain meds gets you labeled as a drug seeker/addict too. I made the mistake of mentioning that I smoke weed (because I knew the anesthesiologist needs to know that) and it feels like it was instantly assumed that I’d be a pill popper too.

And I have extremely high pain tolerance. I’ve literally had people whip me until they’ve drawn blood. I’ve worked a fast food shift with a second degree (even a bit of third degree) burn going down the majority of my arm. I’m not a wuss, I know how to breathe in ways that help, I know how to go to a mind palace, but Christ, when you start digging around in someone’s guts with sharp objects, that’s not really something you can meditate away!

Is it training? Is it the fact that becoming a doctor in the U.S. requires the kind of upper middle class upbringing that doesn’t tend to help people develop empathy?

Some time later, multiple cases are reported throughout France of men becoming pregnant and the risk of overpopulation is placed on high alert. The film has two different endings. In the original French version, Marco is diagnosed with having hysterical pregnancy, saddening both him and Irène. As they finally get married, Irène faints and joyfully reveals to Marco that she is pregnant. In the Italian ending, Marco realises that he has been misdiagnosed and suddenly goes into labor at his wedding, though the baby is not shown. Afterwards, men everywhere suddenly begin having pregnancy symptoms.

We haven’t spoken in about three years at this point.

I was still really shocked and upset that there was nothing from him. He knew I was there. No phone call, no text message, no nothing.

The Elder Scrolls Arena let you play as a black woman in 1992. Name another game that did that.

Pretty much every game has offered a world where both races and sexes participate equally, and no one really cares (Morrowind’s racism is always made alien and upsetting thematically).

In Morrowind you can’t be a lesbian with Ahnassi (although the guy who wrote The Lusty Argonian Maid is an equal opportunity HR disaster). One of the rare characters Oblivion bothers to spend time on in a faction quest line is very clearly gay. Skyrim everyone is pan.

And a lot of this is just the same in Adventure Construction Set a series Howard explicitly took inspiration from. The game doesn’t really give that much of a shit about what you look like. It’s far more effort to code in racism, when you start with that kind of open world model.

It’s the end of May, school is basically over. The week where it’s mostly catching up on missing assignments - many students already off on summer vacation and the frequent interruptions from things like graduation prep etc…

Student of mine that has struggled with math all year comes up to talk to me about internet ARGs, and I start talking about cryptography with him. I end up printing out a little packet for him working him through introductory stuff.

I wasn’t sure how well he’d take to it - was pretty bad about turning in assignments all year, not good at being focused - but lo and behold, he was working on it at lunch and I ended up helping him some more with it.

Basically, if your city doesn’t harass homeless people enough, it has to pay up!

But we can’t afford to make sure that foster kids in group homes have a therapist.

The Behavioral Health Advisory Council for Oklahoma has not meet since 2024. Call 405-248-9200 and ask when the next meeting is, and what is being done to advocate for inpatient rights.

No meetings since 2024. Call 405-248-9200 and ask when the next meeting of the Behavioral Health Advisory Council is.

There’s a unique response to Lucas’ murder – none of the local media outlets covering the crime have used Lucas’ name or any identity. Their focus has been on the murderers. I’ve been doing this for over 13 years and I’ve not encountered this before. Typically, outlets will say “the victim” or “the male victim” or “a local man was killed yesterday.” I’ve certainly encountered a lot of deadnaming and misgendering.

But if you read through the coverage, you’ll see almost no reference to Lucas at all. The outlets mention the suspects first on the run, then captured. No mention of the crime or the victim, not even in broad strokes.

The plea deal allowed Amason to avoid jail time, reduced the number of charges against him, and required him to pay $10,000 in restitution to a charity of his choice.

Three of those counts alleged Amason misspent up to $15,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses.

[…]

They say Amason chose Norman Bible Church as his charity.

The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page makes clear Amason has a relationship with the church.

Posts show Amason regularly hosted church leaders to preach to inmates at the Cleveland County Jail as part of a prison ministry program—as recently as last week.

In December, the Norman Transcript reported Amason was “working alongside” the church to “replicate” and “market” the prison ministry program “to other detention centers across the state.”

I’ve tutored it from middle school level up to helping with dissertation work. The way it is taught varies so dramatically from class to class and field to field. There’s so many subtle and weird factors in interpretation that it’s honestly the most stressful thing to tutor.

I am a small time activist in Oklahoma, and I frequently find myself in situations where it would be very helpful to send scary lawyer legalese letters.

I was listening to the podcast “Weird Little Guys” and one of the losers discussed on the show managed to get certified to practice law by attending YMCA night school so that he could fight school integration.

How could I pull off something similar? Not looking to really take clients/make money, but it would be really helpful with things like my states non-enforcement of its open records act.

I know this wouldn’t be a short term project, but what would be the easiest/cheapest routes?