when t-rfs talk about “peaking” people what they’re talking about is grooming btw

they will for real dedicate/circulate entire threads detailing extremely specifically how to recruit people into their ideology, often through explicitly manipulative and sometimes even outright abusive means. they gloat and joke openly about doing it to friends and partners and coworkers and younger siblings and anonymously to young trans people on the internet. you see this happening pretty much everywhere regardless of whatever blog you’ve clicked on and are hate-reading, it’s integral to their entire ideology of which would probably honestly collapse without it yet they accuse trans people of being in a cult

look at any blog in the “des-sted dysphoric” community to see innumerable further examples of this. they wear that title like a badge, very conversion therapy-esque. i’ve seen these people openly discuss how to convince their trans male and transmasculine friends into detransitioning. threads upon threads of advice on how to do this. a lot of times they even journal about it on their blogs, like “omg my TIF friend wants top surgery 🥺 how do i peak them asap”. this is innately unnatural and predatory behavior

I would highly recommend this youtube series on TERF communities. The ones on facebook are a bit different to the ones on tumblr (the terf communities here have a lot more lesbian and gay people in them) but it's still applicable.

been listening to this for about 40 minutes or so while i do laundry and just wanted to add that, so far, this is an INCREDIBLY detailed and insightful series created by a nonbinary content creator that breaks down gender critical/t-rf cult tactics into various segments and examines them each thoroughly. it’s based on 6 months of private research and investigation of these groups, conducted through outsider-infiltration and surveillance. these are not uncited sources, this is a trans person who has spent 6 consecutive months inside of *private* t-rf and gender critical spaces (of which many of the group’s most prominent ideological figureheads regularly interact with each other in) to study the ideology while collecting some truly harrowing data.

Fuck this one hits home.

totally legal things ive collected over the years

beginner’s guide to legally doing things - use this browser for doing legal things - use this free vpn for doing legal things - the vpn’s playstore app - webrtc leak shield - photoshop - paint tool sai - she-ra 1 2 3 4 5 - movies in the us - movies in other countries - suf - ninjago - ninjago movie - pokemon movies - lego city adventures - film ebooks - freddy files (fnaf) - learn greek - toxicity awareness (ebooks) - 3ds emulator - 3ds roms - more 3ds roms - sun and moon rom - tomodachi life rom - even more roms - witch ebooks

THANK YOU SO MUCH OP!!!

I reblogged this last month, tagged it, and said “might as well see if it works.” I used this video as a reference to find all the forms that i needed (which is A LOT, especially if you’re a dependent) and sent them through the mail, not really allowing myself to hope.

dude.

$2,714 of medical debt from my top surgery - gone. im shaking this was such a weight on me for 2 years and it fucking worked. what the fuck.

This is huge. Sharing for my US friendos.

I have to buy Christmas gifts for my highkey homophobic relatives because if they’re gonna shun me for being trans they better be upfront about it, I’m not going to give them any other “reasons” for it by God I am going to give them good gifts and they are going to have to justify hating me for other reasons. 

Anyways. I spent 1 night searching etsy for the queerest stores I could possibly patronize, while also having products with plausible deniability for homophobic relatives bc I don’t want to start a riot on the spot I just want to have a nice innocuous gift that comes from a source that would absolutely make them furious if they knew. My goal was to find someone who donates to a charity like the Trevor Project so I could get An Innocuous Non-Gay Looking Item but cackle inside knowing that the gift money is actually going to The Gays.

Here’s some stores that I was delighted to find but didn’t quite make the cut for the incredible specific things I was looking for. 

JabaCrafts: sells a variety of what looks like very nice soaps, some are Normal and could be used for Homophobic Relative Gifts, a percentage of money (they didn’t say how much..?) from the sale of only the Pride-themed soaps goes to local LGBTQ+ charities. 

TrandleBoutique: Transwoman-owned shop with Pride candles. Also sells plain colored candles that could be used as Homophobic Relative Gifts whilst directly funding a trans artisan.

TBrosSoapCo: LGBT-owned (I”m assuming they’re a trans man based on the prominent T pun in the title, which also includes a hypodermic needle so heads up if you hate those, the soaps look like they come stamped with the design so unfortunately I can’t use these as Homophobic Relative Gifts but I love this store and may one day have to patronize them For Me) and their soaps look very nice 

SpookiiBubbles: Has spooky/Halloween-themed stuff, which I love; also has a bi and a neon rainbrow pride design, donates the profits from the pride-themed soaps to the LGBTQ bail fund. 

WildRaeBoutique: donates 3 dollars from the sale of every rainbow pride soap to the Trevor Project. Also has Innocuous Non-Gay Items For Homophobic Relatives. 

Runner-ups: stores that are just very fun and also have 1 or 2 Pride options so like, casual allies 

JiroSoap: INCREDIBLY CUTE soaps, some are CAT THEMED, have 3 rainbow designs and all are gorgeous

HarnettHeritage: just some very cute molded soaps in a variety of themes (I was sorely tempted by the Halloween potions set) and they have one rainbow pride option 

HoneyBubbleSoaps: has one Pride design and some other very nice items (the rose loofah soap is beautiful and would make a great gift) 

PeppyLittleSoapShop: has some very interesting soap designs/scents, also sells some pride designs and offers to custom-make any pride flags they don’t currently offer. 

Bonus: items I’ve found that I, personally, am getting, for me

LA Ramen Girl: cute ghost pride pins, donates 10% to the Trevor Project. 

TabKimpton: has a sparkly headstone patch that says CAN’T BURY THIS GAY and I have literally never in my life vibed with something more omg 

And here’s what I ended up deciding to go with.

The Ultra Stealth Gay Christmas Present for Homophobic Relatives

FlambeboyantCandles. 

They have subtle pride-color candles and candles inspired by drag queens. The entire shop is gay as hell and donates a percentage (again idk how much but I believe them) to the Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian organization that helps queer people escape from persecution in other countries. And the candles just look cool and based on the reviews smell quite nice. They are a bit more pricey than some other stuff on this list, about 20 bucks per candle, but I’m willing to pay that price for a once-yearly Gay Rights Stealth Homophobic Relatives Gift. 

((Additionally… not 2 shill but… I also have an etsy and it sells necklaces, mostly cottagecore-themed, I have some cute mushroom pendants, skull beads, fish vertebrae, one design is trans pride themed, hi im trans))

WOW this is getting shared a lot! If anyone else has recommendations to add I’d love to see them, they can be yours or a friend’s store!

@dinosaurrainbowstarfish​ omg that’s beautiful, I love that ahahaha! and thank youuuuu 

If anybody is interested in Tab Kimpton’s etsy, he has a separate online store here with more pins, patches, and even shirts.  A lot of his things are based on his comics (link), which are all super queer.

The Very Basics of Not Killing Your Computer

If you have a laptop DO NOT use it on a soft surface like a pillow or on a blanket, it’ll block the vents on your computer and make it get really fucking hot inside.

If you have a desktop you gotta open it up and blow out the dust sometimes.

If you are moving your laptop in a bag turn the laptop off. Don’t put it to sleep, don’t just shut the screen, turn it off, because otherwise it’s in the bag generating heat and there’s nowhere for the heat to go in the bag. OFF. Not sleep. OFF.

Okay I know that should be obvious but drop damage to your hard drive is bad bad news. Be as careful as you can to set your computer gently on flat surfaces; don’t leave it hanging out on a bed where it can get knocked off, don’t set it on the roof of your car. And yes, just dropping it a couple inches can kill your hard drive or totally shatter your screen.

Look I’ve seen four people ruin their laptops because they had a pen on the keyboard and closed the laptop and it fucked up the screen and the keyboard and it sucks so much and you feel awful after it happens because it’s so avoidable just don’t put things on your keyboard and always check that your laptop is clear before you close it.

You’ve only got one power jack and a limited number of other inputs on your computer and if they detach from the motherboard you’re fucked. USB ports get damaged because people use them a lot and eventually it weakens the connection and then they just stop working and it sucks. You can get around this with USB ports by using a USB hub to connect things like your keyboard and mouse.

For your power plug you just gotta be careful. Avoid tripping over the cord at all costs, don’t yank the plug out of the computer. It will SUCK VERY MUCH A LOT if you have to buy a new computer because the power port lost contact with the motherboard.

Don’t move your computer with things plugged into it. Take the power cord off before you put your laptop in the bag, take out the USB mouse dongle, do not travel with little nubby bits sticking out of your computer that can easily get caught or get tweaked or snap off inside of the thing.

(I really can’t emphasize enough that most of the “it will cost more than it’s worth to fix this” laptops I see are because of USB ports and power jacks. People don’t seem to know that this isn’t something that can be fixed easily; a broken power jack is a “remove the motherboard and resoldier components” job, not a “plug a new one in in fifteen minutes” job and most computer repair shops aren’t going to solder things for you and if they DO it’s going to be very expensive)

You should probably restart more than once a month but whatever. This is actually something that I consider part of reducing heat stress because when your processor is straining to keep up with all the background bullshit that’s running from a program you opened three weeks ago it’s going to use up resources and get hot and look just restart it once in a while.

Also the updates are almost always okay and safe and generally running updates is a good and secure thing to do (though maybe follow a blog dedicated to the OS you run because if there IS a problem with the updates that blog will probably talk about it before the update gets forced on your computer)

Yes you should probably be running an antivirus.

Sophos is free and it’s fine. But don’t pay for it - if you’re using Sophos use the free version.

If you’re looking for something paid and a little more comprehensive I recommend ESET - get the cheap version, renewals cost less than the initial purchase, and feel free to get a multi-year version, the credentials follow your email not the computer so if your computer dies before your license expires you can install the license on a new computer.

DO NOT INSTALL NORTON OR MCAFEE THEY ARE EXPENSIVE BULLSHIT. Kaspersky is whatever. It’s less bullshit than Norton or McAfee but not as good as ESET for about the same cost.

If you think you’ve got a virus run the free version of Malwarebytes and get your shit cleaned.

Again this should be obvious and yet. But seriously, just make a rule for yourself that drinks aren’t allowed on the same table as your computer and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.

Okay I fucking hate amazon but here’s a thing you should be using, just search the rest of the internet for “surge protector/UPS” and you’ll find something that isn’t from amazon - APC is a solid brand for this.

Basically you want a fat surge protector that has a little bit of a battery backup and you want to plug your computer (desktop OR laptop) into that instead of into the wall. The benefit of this is twofold:

1) if there’s a power surge the UPS will prevent your computer’s power supply from getting fried and possibly frying parts of your motherboard

2) if there’s a power outage and you’re *at* your computer you’ll have enough time to save what you’re working on before your computer loses power (like, you’ll maybe only have a minute or two on a small UPS but that’s still time to hit CTRL+S and keep from losing work)

At a bare, bare minimum your computer should be plugged into a surge protector but NOT directly into the wall.

[we interrupt this yelling for me to tell you that Western Digital has apparently released their new My Passport line and I’m obligated to inform you that you can get a 2.5″ USB 3.0 backup drive with FIVE FUCKING TERABYTES OF STORAGE for $130. Or you can get 4TB for $93. Or you can get 1TB for $53. basically what I’m saying is that it is not only cheap computer season it is also cheap hard drive season.]

[also if you’re getting a backup drive get western digital not seagate seagate fucking sucks and has a much higher failure rate]

Uh, okay, anyway - Do an image backup of your computer every once in a while so that if you get infected or your hard drive dies or whatever you can just restore from backup and move on like nothing happened.

HERE’S HOW TO DO AN IMAGE BACKUP.

You know what is cheap? USB Keyboards and USB mice. You know what is not cheap? Fixing the touchpad on a laptop or replacing a laptop keyboard.

Get yourself a USB hub, a USB Keyboard and a USB Mouse (wired or wireless, doesn’t matter) and if you’re using your laptop at home plug *that* into your computer.

Also if your keyboard on your laptop breaks it’s fine just to use a USB keyboard instead I promise; if the screen breaks it’s also usually cheaper and easier to get a used or inexpensive monitor than it is to replace the screen. Your laptop is basically just a very small version of whatever bullshit is going on inside a desktop, if the peripherals break but the core components are fine you can just use it like a desktop.

Unless it’s a piece of shit that doesn’t have any USB ports or video out in which case you got ripped off, friend, demand functionality in your devices I’m sorry.

/rant

An add-on tip if you are stupid like me and don’t back up your data: if your laptop suddenly dies and you want to get the data in it back, buy a SATA to USB cable (real cheap, I got mine for like $5 from AliExpress), extract your hard drive out from your laptop carefully, and then plug it in to your new/spare computer like you would plug in an external drive. If your hard disk isn’t dead, you can browse through like normal on Windows Explorer.

Oh! Let me add a few tips!

Firstly, do NOT use Bitdefender as your antivirus. My dad’s company was taken down by ransomware and their Bitdefender was disabled, and the employee Dad asked on how they got past it straight up lied to his face about it instead of actually checking. (“Oh they brute forced V’s password” yeah, V, notorious for twenty-character nonsensical passwords that cannot be brute-forced, got it.) It’s reliable until it’s not, and it is absolutely not something you want to put to the test.

If your hard drive crashes for whatever reason, you should be using Autopsy. It’s corporate and used largely for criminal forensics. Just select the drive, let it run for about a day or two, and it will copy EVERYTHING that was ever on the drive off of it. You’ll get all the things you deleted over the drive’s entire lifespan, but you’ll get everything.

For keeping a running backup of your stuff: either get Google Drive or Mega.nz, accept that you have to pay for a good chunk of storage (I’m on Mega’s 2TB plan and have literally everything but my movies backed up), and just do it. Every season, once a season, make an offline backup of literally everything. Follow the above for tutorials on that.

OP didn’t stress it as much as I’d like: right after you make your seasonal backup, open up your desktop with a can of compressed air and dust that shit. Trust me. It is dustier than you think it is. Once you’re done, use what’s left of the compressed air to clean your keyboard, even if you think you don’t have cat hair and crumbs in there… you have cat hair and crumbs in there.

If you are running Windows, reinstall your operating system about once ever a year, to a year and a half. That sounds batshit, I know. Do your backup, disconnect your backup drive, tell Windows to keep your files, and reinstall it. Your computer will run about 25% to 50% faster, guaranteed. Windows sucks like that, just do it if you’re reasonably sure you can follow its directions (relatively simple), it will make it run faster.

Oh, and if you don’t want any personalized garbage from Windows and you’re okay not having the Windows Store, install Windows LTSC. It runs a bit faster.