Real Boy Hours

Turn your handwriting into a font

I discovered this by accident and I thought it was really funny and cute:

1. Download the template from MyScriptFont website

2. Write out the alphabet and numbers in your style, using a black marker (felt pen). This is mine:

3. Scan the template  4. Upload to the MyScriptFont website, name it, set the format and click “send file” 5. Download it to your computer and install

And check out my result!

Hey everyone. I remember reading an HTTYD fanfic titled "My Hiccup," and one of the plots was Alvin enslaving the Berserker tribe with Dagur trying to free them. And though why the hell not make this into a ROBTD comic with Alvin as the main bad guy? Of course, Pitch and others are in this too.

I'm a Transgender Peace Activist Who Converted to Judaism. I Wasn't Expecting My Fellow Progressives to Turn on Me.

Here’s what they don’t tell you when converting to Judaism: Everyone has an opinion on Israel. And once you convert, everyone has an opinion regarding your opinions on Israel. To say I chose a rather interesting time to convert to Judaism is an understatement. Considering the current politica...

”Being queer, transgender, and Hispanic, I’ve had my share of slurs thrown at me.

My social group and volunteer work are where I find a safe place from the nonsense outside. If things got bad after my conversion, I had this community to turn to. Imagine my surprise, then, to find accusations and anger not from the usual suspects, but from my own progressive communities. To give a few choice examples:

1) My Catholic parents bought me a Star of David necklace to celebrate my conversion. I showed this to someone I had attended numerous LGBT events with. Their response was to call it “pro-apartheid jewelry” and said I was wearing “that star on the Jewish flag.”

2) For about a year, I catalogued footage of humanitarian disasters during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for use by a humanitarian organization. I’m proud of that work. I mentioned my conversion to a few friends who knew me at the time. All immediately asked if I had changed my views on Israeli politics.

3) Whenever I mention my conversion to anyone in my larger social circle, the response is never congratulations. Four out of five times, I’m immediately grilled on my views regarding Israeli policy.

When I chose to convert, my rabbi made it very clear that conversion was just a ritual. “You’re already Jewish,” he told me. “This is confirmation of what already exists.” In some ways, that’s true. I was the same person when I entered the bet din as I was when I exited the mikveh. What has changed, though, is how others see me regardless of who or what I am.“

I'm new so I don't know what is going on but I am afraid to ask.

My friend just got struck by lightning (not predicted by the weather wheel). VIKING FUNERAL!

Fun fact vikings didn't actually put their dead on boats in water and set it on fire. The fire has to be REALLY hot in order to cremate a body (which is why we have special furnaces for cremating people instead of just chucking them on your ol camp fire pit) so if they did that, there's just be flaming boats of half burned corpses washing up, because water is also cold and puts out fire.

What they ACTUALLY did was preserve the body in a mixture of alcohol and other chemicals to preserve them until they could bury them in mounds, because frozen ground is annoying to dig in. If you're rich you get a literal ship in your grave, but most people just got the outline of a ship made with rocks. They thought that was good enough to manifest a ship in death to take them to the afterlife for them, if they didn't get Valhalla.

I can't remember sources off the top of my head, but if you google it, you'll find plenty of articles about it.

FDD

Gaza Health Ministry Cannot Provide Names for More Than 10,000 It Says Have Died

The Gaza Ministry of Health cannot provide names of more than 10,000 of the 34,000 individuals it says have died during the war between Isra

Make of this what you will.

i’m a little anxious to send this not on anon but i saw one of your posts where a comment mentioned jewish conversion and you seemed to support it. my boyfriend is jewish and i would like to convert to judaism but a lot of the research i’ve done says that you can’t convert, you have to be born into it since it’s an ethno-religion. i know everyone has different beliefs about this but i worry i won’t be accepted

Hello tyblackthornsheadphones, welcome!

"my boyfriend is jewish and i would like to convert to judaism"

Oooh! Mozel tov! I'm always so happy to meet new people who want to join the Jewish community! <3

"a lot of the research i’ve done says that you can’t convert, you have to be born into it since it’s an ethno-religion"

Oh dear, I'm so sorry to hear that! D: There's so much misinformation being passed around online. :( Thankfully, I'm happy to report that those sources are incorrect: It IS possible to convert to Judaism. ^_^

Like any group, though, how friendly any given Jew is to potential Jewish converts depends on the individual and/or the group they belong in. Just as there's elitism and gatekeeping in every group of people ever (like high school cliques and video game circles--"you're not a REAL gamer unless X"), unfortunately you'll also find some snobbery, elitism, and gatekeeping in Judaism. :(

Though I think Rabbi Friedman has a very loving and accepting view of Jews by conversion. ^_^

The way I see it, the differing experiences of a "Jew-by-birth vs a Jew-by-conversion" can be comparable to an American citizen who was just born on American soil vs an American immigrant who had to go through a long and rigorous bureaucratic process to become an American citizen--they have to learn everything there is to know about American history, presidents, laws, customs, the legal system; spend a "probational period" living in America to become a naturalized citizen, etc.

(The Jewish religion used to be very conversion friendly, but that came to an end when Christianity and Islam became huge world powers who outlawed the Jewish community "tempting" good Christians or Muslims away from the One True Faith.

Jewish identity also used to be passed down from father to children in ancient times--as you'll see in the Torah--but that was changed by Hillel the Elder during the tyrannical reign of King Herod--yes, THAT King Herod! Hillel did this partly to give the children of Jewish mothers who were abandoned by their non-Jewish fathers a place in Jewish society, and he did this partly as a big old political "fuck you!" to King Herod, whose father was only nominally Jewish and his mother was a foreign gentile woman.)

Chabad is an Orthodox Jewish organization.

chabad.org

How to Convert to Judaism - What to Expect at a Conversion

I’m planning to convert to Judaism. This has been something I’ve been considering and mulling over for years, and I’ve made my decision. Wha

Reform Judaism

Choosing Judaism: Learn the Basics

People convert to Judaism for many reasons. Learn the basic facts about converting to Judaism, and how to take the first steps.

And here's a link from a Reform Judaism POV. ^_^

In my experience, Reform Jewish synagogues and organizations tend to be more accepting of and friendly to Jewish converts. (Though it's not universal! Sadly, there are snobs everywhere. D:)

So if I were you, I would just start with checking out some books on Judaism from your local library, attend Friday night or Saturday morning Shabbat services with your boyfriend (that's usually a time when non-Jewish guests attend).

If your local college has a Hillel or Chabad Jewish student organization, I would visit that too! They usually host fun events that are free and open to to all, especially students who're just interested in connecting with other Jewish students, and learning about Jewish identity. ^_^

In the meantime, I'd just take time to study and learn about Jewish history and culture just for fun.

I think Sam Aranow's "Jewish History" Youtube series is a very entertaining way to learn about Jewish history, from ancient to modern.

Unfortunately I have to go to work now, but if you have ANY other questions, please reach out to me! I LOVE sharing knowledge and resources about Judaism, especially to potential converts who show a genuine interest and curiosity.

(Jewish culture can be, in my opinion, not as accepting and welcoming of potential Jewish converts as they should be, and I want to make up the difference. ^_^ )

Accurate

Another quiz for if you were a fictional character how would your fandom treat you (if you think your life is too boring to have a fandom just think of yourself as living the domestic!au of some sci-fi or fantasy)

reblog with your results

It works on dragons, too. 

sudanese-led causes to donate to!

sources: 1, 2

Links:

Sudanese Americans Physicians Association / Twitter

Darfur Women Action / Twitter

Hadhreen / Twitter

Fill A Heart / Twitter

HomeTax / Twitter

Hanabneiho (Twitter)

Sudan-Cairo Aid / Instagram

Barana Hanabneiho (Twitter)

Micropenises and Early Life Medical Abuse

CW: discussion of genitalia, childhood surgery, medical abuse

What is a micropenis?

A micropenis is any penis which at birth is under 1.5 inches/3.8cm Stretched Length (length measured by gently pulling the penis to its maximum length), pre-pubescent age 2 inches/5.1cm SL or an adult penis of 3.65 inches/9.3cm SL.

What else is there to know?

A variation that occurs more often in people born with micropenises than the general population is Hypospadias, which is when the Meatus (urethra hole) terminates somewhere other than the tip of the glans.

It is more likely than not, regardless of the gender a person was raised, that a person with a micropenis and Hypospadias has been subjected to early childhood surgeries to move the meatus, among other possible surgeries.

What surgery? aka, paediatric urologists have earned my disdain

If assigned male the urethra is artificially lengthened and the meatus is made to terminate at the tip of the glans. (typically the option chosen today for children with true testes.)

Why is this done?: the assertion that it is better to subject a child to genital surgery, than risk the specific placement of the meatus interfering with standing urination.

If assigned female the meatus would be relocated to below the base of the penis to more aesthetically match a large clitoris.(the penis and clitoris are homologous structures, there is no significant difference between the two).

Why is this done?: this may be claimed to be necessary by medical professionals for a number of reasons, but it all ultimately revolves around enforcing a sex binary on a spectrum. The child may have a vagina or vulva, and this surgery is aesthetic. The child may have no vagina or vulva but because of the discovery of ovotestes, ovaries, streak gonads, or no gonads, it is decided that this child should undergo more radical "sex assignment", usually involving the removal of gonads often resulting in the sterilisation of children who were not born sterile.

In only recent decades it was still the norm for all children born with micropenises to be at risk of being forcibly assigned female, sometimes including penectomy (amputation of the phallus) because it was assumed their penis was not functional.

Change Society, Not The Child

The majority of the reasons given by doctors for you to consent to surgery on an intersex child are social. That the child will be bullied, or struggle romantically, or struggle sexually... And these procedures are "early intervention".

The only early intervention your child needs, is your advocacy... Advocate for their bodily integrity and autonomy, and once you've brought your baby home you can advocate for a better shame free world.

What can you do, day to day?

I was originally going to write a post on micropenises and sex, but I'll have to do that another time

Push back against the stigma associated with micropenises. Remember that there is no community where it is appropriate to use their physical features as knee-jerk assault on a person's character. The culture that uses intersex bodies as a way to cut at those they feel "deserve it", is the same culture that insists we raise the scalpel against those that possess them. These are two faces of the same coin.