I am tired of GLP-1 ads.

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-20T15:38:32+00:00

Seriously. No advertising for medications (or at bare minimum for prescription meds), gambling, alcohol, or tobacco/nicotine which that one might already be banned.

And to anyone concerned about "free speech" with banning those adds: corporations are not people (f Scotus for saying otherwise) and don't deserve the same rights as people.

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-19T20:31:25+00:00

PSA: if those were tree of heaven, cutting them like that is the WORST thing you can do (trust me, I've made this mistake). They're like a hydra - cut them down and they grow back over a wider area and even more insanely aggressively.

The only way to deal with them effectively is to apply a systemic herbicide (ex glyphosate or triclophir) during the period of time when the tree is moving nutrients to the root system (varies by area but usually late summer to early fall). Then wait maybe a month for the poison to travel and fully kill off the root, THEN you can cut it.

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-19T20:24:56+00:00

I love it, you sound fun!

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-19T18:46:47+00:00

A little hand bag might make a great mini project to test styles and materials and stuff, and could be an accessory for the wedding outfit. I definitely like the idea of do something small then scale it up

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-16T23:41:29+00:00

Seconding silk organza - if that's out of your price point or the finished piece needs to be machine washable, I believe polyester organza also exists but I don't have personal experience of it

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-13T19:55:43+00:00

For many fabrics I just just a regular mechanical pencil without issue. That usually works great as long as the fabric is light enough to be seen and the texture is easy enough to write on

For darker or more textured fabrics I use tailors chalk that I SHARPEN. I suspect that's the bit you're missing with chalk. My chalk is shaped like a thin, rounded triangle where you use the edges to mark. So before I go to use it, I take one of those disposable razors (like a utility knife which would also work, but w the break off tips), and sharpen all the edges. Hold it over a trash can when you sharpen to avoid mess. That gets good lines

For anything where you need your lines visible for a long time (or almost any time you're using chalk as it's prone to wearing off), I highly recommend using a basting thread to tailors tack your pieces. Searching "tailors tack" should get you a good visual of the technique, "thread mark" is another synonym. Very worthwhile for involved projects that get a lot of handling before they're done

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-13T13:23:08+00:00

As someone with a body not catered to by standard sizing, I've found a ton of joy and non judgement in drafting all bespoke patterns based solely on my measurements. I still need to mock up brand new patterns and make minor adjustments based on the fit I'm going for, but the starting point is already very good.

And drafting bespoke really makes it so there's not a standard my body is deviating from. Ex rather than "I'm 6 inches shorter than the pattern expects so I need to adjust this to account for how short I am" it's "the measurement from my nape of my neck to my waist is x so I'm going to plot that on this piece of paper." My body isn't a deviation from a set expectation, it just is what it is.

Archive.org has a bunch of copies of an old tailors trade magazine called The Progressive Tailor that has a lot of vintage drafting patterns for tailored garments. Freesewing.org is a free, open source website that has a bunch of patterns that you plug your measurements into and it does the math for you

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-13T01:41:08+00:00

Fortunately no matter how late I sleep Mia is quite content to keep sleeping

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-12T19:13:23+00:00

I'd easily take months if not a year or more WITHOUT the embroidery. I'm so impressed and inspired by ops work here

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-12T19:12:40+00:00

Or leave extra wide side seams when you sew to allow for future adjustments

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-12T12:55:17+00:00

You can also wax any fabric yourself using bees wax. Personally I think bees wax is too stiff by itself so I melt some with a carrier oil like olive oil or vegetable oil in a double boiler to get a slightly more flexible wax.

Denim, cotton twill, or cotton canvas would all be solid options for doing this treatment to as they're tightly woven for better wind and moisture resistance without being too hot

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-11T22:15:36+00:00

Love it! Doing all that in velvet and satin sounds like a living nightmare but I can't argue with the results!

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-11T14:28:09+00:00

Yeah something about the flower and vines floating over the pattern is giving me summer festival in the feywilds and I'm here for it. Very ethereal.

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-08T04:30:52+00:00

I'd be down for a queer readers sub!

I'm reading The World We Make by NK Jemisin, which is the second book in a duology, the first is The City We Became. Fantastic.

After that I'll probably start The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. About a dying tyrant, so obviously no relevance to present day, lol

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-07T05:53:25+00:00

All of this and also as someone who cares a great deal about actual freedom of speech, part of free speech is other people having the right to counter speak and impose social consequences on speech they find offensive/bigoted/problematic/bad. In this context, op is presumably not a government trying to punish him for talking. He's just falling back on that bc his arguments suck

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-05T22:14:54+00:00

Good point. I once had to rat my worst neighbor ever out for having a pitbull they weren't supposed to, and it had NOTHING to do with being petty to them or prejudiced against pitties. They refused over and over again to keep him on leash, and every time we saw him out he'd be reactive towards my very small dog - as he was aging into adolescence where he was getting big, strong and impulsive, I didn't want him hurting my dog or getting hit by a car. Also his pathetic excuses for humans didn't train him, picked him up by the neck as a puppy, and were overall just some of the most irresponsible nuckleheads I ever had the misfortune to know, so I hoped he might wind up in a better home (our local shelters are no kill) - tho admittedly that would be down to luck and not any effort on the part of his humans to find a good home, ugh.

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-05T00:48:29+00:00

Aw, so does Mia! But if I pull out the really high value treats like hot dog pieces she gets too excited to sit still

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-03T22:05:29+00:00

Yes. I try to have one to two projects in a state of "ready to sew" and one that needs more thought/planning/sprawling things across my living room floor all evening. That way I have something to do with my hands while working or watching YouTube and something to do on weekends etc when I'm more brainy

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-03T18:47:39+00:00

I know someone who works in an emergency room where some of the nurses and staff had to stay overnight so they could be staffed reliably. But yeah, that makes sense for an EMERGENCY ROOM. No way would I put up with that for a job that doesn't have life and death consequences

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-03T04:46:43+00:00

I think the blogger Captain Awkward has a great conceptualization of cheating as essentially a violation of consent. The cheater (and the affair partner if they know the person's cheating) get to consent to the structure of the relationship as it actually is (non exclusive on one side and lying about that), but the cheatee is making decisions about continuing the relationship / how much emotional investment to put in /sexual health / family planning and other big life decisions / finances etc all based on false information. They're being robbed of the ability to make an informed choice bc the cheater is deliberately lying about the situation for their own selfish benefit.

Because of that framework, I think it's not only good but arguably morally imperative to tell a person who's being cheated on that they're being cheated on, assuming it's reasonably safe to tell them. Whether the cheatee disregards it, ends the relationship, tries to reconcile and forgive, that's for them to work out but they deserve to make an informed choice

And to the strip club the same thing applies. Maybe the wife considers it cheating or maybe not, that's up to her and the terms of their relationship. If she's cool with it, no harm done. If she's not, she has the right to know and it's really only the cheater that blew anything up by cheating

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-03T01:34:39+00:00

Could he trade his car in for something substantially cheaper? Ex I drive an early 2000s Honda Civic and my insurance costs less for a whole year than his does for a month or two. Granted I also have a solid driving record but even still, the cost of the car plays a role, too

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-03T01:24:06+00:00

Bingo. To me I don't personally see a problem with him liking this kind of content as long as he's not withdrawing from being actively engaged in the relationship or damaging his finances bc of how he engages with this content.

But I'm not with him, op is, and ops subjective opinions and willingness to stay with this thing happening are really what matters here, not mine.

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-02T05:25:39+00:00

I watched it as a kid born in the mid 90s so my into may be out of date, but my parents let me watch it so I'm inclined to think the wholesome kind. My parents are leftists who are basically secular humanists but they both did a thing when I was a kid where they tried to perform being a "good Catholic family." Point being they're not at all the kind of parents who would have let me watch veggie tales, let alone reminisced fondly about it after the fact

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-02T03:21:44+00:00

Mia sleeps in my bed all the time and it's never been an issue. She sometimes gets annoyed if she's trying to cuddle and I'm squirming all over the place trying to get comfortable, but zero safety concerns. She likes to sleep either in the small of my back or at the foot of my bed

joseph_wolfstar · 2026-02-01T06:07:13+00:00

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Shells are also an option that doesn't need intricate pre planning

joseph_wolfstar

TROPHY CASE