In celebration of seeing the first fireflies of the season:
ALT
ALT
ALT
ALT
ALT
Furisode with Fireflies and Irises Japan, Edo period, 18th century silk crepe, paste-resist dyed, embroidery National Museum of Japanese History (photographed on display at The Life of Animals in Japanese Art exhbition at the National Gallery of Art DC in 2019)
I do not have perfect pitch. Not only do I not have good absolute pitch (i.e. "That's a C#."), I don't really have good relative pitch (i.e. "This note is higher than that note."). Which makes it kind of funny, how much I enjoy music, both listening and playing. So that's why I've come here to borrow your ears. In "Stupid in Love" by Max and Huh Yunjin, at around 2:19 when they sing "Book a flight to Paris only one way," am I correct in thinking that he's singing a higher note than her? It sounded that way to me when I was listening to it in the car yesterday, then I started second-guessing myself, thinking it might be an illusion because he was singing in the upper part of his range while she was singing in the lower part of hers. Then I tried listening to it under headphone this morning and I started thinking that maybe they were singing the same note, and now I can't even hear it properly. And so I've come here to borrow your ears. Any thoughts?
PSA: houses only rear back like when they’re under threat. I know it looks cute, but this house is exhibiting a fear response and should be approached with caution.
All the fail_fandomanon Rules and Information (and Ban Requests): https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/1076.html. The short version: no embeds, don't out people's real names, don't be that much of an asshole, body fluids are off topic, Mods reserve the right to freeze, screen, and delete the fuck out of stuff. FFA discussion covers a wide variety of topics and has a very flexible view of 'fandom' that includes politics, current events, and cooking techniques. FFA is a Choose NOT to Warn experience. Meme away.
discussion about current events in Israel and Palestine
Only one clearly named top-level thread for each of the following topics:
Disruptive and Provocative Opinions (DAPO)
sexual abuse and rape culture
UK Politics
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and related current events
Discussion of UK politics related sexual abuse and rape culture should go into one properly labeled subthread.
Discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK needs to go to the thread about that country. If it's personal, it still belongs on the PP. Any attempt at wank will be frozen.
US Politics standalone post #5 is now CLOSED.This was the last dedicated post, and US Politics will remain banned indefinitely on all other posts. This change won't affect content that's currently allowed on main meme.
my Game Theory™ for space balls 2 is that mel brooks started it now like 40 years after the original and at 99 years old because he is fully aware of and counting on his own mortality halfway through production because it’ll be funny. decades-later cash grab sequels where the original cast is visibly too old to be doing this like they used to in their prime has basically come to define the thing that space balls is parodying, and star wars too encountered problems involving a key actor dying in the middle of production because of it. mel brooks will play a pivotal role in space balls 2 as director, producer, and lead actor, and he will die during filming, and either he has specific contingency plans for that or he trusts the people he’s working with to handle it but either way he knows it’s the funniest possible way to go and now is the perfect time to make Space Balls 2: The Search for More Money
#everyone’s huddled around an extremely old yogurt #yogurt holds out a shaking finger #‘lonestar… listen very carefully to what i have to tell you…’ #everyone leans in close #yogurt opens his mouth to speak #then - bip - disappears #’…the hell was that’ #’…i think we lost the director’ #'well goddammit how the hell are we supposed to make a movie now?’ *'hold on let’s check his script notes’ #cue intro credits for SPACEBALLS 3: THE SEARCH FOR SPACEBALLS 2
Not to wish him a premature death, but if that’s how it plays out, then we might just have to officially declare Mel Brooks the funniest person who ever existed
Lord knows that the United States has and continues to commit atrocities. I can’t justify that. And the current political situation here is scary as hell.
But I love this place. I love the Atlantic Ocean and New York City and the Pacific Northwest. I love my Blue Ridge Mountains with my whole entire heart. I love cardinals and mockingbirds and kudzu and possums and black rat snakes and the way the woods smell in the mornings.
I love that Americans are known for complimenting strangers. I love that we fry everything, and that we do it well. I love 12-foot-high plastic Halloween skeletons in people’s yards and tacky Christmas lights that stay up too long. I love that we are an unabashedly goofy people.
I love bluegrass music. I love stepping. I love that there are always folklorico dancers in my town’s Mardi Gras parade. I love that my town has a Mardi Gras parade, even though most people here aren’t Catholic or French and didn’t grow up with any kind of Carnivale tradition. I love that if “Livin On A Prayer” comes on a pizzeria, at least one person at each table won’t be able to stop themselves from singing along. I love that the middle school gym shakes to the rafters when families cheer for THEIR baby finishing eighth grade and that they bring balloons and bouquets and flower garlands to celebrate.
I love the 80 year old couple at our local No Kings protest. I love all the little kids there with their families, too. I love the brass band that always shows up at protests here and plays old union songs and gospel music. I cry like a damn baby every time I hear “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.”
This country is horrible and selfish and destructive, but it’s also wonderful and kind and full of people loving and fighting and trying to make things better. And the people saying that there’s only one kind of real American, and that if you don’t look like they do or talk like they do or think like they do, then you don’t count, those people can go pound sand. I’m as real American as they come, and those people aren’t the only ones who get to love our country.
my Game Theory™ for space balls 2 is that mel brooks started it now like 40 years after the original and at 99 years old because he is fully aware of and counting on his own mortality halfway through production because it’ll be funny. decades-later cash grab sequels where the original cast is visibly too old to be doing this like they used to in their prime has basically come to define the thing that space balls is parodying, and star wars too encountered problems involving a key actor dying in the middle of production because of it. mel brooks will play a pivotal role in space balls 2 as director, producer, and lead actor, and he will die during filming, and either he has specific contingency plans for that or he trusts the people he’s working with to handle it but either way he knows it’s the funniest possible way to go and now is the perfect time to make Space Balls 2: The Search for More Money
#everyone’s huddled around an extremely old yogurt #yogurt holds out a shaking finger #‘lonestar… listen very carefully to what i have to tell you…’ #everyone leans in close #yogurt opens his mouth to speak #then - bip - disappears #’…the hell was that’ #’…i think we lost the director’ #'well goddammit how the hell are we supposed to make a movie now?’ *'hold on let’s check his script notes’ #cue intro credits for SPACEBALLS 3: THE SEARCH FOR SPACEBALLS 2
I saw a PSA recently about a scam going around with spoofed official numbers calling and asking for information, and how you should hang up and call back using the correct number rather than just go along with what the caller is telling you. But this is Tumblr, so I’ll never be able to find the post again.
I decided to make my own, because this literally just happened to me an hour ago. Hopefully my story can spread some more awareness and save other asses the way mine was saved.
Around 7:30pm tonight (Friday), I got a phone call from a 1-800 number. I almost didn’t answer it, then I saw it was 1-800-465-4___, and I recognized that as the start of the CIBC phone number, so I picked up.
Me: Hello?
Guy: Hi, is this [MrsD]?“
Me: Yes.
Guy: Hi, [MrsD], this is _____ from CIBC, how are you tonight?
I thought, okay, this is a sales call. Right before I’m about to sit down for dinner. Typical. Mentally, I’m already putting together an exit strategy, preparing to say no to everything and get off the phone ASAP. But then—
Guy: We’ve just flagged suspicious activity on your CIBC Visa card. It was an online BestBuy transaction for $980.00. Was that your transaction?
Me, flustered: Uh. What? Sorry, how much?
Guy: $980.00 at BestBuy, was that you?
Me: Oh. At BestBuy?
Guy: Yes, your card was used at a BestBuy in [town nearby].Was that you? Did you go to [town nearby] today? You don’t live in [town nearby], right?
Me: Uh. No?
Guy: Okay, so I need some information to verify this transaction.
By this point, my brain had caught on that something about this was hinky. First of all, I thought he said it was an online purchase, then he said it was in person. But maybe I’d misheard, he was talking fast. My second thought was that every other time there was a suspicious transaction, I got an automated phone call and a text message with instructions to call back. I’ve never had a person call me directly.
My third thought was, well, the phone number on the caller ID was right….
THEN! I remembered a Tumblr post I saw recently, and I remembered what it told me to do.
Me: I’m skeptical about this call. I’m going to call CIBC myself and look into this.
Guy: What? Ma'am, you can just tell me, I can verify—
Me: No. Thank you, but I’ll call the number on the back of my card.
Guy, getting more agitated: Ma'am, if you look at the number on your card, you’ll see it’s the same number.
Me: You know that can spoofed, right?
Guy: Uh— but ma'am—
Me: Sorry, but I need to make sure. I’m going to call CIBC directly.
The guy kept sputtering, but I hung up on him. In that moment, I really didn’t think that he was a scammer. In fact, I thought I was being paranoid and was maybe kinda rude to the guy. I wondered if I was being overcautious, and I felt a bit guilty.
I called the number on the back of my credit card, waited 15 minutes for an agent, and told him what just happened.
IMMEDIATELY—
Agent: You didn’t tell him anything, did you?
Me: No. I said I wasn’t in [town nearby] today, but that’s it.
Agent: Good. You did the right thing by calling us, let me look into the transaction for you.
Then, a minute later:
Agent: I’m not seeing any transaction like that. There’s no flags on your card, nothing suspicious at all.
Me: So it was a scam?
Agent: Yep. Entirely fake.
I was honestly surprised. I really thought that there was some kind of mix-up and that I would be apologizing to this guy for being rude to his colleague.
Looking back on it now, I can see all the telltale signs of it being a scam call:
Time of day. Early evening on a Friday, chances are people are either sitting down for dinner or in a hurry to get somewhere. In this situation, a lot people probably wouldn’t think twice about giving "the bank” some information just to get off the phone. (Joke’s on them, I have no life!) But the way that I reacted to his introduction did evoke the desired reaction of Ugh, what now? Leave me alone! that the scammer was banking on (pun intended).
Sense of urgency. The scammer spoke fast, threw details at me quickly, and made sure I knew that I had to give him my information right away. This honestly threw me off. It was overwhelming, and I felt concerned and a bit frantic for a few seconds until I thought about what I know about scams and what I’d just read in that Tumblr PSA.
Complete lack of empathy or understanding about my skepticism/anti-fraud precautions. The last time I had to get a new credit card number due to fraud, the agent I spoke to said things like “I know this is frustrating”, “I’m sorry this is a hassle”, etc. And of course the CIBC agent I spoke to tonight was immediately grateful that I’d called them directly and reassured me that CIBC would never ask for information. By contrast, the scammer was outright dismissive of my concerns and got agitated when I wouldn’t just trust him right off the bat.
Emotional provocation. Similar to #2 & #3 above, the scammer was very good at making me feel things. Worried and fearful at first, then guilty about being suspicious, to the point where I actually apologized to the guy. (Granted, I am Canadian, but still!)
And finally, I cannot stress enough: the spoofed phone number. I am a pretty well-informed person. I keep up with news about scams and whatnot. I know that phone numbers can be spoofed. I’ve been in front of my phone when it just starts to ring and I can see the auto-dialler number appear briefly before it gets replaced with a number that has my area code. But tonight—early evening on a Friday—I was cooking dinner and my phone was across the room. It had rung several times by the time I got to it. I only picked it up because I recognized the CIBC number. And when the scammer started his spiel, the fact that the number was the same was enough for me to give him just a tiny moment of trust. Had he actually gotten past that first barrier and started requesting my information, I think I would have caught on, because people asking for sensitive information over the phone is a huge obvious red flag. I like to think I would have caught on, anyway. But maybe not! That fake number almost had me.
TL;DR: No matter what the number on your caller ID says—that it’s your bank, your energy company, your internet provider, whatever!—if the person on the other end is requesting sensitive information urgently, don’t panic. Stop. Think. Then tell them nothing, hang up the phone, and call your service provider yourself using a verified phone number.
Work out what Alex has on the very top of his head. You may ask Alex ‘yes’ or 'no’ questions, but Alex will only answer using his exciting new numbers system. Fastest wins.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
lilisonna_tumblr_feed Jul. 6th, 2025 08:02 am)ALT
ALT
ALT
ALT
ALT
ALT
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fail_fandomanon Rules and Information (and Ban Requests): https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/1076.html. The short version: no embeds, don't out people's real names, don't be that much of an asshole, body fluids are off topic, Mods reserve the right to freeze, screen, and delete the fuck out of stuff. FFA discussion covers a wide variety of topics and has a very flexible view of 'fandom' that includes politics, current events, and cooking techniques. FFA is a Choose NOT to Warn experience. Meme away.
