IdeaSmith
@ideasmithy.bsky.social
Ideas are toys for a playful mind.
Books📚 | Plants🪴 | Feminism🧗🏽♂️| Swimming 🏊🏽♀️ | Mumbai🏝️
https://ramyapandyan.com
Books📚 | Plants🪴 | Feminism🧗🏽♂️| Swimming 🏊🏽♀️ | Mumbai🏝️
https://ramyapandyan.com
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IdeaSmith
@ideasmithy.bsky.social
· Feb 24
Your baggage is your treasure hunt.
"Addiction is an illness" is just corporate-backed gaslighting. Addicts are lying manipulators. This playbook is so clear. The reasons that led them there are irrelevant, just like the backstory shouldn't matter when it comes to abuse or murder.
October 5, 2026 at 3:59 PM
"Addiction is an illness" is just corporate-backed gaslighting. Addicts are lying manipulators. This playbook is so clear. The reasons that led them there are irrelevant, just like the backstory shouldn't matter when it comes to abuse or murder.
I hate this thought but WhatsApp groups are probably the only third spaces most urban Indians have. It kind off explains the misbehaviour around refusing to stick to themes, relentless forward sharing and pointless good morning messages.
October 4, 2026 at 5:10 AM
I hate this thought but WhatsApp groups are probably the only third spaces most urban Indians have. It kind off explains the misbehaviour around refusing to stick to themes, relentless forward sharing and pointless good morning messages.
Dinner with family at a pizzeria last night. I went because it was a chance for a nice evening with them and it has been years since mum was able to eat pizza (one of her medications was causing severe food revulsion).
October 4, 2026 at 4:06 AM
Dinner with family at a pizzeria last night. I went because it was a chance for a nice evening with them and it has been years since mum was able to eat pizza (one of her medications was causing severe food revulsion).
My Mumbai school had a gender segregated sex ed session in 10th standard (14-16 yo). Girls were told about periods though most had already been menstruating for some time. Bio diagram style. Catholic school so I imagine boys were told lust & masturbation were sins. This was the 90s.
October 3, 2026 at 6:32 AM
My Mumbai school had a gender segregated sex ed session in 10th standard (14-16 yo). Girls were told about periods though most had already been menstruating for some time. Bio diagram style. Catholic school so I imagine boys were told lust & masturbation were sins. This was the 90s.
Reposted by IdeaSmith
Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago
October 1, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago
I’m very weirded out by mascara like here paint the hair around your eyes so it makes them look like spiders.
October 3, 2026 at 2:11 AM
I’m very weirded out by mascara like here paint the hair around your eyes so it makes them look like spiders.
I never had any training in art, any more than I’ve had in writing. I developed a confidence in words by writing and having people tell me I could write. But drawing was always my first love and people have frequently told me what I ‘should’ do. I took I’m just going to draw now.
October 2, 2026 at 5:18 PM
I never had any training in art, any more than I’ve had in writing. I developed a confidence in words by writing and having people tell me I could write. But drawing was always my first love and people have frequently told me what I ‘should’ do. I took I’m just going to draw now.
Face is burning again. This time I know to use coconut oil instead of some beauty product. Last time this happened, someone accused me of being problematic because I said I didn’t care if it made me smell like a Madrasi. I’m Tamilian, sir. Also, this may be an allergic reaction.
October 2, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Face is burning again. This time I know to use coconut oil instead of some beauty product. Last time this happened, someone accused me of being problematic because I said I didn’t care if it made me smell like a Madrasi. I’m Tamilian, sir. Also, this may be an allergic reaction.
I feel like friendship is assumed to be a mutual truama-dumping. Wasn't a friend also supposed to be your moral compass, to hold you accountable to being your best self and to tell you things that no one else would care to? Nobody seems to want that.
September 29, 2026 at 11:54 AM
I feel like friendship is assumed to be a mutual truama-dumping. Wasn't a friend also supposed to be your moral compass, to hold you accountable to being your best self and to tell you things that no one else would care to? Nobody seems to want that.
I’m reading an epistolary novel set in 1991 which talks about how much war there has been in that century. 25 years into this one and the US, Russia and Israel are quite hellbent on beating that statistic.
September 28, 2026 at 6:57 PM
I’m reading an epistolary novel set in 1991 which talks about how much war there has been in that century. 25 years into this one and the US, Russia and Israel are quite hellbent on beating that statistic.
“Inquiring minds want to know.” is such a loving statement of curiosity.
September 28, 2026 at 6:54 PM
“Inquiring minds want to know.” is such a loving statement of curiosity.
This whole page dedicated to consuming a slice of toast with home made orange marmalade. The book is ‘I Never Knew It Was You’ by Kalpana Swaminathan. Marmalade has no meaning at this point in the mystery. So I think the author just wanted to share a pleasurable meal with us. #Books
September 28, 2026 at 6:54 PM
This whole page dedicated to consuming a slice of toast with home made orange marmalade. The book is ‘I Never Knew It Was You’ by Kalpana Swaminathan. Marmalade has no meaning at this point in the mystery. So I think the author just wanted to share a pleasurable meal with us. #Books
The cafe/coffeeshop culture in Indian cities is garbage. Maida, fat, sugar and spice overpower any actual food value in what you consume. These ingredients are supposed to flavour, not constitute your entire meal. You're torturing as well as starving your body with these.
September 28, 2026 at 2:25 PM
The cafe/coffeeshop culture in Indian cities is garbage. Maida, fat, sugar and spice overpower any actual food value in what you consume. These ingredients are supposed to flavour, not constitute your entire meal. You're torturing as well as starving your body with these.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Identity
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Identity
www.smbc-comics.com
September 28, 2026 at 6:58 AM
Reposted by IdeaSmith
Hey, don’t let em fool you: rats live in the posh parts of town too
September 27, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Hey, don’t let em fool you: rats live in the posh parts of town too
A world without beauty and joy would be one that begins maths education with numbers. Because you know, all music and art is mathematics. We respond to both from the time we are born, so it seems ugly to hand young minds a key to this wonderful world in the form of *ugh* multiplication tables.
September 27, 2026 at 4:27 PM
A world without beauty and joy would be one that begins maths education with numbers. Because you know, all music and art is mathematics. We respond to both from the time we are born, so it seems ugly to hand young minds a key to this wonderful world in the form of *ugh* multiplication tables.
Just white America centering itself as the whole world and across time things.
Supposedly the most enduring popular song of all time and Rolling Stone has to browbeat you into listening to it? Ella Langley is out here playing plumbers and mechanics. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
What Some Folks Really Mean When They Claim to Have Never Heard 'Choosin' Texas'
Claiming to have never heard Ella Langley's record-setting country song 'Choosin' Texas' is similar to saying, 'I listen to anything but country.'
www.rollingstone.com
September 27, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Just white America centering itself as the whole world and across time things.
This exact behaviour in a lot of Indians who don’t identify with the current government but won’t stir out their privilege bubble to learn anything beyond buzzwords like ‘problematic’. This is the reason ‘woke’ is not a compliment in India - most who know the term are privileged & entitled.
there is a certain undercurrent of something that can only be described as puritanism on this site, where understanding a bad thing must mean you're into that thing because apparently the only way to battle bad things is to yell loudly they are very bad someone else better fix them but not like this
Explaining how the law and legal system works is not a defense of either.
There is a growing sentiment on the left - I see it every day! - that explanations of the legal system (like, for example, why Mamdani can't legally arrest Netanyahu) are making excuses,
There is a growing sentiment on the left - I see it every day! - that explanations of the legal system (like, for example, why Mamdani can't legally arrest Netanyahu) are making excuses,
September 27, 2026 at 3:05 PM
This exact behaviour in a lot of Indians who don’t identify with the current government but won’t stir out their privilege bubble to learn anything beyond buzzwords like ‘problematic’. This is the reason ‘woke’ is not a compliment in India - most who know the term are privileged & entitled.
Starting to see a real LLM-crutch effect on young millennials and Gen-Zers. No thought goes into constructing a question, it’s only a screaming demand. The ease with which they continue the entitlement: “This is boring, I don’t like this. I don’t know what I want. Cater to me.”
Y'all know Bean Soup Theory? How someone can post a recipe for bean soup and the replies will be "BUT WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE BEANS?!" That is sometimes annoying trolling but it's predominantly people failing to understand how to read for context, understand intended audience, etc.
September 27, 2026 at 7:50 AM
Starting to see a real LLM-crutch effect on young millennials and Gen-Zers. No thought goes into constructing a question, it’s only a screaming demand. The ease with which they continue the entitlement: “This is boring, I don’t like this. I don’t know what I want. Cater to me.”
Reposted by IdeaSmith
The literacy crisis is not just referring to people's ability to literally read and write. It's also people's inability to read for context.
I've been a public educator for over 20 years and I have never, ever seen it this bad.
I've been a public educator for over 20 years and I have never, ever seen it this bad.
September 25, 2026 at 6:25 PM
The literacy crisis is not just referring to people's ability to literally read and write. It's also people's inability to read for context.
I've been a public educator for over 20 years and I have never, ever seen it this bad.
I've been a public educator for over 20 years and I have never, ever seen it this bad.
This thread and replies feel validating. Don’t spread the misery. Tend to your wounds. Screaming about them isn’t going to heal you and is only going to annoy everyone else.
so many people on the internet are so damaged and they deal with it by ascribing the worst possible interpretation to everything they see online and raging at it as though it's what caused the damage in their own lives
September 27, 2026 at 7:47 AM
This thread and replies feel validating. Don’t spread the misery. Tend to your wounds. Screaming about them isn’t going to heal you and is only going to annoy everyone else.
Sunday lunch.
Is moong daal, chapati, green chilli, pomegranate and a bowl of curd with green peppercorns and black salt. Yum.
Is moong daal, chapati, green chilli, pomegranate and a bowl of curd with green peppercorns and black salt. Yum.
September 27, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Sunday lunch.
Is moong daal, chapati, green chilli, pomegranate and a bowl of curd with green peppercorns and black salt. Yum.
Is moong daal, chapati, green chilli, pomegranate and a bowl of curd with green peppercorns and black salt. Yum.
I'll start respecting therapy fanatics in India, the day they acknowledge the crucial, learned survival skill of drawing boundaries without being crucified alive for it. With all the intersections and deteriorating privilege layers for gender, age, skin colour and class.
September 26, 2026 at 11:21 AM
I'll start respecting therapy fanatics in India, the day they acknowledge the crucial, learned survival skill of drawing boundaries without being crucified alive for it. With all the intersections and deteriorating privilege layers for gender, age, skin colour and class.