figured out a way you can search for posts that are tagged TWO things on a blog!!! feeling clever
for anyone else who didn’t know, this is the format!:
https://[blogURL].tumblr.com/search/%23[tag1]%2C%20%23[tag2]
remove the [brackets] when using it!
mods are asleep, share hacks that make the site usable against its will
Okay, so this is really cool! You have this phenomenon where some plants grow edible appendages to their seeds to entice ants to carry them underground where they can safely sprout. And then you have wasps which lay their eggs on the leaves, stems, and other parts of plants and trigger the growth of galls (swellings) which both feed and protect the wasp larvae until they reach maturity.
The boy who was watching the ants noticed they were taking wasp galls underground, too. Further exploration found that the wasp larvae were unharmed inside the galls; the only thing the ants had eaten were edible appendages similar to those on the seeds they collected. The wasp larvae stayed safe inside the ant nest, feeding on their galls, until it was time to emerge and head back out to the surface.
So it turns out that the edible portions of the galls have the same sorts of fatty acids as the edible parts of the seeds. And those fatty acids are also found in dead insects. Scientists think that the wasps evolved a way to make the galls they created mimic the edible portions of the seeds to get the ants to collect the galls. This isn't the only example of wasps making use of ants as caretakers for their young, but it's a really fascinating example thereof--especially if you consider ants evolved from wasps at least 100 million years ago.
it's poor form to air your petty grievances with someone when it comes out they did something actually bad. save that for companies, like when you learn duolingo removed kanji from its beginner's japanese courses as part of their collab with crunchy roll
duolingo is shit for japanese imo*, here are some apps i reccommend:
Hey Japan - comes with a cute shiba inu bc fuck that aggressive owl. its basically duolingo made specifically for japanese and much better at teaching you HOW the language works.
Kanji Study - its the grey one, made by one person. it covers the first 80 kanji plus the main radicals that make kanji up, PLUS hiragana and katakana FOR FREE. you can practice by drawing, flash cards, multiple choice, and you can decide whether you read or select the romanji/character/meaning. i learned hiragana in 5 days using this. the upgraded version (one time payment) with higher level kanji goes on sale a few times a year, consider supporting the app if you find it useful
Todai - more advanced but good for reading comprehension. japanese news in... japanese. highlights which JLPT level words are and gives percentages of each level for each article. has inbuilt dictionary to check words you dont know.
Takoboto - my preferred japanese dictionary but there are loads out there. i like it bc i can search in english, romanji, kana, or kanji and it breaks down kanji compounds into individual characters. it also shows different conjugations eg: to eat, eating, ate, to be able to eat, etc
those are just the phone apps i use, there are so many other resources out there that are free and not pulling bullshit like skipping one of the 3 'alphabets' of a language
*to be clear the reason i think duolingo is shit for japanese is that it doesnt follow the JLPT pathway. which... you dont NEED exactly, but i think the country that had to make a new, easier language profiency test bc not enough people were passing the existing one will know how to build courses that teach their language. plus duolingo is doing *gestures* whatever shit that is up top.
if you seriously want to learn japanese, memorise your kana (drop romanji asap or youll forever struggle and I'll come to kick your shins) and find the ebook of genki 1 that someone uploaded, or some other JLPT N5 course. but NOT duolingo.
Edit: just realised that duolingo may be your only real option if your first language isnt english (too easy for me to forget, sorry). in that case, make sure you supplement duolingo with your own kanji study!!!
Weirdly anti-millennial articles have scraped the bottom of the barrel so hard that they are now two feet down into the topsoil
its so wild like “this generation with no fucking money is learning to prioritize essentials” and all these chucklefucks can write is advertisements for these companies
at least our jeans won’t tear at the seams after two washes
FUCK FABRIC SOFTENER IT’S UTTERLY POINTLESS
AND FUCK DRYER SHEETS LITERALLY NOBODY EVER HAS ENOUGH OF A PROBLEM WITH STATIC TO WARRANT PAYING OUT THE ASS FOR THAT SHIT
DO YOU WANT CLEAN CLOTHES? YOU DON’T EVEN NEED TO BUY FUCKING DETERGENT JUST MAKE YOUR OWN* IT’S SO GODDAMN EASY AND 80X CHEAPER
FUCK THE ENTIRE LAUNDRY INDUSTRY *Fuck The Entire Laundry Industry Recipe
1 cup Washing Soda (not Baking Soda. Different things.)
1 cup Borax (not Boric Acid. Also a different thing.)
½ cup - 1 cup grated bar soap (you can use literally anything. I often use Ivory because it’s easy to get and I find it works well, a lot of people like Fels-Naptha, which is an actual laundry bar. Some people use Dr. Bronner’s. Really does not fucking matter.) After grating your soap, combine all ingredients. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. Use maybe a ¼ cup per load.
^^^ I’ve done this for years now and it works as well as any store bought detergent
WHAT Thank you, tumblr user awfullydull! Your URL does no justice to the good advice you give!
Also you can MAKE your own washing soda very VERY cheaply.
Step one: acquire $5 bag of baking soda from Costco.
Step two: lay that motherfucking baking soda out on a baking tray.
Step three: bake the baking soda on a tray in an oven at 400° for 1 hour (to make the moisture evaporate, leaving washing soda)
Step four: revel in how easy and cheap it is to make your own washing soda, and maybe take a moment to be angry that the industry upcharges the fuck out of something that is so easy to make.
I see some of y'all complaining about static and/or wanting nice smelling laundry. Go to a craft store, find 100% wool yarn balls. If it doesn’t come in a ball, ask an employee to make it into a tight ball for you. Wash in the washing machine to make it felted. Remove from washer, add a few drops of essential oil to the ball, allow to seep in. Dry with clothing. Doesn’t need to be rewashed ever, and if it stops smelling, add few more drops of essential oil. Bam, reusable dryer sheets.
I love this post so much it’s filled with helpful advice, hatred, saving money, and fucking the system all in one
FUUUUUUUCK THE SY-YSTEM
Greeks are putting out books to clean up the misinformation Westerners have spread about our myths and I LOVE it.
Ioanna puts the focus on Demeter and I am here for it! Demeter is the protagonist of this story, after all.
In the reviews so far it looks like Ioanna depicts the Greek gods as powerful, as we truly see them in our culture. I really hope it keeps the balance, as the reviewers say.
Greek author, Greek book cover illustrator (Yorgos "Lanthimos" Cotronis) and we are on for a very promising work!
1) Width. Add it.
2) Width. Just. Yeah. If you want to draw a really big guy - do it. The third guy is ok, but it's just a small guy with belly!
3) Gravity! More fat - more soft - gravity goes brr.
4) Basic shapes and clothes would definitely help you to draw a big comfy soft guy!
Miaou
/cackling/
The sleeping giant of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stirred.
In the past month, an avalanche of anti-pollution rules, targeting everything from toxic drinking water to planet-heating gases in the atmosphere, have been issued by the agency. Belatedly, the sizable weight of the US federal government is being thrown at longstanding environmental crises, including the climate emergency.
On Thursday, the EPA’s month of frenzied activity was crowned by the toughest ever limits upon carbon pollution from America’s power sector, with large, existing coal and gas plants told they must slash their emissions by 90% or face being shut down.
The measure will, the EPA says, wipe out more than 600m tons of carbon emissions over the next two decades, about double what the entire UK emits each year. But even this wasn’t the biggest pollution reduction announced in recent weeks.
In April, new emissions standards for cars and trucks will eliminate an expected 9bn tons of CO2 by the mid-point of the century, while separate rules issued late last year aim to slash hydrofluorocarbons, planet-heating gases used widely in refrigeration and air conditioning, by 4.6bn tons in the same timeframe. Methane, another highly potent greenhouse gas, will be curtailed by 810m tons over the next decade in another EPA edict.
In just a few short months the EPA, diminished and demoralized under Donald Trump, has flexed its regulatory muscles to the extent that 15bn tons of greenhouse gases – equivalent to about three times the US’s carbon pollution, or nearly half of the entire world’s annual fossil fuel emissions – are set to be prevented, transforming the power basis of Americans’ cars and homes in the process.
article dated May 16, 2023
The state intervenes in children’s use of the city, criminalising children’s uses of the streets […]. Much of this age-segregation emerged in the so-called Progressive Era (1890-1918) in northern cities of the United States, particularly Chicago. Informed by turn-of-the-century science […], reformers set about to change the spaces of childhood. […] [T]hese child-savers sought to transform delinquent urban children into upright citizens. In doing so, reformers changed the shape of America’s cities. […] Only a handful of dedicated playgrounds existed in urban America in the 1890s. […] Contrasting images of working-class, immigrant youth left unsupervised on the streets with children of their own class, who led increasingly sheltered lives, middle-class urbanites feared for the future of the country. The burgeoning reform class, led by Chicagoans such as Jane Addams, feared so-called “swarms” of children on the streets […].
—
A new theory of child-development known as recapitulation theory had recently emerged. Proponents of this theory, such as G. Stanley Hall, argued that children passed through (or recapitulated) all the stages of the evolution of the race before they achieved adulthood. […] Advocates […] idealised almost all of white boys’ misbehaviour as recapitulation of the race’s past […]. Although recapitulation theory had room for the sons of European immigrants, […] children of colour remained outside the narrative of idealised misbehaviour. […] [W]hite Americans […] sought to repress the misbehaviour or so-called childhood savagery of children of colour rather than encourage it. Thus, just as white children were encouraged to embrace their inner savage and hold mock powwows and “to play Indian”, Progressive reformers confined Native American children to “civilizing” boarding schools […].
Growing concerns over masculinity at the turn of the twentieth century limited reforms that could be seen as “molly-coddling”. To completely crush the misbehaving instinct, many middle-class Americans believed, would be just as dangerous […]. Drawing on recapitulation theory, reformers believed the key to anti-delinquency among […] European […] children was providing these children with supervised, orderly places where the misbehaving instinct could safely play out. Central to reformers’ attempts to save but not tame […] white children meant the development of the world’s first municipal playground system in Chicago […]. By 1915, the city of Chicago ran sixty-six recreation centres in addition to the numerous schoolyards and private playgrounds in the city. President Teddy Roosevelt heralded it as “one of the most notable civi achievements of any American city.” From Chicago, the idea spread around the country. By 1921, almost 200 cities employed a total of over eleven thousand men and women as year-round playground workers. […]
—
But the state, too, struggled to control urban childhood. [..] [T]truant officers […] struggled with huge caseloads in the early twentieth century. […] On the streets, escapees evaded police, probation and truant officers […]. A study of reform schools in and near Chicago in the early twentieth century found two-fifths of detainees left in what was euphemistically called ‘informal departure’ […]. Escape caused such an issue for reformatories that it was considered among the most serious offences and, as such, carried the heaviest punishments including beatings, being hung by the wrists, being shackled, wearing heavy iron studded shoes, being placed in a tub of ice water, and being caged.
Even as Progressive ideals ostensibly moved prisons and other reform institutions further from the punishment of the body to the treatment of the individual’s soul, in practice, reformatory officials often resorted to physical punishments for the treatment of runaways. […] [T]he new juvenile institutions of the early twentieth-century differed so wildly in practice from their conception in theory. […]
—
By the 1930s, however, the concept of the dangerous but ultimately salvageable swarm which had shaped Progressive Era responses to the problems of children and the city was gradually replaced by the far more pessimistic idea of individual deviant personalities. Faith in the ability to transform children through transforming the city collapsed. […] Juvenile Courts also faced increasing pessimism. In 1936, leading child-saver Grace Abbott asked rhetorically whether the Juvenile Court of Chicago had proved a success or a failure and concluded pessimistically […].
Delinquency experts increasingly turned to psychiatry to explain and treat criminal behaviour; the psychiatrist supplanted the playground as the key to anti-delinquency.
—
As reformers advocated individualised treatment of delinquent personalities, on the streets, changing priorities of policing increasingly and aggressively targeted children of colour. In addition, suburbanisation was changing the demographics of the inner city. Increasingly, white families were choosing to move out to the suburbs […]. As inner-city youth became more and more synonymous with minority youth, the urban child seemed increasingly outside the realm of “saving” and middle-class white Americans responded to black youth’s corner culture with intense policing and urban flight, not playgrounds and child-saving. The pessimistic view […] laid the foundation for the increasingly racialised and violent attempts to control poor urban children in the later twentieth century. […]
—
Most importantly, Progressive reformers criminalised and delegitimised much of children’s traditional use of the streets, ensuring that age became a crucial component of urban discipline. […] When encounters with real children transformed institutions and regulations in unexpected ways, the result was increasingly coercive methods and policing.
—
Text by: Oenone Kubie. “Child’s Play: How Progressive Era Science Shaped America’s Playgrounds.” Oxford Urbanists. 15 September 2019. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]
One thing that Firefox can’t do is allow me to access my telehealth therapy appointments. Three different platforms now have rejected my use of Firefox. I use Safari instead bc that’s what works and at least it isn’t chrome, but for folks who rightfully use Firefox, be aware that many, if not all, telehealth platforms will not work on Firefox (something about the encryption/security not being up to their standard, I believe; if there are hacks that Firefox gurus know to bypass this, please share with the class?).
Any reason the developers of those sites give that is not 'we're too lazy to check compatibility so we're blocking Firefox' is false.
From WGA West on Youtube: WGA Negotiating Committee Co-Chair Chris Keyser gives an update one month into the Writers Guild strike.
Mod note: While this video is intended for WGA members, it's a great morale boost and affirmation that what we do as fans and audience members matters. Make your voice heard on social media. Studios are losing the PR battle right now, but strike fatigue may set in later on—fight it and keep up morale among yourself and your fandom communities!
Full transcript below the cut (1992 words)
favourite orientalist grifter? blavatsky's obvious but i want to read some real losers
Oh fuck that's hard uhhhh
William Walker Atkinson is up there for me. Dude knew basically nothing about Hinduism or yogic practices but wrote under the name "Yogi Ramachakra" for a while.
Imagine an Indian guy moving to LA and writing religious texts under the pen name "The Great Wizard NewYorkBurger" we would go nuts for that guy.
King’s harshest and most famous criticism of Malcolm X, in which he accused his fellow civil rights leader of “fiery, demagogic oratory,” appears to have been fabricated.
“I think its historic reverberations are huge,” Eig told The Washington Post. “We’ve been teaching people for decades, for generations, that King had this harsh criticism of Malcolm X, and it’s just not true.”
The quote came from a January 1965 Playboy interview with author Alex Haley, a then-43-year-old Black journalist, and was the longest published interview King ever did. Because of the severity of King’s criticism, it has been repeated countless times, cast as a dividing line between King and Malcolm X. The new revelation “shows that King was much more open-minded about Malcolm than we’ve tended to portray him,” Eig said.
[…]
Some of the phrases added to King’s answer appear to be taken significantly out of context, while others appear to be fabricated.
It is a standard practice in journalism when publishing Q&A-style interviews to make minor changes, such as removing excessive “ums” or truncating long answers where the subject repeats their point over and over again or wanders from the topic at hand. But journalists typically take great pains to ensure any changes do not alter the intended meaning of an interviewee’s response. In addition, outlets commonly will include an editor’s note informing the reader of such changes.
What Haley appears to have done amounts to “journalistic malpractice,” Eig said.
Oh ho ho Universal Pictures might have some tree law troubles >:)
If you, like me, are deeply concerned about this out of season pruning of LA street trees, why not fire up your ol' email browser and shoot a message over to the good folks at LA's Urban Forestry division (san.trees @ lacity.org) and let em know your concerns about how pruning at this time of year might lead to unseasonal growth spurts that can cause freezing damage, as well as how it might delay or damage the tree's dormancy period. Just really worried about those trees and the health of these trees, this has nothing to do with wanting to make sure these evil bastards get punished for their fucked up bullshit. Just pure tree health concerns over here at maeamian dot tumblr dot net.
Two updates, first, LA Controller Keneth Mejia is on the case (thank you if you joined me in voting for him), secondly WGA is asking people to sign this petition because the same fucking studio is doing a construction project that eliminates the sidewalks and has not properly set up barriers to protect the sidewalk leading to a real bastard of a public safety hazard that has already seen two writers hit by cars. Pretty fucked up, if you ask me.
flop shows cancelled after a single season that you should watch anyway:
shows that HAVE been renewed for 2nd seasons that not enough people watch imo:
miniseries no one really talks about anymore that you should watch anyway:
just want everyone to know that i am irrevocably maternity pantspilled, i don't understand why they don't manufacture normal trouser bands like this. it is so fucking logical. our guts expand and contract all day.
i bought these the other day for general low-stress wear (they are a nice and gender neutral shape, up to size 20w us for these ones) and i am already buying another pair. sitting in every other type of trouser causes extreme nerve pain as the band digs in except this. i now can sit in a chair and know peace. if you have nerve damage or endo/pcos/etc or IBS bloating or just fucking hate the feeling of bands digging into your waist this is it. i am telling you. grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you. ignore the branding and get ready for all your ads to think you are expecting, try the damn pants, and join me in peace.
fwiw here is how they look on me (size 10) in some normal loose houseclothes with the band covered. absolutely zero indicators of what it is, or any gendering designs.
Navigating the Heartfelt World of Yuri Anime: Where to Start
In the vibrant universe of anime, there's a genre for every taste. The diversity is truly astounding whether you're seeking thrilling adventures, suspenseful dramas, or heartfelt romances.
One genre that has been steadily growing in popularity is yuri, which focuses on the romantic relationships between female characters. If you're new to this genre or looking to explore it further, this blog post will guide you through the fascinating world of yuri anime.
An essential aspect of yuri is its celebration of love in all its forms. Yuri anime often delves into the complexities of emotions, the struggles of acceptance, and the joy of self-discovery.
It's a genre that's not afraid to highlight the highs and lows of a relationship, making it relatable and resonating with many viewers.
A tale of "why don't we riot like the French"
Also worth noting is that in France it’s fucking illegal to hit a protestor with your car and there are no Stand Your Ground laws.
Why can’t we protest like France? BECAUSE WE’LL GET FUCKING KILLED.
Not quite correct, lib.
I’ve seen some weak ass takes about how after 2020 the police are “more militarized” and thats whats stopping us from rioting.
Thats some big “you’re lucky I'm held back” energy. As if people across the planet in the global south arent facing off with pigs who routinely fire live rounds at protestors. Compared to that, we have it easy in some regards here.
Police in El Salvador, Mexico, Iraq, Venezuela, the Philippines etc. have militarized police and security forces that kill with impunity. These places are also raveged by violent right-wing militias, gangs, and cartels that terrorize indigenous, queer, and working people.
- Black Velvet
On March 26, in Sainte-Soline (France), our comrade S. was hit in the head by an explosive grenade during the demonstration against the basins. In spite of his critical condition, the prefecture first intentionally prevented emergency services from intervening, then prevented them from transporting him to an appropriate care unit a second time. He is currently in neurosurgical intensive care. At this time, his life hangs by a thread. The outburst of violence that the demonstrators suffered inflicted hundreds of injuries, including several serious physical injuries, as announced in the various reports available. The 30,000 demonstrators had come with the objective of blocking the construction of the mega-basins of Sainte-Soline, a project of water monopolization carried out by a small number of people for the benefit of a capitalist model that has nothing left to defend but death. The violence of the armed arm of the democratic state is the most striking expression of this. In response to the window of possibility that the movement against the pension reform has opened, the police are mutilating people and even trying to assassinate people in order to prevent an uprising, to defend the bourgeoisie and its world.
- Communique About S.
“Mean girls all grow up to be nurses!”
“Mean girls all go into social work!”
“The mean girl to teacher pipeline!”
Y’all, these are just pink collar jobs. The reason you think there’s so many “mean girls” in these fields is because they’re all like 97% women. Of course some of them are gonna be assholes. There’s assholes everywhere.
We get it. Your job isn’t like other girls’ jobs. It’s a cool job.
it’s true that there are some incredibly cruel people in all of these professions.
it’s also true that they all suffer from chronic underpayment, overwork, lack of institutional support, and insane bureaucratic demands that would make them fail the people in their care all the time even if every single one was a saint.
That’s absolutely missing the point.
While those are all “helper” professions and they very much are pink collar (and are underpaid, that’s not an incompatible idea), they’re also ones that involve power over vulnerable people’s lives. (And I’ve only encountered it as a comparison to, say, male bullies becoming cops, it’s not like men aren’t being mentioned here.)
Secretaries/administrative assistants aren’t on that list for a reason. Flight attendants aren’t on that list. Housecleaners aren’t on that list. Receptionists. Customer service representatives. Dental hygienists. The people who style hair or do nails. That’s not a list of pink collar jobs. It’s specifically (pink collar) positions where if you want to abuse people you’re relatively likely to get away with it.
It can both be true that “nurses who care for disabled people need better pay” and “nurses who care for disabled people have a lot of opportunities to abuse their power and that’s something worth talking about.”
Women aren’t immune from treating people badly because they’re women, or because women are underpaid. They’re sure not immune from specifically seeking out jobs that will allow them to be cruel without any consequences to them, if they get personal satisfaction out of being cruel.
You are trying to shut down a conversation about abuse.
Shitty people are attracted to positions of power. That includes working class women!
There have been a lot of studies about hazing and abuse in nursing communities and even murder!
My mother is a nurse, her co-workers sit around laughing about the people who fall out of their wheel chairs, about the nurses who do cry when someone dies, my mother has ignored patients crying out in pain in order to drink her coffee.
My mother has intentionally let elderly patients at her nursing home die. She has abused them and she has laughed about it. She has left people suffering and has caused that suffering.
Nurses are underpaid and they are disrespected as medical professionals who aren’t a doctor. That’s true and we should talk about that, but we can not ignore the fact that violent women seek out these jobs with God Complexes and the intent to do harm.
Sure, that harm might be because they are bitter, over-worked, and disrespected. None the less, it is no different than when a male doctor causes purposeful harm to his patient.
Nurses contribute to eugenics, to patient abuse, elder abuse, and yeah even child abuse (my mother was proficient in all of them!)
Here are some important articles to read:
Nurses Eat Their Young An article about hazing and bullying among nurses. The title comes from a common saying in medical circles, the first time I heard it, it was in reference to my mother’s best friend who had poured coffee over the hands of a new nurse who had reported another nurse to a superior for abusing a patient.
Bullying in Nursing – Why The Hazing is Getting Worse A brief article on forms of hazing.
Every single one of these articles, with exception of the last – which is guardian article – is a professionally published medical article.
