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heterorealism · 7 months

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The Double Bind: Married Women, Motherhood, and the Heteronormative Trap

Hello, fierce readers! 🌟

Today, let's dive deep into a societal quagmire that's been simmering for decades, if not centuries: the disproportionate burden shouldered by married women with children in traditional heteronormative setups. It's a tale as old as time, but with a modern twist that makes it all the more jarring.

1. The Myth of "Having It All": In today's world, women are told they can "have it all" - a fulfilling career, a loving family, and a vibrant social life. But the reality for many married women, especially those with children, is far from this rosy picture. Why? Because the age-old expectations of women as primary caregivers and homemakers haven't evolved at the same pace as societal changes.

2. The Modern Woman's Double Shift: Many women today work full-time jobs, contributing equally to the household's financial well-being. But once they clock out from their professional roles, a second shift awaits them at home. From cooking to cleaning, from helping with homework to bedtime routines, the bulk of domestic responsibilities still disproportionately falls on women's shoulders.

3. Husbands and Housework: While there are certainly exceptions, many husbands, ingrained with traditional gender roles, don't pull their weight around the house. This isn't just about physical tasks but also the mental load - remembering doctor's appointments, planning meals, organizing playdates, and the countless other invisible tasks that keep a household running smoothly.

4. The Social Sacrifice: With the weight of professional and domestic responsibilities, something's got to give. And all too often, it's the woman's social life that takes the hit. Friends, hobbies, and personal passions get sidelined because there simply aren't enough hours in the day. The unfair part? While women sacrifice their social lives, many husbands continue theirs unabated, often under the guise of "needing a break."

5. The Emotional Toll: This imbalance doesn't just rob women of their time; it takes an emotional toll. The constant juggling act can lead to burnout, resentment, and a feeling of being trapped in a never-ending cycle. It's a suffocating bind - wanting to be the best mother, wife, and professional, but constantly feeling like you're falling short in every role.

6. Challenging the Status Quo: It's high time we challenge these outdated heteronormative arrangements. True partnership means sharing responsibilities, understanding each other's pressures, and ensuring that both partners have the space to nurture their individual identities.

In Conclusion: The traditional heteronormative setup, where women bear the brunt of domestic responsibilities even as they navigate professional landscapes, is not just unfair; it's untenable. It's a system that sets women up for exhaustion and robs them of the joy and fulfillment they deserve. As society evolves, our domestic arrangements must too. It's time for a paradigm shift, where roles are defined not by gender but by equity, understanding, and mutual respect.

Stay empowered, challenge norms, and let's build a world where everyone gets to truly "have it all." 💪🌟🌍

#weaponized incompetence #minimal viable happiness #unpleasantness #heterorealism #feminism #isolation #alienation #friendship #gender #gender identity #gender socialization

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sir-adamus · 3 months

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alright so i haven't seen this in the tag yet and i fully expect things will inevitably explode into a mess of misinformation and over-exaggerated assumptions about things no one ever said so to hopefully head things off at the pass

some Rooster Teeth associated twitter accounts are being closed and left as an archive (not the RWBY one, but obviously this has led people to immediately start claiming the company has died and it's all over because twitter is a panic happy doomsaying death cult filled with idiots). while it was not communicated on twitter itself (some of this was apparently mentioned on their official discord), the reason for this appears to be that twitter itself is just no longer viable for a lot of community outreach because unless you pay the world's most divorced man monthly, your posts don't get much traction (so similar reasons for why they pulled RWBY off of youtube, the dickheads running the site are short-changing the people using it and it's just not a viable place to host original content when they make more having it on their own site and crunchyroll)

so this is a 'please remain calm and stop assuming the worst based on minimal information' PSA - overwhelming negativity helps no one, and nobody likes a sadsack

#RWBY

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heavenlyeros · 5 months

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£30 clay creature commissions & 20% discount on a second one

✦ animals !

i only put cats & big cats on the flyer because i love cats, but i have made all sorts of creatures, like sheep, cows, prehistoric animals, dragons, an octopus, birds, frogs, reptiles, bunnies, fish, pokemon, bugs and lots more, and i am always excited to try new things too. although i'm behind on updating it with my new projects, my website has photos of other fun stuff i've made ! i promise it's not all cats

✦ what i can do

your pet, fursona, favourite ffxiv minion, beloved pokemon, rarely depicted special interest, science outreach mascot, tabletop game character, and anything else you love long as it is creature shape (rather than people shape). they can have little accessories and fun details both sculpted and painted, but obviously the scale means these details will be somewhat minimalist for safety's sake (like in examples). they can have patterns and colours painted or i can marble and swirl clay of different colours. i can also texture them to appear fluffy or scaly. i love using shimmery and metallic paints - neat for the festive season! if you are gifting, i can add a little card and/or ribbon to your creature and mail it directly to your giftee.

✦ refs

images of the actual creature you would like me to make you are always neat, but it is okay if you do not have those. a little doodle, a moodboard, a picrew, a detailed description are all very good too, and i will ask for any info i need. or if you only have the vibes and would like me to come up with a design that's neat too.

✦ what i cannot do

because these are small and they must also survive in the mail, i cannot add super fine details like long antennae or thin tentacles. i can still add details like these in, but they will be chubby and short. the tails on the flyer are about as thin as they can go. i am also wary of creatures with very delicate details coming out to the sides from the main bulk of the animal (like wings and antlers) because they have a riskier time in the mail. these will also need to be very chubby in order to be sturdy. where viable, i would prefer creatures to remain on all four legs (like meerkat being long instead of tall) and that they are standing, not sitting. this works best with my sculpting technique, but i am happy to branch out where needed. loafing and splooting creatures are very welcome. because they need to be able to stand, biped creatures have to be extra chubby on the bottom. for this reason i tend to not sculpt legs at all (on birds for example), but i can paint them on where it is an option. if the creature really needs legs they can be sitting instead with their legs in front of them or similar. i will do my best to come up with an idea that works for your creature and still allows them to balance fine ! i prefer mixing clay and getting colour variation that way if the creature is not one colour. for paint, i generally use dark blue or dark brown for darker details, and white for lighter details, with other colours used sparingly where that detail is necessary, like eye colour. i am most comfortable with minimal paint, because it means the finish is much sturdier and will not get damaged with regular handling and play. so patterns like multicolour spots or swirls and accessories like hats and scarves will be a different clay colour rather than painted, most of the time.

✦ about your creature

the animals are about 5cm/2 inches long. wolf & ghostling creatures always have beans and x shaped buttholes and other little details like that where applicable. i make the creatures out of polymer clay (usually fimo) and they are painted with acrylic paint and sealed with glossy acrylic varnish. i also use shimmery and colour changing powders that i mix into the paint sometimes to get metallic, pearlescent, and holographic effects. they are waterproof (just don't scrub them) and they are very sturdy. they can survive falls and even being yeeted across the room by my bastard cat. they are weak to things falling on them and to being squashed. the clay has some flexibility but it will eventually snap under pressure. the finish should not rub away at all with handling, long as you do not scratch it. unless they're super stubby, their legs and tails are built on armatures (wood and wire). this makes them extra sturdy and also quite easy to fix should an accident happen. they are full of love. i adore making them. they bring me so much joy. i hope you will feel the same.

✦ timeframe, shipping, and shop policies

your creature will be finished in 1-4 weeks. it depends on how many i have to make and whether i have the right colour clay on hand or must order it online. i will always aim to work as fast as possible. i do not always complete the first orders i received before later orders - i work on them depending on which one i feel is best for me to tackle at the time so that i am always excited and get the best results. i will contact you with updates if you like, and to ask any questions if something is unclear. i love taking wip photos. once your creature is finished, i will ship it out using royal mail. uk orders are shipped tracked and international orders are shipped standard. if your country has notoriously unreliable post service or you'd just feel safer with a tracking number, please let me know and i can invoice you via paypal to upgrade to tracked shipping for around £6. creatures should arrive to anywhere in the world in 2-3 weeks maximum, but of course i cannot guarantee, and varies by time of year and your local carrier. as these are custom orders there are no returns or refunds. if your creature gets lost in the mail i will do my utmost to sort it out with royal mail but i unfortunately cannot refund you out of pocket as i am barely covering my own costs and offering these so i can afford the most basic of necessities. if your creature arrives damaged please get in touch and i will provide advice on how to fix it or a replacement, depending on circumstances.

please message me on here or on ko-fi if you have any questions at all and thank you for checking out my creature commissions <3

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pikahlua · 10 months

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Wow, okay, I’ve seen a bit of the translation drama now, and I regret to say a lot of people who very clearly do not know how to speak Japanese are being extremely polarizing about some perfectly acceptable word choices in the official manga. This is precisely the sort of stuff I hoped to help minimize when I started doing my translations. It’s been a while since I had to put out a warning like this, so I’ll do it now.

Be careful about getting too married to a particular word choice in English. A lot of word choices are very much up to a translator’s discretion. Language is fluid, and Japanese lends itself particularly well to puns and wordplay.

For example (and this is a particularly good example to explain my point), let’s talk about this panel:

Re: this post

Which leads into what seems to be the crux of the matter: Toga's "love." I've noted in passing before that having her use the word "suki" to describe this love is very curious. It's just an adjective that means something is the object of your affection. It's not a specific word for love like the nouns "ai (love, but broadly)" or "koi (romantic love)" are. "Suki" is just as often translated as "like" as it is "love."

In the above panel, we have the phrase “suki na mono wo suki to iu” (which I translated as “you tell those you like that you like them.”) The word “suki” is being used as an adjective to modify “mono.” However, there is an interesting nuance that is impossible for me to convey in an English translation!

The word “mono” can mean both “(tangible) thing” and “person.” Usually we can tell the difference based on context and the use of the correct kanji. BUT THERE IS NO KANJI USED IN THE ABOVE PANEL. The effect is that what this “mono” refers to is ambiguous. Is it the “things Toga likes” or the “people Toga likes”? It’s not clear: which means that both readings are correct! In fact, the word is probably meant to include BOTH meanings. “All things or people Toga likes.”

And the reason I can’t properly translate that into English is because I have no word that refers to such a thing. In English, it’s a question of “what Toga likes” vs “whom Toga likes,” but in Japanese BOTH meanings are captured by just one phrase.

The most accurate and extremely awkward translation in English would just be “You say who and what you like.” It’s not really something a person would say naturally, especially depending on the context of the conversation surrounding the phrase.

Additionally, “suki” is a very vague word that can be translated in many ways. It gets translated into English as various words all the time. I just decided to go with “like,” but “love” or “dear” would be just as viable. Like I said, it’s kind of up to the translator’s discretion. (And think about the corollary in English. “Like” may not usually mean “love,” but if you were in high school and told someone, especially of the opposite sex, “I like you,” “like” suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.)

Anyways, the whole point of this is that I just want to caution people against jumping to conclusions about these things, especially as you encounter disagreements about such things by fans in the wild. It may be true that a translator has a particular agenda they’re trying to push that runs counter to the message of a story, but it may also be a much more honest and correct translation than you expect. And if you ever need it, I’m always happy to give my perspective on a specific translation to point out the more charitable and non-charitable interpretations, the potential ambiguities, the nitty-gritty grammar issues, etc. (to the best of my ability, of course--I am not a final arbiter on these things either, just another learner myself).

#my hero academia manga spoilers #final showdown spoilers #linguistics fun #i hope i conveyed my feelings well on this #i just think these situations and ambiguities are more fun to discuss #before people become emotionally hung up on a particular word choice #though i don't fault anyone for being passionate about a particular interpretation #this is just the kind of stuff that butters my toast #but it feels a little sour when the drama has already run out of control

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sinsinewave · 2 months

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eSports and the downfall of gaming

yay clickbaity title :3

anyways, i have quite a bit of beef with eSports as a concept, basically i feel like it has ruined casual gaming in a sense

nowadays besides a few select exceptions it's near impossible at times to find online games you can play casually, especially in the FPS genre; the eSports hype has pushed and is pushing everything to become more and more and more competitive, which leads to ridiculous levels of metagaming, and in the dev side, incentivising winning over fun in the overall design, as that makes the game "more viable for eSports"

combined with the liveserviceification of games, you always only have the option to play at your absolute best, because supposedly skill-based matchmaking is the only option, and there are no more community servers in a lot of games, which makes the game impossible to enjoy if you just want to play one or two games for fun sometimes instead of making it a lifestyle and pushing yourself to essentially be a professional

i guess a more accurate title would be that overcompetitiveness is ruining gaming

it's not like you can't avoid that, a great example is Need for Speed Unbound, which' multiplayer races reward you quite well even if you're last, which makes the benefit from winning actually reasonably minimal, and incentivises getting the happy chemicals from the gameplay instead

#gaming #rant post #video games #esports

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psychotic4ghost · 10 months

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:Siren & The 141:

A/n: Here's chapter 2! I hope y'all are enjoying this. I'll be posting Mykie's character sheet soon too. Enjoy! Masterlist prev pt next pt

🚨 Warnings 🚨 Heavy PTSD/anxiety. Language. Mentions of death (no main characters) Guns, suicide.

Chapter 2 - A Big Break

A few weeks had passed since Mykie joined the Taskforce. The team was warming up to her a lot. Some were apprehensive about letting a girl join the team. But Price explained his reasoning and after getting to know her, they started to warm up to the idea of her being on the team. Soap had taken a liking to Mykie. He had managed to break down her stoic personality a bit. She had started to crack jokes with them and poke fun. Just the usual teammate banter. It was the team's lunchtime, and they all sat around their usual table in the mess hall.

“And I was struggling to even figure out what he was saying. He didn’t sound happy with me though.” Soap was telling a story about some old man who didn’t speak English. The team all gave out a chuckle.

“Come on, Ghost. Liven up.” Mykie sighed as she playfully flicked the book he was reading.

“Stop it.” Ghost huffed.

Mykie huffed at him. He paid no attention to her.

“141 briefing hall, now please!” Price shouted through the open door of the mess hall.

No one on the team hesitated to make their way to the briefing hall.

"We have received new orders. Operation: Intel Extraction. The mission details have been outlined on the board. Our primary objective now is to strategize a covert entry plan that minimizes suspicion and ensures mission success." Price began.

"The identified weak point for covert entry, minimizing suspicion, lies in a narrow drain pipe. Unfortunately, none of our team members possess the physical dimensions to infiltrate through it. In this scenario, deploying a remotely operated drone appears to be the most viable option to accomplish our objective."

"Sir, with all due respect, the current drone models at our disposal lack the necessary maneuverability for such a task," Soap interjected.

"I appreciate your input, Soap. That is indeed our current objective. It's time to engage our minds and devise a plan to infiltrate the target location without detection. Let's put our expertise to work and find a solution swiftly."

"Sir, if I may interject. While I acknowledge that I am relatively new to the team, I believe my smaller stature and agility make me a suitable candidate to maneuver through the drain pipes. Furthermore, my training in stealth operations could provide us with a strategic advantage," Mykie suggested, expressing a level of self-awareness and confidence in her abilities.

“That could work. Are you sure you would be comfortable taking on this task, you’ve only been here for 3 weeks.” Price queried.

"Sir, I am confident in my ability to effectively execute the assigned mission," Mykie reassured her captain. Price nodded in agreement. Hushed whispers broke out around the room. Mykie glanced around at them, catching Ghost’s eye. He seemed…worried.

“Very well. Continue with training and we will meet back up in 48 hours to discuss a plan.” Price dismissed the team.

“Mykie, are you sure you wanna do this? You’d be completely alone. You'd have us on coms and I'm sure snippers will be in place. But…” Soap was worried.

“I’ll be fine Soap. I have experience with stealth. Avoiding being shot by your ex-military father who had PTSD helps and with all this extra training. I feel confident.” Mykie said matter of factly.

Soap sighed and nodded. He knew there was no changing her mind once she was set on something.

Mykie jogged to catch up with Ghost who was already halfway down the hallway. “Ghost, wait up. I want to do some more training. I want more stealth training.” Mykie requested.

“You just told Soap you had experience. Why do you need me to train you?”

“Running from my own father is scary, but infiltrating a compound is harder than outrunning an old hag. I have the training, I just want more. I want more training and from the best of the best in the stealth department.”

Ghost sighed. “Fine. Meet me in the gym in ten.” Ghost quickly walked off down the hall.

Mykie did a quick jog to the gym. She didn’t want to wait the whole ten minutes.

Ghost pushed open the door to the gym only to see Mykie sitting on the tallest stack of chairs in the room. “Have you been here this whole time?”

“Yeah. We only have 48 hours and I intend on being the best I can be.”

“I admire your determination, Mykie. On your feet soldier.”

Mykie and Ghost had taken nearly a whale 12 hours to train. Barely stopping for long enough to eat. “I’m spent.” Mykie huffed as she pulled herself off the floor. Her tank top slid up her abdomen just enough for her stomach to show. Ghost, who had his hand out for her to grab, noticed the gnarly bullet hole scar that covered the left side of her stomach.

“What happened there? That’s a bullet entry, a close one too.” Ghost asked as he hoisted her back to her feet. Mykie quickly pulled her shirt back down.

“It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time.”

“Ghost, no. This shit gave me PTSD…”

“I understand, probably more than most.” He reassured her.

Mykie sighed apprehensively. “You’re right…It was my dad.” she started, not sure if she wanted to tell this story. Ghost pulled up two chairs from the side of the gym.

Mykie sat, she pushed her hands through her hair and sighed. “My dad was ex-military. Rodney Jamison. British Military. He was part of the front lines. He saw a lot of bad shit. He had…uh…he got deployed shortly after finding out my mum was pregnant with me. Long story short, he came back to a baby girl…and not a baby boy like he wanted. He wanted someone he could train up and follow in his footsteps. He swore to my mum he wouldn't try to put me through that shit. But he fucking lied.” Mykie was getting a little heated. “He started treating me like a boy behind my mum's back. When I turned 4 my sister was born, Jade.” Mykie clutched a piece of jade that she wore around her neck. “My mum died giving birth to her.” She was fighting back a few tears.

Ghost shifted in his seat, he leaned towards her, letting her know he was listening.

“His treatment got worse. He didn’t have to hide shit from my mum anymore. She was gone and he could do whatever he wanted. When I turned 15, he started forcing me to train. I had done actual military drills from memory at the fucking age of 18.” Mykie was angry now. Hot tears threatened to spill. She never looked at Ghost, she kept her head down the whole time.

“When I turned 18 I moved out. My sister was now being treated poorly. So I was hatching a plan to move her out. But she was still a minor so I couldn’t just have her move in with me. She was only 16…I was visiting home one day. Heard screaming. P-pots being thrown…” The flashes began. She was reliving it as she told it. “I-I don’t even remember what they were f-fighting about. I-I busted in and got in f-front of my sister because the sick bastard had a f-fucking gun. He was discharged for violence and f-fits of anger. He wasn’t allowed to own a gun! I-I don’t even know where it got the fucking thing!”

Mykie could see Ghost's hands folded together, he was gripping tightly, feeling her anger.

“I-I got in between them. Told him to put the fucking gun down. But he f-f-fired. 22mm w-went through my side. I-I thought my body was enough to s-stop the bullet. But Jade…she was…ever so s-slightly…too far to the left. It pierced her in the s-stomach…she…she…” Mykie burst out in angry tears. “She d-died in my fucking arms, G-Ghost! Then that sick fuck turned the f-fucking gun on himself! He didn’t even g-get to pay f-for what he did! He took the f-fucking easy way out!” Mykie was shaking. The hot tears streamed down her face.

A chair squeaking against the gym floor rang through Mykie’s ears, before she could look up, Ghost had engulfed her in a soft hug. Mykie didn’t hold back, she began to sob heavily.

“Was that the first time you have ever told your story out loud?” Ghost asked after a short moment of silence, her sniffles filling the air.

Mykie nodded her head. She couldn’t speak. Ghost pulled her in tighter. She was shaking violently. She had never told a soul what had happened. The only reason her file had any summary of the events was from when she was trying to piece it together for the cops while she was still covered in her and her sister’s blood.

Ghost held Mykie for what felt like hours. It had only been about 30 minutes until Mykie had control of her breathing and muscle again. She finally pulled away from Ghost.

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise, Mykie. And I won’t bring it up unless you want to talk about it, okay?” Ghost reassured her. He understood what it was like to deal with these kinds of memories.

Mykie nodded. She wasn’t quite ready to use her words yet.

“Let's head to dinner once you’re ready. Your face is a little red, don’t want people asking questions. You did well today, soldier.” Ghost sat with her, waiting for her to calm down.

“C-can we forget that happened please?” Mykie asked as she finally stood up.

“We can for now if that makes it easier.” Ghost assured.

“Why only for now?” Mykie panicked a little.

“You can’t hide from your problems Mykie, it’s unhealthy and 20 minutes ago is a prime example of why.” Ghost sighed as he stood too.

Mykie didn’t respond. Instead, she made her way to the door. Ghost caught her wrist before she could fully walk away from him. “Mykie, we're a team now. You have to accept that. It took me some time to come to terms with that myself, but, I hope you can too. I know we got off on the wrong foot but I’m here for you now if you don’t want to go talk to the brain pickers.” Ghost offered.

“Brain Pickers? You call them that too?” Mykie let out a small snort by accident, her mood shifting slightly.

“Did you just snort?”

“No. You’re hearing shit, Ghost.” Mykie was now trying to hide the blush that was creeping up on her cheeks.

Ghost threw his hands up in a defensive way as he chuckled. “C'mon let's get to dinner.”

The two soldiers began their walk down the dark, brown hallways to the mess hall.

“Hey, thanks again. I had never told anyone about my past before. While it was painful at the moment, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I don’t know how much emotional range you have,” Mykie stopped and stared at him with a soft smirk, “but I really appreciate you being there for me and letting me open up. It means a lot. Thanks, Ghost.”

Mykie didn’t give him time to respond, she pushed open the doors and walked towards their team who were all sitting around their usual table.

Ghost stood there for a moment, taking in what she had said. He shook his head and walked in after her.

“How did the training go?” Gaz asked as the two of them sat down.

“I feel a lot more confident. Ghost is an excellent mentor and Lieutenant.” Mykie nodded her resonance as she grabbed a breadstick from a serving plate in front of her.

“Pleasantries won’t get you anywhere, soldier.” Ghost sighed.

“I can still try.” Mykie winked at Ghost.

#call of duty #cod #ghost call of duty #ghost mw2 #mw2 #simon ghost riley #simon riley call of duty #simon riley #mw2 simon riley #oc

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loving-n0t-heyting · 9 months

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in my hometown there was this guy who had a bit of land, basically a junkyard, out in the woods, and he'd rent out sheds and non-functioning cars and tent sites for people to sleep in for like $40/week. these weren't perfectly safe, of course, it was a junkyard, and the guy wasn't doing this out of the kindness of his heart or anything, by most accounts he was kind of a dick. there were 20-30 people out there depending on the time of year, who had alternatives in terms of like, homeless shelters or subsidized housing or sleeping on the streets but preferred to be there, probably benefits like "having a dry place to sleep with minimal obligations to perform gratitude" and stuff. then the council was like "hey man you can't do that, you have obligations to tenants" and after some fines and drama whole thing got shut down. and probably most of those people ended up in situations they were less happy with, and some ended up in situations they were happier with, and maybe someone would've died or tetanus if the council hadn't stepped in who didn't. i think it was probably the right call to shut it down, you don't wanna make slumlording a viable option for anyone. but y'know.

Yea like. Igi! I get the impulse! I feel the tug nonzero amount! But it’s fundamentally the same as the neoliberal impulse, the “anti Copenhagen interpretation of ethics” impulse, which I also feel nonzero amount. And if you (generic, not properly second personal) are going to start reciting these paeans to the free market you might as well embrace that you’re in the scheme of things on the same side as the chicago boys?

It is mystifying to me the way ppl will say things like the reasoning you are gesturing at without endorsing and then the next moment start getting stars in their eyes talking about picket lines. The entire point of picket lines is to prevent ppl from freely entering into labour relations that, while imperfect, are preferable to them than the alternatives! That is the job of the picket line as an institution. Maybe i should not complain too much, the labour movement needs as many Allies as it can scrounge up, but once you are talking like a scab about housing you should mb ask why you aren’t extending the same logic into the workplace and beyond

#ask #anon

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plethoraworldatlas · 4 months

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When it comes to taking the blame for climate change, the energy sector absorbs most of the heat. But more and more, the public is learning about animal agriculture’s substantial role. The raising of animals for slaughter produces 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, approaching half of the energy sector’s 34%. One species in particular looms large in this picture: Around 10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the cattle industry.

As awareness grows around the eco-impact of raising cows for meat, the beef industry has been working hard to maintain public confidence. At the center of its efforts is a push to sell consumers on the idea of “climate friendly” or “low-carbon” beef. Tyson’s new Brazen Beef is advertised as a “climate smart” innovation; while the banner of “regenerative beef” — claimed to actually benefit the land — has been taken up by McDonald’s and Walmart.

But what do these buzzwords actually mean? Can beef ever be “climate friendly”?

Tyson Foods is one of the largest meat processing companies in the world. In recent years, it has found itself under pressure to cut eco-impacts and improve its sustainability efforts. It has responded with the introduction of Brazen Beef, which uses cattle “enrolled in Tyson Foods’ Climate-Smart Beef Program for emission reduction from pasture to production,” according to the product’s website. The baseline and metrics needed to measure this 10% reduction, however, is far from clear. “There’s no way that the math even works out,” says Jan Dutkiewicz, a political economist who studies the agriculture industry.

...

In an investigation for Vox, Kenny Torrella reached a similar conclusion. “Tyson’s climate-friendly beef website is full of earnest marketing phrases like this one: ‘If we’re showing up for the climate, then we’ve got to show our work.’ Yet that ‘work’ is nowhere to be found,” he noted.

Tyson told the Progressive Grocer that the company is “trying to be upbeat and different” with a campaign that speaks definitively to younger millennial and Gen Z consumers, the market sector most concerned with the impacts of climate change. The Brazen Beef website is packed with imagery of young adults being active, social and happy.

Launching products like Brazen Beef, says Dutkiewicz, is largely about landing some good press — without much fear of being called to account. “The average food consumer doesn’t spend time studying food,” he says.

...

Land use is also already a major concern when it comes to beef production, making the scalability of regenerative agriculture difficult to conceive. Cattle farming occupies 41% of all land in the U.S., even though 99% of livestock are raised on factory farms. Over 40 million cattle and calves are slaughtered for food annually in the U.S. Transitioning that number of cows to eating grass, says Carter, would require 270% more land. Making regenerative beef viable as a climate-friendly solution would also require significant reduction in overall beef consumption. Decreased consumption, however, rarely appears in the discourse around regenerative agriculture.

...

Re-wilding is the practice of restoring natural habitats ravaged by animal farming by reintroducing native flora and fauna, including native ruminants such as bison. “Cattle can be considered an invasive species,” says senior food campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, Jennifer Molidor. Where regenerative ranchers attempt to minimize impacts with rotational patterns and smaller grazing herds, “they fall far short of promoting biodiversity compared to native animals, and more often than not have severe impacts on soil health, water quality and make a monumental contribution to accelerating climate change.”Improving ecosystem integrity is an important part of re-wilding, Molidor explains. It’s also one, she says, “many food producers overlook or misunderstand when attempting to farm in better harmony with the land.” Re-wilding “can heal soil that has been harmed by agricultural degradation and pollution and restore native habitat and improve wildlife connectivity.” But that process is fundamentally incompatible with the cattle industry in its current size and form. Concludes Molidor, “The more cattle we produce, the more the land suffers.”

#enviromentalism #ecology #livestock industry #Cattle #rewilding #greenhouse gas emissions #Regenerative beef

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our-blood-is-our-ink · 1 year

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Yeah this is a rant/vent about a realization I had earlier. It's a bit dramatic.

It's not fair.

All I ever wanted to do, even as a kid, was act. And it's not. It's not viable. Not really. There's no promise of stability, there's no reassurance that I'd be able to get jobs that will reliably pay my bills.

Oh sure, everyone says well everyone wants to go into acting. Everyone wants to be famous.

But not me. I don't want to be famous. I want to act. I want to entertain. I want to be able to slip characters on and pretend to be them because the first and foremost thing I learned to do as a survival skill was to slip on different masks. I want to enjoy what I do. I don't want to think about my future and my career and it feeling bleak. I want to look forward to tomorrow, I want to feel that it's a possibility that I'd love what I'm doing so much, getting up and out of bed is exciting and doable.

And it's not fair I won't get that. It's not fair I have to go into something I have minimal interested in because I have to have that financial stability, I have to be able to have that security of being able to pay my bills and maybe save up enough every few years for a nice two week vacation.

Sometimes, even that feels like a pipedream.

I just hate this. I hate that I have all this passion and excitement and being unable to do anything with it because of the economy, because of how impossible that industry is to get into.

I'm sure I'm being a but dramatic. I'm sure I'll eventually settle into a nice routine job that pays me enough to thrive and not just survive and I'll wake up one day and realize I'm content.

Maybe not as happy as I could have been, as I wanted to be, but that when I reach old age, I can look back and feel some level of peace with what I did with my life.

But I think it's still such a waste.

I wish we had built a society that allowed for people to chase their passions and dreams and not have to sacrifice those things for simple things such as food, water, shelter, and medical care.

But we didn't. And now we suffer the consequences.

#sky's void #sky rants #sky vents

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asknarashikari · 7 months

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Then, I guess I'd talk about how the ideology clash between the well-intentioned extremist villains that views their actions as "necessary"/"only choice" vs the one who strives for everyone's well-being in general and/or against wrong actions.

Many of it gets portrayed (CMIIW) as the show setting a problem/stakes (particularly global scale) that seems to be only able to be solved by the former's approach without any alternatives, with the latter keep insisting that it's not necessary to be done while opposing them for doing wrong, until at late part of the show, the solution is found to prove the former wrong.

Dunno if that is done to challenge the viewers and keep them guessing, but the viewers often consider this as the show chickening out of testing the heroes, with said good alternative being forcibly implemented to prove the villains wrong. Thus they'd still consider those villains as being the one in the right and are just being "sensible" and "realistic", just that the story favors the heroes or it "catering to the kids". As "realistically" there'd be no magical solution save people from making tough choices.

Other examples are Ryuki - Shinji opposing Kagawa sacrificing Yui (and anyone he can like his own family) to stop Rider War (solution found later in learning the Rider War backgrounds and Yui threatening suicide - it's more on Yui proving a point, murdering Yui itself will do nothing), or Gaim - Kouta opposing Takatora's Project Ark of murdering 6 billion people to deal with Helheim (solution also found later in Overlords and Forbidden Fruit being introduced).

What'd you think about the above example cases that the villains seen as the right ones to "realistically" save as many people as they could, and the heroes just hindering the best decision (pretending said "forced" alternatives don't exist) with them should tolerating the villains' course of action instead (depicted as "naive people accepting reality"), outside of Geats having a known liar starting the parasite Jamato dilemma?

Well, for one I think that viewers who dislike these plots get bogged down in wanting their fiction to be "realistic" that they kinda forget that... this is fiction. It is by definition not reality, so expecting it to be realistic is... kinda weird lol.

More importantly though, I think that people who think that there is no "realistic" way for better alternatives that don't involve the extreme measures that they think are viable and thus get upset when the heroes do find a better, less extreme way and implement it... are missing the whole point of doing said plots to begin with.

It's not just pandering to a young audience, it's not them being in denial of reality. It's supposed to be a moral lesson to the viewers.

This is what reality should be- a world where we refuse to accept that anyone suffering is a viable option (and if we can't have that, then we try to minimize the suffering as much as possible). That there is always another way if we try hard enough, that we can somehow achieve something better if we fight hard enough for those ideals.

And, particularly in a show like Kamen Rider, which is targeted toward young children, passing on these ideals is considered more important than a "realistic" approach to dealing with the larger issues they supposedly present.

Geats, for all I dislike about the show, said it best: As long as you believe, you can change the world. Never give up on making people happy.

These are the ideals Kamen Rider wants to pass on, so they make stories where the protagonists fight to find better ways than what their reality doles out to them, even if there is a supposedly "sensible" solution available- especially if that solution involves the suffering of people.

While some issues could be handled better (I for one don't think that the modern penchant of redeeming everyone remotely antagonistic has been handled well), I think it's egregious to tell a story where you basically tell them to accept whatever cards reality/fate/destiny/etc handed to them, even if it's obvious that they can and should do better.

Also... this may be a hot take, but if someone considers trying (and succeeding) to find another solution as "chickening out" and "unrealistic" because the protagonists find the extreme solution unacceptable... maybe it's not a story problem and more of a them problem.

#kamen rider #ask #innerpeacebarbarian

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crackedlemonade · 2 years

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Life of a Lemon

I was 16 when I seriously starting considered doing art for life. The circumstances around that are a pretty beefy story for another day. There was some external influence that made me think that something that I didn't previously think was viable was something that could be viable. However, the resistance put in my place was strong, in hindsight avoidable but also strong for Young not completely Cracked possibly just heavily scratched Lemonade to handle.

I went to college for Fine Art, was part of my school's Fine Art honor Society went from the Historian in my Freshman year to the President my Senior year. I would say that the experience was empowering in and of itself, however, the breaks from school was filled with verbal abuse and attacks for my decisions from my family and me not fully knowing things trying to defend myself and prove people wrong. In retrospect I think trying to put effort in proving others wrong instead of working on myself and trying to be a better person was the wrong way to go. I was a different person back then and part of me thought I wasn't allowed to be happy by something that I couldn't see in the universe. I didn't know at the time I was that thing.

I even previously had a Tumblr that I put almost the most minimal amount of love into before ultimately deleting it at some point. I definitely could have used better guidance on doing things that would align me with longevity and maybe fight off some of the poison laid into my young lemony mind especially when it came to adaptability. Young Lemonade was set on getting into Grad School and figuring out. Young Lemonade did not get into Grad School.

However young Lemonade did get into making videos and created the Cracked Lemonade YouTube channel. Which was mostly me messing with ideas, editing them and placing them online. A lot of my earlier stuff is gone from there when YouTube started getting real serious with DMCAs and I just removed videos to be safe.

I've sold art but it felt like I couldn't move forward. I really didn't know what to do after my rejections from school and there was an event in real life that really deflated me involving my family which really set the pace of my 20's. Spending the second half of my 20's unlearning so many things I have been taught and healing.

I created art that was an expression of that journey as a whole. Have worked in multiple mediums and art is something that will always have a high viability to me because of how it can be used as a tool to express complex ideas, have fun or do both.

In 2021 I joined Twitter got into the NFT atmosphere and met a good deal of fantastic humans and artists (and not so good ones, future posts maybe) who are passionate about creating, discovered that they can place their paintings, digital art and stuff on the block chain as an alternative means of selling their art. Some even offer physical goods along with their digital goods.

There's no one way to do Crypto Art or do NFTs and general. Everyone is sort of figuring it out now. But I am seeing that a few of my friends are getting "We don't like your kind around here" and prejudice is whack. People are coming to this platform to share their art for the most part. A few have been scammed by larger projects promising unrealistic things. At the end of the day I'm just trying to exist as an artist who happens to also happens to be fond of placing art on the blockchain in exchange for cryptocurrencies in addition to art in exchange for fiat money.

#Art #painting #crypto art #blockchain #fine art

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wearepaladin · 2 years

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Pali, I ended up making a character for a admittedly grimdark-like TTRPG that has become much less paladin archetype than I hoped for, and I'm looking for advice to realistically push then in the right direction.

To put a TlDr to their backstory, local paladin-to-be works for energy company, extracts energy from making monsters happy and gets a shell to hide behind based on them as a bonus, soon shit hits the fan, HQ beams a pillar of light for three days and everything is shut down. After that people start turning into distortions when under high stress, extremely similar to the monsters he worked with but much more aggressive. Pali-to-be took old gear and tried his damndest to put these things down before they made this hellhole of a city worse.

Now I recognise in his attempts to save everyone he has amassed a rather immense body count, be it from people on the verge of turning, those who were willing to harm children, or just about anyone in the streets of flavour in general as cannibalism is somewhat of a anger button.

How do I stop my guy from just sliding off the deep end and turning into the kind of person he wants to protect others from?

Try to orient him to a desired outcome, which in his case would be a place where the people under his protection would be safe. To further that goal, in a setting where violence is the norm, you need to find and remove the core instigation of violence.

In other words, find a place to fortify and help people get there, and provide means that make whatever propensity to monstrousness occurring minimized or removed entirely. This is good for short term and long term needs for your Paladin, as it provides them a daily focus that he can see short and long term good provided.

The second is more long term, and will require more than one person to make viable. A reliable team can be grown from the efforts of making a safe zone, and make it easier for other safe zones or refugees to find you.

In other words: If you want to put an end to violence and help people, make it so violence is undesirable and people know to go to you for help.

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surrogacyagencykenya · 1 year

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Surrogacy in Georgia: Why it must be your first choice on your way to parenthood?

Many people aspire to start their own families. Some people, though, are unable to cherish this long awaited happiness. It might be a result of a health issue or a prolonged illness that has hampered their ability to conceive. Regardless of the reasons, people search for alternatives to fulfill their goals in all such situations.

While few couples and individuals adopt, others opt for more viable option like surrogacy in Georgia. Moreover, before putting any step further, one should enquire about random aspects like surrogacy laws in Georgia, surrogacy cost and so on.

Surrogacy in Georgia: Making the first move!

Finding the top surrogacy agency in Georgia that meets your customized needs is surely the most crucial decision. That said, the nation provides top-notch, reasonably priced s urrogacy options. Besides, for their innovation, the clinics and their facilities have won praise from all over the world. That said, there are also numerous treatment options related to surrogacy process in Georgia that can help you to realize your parenthood dreams.

Usually, there are several steps you must take while getting through surrogacy in Georgia. First up, initial contact between intended parents and surrogate mother needs to be established. The clinic will then carry out the procedure in association with their partner IVF clinics and centers.

Usually, intended parents will pick one of two approaches and the traditional surrogacy is the first possibility. During this process, artificial insemination is a technique that will be undertaken to achieve conception. On the other side, the possibility of the surrogate developing an emotional bond with the child since she will be bearing a child with a biological connection presents a challenge for those who decide to undergo traditional surrogacy process in Georgia.

Gestational surrogacy is yet another option available in Tbilisi, Georgia and more people are opting for this kind of arrangement. This eliminates any genetic ties between the surrogate mother in Georgia and the child. Besides, clinics use in-vitro fertilization to achieve conception while abiding to surrogacy laws in Georgia.

Moreover, to achieve fertilization, the sperm and eggs will be mixed in a lab dish. Once done, the best embryo will then be implanted into the gestational surrogate’s uterus. After the embryo has been successfully implanted, the pregnancy will be monitored and will culminate in childbirth.

Why choose Surrogacy in Georgia?

When selecting a location for surrogacy options, you must first consider whether the procedure is legal. Tbilisi, Georgia, is free of that problem. In fact, medical travel is a popular industry in the nation..

That said, we list down certain factors that attract many couples to Georgia and make it the best choice for them to start a family and fulfill their desire to become parents:

The nation’s surrogacy regulations are quite straightforward

Surrogacy in Georgia was made legal in the nation in 1997. As per the surrogacy laws in Georgia, everyone can pursue their surrogacy aspirations in this part of the world. Another benefit of pursuing surrogacy here is that the surrogate mother in Georgia isn’t coming with any parental rights, so you won’t have to worry about disagreements down the road. Besides, intended parents are also the legal parents of the born child.

Simple registration process

For intended parents, the registration process is straightforward and you will be required to agree to a surrogacy contract with the surrogate mother. As a result, you will be safeguarded in the event that a problem develops later in regards to surrogate mother cost in Georgia. Besides, the process is made simpler by the country’s minimal documentation requirements.

Low cost surrogacy options

Georgia’s surrogacy plans are relatively more affordable when compared to those of other nations. Besides, finding a surrogate mother is also made simpler because of the legal procedures that apply to them as well. Also, the best surrogacy agency in Georgia provides inexpensive packages that is even beneficial for the local and foreigner couples. So, you need not to worry about aspects like surrogate mother cost in Georgia and so on.

Easy availability of surrogacy agencies

There are many reputable agencies in Georgia that offers state of the art facilities and services. These facilities are prepared to meet the needs of clients from other countries. Besides, finding the agency that provides the best services is still the difficult part.

Hence, you must start by looking up centers and evaluating their pricing. Moreover, there are certain plans that give you access to qualified medical professionals and top-notch facilities. On the other side, most of the agencies get prepared to sit down with you and go over all your options. They ought to be eager to respond to all of your questions.

Safe and secured surrogacy destination

Besides offering low cost surrogacy options, the country also ensures the right safety of every intended parent here. Moreover, numerous Georgians voluntarily take part in egg donation and surrogacy programs. Besides, there are enough young, healthy women in the database of random surrogacy agencies who are willing to assist infertile couples in enjoying the joys of parenthood.

On the other side, surrogate mothers in Georgia have a clear motivation and satisfy all the required medical and psychological requirements. Besides, it doesn’t take much time for prospective biological parents to choose a surrogate mother.

Also, Georgia is a region of our planet that is ecologically secure. Mountains, sea coasts, and the absence of big manufacturing firms are all favorable environments for pregnancy and the delivery of a healthy child. Today, the nation ranks highly among the safest locations for foreign tourists to travel. Moreover, travelers can feel secure thanks to effective law enforcement in the country.

Final words

Georgia is surely a perfect destination for couples or individuals preferring low cost surrogacy options. That said, it is always advisable to connect with a surrogacy agency in Georgia that is backed with all the right experience and expertise to facilitate your surrogacy journey.

Source: https://kenyasurrogacy.wordpress.com/2023/02/16/surrogacy-in-georgia-why-it-must-be-your-first-choice-on-your-way-to-parenthood/

#Surrogacy in Georgia #Surrogacy clinic Georgia #Surrogacy agency in georgia

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macleod · 2 years

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Hi there,

Uni student here looking into start ups. I think I have a reasonably sound idea and I’m currently in the early validation steps of developing my idea.

If you don’t mind, could you give some advice in terms of what to do, or what to avoid, when venturing into start ups?

Hey, thanks for asking! I have a little experience in this realm.

1. Do everything possible to stay independent, and steer clear of taking any venture capital as much as possible. Loans are fine for the most part, but VC is a mess of a world and will only force you to lose your patience, motivations, and possibly your ideas. See #4 and #6.

2. Build! Ideas are great, we always need more of them! But, you need to start building, start learning, do everything possible to build as minimal of a viable prototype as possible. Notice I didn't say 'Product' and instead prototype, there is a difference. Products require customer input, knowing customer needs, and dealing with customers. Customers are the worst always right. Instead focus on your prototype, something that is built for you and others, with your ideas, your ingenuity, and your original ideas.

3. You have a prototype! Great! Be proud! You've made it past 99.99999% of people who fail at this sort of thing, congratulations. Now start testing it and see it fail, over, and over, and over. Lets see, you are now over budget (you did set one right?), out of time (should have been done six months ago right?), and you're on a new medication for anxiety and sleeping (very important). This is success! I don't mean to say this as a detriment, but this is reality. Be proud that you built whatever it is you have built, no one else has ever built what you have built.

Realize that building things takes time. Building things takes strength. Building things is a nightmare and a gift of hephaestus to finish. You are now wanting to show it to people, because you are proud of it, and you think it's wonderful and will make you financially solvent happy for once. People are going to be a vast mess of sort of understanding, and acting like they understand it. This is okay. You are building something great. Keep tweaking it and eventually you'll find people who really do understand it.

4. Keep your costs low, don't outsource too early (or at all), and keep everything as close to you as you can. Don't develop on a platform that forces you to change your prices, or have the rug pulled out from under you (this includes specialized parts, servers, social platforms, APIs).

5. Advertising. Don't bother with it yet. Hire someone part time or for equity down the line for it that specially focuses on it. Sure, a few localized FB ads can be beneficial, but most of the time its a bottleneck and a waste of time and money.

6. Keep it fun, keep going at it, even if you have to take a full time job (or two, as I have at times) then do everything possible to keep the dream alive. Don't let your daydream die just because you have to work during the day. Tinker, modify, keep it fun, and work on it as much as you can outside of the hours you are making money to fund it.

7. Don't bother too much on validation until you have that minimal prototype built, otherwise everyone will think it's novel (see #3, most will think they like it understand it in theory). This runs counter to a lot of venture capitalist blogs out there, but they are VCs, they don't have an inclination to actually build things for others, they pay invest in other people to do that.

Those are my seven overall rules, I could write books on this stuff, especially my disdain love for venture capitalists (and many are my closest friends!). You need to find a way to keep yourself humble, and feel like an absolute god of this mortal realm. Startups are hard. Startups are easy. Startups are hell. Startups are the most fun you can ever have. All of this is true, you just have to find a way to find that sweet spot.

Keep in touch, you can email me at [email protected], or send me a message on here, I love talking to people about this stuff (and helping them! I've been called a rather good soundboard to debate problems with, for better or worse). I've been doing this thing since I was a teenager, and essentially threw away any fun or friendships I could have had because of it, but I don't regret it for the most part.

Just build your dreams, shape your own reality around you, because you're the only one who can do it your own way.

#startups #messages #vc

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rabbitcruiser · 1 year

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World Soil Day

One annual celebration people will be forgiven for not participating in (or even knowing about) is World Soil Day. Yes, soil—as in that sticky brown stuff that gets walked all over into prized cream carpets. Sadly, it is the ignorance about the importance of soil and the degree to which people take advantage of all that it offers that have led to a drastic reduction in its quality all over the world.

These are precisely the problems World Soil Day aims to battle, as few things could be more important to humans, the inhabitants of Planet Earth, who could never hope to survive without the land.

Soil is, without a doubt, one of the most significant parts of the ecosystem. Contributing to people’s food, water and energy and playing an important part in reducing the impact of climate change, soil is a vital part of life.

For all of these reasons, it’s high time that World Soil Day became known to more people than just scientists concerned about the welfare of our planet. So it’s time to get ready to learn about and celebrate this important day!

History of World Soil Day

In 2002, the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) made a resolution proposing that the 5th of December be World Soil Day. The idea for the day was to make it possible to celebrate the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a vital contributor to human well-being.

Later, 2015 was also declared to be the International Year of Soils, in hopes of raising as much awareness as possible about the enormous role that soil plays in food security and, therefore, the very lifeline of humans. Unsurprisingly, so far it’s mostly been the global community of 60,000 or so soil scientists who have been the ones who are celebrating the day the most.

The chances of rather ordinary people exchanging ‘Happy Soil Day’ cards in the near future remain minimal. But that doesn’t mean that people can’t learn to appreciate the important role soil plays in human lives (even if it is darn hard to scrub off the carpet when those nearest and dearest feline friends leave muddy footprints on their way to the kitchen!).

Getting average people involved in becoming more aware of soil and taking part in its health is what this day is all about.

How to Celebrate World Soil Day

As it turns out, there are a number of things that average, regular people can do that can greatly help the soil they live off of to remain in good condition. It’s easy to get started with observing World Soil Day beginning with these ideas. Or for those who are super creative, they can come up with their own!

Get Educated About Soil

The best way to celebrate this day is to do exactly what scientists the world over so badly needs: to get educated. An enormous amount of damage is done to the planet every year–not due to ill will, but to ignorance. This is because many average people simply do not know enough about the earth to know when they are causing damage to it, sometimes damage that cannot be repaired.

Consider these resources for getting further educated on the issues related to World Soil Day:

Kiss the Ground (2020) This 90 minute documentary film featuring Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette and Tom Brady tells the important story of the soil being a viable solution to the world’s climate problems.

Symphony of the Soil (2012) Filmed on four different continents, this documentary features farmers, scientists, and ranchers who draw from ancient knowledge to pay respect to the importance of the soil.

The Biggest Little Farm (2018) Telling the story of one family’s attempt at farming, this documentary shows the way the little farm with depleted soil turned into a productive organic farm using regenerative agricultural practices.

Laguna Blanca (2012) Revealing how a farm in Argentina went from a single-crop, low-producing industrial farm to a multi-faceted area capable of production as well as lush greenery that houses many different wildlife.

Participate in a Soil-Friendly Activities

One of the first fun ideas average people can participate in is to plant a rain garden. For those who may not know what a rain garden is, it’s a shallow depression in the yard or garden that rainwater can easily flow into. This helps reduce soil erosion and promotes healthier soil.

Another important soil-friendly activity is composting. In order to stay rich in nutrients, soil needs access to fresh minerals which can come from dried leaves, dead plant parts, grass clippings and more. Keeping a compost heap in the backyard, filling it and turning it regularly not only improves the growing soil, but also reduces the amount of waste put into a landfill.

Read Kids Books about Soil

Got little family members, friends or school children who want to be educated on how important soil is to the lives of humans? Then try reading some different books with them about it! Here are a few to get started with:

The Magical World of Soil Biodiversity, by a variety of authors (2021).

You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Dirt, by Ian Graham (2016).

The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough, by Katie Smith Milway (2010).

What’s Sprouting in my Trash? A Book About Composing, by Esther Porter (2013).

Landscape and Plan for Less Erosion

It is a good idea to reduce to a minimum the amount of flat or paved surfaces on a property, such as driveways and patios. This is because the water flowing over these types of surfaces has a tendency to gain momentum which causes more erosion than it normally would once it reaches the soil.

For those who absolutely must have that patio, they should consider having it built with paving stones so rainwater can flow directly downward into the soil instead. It’s a much healthier (and prettier!) way to get that walking path in the garden.

Place a Rain Barrel

Another simple way to go about conserving soil (and in this case, water as well) is to have a rain barrel placed somewhere strategic where it can easily collect rainwater that is flowing off of the roof, which can then be used to water the grass and the plants.

Whatever you decide to do, remember that even the smallest gestures can make a big difference to Mother Nature!

Source

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dragonwaffles · 10 days

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saw a relate related post and didn't want to derail, so here:

I have an indoor-outdoor cat. I do not want to have an indoor outdoor cat, but I do. he's about nine years old, and has lived here all his life. on several occasions I've had cause to keep him indoors forcibly (IE to let an injury heal with supervision or to keep him from chasing away a neighboring indoor cat that got out) and both of us were absolutely miserable. he would not shut up, and because of this I barely slept until I could let him go outside again. he chewed a hole in my screen door trying to get out. each time I had to keep him indoors he refused to use the litterbox, holding it until he couldn't anymore, sometimes for well over a day. that can't be good for him.

I live in a travel trailer. I do not have the room or the energy to play with him. there aren't even any windows he can look out of. this space is just too small to keep a cat in 24/7. best case scenario he'd eventually give up trying to get out and get depressed and overweight from lack of stimulation and exercise.

I didn't volunteer to take care of this cat, responsibility for him just kind of fell on me. by that point he was already several years old and had spent a lot of time outdoors. he's not feral, but he's not well socialized either and pretty much only allows me to touch him.

I don't think rehoming him is a viable solution. shelters in my area are full or nearly full, and to rehome him would require finding someone who wants an adult cat with a history of biting, who doesn't play nice with other animals or small children, who will need a /lot/ of socialization and play time, and someone willing to deal with transitioning him to indoor only.

that's not gonna happen.

what am I supposed to do? euthanize a happy, healthy animal when that won't even significantly reduce the amount of cats roaming around even just in this neighborhood? give him to one of the few shelters that might have an open spot just so he can languish in a cage because he fights the other cats and nobody wants to adopt him? he's neutered, so he's not going to increase the population. the best I can do is take care of him until he dies.

I guess my point is that it's really hard to agree entirely with posts that make the issue so black and white ("if you have an outdoor cat you need to immediately bring it inside forever or you're a horrible person" type posts). I'm not trying to say that outdoor cats aren't a problem. I'm not trying to minimize the damage they do to the environment. but they are still living things, and more moreover, being domesticated animals they're living things we took an extra responsibility toward. there is no immediate solution to outdoor cats that's not also wildly inhumane. sometimes changes are gonna have to happen gradually.

#cats #outdoor cats #serious post

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