It’s impressive how video game developers are able to squeeze all these nations and peoples and history into a map with less square footage than a wal mart supercenter
It *is* a problem that charismatic species are often focused on for conservation at the expense of less charismatic but important species, but threatened species that are the subject of a lot of public outreach and education are also typically strategically selected.
I suspect that monarch butterflies are an example of this. Milkweed is a highly valuable plant for pollinators and a host plant for like. 400+ insect species. Getting people to plant it to save monarchs is funny because you’re essentially finessing people into saving a ton of other insects that they wouldn’t ordinarily care about
“Save the bees” isn’t misguided, it’s just the version of the truth you would tell a 5 year old. If a small kid asks about the colors of the rainbow you don’t start explaining that visible light has wavelengths of 400-700 nanometers
A lot of people don’t even know that there are different types of bees. things like planting native flowers, stopping using insecticides, etc, benefit all bees and all insects generally
ALSO
it’s actually a GOOD thing to have lots of conservation efforts focusing on “Charismatic megafauna,” especially apex predators
Because big animals like tigers need a LOT of space
So creating a preserve to save tigers…saves thousands of other species, because the tigers need miles and miles of habitat to live on, and that habitat needs to be healthy to support the tigers
They’re called “umbrella species” and they’re a great thing.
This is exactly why pandas are great for conservation, and whining about them is myopic childish foot-stamping*. An adult panda needs a 2km square range. A viable population needs many of those joined together into a very big protected area. And if you have that, you also have the habitat for hundreds of thousands if not millions of invertebrate species that are never in their wildest dreams going to get that level of protection afforded to them otherwise
*Also pandas don’t stop having intrinsic value just because you personally decide they’re ‘overhyped’ or 'don’t contribute much to the ecosystem’. Ethically, that is a species that deserves to exist regardless of how 'useful’ it is (side note, absolutely FUCK that capitalist bullshit), and also, if humans are why it’s going extinct, it’s on humans to bring it back. And if they aren’t readily breeding in captivity, the question to ask is 'What aren’t we providing in their environment that they need?’**, not the whiny temper tantrum of 'But why won’t they meet us halfway? They won’t help themselves! I am very smart.’
**It’s a tall tree to climb. This is emerging research but it looks like a vital part of panda mate selection is watching a male climb a tree to show off his tree climbing genes. We have not been including these in panda enclosures, so the females have been looking at these males sitting around and going 'Tch. Pathetic.’
Thank you @headspace-hotel and @becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys for reframing this for me in a way that is super positive and encouraging and giving me new information from which to draw better conclusions. I have learned a new way of seeing things today and am very pleased I will be able to offer this perspective to others going forward.
This man took so much longer to crack than I would have what a PROFESSIONAL
Plotting, scheming, etc.
This was filmed at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which rescues, rehabilitates, and releases orphaned elephants in Kenya (among other conservation efforts). Charity Navigator has given it a 4/4 star rating, and you can make donations here or “adopt” a baby elephant here.
THANK YOU FOR THIS IMPORTANT ADDITION.
I have enjoyed this video so much and am very happy to share ways to help the babies!!
That man held it in until he knew for a fact that they’d need another take anyway, and not a moment less.
I want to say that with trans folk now being at risk of the fucking death sentence in Florida….
The time for community is Now. The time to start planning and organizing how to get our rights back is NOW. bring it up at your local LGBT craft events or book club or support group or whatever. Tell your friends. Spread the word. And maybe see which ones will have the safety and resources you’ll need should a Lavender Hunt happen in your area.
And on the scarier end of reality….
This is fucking terrifying. Lots of people are at risk. Personally, I’m terrified this rhetoric will spread much like Trumpism did. I’m scared for my gf and I’m fucking scared for myself because we know historically that it isn’t just trans folk on HRT or drag performers that they go after.
And you have every right to do whatever you need to protect yourself.
I’m not going to shame folks who quit HRT, who take the rainbows out of their bio, the people who start saying partner instead of revealing a gender, or anyone else taking a few steps towards the safety that the closet provides. WE shouldn’t.
I fucking love you. And we’ll be okay as long as we’re together, okay?
This is what I’m talking about for the people unaware.
I looked up the lavender scare last night and was sadly unsurprised to see that the last time the community came together…was a lavender scare.
Pride was a riot because the government started doing to us then what Florida is doing to us now. It was triggered when a man was fired from his job on grounds of being gay and tried to take it to court.
This is why we have pride. This is why “think of the children” is/was an awful rhetoric to push at leather daddies and drag queens. It’s not just a bad opinion or stupid discourse, it’s a talking point for the right wing to justify fucking kill us.
It was never “just discourse” it was a right wing psyop to cripple us from coming together to fight against attacks just like this.
Your enemies aren’t other queer people with labels you don’t like. Those are your allies. Because you know who else doesn’t like them?
Nazis.
And they don’t like you either even if you have a “normal” queer identity and you don’t make it “your whole personality” or whatever.
You’re both still queer. And that’s all they care about. Trying to placate bigots wont save you. Quit playing the part of “acceptable gay” and throwing everyone else under the bus.
Besides, that they WERE thinking of the children when they started those riots dressed in stuff that makes you squirm. They were thinking of You. Of your life. Your children. Queer children.
Broke: think of the children
Woke: think of where you’d be right now if Drag queens and leather daddies weren’t there to throw that first brick. Think about about all the other people currently at risk of being killed through the Same Exact method that you had the privilege of escaping, precisely because of the people you can’t stand.
Hey y'all please reblog this version so people can see the article and explanation, there are a few confused people only seeing earlier versions that dont explain the connection/threat because it doesn’t have the article.
An interstate rainbow railroad.
For those unaware that’s this. It’s been done before.
A lot of people are scared. And I really, really want you to know that the riots started because someone scared asked for help and people answered
It wasn’t organized. It just happened. People decided to risk it at a moments notice.
This is ours. And we’ve done it before.
Stormé Delariverie, the Stonewall Lesbian that triggered it all.
And everyone who was there for her.
Were just like us
So how do we do this?
I played that level in Mario Kart but that was it. I wanna be there for you, we all do, how do we do that?
I bet one of us could call and just ask. Who doesn’t have anxiety. Oh wait it’s posted on their site :)
Kinda reads like a How To 👀
Find your niche and offer it.
People need help, you figure out how/who can, and then you follow through.
Can you drive
have gas money
have extra food
Got some clothes or meds
An extra bed or couch
maybe even an extra property or hotel room to spare?
Do you have money for those things?
maybe you’re able to connect people with needs to people who can help?
can you share/spread posts asking for help?
Or may you can just make them some tea while the host of the house is out cuz they don’t want to be alone in a new place
Maybe you keep up morale by just being hopeful
can you somehow show that there are people who are taking steps to materially care for and support trans and other lgbta people in Florida?
What can You do?
Because you are not nearly as powerless as they want you to believe, especially with some help.
“ Your enemies aren’t other queer people with labels you don’t like. Those are your allies. Because you know who else doesn’t like them?
Nazis.
And they don’t like you either even if you have a "normal” queer identity and you don’t make it “your whole personality” or whatever.
You’re both still queer. And that’s all they care about. Trying to placate bigots wont save you. Quit playing the part of “acceptable gay” and throwing everyone else under the bus.
Besides, that they WERE thinking of the children when they started those riots dressed in stuff that makes you squirm. They were thinking of You. Of your life. Your children. Queer children. “
I just wanted to point this itsy bitsy part out. because some people need to fucking listen to it.
This ENTIRE post is worth listening to, it doesn’t matter if your trans, or not. Please just fucking listen. For the queer kids and teens and for the adults and drag queens that are scared. Nobody should be scared to die. Not just in florida either.
life actually gets better when you leave the house consistently btw like im serious
if you don’t know where to go, just wander! go to the store and don’t buy anything, go to the library just to sit and do whatever you were going to do at home, go to a park and just walk around/sit outside for a bit (weather permitting, of course)
just put some headphones in and walk around the block a couple times if you really have nothing else to do, just getting a bit of air and change of scenery is so good for you
me the first few weeks of forcing myself to go on daily walks (it gets better tho)
i really need tumblr to learn the concept of “if you physically cannot do this then this post is not talking about you” because jesus christ.
Medieval England was mad because sometimes you just inherit your wife’s rich uncle’s property portfolio but then the uncle’s widow pretends to be pregnant for 3 years with a son and heir so you can’t inherit it and it gets tied up in legal limbo and the king sneakily adds your lovely castles to his own collection just for safekeeping and then you end up trying to steal one of the castles to make a point but then you have to give it back and you go to visit the king to tell him that it’s impossible for this woman to be pregnant 3 years after her husband died so can you please inherit your castle now but he’s like nah I know science and it’s legit and then finally everyone realises she’s talking absolute shit and you inherit some really nice castles but you and the king have really pissed each other off and so a bunch of magistrates decide that you’re exactly the person they need to keep this naughty king in check because he keeps just doing whatever he wants and won’t listen to anyone and so they appoint you chamberlain of his household and you realise that you’re actually just two peas in a pod because hey you also love just doing whatever you want and so you end up shagging the king so good that he falls head over heels in love with you and gives you all the castles and finally you have all the castles of your dreams but then his wife raises an army against you and you end up getting executed and having your dick cut off… crazy times
Thank you so very much
Also, Edward II already didn’t like Hugh, because Hugh was married to Eleanor, Edward’s favourite (and richest) niece. Edward had wanted Eleanor to marry Piers Gaveston, who was Edward’s One True Love TM, so that Piers could inherit all of Eleanor’s land. ALAS, Hugh’s dad (also called Hugh) did Edward’s dad (also called Edward, because they had even fewer names than brain cells between them) a load of favours, so Edward I gave Eleanor’s marriage to Hugh the Elder’s son instead, which annoyed Edward II and probably didn’t make him particularly inclined to be helpful to Hugh in the matters of Eleanor’s inheritance, especially because Hugh had a habit of writing very bitchy letters to people who he felt owed him money, and therefore had a reputation for being an absolute arsehole, and had also expressed a disapproval of Piers Gaveston previously and hadn’t supported Edward II in his attempts to keep Piers from being exiled and eventually executed. But hey, all was forgiven as soon as Hugh moved into the royal household, and Edward proceeded to very quickly get over it and also quite possibly under it, so presumably Hugh was very charming when he wanted to be, or maybe he was just an incredibly good lay, idk.
My favorite relic English still used everywhere is the word “the” used in phrases like: “the more I look at this, the stranger it seems, or "the bigger they come, the harder they fall”. This “the” is not the article of any noun, it is a different word, a conjunction descended from the old English “þā”, pronounced “tha” which means either “when” or “then”. Back in early Middle English the structure “if - then” had not taken over and if you wanted to express an if - then relationship you said “þā whatever, þā whatever”, meaning “when such-and- such, then such-and-such”. “þā” sounds almost the same as “the” and the spelling of the two converged, but the meaning remained totally different. “the more, the merrier” literally means “when more, then merrier” or “if more, then merrier’; same as centuries ago.
[image description: tweets from user Matt (official) that read, "this is not quite accurate. this ‘the’ comes from þȳ, the old instrumental case of the definite article. so it’s like 'whereby x, therefore y’ or 'by how much x, that’s how much y.’
þā … þā does indeed mean 'when … then’ in Old English, but this temporal correlative is not where we get 'the more the merrier’ construction. i’m afraid someone took an OE class and mixed a few things up.
so it doesn’t originally mean 'if more, then merrier’ as suggested in the comment. it has always meant 'by how much more, that’s how much merrier’ i.e. double or triple the quantity leads to double or triple the merriment.” end id.]
I see posts go by periodically about how modern audiences are impatient or unwilling to trust the creator. And I agree that that’s true. What the posts almost never mention, though, is that this didn’t happen in a vacuum. Audiences have had their patience and trust beaten out of them by the popular media of the past few decades.
J J Abrams is famous for making stories that raise questions he never figures out how to answer. He’s also the guy with some weird story about a present he never opened and how that’s better than presents you open–failing to see that there’s a difference between choosing not to open a present and being forbidden from opening one.
You’ve got lengthy media franchises where installments undo character development or satisfying resolutions from previous installments. Worse, there are media franchises with “trilogies” that are weird slap fights between the makers of each installment.
You’ve got wildly popular TV shows that end so poorly and unsatisfyingly that no one speaks of them again.
On top of that, a lot of the media actively punishes people for engaging thoughtfully with it. Creators panic and change their stories if the audience properly reacts to foreshadowing. Emotional parts of storytelling are trampled by jokes. Shocking the audience has become the go to, rather than providing a solid story.
Of course audiences have gotten cynical and untrusting! Of course they’re unwilling to form their own expectations of what’s coming! Of course they make the worst assumptions based on what’s in front of them! The media they’ve been consuming has trained them well.
JJ Abrams has been my enemy since Alias in 2002. I’ve genuinely hated him my entire adult life because how he popularized shitty storytelling in Hollywood.
I am fucking haunted by a terrible piece of writing that was shared on Livejournal (though it from an older actual published book) sometime in the early 2000s
If anyone knows what it is or can find it PLEASE let me me know as I need to read it again
Its an excerpt from a story about a woman and the fey? And there is a moment where the fey king? Prince? Casts a spell on her and then there is this long ass section of the worst purple prose of your life
Dude uses like 5 metaphors for every single body part! Like this isn’t an exact quote but it’s like “her toes were like snails, small white stones delicate bones, small white shells”
And the dude describes her ENTIRE BODY like that feature by feature!
This was posted in a writing group and blew up
There was a dramatic reading!
There was fan art!
AND I CAN’T FUCKING FIND ANY TRACE OF THIS TERRIBLE WRITING ONLINE
It’s SO bad and I need to 1. Read it again and 2. Make sure Tumblr is aware of it because good god
This is ringing a vague bell for me but I can’t place it. Any of my fellow LJ veterans remember?
Oh shit I LOVE this one! I’ll have to do more digging for a transcript, but here’s a scan, it’s from Bronwyn: Silk and Steel by Ron Miller
