We're at the "JK Rowling is personally funding litigation to try and destroy AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL" stage of rabid UK terf brain.
Screenshot via Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net on bluesky
Tldr Amnesty International, global human rights organisation, published a report called 'A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK'. In it is detailed, amongst others, a whole bunch of transphobic groups and organisations, including Beira's Place, JK Rowling's trans exclusionary sexual violence support service. JK Rowling threw a shit fit and got Amnesty to take the report down by threatening libel. This was obviously not enough, because you can't appease a fascist, so now she's going to bankroll a bunch of lawsuits anyway through the JK Rowling Women's Fund.*
You can read an archived version of the report here, please save it and share it.
*Not so friendly reminder there is no way to engage in the wizard books without enabling this shit.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch âą No registration required âą HD streaming
When I go to protests, I carry first aid, I pass out masks, I have water bottles and snacks. And yes, buckets with holes in the bottom - to help carry the water - but also helpful if the cops decide to gas a crowd.
Evidence of terrorism, apparently.
I've got zines in my backpack, I'm in signal chats, I wear all black.
Terrorism, apparently.
I have been at protests that other people have gotten violent at, set fireworks off at, vandalize city property at. I don't know these people, haven't planned these activities with them.
But with all the above against me, proof of terrorism.
It IS that big of a deal folks. And if we don't hold the line here. If we don't keep protesting the Prarieland decisions: there WILL be more.
Several wildfires are forcing members of a number of First Nations to flee their homes in northern Ontario.
âI had time to run home and pack a bag and get to the beach where the boats were waiting,â said a member of Namaygoosisagagun First Nation (Collins). âWe literally had minutes to get on the boats and flee before it took our town.
âOnce we left my house finally after packing what I could in a pack sack, the fire was right behind our place. We had to run to the beach and once we got there, it was only moments before the fire had jumped over the (train) track and was coming for us.â
it has since been confirmed that namaygoosisagagun first nation has completely burnt to the ground. if you would like to help the community navigate an ongoing crisis, i urge you to donate to the anishinabek nation 7th generation, a registered charity seeking to improve the lives of first nations people. donations are going directly to members of namaygoosisagagun first nation.
if you're canadian, you can e-transfer [email protected]. if you're outside canada, they accept paypal as well. see more information HERE
hikes are very good yes but a deluxe hike is when you are a accompanied by a freak with niche nature knowledge. theyâre like omg stop thereâs a horned valerian varmint beetle here and then you both get to crouch down and look at a bug like :)
I want the newest, coolest, shiniest phone they advertise on Instagram and it should cost $30 and be tiny and also huge and have every feature I could possibly want without thinking about it
I want my websites to allow me unlimited uploading of all data in high definition with zero lag or buffering, have every single person on earth available, with an easy way to see only the stuff I like and not anything I don't, for free with zero ads, with clear, straightforward moderation that gets rid of every Nazi and has zero false positives that also lets me tell random strangers and the people running the site to kill themselves, and I should be able to find it without doing any independent searching on my own because I'm too lazy to look for it
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch âą No registration required âą HD streaming
So I do 3D modeling and printing as a hobby, and a few weeks ago I designed wheel guards meant to prevent office chairs from running over cables and clothes... or your pet's tail.
I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.
Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.
So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.
Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.
Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming đ”âđ«
Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.
Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.
I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.
pop health science is so annoying bc it'll be like "did you know? eating strawberries will give you mega cancer" and you're like pfft whatever begone influencer. but sometimes then you'll see a reasonably credible article like "Study Shows Possible Link Between Strawberries and Mega Cancer" and you're not usually the type to follow that kind of thing religiously but idk maybe you should consider not eating strawberries? but then there's another article saying "Strawberry/Mega Cancer Study Debunked" and it turns out the original study had a sample size of 3 and was funded by Big Blueberry, and strawberries may have a small connection to mega cancer but only if you are genetically predisposed to mega cancer and eat 50 strawberries every day. so you return to your strawberry eating life. but whenever you eat strawberries in public someone tells you about the mega cancer.
Discworld had a very BRITISH view of sex, in that it's mostly something to snigger about, but it's also a pretty ordinary thing in people's lives. We're a deeply repressed island, it explains so much about us, but we are also an island of freaks- we just bury that deep inside. Arf arf.
SEE. SEE THAT. THAT'S WHAT BEING BRITISH DOES TO YOU.
Anyway. The way this manifests in Discworld is fascinating to me.
Ankh Morpork has a condom factory. The slang term for them is "rubber wallies" or "sonkies" because they're named after the man who invented them- Wallace Sonky.
There's sex shops, selling fetish wear. The man who owned the shop ran for the office of Patrician. There are fetish catalogues.
There's sex toys. Wind up clockwork ones.
There are shops catering to hen nights complete with amusing inflatable dicks.
There's not a lot of sex in the books themselves, but you get the impression it happens a lot outside the story.
Discworld always feels lived in, feels like a place that keeps going when you stop reading about it. The fact there's condoms, sex shops and fetish wear just adds to that feeling in a way that's both funny, deeply realistic and yet... Oddly wholesome? In a way I can't explain?
The Seamstress' guild is one of the most powerful (and oldest) in the city.
The head of the guild is Mrs. Rosemary Palm, a joke so magnificently vintage it needs explaining more often than I'd expect, second only to the explanation for why they're called "seamstresses".
Pterry gave the language the greatest euphemism for sex worker ever - "Ladies of negotiable hospitality" (Also "affection", but I prefer the former).
Also, recall that the new King of Lancre ordered a book to help him in the bedroom, but accidentally received a book on "Martial Arts" instead.
At least we can only hope that the error was on the seller, and not on Shawn Ogg, or else his attempts to defend the nation might be very unique indeed.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch âą No registration required âą HD streaming
The Third Wave of Critical Minerals is Reshaping Global Power
As governments race to secure minerals for clean energy, AI, defense, and manufacturing, this study reveals how âcriticalityâ has become a powerful political tool for reshaping markets, trade rules, and global resource governance.
A recent study in the Leiden Journal of International Law examines how the discourse on critical minerals has evolved over the past century in response to shifting geopolitical, economic, and security priorities. The study shows that criticality extends beyond geological scarcity and is strongly influenced by political priorities, national security concerns, industrial policy objectives, and claims about US hegemony. Overall, the analysis highlights the growing influence of critical minerals on industrial policy, supply-chain planning, international trade, and the politics of the energy transition.
The specimenâdubbed Gusâis billed as one of the largest, most complete T. rexes ever found. Gus is expected to fetch up to $30 million and will go to the highest bidder, whether public museum or private collector. The latter have played an increasingly prominent role in buying fossils, with auction houses, according to paleontologists, contributing to the trend by building hype. But when private collectors swoop in and buy fossils at auction as luxury assets, those pieces of history are effectively lost to science.
By nearly all accounts, Gus is a big deal. In its description, Sothebyâs boasts that the specimen, which was discovered on a ranch in South Dakota, comprises âan incredible 183 fossil bone elementsâ making it âapproximately 61% complete by bone count.â The fossil remains have been mounted in a custom steel armature along with replicas of the missing bones. The result is a reconstructed skeleton posed as if in hot pursuit, its mouth full of dagger teeth ready to tear into prey.
âIt does seem to be a spectacular specimen,â says Thomas Holtz, a tyrannosaur specialist at the University of Maryland. The completeness of the skeleton and the high quality of the bone make Gus âscientifically significant,â he says.
Gus is the latest major dinosaur fossil to go up for sale at auction in the US. That trend began in earnest in 1997 when Sothebyâs auctioned Sue, the most complete T. rex on record. That specimen sold for roughly $8.4 millionâthe most money ever paid for a fossil at auction at the time.
âBefore Sue was sold, there were no laws about who owned fossils. There was no value truly ascribed to them,â says Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman and head of the science and natural history department at Sothebyâs. In many other countries the state owns the fossils. But court cases around Sue clarified that in the US, whoever owns the land also owns whatever fossils are on it, Hatton explains. The market has been booming ever since.
But whereas Sue went to a scientific institutionâthe Field Museum in Chicagoâin recent years ultrarich individuals have been snapping up dinosaur fossils at auctions for their private collections, prompting paleontologists to be concerned about the fate of rare specimens. Tech entrepreneur Dan OâDowd owns a T. rex called Samson. And heâs not the only private collector to own a tyrant lizard king. A study published in 2025 found that there are more fossils of T. rex in private collections than there are in public trusts.
Itâs not just T. rex thatâs ending up in personal coffers. In 2024, Sothebyâs sold a Stegosaurus named Apex to hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin for the record-setting sum of $44.6 million. And last year the auction house sold the only known juvenile Ceratosaurus in the world to an anonymous buyer for $30.5 million. These examples highlight another trend: As prices soar, museums simply cannot compete at auction.
Auction houses say the sales help science by rescuing fossils from the erosion that occurs when they are exposed to the elements, and by helping to get them expertly excavated, prepared, and assessed.
âIf a fossil is not excavated, itâs lost to everyone,â Hatton says.
Paleontologists counter that the incentive to sell specimens to the highest bidder and appeal to high-net-worth collectors actively undermines science every step of the way. That begins at excavation, with commercial outfits that take the fossils out of the ground but fail to exhaustively document the geological context in which a fossil was found, which is essential for understanding the age of the organism, how it died, and the ecosystem it inhabited. Mounting the bones for artistic display makes them impossible to study using modern techniques such as computed tomographic imaging, which can reveal hidden features of fossils noninvasively.
Paleontologists also argue that the auction firms play it fast and loose with science to market the fossils in a way that may make them more appealing to untrained buyers. In the case of Gus, Sothebyâs describes holes in the jaw and elsewhere on the specimen as tyrannosaurid bite marksâsigns that Gus might have battled with or been scavenged by his own kind. The description does not offer any evidence to support this interpretation of the holes, nor does it mention alternative explanations for such damage.
Itâs a dramatic story, but itâs probably wrong, according to Stuart Sumida, a paleontologist at California State University, San Bernardino. Puncture marks are irregularly shaped and have splintered fractures around the edges. The holes on Gusâ bones, in contrast, are perfectly round and smooth-edged. Holes like these are common on tyrannosaur bones and have been previously hypothesized to be the result of infections. âItâs much sexier to say theyâre puncture wounds, but this isnât how puncture wounds look,â Sumida says of the hole in Gusâ jaw. âT. rex probably just had really bad breath.â
When asked by WIRED about the origin of the bite-mark claim, Hatton replied, âThe bite marks are very clear, and are not all straight punctures but lateral bites where you can clearly see the shape of the tooth. You can also tell from the edges of the hole whether the break is clean, or if the hole is gradual (which would be more likely the result of a parasitic or other infection that gradually and evenly eats the bone)." She did not indicate where this analysis came from.
But the central issue with auctioning fossils, researchers contend, is that when specimens end up in private hands, they become unavailable for scientific study. Even if a private collector loans a fossil out for display or study at a museum, as happened last year when the American Museum of Natural History in New York City secured a four-year loan of Griffinâs Stegosaurus, such an arrangement violates a central tenet of paleontology: Scientific reproducibility requires that researchers other than those conducting the original examination have access to those same fossils in perpetuity.
That approach allows paleontologists to validate findings, test new hypotheses, and build knowledge of the past. To ensure access, fossils must be held in public repositories on a permanent basis. So vital is this covenant that established scientific journals wonât publish a study on a specimen that isnât in the custody of a publicly accessible museum, Sumida explains.
Everything scientists have been able to piece together from fossils about prehistoryâfrom the origin of multicellular life to the dawn of humankindârests on this system.
âA scientifically important fossil isn't just a static object; it's a permanent source of data that future generations of scientists will study with tools that haven't even been invented yetâbut only if the fossil remains in the public trust,â says Kristi Curry Rogers, a paleontologist at Macalester College. âThink about all the cool discoveries that have been made in the last 50 years about dinosaur diets, body temperatures, coloration, reproduction, vocalization, neurobiologyânone of these discoveries would have been possible if the fossils had disappeared into private collections."
Sales of fossils to private individuals in the US wonât stop, Sumida acknowledges. So he and Rogers are taking a different tack to help keep important fossils in scienceâs fold. In their respective roles as president and vice president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, they are working to set up the society to act as a liaison between private collectors and museums. Their goal is to persuade private collectors to donate the fossils they buy to science museums right after the gavel falls rather than keeping them as trophy acquisitions.
âWhen it comes to these public auctions of our shared history, the best outcome is when those with the means to acquire an extraordinary fossil choose to immediately place it in the public trust, where everyone benefits," Rogers says.
Private buyers can avoid the bad PR that comes from opposition to these sales by making their purchase anonymously, which could hinder efforts to persuade them to engage in philanthropy. But the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is hoping that if it can convince even just a few known individuals to donate their fossils to science, they, in turn, will influence others to do the same.
The society is in talks with some collectors and museums, though Sumida declined to share specific details. It doesnât have a plan in place to approach Gusâ buyer, but it might develop one depending on who purchases the fossil.
âA specimen of this quality deserves to be in a museum collection so that not merely the current generation but future researchers (to say nothing of museum-goers) would be able to study and admire it far into the future,â Holtz says of Gus. âLet us hope that whoever acquires it keeps this in mind.â
The ground in these places is too compact for water to soak in during wet season which leads to flooding but digging these holes gives the water a place to stop and soak in. And theyâre pushing back the desert with this. By just digging holes.
The new plants also help even more water soak into the ground which reduces flooding even more.
These places also give people places to grow food and graze animals like people are turning completely dry compact desert into a refuge for wildlife and plants and solving regional food insecurity just by digging holes.
He also promoted the use of cordons pierreux, which are basically just lines of rocks to reduce erosion, preserve sediments, and increase water absorption.
Immensely cool dude. He's been a personal hero since I learned about him.
Ooooh, Mr. Sawadoga innovated the traditional zai method by adding manure and other biological matter to the holes! This put nutrients in the soil as well as helping even more with water retention and attracted termites whose tunnels helped loosen the compacted earth, all of which supported plant-growth like no zai before! Which increased water-retention even further! Oh excellent, excellent work!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch âą No registration required âą HD streaming
The Twin Cities have obviously been in the news a lot this year (and since 2020), but sometimes seeing the discourse wars gets very frustrating as an actual resident.
There will be these battles between "it's a war zone! There are homeless people everywhere!" and "Here I am playing pickleball, no homeless people in sight!"
I get frustrated with the people who talk about it like it's West Berlin meets Mogadishu. You want to dunk on them, I get it! But it's also annoying to see people going "Hurr durr, I heard Franklin was so bad, but here I am in front of the Montessori school! I don't see any homeless encampment!" and if you live here, you know damn well that the encampment is like 6 blocks west and you can not miss it. (Which like, I am also glad that they're not filming the encampment, because the people living there are real humans and not props. Which is also why I'm not going to go post a picture to prove them wrong.)
Frequently the people denying the existence of the encampments are also the people upset at local politicians for clearing encampments, and it just seems counterproductive to be mad about a thing that you also deny exists?
As someone who actually lives near some encampments, it's both A) not terrifying and B) often frustrating. When I've had to bike through an encampment nightly, I often felt 'unsafe' but never 'in danger'. Like, I didn't think anybody was going to jump me, but I did often have to dodge people who had passed out on the trail or were just stumbling around. Nobody has threatened me, but I have had to sweep up a lot of broken crack pipes and syringes. Nobody has broken into my house, but our gate has been broken 3x by people trying to break in, and our car has been broken into repeatedly. (And I have immediate neighbors who have had break-ins and been threatened.)
So I kind of want both groups to just shut up. It is not a war zone, we do not need military sweeps to keep us safe, and ICE can fuck off. BUT ALSO if you're saying "Well, I never see homeless encampments" then you can also fuck off back to Tangletown and let the people who live in Seward/Phillips/etc talk because we do see them.
okay so I have this idea for a new therapy thing. basically the idea is after an abusive relationship or a combat deployment or anything that might conceivably leave you with PTSD and a loss of ability to reasonably gauge how bad the shit that happened to you actually was, you sit there with a mental health professional for like, a solid 30 to 60 minutes, you tell them short vignettes of your experiences and they respond ONLY by rating how fucked up each one was on a scale from 1 to 10 and then you move on. the objective isn't to reflect deeply on specific experiences but to get a sustained series of reassurances that what you went through was, in fact, That Bad and gradually rebuild your trust in your own present and future ability to judge when what you're going through isn't okay.
currently calling it Rapid Fire Affirmation and Recalibration Therapy (RAP-FART). working title, open to feedback.
Great news! This exists! It's called "critical stress incident debriefing" (CISD) and it does in fact reduce PTSD symptoms and onset!
It's usually used in a group setting where multiple people experienced the same trauma (combat, disaster, etc), so that there is an element of professional debrief and of peer support. This dual approach helps to ensure that in addition to you and your therapist being like 'that was fucked UP', you also have proof that other people in general agree it was fucked, thanks to the peers.
Ah, Good The Sea @ahgoodthesea - Tumblr Blog | Tumlook
