AMonsterfromAotearoa

The curse of being a slow artist is that I would get an idea, and then it would only take me three years to bring it to life..

a wiggle so nice he did it twice

"uncle malych why does sidney crosby call you babygirl"

Dear Representative [Name],

I am writing to express my strong opposition to H.R. 8250 (The "Parents Decide Act"). As your constituent and a concerned citizen, I believe this bill introduces unprecedented risks to digital privacy and security.

Specifically, I am alarmed by:

SEC. 2(a)(1)(B): Requiring age verification to even use an operating system creates a mandatory "hardware lockout" that ends anonymous computing and forces users to hand over sensitive identification data to major corporations just to power on their devices.

SEC. 2(a)(3): Mandating that OS providers create a system for all app developers to access verification data is a massive security vulnerability. This effectively creates a centralized API of user identities accessible to thousands of third-party developers, many of whom may lack adequate data protection.

This bill does not protect children; it creates a centralized surveillance infrastructure at the OS level. I urge you to protect the privacy of your constituents and vote NO on H.R. 8250.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Given that, in the wake of this mandatory identification policy, my country seems to be moving to hand over its citizens biometric data, like fingerprints, Face ID files, and identification documents, over to the USA and to ICE to maintain the visa free travel (ESTA) we have, I strongly urge any US resident to send these emails, or make calls.

But if you can’t do that, the most powerful thing you can do is spread the word. Tell your friends, family, coworkers, anyone who can help.

My reach will likely be small, and so I don’t know if this will mean very much in the grand scheme of things, but I cannot stand to see this tracking happen to another population as it did to mine.

And if you think it won’t affect you, it will. All anonymity goes out the window when your accounts can be linked via your personal ID

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I

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I had another 11pm brain worm.

Enjoy

-x-x-

Daniel Wayne, the younger toddler brother of Bruce Wayne and the son of Martha and Thomas Wayne had been kidnapped the night their parents were murdered.

Daniel had been snagged the moment their killer heard people headed to the alley and Bruce in his state of shock didn't realize it until it was far to late and could only scream in horror (from everything) as his baby brother is crying his name. (If you wanna make it even more heart wrenching, make it Danny's first time being able to say Bruce's name right and/or Bruce had said some mean things to Danny earlier after he accidentally broke something of Bruce's, something like 'I wish youd go away' or 'I never wanted a brother, you're such a bother!')

Bruce is being held by Alfred as some police officers are chasing down the Wayne's parents killer while some stay behind to see if they could do something.

Minutes turn to hours and as they wait, praying the police at least found Danny, Bruce is ridden with guilt. From his parents death to allowing his brother to be kidnapped.

Eventually the police return to give Alfred and Bruce the news. And it's not good.

The killer escaped and Danny was nowhere to be found.

And it would take many years before he would be found.

-x-x-

Bruce gets a call from Damian during school hours one day. When he answers he is greeted with Damian demanding him to get to the school and explain himself.

Confused Bruce asks what does he mean and Damian responds with

"The two new students in class today are the spitting images of you and I father! Either they are poorly created clones or you have more hidden blood children!"

-x-x-

Meanwhile the very students being discussed are calling up someone too

"Ellie? Dan? What's wrong? You better not have made too much chaos already, I just paid for the uniforms for that place."

"DAD! I THINK ANOTHER ONE OF THE FRUITLOOPS FAILED CLONES SOMEHOW SURVIVED!"

Bruce rushes over to the school (the pros of being a billionaire who can leave at the drop of a hat from wherever with very few consequences) and reaches there in record time. Damian meanwhile is stalking Ellie and Dan through the day to see what they're doing. Damian gets called to the office because his father's there.

Ellie and Dan who'd been taking great pains to act normal breathe a sigh of relief when they discover Damian making haste to leave. One of them (take your pick) slips off to check out what is going on with the weird looking clone who was spying on them.

Plus Danny and kids being openly suspicious of this billionaire?? *chefs kiss*

Most of the siblings are eagerly watching but trying SO HARD to not overwhelm Bruce's long lost little brother and his kids. It's bad enough that Damian has got off to such a bad start with the new cousins. They all meet in the hallways now and it's like two semi-feral cats (Dan and Damien) and one mischievous ferret (Ellie) having a stand off.

Dan and Damien: *locked gazes and raised hackles*

Ellie: *trying to decided which BatBurger would be the best option to stage an after school brawl behind*

Dick, in the distance: "I have the sudden premonition that I should check in on Damien today."

Steph, also in the distance: "Something's happening. I don't know what but I want to be there."

MEANWHILE

Danny, on the phone with Tucker and Sam: "He has a creepy lair in his basement I just KNOW IT."

Batman, lurking: *sweats*

Red Robin, watching Batman Lurk™️: *trying not to laugh*

Duke has only met Danny so far as Signal, but former Teen Hero Danny Fenton spots him and is SO intent on giving this young hero high calorie snacks or even a damn gatorade. If he sees him he will sprint into the closest store if he has to. Duke has a large collection of random post-it notes or wrappers/bottles with affirmations and gratitude Danny wrote. (It goes with other similarly sentimental gifts from Gotham citizens).

Danny hasn't MET Cass personally, but he has taken the kids to a ballet performance once with Jazz when she visited as "cultural enrichment". Surprisingly, Dan liked it more than anyone thought he would. Ballet is incredibly physically demanding, and he can see the beauty in that in their movements.

Jason tho. Jason sees Danny eye sad-wet cat Brucie Wayne with deep suspicion and immediately pushes his way into the Fenton's lives.

Jason LOVES Uncle Danny. Both because it gets Bruce's panties in an absolute twist and because something about the Fenton family just clicks with him. (Danny has absolutely clocked Jason as having returned from the dead. He's not a halfa or a ghost, but he has died and returned from the dead. Probably some type of Revenant? Danny's not sure when or how to broach the topic as they don't know each other well enough yet to our themselves, but Jason being around the family in the meantime will be good for him. Plus the kiddos love'm.)

Bruce is struggling to get his emotional constipation under control long enough to establish a non-hostile or unintentionally-creepy-billionaire relationship again with his baby brother.

Meanwhile Jason is already on the couch playing games with Ellie and Dan. He's already ordered himself a "I'm Someone's Favorite Nephew" mug which he absolutely drinks from at the Manor almost exclusively while he's there. Alfred allows this, given Jason got Danny to agree to meet him.

Jason will happily give Bruce the middle finger but he loves Alfred fiercely. It takes a bit but eventually Danny agrees to meet him. Jason takes Ellie and Dan out for the day to terrorize Gotham, and leaves the two older men to talk.

Danny has a long talk with Alfred, who absolutely has tried so so hard not to cry during all this, but absolutely does eventually. He must have felt so guilty for so long, his beloved friends Thomas and Martha gone, and their youngest son Daniel stolen and he had been unable to do anything but hold Young Master Bruce in both their grief. And yet here he is, a kind father to two beautiful children, telling him he's happy and grew up with a family who, despite a weird, bumpy road, loves him and his kids so so much. Danny doesn't have a photo album available right now, but he and Alfred set a date for Alfred to come back and have dinner to meet both Dan and Ellie, and to look at photo albums together, Fenton and Wayne both.

Alfred reminds Danny of Clockwork just a bit, with his impeccable timing and knowledge/intuition.

Slowly as Danny gets to know Alfred (and Jason, despite how he rags on Bruce, or how Damien seems to have become Dan and Ellie's highschool nemesis, which makes Danny think fondly of fighting-as-bonding in the Infinite Realms) he warms enough to agree, finally, to have dinner at the Manor with the family so Alfred can host, back in his environment as the impeccable Wayne family Butler.

Omg I love it.

I love all of this.

Gosh can you imagine how the rest of the fam reacted to Bruce having a long lost brother, if he ever told them, and showing them the few pictures he has of Danny that him and Alfred guard in little safe boxes because the memories still hurts of loosing Danny. The heckling he'd get when someone points out 'So this why most of your adopted kids have blue eyes and black hair!'

Dan and Damian being mortal enemies at school (make it worse. Have them rivals in academics, Dan is Danny and they're smart but Dan has the confidence Danny didn't in High School so he pushes hard for grades. AND have Dan and Ellie be technically older than Damian by like a few days, so Damian has to deal with being the 'little cousin') while Ellie fans the flames of war because she is a troll. She wonders if she could sell tickets to the brawl.

Danny I like to think has job at the reopened observatory, Sam invested in the repairs of the place when she got her inheritance, and works a bit part time as Gotham's musem in the galaxy/space area, and he just kept feeling this calling to Gotham. Especially when he meets Lady Gotham (all she did was appear, stare at him and his kids before smiling and dissappear into the night, the Fenton's agreed that was... a little unsettling. They have yet to see her again since but they know she's watching, that's the thing with city spirits, they're everywhere and nowhere but at least she hadn't chased them out)

I can also see Tim frothing at the mouth when maybe during a rogue attack, there is a very complex machine going to like destory the city and Danny in the middle of the fight takes RR's screwdriver from in his belt and works on the machine while the others fight without anyone noticing until the Rogue pushes the button but nothing happens. They all turn and see Danny holding up a important component and just snickering. Red Robin wants Danny to work for WE because when he looked at the machine blueprints he saw how complex the thing was and it would had taken even him a 10 minutes and Danny dismantled it in like 2 without damaging anything. He's beggimg Bruce to stop being awkward with his own brother. Please.

He totally 'mother's' all the young heroes/vigilantes. He understands the stress and everything that goes into it. Of course he's going to feed them.

Also I love the idea of Dan liking ballet! Let him sign up! And when Cass notices him at the dance studio she uses it to get close to her little cousin and his family. Dan totally is sus at first buttttt he may had watched her kick butt when she and him went to get some ice cream after class and were almost mugged and is wowed how badass she was! He totally tell Ellie about the fight too!

Jason totally rubs it in Bruce's face that he's on amazing terms with Danny and the kids. OH! Have Ellie totally declaring he's her favorite of the Wayne kids, Cass is Dan's fav. I can just imagine him teaching her things, like how to fix a motorcycle and stuff like that.

Dick is dying, he wants to be the greatest cousin, the best cousin for the Fenton kids but ugh his siblings totally are! The least he can do is wrangle in Damian when he gets a little too over the top, or so he thinks they're all having a blast fighting each other. Even though they won't admit it. They're mortal enemies after all.

Alfred and Danny talking. My God. My heart. Alfred trying not to cry now that Danny is home, in Wayne Manor where he should had been raised in along with Master Bruce. He wondered how it would had been like but tries not to dwell on it. The young master was home, with his own children Master Dan and Miss Ellie in tow. Alfred shows him all the pictures he has and tells Danny about his birth parents. He does eventually talks to Jazz, thanks her for being there for Danny during the years away, and chats with the Fenton's thanks them as well for rasing Danny (no matter how weird and insane they could be, they still loved Danny like their own. Good parents Fenton's btw)

Also the Twins fighting Damian and finding the cave totally happens. Dan and Damian were totally rough housing but during it Ellie is exploring around, using her powers to find secret pathways and goes into Bruce's office (this happens when the family just got comfy with each other). Damian catches her and well, starts being Damian. Dan finds them in the office and things escalate from there and the two are fighting in the office until Damian roughly tackles Dan towards the old grandfather clock. Who instinctively uses his powers to phase them so they don't hit it. And they both go tumbling down the steps into the batcave. Ellie hot on their heels flying down to them in a panic.

Cass probably talks to Dan about it tho, helping him stretch at the dance studio on a day when it's just them cause Cass is giving him extra lessons. Dan had insisted everyone got sign language classes when he first started going to the studio and getting close to Cass, so it's a very slow conversation. Bits and pieces of story exchanged in-between involved stretches and practicing dance moves, away from prying eyes and with barely a whisper beyond soft music from what they're practicing. The whole story isn't shared in a day. Jason got himself his own mug. Dan gets Cass a "favorite cousin" mug (for the Manor) and water bottle (for the ballet studio), especially since she doesn't snitch to their dad's.

It does spread, slowly. Jason next, because Ellie's bothering Robin on patrol like the MENANCE she is, so he simply reroutes to Crime Alley and essentially tosses his ghostly cousin at Red Hood on a rooftop with NO explanation besides "She's YOUR problem now, Todd" before grappling away. She is in fact, Red Hood's problem that night.

Dan doesn't sneak out as often, between studying hard to TROUNCE Damien in exams, ballet, and using his duplicates to cover for Ellie. (Listen- Listen. Danny knows something's up. He knows his kids. But he also knows that if anything genuinely comes up they'll ask for help because he made DAMN SURE his kids could, would and do come to him for help. Ellie was a wanderer long before she went from his clone cousin to being his kid, and her sneaking out to fly around at night isn't exactly new.) When he does, he either follows Ellie to bully their cousins or he shadows Cass, learning more than just ballet.

Barbara absolutely finds out quickly once the twins start sneaking into patrols, but silence is bought and her lips are sealed. (They get her in contact with Tucker and she can't be bothered to inform Bruce, when she's getting a head start on MASTERING ectoplasm-enhanced computers and ghostly hacking and counter hacking before Tim even has a whiff, who is busy trying to investigate the weird patrol behavior of his siblings.)

I think the Twins, Ellie especially, essentially become the Batkid's hot potato on quiet patrol nights, for as long as they can get away with it before Batman stops being distracted by Danny being back long enough to be suspicious.

(Me at new addons)

Gosh I love the freaking idea of Damian, Dan, and Ellie all keeping that they know™ their secrets a secret because it's like a cousin code lol. You don't tell our parents and I won't.

Danny had been so desperate to pass just ONE test as a freshman, just one good grade, and it doomed a whole timeline with a grief that still hangs on Dan's shoulders like a cloud on the bad days. He would have killed for support for his education back then!!!

And Tim, teenage acting CEO of a major company, teen vigilante hero, simply dropped out because no one would believe or help him. (They're superheros. Magic is real, aliens live ((somewhat)) openly on Earth, and heroes have come back from the dead on more than one occasion. And yet, he still received no help from his family, his team, in following this lead.)

Not to mention the only reason he got involved in the first place is because Bruce was so violent and uncontrolled at the time that Tim was desperate to get him help, and apparently the linchpin to that was having a kid sidekick.

(That's not even touching on Jason. Loud, wonderful asshole of a young man Jason, who pushed his way into the family far too easily, of whom Ellie adores. Jason who is a Revenant. Jason who died. Jason who died as a teen vigilante to a Gotham rogue who's been escalating for YEARS, and yet keeps getting put back in the same asylum that rogues escape from constantly.)

Danny has never been so furious in his life, so much that he briefly genuinely considers becoming a Gotham rogue for the explicit purpose of kicking Bruce's ass.

FREAKING HECK YES TO ALL OF THIS UGHHHHH THE POTENTIAL THIS PROMPT HAS SO GOOD. we can get comedy, Angst, and so much feels.

First idea.

After Danny and Bruce talk things over, aka after Danny does at least punch Bruce and Bruce explains why he allowed Dick to become a child hero and how it snowballed into the others, and they are having coffee as they talk about how Danny was found after his kidnapping.

And something isn't adding up, somehow Danny had gone from Gotham to the outside of Amity Park within hours of the same night. Bruce is confused and Danny is trying to remember but he freezes when he does remember something when his eyes caught onto the broken clock in Bruce's office. He remembers the ticking of a grandfather clock and unforgettable voice saying "Time out."

Second idea.

Guys, Danny was a teen hero, a 14/15 year old teen hero who saved the world. Phantom Planet did happen but not the identity reveal. SO Phantom became a known face among others. AKA people around Bruce's age whose a couple years older than Danny. MEANING there is bond to be people who have crushed HARD on teen hero Phantom.

Imagine, when the JL and JLD first started out they had wanted to invite Phantom, but Danny was busy with raising babies Ellie and Dan and had his team or another ghost decline the invite, stating he's retired and wanted peaceful (after)life now. And because no one knows about his human half, they think he's full ghost!

So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.

Pro GenAI websites/Programs:

Facebook

Instagram

X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)

Threads

Pro Writing Aid

Grammarly

Duolingo

Google Docs

Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.

Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)

Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.

Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)

Canva Takes and feeds their machine.

Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.

Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.

Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.

Neutral ground:

Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai

Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.

Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).

Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.

Strong positions against AI:

Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.

LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)

Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.

yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.

Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.

Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.

Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.

Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.

Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.

Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.

Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.

Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)

Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.

Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.

Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)

Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.

But you need a pro website...

Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/

Use cloudflare:

Use Nightshade:

https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html

which will poison the algorithm

Use Glaze:

Take Away:

The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.

And why not help that along?

I think it's a vicious cycle; when people don't know something exists, they're not curious about it. Also, people use conceptual categories to think about things, and when a topic falls between or outside of conceptual categories, it can end up totally omitted from our awareness even though it very much exists and is important.

@icannotgetoverbirds It already is a maddening, bizarre research hole that I have been down for the past few weeks.

Basically, I learned that we have native bamboo, that it once formed an ecosystem called the canebrake that is now critically endangered. The Southeastern USA used to be full of these bamboo thickets that could stretch for miles, but now the bamboo only exists in isolated patches

And THEN.

I realized that there is a little fragment of a canebrake literally in my neighborhood.

HI I AM NOW OBSESSED WITH THIS.

I did not realize the significance until I showed a picture to the ecologist where i work and his reaction was "Whoa! That is BIG."

Apparently extant stands of river cane are mostly just...little sparse thickety patches in forest undergrowth. This patch is about a quarter acre monotypic stand, and about ten years old.

I dive down the Research Hole(tm). Everything new I learn is wilder. Giant river cane mainly reproduces asexually. It only flowers every few decades and the entire clonal colony often dies after it flowers. Seeds often aren't viable.

It's barely been studied enough to determine its ecological significance, but there are five butterfly species and SEVEN moth species dependent on river cane. Many of these should probably be listed as endangered but there's not enough research

There's a species of CRITICALLY ENDANGERED PITCHER PLANT found in canebrakes that only still remains in TWO SPECIFIC COUNTIES IN ALABAMA

Some gardening websites list its height as "over 6 feet" "Over 10 feet" There are living stands that are 30+ feet tall, historical records of it being over 40 feet tall or taller. COLONIAL WRITINGS TALK ABOUT CANES "AS THICK AS A MAN'S THIGH."

The interval between flowering is anyone's guess, and WHY it happens when it does is also anyone's guess. Some say 40-50 years, but there are records of it blooming in as little time as 3-15 years.

It is a miracle plant for filtering pollution. It absorbs 99% of groundwater nitrate contaminants. NINETY NINE PERCENT. It is also so ridiculously useful that it was a staple of Native American material culture everywhere it grew. Baskets! Fishing poles! Beds! Flutes! Mats! Blowguns! Arrows! You name it! You can even eat the young shoots and the seeds.

I took these pictures myself. This stuff in the bottom photo is ten feet tall if it's an inch.

Arundinaria itself is not currently listed as endangered, but I'm growing more and more convinced that it should be. The reports of seeds being usually unviable could suggest very low genetic diversity. You see, it grows in clonal colonies; every cane you see in that photo is probably a clone. The Southern Illinois University research project on it identified 140 individual sites in the surrounding region where it grows.

The question is, are those sites clonal colonies? If so, that's 140 individual PLANTS.

@motherfucking-dragons

it's called the Alabama Canebrake Pitcher Plant and there are, in total, 11 known sites where it still grows.

in general i'm feral over the carnivorous plant variety of the Southeastern USA. we have SO many super-rare carnivorous plants!!!

I was in the canebrake near my house again this morning, and river cane is extraordinarily good at completely blocking the view of anything beyond it. It is bushier and leafier than Asian bamboos, and birds like to build nests in it. It would make a fantastic privacy barrier.

The cane near my house is around 10-12 feet tall. This species can reach 30 feet or more, but I think it needs ideal conditions or to be part of a large colony with a robust system of rhizomes or something.

Well, several reasons. As y'all may know, bamboo is stronger than any wood, and therefore it makes a fantastic building material.

The Cherokee used, and still use, river cane to make fishing poles, fish traps, arrows, frames for structures, musical instruments, mats, pipes, and absolutely gorgeous double-woven baskets that can even hold water.

Here's some distinguishing traits I've observed myself:

River cane has a really full, bushy, leafy look that makes it really hard to recognize as bamboo from a distance, because the stems are harder to see. The shape of the individual cane with its branches and leaves is narrow, because the branches spread out very little, but the foliage is DENSE. It's like a plume.

River cane is stronger, denser and heavier than invasive bamboos I've seen.

River cane stems are always green all the way around, no yellow (unless the plant's been dead for a good long time)

River cane stems feel smooth like plastic to the touch. The common invasive bamboo I've seen here, when you run your hand upwards along it, the stem feels awful like sandpaper.

The biggest way to distinguish them: River cane grows 6-4 feet tall when it's in little patches, and up to 10-12 feet when it's in a large size patch (like, the size of a backyard) It is known to reach up to 15 feet tall nowadays and historical records claim heights of 30 feet or more in fertile river valleys. I really want to stress that it's RARE for it to get big. A canebrake will almost always be many times wider than it is tall (sometimes they grow in very long strips along fence rows)

The best time to look for it is in winter before things leaf out, because it's evergreen and grows in dense masses, making it easy to spot.

Some more cool stuff i've found out—River cane was a common food of bison! Earliest European settlers reported canebrakes so big that "100 bison could graze on a single canebrake." Apparently it used to make extremely high quality forage for livestock, before it was mostly destroyed.

European settlers apparently set their pigs loose in the canebrakes purposefully to destroy them, because the pigs would root up the nutritious rhizomes and kill the plant. Thinking of the relationship between Bison and Canebrakes, and the relationship between Eastern Native Americans and Canebrakes, and the relationship between Plains Native Americans and Bison...it seems like a pattern, huh?

In the case of both bison and canebrakes, they were a fundamental part of their ecosystem, and fundamental part of the indigenous cultures that used them for every material, their musical instruments, their homes, their most advanced arts, and even food (Rivercane shoots are edible just like other bamboo, and supposedly the seeds are edible too!) but European settlers purposefully destroyed the species almost completely. I can't help but wonder if there was a similar motivation.

Books that talk about Rivercane:

Weaving New Worlds: Southeastern Cherokee Women and Their Basketry by Sarah H. Hill talks about rivercane a LOT and gives tons of details of its uses and history.

Saving the Wild South: The Fight for Native Plants on the Brink of Extinction by Georgann Eubanks has a whole chapter about Rivercane.

Venerable Trees: History, Biology and Conservation in the Bluegrass is a book about Kentucky, but it talks about rivercane's importance including its relationship with bison. It's only a couple pages out of the whole book but it's still great information.

By the way, though, if you read any very early European account of Kentucky, the word "cane" is everywhere. It's just such a nondescript word it's hard to realize its significance.

On a more personal note...god, I love this plant. Here's another photo I took. When you're in the canebrake, it feels so cut off from the rest of the world; it's shaded, quiet, cool, and someone 10 yards away couldn't even see you.

i actually talked to my neighbor that I learned owns the canebrake. She had no idea what it was but she was excited to learn about it! It was a lovely conversation.

Apparently, she knew I had been down there a bunch of times and thought nothing of it. She said "Yeah I told my husband, If you see her down there, just leave her alone she's doing her thing." In the most sincere way possible, God bless this woman

She said I could transplant all I wanted, too. This was great! ...but I quickly learned how RIDICULOUSLY HARD it is to transplant from a canebrake of this size. The rhizomes are so big and tough, a shovel can hardly get through them, and unless you're at the edge of the canebrake, there's a thick mat of them going every which way. I was driving my whole weight down on this shovel and it kept just denting the rhizome and glancing off.

I did get some transplants but each one took like half an hour because I was fighting for my life!

Also, with a canebrake this size, it doesn't grow little canes that will later become bigger—it shoots up tall canes in a single season. The youngest canes, more accessible and toward the edge of the canebrake, were significantly taller than I was. I cut the top off of one transplant for ease of handling—I had a pair of hand pruners with me that were usually perfectly useful for small limbs, but I could barely get these things through the cane, it's just so strong and dense.

Here is some YouTube videos that talk about river cane!

Roger Cain of Keetoowah/Western Band Cherokee shows and talks about Rivercane. This video has a BIG canebrake, the mature canes look as if they could be 15ft tall, but he says it's only a fragment of what they used to be!

Stan the River Man visits a Canebrake in Northern Kentucky. This channel only has 22 subscribers, I feel like I've discovered a rare and priceless treasure

River Cane Renaissance, Episode 1. This guy has devoted a large part of his life to studying Rivercane and now works with the eastern band Cherokee to try and bring it back.

Chattooga river conservancy video on Rivercane, haven't watched the whole thing myself but it looks really good and detailed

This is exactly what you think it is.

For privacy reasons, I share details online of my real world activities only reluctantly, and not very often. But don't be bamboozled into thinking I have forgotten the Canebrakes. It's exactly the opposite.

I have done a lot of networking and made a lot of contacts. I am not alone. There are other people with a story exactly like mine: first, they heard an offhanded mention of forests of American bamboo, which shattered everything they thought they knew about their environment. Next, they became crazed with fascination, searching for knowledge with insane ferocity. Then, they realized that river cane is not only a plant, it is a keystone species symbiotic with indigenous cultures for thousands of years, and it was almost destroyed due to the subjugation of its habitat and the genocide of its caretakers.

The canebrakes' devotees have been working tirelessly to compile every single scrap of information on canebrakes that exists in writing. Every record, every primary source, every historical mention, every comment and conjecture. I have been given access to some of this priceless treasure trove. The wealth of information is amazing, but even more amazing is how much is still unknown.

The history, properties, and ecological importance of the canebrakes is so much more than I imagined.

For example, the massive amounts of seeds produced by huge canebrakes in flowering events fed the passenger pigeon flocks. Likewise the Carolina parakeet was also dependent on canebrakes, and the extinct Bachman's warbler was a canebrake specialist. The destruction of canebrakes could be responsible for why these birds went extinct.

Canebrakes were absolutely fundamental to the indigenous peoples of the Southeast, providing for their every need. Food, shelter, containers, tools, music and art. The settlers foolishly thought the indigenous peoples were not "advanced" enough for metal tools, but in truth, they already had a material superior to metal. River cane by weight is stronger than steel. You can make knives and blades out of it.

I am excited for the future. It seems like momentum is building to save the river cane and bring back the canebrakes, and I am hoping to join together with all the other like-minded people to accomplish this task.

Holy shit okay i looked it up and HOLY SHIT. Published 2 months ago.

1700 years old.

And it says A. appalachiana, (the Appalachian species of native rivercane), has actually NEVER been observed to flower, which means ???? i dont even know what the fuck that means.

THIRTY hectares. THIRTY. That's HUGE.

Does this mean that???? Most canebrakes are so small now because they're babies????

learning how to photobash, heres a quick thingy i made to prove it was possible for city scapes (timelapse under the cut)

"It must have serious value!"