soft sad freak on an unprofitable website

So the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador are home to some of the largest tortoises in the world. Huge. Beautiful. Iconic.

What I didn't realize is that, just like Darwin's finches all adapted unique beaks for conditions on the different Galapagos Islands, different islands have their own unique variety of giant tortoise!

But bad news for tortoises, in the 1700s-1800s whalers and other sailing ships would stop in and grab as many tortoises as they could carry as portable snacks bc the tortoises can live a few months without eating, so they make good fresh meat in a long voyage??? And it turns out if you keep doing this, even if you start out with 20k tortoises on an island, eventually you run out.

So on Pinta Island, for example, everyone thought their tortoises were extinct bc no one saw any after the early 20th century, but surprise! Out of nowhere in 1971, a big beautiful boy appears!

Enter Lonesome George. Look at that neck!!!! He's the only Pinta Island Tortoise in the world and scientists and conservation experts are scrambling to figure out what to do! We thought they were extinct but now there's just One More???

So everyone's studying him and trying to get him a girlfriend and hoping somehow we can have a miracle and try to bring back this tortoise from the razor's edge of extinction.

Unfortunately, George never had offspring. He passed away in 2012, and the Pinta Island Tortoise was once again declared extinct. He was already full grown when he was discovered, so he could have been anywhere from 80-120 years old.

So this is the low point in the story. No tortoises, no chance. Until!!!!!!! 2015! Down on Isabela Island, near Wolf Volcano. What sort of tortoises are these? They have these crazy hump shells, not like the native Isabela Tortoises should have....

Turns out!!!!! There's a bunch of hybrid tortoises down here, but they have a ton of features and genetics from our bestie the extinct Pinta Island Tortoise!! We know from historical records that sometimes sailors would pick up tortoises on one island and drop them off on another.

So then it's like,, can we breed these descendant tortoises to get more Pinta features and reintroduce them to the right island ??

On Wolf Island, more out-of-place hybrid tortoises have been spotted! (This is... early 2000s?) These ones look distinctly like the Very Incredibly Extinct tortoises from Floreana Island

We're talking, like, some of the most recent sightings of these Floreana Tortoises in the wild being recorded by Charles Darwin in the 1830s. We're talking more than 180 years of extinction. And there's little tortoises with the same shell shapes and features wandering around way over on Wolf Island!!!

Again. Sometimes old-timey sailors would drop off tortoises in weird places. But like!!!! These hybrid tortoises are descended from the Floreana lineage!! No one has seen these suckers in two centuries and their little descendants are still alive and kicking!

Now, Floreana Island,,, got put through the wringer. Ecologically, it was just a mess. We're talking a bajillion invasive species, species going extinct left and right. It was one of the most frequented islands by whalers back in the day, and it's taken decades of hard work to even begin to undo the damage. There's a reason the Floreana Tortoises went extinct, that's all I'm saying.

But so now we have these Floreana lineage tortoises (not pure Floreana Tortoises blood, that's gone now, but very close!) and we've got a Floreana Island that's been cleaned up and a whole team of ecologists who are very, very excited.

It's going to take a lot of planning to reintroduce these tortoises, though. We've got 15 of these Floreana lineage tortoises who still have a mix of traits, we want to end up with thousands of tortoises, and we can't just stick tortoises back on Floreana yet bc the invasive rats, feral cats, dogs, etc all love eating baby tortoises and tortoise eggs

So thus begins a decades-long project to raise sturdy tortoises with as many Floreana traits as possible and get them big enough to safely release onto an island that's still trying to get its rat problem under control.

All of this culminating in the release of 158 tortoises (aged 12-14, so they're all big enough to stay safe) on February 20th, 2025

After nearly 200 years without any tortoises on the island, Floreana had its tortoises back!

The young tortoises, each weighing between 30-50 pounds, had to be carried to the release site on foot by park rangers and volunteers. (link to video)

So much work went into preparing for this day, and this isn't the finish line! The Galapagos Conservation Trust plans to release hundreds more tortoises in the coming years, and to continue efforts to rebuild the ecosystem! Other native animals are making a comeback, like the Galapagos Rail, a bird who hasn't been seen in 190 years! We thought it was extinct!!! But as the island recovered they've reappeared!

There's so much thought that's gone into releasing these tortoises. They released them in February to take full advantage of the rainy season. The long term plan to handle the rats is timed to wrap up in the next 12 years before the new Floreana Tortoises are old enough to lay eggs. This is such a huge win for conservation in general and Galapagos conservation in particular!!!! This is groundbreaking, and it happened 12 days ago.

So for today, there's no Pinta Island Tortoises on Pinta Island. They're still extinct, and Lonesome George was the last pure-blooded Pinta Island Tortoise.

But two weeks ago there weren't any Floreana lineage tortoises on Floreana Island either. Things will never be exactly the same as before, but the ecosystem and the birds and the grasslands are going to love those tortoises. Recovery takes time, and nature is incredible at bouncing back, especially when people are willing to help move things along.

I really do believe that one day, Pinta Island will have charming, long-necked and bowed-backed giant tortoises again. I feel so grateful to live in a world of amazing creatures, and amazing people who dedicate decades to helping them.

instead of the logic of:

*a character says/does/feels something* -> I wonder why they did/say/feel that way? what is the subtext of that? what does it say about their beliefs and values? about other aspects of their personality? is this inherent or conditioned? what does it say about their past? what does it say about the world around them? how do they define/conceptualize xyz? is this the same as the rest of their world does? as we do? what happens when the boundaries of xyz are disturbed/recontextualized/troubled? how does that (re)shape their worldview?

it becomes the logic of:

*a character says/does/feels something* -> i do/say/feel that way too! and I do it that way because of my (personal and culturally specific) identification/understanding of xyz. therefore, the character does that because of the same shared identification/understanding of xyz, which is now a fixed feature, because my pleasure of the text is predicated on this identification.

which is fine, whatever, i'm not one to stay in the way of your pleasure, but it does become an issue when it turns you into a self-appointed cop on a path of righteousness to defend the character against (sometimes entirely imagined) infidels who are "disrespecting" or "misreading" them (because that means they are disrespecting and misreading you) and then turning it into some kind of overarching and targeted judgment of "well it's because fandom hates people like me," and looping the over-identification more and more into a knot. no one else understands this Character like you do! no one can touch them but you! woof-woof-woof!

but it's not about you. it's about the Character. And I'm not saying it in the sense of, "you can't hurt a character's feelings, they aren't real," because that's beside the point, but what I mean is that the character is embodied within a particular world - and I'm talking about speculative worlds specifically here - and you're completely disengaging with the fun part of unpacking that rich world because you jumped to a conclusion based on a solipsistic analysis. and yes, that includes when you bring in the undead author arguments of, well canon says-- no it doesn't. the Character says. the Author says about what the Character's perspective is. see point A.

and also, none of it negates the validity of your interpretation! but the problem is, because you didn't actually look at the thing on its own terms, you have deprived yourself of a different kind of pleasure of textual engagement, and multitudes of experiences that might also make you understand where other people are coming from.

Tempted to actually put this on spotify so I can secretly stream it at work...

This story has everything.

The largest known star wars Lego collection being sold (estimated worth between $100,000 - $200,000) on consignment at a Bricks & Minifigs store

The american healthcare system sucking ass

A father and son' (Eric and Bryan Mansell)'s massive Lego collection being sold on consignment (presumably to pay for the old man's cancer treatment) which somehow VANISHED overnight due to

A seemingly hostile franchise takeover facilitated by Bricks & Minifigs corporate, in Salem, Oregon where the new franchisee owners threatened to call the cops if the old owners didn't vacate immediately instead of letting them take inventory and make sure everyone was made good

Crusading YouTuber Reckless Ben trying to get justice, uh...very recklessly (the video part 1)

Including throwing a lottery raffle for one of the star wars Lego sets that should have been at the store in order to turn this from a civil issue (business deal gone bad) to a "criminal crime," to force the cops to investigate the business stealing from the lottery.

New owners say they don't have the legos. Old owners said they were kicked out before they could complete inventory and make good on any remaining owed payout and ALSO that they don't have the legos. Corporate also says they don't have the legos.

Oh wait maybe they have SOME of the legos (new owners and corporate say.)

Corporate says franchisees aren't supposed to do consignment at all, meanwhile their contract says it's okay if they get corporate approval and corporate LITERALLY promoted and advertised the consignment of this collection

Local town police corruption dealing with Reckless Ben trying to get the legos back which was documented on their body cams and those videos got leaked. Also reckless Ben filmed some of their nonsense.

They arrested reckless Ben for being the Lego thief despite him being the one trying to figure out where the Legos were and not even having been in the state or town when the franchise takeover occurred. Also they refused to let him have someone serve legal papers to the new franchise owner.

The judge let him go, but then the police department put out ANOTHER arrest warrant for him and so he fled to Mexico

City hall meetings where residents are furious about their terrible police and the lawsuits they assume the city will have to pay for as a result

Possibly related to the Mormon church (the cops involved and new franchise owners are all Mormon?) some of this took place in American fork utah bc the franchise owners live there? Oh also corporate BAM is located in utah. Idk I've seen ex mormons mention "Mormon mafia energy." (Corrected bc I confused which parts were in American fork and which were in Salem oops)

Honestly probably some bad record keeping by former owners like it sounds like it was a little messy but not intentionally malicious or theft

CEO of BAM literally has an evil handlebar mustache that twirls up at the ends and says things like "and I acknowledge that sounds like a (legal) threat, and, well, it is." Or maybe that was the new franchise owner

So many legal threats from new owners and corporate honestly

Store location got permanently closed

Bricks & Minifigs corporate is now suing Reckless Ben and BRYAN MANSELL, GUY WHOSE LEGOS HE IS SELLING TO HELP PAY FOR HIS DAD'S MEDICAL TREATMENT for a civil RICO case as result of Reckless Ben's videos documenting his search to locate the missing "$200,000 worth of legos." Yeah. Criminal conspiracy. It's for like a million dollars or something insane. Rather than corporate just sending someone to just do the fucking inventory and return bryan's legos, they just kept going.

Reckless Ben is banned from continuing his investigation and attempt to reclaim the legos and putting out part 3

Also some people are insane and started threatening basically all the other bricks and minifigs stores even though it's not directly related, don't do that wtf.

Oh also they got the GoFundMe for the Mansells taken down to help pay for medical stuff presumably because they are literally cartoon fucking villains

Also bricks and minifigs tried to get a takedown on reckless ben's patreon as part of the temporary restraining order and the CEO OF PATREON TOLD THEM TO "STUFF IT." Like I'm crying literally the CEO went paraphrased: "yeah our lawyers looked at it and actually you can stuff it. If you don't like it, sue us about it. PATREON OUT." ✌🏻 I mean that's basically just blatantly "fuck you and fuck your mother," in corporate speak.

Like I'm sure the business case and probably the legal cases resulting from this entire debacle are going to be studied for years to come.

Kotaku

Quick recap vid

Do we know them coverage/explanation (the girlies are very afraid of getting sued again, hence the protective language)

This short video about the legal bits (re patreon response) was good

Fucking...coffeezilla made a video, who is basically THE financial scam / business crime / grift investigation YouTuber did a video about this since reckless ben's lawsuit means he can no longer talk about anything that happened. Like normally this guy covers like, ponzi schemes, Bitcoin/memecoin grifters, and failing banks. Like moistcritikal/penguinz0 covering this I expect, but coffeezilla also?? Lmao. The top comment on this video sums it up really well:

Coffee getting involved feels like the YouTube version of FBI taking over a local case

Also legal eagle covered it as well as The Emily show (major YouTube lawyers)

This is me lmao

You could not POSSIBLY handle public relations any WORSE than bricks & Minifigs corporate has done. At every possible turn it's like corporate asked: "how can we utterly destroy all customer trust in our franchises and our good reputation and also bury everyone else in lawsuits? Bonus points if we probably collapse under the loss of business due to everyone fucking hating our guts."

Even if Reckless Ben possibly did illegal or harassing things to try and locate these legos, even if he tapdanced on the line of defamation of the business or went too far in any of what he did — the entire public opinion is not going to care about that, because just give that man his legos back.

Just look for the legos. Do the research. Figure out how many sold. Return anything remaining and pay out anything he was owed even if it was debt from the previous franchisee. Take the loss if needed because lawsuits are expensive and make you look evil.

BUT NO THEY DIDNT DO ANY OF THAT