Still Pretty Eh

Turns out you can roll a 7 on a d6

ich bin immer ein falsches wort davon entfernt von all den leuten erschossen zu werden die mich erträglich finden

Notes:

No, you don't want that otter. No, that is not a pet. No, that up close encounter where you can pay to cuddle with an otter is probably not ethical. No, I'm pretty sure that channel with a guy and his pet otters is not a legitimate "animal rescue", stop recommending it to me.

Yes, the otter is cute. Please admire them either from a distance, or behind a barrier at an accredited facility. Thank you.

If you want a pet, you want a domesticated species. If you want a domesticated mustelid (the family otters belongs to), we have one: it's called a "ferret"

All of the issues of supporting less ethical encounters and driving the illegal pet trade aside (other people already covered them, yay), have you seen those teeth? The ones that rip through fish like butter?

North American River Otter (The Des Moines Register)

Asian Small-Clawed Otter (Knockhatch Adventure Park)

Do you want wet slippery stinky chaos gremlins with those teeth anywhere near your soft fleshy parts? No. No you do not.

People get bitten by wild otters and it is a big enough deal to make the media when it happens! There’s a bunch of examples of serious bites at this link. They mostly avoid people but when they feel threatened they can fuck you up.

Seriously. There is a reason that people who work with otters, professionally in credible zoos and aquariums are the least likely people you will see reaching in to sneak a skritch. They only contact their otters in heavily trained situations using very thoroughly positively reinforced tactile cues.

hello! i am a wildlife rehabber & educator in the state of california. today, i am driving a non releasable bobcat 5.4 hours south to his permanent home at another wildlife center. this is the second bobcat we have had like this in the last 6 months. not counting before that, and not counting previous residents.

at my other center, over the years, we have had no less than 7 habituated ex-'pet' coyotes, and 10 or more habituated foxes, both from backyard feeding & illegal keeping.

these animals have been surrendered, abandoned, or seized by fish and willdife. i have 6 years of experience working with them. the treatment of wild animals as pets and at bad facilities sickens me because of how badly it affects how visitors view our animals.

did you know there was an increase in illegal trade of endangered slow loris species after a video of one being pet went viral?

Trevor Noah interviewing Judith “Badass” Heumann

Judy Heumann believed in the inherent value of each disabled individual and would never back down on what she thought was right. Her friends and fellow activists remember her as a strong leader.

Judy Heumann

December 18, 1947 - March 4, 2023

She’s Jewish and born to immigrant german parents who migrated in the 1930s

She has been in a wheelchair for nearly her entire life due to contacting polio at a very young age.

Due to her wheelchair, she was actually barred from most schooling including kindergarten as her wheelchair was deemed as a “risk.” because it could be “in the way” if there was a fire.

She was the first wheelchair teacher in New York after suing when she was once again denied her license for the same reasons she was denied kindergarten.

She worked as the Assistant Secretary of Education for OSERS for 8 years

Her parents, especially her mother, were big parts in her becoming an activist as her mother Ilse was a community organizer and fought hard to get her daughter as much education as she could, it was her activism that helped her daughter and other disabled children be allowed to enroll in High School instead of being separated into a specific disabled school. (We don’t have time to go into all that but tldr; those schools sucked and its a genuine accomplishment disabled kids no longer have to learn in like, cramped attics that didn’t teach anything)

She was a founder of the organization Disabled in Action! She didn’t just organize sit-ins, she helped RUN the organization that was organizing them!

The president she butted heads with the most was Richard Nixxon, this isn’t that important I just know everyone loves when he gets dunked on

She helped CREATE THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT!!! I cannot express to you just how important that is, if you have basically any kind of disability, this act is a big reason you were able to go to a public school instead of being shoved into a warehouse.

The Black Panthers helped with the 504 sit-in! They helped bring food because the organization also included black disabled people, and one of the members of both, Brad Lomax, asked for help!

She had a podcast! You can go listen to that podcast right now!

Honestly just check out her website in general

She also founded the Berkeley Center for Independent Living!!

Honestly I could keep going on but she’s genuinely one of my heroes and was an amazing person who it is not an underestimate to say changed the world for the better.