Hey, look, it's a blog

So The Husband and I were at Sci-fi Weekender (a British based annual Sci-fi and Fantasy convention) last year, and one of the guests that year was Kevin J Anderson, one of the very notable Star Wars Expanded Universe writers. During one of the events, a quiet little interview in a cafe on the event site, he fielded a question from an audience member about what it was like to write for a franchise like Star Wars which often had lots of cooks working on one broth, and he had the following to say (wording recounted as best as I can from memory):

Sorry this is rlly off topic but this is extremely important. Rodney Reed is sentenced to be executed on the 20th THIS MONTH for a murder he didn’t commit. There’s 0 evidence he was involved save for evidence of a consensual interaction with the murder victim, and it’s more likely he’s being framed in place of the victim’s husband, a racist ex-cop with an alleged history of violence towards women.

Please sign this if possible and speak out about this. I don’t have much of a platform but don’t stop talking about what they’re doing.

https://www.freerodneyreed.com

More info about his case here:

https://www.innocenceproject.org/stand-with-rodney-reed-on-texas-death-row/

On a scale of “is occasionally forced to bathe” to “Instagram model with sponsors to hoe for” how involved is your OC’s Skincare routine?

What are your OC’s food preferences (flavors/textures/spiciness/calories/ when and how they eat) and how did they get that way?

What’s something pointless/petty/unimportant that IRRATIONALLY ANNOYS THE HELL out of your OC?

What’s your OC’s response to being asked for money by a homeless person?

Does your OC get lost easily? What do they do when they do get lost?

What would STOP your OC from Doing The Right Thing in a tense situation?

Realistically, could your OC (in their normal circumstances- i.e. at thier own house/battlecamp/spaceship etc.) keep a small child alive for a week if they had to?  A Dog?  A Houseplant? A rock with a  smiley face painted on?

If your OC had to take the S.A.T. tomorrow with one night to prep, how would they do?  both emotionally and academically.

What would cause your OC to chose to do something petty/pointlessly cruel?

On a scale of “Complete and Justified nervous breakdown” to “Conquer The Entire Galaxy and become an Immortal God-Emperor”, how well would your OC handle being abducted by Aliens?

What song is 100% garunteed to get your OC beyond turnt and will be sung loudly and emabarrasingly, either in public or the shower?

What perfectly-normal-to-them-thing does your OC do that confuses/pisses off/terrifies thier neighbors?

Under what circumstances would your OC appear naked in public?

What thing did your OC’s parents do that your OC wishes they had a better explanation for?

How often does your OC “zone out” or do things on autopilot and how severe have the problems that have arisen from that been?

How strong or weak is your OC’s Impulse control? What’s the worst thing that happened becuase of thier Impulsivity or inability to be so?

How does your OC sabotage themselves? 

What’s the trashiest item in your OC’s wardrobe, when was the last time they wore it and why do they still have it?

How Dehydrated is your OC right now? Are they going to fix this?

I know there’s a lot going on in the world, but you probably haven’t heard about what’s happening in Australia.

we’re on fire.

approximately ¼ of australia’s population is in catastrophic fire danger. A catastrophic fire level means your only chance of surviving is leaving before it’s too late.

it’s Spring in Australia, and rainforests aren’t meant to be dry enough to burn, yet at the time of writing this (11/11/19) there are 71 active fires in NSW (43 out of control), and 51 active fires in Queensland - not including those that have already burned before now, and there are more in other states. Sydney is already rated “catastrophic”, the first time this rating has ever been used there since its creation in 2009. That’s right, we had to add yet another level of destructiveness, because “high”, “very high”, “severe”, and “extreme” were no longer adequate. To quote the Fire Danger Ratings, “for your survival, leaving early is the only option”. conditions tomorrow will be the worst they have been, and people are evacuating as we speak. the fire fighters are preparing as best they can.

This isn’t just about people losing their homes; people have died and will die, countless animals have already lost their lives and many more will still perish. our land, our lives, and our hope is up in flames and will soon be nothing but ash. the annual fire season has not even begun yet. this is only the beginning. my native land is burning, and there is nothing i can do to stop it.

the government refuses to acknowledge that we are in a climate crisis. the fires have never been this bad. we have been in severe drought for more than a year which has only contributed to the force of these fires. the Prime Minister Scott Morrison has done nothing but send his “thoughts and prayers”. He will not accept aid from other countries because he is too egotistical to admit that we need it. All the while the people of this land are suffering. Climate change needs radical human change to be combated. we are already seeing the results of years of indifference, and this is barely the beginning of something that will only get worse the longer government’s and big companies refuse to act to counteract climate change.

Our government has also cut funding to Fire and Rescue NSW by 35.4%, the Rural Fire Service by 75.2%, and QLD Rural Fire Service by 26.42%, resulting in closures of services; they don’t have the resources to cope. We are fighting a losing battle against the results of climate change.  and this is only the beginning.

At least 6 million people today are prepared for evacuating. There are strong winds, low humidity, and high temperatures which will only exacerbate and encourage the fires. Authorities have warned that there aren’t enough fire trucks to help everyone, so unless you are prepared to the maximum, you need to leave. 600 schools and TAFE’s across NSW have been closed due to the fires, with others in Queensland closing due to air quality being virtually unbreathable due to smoke. Rural Fire Service Deputy Commisioner Rob Rogers said the state was as prepared as it could be, with military aircraft on standby to rescue people from fires if needed.

As Queensland and New South Wales deal with these unprecedented bushfires, there is a lot of talk about how to stop, or at least reduce them. David Bowman is a professor of environmental change biology at the University of Tasmania and he says the short answer is that climate change is making a bad situation worse.

But it’s also much more complex than that. Much of Australia’s natural biodiversity has evolved to withstand and even stop bushfires due to a multitude of species being in one area. Eucalyptus trees encourage fires as they help spread seeds, but other species are naturally flame retardant and help to curb the fires. The issue is that so much of the native bush has been cut down for farming and agriculture that the natural fire defence has virtually been destroyed. Australia is the leading country in mammal extinction, as well as one of the worst 7 for biodiversity loss.

There have already been significant harmful impacts to wildlife, with entire ecosystems up in smoke and individual species affected, including around 350 Koalas presumed dead – all before the fires have reached their peak.

my heart goes out to the victims of the current fires, which we know have been exacerbated by the decline of native biodiversity. Australian conservation efforts need a radical overhaul. Mitigating the intensity of these fires, mostly set by humans and their activities, can be achieved by restoring our native ecosystem engineers, such as bandicoots, bettongs and potoroos.

These species help to maintain healthy forests by continually turning over and breaking down forest leaf litter, thereby drastically reducing fuel load. In their absence, fires are more intense, often reaching the treetops, which can affect populations of species already on the brink, like the Koala.

Slow growing and ancient Australian East coast temperate forests are of global significance, as these forests have some of the highest carbon storage on the planet. Fires of this intensity threaten their very existence but managing wildlife to reduce fire intensity and protect forests is under-appreciated for its importance in reducing the release of carbon into the atmosphere.

If you wish to donate to the NSW Rural Fire Service, follow this link. I’m not sure if it works for countries outside Australia, but if you can spare some money, please try

Or you can donate to the Red Cross who have set up many shelters and are providing first aid, and are trying to fund small kits to provide families with basic necessities

biologist:

 (Like we’re so aggressively social that we looked at APEX PREDATORS and went ‘they look soft! Friend????’)