Driving Away From My Problems

so often i've seen big-ass Stupid Bullshit News about Stupid Bullshit become absolutely nothing after like 3 days. i'm so fucking tired of it because it means that nothing changes, since we've forgotten what we need to change.

now amazon is getting sued. awesome! this is the first time i've heard of it. the suit was filed presumably somewhere between a few hours and a day ago, so that's understandable.

is this really, really going to be covered after, i dunno, three days? i honestly don't reckon so. amazon has enough money and probably apathy to make this not as much of an important lawsuit as it should - and maybe could - be.

i would love to be reminded every day for weeks and then months that amazon is being sued for operating an illegal monopoly. i want to read every joke, hear every update, see every move that's made until this shit is wrapped up. i don't just want to operate on hope and, inversely, a lack of faith on this one.

First of all, this is called pinkwashing. Israel loves painting itself as a queer haven, to show how progressive and civilized it is and paint Palestinians as less by comparison. I have a picture of myself with an acquaintance at a Pride parade, and their sign read "queers against pinkwashing." We see what they're doing and many of us don't approve. It's sickening when someone uses us as justification to kill Palestinians.

Second, nothing justifies genocide. Or apartheid. Even if every single Palestinian person was a homophobe - which is not the case - I'd still oppose this. Because nothing justifies genocide.

Third, I already reblogged posts that had these pictures, but.

I collect these examples.

Out of spite we started last year the "Jurassic Left" streams, doing all sorts of nasty woke stuff with extinct critters ;)

Some cultures lack names For a color, you see. Hence good old Homer And his “wine-dark sea.”

A usage so quaint, A phrasing so old, For verses of romance Is sheer fucking gold.

Words are in flux And meanings they drift But the word purple You’ve given short shrift.

The concept of purple, My friends, is old And refers to a pigment once precious as gold.

By crushing up molluscs From the wine-dark sea You make a dye: Imperial decree

Meant that in Rome, to wear purpura was a privilege reserved

For only the emperor!

The word ‘purple’, for clothes so fancy, Entered English By the ninth century

.

Why then are voilets Not purple in song? The dye from this mollusc, known for so long

Is almost magenta; More red than blue. The concept of purple is old, and yet new.

The dye is red, So this might be true: Roses are purple And violets are blue

My boner for you has caused me to hirple.”

…

roses are red

violets are violet

if i had a jet plane

"Any good gardener knows what a good de-weeding can do for a vegetable garden. As it turns out, it’s much the same for coral reefs.

Following a volunteer “sea-weeding” program launched in Australia, scientists are witnessing compounding coral recovery both in quantity and diversity, and suggest that this simple method has the power to transform degraded reefs overrun by macroalgae.

In a balanced ecosystem, macroalgae is kept in check by the size and health of corals, but as extreme weather events or coral bleaching causes some sections of reef to die, macroalgae has no other neighbor keeping a check on its spread.

Over a period of three years, the joint Earthwatch Institute program led by James Cook University Senior Research Officer Hillary Smith and Professor David Bourne, also at JCU and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, has organized volunteer citizen scientists to help remove macroalgae at two experimental reef sites.

The results of the first three years of work and study have now been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, and they show a 600% increase in coral recovery rates.

“It’s just like weeding your garden,” Smith said. “Every time we return, the seaweed is growing back less and less, so this method could provide lasting benefit without requiring endless effort.” ...

The importance of the study, Smith details, is that a lot of reef recovery efforts globally are powered by expensive, high-tech, and experimental solutions. The study hoped to show that manual de-weeding was just as effective, and thereby encourage organizations or nations that lack the tech or funding of a country like Australia to pursue sea-weeding as a way of protecting their corals.

“We have yet to see a plateau in coral growth within these plots at Magnetic Island, which is characterized as one of the degraded reefs on the Great Barrier Reef,” Smith said. “We also found an increase in coral diversity, so this method is benefitting a wide range of different coral types.”

Smith said her team are now scoping other locations where the sea-weeding technique could be useful, including the Whitsunday Islands, which are home to a different species of predominant seaweed.

They also want to employ them in French Polynesia, Indonesia, and even Singapore, where experts have identified out-of-control macroalgae spread along coral reefs."