SarahTheCoat

Hi anon! Thank you so much for the lovely compliments!!

I don't think I really change myself. It's more that I'm aware of myself.

If I'm tired or grouchy or hungry etc. then I know I probably shouldn't answer questions. Being frustrated makes me less likely to be kind, and I need to be kind if I want to be empathetic and try to see the point of view of someone else.

That's the key part of it, I think. I try to put myself in the shoes of the asker - and in the shoes of whoever they might be talking about if their issue involves someone else.

I also want to let the asker be the hero of their own story. They don't see themselves as a villain (probably) so I try to interpret what they're saying in the best possible way I can think of. Most people aren't actually all that bad when it comes down to it, but sometimes the way we explain things can make us seem that way to others.

After doing this for a few years, I also started to read the questions more carefully so that I could look beyond what the person was saying they need and identify what they're actually asking for. Sometimes people come to me asking how to implement a solution, and I need to tell them that whatever solution they're attempting won't actually work for the problem they've identified. Then I need to offer something else, even if it's just the next step and not the whole journey.

Sometimes I might notice a problem that they haven't yet identified themselves. I try to be cautious there because the only information I have is whatever they've written in their message, but I do like to point things out where I can so that they can take it or leave it as they see fit.

If you cannot imagine any situation in which you might want to separate out certain fanworks out from your main account, I can only conclude that you don't personally have the combo of (a) family/friends/coworkers who know enough to track down your AO3 but don't understand fandom + (b) some fic that you are uninterested in discussing with said family/friends/coworkers. :)

There are also a bunch of other reasons one might have for separating out some fic that are not simply, "I have been purity pilled." I've seen fans harass each other to the point of work deletion or account deletion, so some things may feel legitimately fraught. And some people just prefer to keep different vibes separate.

"In Northern California, a Native American tribe is celebrating the return of ancestral lands in one of the largest such transfers in the nation’s history.

Through a Dept. of the Interior initiative aiming to bring indigenous knowledge back into land management, 76 square miles east of the central stretch of the Klamath River has been returned to the Yurok tribe.

Sandwiched between the newly-freed Klamath and forested hillsides of evergreens, redwoods, and cottonwoods, Blue Creek is considered the crown jewel of these lands, though if it were a jewel it wouldn’t be blue, it would be a giant colorless diamond, such is the clarity of the water.

Pictured: Blue Creek

It’s the most important cold-water tributary of the Klamath River, and critical habitat for coho and Chinook salmon. Fished and hunted on since time immemorial by the Yurok and their ancestors, the land was taken from them during the gold rush before eventually being bought by timber companies.

Barry McCovey Jr., director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department, remembers slipping past gates and dodging security along Blue Creek just to fish up a steelhead, one of three game fish that populate the river and need it to spawn.

Profiled along with the efforts of his tribe to secure the land for themselves and their posterity, he spoke to AP about the experience of seeing plans, made a decade ago, come to fruition, and returning to the creek on which he formerly trespassed as a land and fisheries manager.

“To go from when I was a kid and 20 years ago even, from being afraid to go out there to having it be back in tribal hands … is incredible,” he said.

Part of the agreement is that the Yurok Tribe would manage the land to a state of maximum health and resilience, and for that the tribe has big plans, including restoring native prairie, using fire to control understory growth, removing invasive species, restoring native fish habitat, and undoing decades of land-use changes from the logging industry in the form of culverts and logging roads.

“And maybe all that’s not going to be done in my lifetime,” said McCovey. “But that’s fine, because I’m not doing this for myself.”

The Yurok Tribe were recently at the center of the nation’s largest dam removal, a two decades-long campaign to remove a series of four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath River. Once the West Coast’s third-largest salmon run, the Klamath dams substantially reduced salmon activity.

Completed last September, the before and after photographs are stunning to witness. By late November, salmon had already returned far upriver to spawn, proving that instinctual information had remained intact even after a century of disconnect.

Pictured; Klamath River flows freely, after Copco-2 dam was removed in California

“Seeing salmon spawning above the former dams fills my heart,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, the leaders of the dam removal campaign along with the Karuk and Klamath tribes.

“Our salmon are coming home. Klamath Basin tribes fought for decades to make this day a reality because our future generations deserve to inherit a healthier river from the headwaters to the sea.”

Last March, GNN reported that the Yurok Tribe had also become the first of America’s tribal nations to co-manage land with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding involving Redwoods National Park.

The nonprofit Save the Redwoods bought a piece of land adjacent to the park, which receives 1 million visitors annually and is a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site, and handed it over to the Yurok for stewardship.

The piece of land, which contained giant redwoods, recovered to such an extent that the NPS has incorporated it into the Redwoods trail network, and the two agencies will cooperate in ensuring mutual flourishing between two properties and one ecosystem.

Back at Blue Creek, AP reports that work has already begun clearing non-native conifer trees planted for lumber. The trunks will be used to create log jams in the creek for wildlife habitat.

Costing $56 million, the land was bought from the loggers by Western Rivers Conservancy, using a mixture of fundraising efforts including private capital, low interest loans, tax credits, public grants and carbon credit sales.

The sale was part of a movement called Land Back, which involves returning ownership of once-native lands of great importance to tribes for the sake of effective stewardship. [Note: This is a weirdly limited definition of Land Back. Land Back means RETURN STOLEN LAND, PERIOD.] Studies have shown around the tropics that indigenous-owned lands in protected areas have higher forest integrity and biodiversity than those owned by national governments.

Land Back has seen 4,700 square miles—equivalent to one and a half-times the size of Yellowstone National Park—returned to tribes through land buy-back agreements in 15 states." [Note: Since land buyback agreements aren't the only form of Land Back, the total is probably (hopefully) more than that.]

…Not really so new. But different. Qwant is now the official search engine of the European Parliament, which dumped Google as part of a program to use less US technology.

Sherlock: 1992.

Cleaned/oiled/reassembled all the Bernina bits and it worked right away! The tab on the bobbin winder wasn't lining up with the bobbin, but I just bent it a little and now it's good. I didn't have to do anything to the timing because I was unable to remove the bit that holds the bobbin case, so I had to clean it in place as best I could.

The 2 needles it came with aren't flat shank or round shank, but a mostly round shank with a groove, which I'd never seen before. Aside from the groove they're the same size as DBX1 needles, which are easy to get. The industrial I use at my alterations job takes them, but I also had a pack of my own that I'd mistakenly bought while trying to find needles to fit my serger. The hole in the needle bar had a tiny little nubbin on the inside (for the needle shank groove) which was evidently made by sticking a small bit of wire through a hole drilled in from the outside. I sheared off the nubbin and now it fits DBX1's!

It came with 3 bobbins and I have some more bobbins I bought from a junk shop that might perhaps fit, but I haven't tested them yet. I also haven't got the drop feed to work (possibly because I wasn't doing it correctly) but those are problems for later when it has a power source.

This is a link on how to make your own box fan air filter using furnace filters.

I have central air and air filters built into my house, and that isn’t enough. All of the stores are out of air purifiers and when it is this bad, everything helps.

Have a look if you are suffering, and spread this around.

With thanks to Jehane, we have a beautiful Good Omens card, signed by Michael Sheen, and two sets of Good Omens pins available in the raffle for worldwide postage!

You can get tickets here: 

https://app.galabid.com/tic7

The raffle closes at 4:30pm on Sunday 23 August - get your tickets for Alzheimer's Research UK, in memory of Sir Terry Pratchett, now!

Many point-of-sale machines now are essentially just a smartphone with a card reader attached and the interface. The control layout can change at a moment's notice and there are no physical boundaries between buttons. With a keypad-style machine, the buttons are always in the same place and can be located by touch, especially since the middle button has a raised ridge on it.

Buttons can also be located by touch without activating them, which enables a "locate then press" style of interaction which is not possible on touchscreens, where even light touches will register as presses and the buttons must be located visually rather than by touch.

When elevator or door controls are replaced by touch screens, will existing accessibility features be preserved, or will some people no longer be able to use those controls?