the examined life

I saw this when running newpipe. But wait, it gets deeper. I clicked on the details buttons and it said as of today, we have 83 days left until Google rolls out this new requirement for apps inside and outside of the google play store. If any developer disagrees with their new terms and fees, they will be blocked!

I'll share some of the info below:

Looks like they're trying to nuke the remaining privacy and freedoms we have left on the internet.

What to do?

-Get your developer friends to not comply to their new guides

- Sign the open letter on the site and take action by checking out the full resources list on their website as well!

To summarize, this is all daunting especially when you feel all alone with unfair and inhumane regulations comming out faster than improvements but we got this working together!

Share the link with your friends, family and anyone who will listen!

I will be making a comparison between animal derived proteins (beef, poultry, and eggs) and plant based proteins (tofu and pulses)

First, I looked up the CO2-equivalents (CO2e)* emitted by producing 1kg of each protein source (Source), which yields the following results:

Beef: 498.9 kg CO2e

Poultry: 57 kg CO2e

Eggs: 42.1 kg CO2e

Tofu: 19.8 kg CO2e

Pulses: 8.4 kg CO2e

So we can see that plant-based proteins emit fewer greenhouse gasses than animal derived proteins.

Next, I looked at how transportation affects these numbers. I made the assumption that (1) no transportation is needed for the animal proteins and (2) the plant proteins are shipped from the other side of the world (so 20.000km). Shipping a kg of protein by freight ship at this distance emits about 0.6kg of CO2 equivalents (source)**.

So adding it up yields the following numbers***:

Beef: 498.9 kg CO2e + 0 kg CO2e from shipping = 498,9 kg CO2e Poultry: 57 kg CO2e + 0 kg CO2e from shipping = 57 kg CO2e Eggs: 42.1 kg CO2e + 0 kg CO2e from shipping = 42.1 kg CO2e Tofu: 19.8 kg CO2e + 0.6 kg CO2e from shipping = 20.4 kg CO2e Pulses: 8.4 kg CO2e + 0.6 kg CO2e from shipping = 9 kg CO2e

So even if we produce animal proteins locally and we ship all of our plant-based proteins halfway across the world, plant proteins are still far more environmentally friendly than animal proteins.

In other words, we can produce 55kg of pulse proteins, ship them 20.000km away and have the same environmental impact as producing 1kg of beef locally.

This is not even accounting for land use, water use, nitrate pollution, phosphate pollution etc., all of which have very real environmental impacts, and all of which are more present in the production of animal proteins****.

This is not a problem math can or should solve, because math is unfortunately something that can only solve problems that have a single correct solution. And real life problems that involve living beings are not those types of problems.

Industry emits more CO2 than any living being. The plastic and rayon plants, the oil refineries, the mines, the data centers--they all are the main CO2 problem. Factory farms are the main animal welfare and groundwater/soil toxicity problem. Blaming this on people not being vegan is ridiculous. This is a problem created by industry and cannot be solved even if everyone in the world COULD get their protein from plants--and at least one person on this earth can't, because I can't. But I'm sure I'm not the only one.

There are several places where animals are overpopulous--some of them are invasive, some are not--and hunting them down and eating them is a very good solution. We have feral hogs where I am. We also have a native species of deer that is overpopulating. Humans stepping in and hunting them down and eating them so as not to waste the meat is a good solution here. In places that have a long tradition of NOT eating meat, eating meat isn't something anybody is saying they should do.

It IS however a fact that we are omnivores as a species. Some humans not being omnivores is not proof our species isn't. You have canine teeth. You have a gut that is arranged in a particular way. These are facts of our species. That we have the freedom of choice and adaptability to survive by genetically engineering plants to produce more protein and eating them instead does not erase that when looking us up as a species of animal, we are among the omnivores.

There is no one size fits all kind of answer. And vegans asserting there is and then doing a bunch of math about CO2 emissions like that proves it is not just doubling down, it's actively deciding to play into the oil executives who found out that oil was destroying the earth in the 1970s and spent millions of dollars in marketing the idea of a Carbon Footprint and guilt-tripping individual people into thinking THEY were responsible. No. It's the oil companies. It's the industrial factories and plants that are doing the bulk of the polluting. Nothing any individual person decides to eat or not eat is going to make more than a drop in the ocean's worth of difference.

Shut the factories down.

But don't lecture people on what food is and isn't moral to eat, especially if the only thing you're thinking about is CO2 emmission. What about the human cost of plants? What about the human agricultural workers? Quinoa getting popular fucked up Indigenous people who relied on quinoa as a staple and now they can't afford it. How is that less terrible than the CO2 emmissions of a single cow? What's the cost of suffering? Or does that not matter because you can't make a number out of it? Who is the "we" in "we can produce... pulses"? They don't produce themselves! There are humans out there picking them, weeding them, and those humans have a CO2 emission and take up resources the same as any other animal. But THOSE numbers aren't available, not like the handy numbers of a cow. Doesn't mean they aren't there!

Eating only plants are not some shortcut to being morally pure, that's what I'm saying. ALL food production involves something deeply exploitative and unethical in this age of factory farming and global exploitative economy and so forth. Vegans are not magically exempt from having blood on their hands just because the blood is human only and most agriculture statistics ignore the human cost of a crop.

And while I don't think we should put the responsibility of reducing the climate crisis on individual's shoulders, I'm very in favor of governments legislating your behavior for the common good based on scientific consensus. Which on this topic, had been massively clear for years.

So as with CFCs or leaded gas, this is not a "personal choice" matter, because your personal choice affects us all. Climate change is, very much, a math problem. A very complex one that very smart people have been studying for decades. You can listen to them when they talk or you can cover your ears and shout "ÑAÑAÑAÑA THIS PROBLEM IS TO HARD FOR ANYONE TO UNDERSTAND LET ME ALONE" or "WHAT ABOUT [this other thing that should also disappear]" the same moment they mention something you find personally inconvenient.

Sure.

Throw your tantrum.

Explain to me the human cost of your plant crops. How much CO2 does a human worker put out? Because you talk like crops just spontaneously generate by themselves, which is a very privileged point of view. I've been in a field and picked crops. It's hard work. It requires LOTS of workers, every day.

Explain to me how a person who is deadly allergic to pulses is meant to be getting protein. That's not a hypothetical imaginary situation, there's a very common condition that makes someone unable to consume legumes of any kind.

Even one human being dying should not be acceptable to you. Human lives are valuable. Your solution would cause at least 1 human being to die in result. It is not a valid solution therefore.

The fact that you sit there accusing me of "throwing a tantrum" when you're the one dismissing everything I just said is ironic. The fact that you dismiss me as "throwing a tantrum" and tell me to my face that you wish me and people like me to die, well that's not surprising. Vegans don't care about humans very much, especially disabled humans, in my experience.

I don't care about your solution if it means I have to die. I think it's reasonable to get angry when someone says they don't care if you die and they want to control what you do with your own body!

"this is not a problem math can solve" is a very bizarre claim to make in response to someone trying to run the numbers to double-check a numbers-based claim like "local animal protein is better for the environment than imported plant based proteins." the poster who tried to crunch the numbers might not necessarily have taken enough factors into account for their answer to be illuminating, but it is very much a problem in which one should use math instead of vibes.

and most importantly, there is nothing about honestly crunching the numbers on climate mitigation efforts that automatically locks anyone into a moral stance like "the Inuit can no longer hunt or fish" or "people who are allergic to non-animal proteins must die."

it's disingenuous to go from the incredibly broad claim "all food choices are totally morally neutral, because Bodily Autonomy" to the much more specific claim "cultures and/or individuals who need specific animal proteins to survive should not be guilted for consuming those animal proteins" as if someone rejecting the first claim is also rejecting the second one.

if anybody would like to see what really crunching the numbers on diet adjustment looks like from a non-vegan perspective, there are some great resources on drawdown.org. Drawdown is focused on what solutions are in reach right now, politically, technologically, and personally. Shifting where we get our energy is the most obvious achievable impact, but reducing consumption of ruminants (= mainly beef, but technically also sheep and goat) is pretty high up there as well. It's here on their list 5th from the top, labeled "improve diets":

They don't put forward total elimination of beef as a realistic goal, just reducing beef consumption.

Ok I put this on FB but it can't hurt to put here too. We need help with Fantine!

Dog location: Northeast Georgia, just outside metro Atlanta and near the NC/TN/SC borders. TL;DR: Really sweet stray dog has ringworm; current foster is immune compromised; need someone to help by housing her for the duration of her treatment. Only need a short-term foster (approximately a month is the estimate for ringworm treatment? up to six weeks, I guess) and we can help find a permanent placement for her when her treatment is complete.

Details: Fantine is a stray dog we have been fostering for about the last month, she has a wonderful temperament (very sweet and trusting with people, quite resilient, friendly to all the dogs she has met) and is about a year and a half old. She has had all her vaccines and flea/tick/heartworm treatment and was spayed almost three weeks ago. and is healing up from it really well.

She's also ringworm positive, and I have some serious immune-related health conditions. The vet who diagnosed her was worried about her staying in the house with me even though she has been in quarantined in the laundry room and we are being very cautious about biosecurity.

Pip unfortunately does not have a working immune system, and as someone who dealt with a dog with ringworm and an immunodeficiency myself, I know what a nightmare that can be. Pip has always gone above and beyond for its dogs, but it cannot be expected to sacrifice its health in this case, although it already has done so much!

If any of my followers are able to foster Fantine, please reach out to Pip!

our version was a little different in that the metamorphosis was itself the reproduction. as long as there was at least one genetic contributor of the shelled gender and one of the unshelled gender you could keep adding genetic contributors. they would dissolve together and then, if all went well, you'd get out twice as many babies as the number of adults you started with.

we hypothesized this would lead to a lot of religious beliefs about how much control the parents had over what parts of them (and which of their memories) lived on in their children and in what combinations.

And you ESPECIALLY have to take into account the invention of writing (Maya scripts) and proto-writing in the Americas. These were created completely differently from other writing systems, sometimes radically differently (Andean quipus). You cannot ignore them.

here is the first of the show's major Smallvillisms:

okay so in Smallville the fact that Clark Kent has superpowers is a secret. I cannot speak for Smallville in particular but Clark Kent keeping his powers a secret generally works for audiences bcos 1) it is a core element of the Superman narrative. if he was just publicly Superman that would feel weird and jarring. 2) Clark Kent is a nice and good boy and we understand that he is keeping his secret with the best of intentions

the secret superpowers angle is completely foreign to the Arthurian mythos however; in fact it's kind of the opposite of the usual deal with Merlin as a character? but they wanted to do Young Merlin with a Clark Kent thing going on. OK. now they need a reason why his magic is a secret.

uhh it's bcos they made magic illegal. who made magic illegal? the king. not Arthur obviously. different king. we want to keep the whole Camelot/royal court aspect tho so instead of doing the usual King Arthur backstory he's just uhh normal prince. and magic is illegal bcos it killed his mother. okay now we're cooking with gas. but obviously we want the villains to mostly be other magic users for Merlin to fight. why are these other magic users trying to Get Arthur? well they are mad that his father banned magic. and Merlin has to protect Arthur bcos he's going to be King Arthur one day and save the land. so Merlin's gotta explode all the other magic users. he gotta!!

Morgana has THAT arc bcos Smallville has a whole thing where Lex Luthor and Clark Kent are childhood friends.

i re-iterate that I haven't seen Smallville but I imagine Lex being the guy in the friend group who is going to turn out evil works bcos Lex Luthor's whole thing is that he's an asshole rich white man. definitely possible to do a character like that who's sympathetic whilst still having it ring true for the audience that they're just gonna be a bad guy.

and like they maybe COULD have made this work with Morgana? but here i suppose we do get into the straight up just bad politics, doing Morgan Le Fay but she's Lex Luthor would maybe involve leaning into the privilege she has as a noblewoman (effectively a princess) but instead they just u know victimised her over and over and then when she snaps and starts exploding people it's like wow Morgana i can't believe you're evil now. stop exploding people Morgana. only Merlin is allowed to explode people.

it's like, i don't know. they didn't realise they couldn't just go directly from s1-2 Morgana (was end of s2 the switch? I forget) to 'oh she's just evil now' without it being really weird and jarring? they didn't realise that a female character could have motives for being evil that didn't revolve around all the men in her life abusing her?

and then Merlin rocks up and explodes them both. just blows them up like bombs. and its like ok that COULD be a really interesting character moment for him but it. its not. bcos really blatantly what's going on there is they were like 'ok we're out of time, wrap it up folks. Merlin comes in and explodes the bad guys like bombs.'

it feels weird & jarring not bcos it was morally bad behaviour on Merlin's part but bcos straight up its just bad writing.

eta not gonna reblog this again but the OTHER issue w the Smallvilling is that it means Merlin is constantly not just lying by omission to Arthur but flat out lying to his face, manipulating him, on occasion straight up brainwashing him?

so Arthur is an asshole in s1. this is fine. he is at the beginning of his growth arc. Merlin training a young Arthur up to be a better king is a Thing in Arthurian literature and this is a different angle on it but nonetheless. growth arc!!

except um. it never really happens? like yeah he matures and becomes less of a manchild as the show goes along but his improvement is pretty limited.

Well my culture's antagonistic history with transfemininity is well documented and spans millennia, so maybe return to the original point of why your idea of "queer history" should be less anglocentric.

Does being gender-conforming mean that Christian tradwives aren't oppressed under patriarchy? Does defining their womanhood as their capacity to be a wife and mother and so falling into the box patriarchy set for them mean feminism isn't concerned with them? Is the oppression of lesbians outside the purview of feminism since it's queer oppression?

E and I are starting to think about adopting a cat again. But since we like to pick a cat based on interactions with her/him, we thought we would meet the cat and then fill out an application. Tons of places are requiring an application FOR A SPECIFIC ANIMAL before meeting them. Then this one has the (to me) off the wall process above where you don’t meet the cat until stage 5.

Can anyone who works in pet care tell me if this is normal? And why it’s necessary?

So, the standard for dogs in a LOT of shelters is that you have to make an appointment to meet them, because strangers walking through the kennels all the time stresses them out. Some shelters have decided to do the same thing for cats, though IMO the stress is a lot lower from just seeing strangers walk by their kennels (it's the ambush/chase predator difference).

Aaaand long, involved applications have also, alas, become very normal for a lot of shelters, to ensure the animals aren't going to wind up coming back, or in a bad situation, etc. (a big one is formal landlord permission, because pets often get adopted to renters, then brought back when the landlord either finds out or withdraws their previous informal permission. I know another shelter that requires that you contact a vet you plan to take the animal to so they can confirm you took the first steps to caring for it. IMO that one's less useful.)

But not even meeting the animal until you've applied to adopt it is pretty unusual, and also, for a lot of people, not a good idea, since animals (humans included) learn a lot about how compatible their personalities are from interacting.

Character has 2 PhDs: either they did a dual degree program and are braggy about it, had a life-changing experience after their first degree and pivoted their whole career, or they find the structure of being a PhD student, despite all its stress, more comfortable and familiar than the stress of finding a Real Job and have a very indulgent advisor.

Character has 3 PhDs: who keeps accepting them to PhD programs. Either this person needs psychological help or their department needs to be investigated for its academic standards. Probably both

Wrinkles and textured skin are beautiful, vibrant, and full of life. Folds and loose skin have beautiful shapes and volumes. If you view aged skin through the eyes of an artist, you gain a deep appreciation of its beauty 🖤 That’s why we drew wrinkles and folds for last month’s drawing challenge, and guess what, I enjoyed it so much that I’ll probably do it again! 👵 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you like drawing challenges, join us: we’re creating sunset and sunrise studies this month! A perfect opportunity to practice your environment skills and study the beautiful colors that nature gives us. Check it out here ✨

The "Grocery Shop like a Boss" post is making rounds again, and one of the bitchlings commented that they are moving out on their own for the first time so they were collecting ideas/recipes.

Which got me to wondering; do we have a "How to Preserve Your More Precious than Gold Grocery Haul" post floating around? And if not, should we start one?

We do not! And I agree--we should start one!!!

I'll start:

Tomatoes, carrots, and peppers can all be frozen without any preparation whatsoever. Just bag 'em and toss 'em in the freezer. So if you're worried you won't get to those vegetables before they go bad, freeze them for later recipes. They can then be used in a stirfry, curry, soup, chili, sauce, salsa, smoothie, whatever. And it's much easier, cheaper, and faster than canning.

WHO'S NEXT, BABIES? How are we preserving our grocery hauls?? This WILL become an official Bitches Get Riches World Heritage Post.

Cosmic Truths of Cheap Grocery Shopping: 12 Universal Rules to Save Money on Food, No Matter What You Buy or Where You Shop

When you get fruit or vegetables in plastic cartons take the fruit out and wash it and also wash the carton. If there is any bruising or broken skin, cut those part off and eat the rest immediately or freeze. In general though you should be washing (and drying) your produce immediately after you bring it home and before you put it in the fridge. It greatly reduces any potential bacteria or whatever might try to eat your food before you can.

Also dairy is freezable. Liquid milk and sometimes yogurt will thaw with a weird texture but it’s fine and you can run it through a blender if the texture is an issue. Butter, cheese and all that freeze perfectly well.

Bread and tortillas also freeze well but will go stale if left in the freezer too long. Generally though you can just take out a few slices at a time and pop them in the toaster. Or heat them on the stovetop.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes and similar root vegetables can be half baked and frozen for continued baking later.

Those bagged salads can go in the freezer and then used later for stir fry. Top it with whatever dressing it came with even if it’s cooked. Get the ones with kale or spinach or greens other than lettuce. Stir fry lettuce is not great.

In general if you’re buying bagged salad greens spinach and kale will last the longest whether you’re using it raw or cooked.

Meal planning. Meal prepping. Useful for making sure you use what you have. Match your current food stash to specific recipes and only buy what you need to use up what you already have. Don’t buy costco size quantities unless it’s something you can eat everyday or you are feeding half a dozen people.

Get jars and containers that actually seal and not the decorative aesthetic jars. You want something that will keep your dry goods safe from insects.

Just thinking about this cuz I finished a book that I loved, but when I was reading other people’s reviews on StoryGraph so many gave it low ratings and then said something along the lines of “I quit reading halfway through when the MC/narrator started doing some really shitty stuff and I didn’t like him anymore.” And I went??? He’s fictional! Would I want to hang out with him if he existed IRL? No. But I do find him fascinating to read about.

I don’t know, I think some of it stems from the thing where people need characters to be relatable to them (whereas I don’t care if I relate to a character to find them compelling). And on top of that, they won’t let themselves relate to a morally ambiguous (or straight up evil) character, or even just a regular person who does some shitty stuff, because then they’d have to recognize that they might have the capacity for some of those things, too, if they were in a similar situation to the character.

Read the manual. Work through the manual from front to back. Read the troubleshooting section even when you're not having a problem. Read it. Keep it handy. Maybe download a PDF too, just in case the hard copy walks off.

Buy an iron and ironing board. They don't have to be fancy, a bigger board is only better if it is stable. An regular Ikea board has worked for me for years. A $20 iron from Walmart will noticeably improve your work. Press every seam before another seam intersects it. Don't just iron at the end.

Sewing machine needles have sizes AND types and you need to match them to your fabric. They also wear down. The often quoted rule is 8 hours of run time and its a pretty good rule.

The problem is almost never the tension settings, and even less often is it the bobbin tension. The problem is almost always your threading or needle.

for instance, take the way nearly everybody I know that grew up using a screen device in a home or school with authority figures who might disapprove of what was on that screen still experiences a moderate anxiety to mild panic spike when they realize someone is looking over their shoulder at their screen, even if the content on the screen is entirely mundane.