i’m not Jewish but now i’m also captivated by the concept of a menorah borealis, and I didn’t see anyone else drawing it. Hope you like it & hope everyone who celebrates has a lovely Hanukkah. <3

Creating filagree ruyi jewelry using olden methods

Cara is the only art platform I have found that not only prohibits AI art from being uploaded on the site, but also offers their users to Glaze their art (which protects them from ai mimicry). They are also working on implementing Nightshade, which actively poisons ai training.

I have used Cara for a couple of months now, and I hope more people check it out. It's really nice. 💚

We need these kinds of places for artists, and it's also FREE (despite the staff paying out of their own pockets to keep it running).

This is an interesting thing. Looks like testimonies of people who left the MAGA movement- how they got into it and why.

Yes, actually.

Look, I know people want to react to the 'leopards eating faces party' with a big fat 'told you so,' but these are ex-cultists who are reaching out to people who may need an exit with a soft landing.

People who are deeply in a cult are afraid to leave it and MAGA is no exception! There's a fear that once you leave, you won't be accepted by anyone, so they stay even if they no longer believe in their rhetoric.

A very intelligent person can fall for a cult if they feel that it can offer them something they're missing. The outside world is perilous and you can be safe here. Your friends will reject you now that you've joined us, but we will accept you. Decisions are hard, we can make them for you. The secular world has broken you, we can give you new life through christ.

If you read some of the testimonies (and so many of them are young people) you'll see how much of it is 'I didn't see it, it took someone I love to show it to me, I can't unsee it now.' We've all done things we regret. Some regrets are bigger than others. I would rather forgive them and allow them to do good work than berate them for a decision they made when compromised by anxiety.

If you want to punish them, that's up to you.

Today, I made my family's broccoli cheese dip. It's a holiday dip, usually, but it's actually really easy to make- package/box of cream cheese (8oz), 2 cups shredded cheddar, granulated garlic to taste, head or so of broccoli choppped fine. Mix everything but a 1/2 cup of the cheese well in a (glass) pie pan and pop in the microwave for 3-4 minutes. Put the rest of the shredded cheese on top. Eat with crackers, tortilla chips, bread chunks, whatever you want.

Today, I worked on my farm website and updated/overhauled a couple of pages to look better. I'm proud of my work, and I'm happy to have the resource at hand now so I don't have to re-type stuff.

Today, I sat in the bird pen and Bug and Mantis sat on my lap and preened and beeped happily.

Today, it was my little sister's birthday, and I'm so incredibly happy she is alive and well. She spent her birthday taking her son to his first roller rink, and in the photo she sent me, he's got one of his silicone chew necklaces on. She learned he's autistic not long ago, and she's been learning and doing her best to help him be himself. He told her that for halloween, he wants to be a buttered noodle, and she asked if I wanted to join in. I'll check back at the end of sept to see if he's changed his mind lol

Today, I made plans to travel to a bird swap in another state, which is mostly just for the fun of looking at birds and prices. It's integrated into a flea market, so there's also lots of neat Stuff. I now have something to look forward to!

Today, I was taking photos of Bug's beautiful purple neck, but I was caught and got The Look.

Me: Stan Lee created Spider-Man at age 40. George R. R. Martin wrote A Game of Thrones at age 48.

These are also the frogs that bury themselves in a backwards spiral that is seriously relatable.