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mariacallous · 3 months

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Recently, Planned Parenthood released a statement on the Oct. 7th attacks and the broader conflict between Israel and Palestine. Their statement condemned Hamas’s attacks on civilians, and specifically condemned sexual assaults committed against Israeli women during the violence. They also noted how thousands of Palestinian women and children had been killed in Israel’s counteroffensive, stated the need for Palestinian women to maintain access to reproductive and maternal healthcare, and condemned both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

The social media reaction to such a balanced and empathetic statement? Furious, unrelenting anger.

The statement was quote-tweeted thousands of times by social media users outraged by the statement. Planned Parenthood was accused of spreading Israeli propaganda, ignoring Palestinian deaths and fabricating rape claims, and enabling genocide. These outraged users aren’t conservatives who always oppose Planned Parenthood—they’re progressives furious that an organization they normally support put out a statement they hated. Now there are calls to end donations and Planned Parenthood staffers are fighting with donors. Their own employees, affiliates and organizers are making public statements against them.

This outcome was predictable to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of social media dynamics. And it raises an obvious question—why release a statement at all?

Metastatic social justice

It’s actually quite common for organizations and activists to get into hot water these days by addressing areas outside their expertise. Trans activists in Vancouver loudly insisted there can be no Trans Liberation without Palestinian Liberation, which caused pushback all over Canada. Two years ago, New York City’s Pride organizations courted controversy by excluding LGBT police officers from the city’s Pride parade in the name of racial justice. There are YIMBY housing organizations taking a stand on abortion rights and climate organizations demanding a Federal Job Guarantee.

There’s a common theme here. Organizations that appear to be single-issue advocacy groups are increasingly commenting and taking stances on issues outside of their narrow focus. Activism is becoming more global in nature—if you are an activist for one cause, you’re expected to speak up about all causes now. It’s not enough to ‘stay in your lane’, you need to be protesting and advocating for all forms of social justice. Pro-choice advocacy is now part of your racial justice non-profit. Jobs packages are in your environmental bills. Your LGBT organization has a stance on ‘Defund The Police’ and your housing group has a stance on Israel/Palestine. Social justice is metastasizing.

This phenomenon has happened on the right as well—see the NRA transitioning from being a somewhat non-partisan group to essentially being an arm of the GOP—but it’s especially striking in the current progressive movement. There’s a real sense in which NYC Pride is no longer an LGBT advocacy organization, but rather an overall progressive social justice organization. That may sound like an exaggeration, but they kicked out a gay organization (the Gay Officers Action League) to accommodate another form of social justice. It’s the internal logic behind a LGBT Pride march excluding LGBT people.

This also explains the online fury at Planned Parenthood. Their statement was thoughtful and balanced, but deviated from the dominant and overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian progressive narrative. Their donors expect them to advocate not just for progressive goals in women’s health, but progressive goals everywhere.

This type of activist mission creep risks stunting the progress on the core issues that social justice advocates care about.

The downsides of missions creep

The urge towards mission creep comes from a reasonable place. If you care so deeply that you spend your free time (or your career!) as an activist for a particular issue, the odds are that you also have strong feelings on many other issues. You’re also likely to live in a bubble of activists and people who think like you, and so your conversations professionally and socially may often center around all sorts of political issues. But as an activist it’s important to remember that most people you’re trying to reach are not like you and don’t think like you.

The typical voter is over 50 and does not have a college degree. They also don’t think about politics all that much. They are far, far away from the mindset of a typical activist. And when they do have political opinions, those opinions are far more varied and haphazard than a committed political partisan would guess. I think a few minutes scrolling the twitter feed of the American Voter Bot is invaluable to understand how voters think. This bot takes real voters and profiles them in brief tweets. While some look as expected—a Democrat who supports gun control, for instance—many look like this:

Most people are a confusing mix of demographic signals, issue positions and partisan identification, and they rarely fit squarely within one political tribe. That’s the danger of turning a single-issue advocacy group into a generalized progressive messaging group—you’ll end up alienating a far wider group of potential allies than you realize.

If Issue Group X declares loud progressive positions not just on Issue X but also on gun control, abortion, Palestine, Medicare For All, trans rights, free trade and school prayer, they won’t attract a large diverse group of people who care about Issue X. They’ll end up attracting a narrow slice of progressive activists who are ideologically pristine enough to agree with them on every issue.

The ultimate result of activist mission creep is that your issue ceases to be something that people across the ideological spectrum can work together on. It becomes coded as a red tribe vs blue tribe issue, gets swallowed by the general culture war, and progress grinds to a halt as partisan warfare starts.

The most likely outcome of Planned Parenthood voicing an opinion on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is not that they make any difference at all towards that conflict. It’s that they alienate their own supporters with differing views on Israel/Palestine. They’ve undercut their own ability to make progress on reproductive care and reproductive rights for no gain.

One thing at a time

None of this is to say that individuals shouldn’t care about many issues at once—they obviously should. And general purpose ideological organizations can and should tackle many policy areas. But it’s a poor strategy for single-issue groups to try to become general purpose organizations. There are real benefits to staying in your lane.

One example of a movement that has done a reasonable job at this is the pro-housing YIMBY movement. While there are some instances of YIMBY groups straying from their purpose, for the most part they’ve done a good job staying narrowly focused, and that that focus has allowed them great success.

YIMBYism is a far more ideologically diverse movement than many people realize. There are conservative YIMBYs, neoliberal YIMBYs, Democratic YIMBYs, libertarian YIMBYs, and many left or socialist YIMBYs (although in true socialist tradition, some want to break away from the YIMBY label and create a sub-label PHIMBY). This isn’t just a feel good story about how conservatives and liberals can be friends—this has a real impact on YIMBYs getting things done. It’s part of why you see both Republican and Democratic officials at the local level working towards YIMBY solutions in different cities, and why those solutions can often pass without bitter partisan warfare. It’s why the YIMBY Act in Congress had Republican and Democratic co-sponsors. It’s why YIMBYs are scoring victories in blue states like California and red states like Montana.

This sort of thing matters. YIMBYs are a big tent and they’re getting things done. It’s hard enough to make real change happen on a single policy or a single issue. Whole movements try for years and still sometimes fail. Single-issue groups trying to address every issue at once aren’t going to succeed. The urge towards mission creep is strong, and too many groups are weakening their core strengths to address problems they can’t solve. Single-issue organizations shouldn’t burden themselves with having the answer to every question, with having a stance on every issue, and with having to be all things to all people. It’s ok not to comment. It’s ok to stay in your lane and just work on one problem. It’s ok to try to change the world just one issue at a time.

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fans4wga · 9 months

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Poll Shows 67% of Americans Surveyed Support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes

18 August - "A large majority of Americans support the writers and actors strikes, and a plurality hold an unfavorable view of the Hollywood studios, according to a new poll by Data for Progress.

The poll found 67% support among likely voters for the strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, while just 18% oppose them.

The poll also found that 48% have an unfavorable view of the major studios, and just 31% support the studios. The survey also found that 60% of respondents subscribe to Netflix, 41% subscribe to Hulu, and 35% subscribe to Disney+.

The firm also asked strike supporters if delays in their favorite movies and TV shows would cause them to change their minds. The survey found that 86% would continue to support the strikes, while 10% would oppose them.

Data for Progress is a progressive polling firm that conducts surveys on issues including climate, education, health care and workers rights. The firm surveyed 1,124 respondents online from Aug. 3-5.

The respondents gave mixed answers when asked the primary reason for the two strikes, with 33% citing fair compensation for streaming shows, another 33% citing pay and benefits, and 16% answering protections from artificial intelligence.

The survey found 85% support for SAG-AFTRA’s position that actors should be get consent and fair compensation for any use of their likeness by AI. The survey also found that 74% believe studios should be barred from replacing writers with AI.

In a statement, Liz Shuler, the president of the AFL-CIO, said that the results confirm broad national support for the striking unions and the importance of AI across industries.

“Voters understand that this isn’t just about one industry — this is about all of us — and unions need to have a seat at the table to take on the existential threat AI poses to our livelihoods and economy,” Shuler said.

The results are similar to those of another poll conducted recently for the Los Angeles Times. That survey found that 38% of respondents were more sympathetic with the actors and writers, while 7% sided with the studios. Another 29% were ambivalent while 25% said they did not have an opinion.

According to Gallup, support for unions climbed steadily in the U.S. from a low point of 48% in 2009 to 71% in 2022. The firm cited the low unemployment rate during the pandemic as having “altered the balance of power between employers and employees,” leading to unionization drives at Amazon and Starbucks.

A 2021 poll from Data for Progress also found broad support for unions, with 68% in favor and 24% opposed.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the executive director of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that the poll shows Americans understand the reasons for the strike.

“I suspect many are seeing the same dynamic playing out in their own lives, with employers undervaluing their contributions,” he said. “That’s why this fight is so important. Our demands aren’t unreasonable, and it’s a fundamental principle of fairness that workers should be fairly compensated for the value they bring their employer — in every industry.”

Lowell Peterson, the executive director of WGA East, concurred.

“Everyone who works for a living understands what it’s like to get squeezed economically, to face threats from disruptive technology like AI, to try to hold one’s own against huge corporations motivated by their own profit rather than their employees’ well-being,” Peterson said.

The WGA has been on strike since May 2, while the performers’ union began striking on July 14. Both unions are seeking increased residuals for streaming shows, regulations on AI, and increases in minimum compensation rates to keep pace with inflation.

The WGA also wants a minimum staff size and a guaranteed minimum number of weeks of work in television, and weekly pay for screenwriters."

Note from mod: This poll is great news—but as the strike goes on, it's more essential than ever to keep support up. Correct misinformation whenever you hear it (online and in real life), and source your information directly from WGA and SAG-AFTRA sources; don't rely on opinion. And be critical of the trades like Deadline/The Hollywood Reporter/Variety (saying this even though we linked the article from Variety above; you have to take their articles critically and on a case-by-case basis to see if they're useful or not, because sometimes they just publish studio press releases uncritically!)

As always, if you're able, donate to the Entertainment Community Fund or the Green Envelope Grocery Aid mutual aid fund to keep industry workers afloat during this long work stoppage. Add your voice to union support online and IRL, and push back against false studio propaganda, such as the writers' demands being unreasonable or all actors being rich. These false narratives can easily be refuted by hard data (e.g., the writers' demands are eminently reasonable to even keep the writing profession alive and actors aren't rich, many are struggling to even afford health insurance!), so counter the lies at every opportunity. Keep morale high and stand in solidarity, and we'll only get stronger.

#sag-aftra strike #sag strike #actors strike #hollywood #amptp #union solidarity #current events #wga strong #sag-aftra strong #fans4wga #wga strike #writers strike

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markatoto · 7 months

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you're one of the few of my fav streamers i actually get to watch live due to timezones which i appreciate you for. but, i also wish you'd treat yourself better and end your streams earlier

i super appreciate this anon, this is definitely very very real. i actually had a discussion about this to my friends late last night concerning my workload of streams and the particularly unhealthy habits ive developed as a (for lack of better term) "endurance" streamer. it's tough because it is like... my main source of income, so i do often find that i have to stream A LOT in order to make ends meat. most times i find that when i am streaming for like 7 hours+ i am just Having Fun with the game im playing and i tend to lose track of time, but if you notice that the past several weeks theres been a noticeable uptick of my streaming days since late august-early september. i'm going to speak real here so be fore-warned: i do not make a lot of money as a streamer. i dont think anyone does. in today's climate, i am making Just Enough to pay my bills, rent, and groceries. as long as that minimum threshold is being met, im usually quite happy to continue on with what i do. however, for me, entertaining people online with funny streams has never been about the monetary value of it all. since day ONE, it's never been. but, speaking as an adult who lives alone in a big city, it's also an unfortunate reality that i have to bring to the forefront. it's why the rent/bills tip bar is on the screen so often. honestly, it kind of bums me out to bring it to the forefront so often, but that's a conversation for another day. however, i am definitely afraid that if i am not Streaming Enough, then i won't be able to make my monthly rent and bills. that is not to say that i dont enjoy streaming or that i am unhappy with my current schedule (quite the opposite, i love streaming a little TOO much LOL) - every day i thank the stars in the sky that i get to do what i REALLY want to do in this day and age. but, i guess the problem i'm having is just striking that balance. i really dont give myself a lot of time for a break and, to say that i am on the cusp of burning out is... not to far off from the truth. i do want to make it abundantly clear however: i am currently NOT in burn out mode, but i'm sure the worry is that i will eventually reach that point sooner than later, yeah? anyways, just a couple of thoughts to think about while i write out this whole thing. i'm okay, i will be doing okay, and for the foreseeable future, i will be fine. if anything, if you are worried: the best thing yall could do is just show up for the streams and have fun! that's all i could ever ask. as long as youre having fun, thats all that matters to me. if you laughed and clapped and enjoyed yourselves in any of the stuff i do, then i super appreciate that! thank you!

#the questions

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allamericansbitch · 3 months

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the way taylor is selling so many different versions of an album before it even comes out (like twenty different versions of midnights and now it seems with ttpd as well), im starting to wonder if thats like, considered normal now? i dont really listen to any other popular big name artists like her so idk, was wondering what your perspective on it might be since you listen to more artists that are similar to her i think. it strikes me as soo weird and greedy but i dont really see other people getting big mad about it, the majority of fans i see are excited about it and trying to get every version, its just so confusing to me.

i think it is a normal thing, but not to the extent she's doing it. most artists just release a few vinyl variants and that's it. she's releasing the variants as entire 'new' versions and also selling CDs of each 'version'. The 'new versions' aren't new or different at all, just a new lackluster cover and 1 new song included that will be posted online within seconds of release. so nothing's really new and she knows that, which is why they're advertised as 'new and different versions' because that makes it sound like they are and gives more incentive to buy all of them.

and i know the 'she's not forcing you to buy them' excuse fans use and yes that's true, but it's still... icky to me. she's overdoing it to an obvious extent at the cost of people whose entire life savings and bank accounts are pocket change to her. and the only reason there are people in the fandom who have no problem with it is because it's Taylor who does no wrong, they've defended her being a climate criminal, not speaking up about Palestine, and a billionaire.... they don't think she crossed a line because they do not have any moral ground to draw the line on in the first place.

#answered #anonymous

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fatehbaz · 1 year

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Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of doing various projects with artist Natascha Sadr Haghighian [...]. The conversation you mention took place in 2009 in the large, upscale organic Whole Foods supermarket in New York’s Bowery neighbourhood [...] We walked through the Whole Foods [...], talking about the commercialisation of organic food, the way Whole Foods was appropriating radical ecological and political ideas for profit and political agency. Natascha had pointed out a sign in the store that read ‘Power to the People’, and I was describing some of what was not signed in the store that suggested a far more radical anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist ecological approach: People’s Park; MOVE; Earth First!; the Diggers, from whose 1649 manifesto against greed, private property, inequality and war [...]. Natascha raised the question of whether revealing or exposing the hidden facts or histories was effective in producing action or change. [...]

Calling up and out, naming what’s missing, is as much about haunting as it is about history. Naming the Diggers, for example, provides information many might not have, and it also creates a connection across time and space so we who are living now can work to put an end to the conditions that repeat and thus haunt. The exposure or revelation gives notice to the sedimented conditions that make putting that ‘Power for the People’ sign up in a megastore even possible. I’m quite interested in time, the feel of it and what form it takes in social struggles, which I find difficult to express in abstract or academic language. We tend to call this time-form memory, even if the memories are constructed and staged. You’re absolutely right that the force field – the connection – must be activated. It might always be there; that’s certainly my argument about the utopian margins, and Toni Morrison’s argument about those ‘rememories’ that are always waiting for you [...].

The wilful amnesia about anti-racist struggles and racism can be explained in part, given the direction of the discussion with Natascha, by the whitening of radical environmental politics and the history of the commons, such that the Diggers, the various maroon societies, the Seminoles, the Zapatistas and the keelboatmen, for example, appear as if in separate universes and in separate histories rather than part of one.

It’s striking today that despite widespread interest in and attention to climate change and global warming – all school-children know these terms – environmental racism and the histories of those struggles, which necessarily addressed racial capitalism, even if they didn’t name it as such, remain almost completely invisible.

The lack of visibility of a critical environmental justice – as that seasoned environmental anti-racist scholar David N. Pellow has proposed, where the Movement for Black Lives, the prison abolition movement and the anti-occupation struggle of Palestinians are all considered ‘environmental’ or ecological – is evident and to the detriment of dealing with these catastrophic problems. [...]

The point is rather to show what is living and breathing in the place blinded from view. [...]. Movements and activists, whether they make them explicit or not, assume standpoints, historiographies, terms of solidarities and what Alex Lubin calls ‘geographies of liberation.’ [...]. What do matter and are necessary are the deeper understandings, visions, values and connections – the collective wisdom, or what Haghighian calls the emotional intelligence – that are carried [...] and articulated in the daily operating organisational cultures in which activists and movements think and act.

---

Words of Avery F. Gordon. As interviewed by Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah. “Revolutionary Feminisms: Avery F. Gordon.” Published online in the Blog section of Verso Books. 2 September 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks added by me.]

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 month

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This day in history

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me WEDNESDAY (Apr 11) at UCLA, then Chicago (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

#20yrsago Report from the spam/anti-spam summit https://web.archive.org/web/20040426071527/http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/spam/story/0,13427,1187654,00.html

#20yrsago Broadcast Treaty threatens the whole world with super-duper DMCA https://web.archive.org/web/20040427223711/http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/002925.html

#20yrsago John Gilmore on Gmail’s terms-of-service https://craphound.com/gilmoreongmail.html

#15yrsago U2’s manager wants the power to cut off your Internet connection https://memex.craphound.com/2009/04/08/u2s-manager-wants-the-power-to-cut-off-your-internet-connection/

#15yrsago Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air: the Freakonomics of conservation, climate and energy https://memex.craphound.com/2009/04/08/sustainable-energy-without-the-hot-air-the-freakonomics-of-conservation-climate-and-energy/ #15yrsago What you should be afraid of instead of terrorists https://web.archive.org/web/20090327073459/https://www.counterpunch.org/goekler03242009.html

#15yrsago Obama DOJ invents radical authoritarian theory to defend Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping https://www.salon.com/2007/08/01/obama/

#15yrsago London cop’s unprovoked attack on G20 bystander who then has fatal heart attack https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/07/video-g20-police-assault

#10yrsago EU’s highest court strikes down mass surveillance under the Data Retention Directive https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/data-retention-violates-human-rights-says-eus-highest-court

#10yrsago Online test-proctoring: educational spyware that lets third parties secretly watch and listen to you through your computer https://web.archive.org/web/20140412142717/http://spartandaily.com/119401/online-proctoring-raises-privacy-concerns

#10yrsago My daughter Poesy reviews Hilda and the Black Hound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lVWEiMbx_E

#5yrsago The BLM’s Burning Man environmental impact statement is terrible, calls for drug searches, dumpsters, and a 19,000,000lb concrete wall https://memex.craphound.com/2019/04/07/the-blms-burning-man-environmental-impact-statement-is-terrible-calls-for-drug-searches-dumpsters-and-a-19000000lb-concrete-wall/

#5yrsago China’s toxic livestreaming culture: the vicarious lives of angry, alienated, uneducated rural gamers https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1003642

#5yrsago The two hidden intellectual moves behind the “progressive” argument against free college https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/05/pete-buttigieg-argues-against-free-college-this-is-why-progressives-cant-agree-about-subsidizing-tuition/

#5yrsago Pledge: I will not participate in any event organized by or including institutions that employ Kirstjen Nielsen https://memex.craphound.com/2019/04/08/pledge-i-will-not-participate-in-any-event-organized-by-or-including-institutions-that-employ-kirstjen-nielsen/

#5yrsago Most browsers — except Firefox and Brave — are eliminating the option to turn off surveilling “hyperlink auditing” https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/major-browsers-to-prevent-disabling-of-click-tracking-privacy-risk/

#1yrago Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/08/late-stage-sea-monkeys/#jeremys-razors

#pluralistic

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itsyveinthesky · 7 months

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Separating Fact from Fiction on Social Media in Times of Conflict

In a time of crisis, social media is flooded with images, videos and bold claims. This can be useful for researchers like ourselves but overwhelming for the general public seeking the facts.

At Bellingcat, we pride ourselves on providing tools and resources for our audience to think critically about sources they find online. In this short guide, we give a few tips on what to consider when confronted with an abundance of footage and claims. Here’s how to separate fact from fiction with real, recent examples of misinformation.

1. Be Cautious

Treat all footage and claims with caution. Sometimes real footage can be attributed to false claims and vice versa. For example, in one of our latest investigations Bellingcat found that the airstrike captured in a viral video occurred near the intersection of Al-Rashid and Beirut Streets, at approximately 31.516746, 34.428689, behind the lattice tower visible in the clip and did not hit the mentioned church as claimed in posts.

The church also debunked the attack on Facebook.

The same area was attacked at a later date, on October 19, 2023, and two assembly halls on the church property were then damaged.

In the process of geolocating footage related to the viral video claiming to show the church site, Bellingcat found evidence that strikes did occur in densely populated areas in the vicinity of several schools. The amplification of the false church claim, as a result, may have obscured a real violation. You can read the full debunk here.

2. Think Critically

Particularly about big, incendiary claims. When big news stories hit, we see a lot of recycled footage posted on social media. Recycled footage is footage from other conflicts or time periods that are published as if they are from the current event.

Often details in the footage like signage or other details in the surroundings can give a clue to the true time or place the video was taken.

For example: France 24 has repeatedly debunked a video often amplified by European far-right groups, allegedly showing migrants in Calais throwing stones across a motorway. The video is actually from a protest in Israel after the police shot an Ethiopian Jew which sparked Israel’s Black Lives Matter moment in July 2019. France 24 geolocated the surroundings and the markings on the road to a highway in Israel, far away from Calais, France where the video was repeatedly claimed to have been taken.

3. Check the Source

Responsible researchers will always name the source of footage they share or analyse. Too often footage goes viral without a source—let alone an original one—listed. Be cautious if the source of the video or claim is unclear.

Simply checking the source listed can often quickly debunk any suspicious claims. TikTok videos re-shared on other platforms, for instance, usually have the original poster’s username watermarked onto the footage.

For example, in 2022 a video of an alleged news report went viral. In the video, a reporter stands in front of a line of ‘body bags’ discussing the Russian ‘military operation’ in an American accent and the caption reads “Ukranian Health Ministry: 57 dead, 169 hurt across Ukraine as Russia launches attack.” During the report, the person in the body bag behind the reporter starts to move. The video was shared with an array of claims, ranging from the dead coming back to life to assertions that the Ukrainian authorities were staging deaths to grow support for their cause. Elementary fact-checks will show any savvy individual that this footage did not show what was claimed. A quick search on Google of the reporter’s name shows that they have never reported on such an incident. A reverse image search using a screenshot from the video reveals that the news report was taken and manipulated from coverage of a climate protest in Austria in February 2022. Fake audio had been added to the video and was easily disguised by the fact the reporter’s mouth could not be seen as he/she was wearing a mask. The Associated Press originally debunked this claim and their factcheck can now be found linked to the original misleading post on Facebook.

The church also debunked the attack on Facebook.

The same area was attacked at a later date, on October 19, 2023, and two assembly halls on the church property were then damaged.

4. Remember that the Same Location Doesn’t Mean the Same Incident

Even if the footage is from the area, it doesn’t mean it is from the same event.

One simple way to check is to use Google reverse image search on video screenshots to see if they’ve been posted before.

For example, Bellingcat contributor Chris Osieck found that this video allegedly showing rocket fire in Palestine in October was indeed filmed in the Gaza Strip, but that it was from May 13, 2023.

He found an earlier instance of the footage labelled as showing the destruction of the Za’anin family’s home in the same region. This attack was part of fighting that occurred in May 2023.

5. Be Savvy to Manipulation and AI Generation

When all footage or photographs connected to an event go viral, you often see accounts pop up distributing manipulated or altogether fake imagery. Free and easy to access AI-powered image generation tools have now made this type of content faster to create and more common. Although not always accurate, tools like aiornot.com can help disprove claims quickly.

For example, a video went viral in March 2022 allegedly showing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy telling Ukrainian soldiers to “lay down their arms” and claiming that he had decided to “return Donbas” to Russian control. Many media outlets and Zelenskyy himself debunked the video. Whilst watching the video, one can see his head appears disproportionately sized in contrast to his body. His voice is also slower and deeper than in usual addresses.

6. Be Cautious of State Actors, Which Sometimes Share Staged or Unreliable Footage

In times of conflict, it is not unknown for state actors to imply bad faith on the part of their adversaries. In some cases, staged videos appear online. For example, in March 2023, a dashcam video circulated allegedly showing a Ukrainian soldier abusing a Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizen. Pro-Russian figures and Russia’s Foreign Ministry shared the video on social media. Bellingcat and other eagle-eyed viewers, however, geolocated the footage to deep inside Russian-controlled territory. You can read the full story here.

7. Know That, Sometimes, News Organisations Get it Wrong

When you discover new claims about footage, always check for a secondary media source, ideally one that has obtained the information independently of the first source. News organisations and leading figures can sometimes use quotes from each other as sources of information (see an example that we found here) and sometimes verification steps slip through the cracks. For example, in a famous example in 2019, ABC News broadcasted a fake video on both its ‘World News Tonight’ and ‘Good Morning America’ programmes. The video was reportedly sent to them by a trusted fixer and claimed to show the Turkish military bombing Kurdish civilians in a Syrian border town. Viewers spotted that it looked incredibly similar to a video on YouTube from a Kentucky gun range called Knob Creek. The footage had been altered slightly, but the two video timelines matched. ABC issued a statement and took down the video from their broadcasting.

8. Protect Your Mental Health

Watching footage from war zones can cause trauma.

Be careful viewing unknown footage. There is almost always an abundance of highly disturbing content circulating during times of conflict.

Always ask yourself if there is a genuine reason you need to view this footage. Organisations like Bellingcat have teams of researchers trained to view such footage with therapeutic support in place to assist them. If you do find something that needs attention, you can share it with a trusted news source rather than viewing it and amplifying it yourself.

If you are an open-source researcher, you can find Bellingcat’s guide explaining ways to better protect your mental health whilst undertaking this role here. The Dart Center also has robust advice on the risk of vicarious trauma.

#disinformation #misinformation #propaganda #fog of war #fact check #bellingcat #journalism #ukraine #russia #palestine #israel

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 5 months

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By: Lawrence M. Krauss

Published: Sep 11, 2023

The voyage of discovery that science offers can take us furthest when it is open to the best and brightest, regardless of who they are and where they come from. Great scientific minds often emerge from unexpected backgrounds. Many scientific disciplines remained effectively closed to ethnic minorities and to women for far too long. But over the past 50 years at least, science has opened up and a host of affirmative action programs have been created to encourage women and minorities to consider careers in the field.

For some activists, however, these efforts have not gone far enough. In response, universities, industries, and research institutions have instituted a vast bureaucracy designed to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: a behemoth that is growing at a rate far exceeding that of investment in new faculty and facilities.

This has resulted in some disturbing new trends in academia and scientific institutions more broadly. In a desire to include women and minorities, white males are often excluded, and too often women and members of minority groups are tokenized by being promoted primarily for their gender or skin color.

This tokenism has affected the most prestigious institutions. It was a bone of a contention at this year’s Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting. Citing fellow laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, who has questioned the use of gender quotas in STEM and warned against “discrimination against men,” Nobel prizewinner Kurt Wüthrich commented that he felt discriminated against “in the climate that this meeting is being held.” He was particularly dismayed by the fact that the female laureates were placed in the front row of a group photo—an example, he felt, of insulting tokenism. “I would feel horrible if presented in this way,” he said. “It was ridiculous, fully ridiculous.” As a result of voicing these views, Wüthrich was accused of violating the meeting’s code of conduct.

That may have been a minor issue of optics, but his more general point is valid. Look at almost any online photo promoting science and you will find this kind of tokenism.

Here are several examples.

The first is from a recent article in Science, the official journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

[ Source: Science. ]

Scientific societies should encourage all young people to consider a career in scientific discovery. Science nevertheless seems to feel the need to present a patronizing advertising image, featuring three women and two men of color.

In an email encouraging young people to embark on scientific careers, the American Physical Society presents an image of five women and a black man. The omissions—presumably done in the name of diversity—are obvious and embarrassing.

[ Source: Substack. ]

In advertisements for their annual general meeting, which attracts over 10,000 scientists from all over the world, the APS shows three women and one male of color.

[ Source: APS website ]

For hundreds of years, white men in lab coats were presented as the face of science. It is time to change that picture. But we should do without losing touch with reality or becoming overtly patronizing.

This trend of prioritizing women and minorities is not restricted to advertising and public relations but is affecting faculty appointments at every level.

Let’s start at the top. Six of the eight Ivy League universities—Harvard, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Columbia—now have female presidents, as do UC Berkeley and MIT.

MIT is a particularly striking case. Despite comprising many traditionally male-dominated STEM disciplines, its upper management team is largely female. The head of the MIT Corporation, the President, the Director of Research, the Provost, the Chancellor, and the Dean of Science are all women. The Institute’s core discipline, the School of Engineering, consists of eight departments, five of which are led by women. This is clearly not a coincidence, nor is it likely, given the demographics of the place, that this is simply the result of choosing the best people for those jobs. Were the situation reversed—if most of the faculty were female, but the leading administrators were all male—there would be an outcry.

It is still the case that most full professors, in most STEM disciplines, are male. But the reasons for this are often misunderstood. It generally takes decades to attain this rank, and many full professors have been in their current positions for over 30 years. Even if the hiring system were now biased in favor of women, they would not yet have achieved parity at the senior level.

And the hiring system may well be biased. Thanks to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion infrastructure that dominates almost every major US university today, affirmative action initiatives have affected the hiring of junior faculty across the board.

It is difficult to obtain national statistics on this, but in 2015, before DEI initiatives reached current heights, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed a two to one preference for female candidates for tenure track positions in STEM.

New faculty announcements suggest a similar bias. For example, in 2021, UCLA announced the following new appointments in the physical sciences: Abigail Doyle (Chemistry and Biochemistry), Alvine Kamaha (Physics and Astronomy), Courtney Shelly (Statistics/Mathematics), Qianhui Shi (Physics and Astronomy), and Hong Wang (Mathematics). It did not appoint any new male faculty. Similar examples abound.

We can detect comparable trends further up the tenure ladder, too. For example, MIT has just announced the election of six new Fellows to the American Physical Society. This represents a significant career milestone for the successful candidates. I was happy to see that they include my well-deserving former graduate student, Hong Liu, but that aside, the trend seems clear.

[ Source: MIT News ]

Affirmative action is not the only explanation for the increasing paucity of white males in such positions. The American Physical Society offers a plethora of programs designed to assist pre-tenure female (and sometimes male minority) faculty in physics. There are conferences, leadership programs, internships, grants, workshops, networks, site visits, guidelines, scholarships, fellowships, and prizes. There are no similar programs for young white male scientists, although many of them face similar career challenges.

In US academia in general, women now receive more doctoral degrees than men.

[ Source: Cory Clark and Bo Winegard for Quillette ]

Women also occupy most faculty positions in post-secondary institutions.

[ Source: Cory Clark and Bo Winegard for Quillette ]

While it is heartening that the climate for women in academia has been improving, these figures suggest that the laser focus on recruiting, retaining, spotlighting, and promoting women in STEM may have become superfluous.

As April Bleske-Rechek and Michael Bernstein have shown, while men still occupy three quarters of STEM positions (despite the fact that the percentage of women in STEM has more than doubled since 1980), the situation is precisely reversed in the fields of health, education, administration, and literacy. While massive efforts are underway to correct the imbalance between men and women in STEM, there have been no concomitant efforts to increase the numbers of men in female-dominated professions. People do not seem to perceive the latter imbalance as a problem. In a recent survey of over 800 recent college students, Bleske-Rechek and Bernstein found that the students were overwhelmingly more concerned about male overrepresentation in certain high status professional positions than about female overrepresentation in others.

[ Responses to the question "Do you agree that the gender gap is problematic?" Source: Unsafe Science. ]

This was the case even though the female-dominated disciplines were not considered lower status than the male-dominated ones.

[ Responses to the question "Do you agree that the job is high in status?" Source: Unsafe Science. ]

Other data in the study suggest that gender gaps in male-dominated disciplines are significantly more likely to be attributed to sexism or discrimination than they are in female-dominated disciplines.

[ Responses to the question “How much of the gender gap is due to sexism/discrimination?” Source: Unsafe Science ]

These results align with recent work by Matt Grawitch et al., summarized here. Grawitch and his colleagues found that both male and female respondents were more likely to judge that an interaction between a banker and a client had been sexist when the banker was male and the client female than the reverse. We are far more likely to attribute sexism to disparities that favor men than disparities that favor women.

The impression that universities are primarily concerned with hiring, supporting, and promoting women may be contributing to the fact that, at entry levels, young men are leaving higher education in their droves.

We can see the results of this in the California State universities: the undergraduate student body at Cal State Los Angeles is 59 percent female, and 67 percent of its graduate students are female; Sonoma State is 63 percent female; San Diego State is 57 percent female; Humboldt State is 58 percent female; Cal State East Bay is 61 percent female. Nationwide, around 60 percent of students are female. And the gender gap is growing. Recent data show a significant downward trend in male college enrollments, which has coincided with the increasing prevalence of DEI programs.

[ Source: Brookings Institution ]

The reduction in male undergraduate numbers is partly caused by the fact that young women are graduating from high school in higher numbers than their male counterparts. In fact, women now graduate at higher rates than men at all educational levels.

[ Source: Brookings Institution ]

Similar trends are emerging at pre-university level. Consider this announcement of the finalists and winners of the 3M Young Scientist Challenge.

[ Source: 3M News Center ]

It is no surprise to see a high prevalence of Indian and Chinese students among this group, as East and South Asians have been outperforming white students for some time. What is perhaps more surprising is that the finalists included only one young Caucasian male.

Perhaps this is partly due to way such programs recruit applicants. Consider this advertisement for the Regeneron Science Talent Search.

[ Source: Society for Science ]

Is the nearly complete absence of white males in these images the result of a decision to highlight women and minorities—or are fewer white men getting involved in such programs than ever before?

We may be moving towards a future in which women will be significantly better educated than men and will occupy far more of the jobs that require professional qualifications and skills. The societal impacts of this are unknown.

We must continue to ensure that higher education and scientific training remain open to people from all demographics. But we should not encourage diversity at the cost of driving away talented people. Our fixation on raising the profile of women and minorities in science by minimizing the role and status of men in general, and white men in particular, is misplaced.

After more than 40 years of intense affirmative action efforts, it may be time to take our thumbs off the scale and let a natural balance emerge. Young males—and white males in particular—should not be discouraged from pursuing higher education in science, or from engaging in any other field of intellectual activity.

[ Via: https://archive.md/18k9n ]

DEI does not belong in science.

#Lawrence M. Krauss #science #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity #equity #inclusion #affirmative action #diversity hire #sexism #anti male #anti male bias #sex discrimination #sexism against men

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marveltrumpshate · 7 months

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Current Events

This year continued to be A Lot and we decided to ensure that there were charities that directly addressed current events. Folded into this post are groups that work for aid targeting every natural disaster as well as man-made ones, climate change, the ongoing pandemic of gun violence, and more. If you're looking for an organization that directly addresses any of those, this is your spotlight post.

For more information on donation methods and accepted currencies, please refer to our list of organizations page.

ALA "Unite Against Book Bans" Campaign

This campaign run by the American Library Association is the best way to fight against the book bans happening in several U.S. states. This fight is more crucial than ever; in 2022, the ALA recorded the highest number of censorship attempts in the past 20 years. The initiative works to halt the spread of censorship in school and public libraries across the U.S., empower individuals to fight censorship in their communities, and preserve our right to choose what to read.

Clean Air Task Force

As we've seen for a long time now but especially this year with constant natural disasters and alarming news from all over the world, climate change is real and we need to do something about it. Over the past 25 years, CATF, a group of climate and energy experts who think outside the box to solve the climate crisis, has pushed for technology innovations, legal advocacy, research, and policy changes. Their goal is to achieve a zero-emissions, high-energy planet at an affordable cost.

Direct Relief

Direct Relief provides humanitarian relief regardless of politics, religious or ethnic identities, or ability to pay and prepares the most vulnerable communities worldwide for more frequent, destructive emergencies. When disasters strike, they respond effectively and efficiently to provide requested medical equipment, medicine, and supplies to locally run healthcare facilities and projects.

Electronic Freedom Foundation

The leading nonprofit defending civil liberties in digital spaces, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. They fight against online censorship and illegal surveillance, advocate for net neutrality and data protection, and more so that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for everyone.

International Rescue Committee

Founded in 1933, the IRC is a long-standing trusted partner in supporting those whose lives have been upended by sudden violence, political or natural. They are no stranger to areas of disaster and conflict throughout the world as they currently work in 40 countries. The IRC provides emergency aid and long-term assistance, including refugee settlement, and focuses on health, education, economic well-being, empowerment, and safety.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Odds are you’ve heard of MSF, the global organization that sends trained medical professionals to the places they’re needed most. MSF has been working globally for over 50 years, providing medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare—no matter what. They’re guided by principles of independence, impartiality, and neutrality to global political policies or movements.

National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

This organization rescues, trains, and places abused or abandoned dogs with first responders at no cost to rescue humans in disasters. Search dogs are one of the best resources for locating survivors buried under wreckage, and this is a great solution for dogs whose personalities might make them unsuitable as family pets but ideal for search and rescue.

Partners In Health

Founded by Paul Farmer when he was still in medical school, PIH is committed to bringing exceptional health care to every corner of the planet. PIH also works to provide access to food, transportation, housing, and other key components of healing to the most vulnerable. Their work started in Haiti but has expanded rapidly across the globe.

RIP Medical Debt

Over 100 million Americans (one in three) are struggling with paying off medical bills. COVID has only added to those numbers, putting people under significant financial burden and emotional distress. This organization buys up medical debt in order to forgive it with no tax consequences to donors or recipients. Donate just $1 and you wipe out $100 of someone's medical debt, $100 to get rid of $10,000 in debt, and so on—the ripple effect is real. Through their work, RIP Medical Help not only helps with financial relief but also brings attention to the need for a more compassionate, transparent, equitable, and affordable healthcare system.

Transgender Law Center

Transgender Law Center, the largest trans-specific and trans-led organization in the U.S., changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely and authentically and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. Through its precedent-setting litigation victories and community-driven programs, TLC protects the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people in areas spanning employment, prison conditions, education, immigration, healthcare, and more.

Violence Policy Center

Named "the most effective…anti-gun rabble-rouser in Washington” by none other than its opponent, the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Violence Policy Center has a long and proven record of policy successes on stopping gun violence. The VPC informs the public about the impact of gun violence, exposes the profit-driven marketing and lobbying activities of the firearms industry and gun lobby, offers expertise to policymakers, organizations, and advocates on the federal, state, and local levels, and more.

Waterkeeper Alliance

In 1966, this movement was started by a band of blue-collar fishermen pushing back against industrial polluters, and their tough spirit remains intact through the 300+ local community groups that make up the global Waterkeeper Alliance today. The Alliance works to ensure, preserve, and protect clean and abundant water for all people and creatures. Their programs are diverse, spanning from patrolling waterways against polluters to advocating for environmental laws in courtrooms and town halls and educating in classrooms.

World Central Kitchen

Started by Chef José Andrés, WCK makes sure that people are fed in the wake of natural disasters. Their programs advance human and environmental health, offer access to professional culinary training, create jobs, and improve food security. WCK also teaches food safety and cooking classes to native people who live where disasters have occurred, so they may open restaurants and support the local economy more permanently. You can follow where WCK is currently on the ground assisting and feeding people affected by natural and man-made crises here.

#marvel trumps hate #mth 2023 #charity spotlight

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gaypornvideoswebsite · 10 months

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directions to the nearest atm

read on substack

Nothing is open late anymore. Windows are dark before sunset, no one silhouetted against yellow in framed ink blots, loneliness or something more sinister. I often wish I was inside the middle of nowhere again; No, this is not my home, I’m not entirely sure what the address is, sorry. Enter or exit, doorbell rings the same (hello/have a good day) (smeared ink).

It feels generous to call the inbetween here and there a liminal space. I think those are supposed to inspire some sort of dread nested in mundaneity. I don’t feel dread, I don’t feel neutral either. Neutral is a position after all, flanked by podiums, it’s a substance that drips and hardens and evaporates. Reprieve is an absence, relief is a quiet. And i miss it and miss it and miss it.

One of the hottest recorded summers in recorded history. Climate controlled shopping was invented a long time ago. Premonitions should be sexier. Grease looks like water when it’s splattered on concrete.

They razed the ficus canopy over the striking writers in California.

Nothing is open late anymore. Around the corner the beer garden that displaced a homeless encampment hands out permits to stumbling suburbanites. When the year turned over someone posted online about the violence of downtown, sporting a black eye in the shape of a white fist.

A few summers ago I kissed a man who would lick his lips every time we came up for air. I want to be savoured like that again.

They razed the ficus canopy over the striking writers in California.

They remind us we can always go home. Drips, hardens, evaporates.

#cafes close at 4 so i wrote about it

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stay-with-wonder · 8 months

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If you are looking for a new animal to admire, you might want to check out the leaf sheep, a species of sea slug that has some remarkable features. The leaf sheep, also known as Costasiella kuroshimae, is a tiny marine creature that lives in tropical waters near Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. It has a striking appearance, resembling a cartoon sheep with green leaves on its back. But what makes the leaf sheep even more fascinating is its ability to perform photosynthesis, a process usually reserved for plants.

The leaf sheep is a type of sea slug that feeds on algae. It belongs to the family Costasiellidae, which includes about 20 species of colorful slugs that have leaf-like protrusions on their backs. The leaf sheep was discovered in 1993 off the coast of the Japanese island Kuroshima and was named after its location. It can grow up to 1 centimeter in length and has two dark eyes and two rhinophores (sensory organs) that look like sheep's ears or insect antennae.

## How does the leaf sheep photosynthesize?

The leaf sheep is not only a cute and curious animal but also a valuable subject for scientific research. By studying how the leaf sheep manages to maintain the chloroplasts and photosynthesize, researchers can learn more about the evolution and adaptation of life forms, as well as the potential applications of biotechnology. For example, some scientists have suggested that the leaf sheep could inspire the development of artificial photosynthesis, which could help produce renewable energy and combat climate change

An interesting fact about them that made them the animal of the week.

We simply do not know how long they live. Some scientists argue that with photosynthesis, they must live to be very old, but we have no solid facts confirming or denying this theory. It fascinates me that with all the tools we have now for research, we do not know how long a small slug can live. In my closing words, I must point out that these species should not be kept as pets. We do not have enough knowledge about them to know how to treat them. I understand that this fact may be disappointing, but you can enjoy photos of them online to satisfy your adorable meter! And with that, I will see you next week with another animal of the week. Stay with Wonder!

#marine life #leaf #sheep #amazing animals #animals #cute animals #nudibranch

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year

Photo

David Horsey, Seattle Times :: [Scott Horton]

* * * *

[Why climate ‘doomers’ are replacing climate ‘deniers’

How U.N. reports and confusing headlines created a generation of people who believe climate change can’t be stopped]

When Sean Youra was 26 years old and working as an engineer, he started watching documentaries about climate change. Youra, who was struggling with depression and the loss of a family member, was horrified by what he learned about melting ice and rising extreme weather. He started spending hours on YouTube, watching videos made by fringe scientists who warned that the world was teetering on the edge of societal collapse — or even near-term human extinction. Youra started telling his friends and family that he was convinced that climate change couldn’t be stopped, and humanity was doomed.

In short, he says, he became a climate “doomer.”“It all compounded and just led me down a very dark path,” he said. “I became very detached and felt like giving up on everything.”

That grim view of the planet’s future is becoming more common. Influenced by a barrage of grim U.N. reports — such as the one published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this week — and negative headlines, a group of people believe that the climate problem cannot, or will not, be solved in time to prevent all-out societal collapse. They are known, colloquially, as climate “doomers.” And some scientists and experts worry that their defeatism — which could undermine efforts to take action — may be just as dangerous as climate denial.“

It’s fair to say that recently many of us climate scientists have spent more time arguing with the doomers than with the deniers,” said Zeke Hausfather, a contributing author to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and climate research lead at the payments company Stripe.

The origins of doomism stretch back far — McPherson, for example, has been predicting the demise of human civilization for decades — but the mind-set seems to have become markedly more mainstream in the past five years. Jacquelyn Gill, a climate scientist at the University of Maine, says that in 2018 she started hearing different sorts of questions when she spoke at panels or did events online. “I started getting emails from people saying: ‘I’m a young person. Is there even a point in going to college? Will I ever be able to grow up and have kids?’” she said.

Well before the coronavirus pandemic, a few factors combined to make 2018 feel like the year of doom. 2015, 2016 and 2017 had just been the three hottest years on record. Climate protests had begun to spread across the globe, including Greta Thunberg’s School Strike and the U.K.-based protest group known as Extinction Rebellion. In the academic world, British professor of sustainability Jem Bendell wrote a paper called “Deep Adaptation,” which urged readers to prepare for “inevitable near-term societal collapse due to climate change.” (The paper has been widely critiqued by many climate scientists.)And then the United Nations issued a special report on 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming, released in October 2018, which kicked many people’s climate anxiety into overdrive.

The report, which focused on how an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels might compare to 2 degrees Celsius, included grim predictions like the death of the world’s coral reefs and ice-free summers in the Arctic. But a central message many took from the report — that there were only 12 years left to save the planet — wasn’t even in the report. It came from a Guardian headline.In three of the four pathways the report charted for limiting warming to 1.5C, the world would have to cut carbon dioxide emissions 40 to 60 percent by 2030. “We have 12 years to limit climate catastrophe,” the Guardian reported, and other outlets soon followed. The phrase soon became an activist rallying cry.“‘Twelve years to save the planet’ was actually: We have 12 years to cut global emissions in half to stay consistent with a 1.5C scenario,” Hausfather explained. “Then ‘12 years to save the planet’ becomes interpreted by the public as: If we don’t stop climate change in 12 years, something catastrophic happens.”“It was really a game of telephone,” he added.

Hausfather said part of the problem is that climate targets — say, the goal to limit warming to 1.5C — have become interpreted by the public as climate thresholds, which would drive the planet into a “hothouse” state. In fact, scientists don’t believe there is anything unique about that temperature that will cause runaway tipping points; the landmark IPCC report merely aimed to show the risks of bad impacts are much higher at 2C than at 1.5.“It’s not like 1.9C is not an existential risk and 2.1C is,” Hausfather said. “It’s more that we’re playing Russian roulette with the climate.” Every increase in temperature, that is, makes the risks of bad impacts that much higher.Still, scientists who try to clarify those nuances sometimes encounter hostility, particularly online. “If you try to push back on this in any way, you get accused of minimizing the climate crisis,” Gill said. “I’ve been accused of being a shill for the fossil fuel industry.”The problem with climate “doom” — beyond the toll that it can create on mental health — is that it can cause paralysis. Psychologists have long believed that some amount of hope, combined with a belief that personal actions can make a difference, can keep people engaged on climate change. But, according to a study by researchers at Yale and Colorado State universities, “many Americans who accept that global warming is happening cannot express specific reasons to be hopeful.”

For some, however, doomism isn’t permanent. Youra, the former engineer, still remembers how strongly he felt that humanity was done for. He believed that the IPCC and other scientists were covering up how bad climate change actually was — and no peer-reviewed research could convince him otherwise. “I think it’s kind of similar to what deniers feel,” he said. “I wasn’t being open-minded.”In 2018, he briefly considered quitting his job to travel the world — hoping to see what he could before society and the natural world collapsed. Slowly, though, he started getting involved in local climate groups, and when he attended a meeting in Alameda for the California city’s climate plan, something clicked. “I think that for me was key,” he said. “It made me start realizing the power of good policy.”

Now 32, he has earned a master’s degree in environmental science and policy and works as the climate action coordinator for the California towns of San Anselmo and Fairfax.Worry — and even occasional despair — about the climate crisis is normal. Most scientists believe that, without deeper cuts, the world is headed for 2 to 3 degrees Celsius of global warming. But higher temperatures are still possible if humans get unlucky with how the planet responds to higher CO2 levels. Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute, has said that while humans probably won’t go extinct due to climate change, “not going extinct” is a low bar.“It’s a question of risk, not known catastrophe,” Hausfather said.

[This is a well-written and researched report/essay by Shannon Osaka:]

#climate change #political cartoon #David Horsey #Seattle Times #Scott Horton #WAPO #Shannon Osaka #domism #Climate Science

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raptorfae53 · 4 months

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Monster High Reimagined

Deuce Gorgon character bio/redesign

Deuce Gorgon (he/him)

Trans man

The Gorgon son of medusa

(Greek Moroccan)

Deuce is the first Gorgon (on account of their rarity as a monster type) to attend monster high at the behest of his nervous and at-times overbearing mother Medusa. (yes, that medusa) Not that he minds all that much being an easygoing, chilled out boy who tends to make friends easily through his delicious cooking and general affability ,monster high being the perfect place to hone his many Gorgon powers and perfect his culinary skills as well as make some new friends. That Mummy girl in particular is kinda cute,he'd love to get to know her better…

Likes: cooking,space,skateboarding,pet rodents and tabletop rpgs.

Dislikes: transphobia and islamophobia,cold weather (makes him drowsy),accidentally petrifying people, wasting good food and people acting entitled towards kitchen staff and servers.

Killer style: A simple,casual look that marries north African and western streetwear. Because of Vermont's chilly climate most of the year his mantra when picking out an outfit for the day is to strike a balance between “cool” and warm, or he risks falling asleep in class thanks to the cold. (Though usually one of his friends jolts him awake or lends him their coat if he does)

Familiar: Percy,Orym and Caleb the rats. Named after some of the characters from a tabletop rpg web show he loves,deuce has always liked rodents but until he arrived in the states wasn't able to keep them due to his family's affinity for them in a...different sense (as accidental as it always was,his mother's always felt a bit off snacking on rodents personally but her serpentine urges are always just too strong,she and her sisters try to never do so in front of him at least if they must)

Pet Peeve: food influencers using exponential amounts of ingredients for wasteful,dumb stunts online. It just doesn't sit right for a working class guy like deuce who was taught growing up how much more could be made with less.

Freaky Flaw: At the moment his petrifying gaze. Being a Gorgon means deuce has a bevy of latent powers with the ability to turn people to stone amongst them. Which whilst thankfully it isn't permanent can still be an inconvenient (to say the least of it) experience for the recipient and very awkward for himself,there's also the matter of his glasses used to keep said power in check dropping in food while he's cooking but that's another story altogether…

Spooky Secret: Despite being chilled out a lot of the time,duece does sometimes worry about his mother back home and whether their once tight bond is starting to fray,and that whilst she's generally a bit of a nervous wreck about everything it's something to do with his transition and her anxiety regarding men. Although medusa has been stalwart and understanding of him throughout his transition and deuce himself probably knows it's probably more to do with him growing up and leaving home for the first time,the thought still makes him a little nervous.

Dream job: be it in a high class restaurant or in a simple shop or food truck,deuce hopes to put his culinary skills to good use after high school and get the world as hooked on his greek-Moroccan-monster fusion food as he was growing up.

Five Fearsome Facts:

Deuce is a practising Muslim. Medusa and her sisters having converted centuries ago after becoming (obviously) disillusioned with their native hellenic polytheism after the “incident” and deuce and his cousin viperine being raised in its stead. As with it's other minority faith students, monster high accommodates him as best they can,for example giving him and the few other Muslim students a room for midday prayers and offering halal/vegetarian lunch options within the creepeteria.

Aside from the culinary arts,deuces' other great love has been space,being interested in the cosmos from a young age. This manifests in a lot of his other favourite media,including spending many hours of his spare time watching live streams of space launches and playing video games like Kerbal space program, as well as a love of astronomy and the constellations,a telescope being one of the most treasured possessions brought with him from Morocco.

Deuce's “hair” may look a bit odd at first,with the roots seemingly dyed dark green that fades into a deep brown ,but it's actually all natural! The nine snakes that make up his hairdo are African house snakes,all named after different beasts within the constellations. (Serpens,Hydrus,Cetus,Ursa,Taurus,Cygnus,Corvus,Scorpio and Leo) ironically due to his birthday being in early December deuce himself was born under the “forgotten” zodiac Ophiuchus ,the serpent bearer.

Like all gorgons,deuce has a pair of wings, and while Gorgons aren't as proficient fliers as vampires or harpies,per say, medusa saw it fit to teach duece how to fly short distances “just in case”, deuce prefers to get around town on his skateboard most of the time though. (This concept being inspired by designs by artists like @sleepywsha )

Also like his mother and family,deuce has powerful and rapid self-regeneration abilities,but though medusa has famously survived being decapitated and come out physically no worse for wear deuce isn't willing to test out its restrictions much and keeps his workspace as safe as can possibly be.

Happy new year everybody!!! I know I said last time I would have another one of these out by the end of 2023,but I had stuff going on irl/a bit of writers block so this (and several others to come) is done a bit later than I originally intended.

(Since I felt the following tract about why i made the design choices i have and how they tie into the folklore surrounding Gorgons would have made this already long post completely and utterly colossal ,I've put it in the read more tab down below)

Regardless i hope you like this post,and keep your eyes peeled because another one is nearly done and coming soon,hopefully anyway...

Anyways,before anything else,you're probably wondering why deuce is written the way he is. Considering how many of it's famous mythological monsters have found their way into Western pop culture, Monster High has a lot,and I mean a LOT of characters who hail from Greece. (There's also my hc that in general new salem has a large human population of greek immigrants, but anyways) As such, I decided to make a few of the greek characters hail from other parts of the world. Duece being from North Africa is a reference to several ancient scholars attempts to pinpoint exactly where medusa lived,with a popular schools of thought being that she originated from the mythology of the Ancient amazigh people of the sahara (of whose descendants make up a good chunk of modern morocco's population currently) and lived in classical Libya (Aka all of Africa north of the sahara) or as far west as the Cabo Verde islands off Senegal. My train of thought behind the idea of medusa living in Morocco was driven by the idea of her wanting to get as far away from the grecian world as possible after everything regarding perseus and settled down in what was then the phoenican colonies on the other side of the Mediterranean,which eventually became carthiginian,then roman,then islamic,then french/spanish and finally independent.

Impromptu history lesson aside, another reason behind my changes was because I felt monster high could have the chance to represent characters of different and diverse faiths as well as nationalities,identities, and orientations. It just made sense to me for it to be that way. Plus, aside from gigi and Wisp (and considering the iffy reputation those two have i understand why a lot of people arent too fond of them) ,Monster High really doesn't have any characters from the Islamic world,which in my opinion is a massive shame considering the rich cultures and mythologies within places like Iran,Mesopotamia and North Africa. So I thought that there should be some,even if it's only through a transplanted character from classical mythology at the moment.

Finally since this post is way too long already,here's a few visuals to show what exactly I'm going for within the text.

First off since I absolutely despise the G1 snake mowhawk,I imagine deuce has "hair" that's styled more like this:

Meanwhile, this is an african house snake,and what I imagine deuces "hair" colour looks like: (Unlike with the snake mowhawk, this wasn't because I hated the green btw)

Finally in terms of a mix of North african and western clothing,I like to imagine duece would absolutely rock both a hooded and non hooded kaftan with vans, baggy jeans, hoodies or puffer jackets.

#monster high #deuce gorgon #monster high reimagined

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busaddablog · 2 months

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The Ultimate Guide to Solo Backpacking Adventures

Embarking on a solo backpacking adventure is an exhilarating experience that offers unparalleled freedom, self-discovery, and adventure. Whether you're a seasoned traveller or a novice explorer, venturing out alone into the world with nothing but a backpack on your shoulders is an opportunity for personal growth and unforgettable encounters. In this guide, we'll delve into everything you need to know to plan and execute the ultimate solo backpacking adventure.

Planning Your Solo Backpacking Adventure

Research Your Destination:

Before setting out, research your destination thoroughly. Consider factors such as climate, local customs, visa requirements, safety precautions, and the availability of accommodation. Websites like Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, and local tourism boards are excellent resources for gathering information.

Packing Essentials:

Packing light is key to a successful backpacking trip. Stick to the essentials: clothing suitable for the climate, a reliable backpack, sturdy footwear, a first aid kit, toiletries, and any necessary electronics. Remember to leave room for souvenirs!

Budgeting:

Create a budget for your trip, including expenses such as transportation, accommodation, food, activities, and emergencies. Be realistic about your spending habits and allow for some flexibility in your budget.

Staying Safe While Backpacking Solo

Trust Your Instincts:

Listen to your intuition and trust your instincts when navigating unfamiliar environments. If something feels off, it's okay to remove yourself from the situation.

Stay Connected:

Maintain regular contact with family and friends back home. Share your itinerary with trusted individuals and check in periodically to let them know you're safe.

Blend In:

Avoid drawing unnecessary attention to yourself by dressing modestly and respecting local customs and traditions. Familiarise yourself with local scams and be vigilant in crowded or touristy areas.

Embracing Solo Travel

Embrace Spontaneity:

One of the joys of solo travel is the freedom to go wherever the wind takes you. Embrace spontaneity and be open to unexpected opportunities and adventures.

Connect with Locals:

Immerse yourself in the local culture by interacting with residents and fellow travellers. Strike up conversations, participate in community events, and be open to new friendships.

Practice Self-Care:

Prioritise your physical and mental well-being while on the road. Get plenty of rest, stay hydrated, and take breaks when needed. Remember that it's okay to slow down and savour the moment.

Conclusion

Solo backpacking is not just about exploring new destinations; it's about embarking on a journey of self-discovery, growth, and empowerment. By planning thoughtfully, staying safe, and embracing the unknown, you'll unlock a world of endless possibilities and create memories that will last a lifetime. So pack your bags, trust your instincts, and prepare for the adventure of a lifetime – the world is waiting to be explored!

Happy backpacking!

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