note-a-bear

[note-a-bear]

Play friend and I picnicked in a cemetery watching the sun go down, listening to the cure, drinking wine tonight.

The place was empty (that's the big reason I love this place; hardly any foot traffic to speak of), we were up on a hill overlooking the main part of the cemetery.

No distractions, no one to interrupt or comment. No conversations overheard. Just us and the space we were in.

It's the simple times and quiet moments where we can feed ourselves without a thought in the world. I don't know that I have a hierarchy of which are the 'best' type of moments to have together. A good moment is a good moment and it can happen in most settings. But I also know that having that space when life has been demanding on one or both of us is *really* good.

Sometimes a picnic and some wine actually *is* the best night out you can plan.

#the dog who caught the car #i got cold cuts from the Mennonites at reading terminal #and made a 'salad' of pickled nopales feta and tomato #it was a great sunset

[note-a-bear]

A 28-year-old motorcyclist died in Washington State on Friday afternoon because a dipshit Tesla driver rear-ended him at speed. A Snohomish man, 56, was commuting in his 2022 Tesla Model S when he activated the car’s camera-based advanced driver assist system and according to his statements to police, began looking through his phone. With nobody paying attention to the car’s actions, the Tesla software ignored Jeffrey Nissen on his motorcycle and continued on at speed. The car rear-ended the two-wheeler, Nissen was flung from the bike, and his life ended pinned underneath the electric car, where he was still lodged when police arrived to the scene.

Tesla claims another life.

Reminder that even if you are personally aware of how dangerous Tesla vehicles are and vow to never ride in one, they can still kill you.

My own driving habits have changed around them. I always give Teslas extra space, avoid following them directly, and expect them to stop or swerve suddenly without notice.

Cannot count the times I've pulled up next to a Tesla at freeway speed, noticed the driver playing on their phone. Tap the horn. They look up with surprise.

Please, don't be that guy.

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HAPPENING NOW: texas state troopers are menacing a pro palestine protest on ut austin's campus. AN ENCAMPMENT HASNT EVEN BEEN ESTABLISHED YET

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I’m so happy I got this shot earlier holy shit

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If you need another reason to see Abigail, a 6 and a half foot tall man tackles a child out of the air

#i am so excited for this movie #the scream i scrumpt when i first saw the trailer

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HAPPENING NOW: passover seder from our comrades in columbia's liberated zone/gaza solidarity encampment. this encampment is a profoundly religious space. we've seen muslim protesters praying multiple times a day, a christian communion was held, and multiple jewish prayers/celebrations have taken place. solidarity is a beautiful thing, palestine will be free.🖤🇵🇸

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@pelicanhypeman she's hiding from emails

ophelia..

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ALREADY!!!!!

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The plot structures of movies need to start taking more cues from classic opera. Open with a fucker in a hat who directly addresses the audience and explains what's going on in a way that raises far more questions than it answers, then immediately drop the viewer into the middle of a shouting argument between three of the weirdest people you can possibly imagine.

[note-a-bear]

Surprising painted wooden panel, popular art around 1920.

Maybe an element of fairground decoration?

Painting made on an old door or shutter fragment.

Very pretty patina slightly peeled and protected by a veil of varnish adapted.

Old School Bazaar

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i have a number of emotions, including: cowboy, lesbian, halloween, unconscious, 70s soft rock, pure unbridled rage, void, i’m dying squirtle, and pull the trigger piglet

[note-a-bear]

so. this is a hard post for me to write, given that this is, i think, the fifth time i've started trying to write it and first time i haven't chickened out halfway through this first sentence where i admit that part.

i'll save you all the time and energy and get what this post is about out of the way, first: i need money, badly. yeah, this is another post where a disabled, brain-damaged trans woman tells you her sob story and asks you for cash to mitigate it. shocking, i know. it's almost like it's hard for women like us to survive under capitalism, or something!

but here's facts: i'm currently jobless. now, normally this would not be the end of my fucking world - i have a patreon that's meant to help cover my basic living expenses and provide something of a cushion, and at least momentarily i have a roommate who's being very understanding about my difficulties covering any portion of the rent. however. that roommate is already looking for new places to live. and i am not the only one in financial dire straits at the moment, and in fact it seems like virtually everyone in my social circle that i normally know i can rely on to help keep those of us less-employable queers afloat is under severe financial duress to the degree they've had to pull out of doing any of that for the foreseeable, and as a result - my current expected net income per month for the foreseeable future, as far as i can plan on it being, is limited to what i make on patreon: exactly $171. and right when i have medical debts incurred from veterinary intervention to save my cat's life that i need to pay off monthly or start incurring severe interest on, too! ain't life grand? i don't know when, or even if, i'll be able to change this state of affairs; in an ideal world, i'd be able to claim self-employment and have it be true. we do not live in an ideal world, so my best shot at that is asking for you to support my patreon or buy my work off itch.

in fact, i am asking, just short of begging, for you to do one or both of these things before any other option. it's not that i don't need immediate financial aid, because i do. but more than that: i need to fucking survive, bitch. i need to reliably have enough money to keep a roof over my head and food in my mouth and if i can accomplish both of those things i can also do the other, fun things that people like to get from me, like long, thoughtful critiques of this piece of art or that piece of media or any number of other things that i am compelled by my demons to produce awhile. you may notice some of that's dried up recently, and part of that's panic-induced brain spiral shutdown in effect. it is, in fact, easier to make art, criticism included, when you're not worrying whether buying a soda now means risking overdrafting on your cell phone bill later.

it's here where i wish i had hustle. i'd love to be one of those pledge allegiance to the grind types that you know only gets better the hungrier i am, give you something to look forward to as an earn on your investment in me and my future; unfortunately, i'm just not one of those people. hunger just makes me hungry, it doesn't make me more capable.

i won't make any promises i can't keep. but if you give me money, especially if you give me money i can consistently count on being there when i need it and enough of it i don't need to worry about what i'm gonna eat or where i'm gonna stay, there will be work made off the back of that financial security. and if you like any of the work i've done to date, both as a media critic and as a fiction writer, i can promise you it'll meet your expectations.

thanks for your time.

and here, for ease of access, some links:

my patreon my itch.io account paypal ko-fi venmo (i do not currently have a working cashapp account. sorry.)

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AIRPLANE CLOCK, L. Sundstedt/Jaeger Le Coultre, Stockholm.

Kollon Auction

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Hey All,

I've been away for some time, as we've been working really hard on something quite exciting:

let me present to you the world's first ever global ocean drainage basin map that shows all permanent and temporary water flows on the planet.

This is quite big news, as far as I know this has never been done before. There are hundreds of hours of work in it (with the data + manual work as well) and it's quite a relief that they are all finished now.

But what is an ocean drainage basin map, I hear most of you asking? A couple of years ago I tried to find a map that shows which ocean does each of the world's rivers end up in. I was a bit surprised to see there is no map like that, so I just decided I'll make it myself - as usual :) Well, after realizing all the technical difficulties, I wasn't so surprised any more that it didn't exist. So yeah, it was quite a challenge but I am very happy with the result.

In addition to the global map I've created a set of 43 maps for different countries, states and continents, four versions for each: maps with white and black background, and a version for both with coloured oceans (aka polygons). Here's the global map with polygons:

I know from experience that maps can be great conversation starters, and I aim to make maps that are visually striking and can effectively deliver a message. With these ocean drainage basin maps the most important part was to make them easily understandable, so after you have seen one, the others all become effortless to interpret as well. Let me know how I did, I really appreciate any and all kinds of feedback.

Here are a few more from the set, I hope you too learn something new from them. I certainly did, and I am a geographer.

The greatest surprise with Europe is that its biggest river is all grey, as the Volga flows into the Caspian sea, therefore its basin counts as endorheic.

An endorheic basin is one which never reaches the ocean, mostly because it dries out in desert areas or ends up in lakes with no outflow. The biggest endorheic basin is the Caspian’s, but the area of the Great Basin in the US is also a good example of endorheic basins.

I love how the green of the Atlantic Ocean tangles together in the middle.

No, the dividing line is not at Cape Town, unfortunately.

I know these two colours weren’t the best choice for colourblind people and I sincerely apologize for that. I’ve been planning to make colourblind-friendly versions of my maps for ages now – still not sure when I get there, but I want you to know that it’s just moved up on my todo-list. A lot further up.

Minnesota is quite crazy with all that blue, right? Some other US states that are equally mind-blowing: North Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming. You can check them all out here.

Yes, most of the Peruvian waters drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Here are the maps of Peru, if you want to take a closer look.

Asia is amazingly colourful with lots of endorheic basins in the middle areas: deserts, the Himalayas and the Caspian sea are to blame. Also note how the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra are divided.

I mentioned earlier that I also made white versions of all maps. Here’s Australia with its vast deserts. If you're wondering about the weird lines in the middle: that’s the Simpson desert with its famous parallel sand dunes.

North America with white background and colourful oceans looks pretty neat, I think.

Finally, I made the drainage basin maps of the individual oceans: The Atlantic, the Arctic, the Indian and the Pacific. The Arctic is my favourite one.

I really hope you like my new maps, and that they will become as popular as my river basin maps. Those have already helped dozens of environmental NGOs to illustrate their important messages all around the world. It would be nice if these maps too could find their purpose.

[note-a-bear]

the concept of jaywalking one of the craziest inventions to me. youre just making shit up

#i try not to be a dick about it #but i truly believe in the right to public intoxication #(note: thats not an excuse for being a nuisance. just that if youre sipping smth in a park or on the street that shouldnt be probable cause)

[note-a-bear]

With long white hair, heavy brows, and a chest-length beard that begins halfway up his lightly melanated cheeks, [Samuel] Delany has the appearance of an Eastern Orthodox monk who left his cloister for a biker gang. Three surgical-steel rings hang from the cartilage of his left ear; on his left shoulder is a tattoo of a dragon entwined around a skull . . . The room, which does triple duty as foyer, dining area, and library-office, had the unmistakable clutter of a place devoted to writing. Stacks of books littered every surface; one, the height of a small child, leaned perilously in a chair near narrow windows, which let in a stingy helping of winter sun.

The only indication that I wasn’t in the lair of some industrious graduate student was the prizes crowning the bookshelves: a Lambda, the Nicolás Guillén Award for Philosophical Literature, the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award. Opposite stood Delany’s literary battle station, a desktop computer with a rainbow-backlit keyboard. Within easy reach were a book scanner, a back scratcher shaped like a bear claw, a biography of Flaubert, and a robust collection of gay fetish porn on DVD.

—Julian Lucas, "How Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City"