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takearisk-xo · 9 months

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Day 7: Lover written for #SeveralSunlitDaylights & @corneliaavenue-ao3

a version of this has existed since may of 2020 and it feels so good to finally put it into the universe after sitting on it for three (THREE!) years... i have a feeling i will continue this at some point and hopefully turn it into a full blow fic, but until then, enjoy some non-traditional, pandemic themed, sex pollen, a/b/o dynamics <33

They said it started in China. At the annual festival in Shanghai.

Some experts claimed the mutation originated because of an uncharacteristically dry winter. Some blamed climate change. Others said it was all part of the cyclical nature of the earth. A purification process. Nature taking its course.

The more hysterically minded said it was the end of the fucking world.

Either way, Ginny watched in horror with the rest of Edinburgh as more and more reports flooded the news.

All across the northern hemisphere, the cherry trees were blossoming, and people were going mad.

~~~

The thing about fear was that it spread like wildfire.

Grocery stores emptied of necessities overnight. The Prime Minister issued stay at home orders, some of the more populated areas even attempted a voluntary curfew. Borders were closed, air traffic came to a grinding halt, restaurants were instructed to only offer takeout, and any non-essential businesses were told to close their doors entirely.

For a while, it all felt over-cautious.

At least until the first case hit Cardiff.

They said the little omega lasted three days in a severe heat until the pain and the dehydration finally rendered her unconscious. Her family rushed her to the emergency room and it was another two days before the hospital identified what was happening to her. They said before she was quarantined, she infected almost thirty people, nine of them hospital staff.

It spread from twenty-nine confirmed cases to over three-hundred within a week, three-hundred became eight-thousand within the month.

And that was just Wales.

~~~

Birmingham was the third city to reach critical levels of contamination, after Liverpool and Manchester.

They projected a global spread, the more densely populated areas being hit first. Each day the estimates increased, predicting numbers so catastrophic, there hadn’t been anything like it in over five-hundred years.

The real test, however, was London.

There were reports that all the major cabinet members had been moved to separate and secure locations. That way if any of them contracted the sickness, at the very least, they wouldn’t infect the rest of the country's leaders.

The worst part was nobody seemed to know anything. Records of the last pandemic were inconclusive or didn’t exist. No one knew how long the sickness lasted or how debilitating it really was. Less reliable news sources even reported deaths when the first wave hit eastern China, rumours spreading of alphas ripping each other apart over the chance to mate an omega.

But that’s all they were.

Rumours.

~~~

Designation had never mattered much to Ginny. It was just something stamped on her birth certificate next to seven pounds two ounces, eighteen inches long. Her ruts weren’t dramatic events, they were hardly even a disruption. Four times a year, she’d get the urge, use her fingers on herself three nights in a row and wait out the subsequent five days of bleeding.

Designation also hasn’t mattered to the world in decades. Suppressants went out of fashion after the turn of the century, the human race’s more animalistic instincts fading with each generation until the ruts and heats became nothing more than quarterly nuisances. Only a very small percentage of the population still needed herbs and homoeopathic blockers to get by, the rest went about their lives business as usual.

Humanity had evolved past such trivial things as Alpha, Beta, and Omega.

But now, it was all anyone could talk about.

~~~

Dawdling around the townhouse, Ginny took her frustrations out in the form of kneading a lumpy, soon to be loaf of bread while half listening to the news. Her television emitted a scratchy noise every few seconds, but for a dumpster dive, it worked fine enough. Especially since for the six weeks she’d been stuck at home, she’d hardly turned the damn thing off.

It wasn’t so much that she was dedicated to being informed, she just couldn’t bear the silence.

No honking cars, no nosy tourists, no shouting street vendors.

It was quiet in an uncomfortable way, in an unnatural way. In a way that left Ginny too much alone with her own thoughts.

As she punched the dough down as hard as she could, her telly warbled out an odd static followed by the evening news anchor chatting animatedly with a couple who supposedly recovered from the sickness.

“And you think having each other,” the journalist asked in disbelief, “helped speed up your recovery?”

“We realise it sounds a bit crazy, we aren’t even sure if there is science to support it–” a male voice responded. He sounded rational enough even though what he was saying went against every directive of social distancing. “But I’m an alpha, and my wife is an omega. When we both came down with it, we decided to stay home and wait it out together. Within a week or so we felt completely back to normal...”

Ginny snorted. The hospitals reported the illness lasting between twelve to fifteen days, not seven. And what were their credentials besides claiming to have been infected? The news station could interview anyone off the street. They’d probably interview her if she claimed she danced naked, covered in chicken’s blood beneath the full moon and it spared her. If anything, the segment was irresponsible. Now people were going to go out looking for a sex partner for the week.

Sighing at the downturn in journalistic integrity, she tuned out the rest of the interview, content to bask in the early May breeze wafting through the open windows.

Until she heard the squeak of brakes slow to a stop out front.

And muffled voices.

Followed by a car door slamming shut.

She’d just begun to wonder which bluenose neighbour had arrived to hole up in a holiday house when footsteps scuffed up the stone walk, her stone walk, and a key slid into the lock of her front door.

The knob turned, the door clicked open, and Ginny stood rooted to the spot, covered in flour as her landlord (slash older brother’s best mate) appeared framed on the stoop.

At first, Harry didn’t notice her. He stepped inside, careful to scrub his shoes on the mat before closing the door behind him and dropping his duffle unceremoniously in the foyer. He looked the same as he had nearly a year ago. He scratched a hand through the disaster hair piled atop his head then patted it all down again. His glasses were the same, and he still had the same little divot permanently etching his brow into a scowl. Beneath his anorak she could tell his lean frame still gave way to lanky limbs that shifted into slender fingers.

Then the telly switched programs, the News giving way to some crime documentary, or something. Ginny wasn’t actually paying attention. At the change in music, Harry froze with his back halfway to her and his shoulders went tight.

Then he turned on the spot, and he finally registered Ginny’s presence tucked away in the kitchen at the back of the house.

Their gazes held for several beats too long, both of them wide-eyed and startled by the existence of the other in such close proximity.

Ginny’s heart thundered inside her chest, in a way that was achingly familiar and entirely unwelcome.

“What are you– I didn’t think–” Harry stammered quickly. “Ron said he was meeting you back home?”

“He was,” Ginny answered, just as flustered. “I’d planned on it but– I couldn’t– I mean, I…changed my mind.”

Harry dug his fingers into his eyes behind his glasses and swore softly. He looked a bit peaky.

“Christ, I’m an idiot,” He croaked. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve called.”

“No, it’s fine,” she reassured, not quite sure why she was pardoning his intrusion. “It’s still your house.”

They stared at each other in the silence for several beats too long, both of them seemingly at a loss for what to do next.

“Er–” Harry finally stammered, a grin taking over his face. “Hi, by the way.”

Ginny laughed. “Yeah... long time, no see.”

They went in for a hug at the same time, but it was too light and too quick to feel natural. As he pulled away, Harry averted his gaze and let his eyes wander around the hall and the front two rooms.

“Is Luna…” he trailed off, as if those two words were question enough.

Ginny realised she was still covered in baking powder and half finished dough. She grabbed a tea towel from the hook and wiped her hands just for something to look at besides him. “She and her Dad were visiting family in Hamburg when the stay at home orders hit. She’s been stuck there for over a month. They can’t get a flight home.”

Harry nodded and let out a deep exhale of sympathy. “Fuck, yeah, that’d be awful.” He paused, shooting her a furtive glance. “And you? How–how are you?”

“Yeah, fine,” One half of her mouth tipped into a smile. “You?”

Shaking his head as if in thought, his hands fidgeted slightly in front of him. “Well, London is a disaster. They aren’t letting anyone leave their homes, or letting anyone into town. They’re letting people leave, but it took me ten days just to get approval to hop a train. I figured it couldn’t be so bad up here, you know? That’s why I…”

He trailed off again and Ginny wondered if he’d become incapable of finishing a coherent sentence in the time since she’d seen him last.

“Makes sense,” she nodded generously.

Harry remained exactly where he was, awkwardly perched on the welcome mat.

“You can come in,” Ginny asserted and he flinched a bit like he hadn’t expected to actually be allowed to stay.

“Right,” he cleared his throat and stepped forward like a man walking the plank.

Busying herself with the kettle, she tried not to be too aware of his progress through the sitting room.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him wave to the bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

Ginny grinned. The house held tell-tale signs of being solely occupied by her for the last month and a half. Stray jumpers, and rumpled throw pillows, and forgotten cups of tea sat scattered all around. The dishes in the sink were piled several days too high and the bananas on her countertop were just a shade too brown.

“It’s a disaster,” she corrected, pulling her last two bags of tea out of the cupboard.

Harry flashed her a smile, but it was gone just as quickly as it came. “I mean the furniture and things. The colours.”

“The colours?” she repeated incredulously.

“Yeah,” he hummed, finally inching his way fully into the kitchen. He swallowed as his eyes settled on her once more. “It looks nice. Cosy.”

Snorting, she pulled her nearly empty carton of milk out of the refrigerator. “A sight better than when you and Ron lived here, you mean?”

That fleeting smirk again, there and then gone. “Do you know our sofa broke in two when we tried to move it out?”

“That does not surprise me in the slightest.”

Ginny poured and they both chuckled. She passed him one of the mugs and the milk, remembering how he took it. She reckoned it was one of those things she’d never forget. Like the opening to her favourite Spice Girls’ song, or her childhood phone number, or the rhymes to bonfire night. Two plus two equals four and Harry took his tea with milk, no sugar.

He tipped a splash into his cup, seemed to hesitate for a second, and then burst, “I can get a room. There’s got to be a hotel open in Old Town–”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ginny cut across him, spooning a heap of sugar into her own tea. Again, she wasn’t quite sure why she was contradicting him, but she refused to chase the thought down, because then she’d have to acknowledge that somewhere deep down she wanted him to stay.

“Ginny,” he croaked. “I can’t intrude like this. I’ll figure something out. I’ll go stay at Sirius’ place in the country, or–”

“Harry,” she interrupted him again. “It’s your house.”

He seemed determined to put himself out. “But I can’t just show up out of the blue and–”

“Luna took your old room–” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken.

“I mean, you pay rent!” Now he was just talking to himself. “I had no right–”

“And she’s obviously not using it–” Ginny reasoned, though the ramifications of what she was suggesting crept up on her in a gradual recognition of awareness.

“I bet the Chisholm Hunter has rooms–”

“Harry!” she cut across him in humoured agitation. “It’s fine. Stay tonight, or the next few days, or a week, until you figure it out. It’s fine.”

He blinked, the furrow between his brows deepening in thought. “You’re sure it’s okay?”

“Yes,” she lied, like a liar. “It’s not a big deal.”

It was kind of a big deal, but she could handle it.

“You said they aren’t letting people into London, right?” Ginny continued. “What are you going to do? Rent a room until they let you go back home? That could be months!”

He opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it again and exhaled sharply through his nose.

“Yeah, alright,” He conceded. “But only until I can get ahold of Sirius. Then, I swear, I’ll get out of your hair.”

The statement stung, just a little. As if getting out of her sight was vastly preferable than remaining in it.

“Where is he?” Ginny asked instead, lifting her mug to her mouth as if completely unaffected.

Harry pulled out his mobile and punched in his passcode. “Australia. Apparently their cherry trees don’t bloom until September.”

A scoff bubbled up in the back of her throat. “Lucky Australia.”

He muttered something that sounded like agreement and pressed the phone to his ear. As he meandered back into the sitting room, Ginny turned her cupboards in search of biscuits. Surely, she still had a package left somewhere.

Harry returned within moments. “Didn’t answer.”

“Well,” she shrugged, “Isn’t it like three in the morning?”

Harry gave her a flat look. “It’s Sirius.”

She laughed. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair.”

Something in his expression sparked at her reaction and it made the breath in her lungs go shallow.

Just like his smiles, the flare of something was there and then gone in an instant. She tried not to feel the familiarity of it, really she did, but something hollowed out spread through her middle at the reminder of her nearly debilitating infatuation, and then its eventual collapse.

Ginny cleared her throat, coming back to her senses. “So, you said it took you forever to get a train ticket. Have they decreased the routes?”

“Oh, erm–” Harry took a sip of tea that was clearly too hot for his mouth and he winced. “Yeah, and they’re checking into everyone who books.”

Understanding washed over her. “Right, so they make sure people aren’t…”

Great, now she was incapable of finishing her sentences.

He looked to her uncomfortably. “I hadn’t actually ever seen my birth certificate, I just always figured I was a Beta. Had to have a Doctor check me over once to make sure I wasn’t — you know — that I hadn’t gone unidentified.”

“Right, good. Nice.”

Why exactly was it nice? She should really stop talking.

“Is that why you…” He gestured vaguely south with one hand. “Couldn’t…go home?”

“Oh, er-” Ginny resisted the urge to cringe. “No.”

In reality, she’d had plenty of time to book a train to Devon before they started restricting the passengers who were designated one way or the other, but she hadn’t had the funds.

Harry’s gaze sharpened in curiosity.

“Do you want to put your stuff upstairs?” she asked brightly. “You must be knackered after travelling all day.”

~~~

Ginny retreated to the bathroom, closing the door softly behind her and leaning back against the sink. Shortly after Harry had settled into Luna’s room, his old room, she’d heard his mobile ring. His muffled voice through the mostly closed door had been maddening, and nearly too tempting to eavesdrop on, so she’d escaped.

She was half-torn. One part of her wished Sirius was offering up his country house to his godson immediately, and the other part hoped there was some flood, or fire, or other natural disaster that made it inhabitable.

Because the prospect of spending time with someone, but especially him; to not be alone hour after hour and day after day, was almost too exquisite to contemplate.

Christ, she was hopeless.

With nothing better to do than simmer in her own thoughts, Ginny turned the taps to the bath and adjusted the temperature until the shower spray was borderline scorching. She spent an excessive amount of time washing her hair and scrubbing her skin. She didn’t bother trying to figure out if she was doing it consciously or subconsciously, but she did know she was avoiding the end of her shower. Because as soon as she left the bath, she’d find out if he was staying or going.

Both scenarios felt too formidable to contemplate.

Eventually, though, the water ran cold, and Ginny couldn’t hide any longer.

After brushing her teeth, applying night cream, and wrapping herself up in her dressing gown, Ginny yanked open the bathroom door to find Harry standing directly in the doorway, with his fist raised as if to knock.

“Oh, sorry–” He muttered, his gaze flitting down her body and back up again. His face flushed just enough to notice. “That was Sirius,” he continued. “I can stay at his place, so I’ll be out of here as soon as I can book a train.”

Ginny pulled in a breath and did her best to keep it even. “Right. Good.”

She felt anything but good.

Squeezing past him and into the hallway, she kept her expression bright and open until she was safe inside her bedroom.

In her haste, she missed the way his eyes fluttered shut as she passed.

~~~

That night was unseasonably hot. The forecast had called for it to be a mild week, balmy and temperate, so Ginny wasn’t sure why the air wafting in through her open window felt so stifling. As she tossed and turned, a light sheen of sweat clung to her skin, and she contemplated the merits of another shower. This time a cold one.

She settled for a glass of water instead.

Padding down the hall toward the stairs, Ginny skirted past Luna’s room as quickly and quietly as she could. However, in the end, stealth didn’t matter.

Harry was already in the kitchen, propped up against the sink and looking pale.

“You okay?” Ginny muttered, taking a tentative step forward.

Clenching his eyes shut, Harry kept his head down and nodded. “I don’t know what’s happened to my stomach. Food poisoning or something–”

“I may have some Pepti upstairs?”

Harry nodded again.

She took a step closer, reaching for a glass from the shelf when the scent hit her. It smelled like fresh spring mornings, and the citrus of Earl Grey tea, and the warmth of never being alone. It smelled like home.

Every instinct she had screamed at her to take in more of it, to surround herself in it. Harry’s eyes met hers through the dim light and she saw him pull in a deep inhale through flared nostrils.

In an instant, her mind was restless and her body uncomfortably warm. Parts of her she didn’t know could ache, gnawed and cramped in time with her too loud pulse.

She dropped the glass she’d been holding at the same time Harry lept backwards.

In some corner of her mind, she knew what was happening. All of the doctors listed the same symptoms over and over; heightened senses, irregular body temperature, lower-abdominal cramps, increased libido. However, she was firmly ignoring the signs… especially the last one. It was much easier to dismiss her body’s immediate urges as coincidence. Otherwise, she would also have to admit what triggered it.

For fuck’s sake, Harry triggered it.

But that would mean he–

Fucking fuck, fuck, fuck.

#hinny #severalsunlitdaylights #hinny fic #a/b/o #harry/ginny #harry x ginny #my fic

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metalheadsforblacklivesmatter · 2 years

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So China is having a drought so bad some of the biggest rivers in the world are drying up. And Pakistan is flooding so bad that residential areas are turning into literal lakes. India had record breaking heatwaves of 50C (122 F)

And I am not looking forward to what this will mean for the next Winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

ESPECIALLY because the polar vortex (the thing that was acting eradict when Texas had its record breaking freeze) is ALREADY showing signs of instability.

The great Yangtze River in China, the third longest river in the world at 3,975 miles, is drying up.

Striking new satellite images that reveal the extent of Pakistan's record flooding show how an overflowing Indus River has turned part of Sindh Province into a 100 kilometer-wide inland lake.

Going into September, the cold anomalies will continue over the southern stratosphere. As the polar vortex starts to weaken and the seasonal heating returns, it will be interesting to monitor the progress and the effects of the remaining water vapor.

An April heatwave that saw the mercury climb above 50C (122 Fahrenheit) in India and Pakistan, for example, was made 30 times more likely by climate change, according to WWA.

Each of the regions will experience several cold snaps throughout the winter months, with some of the coldest temperatures being felt starting in December, specifically for the southeast and the Deep South.

Unfortunately for much of the Southeast United States, the record-breaking chill will last well into February 2023 before finding relief in March.

-fae

#climate change #climate crisis #global warming

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enkhanthor · 1 year

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LEGACY HISTORY CHALLENGE - AGRICULTURAL AGE (NEOLITHIC AND EARLY SIMVILIZATION)

*Note: English isn't my mother language and I’m not an expert in idiomatic expression. So if you find any errors or something weird, please forgive me and let me know on “ask me” if you want.

Tradução para Português aqui.

INTRODUCTION

Around 12,000 years ago, geological and astronomical events such as the younger Dryas impact caused profound climate changes, leading to global warming, rising sea levels and enabling the development of agriculture. Man ceased to be a hunter/gatherer and began to settle in settlements, becoming sedentary. The first cities, ceramics, the calendar, coins (initially clay chips) and later, writing appeared.

The oldest city in the world is believed to be Çatal Huyuk in Anatolia (Turkey) dating to 7,100 BC, although older settlements such as Tell Abu Hureyra already denote the existence of Pre-Pottery Neolithic communities of Natufian culture in the Levant region and northern Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 9,000 years ago. These were probably seasonal settlements of semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer groups who practiced rudimentary agriculture and domestication of animals, while Çatal Huyuk was a more sophisticated town of around 10 thousand inhabitants, with a sewerage and rainwater channeling system. Their houses were about 25 m² (269,0977 ft²) in size and were built adjacent to each other with openings in the roof, accessed by stairs. The city had no walls, sidewalks, streets, market squares or cemeteries. Their dead were buried under the floors of houses. Art was very important to the local population. Mural paintings and several animal sculptures were found, mainly bulls and women, probable symbols of fertility. One factor that may have favored the establishment of a matriarchal culture is the city's location on the migration route between northern Mesopotamia and the European continent. However, as men spent more time at home and cities emerged, social relations began to change, forming the basis for the patriarchal society that was established since antiquity. The man's space was defined as public, while the woman's became private. Marriages began to be frequent and women became a bargaining chip.

In Anatolia, the first major constructions also emerged, the Temple of Gobekli Tepe, dating from 9,500 BC, and astro-religion (a set of mythological beliefs based on the observation of the sky and constellations). It is speculated that there was a religious belief at that time, which originated from syncretism all the gods and myths of antiquity. In this way, there are parallels between Ea and Chronos, Zeus and Thor, Ra and Apollo, Ishtar, Astarte and Aphrodite, Hermes and Thoth, Enki/Enlil and God/Devil, Jesus Christ and Krishna and several narratives that talk about a great flood in different cultures.

It was formerly believed that agriculture spread from three centers of expansion: Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. Today, Harapa (India), Central America and New Guinea are added. The earliest known civilization flourished in the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where, around 5500 BC, the Ubaid culture developed through the fusion of the three cultures: Samarra (fisher-hunter), Hassuna (practicing irrigated agriculture) and Halef (shepherd potter nomads), later becoming Sumer. The Ubaidians founded the city of Eridu in 5400 BC in southern Mesopotamia and are probably responsible for the oldest metallurgical processes known from copper smelting. Genesis also mentions that the Garden of Eden would be located next to a river that would divide into four, two of them identified as Tigris and Euphrates. This could mean that there was a place of peace and tranquility in this region attributed by the Hebrews as the cradle of humanity. New research has also found submerged ruins that suggest the existence of even older civilizations in Duarca (India) and Yonaguni (Japan), but little is known about these archaeological remains.

The rules I wrote are for the Neolithic and early pre-Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia because of the archaeological records. I tried to have a base that had sources to research or at least a speculation of how people lived. Another point is that I wanted to diversify the ethnic groups. It is worth remembering that Prehistory in Mesopotamia ends with the invention of writing around 3500 BC, while in Europe it lasts longer. Stonehenge, for example, dates to 3100 BC to 2000 BC (about 6 millennia after Gobekli Tepe).

Being based in Mesopotamia also means some problems. Doesn't have custom content for Sumeria (I'll need to make). I am inspired by Morbid Gamer's Ultimate Decades Challenge and playing 10 thousand years considering every 4 Sim days as 1 human year would be crazy. So I'll adopt the human-based Sims lifespan only when starting historical records. Prior to these records, the Bible and the Sumerian King List suggest that men lived for hundreds of years. So, consider that your Prehistoric Sims lived thousands of years and ancient Sims lived longer than current Sims. I have established each Sim day as 1 year of Antiquity. The amount of generations after completing the basic tasks of this Age is optional and you can also disregard this calendar suggestion.

RULES

1 - Gradual progression:

The main rule of this Era is:

1.1 - Changes should happen slowly, gradually and look like progress is being made. No more sleeping in a cave with furs one day and the next day in a brick shed with elaborate clothing and jewelry. Let your Sims conquer things slowly.

2 - Heir, Matrimony, Maternity and Primogeniture

2.1 - The Sim that starts this Era would be the youngest after the Founding Matriarch of Prehistory completed the life cycle. If you've played multiple generations in Prehistory, you can choose another descendant, as long as he's of the Matriarch's blood lineage.

2.2 - The first heir can be a woman, but the next ones will all be men.

2.3 - If you have The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle expansion pack, the "Free Love" action plan is prohibited.

2.4 - Female sims must marry young (teens in the game). Yes, they can marry with elders.

2.5 - It would be nice for men to marry young, but it's not mandatory.

2.6 - Beauty is not fundamental to marriage, fertility yes. Young women with wide hips are preferred. But if your Sim doesn't find their spouse attractive (Wicked Whims or Wonderfull Whims attractiveness system), you can marry them anyway.

2.7 - Marriages can occur by exchanges. I'm not considering the dowry, but the exchange for some more expensive item you need or want.

2.8 - Your Sim can have more than one wife. This rule is valid for women also until the day marked as 2300 BC in the Sim Calendar (see item 4). Polyandry was outlawed under the penalty of stoning around 2300 BC in Sumer.

2.9 - In Simvilization, women must have aspirations of being a Superparent or a Big Happy Family and being mothers. They can have other aspirations and do business with other Sims (through the store or sales table) only when widowed or old (adult), in the absence of a husband.

2.10 Every time a Sim gets married (male or female) roll a D100. If you roll 100, that Sim is infertile and will never be able to have children. Check the option in the CAS so that he cannot have children.

2.11 - If the Sim's wife is infertile he cannot get a divorce.

2.12 - If you use Wicked Whims, Wonderfull Whims or Pregnancy Overhaul you cannot use contraception. I didn't adopt the rule of always “try for a baby” instead of “woo hoo” because surely there must have been methods of preventing pregnancy in the old days, although not as effective as the modern ones.

2.13 - Homosexual relationships gradually begin to be viewed with prejudice. These relationships must be hidden. I'm not sure if this is true for all of Sumer, but it was true for the Hebrews (Bible). So the foundations must have started with marriage.

2.14 - If your inheriting Sim dies, the Legacy passes to the firstborn child.

2.15 - If the heir's eldest son dies, the Legacy passes to the next eldest son.

2.16 - If all of the heir's sons die, the Legacy passes to the closest male Sim.

2.17 - If all male Sims descended from the Matriarch die, the Legacy passes to the eldest daughter or closest female relative, assuming the husband will plan her estate. Upon the death of that female Sim, the Legacy passes to her firstborn male child. If the husband has other children, with another woman, these are not considered, as they are not descendants of the Matriarch.

2.18 - Use rules 2.16 and 2.17 with wisely. A female Sim close to the main family is still more important than a male Sim descended from the Matriarch in a distant world. If you don't have contact with the male Sim's family branch, Legacy passes to the female Sim.

2.19 - If your legacy Sim dies without completing an Age task, the next Sim who takes up the Legacy must carry on that task. The previous heir's skill progression doesn't count. If the heir dies with gardening level 9 and the new one has only 2, you will have all the skill progression effort again.

2.20 - The second son or another male Sim can compete with the heir Sim for the Legacy. A fight must ensue. The loser dies or is exiled. The winner must continue the tasks, applying rule 2.19.

2.21 - I'm not considering the regent yet. In some cases, when the mother is a widow and the heir is a child, a regent (the uncle or second husband of mother) may be appointed to complete the tasks of the Age. But I don't know if this is suitable for this Age or just Roman Empire and Middle Ages. It is more likely that this wasn't important until there was a great accumulation of simoleons. Perhaps, if your family becomes exceptionally rich… Use this idea wisely.

3 - Aspiration and Sim Skills - Agriculture Expansion, Object Crafting and Animal Taming

3.1 - Your Heir Sim must have the Freelance Botanist aspiration and the Super Green Thumb reward trait to complete the Agricultural Age.

3.2 - Your Heir Sim must reach level 10 in Gardening skill.

3.3 - Complete the Harvested Interest achievement.

3.4 - Have a plantation with all plants in your world. It must not be an organized plantation. Just a bunch of plants that grow where you planted them and shouldn't be moved in build mode. You can organize the crops after completing level 10 gardening.

3.5 - Plants with insects cannot be cared for and must die. No pesticides.

3.6 - It is not allowed to buy seeds by the gardener. No buying on phone and computer too, please.

3.7 - Your Sim can travel to another world to gather herbs, fruits and vegetables, but he must stay outside for days with his campfire and tent. Only for worlds with similar climates. If your Sim lives in Willow Creek, he can travel to Newcrest, Windembug, and Henford-on-Bagley. If he lives in Oasis Springs he can travel to Del Sol Valley and Sulani. Granitte Falls are equivalent to the mountains and can be visited by everyone, but Selvadorada isn't.

3.8 - After you reach level 10 in gardening, you can acquire wheat with this branzelotus mod if you want. It's like your Sim traded with merchants.

3.9 - Your Heir Sim must have Handiness Level 10 to purchase the Sales Table (as if your Sim crafted it with Woodworking Skill) which is equivalent to starting business transactions and currency (see item 5).

3.10 - If you have The Sims 4 Cottage Living expansion pack, I recommend using mods to replace the cow with a goat and the llama with a sheep.

3.11 - To own any farm animal (The Sims 4 Cottage Living required), bee box (The Sims 4 Seasons required) or insect farm (The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle required), your Heir Sim must have level 10 Fishing and Gardening skills and enough money (see item 5).

3.12 - Polemic - Exception to rules 3.9 and 3.11 - You can also exchange the sales table, a farm animal or some item by giving one of your daughters in marriage. This rule will apply to almost any object for many Ages to come, especially the poorer your Sim.

3.13 - Sims can have candle fabrication skill. In the Neolithic your Sims remain in the dark if they don't create their own candles. You can only purchase one permanent candle (lighting session in Buy Mode or custom content) for each Sim who reaches Fabrication skill 10. All other candles must be crafted. This rule applies to your main lot, other lots can be customized with permanent candles.

3.14 - All past Age skills are allowed: Gymnastics, Singing, Dancing, Animal Training, Painting, Cooking, Fishing, Charisma, and Mischief. If you have The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat game pack, you can have herbalism too.

3.15 - Skills from mods consistent with the Early Simvilization are allowed: honey production, cowplant farming, for example. Cowplant farming requires level 10 gardening skill and obtain a base game cowplant through fishing or grafting.

4 - Worlds, Weather and Sim Calendar:

4.1 - Choose a world to settle in. Henford-on-Bagley represents Great Britain; Windemburg, the Rhine region of Germany; Newcrest and Willow Creek, Western Europe; Tartosa, the Mediterranean; Oasis Springs and Strangerville, Egypt. In the absence of a suitable world, Mesopotamia can be represented by either Oasis Springs or Sulani.

4.2 - I suggest you stay away from the roads or use a mod like Timeless, always covering modern items with stones with the help of tool 2.6.2.

4.3 - In the Neolithic seasons lasted 7 days, completing 1 Sim year, this will allow the creation of the Sim Calendar.

4.4 - You can set the start of the calendar in the spring of the next year, after you reach level 10 in gardening skill.

4.5 - The Calendar marks the Start of Early Simvilization. The Sim year has 28 days and is divided into p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7 for spring, v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, v7 for summer, o1, o2, o3, o4, o5, o6, o,7 for autumn and i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7 for winter, where each number corresponds to the day of the week. On the front put the year number. Thus, 1p1 equals the first day of spring in year 1 and 25v5 equals the fifth day of summer in year 25. Follow the calendar tab of my spreadsheet to understand better. Each Sim day at Start of Simvilization equals 1 human year. So at this stage the challenge runs faster than the Ultimate Decades Challenge, considering that events are occurring faster in Sim History than in Human History.

The day 1p1 equals 3500 BC, which date we will establish as the invention of proto-writing in Sumer (although the Ubaid period started in 5400 BC):

4.6 - As time goes by, build lots in your neighborhood and populate them with random Sims from the game (duly customized) or descendants of other families.

5 - Lots, Money and Bills

5.1 - At the start of Agricultural Age you can now build a rustic shelter. Suggestion: a simple square block with holes for ventilation or just a hole in the floor. Over time and as you earn money, you can add windows, thatched roofs and improve your shelter.

5.2 - At the beginning of Simvilization, money matters. From 1p1, you must zero your family/group money. To do this, have handiness level 10 and buy a sales table (The Sims 4 City Living, The Sims 4 Jungle Adventure or The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle required). Now, press shift+c, enable testingcheats.true and type money 0.

5.3 - After purchasing the sales table, the Sim can no longer sell items from their inventory. You always need to sell the item to another Sim that your Sim can interact with (Yard Sale).

5.4 - To sell items in construction mode, you need to have a store (requires The Sims 4 Get to Work). Unless you know an easier way to sell these items to Sims your Sim interacts with.

5.5 - You cannot sell your harvest. Just pick the fruits and vegetables for your own consumption and sell some through the sales desk.

5.6 - You can ignore bills, always paying and discounting the amount through cheats, as if you had never paid bills. Look at the family/group simoleons before paying the bill. Pay the bill. Press shift+c, enable testingcheats.true and type money observed value. The amount paid on the accounts will be added.

5.7 - The lot you live on does not belong to you, it has no land value. You simply found unclaimed land and built on it. This means that when you leave, you must deduct its value from your initial money. In the same way, when changing lots, you don't have to pay for it. Press shift + c, enable testingcheats.true and use the command FreeRealEstate on.

5.8 - Own the “Off the Grid” and “Simple Living” lot challenges (Simple Living requires The Sims 4 Cottage Living). Again, you can only remove “Off the Grid” if you use a custom content stove because the game interprets the stove as electric. Therefore, prefer barbecue grills.

The rules below apply to Mesopotamia, not Europe:

5.9 - Polemic - You can create a lot that will serve as a house of pleasures. This lot can have a bar, dance floor and music. Female Sims who don't have a husband and the means to support themselves can be dancers and join "the oldest profession in the world". These types of environments cannot be frequented by married women and daughters of patriarchs. The women of the pleasure houses also cannot live with other women from outside, they are unfortunately not well socially accepted. (This case is not sacred prostitution allegedly practiced by Sumerian priestesses in temples.)

5.10 - You can create an Astro-religion temple. The Gods are based on the constellations and forces of nature: Sun God, Moon Goddess, Thunder God, and The Watcher from The Sims Medieval.

5.11 - Other lots allowed as the Simvilization progresses are restaurant (requires The Sims 4 Dine Out game pack), market community lot (requires The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle) and stores (requires The Sims 4 Get to Work), duly customized.

6 - Build Mode Objects and Custom Content

6.1 - All stone and skin items from the past Age are allowed.

6.2 - You can use the woodwork table to craft objects. Destroy in-game items and exchange for custom content items, then these items will be free (you can add your value to the family/group money through cheats). Prefer rustic objects at the beginning (tree benches, for example), but objects with metallic connections (nails) are allowed at the EarlySimvilization.

6.3 - To have a bathtub you need to create it on the woodwork table. Delete it from the game (since you can't sell it in construction mode) and replace it with a more suitable CC.

6.4 - You can have a grill and stove with custom contents.

6.5 - Refrigerators to preserve food are still not allowed. You can have one just for cooking because the game requires it. You can only store fruits and meat (mod olde cookbook v.0.3) as if they were dried fruits and salted meat. Uneaten food must sit out of the refrigerator and spoil (except in winter in places where it snows).

6.6 - Scatter Lump of Clay around the lot to pretend Sims are molding pottery. You can discount the value of the Lumps through cheats and sell them on the sculpture model at the sales table. Mud is free, ready-made pottery is worth something.

6.7 - The Sim can have a loom.

7 - Create a Sim Items

7.1 - Fur clothes with leather or metallic parts are now allowed.

7.2 - The snowtato loom is a computer in disguise. You can increase writing skill with it. As you level up in writing, you can change your skins for clothes that appear to be woven or made of wool and cotton. One piece per level.

7.3 - In some warmer regions, women can only wear skirts with their breasts uncovered and, over time, cover them up more. Despite that Sims can no longer walk naked, or shower in the rain near other Sims.

Leaves or Skins? - only consider the first few minutes of video, not the most elaborate outfits.

7.4 - Transition from disheveled hair to neater hair or hairstyles.

7.5- Transition from mandatory to optional body hair for women.

7.6 - Men should still have a beard, except for beardless teenagers or future Egyptians.

8 - Birthdays, Life Expectancy, Deaths and Illnesses

Living in Simvilization made life easier for the Sims, but not so much. No more the devastating danger of starvation, animal attack or homelessness, but now there are plagues, attacks by bandits or other rival cities and the misery of wars and social inequality. Of course, there are always good Sims out there to help those in need, just as much as there are evil ones. Life expectancy has improved compared to prehistory, but remains aggressive.

At Early Simvilization you must change the life stage duration in the MC Command Center settings, based on the life expectancy below:

8.1 - From day 1p1 of the Calendar, make the modification bellow considering normal and short life time (MCC cannot modify the short life time, if you want to play in the short life time, you must play in normal mode with the change indicated for short):

8.2 - Always grow the Sim one day after his birthday or let him grow alone (you can remove the forgotten birthday buffs with cheat). Thus, all Sims in the world grow equally, because EA's default is to delay growth by one day.

8.3 - The elder life stage can be left as default, 27 days on normal, or you can simply roll a die to decide how many days your Sim can live.

8.4 - From 1p1, when your Sim grows up, replace the Prehistory dice roll with the dice roll in the table below:

8.5 - If you roll one of the dice from the table above, it means that your Sim will die at this stage of life. Deaths in childbirth, newborns and the elderly occur on the same day. For the other stages, roll the dice again or spin the roulette wheel with the number of days that the respective stage lasts to find out on which day the Sim will die. That way Sims don't always die on the same day.

8.6 - If you use a mod that adds disease to the game, you can choose to roll the dice only when your Sim gets sick, instead of inventing deaths.

8.7 - For pregnancies with twins, triplets or more, the mother must roll the dice for each baby.

8.8 - Newborns can survive when their mothers die in childbirth (even twins), if you have a domestic animal that generates milk or a pregnant woman or with a child of nursing age (baby and toddler) nearby.

8.9 - If the pregnant woman gets a 5, it means that it was a complicated pregnancy and she is very sick. Roll the dice again the next day. If she survives, she will be sterile. Check the option in the CAS so that the Sim can no longer have children.

8.10 - If you ignore the rule 8.9 and the Sim becomes pregnant again, it is a death sentence. At the time of birth she will surely die.

8.11 - A sorcerer can save your Sim from death (requires The Sims 4 Realm of Magic). With a sorcerer on your lot (belonging to the family group/or not) you can beg for your Sim's life to Mistress Death or roll the dice again, taking a good number, the previous die is nullified and your Sim survives.

8.12 - Sorcerers can also cure infertility. Visit or invite a sorcerer to your lot. Get any potion from the reward shop. Pay 1000 simoleons for the potion (as if you bought it from the sorcerer) and you can lift the CAS restriction and "try for a baby" once. Do not abuse this rule.

9 - Attacks by Bandits or Other Peoples, Natural Disasters, Crop Losses and Diseases

It is assumed that with the sedentary lifestyle and the accumulation of food and products, groups of looters also emerged. Bandit attacks can occur by decreasing your game's Sim population. Life in cities without modern hygiene habits and living with animals also facilitate the transmission of diseases. Your Sim doesn't yet live in beautifully finished homes, fully protected from nature. Natural disasters such as landslides, floods, severe storms, heat waves, etc. may occur. At least one of these events must happen at some point in this Age.

9.1 - If a bandit attack happens, roll the dice or heads and tails for each Sim in your world. Sims can be killed or taken as slaves (mostly women and children).

9.2 - If your Sims are taken as slaves, you can choose to delete them or move them to another world, continuing their descent away from the main family/group.

9.3 - When bandits attack you also lose your plantation and part of your money. Roll a D100 to find out what percentage of money you should withdraw from your account. Taking 1 is 1%, 10 is 10%, 50 is half and 100 is total loss.

9.4 - In case of a disease outbreak, roll the dice or flip heads or tails for each Sim in your world, deciding who lives and who dies.

9.5 - The Sims 4 Seasons: Strong storms or excessive heat can make you lose your plantation and consequently your harvest. Roll a D100 to find out the percentage of the loss.

10 - Animals

I tried researching the oldest dog races and this is what I found, though not from reliable sources, but from articles on the internet:

Basenji (this breed is supposed to have emigrated from Africa and was represented through cave paintings in Libya 6000 years ago), Akita-Inu (its ancestor Matagi-Inu existed from 8000 BC to 200 BC), Alaskan Malamute (bred by the Mahlemut tribe 2000 or 3000 years ago), Saluki (dates back to 329 BC in Egypt, it is believed that it was used by tribes of nomadic hunters for its strength, endurance and agility), Siberian Husky (followed the Chukchi tribe in the region of Siberia), Samoyed (used to pull sleds and hunt by the Samoyed people of northwestern Siberia), Shar-Pei (hunter of wild boar and protector of livestock) and Chow-Chow (its name Songshi-Quan means "bellied lion dog". Pictured on a bas-relief from the Han Dynasty (150 BC -200 BC)). Of these, only the Basenji would have been common in the Mesopotamia region and excepting the Saluki, the other dogs belong to peoples with oriental physical characteristics such as almond-shaped eyes and straight black hair.

Basenji - Origin and Migration.

10.1 - You can have a dog that looks like a wolf or another wild animal (requires The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs).

10.2 - You can have a Basenji dog in Oasis Springs or Sulani.

10.3 - You can have a dog that looks like Akita, Samoyeda or Siberian Husky if your ethnicity is oriental.

10.4 - Prehistory rules continue. If your pet gets sick, wait a day and roll the D20 dice for it. On a roll of 5 or more, it must survive and acquire resistance to that disease. Watch the symptoms and the next time it has the same illness he won't need to roll the dice. You can press shift+left mouse button and restart it to remove the disease.

10.5 - Even in Simvilization, the sick animal cannot go to the vet, but if you have a socery on your lot (requires The Sims 4 Realm of Magic), he can cure the animal. Roll the die again, rolling 5 or more, your pet is healed even if you rolled a negative dice the previous round.

11 - Occults

11.1 - If you have The Sims 4 Realm of Magic game pack, you can create a sorcerer Sim to be a temple priest, or even considered a God. Socerys can also heal people, sell potions through the table sale, and trade skills (magic item repairs) for Simoleons. A fridge that looks like a wooden cabinet with bad contact in a time when there was no electricity and a stone bathtub leaking water seem like items taken by evil spirits, don't they? Add 50 simoleons every time you fix a broken item in someone's house.

11.2 - If you have The Sims 4 Get to Work expansion pack, you can have an Alien and consider him to be an Anunnaki, an ancient alien. I particularly think they match the paintings of the Egyptian god Osiris. But the gods were astronauts?

11.3 - The myth of the Vampire was present in Sumeria through Lamashtu. If you have The Sims 4 Vampires game pack and fishing the Vampire Squid or Batfish in the Oasis Springs secret lot, you can come into contact with the vampirism virus and become a vampire. Use cheats to do this, or create a vampire to transform your Sim as if the fish had bitten him. You can delete the vampire later.

11.4 - Tiamat was also the mother of sea monsters, or perhaps mermaids (requires The Sims 4 Island Living).

12 - The Simvilization

If you've made it this far, your legacy Sim is already level 10 in Fishing, Gardening, and Handiness. You already have a calendar, a shelter, and a neighborhood. His life expectancy improved a little bit. Congratulations, now your Sim's challenge will no longer be taking a shower in the rain at the risk of being hit by lightning and needing to fish to roast a fish over the fire and not starve to death. His new goal is to earn money so he can build a successful legacy. Trust me, making money without being able to sell through Sim inventory and build mode is hard.

12.1 - The aspirations for this stage are Fabulously Wealthy and Successfull Lineage, you can alternate between them.

12.2 - Male Sims can have fisher and gardener careers.

12.3 - You must complete a base game crystal collection if you live in Oasis Springs and a shell collection (requires The Sims 4 Island Living) if you live in Sulani. Or both if you want to travel between worlds as a merchant.

12.4 - Complete the Rosebud achievement, while you upgrade your outfits and main lot.

13 - Expansions, Game Packs and Stuff Packs:

13.1 - The Sims 4 Seasons (essential). Organize Sim Calendar.

13.2 - The Sims 4 Cottage Living (optional). “Simple life” lot challenge and farm animals.

13.3 - The Sims 4 City Living (optional/essential). Have a street vendor table.

13.4 - The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle (optional/essential). Have a community market lot, sales table and insect farm.

13.5 - The Sims 4 Island Living (optional). Live in Sulani (equivalent to the Fertile Crescent) and have a mermaid.

13.6 - The Sims 4 Get to Work (optional). Having an Alien and store.

13.7 - The Sims 4 Jungle Adventure (essential if you don't have The Sims 4 City Living or The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle). Have a street vendor table.

13.8 - The Sims 4 Realm of Magic (optional). Having a sorcerer to be a priest of the Astro-religion.

13.9 - The Sims 4 Vampires (optional). Having a Vampire.

13.10 - The Sims 4 Dine Out (optional). Have a restaurant.

14 - MCC settings:

14.1 - Enable marriages between men and women and more than one spouse.

14.2 - Women marry in adolescence, men at any age from adolescence.

14.3 - Female Elder Sims are not eligible to have children. Male Elder sims yes.

14.4 - There should be a higher percentage of pregnancies in the teenage and young adult stages compared to adulthood.

14.5 - Enable parenting skill for teenagers.

14.6 - Enable children can take care of babies.

14.7 - Increase the number of children per family/group from 3 to 6.

14.8 - Change the duration of lifespan from Sim Year 1: Newborns 6 days, Infants 20 days, Children, Adolescents and Young Adults, 27 days each, Adults, 55 days and Elders 27 days.

15 - Recommended mods:

- MC Command Center by Deaderpool - Manages various game resources.

-Timeless by Pandora - Removes some post-1900 modern items. Appropriate for Victorian Era historical saves.

- Tool v.2.6 by Twisted Mexi - Add and edit objects in the world.

-Sulani Hiders by Simplified Modding - Hides modern items in Sulani.

- Invisible Crib (default) by Severinka - hide the cradle.

-Miscarriage Chance by LittleMsSam’s or Miscarriage & Pregnancy Loss Pregnancy Overhaul Module - There is a chance the female Sim will experience cramps and miscarriage.

- Personalized content consistent with the Era. You can check the list of CPs I found at CC Links LHC Directory in my home page (I'm always updating).

#the sims 4 #sims 4 #ts4 legacy history challenge #legacy history challenge #legacy challenge #history challenge

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newstfionline · 1 year

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Friday, March 10, 2023

The decadelong boom in U.S. oil production is waning. (WSJ) The Permian Basin—America’s busiest oil patch, spread across West Texas and New Mexico—is home to fewer new big gushers, evidence that shale companies have drilled through many of their best wells. And their biggest and best wells are producing less oil, according to data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The Permian’s leveling off looks like what has happened at other, more mature U.S. shale plays. The industry said the stagnation signaled a return to more dependence on foreign energy sources.

Snow Season Continues (1440) California’s Sierra Nevada received another batch of heavy snow yesterday, just over a week after parts of the state were buried under 6 feet of precipitation. This latest round—which is expected to transition to heavy rain today and into the weekend—may hamper efforts to dig out from historic snowfalls in recent weeks. Across the northern central US, a separate system stretching from Wyoming to Michigan could drop up to a foot of snow. California’s mountain ranges have seen a total of 48 feet of snow so far this winter, partly the result of nine atmospheric rivers battering the region since December. Snow in the Plains and Midwest will likely disrupt major cities like Chicago and Detroit, while Minneapolis approaches one of the snowiest seasons on record. The same system could also cause flash flooding in many areas of the South.

In race to arm Ukraine, U.S. faces cracks in its manufacturing might (Washington Post) A sharp hissing sound fills the factory as red-hot artillery shells are plunged into scalding oil. Richard Hansen, a Navy veteran who oversees this government-owned munitions facility, explains how the 1,500-degree liquid locks in place chemical properties that ensure when the shells are fired—perhaps on a battlefield in Ukraine—they detonate in the deadly manner intended. “That’s what we do,” Hansen said. “We build things to kill people.” The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, one of a network of facilities involved in producing the U.S. Army’s 155-mm artillery round, is ground zero for the Biden administration’s scramble to accelerate the supply of weapons that Ukraine needs if its military is to prevail in the war with Russia. But the conflict has laid bare deep-seated problems that the United States must surmount to effectively manufacture the arms required not just to aid its allies but also for America’s self-defense should conflict erupt with Russia, China or another major power. Despite boasting the world’s largest military budget—more than $800 billion a year—and its most sophisticated defense industry, the United States has long struggled to efficiently develop and produce the weapons that have enabled U.S. forces to outpace their peers technologically. Those challenges take on new importance as conventional conflict returns to Europe and Washington contemplates the possibility of its own great-power fight.

Mexican cartel delivers ‘kidnappers’—five bound men—and an apology (Washington Post) Police in the Mexican border city of Matamoros early Thursday discovered five men, bound with zip ties, in a truck near the intersection where four Americans were kidnapped last week, with a note claiming to be from a Gulf Cartel faction saying it wanted to “hand over” those behind the abductions, authorities reported. Mexican crime groups often leave notes or banners describing their actions or blaming their rivals, in a macabre form of public relations. And cartels have, in the past, turned over gunmen whose actions brought on the wrath of Mexican or U.S. officials. The attack has become a flash point in U.S.-Mexico relations. Republican lawmakers have demanded the Biden administration declare Mexican cartels to be terrorist groups; some have called for U.S. military intervention.

The 4 kidnapped Americans are part of a large wave of U.S. medical tourism in Mexico (NPR) The four Americans who were shot at and abducted in Mexico were reportedly visiting for medical tourism — making them part of a booming industry that is vital to Mexico's economy. "Pre-pandemic, some 1.2 million American citizens traveled to Mexico for elective medical treatment," Josef Woodman, CEO of Patients Beyond Borders, told NPR. His firm publishes a guide to international medical travel. Nearly 780,000 people were projected to leave the U.S. for health care in 2022, according to Healthcare.com, citing data from the medical travel website Medical Departures. Cosmetic surgeries are just one of the procedures that are far cheaper in Mexico—for years, people have been visiting from the U.S. to get elaborate dental work or cosmetic treatments done, or to pick up antibiotics and other medicines at favorable prices. Costa Rica is the second-most popular destination for U.S. visitors seeking medical care elsewhere, Woodman said. It's a particular draw, he added, for people in the Northeast and Southeast.

Chile: Attempted $32 million airport heist leaves two dead (AP) An airport shootout in Chile’s capital killed a security officer and an alleged robber Wednesday in what authorities said was an attempted heist of more than $32 million in cash aboard a plane from Miami. Around 10 heavily armed robbers were able to skirt security measures to reach the runway at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, where a Latam airlines aircraft had $32.5 million in cash that was being transferred to an armored truck, Interior Subsecretary Manuel Monsalve said. There was a shootout between the would-be robbers and security officials that killed an employee of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGAC, as well as an alleged assailant. The other robbers fled. Two burned vehicles were later found nearby.

Greece Will Make Trains Safer, Transport Minister Vows (NYT) As thousands of workers went on strike Wednesday to protest the train crash in Greece last week that killed at least 57 people, the country’s new transport minister turned toward the future, saying railway safety would be improved in the coming weeks and service would resume. He conceded that perennial inadequacies in infrastructure had contributed to the crash and that Greece’s railway network was, until recently, “chronically obsolete.” He also apologized for the authorities’ failure to avert the tragedy. “I am in shock,” he said. “I understand the collective pain that this disaster has caused to society,” he continued, adding that the anger unleashed by the crash was “very reasonable.” Across town, there was proof that outrage over the crash had not subsided, as thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens, the capital, holding banners saying, “We will never forget the crime!” “Our lives matter!” and “Let anger lead to overthrow now!” Similar rallies were held in other major cities, including Thessaloniki and Larissa, the city in central Greece closest to the site of the crash. Civil servants, including teachers, nurses and bus drivers, joined railway staff members, who have been holding rolling strikes for a week, to protest the years of neglect and understaffing that they say had made the crash all but inevitable.

Major Russian missile barrage slams targets across Ukraine (AP) Russia unleashed “a massive rocket attack” that hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 regions of Ukraine, the country’s president said Thursday, with officials reporting at least six deaths in the largest such night-time attack in three weeks. Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the barrage that came while many people slept as an attempt by Moscow “to intimidate Ukrainians again.” The latest missile attack left almost half of consumers in Kyiv without heating, with temperatures at around 9 degrees Celsius (48 Fahrenheit) amid a spring thaw. In southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russian forces, lost power as a result of the missile attacks, according to nuclear state operator Energoatom. It is the sixth time that Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been in a state of blackout since it was taken over by Russia months ago, forcing it to rely on diesel generators that can run the station for 10 days. Nuclear plants need constant power to run cooling systems and avoid a meltdown, and fears remain about the possibility of a catastrophe at Zaporizhzhia.

Nord Stream intrigue raises tricky questions for Kyiv (Washington Post) A six-month-old mystery could complicate Kyiv’s current-day war efforts. The undersea explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last September seemed like a distant memory as Ukrainian forces battled their Russian invaders this year, even if the question of the blast’s perpetrators remained. But new reports have brought that Nord Stream attack back to the fore, bringing with them potentially risky complications for Kyiv. Western intelligence officials have said privately that they suspect that pro-Ukraine saboteurs may be responsible for explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines. The reports are far from conclusive and the Ukrainian government strenuously denies any involvement. But whether involved or not, Kyiv has good reason to be cautious about the intrigue, which comes as it continues its push for new support from its allies, including weaponry. For Ukraine, covert action outside of its borders is a balancing act. Western powers have long been worried about Ukraine crossing a “red line” with Russia.

Washington Has Become Beijing’s Scapegoat (Foreign Policy) Recent days have seen yet another uptick in China’s anti-American rhetoric, with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang—a former ambassador to the United States—complaining about how the country was “cheating” in global competition at a press conference and with Chinese President Xi Jinping taking direct aim at Washington and its allies in a speech. What is striking is how both officials leaned on a recent theme in Chinese politics: Everything is the fault of the United States. Washington has become a convenient scapegoat for anything that doesn’t go Beijing’s way. Economy faltering? Xi claimed in his speech that Western countries, led by the United States, “implemented all-round containment, encirclement, and suppression against us.” Pushback in the South China Sea? Washington has stirred up trouble. Is the public revolting against the elite? The United States must be behind so-called color revolutions. Xi has now entered his third term, and national failings are more clearly linked to his leadership. But acknowledging this has become impossible. The only entity left to blame when things have gone too wrong to cover up—such as the economy—is the United States.

Indonesia unveils construction site of new capital city (AP) Orange-red ground has been broken in the jungle of East Borneo, where the Indonesian government has begun construction of its new capital city. Indonesia began construction of the new capital in mid 2022, after President Joko Widodo announced that Jakarta—the congested, polluted current capital that is prone to earthquakes and rapidly sinking into the Java Sea—would be retired from capital status. Plans for the new capital—about twice the size of New York City—are grandeur. Officials tout the creation of a futuristic green city centered on forest, parks and food production that utilizes renewable energy resources, “smart” waste management and green buildings. Some 7,000 construction workers are clearing, plowing and building the first phases of the site. Worker dormitories, basic roads and a helipad are already being used. Construction of key buildings—such as the presidential palace—is expected to be completed by August 2024.

#headlines #news

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swldx · 22 days

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BBC 0418 6 Apr 2024

12095Khz 0358 6 APR 2024 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55445. English, dead carrier s/on @0358z then ID@0359z pips and newsroom preview. @0401z World News anchored by David Harper. US Representative Nancy Pelosi, former House speaker and a key ally of Joe Biden, signed a letter on Friday from 40 congressional Democrats to the president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel. A former general accused of ordering the murder of more than 1,200 indigenous Ixil Maya people during Guatemala's civil war has gone on trial. Benedicto Lucas Garcia, 91, has been indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity, including widespread rape, and forced disappearances. Survivors from one village say Garcia's troops killed children, babies and the elderly. He denies the charges. The governor of Russia's far northern Murmansk region has been taken to intensive care after being stabbed by a man on Thursday evening, local authorities said. Andrey Chibis, 45, was knifed in the stomach outside a cultural centre in the town of Apatity, where he had been holding a meeting with local residents. A pro-Western career diplomat and a close ally of Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico are facing each other in a presidential runoff on Saturday to determine who will be the next head of state. Former Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok is up against Peter Pellegrini, who heads a coalition party in Fico’s government, in the vote for the largely ceremonial post as president of the nation of 5.4 million. Mexico has granted political asylum to former Ecuadorean Vice President Jorge Glas, the foreign ministry said on Friday, a day after Ecuador's government made Mexico's ambassador persona non grata amid growing tensions between the two countries. Glas, convicted twice for corruption, has been holed up in Mexico's embassy in Quito since seeking political asylum in December, arguing he is being persecuted by the attorney general's office. Senegal has a new government with 25 ministers and five junior ministers, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said on Friday, following the president's landslide election victory in March. The cabinet, including 4 women, was approved by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44, who was inaugurated on Tuesday and appointed Sonko, a key backer, as prime minister. Outgoing President Macky Sall was defeated in a wave of discontent after holding power for 12 years. Sydney may have woken up to blue skies on Saturday, but flood levels were continuing to rise across parts of New South Wales with evacuation orders issued after an overnight deluge broke rainfall records. Suburbs on the city fringes were facing the threat of significant flooding after copping more than a month’s worth of rain while a major landslip in the Blue Mountains left one community cut off. The United States, Australia, Japan and the Philippines will hold joint naval and air drills in the disputed South China Sea on Sunday, their defence chiefs said in a statement, as they deepen ties to counter China's growing assertiveness in the region. The exercise will take place in the disputed waterway, which Beijing claims almost entirely, days before US President Joe Biden is due to hold the first trilateral summit with the leaders of the Philippines and Japan. @0406z "The Newsroom" begins. Backyard fence antenna w/MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preamplifier/preselector), Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2258.

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mariacallous · 10 months

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The U.S. military retreated from Afghanistan two years ago, leaving behind weapons that are now turning up in far-flung trouble spots where terrorists are fighting and killing America’s allies. In markets that have sprung up across the southern and eastern badlands, where the hottest fighting of the war took place, merchants with Taliban permits are offering U.S.-made automatic assault rifles and handguns for sale alongside hardware from Russia, Pakistan, China, Turkey, and Austria. Business, like terrorism, is thriving.

Under weather-beaten tarps slung across wooden poles, in isolated strip malls deep in the desert, or laid out on dusty carpets along bumpy tracks off the major highways, these ad hoc weapons bazaars are offering rockets and bombs, shoulder-fired grenade launchers, night vision goggles, sniper rifles and scopes, and ammunition. The wares are priced in afghanis, rupees, and dollars; recent price increases reflect the business acumen of one of the world’s richest criminal cartels that has sought to keep tight control on supply.

Left-behind American assault rifles command a premium: an M4 in good condition can fetch up to $2,400, a status symbol with as much cachet in the Himalayan tribal belt as a luxury handbag in Manhattan. In contrast, a Pakistan-made knock-off of an AK-47, the world’s most ubiquitous killing machine, can go for as little as $130.

It’s a new arms race—and it’s threatening global security. The Taliban, allies of if not quite affiliates of al Qaeda, are at the center of a global smuggling web that earns billions of dollars from heroin and meth. Now they appear to be funneling small arms to like-minded extremists inspired by their victory, not least next door. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan’s torn northwest tribal regions and separatists in restive Balochistan are using made-in-America weapons to kill police and soldiers in an escalating war against the Pakistani state.

Dramatic TTP videos show apparent attacks on Pakistani police and army outposts by militants armed with American weapons and using night vision and thermal sights, which Afghan Peace Watch said in a new report are “highly sought-after accessories supplied to Afghan Special Forces.” The report quotes a Taliban fighter in Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan, as saying night vision items sell for $500 to $1,000.

“The proliferation of such arms has not only made it difficult to combat terror networks regionally, the night vision equipment, in particular, is used to target Pakistani security personnel and police on a daily basis,” said Iftikhar Firdous, editor of the Khorasan Diary, an independent organization based in Pakistan that monitors non-state groups.

U.S. assault weapons have reportedly been used in recent attacks by non-state groups in Kashmir, bitterly divided between India and Pakistan, and in Israel’s Gaza Strip. Yasin Zia, formerly a general with the Afghan Army and now leading the opposition Afghanistan Freedom Front, said weapons are also likely going to TTP operatives relocated, in a deal between the Taliban and Pakistan, to northern Afghanistan. “They won’t be welcome and will need to defend themselves” against hostile locals, Zia said.

For the Taliban, who’ve made so much money from other illicit trades, arms deals are just another source of income: The Taliban likely control and tax the new black market, said Asfandyar Mir, a South Asia expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace. And as the Taliban (and allied terrorist groups) seek new recruits, few things talk more eloquently than fancy, deadly kit.

The ubiquitous AK-47 flooded into the Afghan mujahideen for their 1979-1989 war against the Soviets. Easy to maintain, easy to use, lethal, and manufactured more widely than any other gun in history, the AK-47 became the symbol of insurgents everywhere. But it’s still a low-end weapon. Terrorists who are moving on up trade up. TTP and Islamic State propaganda shows “a general trend toward the gradual replacement of Kalashnikov rifles with NATO weapons,” Firdous said. Militants are shown “armed with M24 sniper rifles; M4 carbines with Trijicon ACOG scopes; M16A4 rifles with thermal scopes; M249 machine guns, AMD-65 rifles, M4A1 carbines, and M16A2/A4 assault rifles,” he said.

Thanks to both American largesse and Taliban smuggling networks, those arms are going everywhere. Experts say the same routes that proffer drugs, gems, and assorted other contraband get weapons to Islamist terrorists like al-Shabab in sub-Saharan Africa and Islamic State affiliates in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the same Persian Gulf countries that produced Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in the first place. Apart from Afghanistan, where the insurgency ended in victory in August 2021, the number of people killed in terrorist attacks is rising, according to the Global Terrorism Index. The Taliban, who funded their war with drugs and other contraband, continue to reap the profits of death.

And the American largesse that created the Taliban’s boon in the first place was staggering. The U.S. Department of Defense estimated that left-behind stockpiles of arms and vehicles were worth $7.12 billion of the $18.6 billion spent from 2002 on arming the Afghan security forces. “This included roughly 600,000 weapons of all calibers, nearly 300 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, over 80,000 vehicles of several models, communications equipment, and other advanced materiel such as night vision goggles and biometric systems,” according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). After the military exit in the summer of 2021, SIGAR quoted a Taliban official as saying, “The group took possession of more than 300,000 light arms, 26,000 heavy weapons, and about 61,000 military vehicles.” That’s on top of what they already had.

Much of this could have been predicted. U.S. material was used by the Taliban for years before the republic collapsed, sold by corrupt, impoverished, or demoralized Afghan forces. The Pentagon never got a handle on exactly what went where.

“What happened in Afghanistan is probably the largest case of diversion in modern history, with the huge quantities of weapons and ammunition that the Taliban received,” Justine Fleischner, a war and weapons expert and head of research at Afghan Peace Watch, told Foreign Policy. “You had a system whereby, of course they know what went into Afghanistan, but there’s no record of what was used, what was broken, what was lost, what needed to be repaired, what was in service, what was out of service. Diversion was happening for the entirety of the U.S. engagement in Afghanistan.”

Research by Afghan Peace Watch and the Small Arms Survey found that weapons markets are proliferating in southern and eastern Afghanistan and in neighboring Pakistan, offering weapons and other equipment from the Afghan battlefield. Clandestine factories are churning out counterfeit guns, like AK-47s. Workshops set up with U.S. funding are back in business, servicing small arms and light weapons as U.S.-trained specialists are invited back to work for the Taliban regime, said Habib Khan Totakhil, Afghan Peace Watch’s founder. Efforts to disarm civilians and demobbed Taliban supporters have fizzled, as it’s just too difficult to keep track of them, and many former fighters regard their guns as their own, rather than the state’s.

The Taliban, Firdous said, have ostensibly banned weapons exports, with much the same energy as it has tackled opium production. The clampdown has led to tighter supply and higher prices—but little more.

“There is much evidence to suggest that these weapons will continue to flow from Afghanistan, making it more difficult for nation-states to combat non-state actors,” Firdous said.

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hardynwa · 1 year

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Six dead, dozens confirmed missing in China mine collapse

Dozens of people remained missing on Friday following a collapse at a coal mine in northern China that killed six, state media reported. A rescue operation involving hundreds of workers was ongoing after a 180-metre-high slope gave way at the open-pit mine in the Inner Mongolia region’s Alxa Left Banner area on Wednesday.Emergency efforts were initially hampered after another landslide later that day. According to state broadcaster CCTV, 47 people were still unaccounted for, six were recovered alive, while another six were found dead. China’s ministry of emergency management urged “all-out efforts to search for the missing personnel without delay, and not to lose hope of finding them”, state news agency Xinhua reported Friday. “Saving lives is still the top priority,” Xinhua quoted a ministry work team as saying, adding that “efforts should also be made to prevent secondary disasters”. Footage from CCTV showed rescue workers in orange overalls and yellow helmets dwarfed by a mountain of rust-coloured rubble, and excavators working to clear some of the debris. “I had just started work when I saw slag falling down the slope. The situation got worse and worse,” a rescued worker named Ma Jianping told CCTV. “We tried to organise an evacuation, but it was too late — the slope came down,” he said from a hospital bed in the neighbouring Ningxia region, a catheter protruding from his throat. State media reported the collapse had affected a “wide area” of the mine operated by the Xinjing Coal Mining Company. It was not clear what caused the collapse. CCTV said police were investigating, while Xinhua on Friday said the ministry of emergency management had called for “comprehensive investigations”. – ‘I’d have died’ –Video posted on social media by a coal truck driver on Wednesday showed rocks cascading down a slope, kicking up clouds of dust that engulfed several vehicles. “The whole slope has collapsed… How many people must be dead from that?” a male voice can be heard saying in the background. “If I’d lined up over there today, I’d have died in there, too.” Located in China’s arid north, Alxa League — which includes the Alxa Left Banner — is a sparsely populated region whose economy runs largely on mining and other extractive industries. Mine safety in China has improved in recent decades, as has media coverage of major incidents, many of which were once overlooked. Accidents still occur frequently, however, in an industry where safety protocols are often lax, especially at the most rudimentary sites. Around 40 people were working underground when a gold mine in the northwestern Xinjiang region collapsed in December. In 2021, 20 miners were rescued from a flooded coal mine in northern Shanxi province, while two others died. Read the full article

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kisaanhelpline · 1 year

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India's leading crops that you should be informed about

Introduction

About 58% of India's population relies primarily on agriculture as a source of income, making India one of the major players in the global agricultural industry. India is the world's largest producer of milk, pulses, and spices. It also has the largest herd of cattle (buffaloes) and the largest area planted to wheat, rice, and cotton. It is the second-largest producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sugar, farmed fish, fruit, vegetables, tea, and farmed vegetables. About half of the population of India is employed in agriculture, and India has the second-largest agricultural land area in the world. As a result, farmers play a crucial role in the sector that produces food for us.

Due to its enormous potential for value addition, particularly within the food processing industry, the Indian food industry is poised for tremendous growth and will likely increase its contribution to the global food trade every year. One of the largest industries in India, food processing contributes 32% of the nation's total food market and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, exports, and expected growth.

1) Kharif Plants- What are they?

The Kharif crops are primarily harvested in this season, and the word "Kharif" is also an Arabic word that means "autumn" (September or October). Because they are sown during monsoons, these crops are also referred to as "monsoon crops." Furthermore, they thrive in hot, humid climates where there is rain. They also heavily rely on rainfall patterns. The two most crucial factors affecting the output of the Kharif crop are the quantity and timing of rain. Their seeds are sown at the beginning of the monsoon season, and their crops are harvested at the end.

The Kharif crop season, however, varies from state to state in India. Depending on the region, the general sowing season runs from June until November. Depending on when the monsoons start to fall, different parts of India have different sowing seasons. For instance, seeds are typically planted in northern regions like Punjab and Haryana around June, while they are typically planted in southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu toward the end of May.

Kharif crop examples include:

Rice, bajra, groundnuts, cotton, pulses, maize, oilseeds, etc. are a few examples of Kharif crops.

Rice is the most important Kharif crop

In India, rice is the most typical example of a Kharif crop. Additionally, India produces 20% of the rice consumed worldwide, just behind China. It is one of the most significant agricultural crops in the nation.

Rice typically grows in areas with high rainfall, and it only needs 100 cm of precipitation and an average temperature of 250 C.

Additionally, the crop is typically grown in rice paddy fields that are flooded. West Bengal is also the state in India that produces the most rice.

2) Rabi crops: what are they?

Winter crops are another name for rabi crops. During the winter, they appear between the months of October and March.The word "Rabi" in Arabic means "spring." As a result, the harvesting season for Rabi crops starts in the spring. Rabi crops require less water to grow than Kharif crops do. As a result, they can easily grow and thrive with regular irrigation. Wheat, barley, pulses, grain, and other crops are examples of rabi crops. Additionally, during this season, farmers also plant seeds for mustard, cumin, sunflower, rapeseed, and other crops.

Examples of Rabi crops:

Some examples of rabi crops grown in India are wheat, mustard, barley, green peas, sunflowers, coriander, cumin, etc.

Wheat is the most important Kharif crop grown

Wheat production contributes significantly to India's agricultural income. The second-largest producer of this crop of wheat worldwide is India.

Winter is the ideal time of year to cultivate this rabi crop because wheat requires cold temperatures to grow. The ideal temperature range should be between 140 and 180 °C with 50 to 90 cm of rainfall. When the weather is slightly warmer in the spring, the crop is harvested.

The largest producer of wheat in India is Uttar Pradesh, which is closely followed by Punjab and Haryana.

3) Vegetables grown in India

India is a nation with a long history of agriculture and is renowned for producing a wide range of vegetables. Tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, cauliflower, peas, okra, eggplant, chilli peppers, and garlic are a few of the vegetables that are grown most frequently in India. India is a significant contributor to the global food industry because it is also the world's top producer of milk, ginger, and turmeric. India continues to be a leading producer of high-quality vegetables crops for both domestic consumption and export thanks to favourable climates and fertile soil in various regions.

A country needs a variety of vegetables for a number of reasons, including:

Dietary diversity: A wider range of minerals and nutrients that are crucial for human health and wellbeing are provided by a variety of vegetables.

Food security: A variety of vegetable crops lowers the risk of crop failure due to disease or other factors, assisting in maintaining a steady supply of food for a population in a given nation.

Cultural preservation: Different vegetables are frequently associated with specific cultural customs and foods. Diverse vegetable preservation contributes to preserving cultural diversity and heritage.

Economic advantages: Farmers, processors, and retailers all have access to employment and income opportunities through a diverse vegetable industry.

Biodiversity: Growing a range of vegetable crops promotes biodiversity by creating habitats for numerous species and preserving the health of the soil.

4) Herbs

Since the beginning of time, medicinal plants have been used in healthcare. Global research has been done to confirm their efficacy, and some of the results have sparked the development of plant-based medications. The annual market value of products made from medicinal plants exceeds $100 billion worldwide. The value of using the common-factor approach to involve other health advocates in spreading the principles of medicinal plants is emphasized. The five guiding principles of the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach are further examined in relation to the role of medicinal plants in preventing common diseases. The promotion and use of medicinal plants complement all current disease prevention strategies and play critical roles in disease prevention. However, deliberate efforts must be made to correctly identify, acknowledge, and position medicinal plants in the design and implementation of these strategies.

The significance of some herbs and their therapeutic benefits:

(1) Wounds, sores, and boils can be treated with herbs like black pepper, cinnamon, myrrh, aloe, sandalwood, ginseng, red clover, burdock, bayberry, and safflower.

(2) Some significant medicinal herbs that can be grown in a kitchen garden include basil, fennel, chives, cilantro, apple mint, thyme, golden oregano, variegated lemon balm, rosemary, and variegated sage. These herbs are simple to grow, beautiful, delicious, and fragrant, and many of them attract bees and butterflies.

(3) By removing the metabolic toxins, many herbs are used as blood purifiers to improve or change a chronic condition. These are likewise referred to as "blood cleansers." A person's immunity is increased by some herbs, which lessen illnesses like fever.

5) Phal-phool-tree crops

Tropical jungles all over the world are home to tropical and subtropical plants. These plants add a distinctive and exotic feel to their growing environment and frequently produce stunning blooms in a variety of colors. Many tropical and subtropical plants require warmth more than moisture, despite the fact that they are native to moist environments. As a result, it is relatively simple to grow some tropical plant species in warm, non-tropical environments. The fact that tropical plants continue to grow throughout the year is one of their best qualities. Numerous tropical and subtropical fruits and flowers are available. The tropics have the ability to produce large amounts of fruit, and as there are more opportunities for rapid shipment, new varieties are being added to the global market.

All of India's states primarily engage in fruit and flower cultivation. Farmers in every state cultivate fruits and flowers in accordance with the season. Mango, banana, grapes, amla, apple, walnut, almond, plum, dates, guava, kinnu, lemon, lime, and mandarin oranges are just a few of the fruits that are commonly grown. Jasmine, Lady's Slipper, Kopau Phul, African Marigold, Lotus, Palash, Golden Shower Tree, Lilium candidum, Siroi lily, Red Vanda, Rhododendron, Ashoka, Rohira, Noble Orchid, Glory Lily, Ranawara, and Nag Kesar are among the most commonly grown plants.

To sum up

In India, various crops are grown, and this activity is vital to the nation's economy, food security, and cultural legacy. A wide variety of crops, including grains, vegetables, fruits, spices, and herbs, are produced in India, which is renowned for its diverse agricultural sector. For millions of farmers and rural communities, these crops provide income, opportunities for employment, and vital nutrients. The cultivation of a variety of crops also supports the preservation of traditional farming methods and cultural heritage while preserving biodiversity. As one of the biggest agricultural producers in the world, India's crop industry must continue to expand and develop in order to maintain the nation's long-term food security, economic stability, and cultural diversity.

An essential tool for promoting crops and helping Indian farmers is the Kisan Helpline. The following are a few of the helpline's main advantages:

Information on agriculture: The helpline offers farmers guidance and information on the most effective methods for growing crops, including seed selection, fertilisation, pest control, and more.

Market information: By giving farmers knowledge of crop market prices, the helpline enables them to decide when to sell their produce and how much to demand.

Credit availability: The helpline can inform farmers about government initiatives and loan options, assisting them in getting the credit they need to invest in their crops.

Expert connections: The helpline links farmers with agricultural professionals who can offer advice and support on a variety of issues.

Increased income: The Kisan Helpline can assist in enhancing farmers' income and financial stability by giving them the knowledge and assistance they need to efficiently grow and sell their crops.

In general, the Kisan Helpline is a helpful tool for Indian farmers, giving them knowledge, assistance, and resources that can help increase the productivity and sustainability of their crops.

#indiancrops #rabicrops #kharifcrops #vegetablescrops #herbalcrops

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kaileeandag · 1 year

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References in Yi-Kyung’s series

There’s going to be some things referenced in Yi-Kyung’s series that I feel would need to be explained. So, here we go!

Beliefs/Superstition: -Fan Death: many South Koreans believe that if one sleeps with the fan on during the summer with the door closed and without open windows, the fan will steal the sleeping person’s breath, leading to their death. -Writing someone’s name in red ink is taboo, as red ink is meant for the name of someone who is deceased. This is also the case in Japan, where names on tombstones are etched in red. In Korea, writing someone’s name using red ink when that person is still alive means that the writer wishes that the person whose name they wrote down dead. This belief isn’t really that popular anymore, but many still see writing someone who is alive’s name in red ink as very rude. -A shared superstition with China and Japan, the number four is very unlucky. Many elevators in South Korea use the letter F to indicate the 4th floor of a building. The reason why this number is unlucky is that their word for four sounds similar to their word for death, much like Japan. -don’t lie down right after eating in South Korea, otherwise you could turn into a cow! -eat taffy on days when you have a test! Why? Because it’ll make information “stick” in your head after you’ve learned it!

Urban Legends: -Mr. Cuckoo: a man who was sent to one of the worst psychiatric facilities in South Korea, where he was mistreated horribly by a female patient. This led him to hate all women and so when he escaped one day, reports of a man attacking high school girls with an ax began flooding in. It’s said that if you were to walk by an alley and Mr. Cuckoo was there, he would jump out and scream “Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!” Now, if you want to survive your ordeal, repeat the phrase back and run for your life. If he gets close enough to ask “Do you know Mr. Cuckoo?”, reply yes and HAUL ASS OUT OF THERE! -Sack Man: kind of like the Boogeyman, this legend involves a man carrying a straw sack that he puts children in. What does he do? Some say he eats the kids, others say he scolds them before sending them home. Korean parents will use this story as a way to make their kids behave, saying “If you don’t listen to what we say, the Sack Man will get you!”

Folk Culture: -Bulgasari: a legendary Korean creature, it is made up of these animals: a bear, an elephant, a rhino, a tiger and a bull. According to legend, the creature grows taller whenever it consumes metal. It is seen as a warning of material greed. In 1985, South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok was more or less forced to make a film based on the creature, titled Pulgasari. The film was made because Kim Jong-il was a major fan of kaiju movies and was a lifelong admirer of the director, who was kidnapped along with his wife in 1978. Sang-ok and his wife escaped in 1986,while in Europe for a film festival.

Places: -Buk-han: the South Korean term for North Korea. Translates to Northern Han. -Everland: South Korea’s largest amusement park, it is located in Yongin in the Gyeonggi-do province. The park opened in 1976 and at the time of Yi-Kyung’s story, it is the home of her favorite coaster in South Korea, Eagle Fortress. The coaster would shut down for good in 2009.

Terms: -Oppa: big brother, used by girls only. When a boy address his big brother, Hyeong is used instead. -Eomma: mom. Mother in Korean is Eomeoni. -Appa: dad. Father in Korean is Abeoji. -Halmeoni: grandmother. -Harabeoji: grandfather. -Jobumonim: grandparents.

#american girl #american girl doll #American Girl dolls #american girl oc #american girl fan character

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learntoit · 1 year

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Natural Disaster

Humans have been coping with natural disasters since time immemorial. There are so many disaster which can not be controlled by human intervention. They are destined to bring their tragic consequences of human destruction. Due to human intervention in the natural processes, the destructive power and frequency of natural disasters have increased considerably.

According to U N statistics, natural disasters kill 1,00,000 persons on an average and cause property damage of Rs 20,000 crores world wide per year. Among the top ten natural disaster-prone countries, India stands second after China.Therefore, there is a need for creating awareness among all sections of the people about it’s causes, consequences as well as preventive measures so that they can handle as an individual, and as a members of society

DISASTERS IN INDIA – A BACKGROUND

Due to vulnerability of different kinds of disasters, it is said that India is a disaster prone country, the reasons are: 1. Over 55% of the land area is vulnerable to earthquakes, 2. 12% is flood prone, 3. 8% is vulnerable to cyclones and 4. 70% of the land under cultivation is drought prone

FLOODS

With the arrival of Monsoon, people living in

4 crore hectares area of the country become extremely nervous. No one knows when there will be a flood in the river and their hard earned belongings will be washed away. In comparison to other disasters flood cause more damage to life and property. Twenty percent of deaths caused by floods in the world, occur in India.

DROUGHT

The tragedy caused by drought affects the people slowly and vastly. This is different type of agony but painful. To see domestic animals to die of hunger and thirst before ones own eyes; to send beloved members of the family in search of employment to far off places in extremely uncertain and exploitative conditions, reduction in diet to reduce the already meager diet, to wander in search of work all day long in relief works and return rejected and empty-handed in the night, these are some of the heart rending scenes from the drought affected areas of India

LANDSLIDES

A major landslide occurred in the midnight in a place called Lamari on the foot path leading to Kailash Mansarover about 60 km away from Dharchula, in August 1998. Lamari is situated between Bendi and Malpa. The debris of this landslide slipped into river Kali and blocked its flow. The water of the river spread over an area of 1½ square km. Thus a lake was created in which the water was flowing. Some pilgrims going to Kailash Mansarovar were resting here in this fateful night. This landslide killed 60 pilgrims

EARTHQUAKE

In simple words sudden shaking or trembling of the earthsurface is an earthquake. Most earthquake are a minor tremor. Larger earthquakes usually begin with slight tremors but suddenly they turn into violent shocks and after that the intencity of shocks deminishes. Tremors or shocks are felt for a few seconds only. Earthquake is a hazard that strikes suddenly. A hindi poet described the earthquake in these word. “Earthquakes strikes without pre information but the breathing stops without informing the man.”

CYCLONES

Cyclones are centers of low atmospheric pressure, in which the air pressure in-creases from the centre to the outer areas. Consequently winds flow from outside to the centres. In cyclones winds blow in an anticlock-wise direction in the northern hemisphere and in clock-wise in the southern hemisphere.

WHATYOU HAVE LEARNT

Among the top ten disaster prone countries, India stands second after China. More than 6% of the total population bear the brunt of natural disasters. Natural hazard, which devastates life and property, are called disasters. More than 20%of the deaths caused by floods in the world, occur in India. Floods are caused by heavy rain, deposition of sediment and tsunami. 65% of cultivated area of India is rain fed. This is the area where droughts are common. Degradation of environment caused by human activities is also responsible for drought. By adopting some measures, the impact of drought could be mitigated. 191 districts, out of the 593 (2001) districts of India, are vulnerable to drought. Landslides cause heavy damage on mountainous slopes in rainy season. Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and all the seven states of North East India are landslide prone. Landslides are caused by deforestation, earthquakes, construction of roads and buildings, and shifting agriculture. A very severe earthquake occurred on 26 January, 2001 in Gujarat. Earthquakes not only destroy life and property, but also changes the courses of rivers. Tsunami, mud fountains, cracks and fissures are also caused by severely devastating earthquakes. The quake prone areas are North East India, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Cyclones originate in the Bay of Bengal and affects the states of eastern coasts. Cyclones that originate in the Arabian Sea have a devastating impact over Maharashtra and Gujarat coast If some precise precautions are taken, the impact of cyclones could be mininised.

#natural disasters

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keywestlou · 2 years

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IAN BEAT UP LOBSTER TRAPS

IAN BEAT UP LOBSTER TRAPS - https://keywestlou.com/ian-beat-up-lobster-traps/A major Keys industry is lobstering. Spiny lobsters constitute a multimillion dollar business. China being its biggest customer. Traps built specially to capture the lobsters are required. An industry unto itself. Ian blew away/destroyed 80 percent of the traps. Traps were blown as far as 7 miles from their settings. One fisherman estimates he lost 1,500-2,000 traps. Traps presently cost $80 and more a piece. Two years ago, $40. The increase attributable to Ian. Two wood mills which make the traps are located in Arcadia, Florida. They were flooded. The cost pf rope has increased also. First, last year. More this year due to Ian. The final and new cost involves aerial reconnaissance. Planes are being utilized to search for traps blown away. They can be recovered and most used again. Planes were used for the first time following Irma. The expense getting the lobster industry back on its feet an expensive one. Federal and state assistance will be required. I have to smile when I read the criticism being heaped on Fort Myers for purported delay in calling for a mandatory evacuation. I have no idea whether Fort Myers did wrong. My initial reaction is in any disaster someone is sought to blame. Fort Myers may be such a victim. It called for mandatory evacuation after adjoining areas did. Less then 24 hours involved. Let me share my thoughts re mandatory evacuation. Few leave. The residents have been through hurricane warnings for years. In many, told to evacuate. Initially did. Nothing happened. The hurricane missed them or was insignificant so they could have remained. People get tired of leaving and nothing happens. No easy task evacuating. Then there are those who cannot afford to leave or have nowhere to go. Assume all heed the warning and evacuate. They can't. Insufficient gas available. No question about it. Those that do leave find themselves bumper to bumper for hours. Stopped because of accidents, too much traffic, emergency vehicles, etc. Traffic does not move fast. I recall Georges. It took me 17 hours to get to Miami. Three hours to get to Big Pine alone. Big Pine 30 miles north of Key West. The traffic signal at the main intersection was working. Traffic was two lanes north. The south bound lane had been made north bound. The cross roads in Big Pine had next to no traffic. However the north bound traffic on US 1 was held up by the light. People stupidly stopped for it. Judge with a grain of salt. Everything/person Trump touches he destroys/corrupts. The court system next. Including the Supreme Court. The Mar-a-Lago documents case an example. Now he is trying to get the Supreme Court involved. Believing of course his friends like Thomas and the others he appointed owe him and will rule his way. The court system was not and is not intended to work that way. Justice supposedly blind. Congratulations to New York Yankee Aaron Judge. He broke Roger Maris' American League home run record yesterday. Maris' record of 61 home runs had stood for 61 years. Judge hit #62 last night. Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001. However it was discovered he used steroids. He has yet to make it to the Hall of Fame. His last chance comes this December. I do not believe he belongs. He cheated. The Daily Correspondent 10/3/22 reported: Archeologists In Greece Unearth 'Larger-Than-Life' Statue of Hercules. Two thousand years old. In a dig in the town of Philippe located in Northern Greece. I'm not surprised. I have spent much time in Greece. As long as two months at a time. Traveled the country a bit. Everywhere I went, they were digging. Unearthing whole cities, neighborhoods, artifacts, etc. Greece is antiquity itself. Worth seeing. Lunched at Roostica yesterday. Limoncello wings. Always delicious! Today plan on lunching at Harpoon Harry's. Turkey special. Thanksgiving dinner. Always delicious, also! Lunching out today because of voodoo massage at 4. Vast improvement since begun. Not sure if it will ever be complete. Enjoy your day!

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webhostingindias-blog · 2 years

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How to Get Web Hosting in Pakistan

Assuming that you are presently searching for web facilitating in Pakistan or web facilitating in Lahore, this moment would be the ideal opportunity. The economy has been quickly developing throughout recent years. From 2006-2010, Pakistan encountered a tremendous development of twelve percent. Pakistan got an emotional flood of interests in piles of regions, like programming, business, and broadcast communications. Pakistan covers 803,940 km2 roughly equalling the joined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. Its eastern areas are situated on the Indian structural plate and the western and northern locales on the Iranian level and Eurasian landplate. Aside from the 1,046 km Arabian Sea shore, Pakistan's property borders absolute 6,774 km with Afghanistan toward the northwest, 523 km with China toward the upper east, 2,912 km with India toward the east and 909 km with Iran toward the southwest ALSO VISIT:-best cheap web hosting india

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dinaale · 2 years

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In order to make Chinese people like mother-in-law, the CIA has made a lot of efforts

American male stars are not like that, most of them are tough guys. In other words, the feminization of male stars is only a problem in East Asia, and it does not seem to be the case in European and American entertainment circles.

So, what is the reason for this difference?

In fact, the root of all this comes from the United States. The beginning of the feminization of male stars is due to the establishment of an entertainment company in Japan in the 1980s-Genesis & Associates. The founder of the company is called Kitagawa. Kitagawa is the instigator of the feminization of male stars in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean entertainment circles. But all this was not caused by Kitagawa alone, but he succeeded in creating this trend with the help of the Americans.

This matter has to start with Japan after World War II.

After the defeat of the Second World War, Japan was a puppet of the United States in politics, economy and culture. However, the control of Japan by the United States was not so smooth at the beginning. At that time, there were two great powers in the world, the United States and the Soviet Union. Japan was also one of the arena where the United States and the Soviet Union struggled for power. The Soviet Union controlled the entire northern part of Japan at that time. In the battle of Japan, the United States was at a disadvantage at the beginning.

After all, during World War II, the US military dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and the American soldiers stationed in Japan after the war often did evil and bullied the Japanese. Therefore, the Japanese people can say that they hate Americans deeply! In addition, in order to increase its international influence, the Soviet Union sent many Japanese prisoners of war back to Japan after the war and vigorously promoted socialism. Therefore, compared with the United States, the Japanese had a better impression of the Soviet Union.

However, the United States will not sit still and allow the Soviet Union to expand its influence in Japan. So the United States put forward a bold idea at the time: to control the Japanese in thought and public opinion, in order to keep Japan away from the Soviet Union and get closer to the Americans.

The first to put forward this idea was George Cannan, an American diplomat.

He suggested that the control of Japanese public opinion should be done by "experts who understand Japan." Then who is the expert who understands Japan? The answer is Japanese war criminals.

At that time, Japanese intellectuals and officials were fanatical nationalists. They could not help the United States and cooperate with the United States. Only the war criminals who committed heinous crimes in World War II had blood on their hands to survive. It can only serve the United States.

A telegram from the CIA revealed the American intentions at the time:

The left side of the telegram is the password table, and the right side is the name of the person. It can be seen that almost all major Japanese media have been attracted by the United States. Many Class A war criminals of World War II are flooded with them. The war criminal Ogata Taketora, who once advocated the September 18th Incident, escaped the death penalty under the protection of the United States and served as a " General Manager of Asahi Shimbun. Another war criminal, Masutaro, who instigated countless youths to invade China and escaped sanctions. The Americans supported him in establishing Japan’s largest newspaper, "Yomiuri Shimbun."

The United States not only pardoned their crimes, but also gave them a lot of money. These war criminals suggested to the United States: follow the popular line, use entertainment news to brainwash the Japanese people, and use public opinion propaganda to weaken the masculinity of the entire Japanese society and turn it into a soft temperament, so as to reduce Japan's offensive and revolutionary nature. Gradually let the Japanese people become intimately familiar with American culture and reduce the resistance of the Japanese people to the United States.

To change the masculinity of Japan's entire society, Kitagawa is an important part of the American layout. Although Kitagawa is a Japanese name, he grew up in the United States and was a translator for the US government. He also has a US passport. In addition, the department that Kitagawa was in at the time was called the U.S. Army Advisory Group, which was responsible for spying and intelligence work. Although Kitagawa has a Japanese face, he is loyal to the Americans rather than the Japanese. Moreover, Kitagawa is a pedophile. He originally liked young and feminine boys. Later, he was exposed to the male celebrities who had sexually assaulted his company for a long time.

The first performance of the first combination that Kitagawa cultivated was sponsored by the US military. At that time, Kitagawa tapped many young boys who quickly occupied the television entertainment market at that time. Coupled with the vigorous support of major Japanese media controlled by war criminals, they quickly became popular and became a new force in the entertainment industry. Kitagawa quickly became the godfather of fashion, in charge of the entire Japanese entertainment industry.

In 1995, a Japanese makeup brand invited popular actor Takuya Kimura to shoot an advertisement for his new lipstick. Throughout the advertising process, Kimura Takuya’s feminine eyes and sexy smearing caused an explosion in the Japanese female community like a bomb. In two months, the lipstick endorsed by Kimura Takuya sold 3 million lipsticks!

Later, Nianghua spread from Japan to Korea next door. At the beginning of its establishment, South Korea's SM company was imitating the Japanese star-making routine, looking everywhere for handsome, female-looking boys, and vigorously training. In 1996, South Korea's SM company also successfully launched a boy idol group-H.O.T

The great success of HOT in South Korea has led to more and more companies competing to imitate, launching more men's groups such as TVXQ, Super Junior, etc., their biggest common ground is-delicate, tender, and female.

Later, the Japanese and South Korean starmaking trend naturally spread to neighboring China. Chinese entertainment companies saw business opportunities and began to launch a large number of girly idols. They produced programs, packaging methods, and publicity methods, completely copying Korean and Japanese performing arts companies.

Such as the early "Super Girl Voice", "Happy Boy", etc., as well as the previous "Idol Trainee", the aforementioned Cai Xukun was produced by this show.

Therefore, while the entire European and American entertainment circles are still tough guys in power, male stars in China, Japan and South Korea are becoming feminine on a large scale. While Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man were still popular on American screens, the screens of China, Japan and South Korea were occupied by little fresh meat.

If you set the time back a few decades, maybe even the Americans themselves would not have thought that their cultural transformation of Japan would be so successful.

What kind of idol do they worship? Let’s watch this video:

Like Cai Xukun, the flow of fresh meat requires acting skills but not acting skills, singing skills but not singing skills. Can't figure out why it suddenly becomes popular? Who on earth is worshiping them?

There is also a younger brother named Fan Chengcheng, Fan Bingbing. He actually received a review fee of 4.8 million overnight for a paid-for-view selfie on his Weibo. It can be seen that there are thousands of people behind each of these female guns. Tens of thousands of naocan fans.

A nation cannot lose blood

In the eyes of some fans, masculinity is just synonymous with vulgarity and brutality. They only know that they are pursuing the so-called "fashion and taste", pursuing the so-called exquisite life, being a quiet and beautiful man, and gradually forget that a real man should stand upright.

A person wants to pursue weakness, that is his freedom, but once the "baby gun" becomes the mainstream of society's advocacy, it will swallow the blood of this nation. The entire nation will risk entering the Opium War again and linger in humiliation.

The transformation of China's nymphomaniac is also in line with the strategy of the CIA:

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has formulated the guiding implementation plan "Ten Commandments" specifically for Westernization, differentiation, splitting of New China, and subverting the Communist regime. After being trapped by the United States, these countries became weak countries and even fell into wars and people’s livelihood. This is the desired result of the United States. Among them, Articles 2 and 3 are written like this:

Second, we must do everything possible to do a good job in dissemination, including movies, books, television, radio waves... and new-style religious dissemination. As long as they yearn for our way of clothing, food, shelter, transportation, entertainment and education, it is half the battle.　　

Third, we must draw the attention of their youth from the government-centered tradition. Focus their minds on: sports performances, pornographic books, pleasure, games, criminal movies, and religious superstitions.　　

Liang Qichao said that when young people are strong, China is strong. If a country and a nation, boys tend to develop in a feminine direction, it will bring the whole nation's spirits down.

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newstfionline · 10 months

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Saturday, July 15, 2023

In unrelenting heat, millions plunge, drink and shelter to cool off (AP) Millions around the world have been seeking refuge from the scorching sun as climate change, a strong El Nino and summer in the Northern Hemisphere converge, toppling temperature records. In Phoenix, temperatures have hit 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) for 13 consecutive days. Volunteers are helping residents, typically hardened by the desert’s sweltering summers and insulated by air conditioning, that now need relief. The heat in the southwestern U.S. is so extreme that health officials have recommended that people limit their outdoor exposure and know the warning signs of heat illness, such as heavy sweating and dizziness. In China—a nation suffering through a double-whammy of heat and flooding—people are resorting to pouring water on themselves to cool off from temperatures as high as 100 F (38 C). Europe, particularly its south, is facing another unrelenting heat wave, with temperatures set to reach 113 F (45 C).

Tornado damages 125 homes in suburb of Canadian capital Ottawa (Reuters) A tornado touched down in a suburb of the Canadian capital Ottawa on Thursday, damaging an estimated 125 homes and leaving another 1600 without power but resulting in only one minor injury, emergency services said. The tornado hit Barrhaven, 17 kilometres southwest of the city centre, around 1245 p.m.

Americans are widely pessimistic about democracy in the United States, an AP-NORC poll finds (AP) Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Majorities of adults say U.S. laws and policies do a poor job of representing what most Americans want on issues ranging from the economy and government spending to gun policy, immigration and abortion. The poll shows 53% say Congress is doing a bad job of upholding democratic values, compared with just 16% who say it’s doing a good job. In interviews, respondents worried less about the machinery of democracy—voting laws and the tabulation of ballots—and more about the outputs. Overall, about half the country—49%—say democracy is not working well in the United States, compared with 10% who say it’s working very or extremely well and 40% only somewhat well. About half also say each of the political parties is doing a bad job of upholding democracy.

US sets a grim milestone with new record for the deadliest six months of mass killings (AP) Slain at the hands of strangers or gunned down by loved ones. Massacred in small towns, in big cities, inside their own homes or outside in broad daylight. This year’s unrelenting bloodshed across the U.S. has led to the grimmest of milestones: The deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006. From Jan. 1 to June 30, the nation endured 28 mass killings, all but one of which involved guns. The death toll rose just about every week, a constant cycle of violence and grief. Six months. 181 days. 28 mass killings. 140 victims. One country. “What a ghastly milestone,” said Brent Leatherwood, whose three children were in class at a private Christian school in Nashville on March 27 when a former student killed three children and three adults. “You never think your family would be a part of a statistic like that.”

In a Texas City, Heat Proved Deadly Even for Those Long Used to It (NYT) Alfredo Garza Jr. died in his bedroom with two broken air-conditioners, on a downtown street in Laredo, Texas, across from a coffee shop and a bakery. When his body was found, the temperature inside the room was 106 degrees. Nearby on the same June day, in a small home behind his sister’s house, 67-year-old Jorge Sanchez suffered the heat with nothing more than a fan to cool him, and then succumbed to temperatures that reached 113 degrees. A wave of extreme heat also overcame another man, still unidentified by the authorities, who parked his truck on a busy residential street with its hazard lights flashing, and died. Hot weather is nothing new in a place like Laredo, where summer temperatures regularly climb well past 100 degrees. But the seemingly unending wave of punishing heat and stifling humidity that began in the middle of June—parked for weeks over much of the nation’s south and west—is presenting unfamiliar and deadly new hazards. In all, 10 people died from heat-related illnesses within the city limits of Laredo between June 15 and July 3, a toll unheard-of in this heat-accustomed corner of Texas. Laredo’s experience suggested that the eventual overall casualty count could be substantial—a harbinger of a future in which heat waves become a regular public health crisis.

Argentines tighten wallets to fight spiraling inflation (Reuters) Argentines are tightening their wallets to make end meets as the South American country battles inflation which could surpass 140% on an annual basis this year, hunting for the cheapest prices on basic goods to shield their income. Inflation in the 12 months through June hit 115.6%, official data showed on Thursday. The economic crisis, which has worsened over the past year, has plunged some 40% of the population below the poverty line and will be a key issue in the upcoming presidential primaries set for Aug. 13. Analysts forecast that annual inflation could close this year at 142.4% compared to 94.8% last year, according to a central bank poll, steadily cutting away at consumers’ purchasing power in Latin America’s third-largest economy.

France fetes India’s Modi at Bastille Day celebration (Reuters) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was treated to one of France’s most spectacular accolades on Friday as guest of honour at the Bastille Day military parade, part of a visit that has sealed high-profile defence deals. Modi and President Emmanuel Macron watched French and Indian soldiers march down the tree-lined Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, while French-made Rafale fighter jets India bought in 2015 took part in a fly-past over the Arc de Triomphe. The national celebrations come at a delicate time for Macron, who was also booed by some members of the public as he drove down the Champs-Elysees in a military car. His decision to raise the retirement age sparked months of protests this spring.

Russia fires top commander in Ukraine who criticized Defense Ministry (Washington Post) The abrupt dismissal of a top general who commanded one of Russia’s elite military forces in Ukraine has laid bare the continuing divisions in the armed forces, as President Vladimir Putin grapples with the aftermath of a mercenary rebellion that posed the greatest challenge he has faced as Russia’s leader. Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, a force renowned in Russia for its roles in the Ukraine and Chechen wars, said in a leaked audio message that he had been fired after criticizing the leaders of the Defense Ministry, accusing them of “treacherously and vilely decapitating the army at the most difficult and tense moment.” The general’s harsh criticism echoes attacks made by Wagner chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who led a military rebellion on June 24 in what he claimed was an effort to topple Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of the general staff. In the weeks leading up to his aborted march on Moscow, Prigozhin savaged the men for failures in military leadership in Ukraine, recording a series of graphic, obscenity-laden tirades from the front lines. “The split is continuing in the army,” said Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected political consultant. “There is dissatisfaction among a significant part of the top brass. Of course this undermines morale in the army.”

Thousands of Ukraine civilians are being held in Russian prisons (AP) The Ukrainian civilians woke long before dawn in the bitter cold, lined up for the single toilet and were loaded at gunpoint into the livestock trailer. They spent the next 12 hours or more digging trenches on the front lines for Russian soldiers. Many were forced to wear overlarge Russian military uniforms that could make them a target, and a former city administrator trudged around in boots five sizes too big. By the end of the day, their hands curled into icy claws. Nearby, in the occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, other Ukrainian civilians dug mass graves into the frozen ground for fellow prisoners who had not survived. One man who refused to dig was shot on the spot—yet another body for the grave. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being detained across Russia and the Ukrainian territories it occupies. Many civilians are picked up for alleged transgressions as minor as speaking Ukrainian or simply being a young man in an occupied region, and are often held without charge. Others are charged as terrorists, combatants, or people who “resist the special military operation.” Hundreds are used for slave labor by Russia’s military, for digging trenches and other fortifications, as well as mass graves.

India's historic Moon mission lifts off successfully (BBC) India has launched its third Moon mission, aiming to be the first to land near its little-explored south pole. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft with an orbiter, lander and a rover lifted off at 14:35 on Friday (09:05 GMT) from Sriharikota space centre. The lander is due to reach the Moon on 23-24 August. If successful, India will be only the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.

Evacuations Ordered in Delhi (NYT) Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Delhi on Thursday after the authorities warned of widespread flooding following days of torrential rains that have battered large swaths of northern India. The level of the Yamuna River, which flows through the Indian capital and is a tributary of the Ganges, had breached the so-called danger mark by three meters (about 10 feet) on Thursday, according to the Central Water Commission. That forced the chief minister of the capital region, Arvind Kejriwal, to shut schools and convert them into disaster relief camps. Many migrant workers, who live on the banks of the river, were camping on the roads alongside it as their makeshift homes were swallowed by the water. Others had to evacuate to try to reach higher ground. So far this monsoon season, officials said, landslides and flash floods have claimed at least 91 lives in six north Indian states near Delhi, and disrupted millions of others.

Beavers (Vox) Beavers have substantial impacts on their ecosystems through dam construction, and during heat waves their industriousness really pays off. The dams form ponds and widen rivers, expanding aquatic habitats and cooling down the water by deepening streams and forcing cold groundwater to the surface. The upshot is that one recent study that relocated 69 beavers to a river basin found their dams cooled streams by 2.3 Celsius at various times over the year, corroborating earlier studies that found the temperature cooling in the vicinity of those dams. That water also cools the land around it, so it’s a pretty big win all around.

Birds are using anti-bird spikes to fortify nests in ‘perfect comeback’ (Washington Post) Look up. The birds are taking charge. The hard metal spikes that humans install to prevent birds from perching have been found in nests across Europe. The birds are masterfully subverting their intended use—stripping them from buildings and bringing them to fortify their own homes and protect their offspring. “Just the fact their using these anti-bird spikes to protect their nests … is like the perfect comeback,” Auke-Florian Hiemstra, lead author of a study on the nests published this week, said in an interview. “These rebellious birds [are] outsmarting us.”

#headlines #news

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