Latest Posts by eternaljourneytmbr - Page 6

Here is my small piece of advice/plea for for the future for y'all for today, and I may be lightly skirting an NDA to say it, so please listen:

If you can, buy physical books.

I work in publishing and I'm scared about what the election results are going to mean for the future of books by and about marginalized people, especially books for children. There are a lot of things you can do by trying to get involved locally, especially to mobilize against book bans and laws targeting libraries and schools. Voting with your wallet is still an extremely important tactic, because we're going to be hit with economic issues re: diverse books before we get hit with legal ones. But my immediate concern is what might happen with e-books.

It's already a known problem that if you "buy" a book on Kindle or another e-reader, that you're essentially renting it from that retailer, and if that retailer decides to remove that book, they can wipe it from your device. We also know that servers can be shut down. Content policies can change. It could get very difficult to find a copy of the files to pirate, much less to purchase.

But you can't delete a physical book from the world.

Physical books are about to become very important repositories. Collect them, if you can. Go to library sales. Go to thrift stores. Go to your local bookstore -- and bonus point here: independent bookstores are and will be great hubs for organizing in the coming days. Hell, I'd even encourage you to go through Amazon to send a message that these books are still financially viable. Lord knows the latter doesn't want to advertise them to you.

I know (I know) that physical books are expensive and getting more so. I know space is at a premium in a world where we're being pushed to live in smaller and smaller apartments with more and more roommates. But if there's a book that was important to you, and if it's a book you think a bigot wouldn't want to exist in the world, I urge you to get your hands on a physical copy of that book. If nothing else, to preserve it for the next generation.

ALL of us can be librarians. ALL of us can be archivists. ALL of us can work together to preserve marginalized voices, and to ensure that they are heard.

I love you. Keep fighting. We're in this together.

To add to this (or, on a side note), something I am quite scared about are bats. Or, rather, the conservation of bats (not being scared of the lil'sky kittens/sky dogs).

WNS is spreading onto the Western Seaboard despite efforts to contain it - and, arguably, I'm starting to suspect purposeful intent behind such contamination events.

Why?

Pesticides. Not as much because of pesticides, but that the presence of bats/bat colonies means the companies that make pesticides lose out on a percentage of potential profits. If companies in the wind energy sector already would rather continue killing bats en masse during operations - and especially during migration season - instead of accepting a ~1% loss of revenue (and potentially increasing the service life of a wind station in the process), and this is while there exists at least some attempt at oversight of those companies (even if actually attempting to enforce consequences on them seems to be absolutely frickin' toothless)... ... like, these pesticide companies have an incentive to potentially wipe out as many insectivorous bat colonies, if not entire species, as they can. (Perimyotis subflavus/tricolored bats have lost almost 97% of their pre-WNS recorded population. Myotis lucifugus/little brown bats; about 90%...)

---

...And then there's the prospect of state-level polities/significantly-sized paramilitary organizations potentially restarting Project X-Ray. Potentially for destroying the weaponized bats' own colonies. At least, the wild ones - demented minds could simultaneously set up a program for breeding contained populations for the purposes of weaponization/warfare.

'Cause Project X-Ray is a frickin' terrifying concept.

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anyway, just going to end this fear vent with a pair of rage-invoking videos on a related topic re: Myotis septentrionalis. WNS hit that population hard too. Somewhere in between PESU and MYLU tolls.

Planet's Fucked: What Can You Do To Help? (Long Post)

Since nobody is talking about the existential threat to the climate and the environment a second Trump term/Republican government control will cause, which to me supersedes literally every other issue, I wanted to just say my two cents, and some things you can do to help. I am a conservation biologist, whose field was hit substantially by the first Trump presidency. I study wild bees, birds, and plants.

In case anyone forgot what he did last time, he gagged scientists' ability to talk about climate change, he tried zeroing budgets for agencies like the NOAA, he attempted to gut protections in the Endangered Species Act (mainly by redefining 'take' in a way that would allow corporations to destroy habitat of imperiled species with no ramifications), he tried to do the same for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the law that offers official protection for native non-game birds), he sought to expand oil and coal extraction from federal protected lands, he shrunk the size of multiple national preserves, HE PULLED US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, and more.

We are at a crucial tipping point in being able to slow the pace of climate change, where we decide what emissions scenario we will operate at, with existential consequences for both the environment and people. We are also in the middle of the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the rate of species extinctions far surpassing background rates due completely to human actions. What we do now will determine the fate of the environment for hundreds or thousands of years - from our ability to grow key food crops (goodbye corn belt! I hated you anyway but), to the pressure on coastal communities that will face the brunt of sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather events, to desertification, ocean acidification, wildfires, melting permafrost (yay, outbreaks of deadly frozen viruses!), and a breaking down of ecosystems and ecosystem services due to continued habitat loss and species declines, especially insect declines. The fact that the environment is clearly a low priority issue despite the very real existential threat to so many people, is beyond my ability to understand. I do partly blame the public education system for offering no mandatory environmental science curriculum or any at all in most places. What it means is that it will take the support of everyone who does care to make any amount of difference in this steeply uphill battle.

There are not enough environmental scientists to solve these issues, not if public support is not on our side and the majority of the general public is either uninformed or actively hostile towards climate science (or any conservation science).

So what can you, my fellow Americans, do to help mitigate and minimize the inevitable damage that lay ahead?

I'm not going to tell you to recycle more or take shorter showers. I'll be honest, that stuff is a drop in the bucket. What does matter on the individual level is restoring and protecting habitat, reducing threats to at-risk species, reducing pesticide use, improving agricultural practices, and pushing for policy changes. Restoring CONNECTIVITY to our landscape - corridors of contiguous habitat - will make all the difference for wildlife to be able to survive a changing climate and continued human population expansion.

**Caveat that I work in the northeast with pollinators and birds so I cannot provide specific organizations for some topics, including climate change focused NGOs. Scientists on tumblr who specialize in other fields, please add your own recommended resources. **

We need two things: FUNDING and MANPOWER.

You may surprised to find that an insane amount of conservation work is carried out by volunteers. We don't ever have the funds to pay most of the people who want to help. If you really really care, consider going into a conservation-related field as a career. It's rewarding, passionate work.

At the national level, please support:

The Nature Conservancy

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (including eBird)

National Audubon Society

Federal Duck Stamps (you don't need to be a hunter to buy one!)

These first four work to acquire and restore critical habitat, change environmental policy, and educate the public. There is almost certainly a Nature Conservancy-owned property within driving distance of you. Xerces plays a very large role in pollinator conservation, including sustainable agriculture, native bee monitoring programs, and the Bee City/Bee Campus USA programs. The Lab of O is one of the world's leaders in bird research and conservation. Audubon focuses on bird conservation. You can get annual memberships to these organizations and receive cool swag and/or a subscription to their publications which are well worth it. You can also volunteer your time; we need thousands of volunteers to do everything from conducting wildlife surveys, invasive species removal, providing outreach programming, managing habitat/clearing trails, planting trees, you name it. Federal Duck Stamps are the major revenue for wetland conservation; hunters need to buy them to hunt waterfowl but anyone can get them to collect!

THERE ARE DEFINITELY MORE, but these are a start.

Additionally, any federal or local organizations that seek to provide support and relief to those affected by hurricanes, sea level rise, any form of coastal climate change...

At the regional level:

These are a list of topics that affect major regions of the United States. Since I do not work in most of these areas I don't feel confident recommending specific organizations, but please seek resources relating to these as they are likely major conservation issues near you.

PRAIRIE CONSERVATION & PRAIRIE POTHOLE WETLANDS

DRYING OF THE COLORADO RIVER (good overview video linked)

PROTECTION OF ESTUARIES AND SALTMARSH, ESPECIALLY IN THE DELAWARE BAY AND LONG ISLAND (and mangroves further south, everglades etc; this includes restoring LIVING SHORELINES instead of concrete storm walls; also check out the likely-soon extinction of saltmarsh sparrows)

UNDAMMING MAJOR RIVERS (not just the Colorado; restoring salmon runs, restoring historic floodplains)

NATIVE POLLINATOR DECLINES (NOT honeybees. for fuck's sake. honeybees are non-native domesticated animals. don't you DARE get honeybee hives to 'save the bees')

WILDLIFE ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER (support the Mission Butterfly Center!)

INVASIVE PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES (this is everywhere but the specifics will differ regionally, dear lord please help Hawaii)

LOSS OF WETLANDS NATIONWIDE (some states have lost over 90% of their wetlands, I'm looking at you California, Ohio, Illinois)

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE, esp in the CORN BELT and CALIFORNIA - this is an issue much bigger than each of us, but we can work incrementally to promote sustainable practices and create habitat in farmland-dominated areas. Support small, local farms, especially those that use soil regenerative practices, no-till agriculture, no pesticides/Integrated Pest Management/no neonicotinoids/at least non-persistent pesticides. We need more farmers enrolling in NRCS programs to put farmland in temporary or permanent wetland easements, or to rent the land for a 30-year solar farm cycle. We've lost over 99% of our prairies to corn and soybeans. Let's not make it 100%.

INDIGENOUS LAND-BACK EFFORTS/INDIGENOUS LAND MANAGEMENT/TEK (adding this because there have been increasing efforts not just for reparations but to also allow indigenous communities to steward and manage lands either fully independently or alongside western science, and it would have great benefits for both people and the land; I know others on here could speak much more on this. Please platform indigenous voices)

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (get your neighbors to stop dumping fertilizers on their lawn next to lakes, reduce agricultural runoff)

OCEAN PLASTIC (it's not straws, it's mostly commercial fishing line/trawling equipment and microplastics)

A lot of these are interconnected. And of course not a complete list.

At the state and local level:

You probably have the most power to make change at the local level!

Support or volunteer at your local nature centers, local/state land conservancy non-profits (find out who owns&manages the preserves you like to hike at!), state fish & game dept/non-game program, local Audubon chapters (they do a LOT). Participate in a Christmas Bird Count!

Join local garden clubs, which install and maintain town plantings - encourage them to use NATIVE plants. Join a community garden!

Get your college campus or city/town certified in the Bee Campus USA/Bee City USA programs from the Xerces Society

Check out your state's official plant nursery, forest society, natural heritage program, anything that you could become a member of, get plants from, or volunteer at.

Volunteer to be part of your town's conservation commission, which makes decisions about land management and funding

Attend classes or volunteer with your land grant university's cooperative extension (including master gardener programs)

Literally any volunteer effort aimed at improving the local environment, whether that's picking up litter, pulling invasive plants, installing a local garden, planting trees in a city park, ANYTHING. make a positive change in your own sphere. learn the local issues affecting your nearby ecosystems. I guarantee some lake or river nearby is polluted

MAKE HABITAT IN YOUR COMMUNITY. Biggest thing you can do. Use plants native to your area in your yard or garden. Ditch your lawn. Don't use pesticides (including mosquito spraying, tick spraying, Roundup, etc). Don't use fertilizers that will run off into drinking water. Leave the leaves in your yard. Get your school/college to plant native gardens. Plant native trees (most trees planted in yards are not native). Remove invasive plants in your yard.

On this last point, HERE ARE EASY ONLINE RESOURCES TO FIND NATIVE PLANTS and LEARN ABOUT NATIVE GARDENING:

Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Resource Center

Pollinator Pathway

Audubon Native Plant Finder

Homegrown National Park (and Doug Tallamy's other books)

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder (clunky but somewhat helpful)

Heather Holm (for prairie/midwest/northeast)

MonarchGard w/ Benjamin Vogt (for prairie/midwest)

Native Plant Trust (northeast & mid-atlantic)

Grow Native Massachusetts (northeast)

Habitat Gardening in Central New York (northeast)

There are many more - I'm not familiar with resources for western states. Print books are your biggest friend. Happy to provide a list of those.

Lastly, you can help scientists monitor species using citizen science. Contribute to iNaturalist, eBird, Bumblebee Watch, or any number of more geographically or taxonomically targeted programs (for instance, our state has a butterfly census carried out by citizen volunteers).

In short? Get curious, get educated, get involved. Notice your local nature, find out how it's threatened, and find out who's working to protect it that you can help with. The health of the planet, including our resilience to climate change, is determined by small local efforts to maintain and restore habitat. That is how we survive this. When government funding won't come, when we're beat back at every turn trying to get policy changed, it comes down to each individual person creating a safe refuge for nature.

Thanks for reading this far. Please feel free to add your own credible resources and organizations.

I don't know who needs to hear this but anyone saying "Just stop- You sound like Trump voters after he lost in 2020" in regards to those considering asking for a recount are either psyops or woefully ignorant of the situation.

You don't sound like a sore loser for taking note of the well documented cases of burned ballot boxes in at least three states, and multiple bomb threats to polling places in heavily democrat-populated areas in swing states, which shut them down for hours on election day.

Or taking note of other alleged voting interferences such as mail-in ballot tampering, or the case where a mail carrier has been arrested for stealing and forging mail-in ballots in Colorado.

Or for taking note of the fact that Trump constantly told us he "had a secret plan" to win the election on election day.

Or the fact that conservatives (and Trump) have a long history of cheating, and the fact that there's literally evidence that they meddled in at least the last two elections.

And no, I won't be linking sources, because I want you to look this up yourself instead of just taking my word for it.

My point is that it's reasonable to be suspicious and want to double check, especially given all that I listed above.

The reason we called Trump voters sore losers wasn't because they asked for a recount- they had every right to do so, just as we do now.

They were called sore losers because not only had there been no evidence of tampering or fraud (unlike this election), they didn't stop at asking for a recount- they got violent and started not only multiple riots, but also an attempted fucking coup where they stormed the capitol and chanted that they were going to hang Mike Pence because he refused to overturn the election.

Ask for the damn recounts if you want them. Every party has the right to ask for a recount.

Is there a good chance it changes nothing? Of course!

The worst that might happen when asking for a recount is just finding out that the count was accurate and needing to accept that and move forward.

But that still doesn't make it stupid for someone to ask for one given the fact we saw in real time several reports of election tampering. Besides, even if it doesn't change the outcome of the presidential election there's still a chance it might influence the outcome of the local elections, which are also very important!

This obsession with the left needing to appear constantly stoic and poised and unbothered, to the point of being too embarrassed to stand up for ourselves or even ask questions in fear of "looking as bad as them" is going to be the death of all of us.

tomb bat triforce formation?

The Choir!

By the way, I saw in the news today that thousands of mail-in ballots in Nevada can't yet be certified because the signature on the envelope doesn't match the name on the voter registration. They suggested that this could be attributed to young people not being used to signing their name.

So if you're a young person in a swing state who voted by mail, it'd be a good idea to check that there isn't a problem with your ballot. They official said they'll be contacting all of the voters in question, but you could be proactive in making sure.

@teagantheamazing Hope you don't mind, but I wanted to pull this reply out to talk about a little more in depth, because I think it is important that people understand this as we move forward.

Also, I am speaking as a private citizen here, not as an employee of the Forest Service.

In the United States, wildland fire response is handled at three basic levels: Federal, State, and Local.

Federally, it is further broken down into the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. (Some parks have their own fire crews as well, but that varies from park to park, and they're usually still technically Forest Service.) There's really not a ton of difference between the two aside from whose name is on your paycheck. Pay is the same across each, structure is the same across each, training is the same across each. Federal crews and resources are, generally, the main and biggest responders to wildfires because wildfires tend to happen primarily on federal lands.

At the state and local level things vary a lot from state to state. You can have things like the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control in Colorado and Cal Fire in California, and you can have local structure departments that also have wildland divisions and/or training. Some of the local departments will be volunteer. State and local responders also work closely with federal responders, but how much and for how long varies from fire to fire.

Then, on top of all of that, you have private/contract crews. They are what it says on the tin: private crews of firefighters. Some of these crews are great! Very professional, very skilled. Others are...ah...not.

Now, what I am concerned about specifically as we head into this new administration is what is going to happen at the federal level. As I mentioned in the original post, the Forest Service is already struggling. It has ALWAYS been struggling. Without giving you a whole huge history lesson, the Forest Service was founded in the early 1900s by Teddy Roosevelt to protect public lands and preserve them for future use. People threw a FIT about it, specifically people who wanted to basically strip mine the forests for every single available resource. Taft was elected after Roosevelt and basically started undoing everything his predecessor had done. The budget for the Forest Service was destroyed, protections were rolled back. The only reason the Forest Service survived was because in 1910 there was a MASSIVE fire. It was, at the time, unprecedented and the Forest Service was able to use it to lobby for better funding going forward. But the same cycle has repeated ever since. An administration that doesn't value conservation will come in, shred the budget, there will be deadly consequences that make the next administration pad the budget some, and then it will start again.

It's a lot like people who stop taking their medicine because they think they're cured since they feel better, but they only feel better because they were taking their medicine.

So what happens now? Well, it's already happening and it happened under Biden, and will only get worse under Trump. To keep it simple, there are two kinds of federal employment: seasonal, and year-round. Most of the federal Forest Service jobs are seasonal, because the work is seasonal. This includes firefighters, but it also includes things like park rangers and trail maintenance crews. From late spring to early fall there are tooooons of people working. Then, the rest of the year, its a skeleton crew of year-rounders doing mostly maintenance work, controlled burns, paperwork, stuff like that.

Now, with all of that said, here is where we stand at this specific moment: the decision has already been made that the Forest Service will not be hiring seasonal workers outside of firefighting next year. This means no seasonal park rangers, no seasonal maintenance people, none of that. This means next year parks are going to be a MESS. Bathrooms will not be cleaned regularly, campgrounds will not be maintained, trails will not be maintained, and a ton of other stuff. The year-rounder skeleton crew will be all we've got. And, crucially, there will be less professionals monitoring the woods looking for new fires. Rangers, even ones not working directly on fire stuff, are a crucial level of protection for spotting and reporting fires.

Secondary to that is the pay issue. Even if you're a year-rounder, the pay is abysmal. Your average out the gate, newbie wildland firefighter is going to make around $17/hr base pay if they work for a federal agency. Now, there's a ton of random stuff that can bump that pay up even without the retention bonus we're currently getting. You get a night differential and a Sunday differential for starters, and hazard pay when you are actively working a fire, plus there's ALWAYS overtime, sometimes an insane amount of it. Then there's per diem if you are traveling for a fire, and that can be a nice little bump too. But the point/problem is that the pay is VERY unpredictable. You can have a massively busy season and be swimming in money, or you can have a slow as fuck season and end up scrapping by because the base pay isn't enough. The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act is supposed to fix this by bumping up the base pay, but that can has been kicked back and forth in the government for yeeeears now.

Now, as you mentioned, people CAN transfer their federal qualifications for fire to state and private crews. It generally pays better if you do. But we do not want to privatize fire response. Given the size of this country, given the spread of the population within it, we have to have a federal firefighting force. Leaving it to the states and private companies will not be enough.

That is where we are starting the new administration: abysmal pay, failing departments, and slimmed back hiring. Given Trump's repeated insistence on slimming down the government, on withholding aid in blue states, on getting rid of things like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which is also crucial for firefighting), and other things in that vein, I think we are staring down the barrel of a very, very dangerous time.

So, some action items if you want to help:

Call your local representatives and insist they pass the Wildland Firefighter Protection Act NOW, before the new administration comes in. The new administration could still screw it up, but we've gotta at least try.

Be patient and understanding with Park Rangers in the coming years. They are doing their best with what they've got.

Take responsibility for your use of public lands. Clean up after yourself, pick up litter when you see it, and donate if there is a way for you to do so.

Educate yourself and your community on wildland fire even if you don't think you are in a wildland fire prone area. Learn about and implement defensible space around your homes and communities. I'll be doing a lot of education around this going forward, so if you have questions or want help please ask me!

PROOF IN CASE YOU NEED IT

absolutely insane shit happening on twitter

I'm seeing a lot of posts on my dash today encouraging folks to start archiving their favorite online resources, in case they might be at risk of disappearing in the near future. Since privacy and data ownership are major interests of mine, it seems like a good time to share a bit of what I know! I hope that some of this might be helpful--please feel free to reach out if there's a specific question that comes to mind! 💕

(My bona fides, in case anyone wants to know: I do work in tech, with over fifteen years of experience in the same. Linux systems administration is a hobby of mine, and privacy, particularly as it relates to tech, is very near and dear to my heart. That said, I am not an infosec professional, so you may want to supplement this guidance with your own research, depending on your threat model.)

General advice

If you rely heavily on traditional cloud storage providers, like Google Drive and Dropbox, now is the time to start exporting your important files to a more secure location. Data stored with most online platforms is encrypted at rest, but the encryption keys are stored on the server's side, meaning that the contents of your files can still be accessed by the service providers themselves. This also means that your files and their contents are vulnerable to data breaches, DMCA takedown requests, subpoenas, and the oh-so-popular AI scraping that has wormed its way into nearly every tech product of note. (Including Tumblr! Lucky us!) Saving files on your own computer is one option, but if you want something closer to the Google Drive experience, Proton Drive is my recommendation. Free accounts get 5 GB of storage, and all data is end-to-end encrypted, which means even Proton can't read the contents of your files. A suite of document features were rolled out earlier this year, including rich text editing, collaboration, and sharing, so if you use Google Docs for writing, you can use Proton in pretty much the same way. I also use Proton for my email, and I'm happy to vouch for them--they are nonprofit-backed, EU-based, and all of their products are built on privacy from the ground up. If you have an Apple device, you can also turn on Advanced Data Protection for your iCloud account, which will enable end-to-end encryption for most services. (Notably, mail, contacts, and calendars will remain unchanged, to ensure compatibility with standard protocols.) This might be a good option for folks who already have iCloud services and who don't want to set up anything new. You can learn more about how to enable this feature here.

Archiving websites

There are a number of ways to archive specific webpages, depending on how much content you want to preserve and how tech-y of a solution you're willing to tolerate. A web clipper is probably the most straightforward option: install one of the listed notes apps, install the web clipper browser extension, open the page you want to save, and clip clip clip. The images and text (with formatting) will be stripped from the page and saved to a note in your app. Both Joplin and Obsidian's apps are available cross-platform:

Joplin + Joplin Web Clipper

Obsidian + Obsidian Web Clipper

Notes you create in Joplin are encrypted before being saved to your device, while Obsidian's notes are saved to a location of your choosing in plain-text Markdown format. If you aren't sure which to choose, choose Obsidian--it's a little easier to use right out of the box.

If you want to preserve the full context of the webpages you save, similar to what you'd see on archive.org, SingleFile is a browser extension that lets you save complete web pages as a single HTML file. You'll find links to the various browser extensions, as well as documentation, on the project's GitHub page:

GitHub

GitHub - gildas-lormeau/SingleFile: Web Extension for saving a faithful copy of a complete web page in a single HTML file

Web Extension for saving a faithful copy of a complete web page in a single HTML file - gildas-lormeau/SingleFile

Note that these files can get pretty big. In general, I'd recommend a web clipper for most cases, but it's good to have multiple options on hand!

Other tips

Even in the absence of major geopolitical events, it's worth remembering that anything you see online can change or be removed at any time. Keep backups of anything that's important to you. (And make sure you back up your computer, too!) Have an alternate contact method for your online friends, in case one platform goes down or otherwise becomes inaccessible.

Consider signing up for a Signal account, if you haven't already, and recommend that your friends and family do the same. It's a free end-to-end encrypted chat platform, and unlike some privacy-focused chat protocols (looking at you, Matrix), it's easily accessible to non-techies. Don't use email, DMs, Discord, Slack, etc. for any communication that you expect to keep private. Any platform that can access your messages will give them up to authorities if compelled to do so by a court order or subpoena. This is not a theoretical risk. It is happening to people in the US right now. I am being so, so serious about this.

If you're looking for a new creative hobby, why not teach yourself a little HTML and CSS? Neocities is a great place to build your own website, and it's free. And it's fun! (If you make something, please drop the link, because I want to see.)

Breathe. We have to survive this, somehow. Log off for today, if you have to. Drink some water. Pet a cat. Sit outside and watch the birds, just for a few minutes. Believe that we will be okay, however you can. ❤️

Survival Tip

Pay attention to where the Trump flags are flying. Note the lawn signs, especially in front of businesses. Those places may not be safe to enter over the next four years, especially if you are in any way not cis/white/Christian-hetero-standard.

They like Trump because he says the quiet part (hate) out loud. Many will feel entitled to follow in his footsteps. They voted him to get the right to discriminate. So please be careful and don't feel bad about changing up your habits to avoid openly hostile people and places.

To my fellow American Citizens

The answer to despair is action!

Please read:

Reblogs help reach more people, if you cannot help for whatever reason you can still reblog and that makes all the difference!

Image transcript:

YOU CAN CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE DIRECTLY:

Go to this website https://t.co/nhEejuzfG3

Submit directly to the president

Click the first option, select your reasoning as election security

State these pieces of information in a paragraph:

32 fake Bomb Threats were called into democratic leading poll places, rendering polls to be closed for at least an hour

A lot of people reporting their ballots weren't counted for various reasons that are not very sound seeming. (Signature invalidation, information that vote counter could not have had)

This all occurred in swing states. (PA, Nevada, Georgia, ETC.)

This is all too coincidental that these things happen and swing in his favor after months of hinting of foul play.

Directly state that an investigation for tampering/interference/fraud is required, not just a recount.

The White House

Contact Us | The White House

Contact the President, Vice President, get help with a Federal Agency, or request a Presidential Greeting.

not a US citizen. But signal-boosting anyway.

This is sheer regressionism. Insane how a century of incremental societal development could (and might, if enough individuals are either apathetic, nihilistic, or somehow convinced that radical acceleration with the assumption that they - their platform, their belief system, their idea of how the world should be - will be victorious in the end, no matter how many other people might perish, people that could (and would) otherwise have survived the period of time that would then become the years of strife) be either halted, hindered, or outright (legally) undone as a result of this event.

Also, if your concerns are regarding foreign policy rather than domestic policy, and that the Blue Team is not [insert issue] enough; probably wise to vote for a candidate/polity that (might) not crack down on protests and criticism, rather than a candidate/polity that readily would. Unless you folks want actions like those at Kent State to become the average/usual government response to such events. (And if it isn't actual military assets/formations doing so, then it'll be empowered/potentially deputized paramilitary groups, or potentially randumbs-with-a-rifle.)

Also, reducing/abolishing the NWS? The events of the recent (as of this post) tornado outbreak in Oklahoma should be enough of an example as to why that is a horrible idea.

I am not excited about Harris as a candidate, but I will be voting for her in this upcoming election. This is why→

(full transcript under the cut)

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

“Transgender ideology” to be classified as pornography & excluded from First Amendment protection. Authors who produce & distribute it threatened with prison. Educators & public librarians who share it classed as registered sex offenders. communications & technology firms that facilitate its spread shuttered. -Project 2025, page 5

Delete the terms sexual orientation, gender identity, diversity, equity, & inclusion, gender equality, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, out of every federal rule, contract, grant, regulation, & piece of legislation that exist. -Project 2025 page 5

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration benefit. -Project 2025, page 141

Increase all fees for asylum applications, limit the availability of fee waivers. -Project 2025, page 146

Mandatory appropriation for border wall system infrastructure. -Project 2025, page 147

Deny loan access to those who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents & deny loan access to students at schools that provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens. -Project 2025, page 167

Ensure that only U.S. citizens & lawful permanent residents utilize or occupy federally subsidized housing. -Project 2025, page 167

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Encourage intelligence agencies not to waste effort collecting surveillance data when they can buy it from private sector facial recognition companies. -Project 2025, page 206

Defund the Corporation for Public Broadcast, specifically NPR & PBS educational programs like Sesame Street. -Project 2025, pages 246-247

The USDA will not be able to place environmental issues ahead of agricultural production. Reconsider the Food Stamps program. -Project 2025, page 290

Labeling regulations that unnecessarily delay the manufacture & sale of baby formula should be re-evaluated. -Project 2025, page 302

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Eliminate the Community Eligibility Program which allows school districts with high rates of poverty to offer meals to all students without having to qualify each student individually. No longer provide meals to students during the summer unless students are taking summer-school classes. -Project 2025, page 303

No public education employee shall use a pronoun in addressing a student that is different from that student’s biological sex without written permission of the parents or guardians. -Project 2025 page 346

Delete reporting on which educational institutions claim religious exemption from Title IX. -Project 2025 page 357

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Gut the Office for Civil Rights’ power to prosecute any kind of discrimination in public schools. -Project 2025, page 357

Eliminate the Office of Fossil Energy & Carbon Management -Project 2025 page 377

Eliminate the stand-alone Office of Environmental Justice & External Civil Rights -Project 2025, page 421

Restructure the Office of International & Tribal Affairs into the American Indian Environmental Office -Project 2025, page 421

Eliminate the Office of Public Engagement & Environmental Education -Project 2025, page 421

Pause all action of the Environmental Protection Agency for review. -Project 2025, page 422

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Center for Disease Control stripped of the ability to suggest that schools embrace masking or vaccination strategies. -Project 2025, page 454

All states will be required to submit detailed information about pregnancies, abortions & miscarriages to a federal database. -Project 2025, page 455

The medication Mifepristone, a life-saving drug used to stop deadly postpartum hemorrhages that’s also used in chemical abortions, will be banned. -Project 2025, pages 458-459

Artificial intelligence should be used to determine what is suitable treatment for those currently covered by Medicare. -Project 2025, page 463

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which implements government price controls for prescription drugs. -Project 2025, page 465

Funding for abortion travel prohibited under the Hyde Amendment. -Project 2025, page 471

End taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. -Project 2025, page 471

Withdraw Medicaid funds for states that require abortion insurance. -Project 2025, page 472

Hospitals will no longer be willing to perform emergency abortions, even to save the life of the mother. -Project 2025, page 473

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Rescind the Department of Health & Human Services' ability to impose a moratorium on rental evictions during COVID. -Project 2025, page 492

Rescind large portions of The Endangered Species Act & The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, reinstate Trump’s plan for opening the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska to leasing and development. -Project 2025, page 524

Review & downsize national monuments. -Project 2025, page 532

End the Endangered Species Act’s ability to prevent economic development & de-list many currently endangered species. -Project 2025, pages 533-534

I AM VOTING AGAINST THIS

Make it harder for workers to unionize & easier for employers to retaliate against whistleblowers & organizers. -Project 2025, pages 601-602

TikTok classified as a national security concern & made non-operational. -Project 2025, page 674

Break up National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, including National Weather Service & National Marine Fisheries Service. -Project 2025, page 674

Downsize the Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research; disband its climate-change research work. -Project 2025 page 676

AND SO MUCH MORE. 

The full text of Project 2025 is available at static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf I am very grateful to stopproject2025comic.org which produced a series of very readable comics to help explain many sections of Project 2025. Some of the language in this post is taken directly from their transcripts. (You can read many of their comics here on tumblr @stopproject2025comic) Please vote against Project 2025. Our tattered democracy, healthcare, clean air & water, workers rights, reproductive rights, civil rights, intellectual freedom and more are at stake. 

aw, nice, thanks for the bat friend!

Also, to add to the cool bat facts listed above... https://batworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/free-tails-smell-like-tacos.pdf

May I humbly request a bat friend?

Happy Bat Week!

Your bat is the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis)!

Oh gosh. This bat, man. One of the most agriculturally important species in the U.S. These guys live in MASSIVE colonies in the southern U.S.; there are 1.5 million living under Congress Ave Bridge in Austin, Texas and another 20 million (YEAH. TWENTY MILLION HOLY CRAP.) living in Bracken Cave, which is considered to be the largest colony of bats of any species living anywhere in the world. BONKERS. Not only do these bats live in huge colonies, but they are also the fastest flying animals, clocking in at just under 100mph (hawks only reach the speeds they do by diving; these bats reach 100mph USING ACTUAL MECHANICAL FLIGHT. DO YOU REALIZE HOW BONKERS THAT IS?????). During birthing season, mothers will leave their massive roosts to go hunt insects. They will fly up to 50km away to hunt. When they return, they are able to find their pups in a crowd of literal millions by the sounds of their voices. Do you know what a huge colony in a cave also means? Guano. Lots of it. And you know what guano means? High levels of ammonia. In a cave. The levels are so high that you physically cannot enter Bracken Cave without a respirator. So how do the bats survive? WELL. They have evolved to be able to change the amounts of CO2 in their blood via respiratory mucous to protect against blood pH changes. AND!!!!!!!!! THEY KNOW HOW TO VENTILATE THEIR CAVES. They fly in a circular motion as they leave and enter the cave to move the air and ventilate out some of the ammonia.

and with your help it can rack up 700k notes on tumblr in 2024

no tumblr this doesnt need tags im releasing it into the wild as god intended

UPDATE: they made some changes to their setup

this is so fucking funny

behold this smug vespertilionidae

Majestic Lump

Last night on our way home from performing in a play, my housemates and I noticed this sleepy little red bat on a city windowsill.

Today we came back to the theater to perform the Sunday matinee and she was on the ground. :(

I scooped her up in a shirt and put her back on the windowsill (never touch a bat with your bare hands). She was still there after the show so now we are taking her to the wildlife rehabber.

I wonder (have been for a while, just hopping on opportunity) how large the Underland equivalent of Chrotopterus aritus(sp?) or Vampyrum spectrum would be? Assuming they'd likewise scale up and not merely match the size of other fliers, that is.

Also that last image, just, the concept of being able to hug an Aeorestes like that, just aaaaaaa <3 sky fieri

"Bats don't have noticeable muscle-" Me, drawing Ares "That's fascinating, I don't give a fuck."

Short little video of an eastern red bat!! : ) So fluffy and cute!!

From jellybean to (frosted) cinnamon bread loaf...

Juvenile Eastern Red Bat, via

I'm writing again to bring attention to the GFM campaign of @nourfamily1989, a mother of five in Gaza.

Since the last update, the situation for Nour and her family has gotten a lot worse. The area they've been seeking refuge in has been subject to intense bombing, and they've had to flee again in the middle of the night, with no idea where to go or what awaits them.

The despair Nour is describing is heartbreaking:

We see death every day, every minute, and every second??? We can no longer endure all this suffering, and my children are no longer children. Rather, they have become adults. After all this suffering, they have not taken any of their rights. Rather, they have lost their lowest rights. They have to bear what no grown-up person could bear. How long will all this torment and destruction that we live in?? Every day we move from place to place and we do not know where to go and where to go. There is no safe place for us. Every place is targeted and there is no safety. Please help my children from this bitter torment. Please save us from this destruction. There is no home. There is no future for my children. All their dreams are shattered.

Nour has repeatedly said on her blog that she hates having to ask for help, but that, for the sake of her children, she no longer has a choice.

Let's make sure her pleas now don't go unanswered.

You can make a big difference to the family even with a small donation. If you can't donate, then please help by sharing.

Donation link (GFM)

For vetting info, see this post by @/killy.

Over the course of a week, we've been able to raise a little over $5,000. Let's aim to reach the next $5,000 milestone as soon as possible, so that if the Rafah crossing reopens in the near future, the family will have the funds necessary to evacuate.

Currently: $14,240 / $20,000

Total GFM goal: $90,000

aaaaaah I love this concept, just... everything about this. Especially since big'ol'bat'bro ought to have had even just *one* night topside.

On the other wing, however, the process of even getting Ares to the Overland... it's complicated. More so than with most canonically-known fliers, given Ares' above-average size. Ares even outright states he won't fit up the staircase leading to the concealed stone (and even if he could, getting a giant bat up all those stairs... well, it's doable, but there's gonna be a lot of cursin' involved), and if he can't fit there, then the laundry grate is similarly an unlikely surface access point. And that's without factoring in the possibility of others intending to use the laundry room during this process... and then the duo would have to scramble back down lest they're still in the building when Animal Control inevitably arrives on scene.

And then there's the decision of how to go about 'bring your pet cottonball companion bond to school'. > Bring Ares into the building? > Ask him to stay up on the roof and somehow convince the teacher to allow the class out to the yard so Ares can do some kind of dynamic entrance? (Assuming there's even an outdoor space on the complex...) > Open the window to let Ares stick his big fluffy head in?

But, aside from all the above... I still very much love everything about this hypothetical scenario.

imagine it’s bring your pet to school day and gregor shows up with ares.

To expand on this; RIP the hypothetical roommate/dormmate/etc. that attempts to harm/kill a bat that flies into their house/dorm/apt.

Or the landlord/neighbor/etc. that calls in an exterminator after a group of bats (maybe even a maternity colony, or possibly a over-winter hibernating group of myotines/Eptesicus fusscuss) temporarily moves into the attic space. Or maybe that individual is preparing to handle the situation themselves with DIY/COTS chemical weapons, either after calling an exterminator ("sorry, sir, but we're legally restricted from evicting a maternity colony during pup season") or already having knowledge of such legislation, knowing that no proper 'pest-control' service will do anything here, and yet still deciding to go through with the purge on their own...

I feel like Gregor grows up to be ready and willing to punch a human at all times but refuses to kill spiders or roaches.

src for bite force figure in tags: Freeman, Patricia W. and Lemen, Cliff A., "Measuring Bite Force in Small Mammals with a Piezo-Resistive Sensor" (2008). Mammalogy Papers: University of Nebraska State Museum.

Normally would say 'Lasiurini are never not cute', but this particular image...

Hoary bat

no source, was sent to me. posting it because it's fucking funny

Freya the Hoary Bat, via

:p!!

Photogenic

Hands you a Her

>"Because of their size, bats are notoriously difficult to find deceased from natural causes, and by the time they are found, the bodies have often already decomposed beyond value."

Sad, but true point to mention here: if one were to visit a wind-energy farm during bat migration season, one will find dead bats. Aeorestes cinereus in particular are all but doomed to be sacrificed on the altar of capitalism/the dollar, it seems...

Here's your yearly reminder NOT to purchase bat taxidermy products.

Because of their size, bats are notoriously difficult to find deceased from natural causes, and by the time they are found, the bodies have often already decomposed beyond value.

As sad as it is, it's true — As holidays approach, I know many people with an interest in these critters have the potential to receive gifts that are very unethical for the creatures they care about. Bats are killed for the sole purpose of displays like this as a soulless cash grab. Already, there are dozens of bat species that are threatened or endangered. It is not fair to them to support an industry that is actively trying to extinguish their life for decoration.

You can read more about this crisis here and here.

Photo provided by Denley Photography on Unsplash.

Reblogs on this post are encouraged.

The way the first vespertilionidae (I think... Chalinolobus dwyeri? Or Saccolaimus flaviventris? it doesn't have the frosted tips of Lasionycteris noctivagans, nor the ears of Molossidae sp., and the bat's ventral surface is not visible...) is scrambling, I hypothesize my first/immediate response would probably be 'eek, spider!' followed by opening the distance in whatever direction the critter isn't heading towards. This hypothetical reaction would not apply to #2 bat's movements due to the position of the wings interfering with pattern recognition of 'freaking huge spider'. Wouldn't be long before that reaction shifts to 'oh, it's a bat' followed by impromptu escort mission. protect lil'friend from cats, or humans that might have... less than positive feelings/intentions towards chiroptera.

Outside of such contemplative musings; aww, the lil'bats! Can't ID #2 as it could be any number of brown bat species (or Lasiurus seminolus).

Such adorable lil'dudes. sorta wishin' one could pick them up so they wouldn't be vulnerable on the ground but alas bats are disease/virii reservoirs and doing so without significant/adequate PPE is a very bad idea.