#private/public endangerment

[yameoto]

why are you against ai writing when you make bots? /gen

trying to publicly masquerade ai as writing is disingenuous and cheapening and only broadcasts that you have pisspoor confidence in your own creativity and writing abilities. it lacks integrity and is actively harmful to people who actually sit down and write rather than type a prompt into a generator that regurgitates slop, and try to pass it off as their own. people who use ai as a crutch don’t see it for what it really is; a self-imposed handicap.

chatbotting to real writing is like what porn is to real sex. jacking it to a computer screen vs real intimacy with a real human being. it's a mindless self-indulgence and entirely private between the user and ai. it is a personal vice, and personal vices are almost impossible to police. it is also, like porn, addictive and ultimately more harmful to the user itself. i'd argue people who publish ai writing as their own should just use chatbots to their heart's desire rather than make their own laziness or inability to string a sentence together everyone else's problem .

ai writing is ultimately pointless—because the imitation won’t ever come close to the real thing; the inherent beauty of writing comes from the fact it is written by someone, it is deliberate and intentional and human, from the crafting of plot and imbuing of symbolism and meaning and even down to the slightest, seemingly innocuous word choice. it’s simply not possible for ai to ever mimic that, because ai is not human. writing is innately human, because it has soul, and soul is the one thing that cannot be imitated.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

In case you haven't heard, the U.S. Senate's version of the "Big, Beautiful Bill" includes the sell-off of 250 million acres of public land. The map above shows the lands that would be available for private purchase--ending public access for hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, and other recreational activities. [EDIT: To clarify, it is likely only 3.3 million acres would be sold, not the entire 250 million, but this is still unacceptable.]

Look at all the areas in Oregon and Washington, for example--that includes the majority of the forests in the Cascade Mountains, some of the best remaining places in the Coast Range and Olympics, and large portions of the Blue Mountains, spilling over into Idaho and beyond. We're a region known for our natural beauty, but this bill would put it up for sale to the highest bidders. Who's going to come here to view empty slopes where there were once trees, or waterways polluted with mining sludge? We've already seen what's been done to the Appalachians with timber harvest and mountaintop removal mining.

It's no coincidence that Montana isn't included in this map, by the way. Montana's representatives have already said they wouldn't back anything that would allow federal lands in Montana to be sold, but what's to say they won't throw the rest of us under the bus in order to push the bill through? Not shown in the map, by the way, is the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, one of the biggest areas with old-growth left in the Northern Hemisphere.

What's really galling is that the American people--we who are out there hiking, hunting, horseback riding--are not getting a say in this. Instead, this sale is shoved into a multi-pronged bill that would also gut Medicaid, and raises the debt ceiling by $5 billion (wasn't lowering debt the justification for gutting public services?) And once that land is sold, whether to U.S.-based timber, mining and other special interests, or those in other countries, it's gone. We will never get it back.

And that means that a lot of special places that the people who actually live, work, and play in the Western states enjoy will be destroyed without our consent. People who live across the country play with our natural resources like Monopoly money, without considering the impact on our local economies or our connections to the land that these sales would have. Even those who just come here to visit deserve to be able to explore them as much as we do, without encountering more locked gates across roads, clearcuts, and mining pits.

All of this is to say nothing of the deep insult to indigenous people, who have already lost so much in the past few centuries; this sale would remove so many opportunities to try to undo at least a small portion of the damage done. It also doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how much ecological progress will be lost, as these areas contain some of the best remaining wildlife habitats left in the country. Habitat loss is THE single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction, and the loss of the protection of these lands WILL lead to more habitat fragmentation and more species going extinct forever.

If you're not happy about this, now's the time to be making some serious ruckus. Contact your elected officials. Educate others and get the word out. Get in touch with conservation groups to see what organized efforts they have planned to meet this threat to our public lands. I have a lot more words about this whole situation--many of them containing four letters--but I'll keep things civil here.

[thegalleonsnest]

OK since I haven't seen too many people talk about this since twitter news usually strikes pretty fast over here whenever e'usk does anything ever, let me give ya'll the run down on two things that will go live on NOVEMBER 15TH and why people are mass migrating to Blue Sky once more; and provide resources to help protect your art and make the transition to Blue Sky easier if you so choose:

The Block function no longer blocks people as intended. It now basically acts as a glorified Mute button. Even when you block someone, they can still see your posts, but they can't engage in them. If your account is a Public one and not a Private one, people you blocked will see your posts.

They say because people can easily "share and hide harmful or private information about those they've blocked," they changed it this way for "greater transparency." When in reality, this is an extremely dangerous change, as the whole point of blocking is to cease interaction with people entirely for a plethora of reasons, i.e. stalking, harassment, spam, endangerment, or just plainly annoying and not wanting to see said tweets/accounts. or you know, for 18+ accounts who do not want minors interacting with them or their material at all (There is speculation saying these changes are specifically for Elon himself so he can do his own kind of stalking, and honestly, with the private likes change, it lowkey checks out in my opinion)

Also, this straight up goes against and may violate Apple and Google's app store policies and also is straight up illegal in Canada and probably other countries as well.

If this ACTUALLY goes through, twitter will only be available in select countries, probably exclusively in the US, which would collapse the site with the lost of users and stock, and probably be the last push it needs to kill the site. And if not, will be a very sad and exclusive platform made for specific kinds of people who line up with musk's line of thinking.

2. New policies regarding Grok AI and basically removing the option to opt out of Grok's information gathering to improve their software.

And anything you upload/post on the site is considered "fair game" with "royalty-free licenses" and they can do whatever they please with it. Primarily using any and all posts on twitter to train their Grok AI. A few months ago, there was a setting you can opt out of so they couldn't take anything you post to "improve" Grok, but I guess because so many people were opting out, they decided to make it mandatory as part of the policy change (This is mainly speculation from what I hear).

So this is considered the final straw for a LOT of people, especially artists who have been gripping on to twitter for as long as they can, but the AI nonsense is too much for people now, including myself. Lot's of people are moving to Blue Sky for good reason, and from personal experience, it is literally 10x better than twitter ever was, even before elon took over. There is no algorithm on there, and you can save "feeds" to your timeline to have a catered timelines to hop between if your looking for something specific like furry art or game dev stuff. It's taken them a bit to get off the ground and add much needed features, but it's genuinely so much better now

RESOURCES

Project Glaze & Cara

If you're an artist who's still on twitter or trying to ride it out for as long as you can for whatever reason you have, do yourself a favor and Glaze and/or Nightshade your work. Project Glaze is a free program designed to protect your art work from getting scrapped by AI machines. Glazing basically makes it harder to adapt and copy artwork that AI programs try to scan, while Nightshade basically "poisons" works to make AI libraries much more unstable and generate images completely off the mark. (These are layman's terms I'm using here, but follow the link to get more information)

The only problem with these programs is that they can be resource intensive for computers, and not every pc can run glaze. It's basically like rendering a frame/animation, you gotta let your pc sit there to get it glazed/nightshade, and depending on the intensity and power of your pc, this may take minutes to hours depending on how much you wanna protect your work.

HOWEVER, there are two alternatives, WebGlaze and Cara

WebGlaze is an in browser version of the program, so your pc doesn't have to do the heavy lifting. You do need to have an account with Glaze and be invited to use the program (I have not done so personally so I don't know much about the process.)

Cara is an artist focused site that doubles as both a portfolio site and a general social media platform. They've partnered with Glaze and have their own browser glazing called "Cara Glaze," and highly encourage users to post their work Glazed and are extremely anti-ai. You do get limited uses per day to glaze your work, so if you plan on doing a huge backlog uploading of your art, it may take awhile if your using just Cara Glaze.

Some twitter users have suggested glazing your art, cropping it, and overlaying it with a frame telling people to follow them elsewhere like on Bluesky. Here's a template someone provided if you wanna use this one or make your own.

Blue Sky Resources and Tips

So if your a twitter user and your about to realize the hellish task of refollowing a massive chunk of people you follow, have no fear, there's an extension called Sky Follower Bridge (Firefox & Chrome links). This is a very basic extension that makes it really easy to find people on Bluesky

It sorts them out by trying to find matching usernames, usernames in descriptions, or by screen name. It's not 100% perfect, there's a couple people I already follow on Blue Sky but the extension could not find them on twitter correctly, but I still found a huge chunk of people. Also if your worried that this extension is "iffy," they do have a github open with the source publicly available and the Blue Sky Team themselves have promoted the extension in their recent posts while welcoming new users to the platform.

FEEDS and LABELS

OK SO THE COOLEST PART ABOUT BLUESKY IS THE FEEDS SYSTEM. Basically if you've made a twitter list before, it's like that, but way more customizable and caters to specific types of posts/topics. Consolidating them into a timeline/feed that exclusively filled about those particular topics, or just people in general. There's thousands to pick and choose from!

Here's a couple of mine that I have saved and ready (down below). Some feeds I have saved so I can jump to seeing what my friends and mutuals are up to, and see their posts specifically so it doesn't get lost in reposts or other accounts, and also specialized feeds for browsing artists within the furry community.

The Furry Community feeds I have here were created by people who've built an algorithm to place any #furry or #furryart or other special tags like #Furrystreamer or #furrydev. They even have one for commissions, and yes you can say commissions on a post and not have it destroyed or shadow banned. You are safe.

If you want, and I highly recommend it to get visibility and check out a neat community, follow furryli.st to get added to their list and feeds. Once your on the list, even without a hashtag, you'll still pop up in their specialized feeds as just a member of the community there. There are plenty of other feeds out there besides this one, but I feel like a lot of people could use one like this. They even got ones for OC specific too I remember seeing somewhere.

And in terms of labels, they can be either ways to help label yourself with specific things or have user created accessibility settings to help better control your experience on Blue Sky.

And my personal favorite: Ai Imagery Labeler. Removes any AI stuff or hides it to the best of it's abilities, and it does a pretty good job, I have not seen anything AI related since subscribing to it.

Finally, HASHTAGS WORK & No need to censor yourself!

This is NOT like twitter or any other big named social media site AT ALL, so you don't have to work around words to get your stuff out there and be seen. There are literally feeds built around having commissions getting and art seen! Some people worry about bots and that has been a recent issue since a lot of people are migrating to Blue Sky, but it comes with any social media territory.

ALSO COOL PART,

you can search a hashtag on someone's profile and search exclusively on that profile as well! You can even put the hashtag in bio for easy access if you have a specialize tag like here on tumblr. OR EVEN BUILD YOUR OWN ART FEED FOR YOUR STUFF SPECIFICALLY!

So yeah, there's your quick run down about twitter's current burning building, how to protect your art, and what to do when you move to Blue Sky! Have fun!

[darkmaga-returns]

The Trump administration may soon throw out a major piece of junk science that has served as the philosophical underpinning for the government wasting hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on the climate-change hoax. In essence, they’ve robbed us blind while claiming to save us from ourselves, and they based it all on a lie.

The Daily Mail reports that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is lobbying for the White House to discard the so-called “endangerment finding.” This is a 2009 bureaucratic rule theorizing that greenhouse gases, created by burning “fossil fuels,” lead to global warming and allegedly pose a threat to public health.

This allegedly scientific finding has served as the justification for government regulations limiting the emission of greenhouse gases since the Obama presidency.

Globalist billionaires like like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, and Larry Fink have all cashed in on what amounts to a public-private partnership between the governments of the world, scientists for hire, and the private-sector corporations that benefit from the new rules and regulations. Meanwhile, the Chinese, unburdened by all these new rules and regs, become the dominant industrial force in the world. And the media controllers also play their role. Type “climate change hoax” into your Google or DuckDuckGo search engine, and see what comes up. It’s quite revealing.

[marinelifepoaching]

Marine Animals, One of the Biggest Targets of the Poaching Industry

What is Animal poaching? According to West's Encyclopedia of American Law, poaching is “the illegal shooting, trapping, or taking of game or fish from private or public property.” The illegal wildlife trade is massive, and the poaching of marine animals in particular has made an insanely negative impact on our environment. 

This blog will focus on the poaching of marine animals, why they are poached, how they are poached, and why it is in our best interest to stop it.

So why do people poach animals? There are many reasons. According to Jani Hall in her article "Poaching Animals, Explained," "Some animals... can be kept or sold as exotic pets. Slaughtered animals... have commercial value as food, jewelry, decor, or traditional medicine."

Poaching involves the intentional killing of animals, often in very inhumane ways. However, some marine animals are poached by accident through by-catch, which according to the Oxford English Dictionary is the “catch of unwanted fish and other marine animals trapped by fishing nets during commercial fishing for a different species.” Many marine animals that are otherwise protected are accidentally captured in this way, often suffering injuries or dying in the process. 

Why should poaching be stopped? Poaching is a major contributor to the endangerment of different species such as the Hawksbill Turtle which is commonly killed for its shell, meat, and eggs. It leads to violent and brutal deaths like in the case of seal clubbing, which is the drawn-out torturous killing, often of a seal pup, by clubbing to the skull. It can throw an entire ecosystem into turmoil by upsetting the natural predator-prey relationship as with the case of shark finning which is the removal of a shark's fins and then releasing it back into the ocean where they are left to drown or die of blood loss. This leads to an overpopulation of prey due to the lack of natural predators. 

[once-upon-a-time-the-end]

While dems are flailing about what to do, I have many thoughts on what the dem/progressive platform should be including:

Medical Bill of Rights - Everyone has the right to safe and affordable medical care - Individuals, not corporations, lobbyists, or special interest groups, along with their doctors have a right to make decisions about their own health and well-being. - Children have the right to make decisions about their own care if their parents decisions conflict with doctors advice, established medical policy, and creates endangerment to their welfare. (If a child is unable to make the decision for whatever reason, then an social worker alongside at least 2 medical doctors should be present to make a final judgement or something like that). Basically, a parent should not have the right to make decisions that go against a child's health and well-being. (Thinking particularly about anti-vaxxers who prevent their kid's from getting vaccinated.) (((This would probably have the parent's rights people up in arms the most))) - Medical policy should be set by licensed medical doctors, politically independent of the executive and legislative branch, and based in sound, peer-reviewed research and study

Pass Medicare for all

Reduce the military budget, end American imperialism.

Green New Deal. Massive investment in green energy and complete divestment from fossil fuels

Mass transport investment; fix our train situation

Break up the big companies. Enforce anti-trust laws

Ban congress and the president from trading stocks or holding stocks.

Add seats to the Supreme Court (end the crazy ultra-conservative majority)

Actually pass gun restrictions.

Actual immigration reform. DACA to Citizenship. Actual paths to citizenship and work permits, etc. End this Kafka-esque immigration policy

Abolish ICE and DHS

Re-investment in our public schools. Y'all talking about "School choice" but never the CHOICE to fix the public schools you complain about. - Equitable funding for all districts so they all get the resources they need and deserve. - Teacher pay should be at least $100k / year - Ideally ban private schools.

Fix Taxes - Massively increase taxes for rich people, especially billionaires. End tax loopholes and deductions that only benefit the ultra-rich. They should be paying 100% over $1 billion. - Increase the standard deduction to $30k. - And, overall, just make taxes easy. No more of this filing returns stuff. the IRS should just tell you if you owe something or send you a refund; they already know all your information, so this whole thing is ridiculous and only benefits companies like Turbotax

[hoperays-song]

Buster Moon's Total Sing 2 Crime Counter

And we're back again with Buster's lovely crime spree, this time in Sing 2! The numbers had to be estimated way more here than in Sing 1, mainly cause we have no idea how many people are in the room at any time in the theatre so just roll with it cause I'm lowballing stuff. I'm also not a lawyer so this is about as legally sound as the first one.

Anyways! Let's gooooo

-----

Traffic violations (x3)

Say it with me everyone, waving through traffic on a bike is a traffic violation! Seriously, its like he needs to nearly cause six wrecks within the first five minutes of every film.

Harassment 

Following someone and chasing their vehicle down and then proceeding to talk to them through a car window after they ask you to leave them alone is, not no one's surprise, harassment.

Public Menace

Okay, yes, I'm bringing this back again, but how would you feel if you're driving and in the lane next to you, there's a weird guy on a bike screaming into a taxi window? I, personally, would be fearing for my safety. So I'm adding it.

Trespassing

Grey area because there was no signage we could see but the backstage of where Ash was performing was private property that he likely wasn't supposed to be on so I'm gonna count it.

Trespassing

Buster sneaking around inside the Crystal Tower was trespassing, especially since Karen, the receptionist, insisted he leave previously and said she would call security if he didn't.

Aiding and Abetting the Delinquency of a Minor

Now, since time has passed between the two movies, I'm only gonna count one of the younger teens (Johnny and Meena) as 17 or younger, so take your pick. But, either way, Buster did convince them to trespass in Crystal Tower.

Aiding and Abetting (x5)

And this is for convincing the rest of the troupe to trespass in Crystal Tower.

Breaking and Entering

Buster does proceed to jangle doorhandles and finally find one thats open to break into the backstage of the auditions. Which could count as both breaking and entering or potentially just entering, but still a crime.

Aiding and Abetting (x5)

And then he convinces the rest of the troupe to do the same...

Aiding and Abetting the Delinquency of a Minor

Including at least one kid. Man, Buster loves aiding and abetting charges doesn't he?

Unsafe Working Conditions (x150)

Now I'm not sure just how many people were on set daily at the theatre, as it has to include construction crew, cleaners, dancers, pr agents, the troupe itself, and stage crew, so we're just going with 150 and rolling with it. Buster put them in unsafe working conditions by knowingly lying to Crystal, who was obviously not the safest guy to be around at this point, therefore potentially putting all the employees at risk.

Breach of Contract/Fraud (x13)

Say it with me now, lying in a contract is bad. You are breaking the contract. For example, claiming an employee you do not have as your employee, like say Clay Calloway, is illegal. Doing so over and over again is continuing to commit that crime.

Fraud 

This is more along the lines of lying to the cleaners to get them to not say anything and to help them, therefore withholding essential information from them. And continuing to lie to other employees with the same effect.

Endangerment (x212)

Okay, when he was doing the show, he knew how dangerous Jimmy was. He knew he was willing and able to kill people. He put everyone in that audience and on that stage in danger by doing that performance.

Endangerment of a Minor

And that included at least one kid! We don't know the ages of all the dancers, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a 17 year old in there. Just be glad I'm not including the piglets.

Final Crime Count for Sing 2: 397 individual crimes!

Buster, I know that's less than Jimmy but still, come on man. You don't need to up your crime total every movie.

[rjzimmerman]

EPA urges White House to strike down landmark climate finding. (Washington Post)

This is a critical test, because the "endangerment finding" is the basis of the EPA's legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Without that, we're fucked.

Excerpt from this Washington Post story:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has privately urged the White House to strike down a scientific finding underpinning much of the federal government’s push to combat climate change, according to three people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Ask your climate questions. With the help of generative Al, we'll try to deliver answers based on our published reporting.

The 2009 “endangerment finding” cleared the way for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act by concluding that the planet-warming gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. The Obama and Biden administrations usedthat determination to set strict limits on emissions from cars and power plants.

By repealing the endangerment finding, the Trump administration would be taking one of its most consequential steps yet to derail federal climate efforts. In recent days, the administration has also blocked work that is central to international climate research and barred federal scientists and diplomats from attending a major climate event in China.

During Trump’s first term, EPA officials weighed whether to reverse the endangerment finding but opted not to do so.

Conservatives have argued that repealing the finding is critical to unraveling what they see as burdensome limits on emissions from various sectors of the economy. Environmentalists, in contrast, say the finding has justified stronger regulations that have yielded enormous benefits for the planet and public health.

On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order that tasked the EPA with reviewing the “legality and continuing applicability of” the endangerment finding. The order gave Zeldin 30 days to submit recommendations to Russell Vought, the head of the White House budget office.

EPA officials have not shared the recommendations publicly. EPA spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou declined to comment on the matter Tuesday, saying in an email,“EPA is in compliance with this aspect of the President’s Executive Order.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Eric Berger at The Guardian:

Republican state lawmakers and conservative leaders around the United States see Donald Trump’s re-election as a mandate that will help them enact rightwing policies in Republican-run states across the US.

The policies include steep tax cuts, environmental legislation, religion in schools and legislation concerning transgender medical care and education, among other hot-button social issues. Republicans will have trifecta control – meaning both legislative bodies and the governorship in a state – in 23 states next year, while Democrats will only control the three entities in 15 states. The other states have divided government. “Arkansans went very favorably for President Trump, and I think Arkansans feel very similarly about President Trump as they do” Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Ryan Rose, a Republican state representative in Arkansas, where his party has the trifecta. “That will only empower our state to continue forward with more conservative policies, putting more money back in the pockets of hard-working Arkansans with tax cuts and supporting Arkansas conservative family values.”

While that federal and state control could allow Republicans to advance their top priorities, leaders of progressive groups point to other election outcomes – such as some red states supporting abortion rights – as evidence that even if people voted for Trump, that does not necessarily mean they support what opponents describe as extreme proposals. And they remain optimistic that they will prevail against such measures in court. “We are in a moment right now where the incoming administration” won “by distancing themselves from these very policies that it now seems that they are seeking to accelerate”, said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, a liberal legal group that includes more than 800 lawyers and has filed legal challenges to Republican regulations and administrative actions. Perryman added: “We are laser-focused on protecting the American people and on ensuring that people in this country have the tools to make their voices heard.” Top priorities among Republican state lawmakers appear to concern curriculum and school choice, meaning allowing parents to use public money to send their children to private schools, which can be religious or more socially conservative than public schools. Twenty-eighty states have at least one school choice program, such as education savings accounts, which provide public per-pupil funds to families with children who don’t attend public schools, according to Education Week. Trump’s platform stated that he wanted “to protect the God-given right of every parent to be the steward of their children’s education” and when nominating Linda McMahon to serve as education secretary, he stated that she would “fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every state in America”.

[...] Since Trump’s election, Republicans in states such as Ohio have also introduced legislation labeled as a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that would mandate that public school officials notify parents of a student’s mental, emotional or physical health, including “any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student’s biological sex”. Critics of such legislation have described it as “an endangerment to all LGBTQ+ youth”. Earlier this month, there were 129 pending anti-LGBTQ+ state bills, including proposals to prohibit doctors from prescribing to minors puberty-blocking drugs or gender reassignment surgery, according to the ACLU. Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a rightwing advocacy group, said that the Department of Education under Trump would help states “stop gender ideology being taught in our nation’s schools”.

Red states see Trump’s win as an opportunity to push extreme policies, such as “Parental Bill of Rights”, attacks on public schools, and more anti-LGBTQ+/anti-trans/anti-drag policies.

[the-cheese-man]

So forever ago I decided to figure out how many crimes louie from pikmin has committed and how long ge would go to prison for it and I found that louie has committed

2 counts of attempted murder

2 counts of grand larceny

1 count of bankruptcy fraud

1 count of human trafficking

1 count of larceny (maybe)

5 count of reckless endangerment

1 count of destruction of private property

2 counts of destruction of public property

1 count grand theft rubber ducky

2 counts of illegal possesion of hazardous materials

Several instances of holy site desecration and grave robbing

1 count of animal abuse

And several more instances of desecration of a historical site

[homestuck-fanauthor-coalition]

I do the dumbest things for you by @dave2olkat

Chapter 14: "What the Hell" by Avril Lavigne

Summary: Senior Year, Part Three

TW: Sexism & Misogyny and every other Caliborn-adjacent warning for homophobia, transphobia and other types of bigotry, Mentions of Abandonment and child endangerment, Description of a kidnapping and abduction that is meant to appear comedic but could still be considered disturbing.

Your name is KARKAT VANTAS and you're currently dressed in all black with a balaclava over your face like the rest of your friends, even if Tavros isn’t sure about this.

“I’m not sure about this, guys,” Nitram says from the bush he’s hiding. You’re all hiding behind some bushes right now, so he’s not special. You’re doing a stake out at the entrance of the most prestigious private school on the Prospit side of town- Felt Preparatory Academy.

The building is fancy as hell- Brick walls, a bright green and white color palette, ornamental metal gates at the entrance- it makes you feel sick. It makes you even sicker to think about the stupid people who go here, who believe they’re so much better than you just because none of them attend public school. They've all conveniently forgotten that their school fell below yours in the state examinations ranking ever since your boyfriend started to tutor most of the years below you.

New chapter by our lovely member! Please enjoy!!!

[bonepile-shieldwall]

This is a great resource to have, even if you think there is no possibility you could be living near toxic waste! Currently one of my middle school friends is going through a battle with our county about the lack of information they have regarding an abandoned Brine Processing Plant that teenagers (admittedly, tresspassing) hung out at that was found to have radiation remaining on site with no public markings.

The government, at least my local ones, don't want to share information regarding endangerment of health, and we need to keep raising these concerns and pushing for communication from our government! If there is an area of concern keep pushing your officials, attend council meetings, any public or private events you can get into to communicate- don't let your health be ignored by those elected to represent us.

call me a dirty communist radical but I think everyone should know if they live near toxic waste

[lakan-olivares]

Muralists groupfie

My daughter and I are being recognized with noted muralist AG Sano at the 1980 PCMC (Philippine Children's Medical Center) in Quezón City.

The PCMC opened in 1980, with murals by the Spanish-Filipino painters, Victor Cabisada Jr. & Peter Alcántara (born 1925),. However over the decades, the murals and art installations had degraded.

In 2008, the designer Feanne Hontiveros Mauricio created new artworks for one of the wards within the PCMC, which inspired Mai Valera and Ella Ladignon, enterprising friends and former patients of the PCMC, to launched the “Walls of Hope” program in 2009 to restore the damaged facilities and murals and create news paintings with the help of volunteers from the professional and student art communities. From the 19th to the 21st of December 2009, professional artists and students volunteered their talents in creating new murals for those that were too damaged to save, while other artists worked on the restoration of the Cabisada and Alcántara murals.

In those three days, I brought my students from the Far Eastern University (FEU) Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts (IARFA) to participate, as part of their NSTP (National Service Training Program).

Amado Guerrero “AG” Saño is an internationally recognized environmental advocacy muralist, whose body of work often feature sea creatures, specifically cetaceans (dolphins and whales). Originally taking architecture at the University of the Philippines (U.P.), Saño’s foray into environmental art started when he worked as a photographer for a marine research project of WWF-Philippines, in the Babuyan Islands. His exposure to the plight of the whales and dolphins, especially about the annual slaughter of dolphins in Japan, lead Saño to start a campaign to raise awareness of the endangerment of these marine mammals. Starting with a goal to paint 12,000 all over the Philippines, Saño’s works have graced the walls of many private and public institutions, locally and internationally, working side-by-side with local volunteers.

For more information about the Philippine Children's Medical Center, I wrote the blog article: “Quezón Avenue, Quezón City: The History and Art of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center” (https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2020/09/24/quezon-avenue-quezon-city-the-history-and-art-of-the-philippine-childrens-medical-center/)

This picture was taken circa 2010

[pscottm]

“Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has privately urged the White House to strike down a scientific finding underpinning much of the federal government’s push to combat climate change,” the Washington Post reports.

“The 2009 ‘endangerment finding’ cleared the way for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act by concluding that the planet-warming gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. Both the Obama and Biden administrations used that determination to set strict limits on emissions from cars and power plants.”

[dirkchivers]

Plastic waste management

Plastic waste management has become a global challenge due to the widespread use of plastic in everyday life. Improper disposal of plastic leads to severe environmental issues such as pollution, wildlife endangerment, and ecosystem damage. Managing plastic waste involves reducing, recycling, and properly disposing of plastic materials.

The first step in effective plastic waste management is reducing plastic consumption by using alternatives like reusable bags, bottles, and containers. Public awareness campaigns can encourage responsible consumer behavior.

Recycling is crucial, turning used plastics into new products, reducing landfill waste, and conserving natural resources. Governments and private organizations should establish efficient recycling systems, including collection, sorting, and processing facilities.

Proper disposal involves segregating biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste at the source. Advanced technologies such as chemical recycling and waste-to-energy processes can help manage non-recyclable plastics.

Government policies play a vital role in regulating plastic production and waste management. Bans on single-use plastics and incentives for eco-friendly innovations can reduce plastic pollution. Collaboration between industries, communities, and environmental organizations is essential for success.

By adopting sustainable practices, promoting recycling, and enforcing policies, we can reduce plastic waste’s environmental impact and protect our planet for future generations.

[shotgunsorcerer]

So Payday 2 has this page where you can view stats and stuff, and one of the things it has is an accurate list of all of the crime you've committed while playing. So I have an 100% accurate list of all of the things I would get arrested for based on the last game I've played. Under the cut bc it's very long.

First-degree Murder

Attempted Murder

Breaking and Entering

Trespassing

Concealed Carry

Assault And Battery

Manslaughter

Theft And Burglary

Threatening Behavior

Hostage Taking

Misuse of Private Assets

Forcible Restraint

Grand Theft Auto

Armed Robbery

Destruction of Private Property

Jaywalking

Drug Trafficking

Manufacture of Illegal Drugs

Possession of Illegal Drugs with Intent to Distribute

Illegal Modification of Firearm

Arson

Resisting Arrest

Destruction of Police Assets

Hacking Into Private Network

Interfering with Police Radio Frequencies

Smuggling of Illegal Firearms

Stopping Vehicle Traffic

Manufacture and Use of Illegal Explosives

Aiding and Abbetting Wanted Fugitive

Littering

Defacement and Destruction of Currency

Interference of Postal Services

Illegally Entering Prohibited Airspace

Use of Illegal Ammunition

Crossing a Central Reservation

Wilful Endangerment of Innocents

Damage to Public Property

Smuggling of Illegally Obtained Property

Appropriation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Vehicular Manslaughter

Maritime Irregularity

Disturbing the Peace

Currency Counterfeiting

Theft and Mistreatment of Livestock

Theft and Illegal Transportation of Classified Weaponry

Violation of Geneva Convention Article 24 (Protection of Permanent Personnel)

On top of that, I have killed over 10787 cops (in Payday 2).