#unprecedented levels of speed

[cloudedhoney]

Save a statue ride a dragon

[yrwestillhere]

I hope link never wears a striped shirt ever again

I dont think Ive ever in my life felt that protective of someone on my screen

[reasonsforhope]

"In an unprecedented transformation of China’s arid landscapes, large-scale solar installations are turning barren deserts into unexpected havens of biodiversity, according to groundbreaking research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study reveals that solar farms are not only generating clean energy but also catalyzing remarkable ecological restoration in some of the country’s most inhospitable regions.

The research, examining 40 photovoltaic (PV) plants across northern China’s deserts, found that vegetation cover increased by up to 74% in areas with solar installations, even in locations using only natural restoration measures. This unexpected environmental dividend comes as China cements its position as the global leader in solar energy, having added 106 gigawatts of new installations in 2022 alone.

“Artificial ecological measures in the PV plants can reduce environmental damage and promote the condition of fragile desert ecosystems,” says Dr. Benli Liu, lead researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “This yields both ecological and economic benefits.”

The economic implications are substantial. “We’re witnessing a paradigm shift in how we view desert solar installations,” says Professor Zhang Wei, environmental economist at Beijing Normal University. “Our cost-benefit analysis shows that while initial ecological construction costs average $1.5 million per square kilometer, the long-term environmental benefits outweigh these investments by a factor of six within just a decade.” ...

“Soil organic carbon content increased by 37.2% in areas under solar panels, and nitrogen levels rose by 24.8%,” reports Dr. Sarah Chen, soil scientist involved in the project. “These improvements are crucial indicators of ecosystem health and sustainability.”

...Climate data from the study sites reveals significant microclimate modifications:

Average wind speeds reduced by 41.3% under panel arrays

Soil moisture retention increased by 32.7%

Ground surface temperature fluctuations decreased by 85%

Dust storm frequency reduced by 52% in solar farm areas...

The scale of China’s desert solar initiative is staggering. As of 2023, the country has installed over 350 gigawatts of solar capacity, with 30% located in desert regions. These installations cover approximately 6,000 square kilometers of desert terrain, an area larger than Delaware.

“The most surprising finding,” notes Dr. Wang Liu of the Desert Research Institute, “is the exponential increase in insect and bird species. We’ve documented a 312% increase in arthropod diversity and identified 27 new bird species nesting within the solar farms between 2020 and 2023.”

Dr. Yimeng Wang, the study’s lead author, emphasizes the broader implications: “This study provides evidence for evaluating the ecological benefit and planning of large-scale PV farms in deserts.”

The solar installations’ positive impact stems from several factors. The panels act as windbreaks, reducing erosion and creating microhabitats with lower evaporation rates. Perhaps most surprisingly, the routine maintenance of these facilities plays a crucial role in the ecosystem’s revival.

“The periodic cleaning of solar panels, occurring 7-8 times annually, creates consistent water drip lines beneath the panels,” explains Wang. “This inadvertent irrigation system promotes vegetation growth and the development of biological soil crusts, essential for soil stability.” ...

Recent economic analysis reveals broader benefits:

Job creation: 4.7 local jobs per megawatt of installed capacity

Tourism potential: 12 desert solar sites now offer educational tours

Agricultural integration: 23% of sites successfully pilot desert agriculture beneath panels

Carbon reduction: 1.2 million tons CO2 equivalent avoided per gigawatt annually

Dr. Maya Patel, visiting researcher from the International Renewable Energy Agency, emphasizes the global implications: “China’s desert solar model could be replicated in similar environments worldwide. The Sahara alone could theoretically host enough solar capacity to meet global electricity demand four times over while potentially greening up to 20% of the desert.”

The Chinese government has responded by implementing policies promoting “solar energy + sand control” and “solar energy + ecological restoration” initiatives. These efforts have shown promising results, with over 92% of PV plants constructed since 2017 incorporating at least one ecological construction mode.

Studies at facilities like the Qinghai Gonghe Photovoltaic Park demonstrate that areas under solar panels score significantly better in environmental assessments compared to surrounding regions, indicating positive effects on local microclimates.

As the world grapples with dual climate and biodiversity crises, China’s desert solar experiment offers a compelling model for sustainable development. The findings suggest that renewable energy infrastructure, when thoughtfully implemented, can serve as a catalyst for environmental regeneration, potentially transforming the world’s deserts from barren wastelands into productive, life-supporting ecosystems.

“This is no longer just about energy production,” concludes Dr. Liu. “We’re witnessing the birth of a new approach to ecosystem rehabilitation that could transform how we think about desert landscapes globally. The next decade will be crucial as we scale these solutions to meet both our climate and biodiversity goals.”"

-via Green Fingers, January 13, 2025

[jupiterswasphouse]

No review this week, if only because I don't know what to do and I'm probably gonna be busy for a bit! So, in the meantime, I want to tell you about Vespa orientalis, the Oriental Hornet!

[Image Source: iNaturalist, Nasser Halaweh | Image ID: A photo of a red and yellow oriental hornet on a grey surface /End ID.]

This is one of a wide multitude of fascinating species of wasps, but there are two particular reasons I find these ones so interesting! For one, take a look at that yellow band on its abdomen—Nothing special, right? Well, while it looks that way, it can, in fact, function as a form of solar panel! It takes in energy from sunlight and converts it into a small electrical charge, which is theorized to be used as a form of energy for regular activity or even thermoregulation. And their larval silk also has some electrical potential as well! Wonderfully interesting stuff!

The second reason I think this species is so fascinating is that relatively recent studies suggest this species is possibly the best species in the world at consuming alcohol, as the evidence shows that these little beasts can regularly consume drinks consisting of 80% ethanol without any adverse effects! While animals, including insects, do get quite severely drunk (or worse) at levels much lower than this, the Oriental Hornets do not get drunk at this level, nor do their organs fail, nor do they live shorter lives. For all intents and purposes, after weeks of intense binge drinking, they were completely fine, as it seems the alcohol is metabolized at unprecedented speeds. This is thought to potentially be tied to the brewer's yeast that it and many other species of hornet carry in their guts.

So, you could accurately call individuals of these species partially-solar-powered super-binge-drinking wasps, which goes pretty hard I think.

[drdt-oclock]

now, and hear me out, here is how acevi can still win (a thesis)

i have my personal suspicions that ace’s line “i needed a reason to hate you” has implications about his friendship with taylor—considering the only thing we know definitively that levi and taylor have in common is that they are both people that ace, at some point, has considered a friend. taylor's death is vaguely alluded to in a line of dialogue where ace states he doesn’t want a third death on his hands—a line that also shows he feels responsible—however, we can assume that taylor’s death was not maliciously ace’s fault, as ace’s motive secret is about his eating disorder; if he had truly committed a murder by the standards of the law, chances are that would have been written instead (see: levi, min). this being said, i believe that ace was deliberately hostile towards levi in an attempt to drive him away and discourage any form of friendship out of fear of deepening any pre-existing attachment he may have felt towards levi in the earlier half of chapter one.

levi, in turn, is shown to be confused by this, though we can gather from his lack of empathy or internalised morality that said confusion doesn’t stem from a place of anger, nor spite. subjectively, i believe that levi was, in some genuine way, intrigued by ace and his seemingly erratic behaviours, and this lack of overt distaste or hatred prompted ace to deliberately press his buttons, trying (and ultimately succeeding) in breaking levi’s composure. levi snapping at him, in some way, comforts ace, affirming his self-deprecating belief that he is incapable of being cared for, speeding up the process that he believes is inevitable; that levi will tire of him.

upon the revelation that whether ace lives or dies—and more broadly, ace in general is of no concern to levi, ace is very quickly forced to come to terms with the fact that all his efforts were effectively meaningless, and ultimately it would not have meaningfully contributed towards levi’s opinion of him. in a way, he mourns this; in his efforts to drive levi (and honestly, the entire cast) away through hostility, he placed a target on his own back, resulting in an attempt on his life from nico. in his final hours, ace is able to see the broader picture, formerly obscured by the tunnel vision given to him by his own debilitating anxiety, but is ultimately too proud (or too scared) to apologise to levi directly, doubling down on his efforts in the conversation they have post-trial.

i believe that ace did not necessarily account for forming an attachment—much less any form of attraction to levi, and that this oversight only further infuriated him. this culminates at the end of chapter 2, wherein levi is shot, perhaps fatally, and ace has to confront himself and the person he has tried to be throughout the narrative. in his final moments, not only does he plead for his own immediate execution—something he has been, quite literally, scared to tears by, with his general fear of death being highlighted continuously the entire series—but delivers a monologue to arturo in open defiance of his own vices, encouraging him to save levi’s life and not be petrified by the same fear he himself has now succumbed to. i am of the incredibly strong opinion that this dictates a strong level of care, or at the very least responsibility for levi and his wellbeing.

how will this culminate in acevi still winning? through levi. if he survives to chapter 3, which he very well may, he will be left to contemplate this; to attempt to unpack ace’s motivations for both his hostility and his seemingly unprecedented choice to face his own death to save levi’s life. while i think it’s unrealistic to expect any sudden empathy for ace in a hypothetical levi character arc, ace would undoubtedly occupy his thoughts well into later chapters.

thank you for reading keep in mind i am a sad little man with very strong and very biased opinions on things i have too much time to talk about ❤️

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jessica Valenti at Abortion, Every Day:

I know we’re all feeling overwhelmed and despairing. What’s happening to this country—not just on abortion rights, but with everything—is downright soul-wrenching. But as tempting as it is to stew in that sadness, I’m asking us all to stand up and snap out of it. Because this issue needs us right now. Over the last 48 hours, Republicans advanced a budget bill to defund Planned Parenthood, RFK Jr. directed the FDA to review regulations for mifepristone, and news broke that a brain dead woman in Georgia is being kept alive against her family’s wishes because she’s pregnant. In the last week, Louisiana officials have opened a second criminal investigation into a New York abortion provider, demanding her extradition; Missouri Republicans advanced a ballot measure to undo an abortion rights amendment (and the will of voters alongside it); and the Trump administration shared plans to push women out of the workforce and back into the home. We don’t need to ask what would happen if women started being arrested for miscarriages—because it’s already happening. We don’t need to conjure up dystopian sci-fi futures where women are being used as incubators, because that future is here. Conservatives had fifty years to write their post-Roe wishlist, and they haven’t taken a beat or breath while barreling their way through it. But here’s what’s keeping me up at night: As we speed towards a future where women aren’t full citizens, a source tells me that some Congressional Democrats are calling abortion a dead issue. It didn’t win them the presidency, so why even bother? I wish I was kidding.

Let’s be clear about what’s happening: While our elected leaders back off rights and freedom for half the country, the anti-abortion movement is more organized and determined than ever. In fact, opposition researchers I’ve spoken to over the last few weeks tell me that they’ve never seen this level of coordination among anti-abortion activists. I’ve noticed the same: organizations are coming together with unprecedented momentum. In part, that’s because ultraconservative billionaire Leonard Leo just poured tens of millions into a new coalition of the country’s most powerful anti-abortion groups, giving them a clear directive: strategically unify and get shit done. Backed by the Trump administration, that’s exactly what they’re doing. Just look at what’s happened with mifepristone. A few weeks ago, FDA chief Marty Makary said he wouldn’t move against abortion medication—unless new data showed it was unsafe. Days later, the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) dropped a report conveniently ‘proving’ just that. Within 24 hours of the study’s release, Sen. Josh Hawley had a letter on Makary’s desk demanding restrictions on mifepristone.

The coordination wasn’t exactly subtle: Republicans were ready for this study before it even went public. The broader conservative machine was ready to do their jobs, too: Right-wing media outlets ran headline after headline about the ‘danger’ of abortion medication, while conservative influencers amplified the disinformation. In the background, anti-abortion groups rallied around a shared message and launched a website urging readers to flood Makary, Congress, and the HHS with letters.

[...] For the anti-abortion movement, ending Roe wasn’t the finish line—it was the starting pistol. And while the crowd watching may be cheering for those of us who protect reproductive rights, our rivals are still running laps around us. Just as bad, they have their eye on that crowd, too.

The anti-abortion movement knows they can’t win in the long run without public support—that’s why so much of their strategy is dedicated to sparking a culture shift. They’re not flooding social media with disinformation, tradwives, and manosphere podcasts for the fun of it! They’re doing it for the same reason they’re pushing anti-abortion propaganda videos into public school classrooms: to reach, influence, and indoctrinate young people. Now, abortion is incredibly popular—so this kind of effort could take decades. But conservatives are willing to wait it out. After all, they’ve done it before. And with the power of the Trump administration and motivated funders behind them, it’s no wonder that we’re seeing a movement so wholly uninterested in compromise or rest.

Love this column from Jessica Valenti: “Ending Roe wasn’t the finish line—it was the starting pistol” for the anti-abortion extremists… and Democrats want to capitulate on that? HELL NO!

[elihashadenough]

Pairing: max verstappen x male reader (could be read by masc presenting people)

Summary: sometimes things go right in the moment but will they always be right? can they survive through the hardships of love? can their love hold the test of a treacherous path of love?

a/n: part 4 is here, i just wanted to take a moment and just say thank you to everyone showing love to all of my fics and yeah i hope you enjoy it :)

-> do not repost, copy or translate my works nor post them anywhere else. Read at your own risk. Reblogs, likes and comments are always appreciated.

[series masterlist]

www.formula1news/redbulldriversinaromanticrelationship

Prepare yourselves for a revelation that could rock the foundations of the racing world. Fresh off yesterday's adrenaline-pumping race, an anonymous source has spilled the beans with compelling evidence, painting a scandalous picture of Redbull's rivalry duo. Forget podium celebrations; the two Redbull drivers weren't just celebrating their victories to an entirely unexpected level, engaging in intimate moments, sharing more than just victories. Brace yourselves, folks, because it appears the track rivalry has taken an unexpected turn into the realm of romance.

The whispers of the newfound romance between the two Redbull drivers are rippling through the media. Forget the professional facade; it seems that the thrill of victory has ignited a different kind of spark between the two Redbull racers. The photos and evidence speak volumes, capturing elusive moments that beg the question: are they more than just teammates?

In the cutthroat world of Formula 1, where rivalries are forged on the track, this off-track revelation is bound to send shockwaves. 'Friends' don't usually blur the lines between celebration and intimacy, and this newfound closeness could spell trouble for the Redbull team. With both star drivers romantically entangled, the impact on their on-track performance and the team dynamic is poised to be nothing short of sensational this season.

As the smokescreen of camaraderie lifts, the real question arises: will the on-track rivalry morph into a personal one? The last race already provided a glimpse into the friction between the drivers, and it seems the drama is just getting started. Will the asphalt become the stage for not only racing prowess but also a battleground for love and tension?

And let's not forget the intrigue surrounding Y/n, whose rumoured involvement with the Redbull driver were put to rest by his manager a couple seasons ago. One cannot help but think could this 'relationship' be the catalyst behind Y/n's abrupt shift from Ferrari to Redbull? The pieces of this scandalous puzzle are falling into place, unveiling a narrative that transcends the not so typical drama of the racing world.

Examining their career trajectories adds fuel to the fire. Y/n's journey began with a bang, securing P2 in his final Formula 2 race before joining McLaren in the 2016 season. After a brief stint, he spent seven years with Ferrari before the unexpected transfer to Redbull. Max, on the other hand, made his Formula 1 debut with Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2015, solidifying his place with Redbull in 2016 and staying put ever since.

The burning question remains: will this on-and-off track relationship sizzle into an exhilarating love story, or will it flame out in spectacular fashion? The impact on team dynamics and on-track relationships is poised to be monumental. Fasten your seatbelts, F1 fans – the next race might just be the battleground for love, rivalry, and everything in between. What are your predictions for this unprecedented twist in the Redbull saga? Share your thoughts as we watch this high-speed drama unfold on and off the track.

i haven't proof read this so if there were any mistakes, i'm sorry. But i hope you all enjoyed this, it took alot of effort and i'm very excited to post this. I hope you all have a wonderful day/night ❤️

tag list: @leosxrealm, @miloformula123fan

(you can send in an ask to be added to the tagging list)

[alecscudder1987]

ive just had a thought. see ive been joking as much as the next person about the ineffable beurocracy getting their shit together after 3 dates while it took aziraphale and crowley since literally before time was invented BUT it's quite literally just privilege.

you saw the shot where aziraphale grabs crowley's shoulder just after beelzebub and gabriel declare their love--this level of visibility is unprecedented, and something he and crowley have never been able to afford. while they (and we) might have softened to not-gabriel throughout the season, the second gabriel is gabriel again, he uses his position and leaddrship weight as archangel to fuck right off with his beloved. which, good for him.

but to aziraphale and crowley, this is fucking bonkers information. they spent their entire existences compromising on their relationship in order to not...be compromised. and gabriel just up and speed-runs dating the enemy because the worst consequence he faces is getting fired. gabriel and beelzebub never face consequences for their relationship, so of course it goes off without a hitch. no one looking over your shoulder because you're the guy looking over everyone's shoulder.

while im thankful they fucked off to alpha centuri so i don't ever have to see gabriel's smug face again, i do wonder if the "going off together" is really the good relationship A & C ought to model. if it's a happy foil to miserable wee morag and her girlfriend from the minisodes, it's still not what i believe crowley and aziraphale are going to do.

they've spent all of time becoming increasingly codependent, and while that's fun and all for a while, crowley and aziraphale really need their little human mundanities. going on walks. getting dinner. going for a drive to blow off steam. their path is getting distinctly more human-looking, and i think someday they're going to have to reckon with the idea of letting other people into their lives.

to bring it back to my first point, i've just been thinking about WHY crowley and aziraphale are Like That, when we've been presented with a new couple who most certainly isn't, and it made me think about it in terms of power. they have leverage, but they built it for themselves by learning everything about earth their superiors didn't know, getting a leg up anywhere they can. gabriel and beezlebub don't need a leg up. they have it. they're stepping on your chest and brushing dust from their costs as you try to climb past the first stone.

you could also look at it like queer versus straight relationships. queer relationships are often by circumstance somewhat secretive and full of codes and longing glances and not-talking-about-your-feelings BECAUSE it might get you into trouble. straight relationships often don't have this problem (though they might have others relating to other intersecting & marginalized identities) so they can get straight away into the declaring it part.

TL;DR beezlebub and gabriel got hitched immidiately while it took crowley and aziraphale all of time to kiss because the ineffable beaurocracy has about a million times more power and a billion times less consequences for getting caught about it than the ineffable husbands do.

[fletchingbrilliant]

End Credits in Film

The credits that roll at the end of a film are crucial for more than one reason

Obviously, there is the acknowledgment of every hand and mind that went into the project, but

There's also the allowance to wind down, to take in what you've just watched; even if you've seen it a hundred times, it's part of watching the film

And of course the score/soundtrack. The music chosen for the end credits is very intentional, even in many movies made today

It doesn't matter that some movies have more disposable end credit tracks

The point is that there is value in the end credit for even more reasons than I listed here

I bring all of this up because I've encountered - what is for me - a new issue with streaming movies. Not only do they include ad break style fade-to-blacks even when you're not stuck with ads during your viewing (I always keep the remote handy to mute the ads when they come up and don't even glance at the screen because fuck ads), but now I find that some services play the end credits at breakneck speed, also cutting off the music prematurely. So not only can I not use the music and energy to wind down and absorb my experience, but I can't read and appreciate (and easily look into more should I want to know more of their work whatever their task) the many people who made the film.

A lot of people say the art of film is dying. I couldn't disagree more. I lived through the sludge that the 90s and -shudder- the 00s gave us, and so much of what I'm actually watching today is fucking incredible. The ability for smaller creators - and creators from almost any country - to put out next-level work available at my fingertips is unprecedented on every conceivable level. It's the services that largely make these films available that are doing their damnedest to make these experiences as expedited and protracted as possible.

Remove our awareness of what's going on around us and we are that much more malleable, that much more suggestible to blind purchasing, binge watching, and other obnoxious tactics that gain billionaires more money, and leave us as the scapegoats, the ones to blame for our "shorter attention spans" and our "fickle" manner of consuming media.

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #48:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Okay, old sport, I may have done something a little crazy. I have a lot to catch you up on.

It might sound ridiculous… To you, maybe… But I put a piece of paper with the symbol from the camera footage on Thalia’s desk, with a note signed by me, asking if she recognised it at all.

Hear me out.

I know that… she does come back sometimes, as she did when she once took her radio with her before.

For some reason, the agency allows her to visit her own set-up. Perhaps only if it helps them? Unsure. But she must be monitored to some level, as under no circumstances can she see me.

She’s protecting me, still. After all this time.

Nevertheless, I left the paper there in hopes she’d return. Until then, I am once again stationed across from that old building. The one with the flickering light.

It’s still flickering with Thalia’s last message.

At least this means I haven’t missed out on any information from her. I believe I did what she wanted me to do… Move on.

And while you could argue over my progress on that… I’ve certainly found myself a distraction.

A sinkhole C size of distraction, to be exact.

If you remember from my recent call, old sport, I was monitoring sinkhole C until the camera was broken by a man with a mysterious symbol on his back – the same one I am waiting for Thalia to get back to me on.

As soon as the camera cut to black, I grabbed my old, trusty lunar bike and rode as fast as I could. I decided that I should go see the expansion of sinkhole C with my own eyes… And oh, old sport, had it expanded.

In general, the sinkholes have continued to grow at an unprecedented rate. Yet, it is still unusually slow for a ‘naturally occurring sinkhole’. So often do you just see these things fall into themselves, at a speed where no one can run fast enough from it.

Yet, with sinkhole C proved to be unnatural, it had almost doubled in size that night by the time I had reached it. No one was around.

Before I even had a chance to wonder how on earth that could have been possible for one person, I realised quickly that sinkhole C had increased approximately to the same size as sinkholes A and B. As unconcerned as I am about sinkholes A and B, the difference here was that I was currently standing in the City’s busy centre.

The zombie-esque citizens of Universe City basically already had ‘death by sinkholes’ on their obituaries before the sun had even come up.

For the rest of the night, I scrambled to create a barrier around the sinkhole. If it stopped even two of these people from falling in, it was a job well done.

What I can’t help but question is this. Why would someone like our mystery cloak guy want these sinkholes in the City…? If it’s to fight against monsters, I fear they’re only feeding them.

But perhaps that’s the intention. A humanoid figure in that footage… Yet… The plans of a monster.

[...]

<- prev excerpt / next excerpt ->

[ghelgheli]

According to Marx, metabolic rift appears in three different levels and forms. First and most fundamentally, metabolic rift is the material disruption of cyclical processes in natural metabolism under the regime of capital. Marx’s favourite example is the exhaustion of the soil by modern agriculture. Modern large-scale, industrial agriculture makes plants absorb soil nutrition as much as and as fast as possible so that they can be sold to customers in large cities even beyond national borders. It was Justus von Liebig’s Agricultural Chemistry (1862) and his theory of metabolism that prompted Marx to integrate an analysis of the ‘robbery’ system of agriculture into Capital. [...]

Liebig harshly criticized modern ‘robbery agriculture’ (Raubbau), which only aims at the maximization of short-term profit and lets plants absorb as many nutrients from the soil as possible without replenishing them. Market competition drives farmers to large-scale agriculture, intensifying land usage without sufficient management and care. As a consequence, modern capitalist agriculture created a dangerous disruption in the metabolic cycle of soil nutrients. [...]

Marx formulated the problem of soil exhaustion as a contradiction created by capitalist production in the metabolism between humans and nature. Insofar as value cannot fully take the metabolism between humans and nature into account and capitalist production prioritizes the infinite accumulation of value, the realization of sustainable production within capitalism faces insurmountable barriers.

This fundamental level of metabolic rift in the form of the disruption of material flow cannot occur without being supplemented and reinforced by two further dimensions. The second dimension of metabolic rift is the spatial rift. Marx highly valued Liebig in Capital because his Agricultural Chemistry provided a scientific foundation for his earlier critical analysis of the social division of labour, which he conceptualized as the ‘contradiction between town and country’ in The German Ideology. Liebig lamented that those crops that are sold in modern large cities do not return to the original soil after they are consumed by the workers. Instead, they flow into the rivers as sewage via water closets, only strengthening the tendency towards soil exhaustion.

This antagonistic spatial relationship between town and country – it can be called ‘spatial rift’ – is founded upon a violent process of so-called primitive accumulation accompanied by depeasantization and massive urban growth of the working-class population concentrated in large cities. This not only necessitates the long-distance transport of products but also significantly increases the demand for agricultural products in large cities, leading to continuous cropping without fallowing under large-scale agriculture, which is intensified even more through market competition. In other words, robbery agriculture does not exist without the social division of labour unique to capitalist production, which is based upon the concentration of the working class in large cities and the corresponding necessity for the constant transport of their food from the countryside. [...]

The third dimension of metabolic rift is the temporal rift. As is obvious from the slow formation of soil nutrients and fossil fuels and the accelerating circulation of capital, there emerges a rift between nature’s time and capital’s time. Capital constantly attempts to shorten its turnover time and maximize valorization in a given time – the shortening of turnover time is an effective way of increasing the quantity of profit in the face of the decreasing rate of profit. This process is accompanied by increasing demands for floating capital in the form of cheap and abundant raw and auxiliary materials. Furthermore, capital constantly revolutionizes the production process, augmenting productive forces with an unprecedented speed compared with precapitalist societies. Productive forces can double or triple with the introduction of new machines, but nature cannot change its formation processes of phosphor or fossil fuel, so ‘it was likely that productivity in the production of raw materials would tend not to increase as rapidly as productivity in general (and, accordingly, the growing requirements for raw materials)’ (Lebowitz 2009: 138). This tendency can never be fully suspended because natural cycles exist independently of capital’s demands. Capital cannot produce without nature, but it also wishes that nature would vanish. [...]

The contradiction of capitalist accumulation is that increases in the social productivity are accompanied by a decrease in natural productivity due to robbery [... i]t is thus essential for capital to secure stable access to cheap resources, energy and food. [...]

The exploration of the earth and the invention of new technologies cannot repair the rift. The rift remains ‘irreparable’ in capitalism. This is because capital attempts to overcome rifts without recognizing its own absolute limits, which it cannot do. Instead, it simply attempts to relativize the absolute. This is what Marx meant when he wrote ‘every limit appears a barrier to overcome’ (Grundrisse: 408). Capital constantly invents new technologies, develops means of transportation, discovers new use-values and expands markets to overcome natural limits. [...]

Corresponding to the three dimensions of metabolic rifts, there are also three ways of shifting them. First, there is technological shift. Although Liebig warned about the collapse of European civilization due to robbery agriculture in the 19th century, his prediction apparently did not come true. This is largely thanks to Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, who invented the so-called Haber-Bosch process in 1906 that enabled the industrial mass production of ammonia (NH3) by fixing nitrogen from the air, and thus of chemical fertilizer to maintain soil fertility. Historically speaking, the problem of soil exhaustion due to a lack of inorganic substances was largely resolved thanks to this invention. Nevertheless, the Haber-Bosch process did not heal the rift but only shifted, generating other problems on a larger scale.

The production of NH3 uses a massive amount of natural gas as a source of hydrogen (H). In other words, it squanders another limited resource in order to produce ammonia as a remedy to soil exhaustion, but it is also quite energy intensive, producing a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2) (responsible for 1 per cent of the total carbon emission in the world). Furthermore, excessive applications of chemical fertilizer leach into the environment, causing eutrophication and red tide, while nitrogen oxide pollutes water. Overdependence on chemical fertilizer disrupts soil ecology, so that it results in soil erosion, low water- and nutrient-holding capacity, and increased vulnerability to diseases and insects. Consequently, more frequent irrigation, a larger amount of fertilizer and more powerful equipment become necessary, together with pesticides. This kind of industrial agriculture consumes not just water but large quantities of oil also, which makes agriculture a serious driver of climate change. [...]

[T]here remains a constant need to shift the rift under capitalism, which continues to bring about new problems. This contradiction becomes more discernible in considering the second type of shifting the metabolic rift – that is, spatial shift, which expands the antagonism of the city and the countryside to a global scale in favour of the Global North. Spatial shift creates externality by a geographic displacement of ecological burdens to another social group living somewhere else. Again, Marx discussed this issue in relation to soil exhaustion in core capitalist countries in the 19th century. On the coast of Peru there were small islands consisting of the excrement of seabirds called guano that had accumulated over many years to form ‘guano islands’. [...]

In the 19th century, guano became ‘necessary’ to sustain soil fertility in Europe. Millions of tons of guano were dug up and continuously exported to Europe, resulting in its rapid exhaustion. Extractivism was accompanied by the brutal oppression of Indigenous people and the severe exploitation of thousands of Chinese ‘c**lies’ working under cruel conditions. Ultimately, the exhaustion of guano reserves provoked the Guano War (1865–6) and the Saltpetre War (1879–84) in the battle for the remaining guano reserves. As John Bellamy Foster and Brett Clark (2009) argue, such a solution in favour of the Global North resulted in ‘ecological imperialism’. Although ecological imperialism shifts the rift to the peripheries and makes its imminent violence invisible in the centre, the metabolic rift only deepens on a global scale through long-distance trade, and the nutrient cycle becomes even more severely disrupted.

The third dimension of metabolic shift is the temporal shift. The discrepancy between nature’s time and capital’s time does not immediately bring about an ecological disaster because nature possesses ‘elasticity’. Its limits are not static but modifiable to a great extent. Climate crisis is a representative case of this metabolic shift. Massive CO2 emissions due to the excessive usage of fossil fuels is an apparent cause of climate change, but the emission of greenhouse gas does not immediately crystallize as climate breakdown. Capital exploits the opportunities opened up by this time lag to secure more profits from previous investments in drills and pipelines. Since capital reflects the voice of current shareholders, but not that of future generations, the costs are shifted onto the latter. As a result, future generations suffer from consequences for which they are not responsible. Marx characterized such an attitude inherent to capitalist development with the slogan ‘Après moi le déluge!’ (Capital I: 381).

This time lag generated by a temporal shift also induces a hope that it would be possible to invent new epoch-making technologies to combat against the ecological crisis in the future. In fact, one may think that it is better to continue economic growth which promotes technological development, rather than over-reducing carbon dioxide emissions and adversely affecting the economy. However, even if new negative emission technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) are invented, it will take a long time for them to spread throughout society and replace the old ones. In the meantime, the environmental crisis will continue to worsen due to our current inaction. As a result, the expected effects of the new technology can be cancelled out.

Kohei Saito, Marx in the Anthropocene

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

Across the American South, tides are rising at accelerating rates that are among the most extreme on Earth, constituting a surge that has startled scientists such as Jeff Chanton, professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science at Florida State University.

“It’s pretty shocking,” he said. “You would think it would increase gradually, it would be a gradual thing. But this is like a major shift.”

Worldwide sea levels have climbed since 1900 by some 1.5 millimeters a year, a pace that is unprecedented in at least 3,000 years and generally attributable to melting ice sheets and glaciers and also the expansion of the oceans as their temperatures warm. Since the middle of the 20th century the rate has gained speed, exceeding 3 millimeters a year since 1992.

In the South the pace has quickened further, jumping from about 1.7 millimeters a year at the turn of the 20th century to at least 8.4 millimeters by 2021, according to a 2023 study published in Nature Communications based on tidal gauge records from throughout the region. In Pensacola, a beachy community on the western side of the Florida Panhandle, the rate soared to roughly 11 millimeters a year by the end of 2021. 

“I think people just really have no idea what is coming, because we have no way of visualizing that through our own personal experiences, or that of the last 250 years,” said Randall Parkinson, a coastal geologist at Florida International University. “It’s not something where you go, ‘I know what that might look like because I’ve seen that.’ Because we haven’t.

“It’s the same everywhere, from North Carolina all the way down to the Florida Keys and all the way up into Alabama,” he said. “All of these areas are extremely vulnerable.”

The acceleration is poised to amplify impacts such as hurricane storm surges, nuisance flooding and land loss. In recent years the rising tides have coincided with record-breaking hurricane seasons, pushing storm surges higher and farther inland. In 2022 Hurricane Ian, which came ashore in southwest Florida, was the costliest hurricane in state history and third-costliest to date in the United States, after Katrina in 2005 and Harvey in 2017.

“It doesn’t even take a major storm event anymore. You just get these compounding effects,” said Rachel Cleetus, a policy director at the Union for Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group. “All of a sudden you have a much more impactful flooding event, and a lot of the infrastructure, frankly, like the stormwater infrastructure, it’s just not built for this.”

[vomitdodger]

Be vigilant to the commie media…we are entering unprecedented lies and mal/disinformation. You thought it was bad before? It’s on overdrive steroids now. I suspect there’s “some substance” to the above, as there definitely commie infiltration and wokeness working in the military that is now threatened. But actively opposing a president, as the reporting states, is treason. Yet again. As dumb as the woke generals are, they have to know their time and power is limited and otherwise coming to an end. To openly go full commie at this point seems unlikely. Not impossible. Just unlikely. Plan for everything but also be skeptical. Trust but verify.

There are several other posts/articles stating Trump was distancing himself from RFK. And/or Musk. The comments were savage and traced it back to a cnn article with a single “unnamed source”. Imagine that.

We are on a whole new level of “ludicrous speed” propaganda.

Now more than ever be wary.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive (please let me know if you've seen the preprint the article mentions. I'd like to read it and I'm having a bit of trouble finding it--and it's not linked in the article... XP)

By Greg Toppo

New working paper is believed to be the first to link weaker memory and diminished ‘flexible thinking’ skills to the pandemic’s academic downturn.

New research may help educators and families zero in on exactly how the COVID-19 pandemic caused such an unprecedented academic slump, suggesting that the culprit lies in something basic and crucial: children’s ability to think, remember and problem-solve.

And here’s a twist: The same core difficulties are bedeviling teachers too.

The findings, contained in a new working paper, are believed to be the first to identify brain changes as an explanation for why students have suffered, both inside and outside the classroom, since the pandemic drove millions out of the classroom.

Nancy Tsai, a Harvard University psychologist who studies the effects of stress on executive functions and who is the study’s lead author, said the new findings offer the first evidence to help us “understand the ‘why’” of the pandemic downturn — “what is actually causing all these issues that we’re seeing and talking about in the news.”

The paper, from the private tutoring firm MindPrint Learning, examines the cognitive skills of students nationwide and finds that, simply put, over the past several years, kids’ famously ever-changing brains have changed for the worse.

Since the pandemic’s onset, students across all ages and economic levels have begun to demonstrate weaker memory and “flexible thinking” skills — those represent the mental bandwidth needed for multitasking, shifting from one activity to another and juggling the day’s demands. But for a few groups, such as younger and lower-income children, the changes have been more profound.

They also show that their teachers’ brains are weaker in almost identical ways, which could help explain high rates of frustration and burnout. They suggest school districts have their work cut out for them if they want to keep their best employees on the payroll and returning to the classroom each fall.

Understanding the ‘why’ of pandemic downturn The data come from a large, widely-used assessment, the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery, developed in 2013 at the University of Pennsylvania. It consists of a series of cognitive tasks that measure subjects’ accuracy and speed in several major cognitive domains, including working memory, abstraction, sustained attention, episodic memory and processing speed.

MindPrint has administered the assessment periodically to its clients over the past decade. The most recent rounds totaled 35,000 students and 4,000 teachers in 27 states.

By most measures, U.S. students are suffering. Last year, NAEP scores showed the average 13-year-old’s understanding of math dropping to levels last seen in the 1990s and reading levels dropping to 1971, when the test was first administered.

More recent research has shown that while older children are showing encouraging signs of academic recovery, younger kids aren’t making the same progress. Many students who weren’t even in a formal school setting when COVID hit are already falling behind — especially in math.

The Penn assessment found that children who attended elementary or pre-school during the pandemic and who are now 8 to13 years old showed the largest declines in memory.

“Younger kids haven’t really developed a lot of these core cognitive skills,” Tsai said. “It hasn’t solidified for them, either through development or just through practice in the classroom. And so younger kids are more vulnerable to these pandemic shifts.”

But students across all age groups showed worse flexible thinking, which researchers now theorize contributes to lower academic performance — as well as challenging behaviors.

Tsai said kids from lower income backgrounds were more vulnerable to these changes, specifically in verbal reasoning and verbal memory, than their higher income peers, with bigger declines in verbal scores, which are highly correlated with academic achievement in all subjects.

Adults in the study had similar declines in both memory and flexible thinking, possibly explaining higher reported levels of teacher dissatisfaction and low morale.

Nancy Weinstein, MindPrint’s CEO, said weaker flexible thinking isn’t necessarily a problem for experienced teachers who have developed strategies to cope with stressful situations and can modify plans on the fly. But those with less experience may be unable to change gears when lessons go astray or students act out in class. That may lead to higher teacher burnout.

Across the board, teachers’ skills suffered in areas such as verbal and abstract reasoning, spatial perception, attention and working memory, but they saw the greatest losses in verbal memory and flexible thinking.

“If we care about that, we need to know how to help them,” Weinstein said. “And there are some tried and true things you can do.”

She said schools should consider sharing data like this with teachers so they can understand that their frustration in class might not be due to students alone. That could make a big difference, she said, in “their willingness to put in the effort to change, as opposed to saying, ‘Why bother?’”

For students, Weinstein said, offering them more opportunities to practice skills with breaks and rest between study sessions could help. Schools should also consider “scaffolded memorization” techniques that break learning into chunks and address each individually.

Could such techniques help students — and teachers — regain a measure of pre-pandemic skills? Weinstein suggests the answer is “Yes.”

“The environment will matter, but certainly we can regain some of that if we do the right things,” she said. “And we know what the right things are to do.”

Crystal Green-Braswell, coordinator of staff wellness and culture for the Little Rock School District in Arkansas, said offering the Penn assessment to teachers and staff has helped many think more deeply about their work — and about their own thinking.

“People who have had the assessment will say, ‘Now, you know my processing speed is slower — y’all are going to have to give me a moment,’” she said.

That’s a huge change in a profession in which most workers have been asked “to take ourselves out of the equation and just get the work done,” Green-Braswell said.

She sees offering such insights to educators as part of “rehumanizing” teaching. “When we provide this kind of assessment and we provide this kind of space for folks to actually get to know themselves, we are humanizing this profession and helping people to realize, ‘You play a role. You play an active role. You matter.’ ”

[brown-little-robin]

the initial fight between Kageyama Shigeo and Hanazawa Teruki is. a bit more brutal in zombie au. there's no such thing as a barrier in this universe, but there Is such a thing as Mob setting his feet and refusing to be pushed. Also, Mob with very little sense of pain taking blows and simply... refusing to think too hard about the damage.

Teru, by the way, is a half-turned zombie. He survived the disease with his brain (mostly) functioning as normal, but with increased strength and speed and healing. (the healing comes in handy after meeting Mob.) (I say "mostly" because the disease is still putting a lot of stress on Teru's whole body, which puts his brain in kind of a constant state of alarm. boy is traumatized one-of-a-kind.)

oh, and I haven't talked about my interpretation of ???% as zombie yet, have I? Yeah okay so ???% is your standard mp100 representation of everything Mob represses and also his most extreme state of fight-or-flight. He/it is a physical state of Kageyama Shigeo's brain and body in which all of his physical systems, including and aided by the disease colony living in him, are activated to protect his body and make sure he can survive what he's going through.

Practically speaking, that means that ???% survives un-survivable injuries. In that state of being, Shigeo heals from things his body doesn't really have the resources to heal from ordinarily. Yes, this is contradictory and not humanly possible. Something something it's because of the disease colony synchronizing with its host to an unprecedented degree... something something Mob would win every fight but when he fights he's already losing...

Anyway, so Teru strangles Mob into unconsciousness and then ???% physically grabs Teru by the leg and flings him above cloud level.

[a1vv]

𝐀𝐲𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐮

The world of Hunters was a place where power ruled, where only the strongest survived, and those who weren't ready to sacrifice everything were quickly forgotten. Among the many names whispered through the dark alleys of cities and the desolate landscapes of battlefields, one name stood above all others. A name that struck terror into the hearts of assassins, hunters, and criminals alike. That name was Ayame Shingetsu.

Born into a bloodline so old that its origins had been lost to time, Ayame's very existence was a testament to the dark legacy of her family. They were not the loudest or most numerous, but their power was undeniable—shrouded in mystery and fear. And at the center of it all was Ayame, the last living heir of a lineage whose strength lay not in their size or numbers but in their unparalleled mastery of perception and control.

Ayame's story began long before she ever stepped onto the battlefield, her fate already carved out by the eyes she inherited. The Shingetsu family was renowned not for their prowess in combat, but for a unique gift passed down through generations—the Eyes of Infinite Perception. These eyes allowed the user to see everything: not just the present, but the movements, intentions, and emotions of others as if they were written in the air, visible to only those who had the gift.

The ability to perceive the future, even in fleeting moments, gave her family members an unparalleled advantage in battle, negotiation, and survival. The world was theirs to control—nothing could remain hidden from their sight. But it was Ayame who took this gift to an unprecedented level, mastering it with such skill that even the most seasoned warriors found themselves helpless in her presence.

Her eyes, however, were not the only power she possessed. Her Nen abilities were as deadly and precise as the family legacy she carried.

At the heart of her arsenal lay "Hōrō" (the Blade of Fate)—a strike so swift and lethal that even the most powerful opponents had no time to react. The secret behind Hōrō was not in its physical force but in its absolute precision. Ayame could read the movements of her enemy before they even moved, anticipating their every action. She could calculate the angle of a blow, the timing of a strike, and the exact point of impact with a mere thought. In a single motion, she could end a life. The target would never know what hit them. No one could evade Hōrō—its speed was beyond human comprehension, and Ayame's ability to control it made it an unstoppable force.

Unlike most Nen abilities, Hōrō did not require excessive training or years of discipline to perfect. Instead, it was an instinct, a natural extension of Ayame's perception and understanding of the world around her. In battle, Ayame's enemies were always one step behind, struggling to keep up with the unrelenting flow of time and motion that she could control with a mere flick of her wrist.

But it was Shingan—the ability that struck fear into the hearts of those who heard its name—that truly set Ayame apart from anyone who had ever existed. Shingan (the Mind's Eye) was not a weapon forged from strength or brute force. Instead, it was an ability that demanded nothing more than a subtle gesture, a mere flick of the finger. With that tiny motion, Ayame could cause a person's head to explode in an instant.

The power of Shingan lay in its unpredictability and its simplicity. It did not require a large amount of concentration or energy; it only needed Ayame's mind to target her victim. She could strike from a distance, with no weapon, and with no need to move her body. The precision of Shingan was absolute—no one was safe, not even those with the fastest reflexes. The ability was so deadly that it made any direct confrontation with Ayame a suicide mission. Shingan was her trump card, one that she wielded with casual indifference.

But Ayame's Nen abilities were not the only thing that made her invincible. At the heart of her power was Infinite, a barrier so potent that it could repel anything and everything that came into contact with her. Infinite was a force field, a nearly impenetrable wall of energy that encased Ayame in a protective shell. It was an extension of her will, a reflection of her unyielding nature. No attack, no weapon, no Nen ability could breach Infinite unless she allowed it.

For Ayame, Infinite was not just a defense—it was a statement. It symbolized her absolute control over the battlefield. No one could touch her, no one could harm her, unless she deemed them worthy. Those who tried to strike her found their weapons bouncing off harmlessly, their blows rendered meaningless. And in moments when Ayame was feeling merciful, she would deactivate Infinite, allowing her enemies to approach. But that was only ever a rare mercy—because when she did allow someone close, they were already condemned. Her enemies never saw the attack coming.

The barrier also reflected Ayame's internal philosophy—a belief that she was untouchable, above the chaos of the world around her. While others relied on weapons, training, or brute strength, Ayame saw the world through the lens of her eyes and the calm control of her Nen. The battlefield was nothing more than a game to her—one that she had already won before it even began.

But Ayame's power was not without its cost. Her eyes, while giving her an advantage no one else could understand, also left her detached from the world around her. She could see everything—the movements, the thoughts, the emotions—but she felt little. It was as if she were watching a play, where everyone else was an actor, performing for her amusement, and she was the only one who knew the ending. The struggles of others were meaningless to her. She saw the patterns, the inevitable outcomes, and found little joy in the drama that unfolded.

Her interactions with others were cold, distant. She rarely laughed, rarely showed emotion. Her expression was often one of mild amusement, like a spectator watching a show they had seen a thousand times before. Ayame found conflict amusing—not because she enjoyed the violence, but because it was predictable. People fought for control, for power, but they never understood that it was all futile. She was the one who held all the cards.

Despite her indifference to the world around her, Ayame was not without enemies. The world of assassins, hunters, and power-hungry factions was full of those who sought to challenge her, to prove themselves superior. Some thought they could break her, defeat her, take away the power that had made her infamous. But they were wrong. They always were.

Ayame's power was not simply her Nen abilities or her inherited gift. It was her mind. She could see the world around her and understand it in a way no one else could. She knew their moves before they made them. She anticipated their plans before they even thought of them. And with that knowledge, she controlled them all.

Her reputation as a cold, calculating, and invincible force spread like wildfire. She became a figure of myth and legend, a name that echoed through the halls of the most dangerous organizations. Some sought to kill her. Others sought to manipulate her. But none succeeded.

There was no one who could stand against Ayame Shingetsu. She was the blade of fate, and no one could escape her vision, her power, or the inevitable end she brought. Those who crossed her would find themselves destroyed, and those who served her would find themselves in the presence of a woman who saw all, knew all, and could end it all with a single gesture.

In the world of Hunters, Ayame was more than a name. She was an unstoppable force. And her story was only beginning.