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oh right now that it's past midnight and i can post pictures again i can crosspost this from bluesky, which i will do now to start another wave of Discourse

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Trapped Family in Gaza Appeals for Help to Survive

A Plea for Help from Gaza: A Family Seeking Safety

Hello, I am Samar Shamiya, married to Hashem Al-Shawish (@hashemsh92) @hashemsh12 . I have a child born in the war, his name is Omar. He is 6 months old.

We live in the midst of the ongoing hellish war in Gaza, trapped between walls of fear and despair.

We struggle daily to survive in an environment filled with threats and dangers.

We are originally from the north of the Gaza Strip, but at the beginning of the war we were displaced several times without anything. Our house was completely destroyed and we are now homeless.

We urgently appeal for your moral and financial assistance to cover the necessary costs for escaping to a safe environment, where we can build a better future for our children and ensure our family's safety.

We are in desperate need of your support. Any donation, no matter how small, can help save our lives. Thank you for your attention and support during these harsh times.

GoFundMe Campaign Link ♥️ :

best wishes:

Samar shamia

Note:

My account vetted by :

@90-ghost

@a-shade-of-blue

@dlxxv-vetted-donations

@gaza-evacuation-funds ( @el-shab-hussein @nabulsi )

@gazavetters , my number verified on the list is ( #53 )

@nabulsi @aces-and-angels @ibtisam @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @vakarians-babe @7amaspayrollmanager @fairuzfakhira @fallahsart @sayruq @humanvoreture @kaapstadgirly @sar-soor @dimonds456-art @plomegranate @commissions4aid-international @nabulsi @stil-macher @soon-palestine @communitythings @palestinegenocide @vakarians-babe @ghost-and-a-half

@7amaspayrollmanager @kaapstadgirly @annoyingloudmicrowavecultist @feluka @marnota @toughknit @flower-tea-fairies @the-stray-liger @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @vivisection-gf @communistchameleon @troythecatfish @the-bastard-king @4ft10tvlandfangirl

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"you see it's funny because i'm pretending to be enthusiastically racist using thinly veiled 1-1 analogous terms to real world racism but it's about a minority that doesn't exist. it's basically a joke about how fun and funny it would be to be racist haha. like it would be so cool and funny if i was racist that's kind of the joke i'm making but don't worry i'm not haha"

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you could imagine potentially any kind of society

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reblogging a post that says “do it scared” vs actually doing it scared

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Look, I'm not gonna pretend that I don't get it, when it comes to AI. But it's like this:

In most parts of the US, a residential electrician works only on houses and apartments. They use romex wire, that yellow cable stuff. You run it from the panel to wherever it's going, staple it to the studs, then make up both ends. You need to know basic electrical code but mostly it's pretty simple. A fast learner could be a decent residential electrician inside a month.

I, on the other hand, am a union industrial electrician. I work primarily in hospitals, factories, and research labs. Most of our wire is run in steel conduit that has to be hand bent on the job, which is an art form in and of itself. We work with much higher voltages, much heavier wire, much more complicated equipment, and we need to know much more of the code. Our apprenticeship is 4-5 years and that's only enough to scratch the surface of everything an industrial electrician might do.

And yes - I absolutely get a little defensive when unknowing people compare me to a residential electrician. There's absolutely a knee-jerk impulse to declare that they're not *real* electricians, that they're merely a pale imitation of what I do. But I fight that impulse because it's a *bad impulse*. Resi still takes skill and work, it's just different than mine. We're both electricians. And it's better for us to work together to improve working conditions for all workers than to get into pissing contests about whose job is more "real". And both our jobs are in increasing danger due to the proliferation of low voltage systems that the average homeowner can install and repair without hiring a professional.

So yeah, I do get it. But it has been very, VERY insulting over the last year to hear people repeatedly say "AI was supposed to replace blue collar jobs, not *my* job! My job is ~special~ because it has ~humanity~!"

Your job is not special. It's not more important than my job and it's not more fulfilling to you than my job is to me. And I don't get to insist that everyone start building homes with steel conduit just so less skilled people can't be electricians, and I don't get to yell at people for hiring a handyman to replace an outlet for $50 when my time would be worth $200.

I absolutely understand the instinct that AI art can't be real art because people who use it didn't "earn" it, or that automating art is uniquely damaging in a way automating other jobs isn't because it's "supposed" to be about human expression. But please actually think about what you're implying and who you're throwing under the bus when you say shit like that, and whether it actually holds up to your other values or if it's just a knee-jerk reaction you need to examine.

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pretty disturbed every time when I find a science fiction/fantasy fan who says "well actually I WOULD be racist against aliens/robots/orcs and I want them to die horribly HUMANITY FUCK YEAH", you're failing the most basic "see yourself in the other" kind of fiction thematic

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What if life evolved in a rogue planet. What would that look like?

This could be surprisingly possible!

Rogue planets, for those who don't know, are planets that don't orbit any star, and wander through interstellar space. They are thought to form around a star, like our Sol's protoplanetary disk, but were ejected by gravitational interaction with other objects during its early formation, for example, two planets forming too close and the smaller one being thrown away with the bigger acting as a gravitational 'slingshot', or a star passing nearby and perturbing their orbit. It's kind of sobering to think that there must be millions, perhaps billions of Earth-like planets that were flung into interstellar space earlier on their formation or even afterwards.

This is not a very pleasant environment, isolated from the warm glow of any star, with temperatures approaching absolute zero. We still don't know much about interstellar space, and I imagine that rogue planets inside the diverse kind of nebulae or near dense star clusters would be very different. But by the most part you can expect them to be dead frozen balls of ice, as EVERYTHING freezes in this temperature. No warmth for any kind of life to be found.

Is this so, though? For starters, brown dwarfs, which are not especifically planets but let's say 'objects' several times the mass of Jupiter, are very hot, being capable of deuterium fusion (unlike hydrogen fusion which is what gives stars their energy). This weak kind of fusion does not allow them to be stars proper, but endures for billions of years. Imagine a gigantic Jupiter glowing in a dull red or magenta. Though it would be interesting to especulate on life in the upper layers of a brown dwarf, or perhaps moons that bask on the weak infrarred it emits, I don't see it particularily likely. On the other hand, organisms can thrive with minimal energy, more on that later. I can imagine, in some remote brown dwarf moon, 'prairies' of incredibly slow photosynthetical organisms growing under the weak light of a brown dwarf.

(here's some artwork of a moon orbiting a red dwarf, with source)

However, these aren't planets in the literal sense. Most rogue planets are indeed likely to be frozen balls of ice and rock. There is no star to warm them up (Earth's diverse biosphere depends on the light of the Sun, as obvious as it sounds), and no kind of life, no matter how exotic, can thrive near absolute zero, molecules just don't move enoguh to allow any kind of metabolism. Even theorized life using ammonia or methane as a solvent instead of water involves temperatures like that of Titan, Saturn's moon, which still gets some sunlight and warmth if minimal, allowing it to retain an atmosphere. Rogue planets just get none.

There are other ways of warming up a planet however. The interior of Earth is still hot from its planetary formation and the decay of radioactive elements on its core, creating volcanic and tectonic activity (though that's still disputed, as it seems that oceans acting as a 'lubricant' is needed for plate tectonics), and it's likely that larger planets would have even greater activity. It's also not the only option, a moon orbiting a large planet would have tidal forces that stretch it, producing similar tectonic activity that could melt the kilometers of ice covering them -water is actually more abundant in space that it seems- and this is indeed what happens in Jupiter's moons Europa and Saturn's Enceladus, as well as the much overlooked Jupiter's Io, which is an incredibly interesting patchwork of volcanoes in frozen temperatures. In fact, astronomers are starting to learn these subsurface oceans are actually the norm rather than the exception.

They are as you might have heard, prime candidates for life. The origin of life on Earth is still one of those debates that send scientists into academic fistfights as you can imagine, but one of the main theories involve it arising from the rich energy and nutrient environment of hydrothermal vents, which would be very common in these kind of worlds. So, if this is true, it's not unlikely that there could be countless worlds like these with life. Returning to rogue planets, subsurface oceans heated by tidal forces don't need any sunlight at all, they just need an icy moon orbiting a big enough planet at the right distance (there are other details, of course, but let's go with the basics). A rogue planet the size of Jupiter or larger could have been expelled from its original system carrying its moons, or could have captured another rogue planet in interstellar space, which would be very interesting as they both would likely have completely different origins and perhaps compositions. Similarily, a tectonically active rogue planet would be enough to melt subsurface oceans, or even surface regions like Yellowstone or Afar on Earth.

What would life look like in these worlds? You can read about speculations of life in Europa and on hydrothermal vents here on Earth to get an idea, but let's talk about it a bit. Now, you might read that hydrothermal vents are an oasis of diversity in the deep ocean with life especially adapted to them, and since they are often relatively short-lived, there are ecological cycles related to them that are still poorly understood. However, do notice that some of the most prominent macroscopic organisms in these places (like say tube worms, isopods, yeti crabs, eels) did not evolve from the extremophile bacteria there themselves, but rather evolved from life from elsewhere (from the rich, sunlit oceans) that adapted to such enviroments. The life *native* to hydrothermal vents on Earth are indeed extremophile, chemosynthetic bacteria and archea, that is, they don't use photosynthesis, their metabolism creates energy and organic structures from the surrounding inorganic chemicals (some very toxic, like sulfides) and heat, no light involved. Unlike most ecosystems on Earth, these chemosythetic organisms are the producers of this isolated food chain, entering symbiosis with other animals not only for food, but also respiration, digestions, and many more things. This is fascinating because it does prove in a very explicit way that chemosynthetic organisms can support complex ecosystems without photosynthesis.

(here's life from an hydrothermal vent, notice the crabs and bivalves, do read the Wikipedia article, it's great)

However, again, do notice that these animals did NOT evolve FROM the bacteria and archaea themselves. They adapted to these extreme enviroments from other animals that evolved in the rich sunlit biosphere of Earth, fed by photosynthesis. If it was by the chemosynthetic bacteria themselves, they would be happy (as much as a bacteria can I guess) to live down there and do chemosythesis forever. There's little evolutionary pressure for them to do anything else.

At least right now. Of course, ironically, these complex simbionts like yeti crabs and tube worms, like humans ourselves, might indeed be distant descendants of primitive hydrothermal bacteria, though from the ones that evolve to use photosythesis and consume those who did, far from the depths, so it means there was some reason for them to evolve out of the vents. Which brings the question; how and why did complex, that is multicelullar life, evolve on Earth, and where else could it evolve? That question deserves its own post or even book.

These are interesting questions to ponder when talking about rogue planets, or indeed any non-photosynthetic ecosystems like cave systems, that are also possible, or perhaps surface volcanic lakes or geysers. Our rich biosphere in Earth is fed by photosynthesis and the endless energy of the Sun. In a rogue planet, the sources of heat, energy and nutrients would be sparse points instead. In our own Earth, the organisms of cave ecosystems have extremely slow metabolisms, something like an olm (blind salamanders that are rather large, up to 40cm long) often stays YEARS in the same place, only moving to (very ocassionally) reproduce and eat. Such ecosystems are not exactly conductive to fast paced, sentient life. But if they are common, there might be millions of them across the universe, and one could especulate some of them might be chillin' on cities build around those vents, or perhaps penetrating the deep ice to see what the outside is like, or basking under nebula light in great hydrothermal systems.

In a similar way, returning to rogue planets, there is also the distressing posibility of an Earth-like world with a developed biosphere being flung away from its star by some freak astronomical event, like some star or indeed another rogue planet passing by and altering the orbits. As you might be very aware, life like Earth would die, and quickly, in this scenario. Again, the only remaining life would be in hydrothermal vents. But it would be interesting to think what kind of civilization could survive. I imagine big cave cities, nearer the underground warmth, fuelled by geothermal or nuclear energy. Perhaps greenhouses and aquariums there would preserve what remains of the biosphere.

And of course, rogue planets and objects would be great stepping stones for interstellar colonization. Perhaps instead of accelerating as fast as they can, long-lived starships might wander from planet to planet, gather resources and perhaps geothermal energy for the next leg of their journey, or settling them to get away from the faster-paced civilizations near bright stars.

If you liked this post and would like to read more, I would really, really appreciate if you gave me a tip to my ko-fi! Being a biologist looking for work in Argentina under a deranged libertarian president with the budget cuts and all is quite hard, so everything really counts!

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if you look at music-based copyright lawsuits you will start to realize how patently ridiculous all this IP shit is. the west designed a musical system based around just 12 unique notes and there are only so many permutations and arrangements of that system to the point that inevitably, some things will sound like each other, especially in the realm of pop music where the need to capitalize on a "sound of the moment" encourages artist/genre pastiche (see: the ed sheeran v marvin gaye estate case from a few years ago). its absolutely absurd that any of these cases actually went to trial. nobody owns notes or chords, and popular songwriting swears by a certain set of chord progressions. if you really extrapolated this view to its final conclusion we would have no music and we would be paying out big bucks to the estate of the 16th century chinese scholar Zhu Zaiyu for all eternity (the often uncredited "inventor" of the math behind 12tet)

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If aid does not enter to Gaza Strip within the next 48 hours — especially baby formula and flour — then prepare yourselves for the largest mass death crime in history.

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What do you mean by that? Genuine question btw I'm curious about your stance on AI. I personally believe it uses too much water to be something worth defending but I'm curious as to whether that is the misinformation that you mean

tha'ts misinformation. do you think the water just vanishes after they use it for cooling? do you think that generative AI is the only energy cost in data centres? why dont you care that XYZ other thing We Strictly Speaking Dont Need (i.e. facebook, literally millions of hours of youtube videos nobody is ever going to watch etc etc) is wasting more energy? like do you see what i mean. this misunderstanding of generative AI's energy cost comes from envisioning it as this machine you pour water into that prints out digital images rather than the truth that literally every ongoing electronic process requires so so much more energy than you think & some Real Brain-Geniuses (sarcasm) have focused on specifically the percentage of that they don't like vs the everything else they're fine with.

why are we not seeing this level of anger for, say, the petrol industry? or the beef industry? or the fucking electronic billboard industry, to choose one that literally helps nobody and makes everybody's life worse? because people don't care about the environmental impact. they dont like AI and want it to Go Away (which is something that isn't going to happen. it just doesnt work that way. you cant Uninvent a technology lol)

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To whom it may concern:

Welcome friends, and thank you for everything you have done for my family in advance. Recently, I have set a goal, which is to find a new shelter for my aunt, buy some food and bed, and some necessary things to live.

My goal was $2000, in order to pay all the costs.

Unfortunately, I collected 1100 instead of $2000 in the last 12 days.

That is, there is a deficit of about 900 dollars, it would have been costs for food and clothing,

Pay attention to this talk, please, my friend

Just two days ago, the food was a little difficult, but we could buy flour, the price per kilo was about 10 dollars. This is within the reach of average families in Gaza, that is, in short, we will not die of hunger at that time.

Unlike today, now and in these moments the price of a kilo of flour has risen due to the non-introduce of aid and the suspension of the four points in the south of the Strip,

The price of a kilo of flour has become 50 dollars!!

Can you imagine how difficult it is, my friend, let go of it, imagine that there are families who went to buy it at this price, and you did not find it. This is very terrible, we have children and there are elderly people who can't stand hunger, let alone the sick and the injured. We are now in the extreme stages of famine in northern Gaza .

There are some cursed merchants, who sell a kilo of flour at a price of 50 dollars and they are a minority, how long will this last, how long will we be patient, no one cares about us, Trump always tells us that he is about to complete a deal and offer a truce, enter food, and end aggression and famine, but here in Gaza we do not see anything he says, why is the world silent like this, if this famine lasts only one week, I expect people to die of hunger, there are children who died this morning from lack of food, what is their fault? Why don't they deserve a good life like the outside world?

Friends for me and my family, yesterday we ran out of flour, that is, today we can’t find what to eat, I have an elderly grandmother and my little sister who can’t stand hunger, please tell me what they are, what’s wrong with my sister to sleep tonight while she is hungry, and even if we find flour in the markets, we can’t even grill one kilo 💔

Yes, I can tell my older brothers, be patient with hunger, my father can also be patient, but what about the patients, what about my sister who is not 10 years old, what about my elderly grandmother who is sick with diabetes and heart. ?? How can they endure

Please, friends, help my family to survive and survive, help me raise an amount from which I can buy food for my family, which has been let down by everyone.

The price of a bag of flour now exceeds $1250. And it's enough for 10 days only .

I'm talking about my family, there are some families who need a bag of flour every 5 days .

A message concluding the post:

My family now can't find what to eat, there is no money, no food, and they urgently need help, we are living the most difficult moments for us since the beginning of the war .

We need 2 kilos of flour a day, but because of the severe shortage, one kilo will serve the purpose, we will not be satisfied with it but it will keep us alive 🙏.

Important note: In every passing from now on, we have not collected the price of a kilo of flour, we will not eat and sleep with our stomachs completely empty. In short, if you collect 50 dollars during the day, we will eat, if I don't collect 50 dollars in any of the coming days, we will not eat, that is, what you will send, friends, from donations during this time, will be for food .

We need a bag of flour please 🙏🙏🙏🙏 1250$

The campaign verification link is .

Please help us stay alive 💔

7214/8500$. 1250$⏳

This is the goal now 🙏🙏

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Is Gaza smaller and more densely populated than your city?

The answer is probably yes.

Source: @/letstalkpalestine on IG

Israel dropped over 12,000 tons of bombs on Gaza in the first 20 days of this current genocide alone, the explosive force of which is equivalent to the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Can you imagine a nuclear bomb being dropped in your city?? Can you imagine a nuclear bomb being dropped in your city and you cannot evacuate only because you lack the funds to do so??

My friend Ibrahim (@aburakhiaibrahim) has a chance to escape Gaza and reunite with his sister in Canada since their application for family reunification has been approved! However, they do not have the money to evacuate, especially since they don't even have enough money to buy food! Ibrahim tells me that he only has 1 meal every 3 days, and his skin has broken out in hives and huge welts due to the chemicals from the bombs. Hunger is eating away at his body, but they cannot miss this chance to evacuate to safety!

But YOU can help Ibrahim's family of 28 people buy food! YOU can help Ibrahim and his family evacuate to safety! More than 500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed while seeking aid this past month. I do not want Ibrahim to lose his life just so he won't starve. Please share and donate if you are able, every little bit helps!

Vetted! This fundraiser is vetted by @/gaza-evacuation-funds, #336 on vetted fundraiser list by el-shab-hussein, nabulsi, and MohAyesh, #802 on Butterfly Effect Project vetted list!

As an extra incentive, you can enter my necklace raffle (2.0) if you donate to this fundraiser!

Tagging for reach~ Please dm me if you want of the mailing list! Thank you!

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