goingsparebutwithprecision

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"He would NOT fucking say that" does not apply to yoda, who could plausibly say anything

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just saying i prefer my food-based crimes to be more "heisting $1 million worth of syrup from the Canadian Maple Syrup Reserve" and less "corporations giving toddlers listeria for fun and profit"

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Love that they've preserved this vibe for the TV adaptation. <3

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"South African entrepreneur Phumla Makhoba is on a mission to solve the “global south housing crisis.” And she’s doing it by using clothing waste.

Her invention, Texiboard, is a material that combines fibers found in textile waste with lime cement to create a durable, affordable, and circular building material.

The result is a textured, white square, almost tile-like, that is created with recycled materials — not emission-generating wood or concrete.

“It can be used to make furniture, flooring, walls, or even your entire home,” Makhoba said in a video for social media account We Got Earth.

The first iterations of the Texiboard included colorful cotton threads that were compressed together, with multiple attempts to remove cracks and seams and perfect the ratios of size, shape, and material mass.

With her design firm, Studio People, Makhoba has been working since 2022 to perfect the TexiBoard. 

Makhoba has since created a solid panel, with shredded textile fiber and natural lime cement fully cured. Finally, it can be formed into a full sheet of building material.

Once realized, the Texiboard will confront the estimated 92 million tons of clothing waste generated around the globe each year. But it will also provide safe and stable housing that Makhoba says only 20% of South Africans can afford.

“Growing up, I saw two worlds: one with polished buildings, and one built from scrap,” she said in a video. “I always wondered, why do some people get homes that last and others get homes that leak?”

Now, the Texiboard design is available as an open-source resource, and Makhoba and her team host in-person workshops for locals living in shacks to learn how to build their own supportive and sustainable housing.

“Just having a roof isn’t enough,” Makhoba said. “A real home should protect you from the weather, work for your daily life, and not fall apart in five years.”

Her approach includes a full theory of change. Right now, Studio People is in the input process, building partnerships and funding to scale their operation. From there, they hope to develop a fully sustainable supply chain to manufacture and sell Texiboards and help build affordable housing for people in need.

Once that dream is realized, Makhoba outlines the tangible output of this work: Economically inclusive waste management, circular building materials, green jobs, and a sustainable housing and manufacturing market.

“Informal settlements can be transformed when we all work together,” she shares on the Studio People website. “Texiboard is the seed of innovation that will create updated trade jobs in the innovative building industry.”

Although the Texiboard is still being completely perfected, the goal is to provide a weather-proof, cost-effective, and circular way to house people by democratizing the act of building.

“Our goal is to create an egalitarian and sustainable urban environment, helping shack dwellers and youth out of poverty,” Studio People shared on LinkedIn.

“We empower the underdog, including people and businesses, to co-create solutions in our fight against the housing crisis, unsustainable building materials, and unemployment — one board at a time.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, May 28, 2025

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Tell me I can’t possibly be the first person to think of this

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"As far as we know, Ende was a Spanish illustrator who lived in the late 10th century and is regarded as the first female European artist to be recorded. She spent a portion of her life at San Salvador de Tábara Monastery in Tábara, Kingdom of León in Medieval Spain. According to the research of John Williams, one of the most eminent experts in Spanish medieval art, Ende may not have been a nun but rather belonged to a group of noble women from León who, during those years, rejected both convent life and instead managed their wealth and in a sense decided to go their way.

The Tabara scriptorium, which generated some of the Spanish Middle Ages’ most significant codices, was a cultural lighthouse at the time. Ende felt tremendously at ease working and living at Tábara Monastery, according to her illuminated manuscripts. Above all, it brought Ende closer to the dominant cultural movement of the day, recognizing the need to preserve sacred passages and everlasting images, working for her faith and herself."

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Wilderness from my new book Faraway Dreaming. 🌱🌲 Available on Kickstarter until 24 June, 2025!

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Well … points made, lmao.

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Elodie, ive been sad lately about capitalist mega-corporations and the unbalanced distribution of wealth in the world. Could you tell us a story?

I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve been in some kind of hideous Mood this week, so I offer here a true story that happened to me in May.

Right: May in the city. I looked into the doorway of an empty shop and saw what appeared to be a lumpy thrashing monster, that was squeaking and groaning and crying. Upon a closer look it was a huddled form under an elderly patterned duvet, with a baby dinosaur jumping on it. The enormous baby bird was wailing and throwing itself against the glass shop window. The sleeping bag was writhing and whimpering. It was very hard to make sense of it.

The fledgling magpie was clearly lost, trying to get through the glass while being attacked by a flailing paisley amoeba-monster. The form under the duvet was presumably a rough sleeper who didn’t know what was going on, but clearly wasn’t happy about it.

I figured that as they were both only getting more upset, I would simply lift the bird off and point it in a safer direction. I have also been trained in handling birds, and I thought I could manage the risk.

The baby saw my approach and tried to get under the duvet, increasing the trembling from under the duvet. I mean, how do you start that conversation?

“I’m so sorry for bothering you,” I babbled, “I will just get this, er, baby magpie off you.”

“This what” said the lump.

“This baby magpie.”

“…You’re joking.”

“I’m not. I’m sorry. Just a moment… ” the magpie just dangled like a puppy once I got it safely between my hands, “Okay, here, have a look.”

The lump writhed and out popped the face of a young man. “Oh my god,” He said. He was extremely relieved.

Oh my god, said the magpie too, its tiny young mind blown.

They stared at each other for ages and ages. The magpie had thought the man was a monster. And the man had thought the magpie was a nightmare!

The magpie was returned to its happy parents, and the young man was rapidly surrounded by his cohort and handed a joint, and we all started our day.

I really like to think about that moment when they looked at each other, and they were so surprised, and their situations suddenly seemed so much more manageable. It was just a magpie! It was only a guy under a blanket! And suddenly they could make sense of it…

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no i didnt get that from a video essay im a little more well read than that thanks. i got it from the abstract for a study i didnt read the rest of

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You know something I’ve figured out in the past few months as someone who 1. Doesn’t have a lot of friends and 2. Actually finds it very hard to make friends is that the fastest quickest route to befriending people is to engage with them like they’re already your friends

What do I mean by that? I mean, show up places and do things and talk to people. I joined the amateur theatre group in my city and a creative collective and I forced myself to go to meetups when I was tired and nervous about it but even moreso— I met a couple very cool people while working on a theatre project and I forced myself to ask for their numbers

And then I forced myself to text them! It felt so cringy and lame but that was just a fucking lie in my brain! I invited them to see movies and I sent them book & video game & movie recommendations and you know what? They appreciated that! They texted me back! I sent messages like “hey! How’s school?” Or “do you have any advice on grant applications?” And “you wanna get a beer sometime this week?” And every single time it felt like I was flinging myself off a big dark precipice into nothing and every single time I got a friendly response back

So like, the cringe is fucking fake, if you want people want to be your friend sometimes you literally just have to decide that they’re your friends and talk to them as such

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arguing against ai is always like. im not sure how to explain to you. that you need to think for yourself with your own thoughts. . maybe this would be easier to understand if idk, you were practiced in thinking for yourself

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I do appreciate that the bolt-on atheist superstructure of easter (kangaroo-like giant rabbit hides colourful chocolate eggs) and christmas (avuncular bacchus leaves gifts under lit tree) are bafflingly unrelated to the holidays' religious associations. these are like children's cereal mascots.

anyway, I think the real spirit of secular pluralism requires other holidays to have this too. every major religious holiday should have this kind of crowd-pleasing, bafflingly unrelated Cartoon Treasure Elf attached to it. we can't really force this process, especially in minority religions, but to the extent that it develops naturally it should be cultivated

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it should be illegal to take a nap and still have a headache when you wake up. like no i shut it off and back on again why are you still here