jadestormcloud2

[jadestormcloud2]

(reply to the kroger & walmart chicken fettucine alfredo listeria outbreak)

hey holy shit. the sound I made when I read this. this is exactly why the chicken fettucine recall is so scary, it is such a huge comfort food and a bunch of folks eat it while pregnant. I am so fucking glad my post found you and that you got medical attention right away.

yours is an example of doing exactly the right thing: listeria is especially dangerous while pregnant, and there are antibiotics that can be prescribed for high-risk folks during the early stages of symptoms or even before symptoms begin. and while listeria can take up to 80 days to cause illness, it can also cause issues within hours or days of eating contaminated food.

for you and for everyone else trying to avoid the general news right now, here is a list to help keep up with recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks in the united states since I do not post all of them:

FDA recall list (food, drug, medical device, etc recalls with press announcements, usually bigger food recalls have announcements)

FDA enforcement reports (more recalls go here, but more difficult to navigate than the recall list with announcements)

USDA FSIS recall list (they cover different food than FDA, especially meat. the chicken fettucine alfredo recall was posted here)

NHTSA recall list (vehicles, car seats, tires, and equipment recalls!)

CPSC recall and safety warning list (products! there have been a LOT of recalls of baby stuff recently!)

FDA outbreak investigations (you can see the status of outbreaks as they happen and get investigated, this is often where recalls start)

CDC active investigations of foodborne illness outbreaks (outbreaks can have both an FDA page and a CDC page. they cover different information)

foodsafetynews (news about food safety ONLY! not a government source. mostly focused on the US and canada, but also news around the world. some of what they post involves commentary on the current administration, BUT they post about bigger and more relevant recalls that wind up in the ever-tricky FDA enforcement reports.)

best of luck to you and your baby, and make sure you get plenty of rest!!!!!

[jadestormcloud2]

My mom is waxing poetic about cheese tonight

[jadestormcloud2]

I think every lesbian who says she wouldn't date a bi woman is functionally on the same wavelength as men who say they would only marry a virgin

[jadestormcloud2]

drinking water when I have a headache should give instant relief. it should go away. what's even the point of drinking water if it can't do that

[jadestormcloud2]

This was music that had not only escaped but had robbed a bank on the way out. It was music with its sleeves rolled up and its top button undone, raising its hat and grinning and stealing the silver. It was music that went down to the feet by way of the pelvis without paying a call on Mr Brain.

-- Terry Pratchett - Soul Music

[jadestormcloud2]

[jadestormcloud2]

That Time a Published Author Told Me to Un-Queer My Novel

So, I don't think I ever shared this story on Tumblr before.

As you may know I've spent the past ten years turning my old Welcome to Night Vale fanfic into a stand alone novel called Echo of the Larkspur. Now, I haven't been working on it ten years straight. I'd pick it up, do a bunch of editing and rewriting, submit it to agents/publishers, get turned down, put the book away, wait 2-3 years, dust off the book, re-edit and rewrite, etc etc. A cycle that repeated itself far too many times that I would like.

Well, during one of these cycles when I was in the 'get rejected by every agent and publisher I submit to' stage I asked the writing group I was in what I was doing wrong. Because at this point I had reached a hundred total rejections and I was starting to suspect that the issue was with me.

One of the members of this writing group, a male author who was traditionally published, offered to read my first chapter and give his advice on how to fix it. This was, in retrospect, a mistake. But I was desperate. I sent him the first chapter and waited for his response.

Folks. The email he sent me changed my life.

First he said that agents wouldn't publish my novel because it was Sci-fi with hardcore gay erotica in it. This is curious because while the book certainly is queer, at no point in the conversation with this man did I say it was hardcore erotica. Nor did the first chapter feature any. It's almost as if he assumed that just because something was gay, it had to be hardcore erotica. Interesting.

He went on to say that a Human/Robot pairing was weird and that there was "No Way" my story could seriously address the issues of a relationship like that. Once again, he only read the first chapter. He just...assumed I wouldn't think of that? And that my book wouldn't cover it?

The author then said “I also felt that the LGBTQ inclusion really seems to cloud things.” Direct Quote.

And then this is when he said my favorite quote of them all:

The idea of a book being a sci-fi with romance AND a mystery is a Modern Art Marzipan Owl. It's just too confusing! No one can handle a story that is a mystery in a sci-fi enviroment AND has a romantic subplot! THEIR BRAINS WOULD LITERALLY EXPLODE!

Thankfully he had a solution to my book problem. His answer? Turn the book into an Action Spy Thriller and turn S.A.G.E., a robot that identies as a gay man, into a sexy lady robot who needs a MAN to teach her what it means to be human.

(I assume the male lead will teach the 'confused' female robot how to be human via his penis.)

Now my favorite part about this advice is that at no point did he outright say "Remove the gay part". No, instead he sneakily changed the robot love interest into a female robot as if I wouldn't notice. Just sort of swept away the gay bits as something totally unneeded and just mucking up the narrative. Also that's not the plot of my story, I have no idea where this virus thing came from.

(Also note that the female robot can't be robotic-like at all. Must preserve the average straight-man sex drive at all costs I guess)

He then finished his email basically saying that I should remove everything that 'traditional publishers' don't like (aka the queer parts) and make it easier for 'your average reader' to digest and my book will be good as published!

When I said this email changed my life I meant it. Because it made me realize I'd rather be self published and unknown than traditionally publish milquetoast trash like he suggested. Like holy fuck. If I removed all of the "Difficult" to digest stories out of Echo of the Larkspur then there wouldn't be a book left!

So here I am. Self publishing my Marzipan Modern Art Owl of a book. I know it'll never see the inside of a bookstore or top the charts on Goodreads but hey, I'd rather it speak to one person than have a thousand people get excited for the part where the male lead teaches the lady robot how to be human (via his penis).

If a Queer Sci-fi/Romance/Mystery novel sounds like your jam then consider preordering it!

Looking for something to read now? Can't afford the book? Willing to read in exchange for an honest review? You can join my ARC book readers here!

[jadestormcloud2]

"The Trump administration wanted to deport Ward Sakeik. There was one problem: Where should she be sent?

The 22-year-old woman of Palestinian descent is “stateless” — having been born in a country that doesn’t claim her, having lived in a country that no longer wants her.

...

Sakeik was born in Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t grant automatic birthright citizenship to children of foreigners.

Her family then arrived in the United States with a visa and her father filed for asylum, her lawyer Waled Elsaban said. But the application — which included Sakeik due to her age — was denied in 2011, so she has had a deportation order since she was 9 years old. With no clear place to send the family, however, Elsaban said ICE has allowed them to remain in North Texas while they do regular check-ins with the agency in Dallas.

...

But while the couple was at the St. Thomas airport for their flight home on Feb. 11, Shaikh said a Customs and Border Protection officer stopped his wife after asking about her immigration status.

...

Sakeik has been held in ICE custody for more than 120 days — and counting.

...

Much of the problem lies with her father’s denied asylum claim, which Sakeik was lumped into as a young child more than a decade ago. For instance, attorneys said she cannot obtain a green card, despite being married to a U.S. citizen.

And because so much has changed for Sakeik since that initial asylum claim, her legal team is trying to reopen her immigration case separately.

Felix Galvez, an attorney who previously helped with Sakeik’s case, said he only encountered roadblocks. In prior administrations, he said, it was common to be able to make deals with DHS attorneys to jointly reopen such cases. Not this time.

“I was basically advised that, under the current administration, they are not allowed to agree to anything,” Galvez said.

Elsaban, Sakeik’s lawyer, asked the Board of Immigration Appeals to consider the case’s reopening in May. They are still waiting for a decision.

...

Earlier last week, Sakeik was transferred from El Valle to the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, less than an hour’s drive from the couple’s Arlington home. But she wasn’t at the ICE facility for long before she said she was told that she would be sent to the Israeli border — despite not having her travel documents.

...

Sakeik and Elsaban also said they were told several different reasons why she was not deported then, including the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.

...

The News also contacted the offices of U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as U.S. Rep. Roger Williams — all Republicans who represent the couple’s Arlington district — about the case. They didn’t provide comments following multiple requests.

As of Thursday, Sakeik was still at Prairieland."

[jadestormcloud2]

i loosely followed thedimelions’s tutorial for naturally dyeing a pride flag, with a lot of added research about natural dyes, stains, mordants, sewing, etc, and i wanted to share my results!!

process, notes, and more pics under the read more🌱

starting off i soaked my fabric (100% cotton acquired from joann's during their closing sale, rip joann's ;-;) in a 1:5 mixture of soy milk and water for 12 hours, then let dry on a clothesline in the sun, then dipped and dried two more times (the proteins in the soy milk help the natural dyes adhere to the fabric, creating darker colors and better colorfastness)

while that was happening i started making my dyes, which involved simmering my chosen dyestuffs in some water for 30-60 minutes. i didnt time it, just went until the color developed to a point i was happy with

as far as ratios i didn’t measure, but the more dyestuff = stronger color so err on the side of more

red: turmeric + baking soda, paprika, and yellow onion skin dye as the liquid base

orange: yellow onion skins

yellow: turmeric

green: red cabbage + baking powder (LOTS), turmeric

blue: red cabbage + baking powder

purple: red cabbage

for the red cabbage dyes, i added the baking powders and soda after simmering and just kept adding and stirring till i got the color i wanted. ((BIG NOTE red cabbage, and debatably most of the others that I used, are fugitive dyes, meaning its not a true dye and more of a stain that will fade with time and wash out more easily, especially without mordanting on additives like iron. keep this in mind if you end up doing this project or transfering these methods to cloth you will be using for clothes, ie washing and wearing more frequently))

i also tried to make a pink with avocado skins and pits, which did come out a lovely rosy color, but i didn’t end up using in the final flag, which i might use beet or red cabbage + lemon juice or another acidified for next time to get a more bright pink

now with my dyes ready and my cloth dried out from its previous soy milk dip i cut it into strips and stuck it in the jars, which were placed in the sun for the day (alternatively, you could simmer the cloth in the pot) and then left to sit overnight

the next day i squeezed out the excess dye and gave the ones with turmeric a light rinse to get the grit out, then hung them to dry

((small note i reused the dyes baths to see what would happen since they still looked just as pigmented, but the colors are much much much more faded on the second go around. all in all its doable, but I wouldn't recommend it.))

now time to sew! i procured a second hand sewing machine specifically for this project and had never sewed before, but thankfully this required the easiest stitch in the game (a straight stitch in a straight line). i looked up how to sew a flag specifically to get those clean lines rather than just overlapping, and this video was great (shoutout Suffolk Public Library)

as you can see my flag ended up quite long cause I left a lot of wiggle room, so I just look up flag ratios, trimmed it up (and used the extra strip of rainbow as decoration) then added a white strip folded over to make a way for me to hang it on a stick if I ever so desire.

and ta daaa! i would still like to clean it up a bit, and do a zig zag stitch around the outside to stop the cloth from fraying further, but im happy with the unpolished look of it. once i figure out how to get a pink I like, and how to get browns and blacks, i want to make a progress flag and trans flag. also just started growing some indigo, so excited to see if I can get some blue dyes out of that.

[jadestormcloud2]

the problem with water is like. it's the cleaning fluid right. that's the obvious part. you stop drinking and you stop peeing and your kidneys are like ough. ough. ough. ough. but you don't die. unless you're not drinking anything At All and not eating watery food either. so all it is is you pee less but you're okay. kind of.

BUT THEN when it gets too hot it starts being the coolant! and suddenly there are so many ways it can get out! you have so many sweat glands and so much skin and they all need to be cooled down before you DIE.

but then. you realize the least obvious one. it's the transmission fluid. it's the fucking transmission fluid. you can't transmit SHIT without your fliud. which is still fucking water somehow.

so now you're LEAKING your transmission fluid out of every goddamn pore and your kidneys are like hey. gimme that cleaning fluid cmon dude. while your pores are like ITS COOLANT. NEED COOLANT. FOR THE FIRE. NEED MORE COOLANT. SO MUCH FIRE. KILL IT. KILL IT MORE. MORE COOLANT. and then. the rest of you. that uses all that fluid to transmit things. it's like hey. hey. hey what the fuck.. i need that. hello? can anyone hear me? hello? it's so dark in here..

and then you drink more water or you die.

[jadestormcloud2]

The lack of legitimacy and standards is the design. Deception and dishonesty.

Anyone can grab you at any time.

The opposite of law and order.

[jadestormcloud2]

#LateStageCapitalism

Join a union. Support worker solidarity. Have your neighbor's back.

[jadestormcloud2]

Asking because I overheard a physical therapist say that she uses this question to see if she wants a second date with a guy, and if he says more than like 4 eggs at once it's a red flag.

[jadestormcloud2]

Let's bother mama

[jadestormcloud2]