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Looking at pictures of beautiful Cherokee-made river cane baskets is so difficult, though. Because not only did the colonial US uproot and kill so, so many Cherokee peoples and do its damndest to destroy their culture, but we actually destroyed the very landscape from which that culture sprang. The canebrakes are all but gone. I've never seen one. They used to be vast. Now people don't know they existed. Don't think I'll ever get over that.

But it still exists. Rivercane, North America's native bamboo is not all gone, any more than the peoples who lived in partnership with it. There are research and conservation projects out there. So here. I can't even find a good photo of a true, large canebrake, but there's this:

And for scale, if you squint, this photo came up a few times as I look:

I'd like to imagine a future where we learn to live in teamwork with this amazing plant again, using it to create beautiful things like this basket.

The source of this image and one above is well worth a read as well.

But more than that, I'd like to think we could see it as a tool to address modern problems as well, as bamboo is used in much of Asia, and a partner in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation.

I just hope that someday, maybe when I'm old, I can see with my own eyes a vast forest of rivercane, teeming with life.

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yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm not the most consistent with it, but I've cut back a lot otherwise

THERES A YT BOYCOTT???

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From the Youtube Boycott Discord Server:

IMPORTANT INFO

I've been seeing a lot of misunderstanding going around about how YouTube works, and what will work best in regards to the boycott, so l wanted to put it all together in one place for everyone to read. This is just my understanding of how this all works, so as always with anything, take it with a grain of salt! YOUTUBE INFO

Continuing to watch YouTube with an ad blocker still gives YouTube traffic. Many people have been using ad blockers for years, and it is something YouTube is already very familiar with. Even if it does cost them ad revenue, they will point to ad blockers as the issue rather than listening to concerns about their age verification system. Watching YouTube with an ad blocker will not work for the purposes of this boycott.

Using third-party apps such as FreeTube or NewPipe does still give YouTube traffic and counts towards views and watch time. There are extra privacy features with these apps, which is great, but on Youtube's end it is functionally the same as using ad blockers. Using third-party apps to watch YouTube will not work for the purposes of this boycott.

Watch time is a huge factor (to my knowledge, one of if not the biggest factors) in how much profit YouTube makes. The longer you stay on their website

namely, the longer you're actively watching videos - the more money they earn through ad revenue. So, for example, a single user watching a 30 minute video is much more valuable to them than a single user watching a 5 minute video. Video watch time matters much more than video views, or the amount of traffic they get from users sitting on the YouTube homepage.

Something to remember is that it is okay not to be perfect. Having an all-or-nothing mindset will just lead to burnout, and giving up on the boycott too early. So, in the spirit of progress rather than perfection, here are some steps to take:

1 - Cancel YouTube Premium. If you currently have a YouTube Premium subscription, cancel it, and tell them why.

When you cancel, leave them a message explaining that you are canceling because of the new age verification policy, and state firmly that you will not be paying for or using YouTube until this policy is revoked. Even if you plan to use YouTube again in the future, tell them that you won't.

2 - Download videos rather than streaming them. Fully boycotting YouTube is the single best thing you can do right now, but if that isn't possible, here is what you can do instead to avoid giving YouTube more watch time.

Search the specific channels that you want - or, if you must, browse your subscription tab and homepage - until you find the video you want to watch. Rather than opening it, right-click the video and hit 'copy link' or whatever similar option your browser has. Then, paste the link into your YouTube Downloader of choice, and enjoy. To my knowledge, watching videos this way will not give YouTube videos views or watch time. It will still give the website traffic overall, but is still a solid alternative to just streaming the videos.

3 - If you can, stop using YouTube altogether. Refusing to give their website any traffic at all is the single best thing you can do to protest right now. If you cannot stop using it entirely due to work, or if there are a few specific things you want to keep up with, use downloaders as mentioned above, but keep YouTube usage to an absolute minimum as much as possible.

4- try to get YouTubers to contact youtube YouTubers are our few ways to get direct contact with YouTube. If we can get YouTubers to start contacting youtube about reversing this ID policy, than we can increase our chances to reverting the policy

5 - Spread the word.

Share info about the age verification system and the boycott to as many others as you can. Many people might not be aware of what's going on, or how to meaningfully protest it. Be prepared for pushback. It's completely normal to feel nervous when speaking up about something like this. There will very likely be some people who get irritated or disagree, and that is okay. Remember - don't attack anyone who disagrees with the protest. Don't try to guilt-trip anyone. Shame is a demotivator - making someone feel bad will not do anything to convince them. Just present your concerns about the age verification system, offer resources to learn more about it, and talk about the boycott. TALKING POINTS When spreading the word about the boycott, here are a few things to focus on:

The A.l. age estimation system is incredibly inconsistent and will end up incorrectly locking many adult users out of the full features of their accounts.

Any system that requires users to upload a picture of their government I.D. is extremely dangerous. This puts all users at massive risk of their personal data being exposed on a level that has never been seen before.

The age verification system does not protect children. This system does nothing to address the mountains of harmful content already found on the YouTube Kids app, and it will not effectively prevent kids from accessing that harmful content.

LGBT+ content will get incorrectly marked as 'adult' and will be censored as a result of this system. Teens and kids will be prevented from accessing LGBT content, even if it is 100% appropriate.

• Youtube's age verification system is not about safety, it is about data collection and censorship. It is extremely likely that the real motive behind this change is to allow YouTube as a company to collect even more personal data from its users, allowing them to serve even more targeted ads and make more profit, while also effectively censoring content they do not like.

Lastly - protesting the changes made to You Tube is going to be difficult.

It is going to be frustrating, it is going to be exhausting, and it is also going to be boring.

Going without a major source of

entertainment that, for many of us, has been part of our daily routine for years, is a very hard thing to do.

But it is also important.

No one can tell you what to do. It is your personal choice whether you boycott YouTube partially, entirely, or even participate at all. If this is important to you, know that it will be hard, and it will take a long time to see any success.

This was posted in the youtube boycott discord server by Admin TopHatInc and much of it was compiled by NoHotBeverages.

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READ THIS IF YOU PLAN TO BOYCOTT YOUTUBE LONG-TERM

get an invidious account. it is an alternative front-end to youtube, allowing you to make an account, subscribe to channels, make playlists, and all the other things you use youtube for; all without giving the company a single cent. swearing off youtube long-term is a tall ask, so you can use this to still follow the creators you want to keep up with while continuing the youtube boycott. it has a built-in adblock and anti-tracker, meaning that you can really keep fucking them over.

it doesnt interact with the API at all, it scrapes the metadata to make sure they get as little as possible.

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praying mantis

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its so fucked that not only did they erase our languages and beat and kill our people for using them but they stole the words of important tribes and important people and used them for the military and for trees and for food and for summer camps. average native american name is seen by non ntvs as a joke or something to use or consume, not a human being

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This is your daily reminder to keep bugging Youtube about their AI Verification Bot until they give up and scrap the plan. Whether it's through Email, or clogging up their phoneline with calls, keep pressuring them.

If it's working against the Credit Card companies, it's sure as shit gonna work against them too. We shouldn't have to give our faces and IDs to Youtube because some parents are too fucking stupid to look after their kids.

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incredible scenes in josh johnson's yt comments

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GUYS WE FOUND IT

it's from the Seattle show😭

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tgis is so fucking funny to me. they accidentally Rock Lee'd a retired racehorse

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Would you do it? 🌑👈

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REBLOG THIS POST TO SPREAD AWARENESS!

This isn’t just about protecting the kids anymore, it’s about invading their privacy and limiting their freedom. Spread awareness to everyone and hope that this doesn’t go forward.

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gentle reminder that “gay panic” is not a cutesy way of describing a gay character freaking out over another character or their sexuality. gay panic is a legal defense tactic used in the US until very recently to get homophobes out of facing consequences for killing or assaulting queer people. it is neither cute nor funny.

if you didn’t know this, that’s ok, now you do! proceed accordingly.

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how to not own a song

Before you start:

Download Firefox

Install an adblocker addon

Also install a popup-blocker addon

Restart your windows pc (restart, not shut down and start new)

look the song up on youtube, the video does NOT matter, only the audio quality (no blips, although, they will make you feel things, so, your decision).

copy the link via "share" button

go to convert2mp3.club (popup and ad warning)

put the video link into the text field and press enter

press the "download audio" button

press the "download" button Firefox comes up with

save on a directory of your choice on your device

Congrats, you now do not own a song, but have it at hand anyway.

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so, new spotify update.

(pt : so, new spotify update.)

[id 1/ a screenshot of spotify on a grey background. text reads, in bold, "There's a monthly limit on lyrics". text under in grey reads, "Every time you tap "Show lyrics", it will count towards your limit. To get full access to lyrics, switch to Spotify Premium." A button in green reads, "Show lyrics", and under it, another button reads "Dismiss." /end id]

[id 2/ a screenshot of spotify on a slate grey background. Text reads above, "Lyrics preview". more text under, in bold, reads, "I've earned myself a reputation / That my bark is much worse than my bite / But I keep snapping at Goliath's hands / With all of my tiny might / There are no stones at my disposal". at the last line, it fades, and a box reads, "You've hit your lyrics limit for this month." a button under in white reads, "Learn more." /end id]

(screenshots courtesy of @thatweirdqueer , my boyfriend <3)

my boyfriend came across this message after clicking show lyrics once. they're forcing a limit on looking up lyrics to a song in their own app, and we need to talk about it.

at this point, spotify premium has been so forced onto us, that spotify is practically not even a free app. if you skip one too many songs, you have to listen to five or more ads. the dislike and like features they've implemented do nothing. everyday i boot up spotify, it flashes a larger than life ad with a button so small i can barely see it, just to dismiss myself. it tracks if you've bought premium to market these ads to you to guilt you into getting it back. you can't even download songs from it without premium. it's a barely functioning free app with everything locked behind a paywall.

if you want good lyrics for free, without having to pay a corporation for them, id recommend azlyrics, lyrictranslate, and searching the music artists channel. azlyrics doesn't have every song, which is a guaranteed, but its extremely easy to navigate, doesn't have many ads, and lays its lyrics out in a manner thats extremely easy to read. lyricstranslate has lyrics translated from many different languages, and can even translate songs into other languages on a whim. its run by people who can translate them, and is free to modify if you find a mistake. searching up the song on the artists channel (NOT the youtube owned topic) can help wield results as to what the lyrics are. one such example of this is femtanyl, who writes all of their lyrics in the descriptions of their videos.

adding onto this, if you'd like to download videos for free, whether it be mp4 or mp3, id recommend searching youtube to mp3 in an incognito tab! (id recommend this because some sites send you to rather sketchy websites sadly. they are efficient, you just have to ensure what you download is what you want. plus, it keeps it out of your search history if you share a browser with someone!) its easy, just copy the link of the video you want and paste it into the box. then, choose what file format you want it to be downloaded in, click convert, and now you have your own file downloaded for free. i've used this method for years now, and it hasn't failed me.

in conclusion, FUCK capitalism, DELETE spotify, and USE ALTERNATIVES.

-badger

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Does anyone have suggestions for music apps that are good and also not Spotify ? I don't want to fund their AI murder drones. I'm switching to YouTube music for right now but Google isn't exactly the most ethical company in the universe either. Do I just get an mp3 player and accept that it's a pirates life for me?

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btw because i havent said this enough in the past

but fuck spotify, they lock basic functionality (like BEING ABLE TO CHOOSE WHICH SONG IS PLAYING) behind their overpriced subscription service, they pay artists jack shit, and they're one of the first to bend the knee to the fucking OSA

fuck spotify

either pirate ur shit, buy it on bandcamp to actually support the artist in any meaningful amount, or buy CDs