#(and stored in really bad conditions for over a decade)

[windrunner]

kinda vibing hard w/ my new schedule of spending the front half of my day hardcore troubleshooting my PC and the back half scuttling under furniture, inside of walls and attics and crawlspaces looking for items/fixing things/taking insurance photos. Computer Bug Activities

[fuctacles]

Ao3 | divider by @penny00dreadful

Steve was taking a break from calling clients and munching on his sandwich when his frazzled co-worker stormed in. He never liked the guy, and could never trust someone driven by money like that, but the stormy look on his face gave him a pause. Bill was always composed and giving off the air of a rich boy looking down on anyone else. Whatever put him in such a state must have been big. 

When Bill disappears behind the doors of their manager, Steve curiously leans towards Angela. 

"What's gotten into his pants?" he murmurs, hoping for a piece of gossip.

Angela scoffs.

"Idiot thought he could sell the Creel House."

Angela wasn't a pleasant person. But she was also blunt and always ready to talk shit. And she had the cutest cats, even if she was a bit obsessed with them. She was Steve's go-to for office gossip. And sometimes extra information he missed as one of the newer employees. Office lore, as Dustin would call it.

"What's the Creel House?" he asks genuinely. She eyes him like he's stupid, but he's dealt with those stares long before her, so he holds it down until she folds.

"It's this old house we haven't been able to sell for years, probably around a decade. There's all kinds of stupid rumors around it, like curses and hauntings," she tells him with an eye roll. He snorts to let her know he shares her opinion, as scoffs, snorts, and eye rolls were the language she understood the best. "Bill thought he could go for it after his selling streak last month. Guess the streak just broke." She smiled in that evil way only introverted old ladies could. A chill went down Steve's spine, but he snickered alongside her. 

"What a loser," he commented and focused back on his sandwich, but his imagination was running wild about how the house might look. As soon as he was done with his paperwork for the day, he went looking for the file on Creel's House. 

His manager eyed him weirdly, but he assured him it was mostly curiosity speaking through him.

The file had photos from soon after it was built and more recent ones, after a decade of neglect. There weren't many capturing the interior, but if it was anywhere similar to the outside, it should be in good condition for small renovations. It was big, too. Could become a home for a family, their dog, and visiting friends. Maybe someone's lesbian best friend and her love interest, too...

Needless to say, as soon as Steve found out about it, the house wouldn't leave his thoughts. It had a huge backyard that extended into the woods behind it. It was cheap for a house this size, probably because of its bad rap. And, the most important part, it was closer to Robin than the apartment he was currently renting. 

The last thing to check off on his list was seeing it in person. 

His manager didn't take his request well. 

"You think you can do something Bill couldn't?" he asks with his eyebrows raised. 

It takes all of Steve's strength not to scoff. 

"I'm not planning on selling it. I'm actually considering buying it."

That seems to only amuse his boss further. 

"Ha! You wouldn't be the first. Be my guest then." He shrugs, turning to reach a locked cabinet where the keys to the houses are stored. He hands him the ring of old keys. "Knock yourself out." He grins.

"Thank you." Steve nods and turns around to leave the office as soon as possible. He didn't share his plans with any of his coworkers, not interested in hearing their opinions, but he could feel the amused stares Angela was giving him over her coffee when he was packing to leave for the day.

When he's passing by her desk, she leans forward on her elbows, her proper, trimmed nails posed like claws on the mug. 

"Any plans for the weekend, Steven?" she asks with all the charm of a feral cat. 

Steve knows for a fact that Angela doesn't care about her coworkers' lives unless there are felines or police involved. There's only one reason she could be asking, and it's inside the pocket of his blazer. 

"Not really. Might visit a friend." He shrugs. "You?" 

"Well, good luck with that," Angela completely ignores his question. "I hope nothing spooky happens on your trip," she says as if she hopes something does happen to him.

"Thank you, Angela, you too." Steve nods to his coworker and leaves hastily so nothing evil attaches to him before he even enters a haunted house. 

The house was located an hour's drive away, and he didn't want to rush his exploration, so he waited for the weekend to come around before he went to see it. According to the map, it's been built off the main road, giving a sense of privacy and solitude. It was more part of the forest than the nearest neighborhood. A great place for an eccentric loner or a loud family that didn't want to be a bother.

Steve packed the house files, a notepad, measuring tape, and some lunch for his trip. And, upon some consideration, the upgraded walkie Dustin had given him. He wasn't going to risk being stranded miles from civilization without the means of contact. 

It was a Saturday, before noon, but he dialed the number he called at least once a week.

"Hello?" His favorite person picked up on the third ring, the tone of her voice indicating she had been asleep not so long ago.

"Hey Robs."

"Steve! What's up?"

His smile grew. Hearing her always felt better than he imagined when grabbing the phone, and soon he might be able to see her in person. 

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" he asks coyly, leaning on the wall in his kitchen. 

"I have some papers left to grade and might go grab drinks with the girls later. What about you?"

"I'm about to head out to scout a new house," he says, thumbing at the keys in his pocket. He doesn't want to share his plans yet, since they were mostly wishful thinking. Maybe the repairs were too out of his budget, maybe the house has gotten worse since the last photos of it had been taken. Or maybe there was something weird about it like everyone claimed. "It's on the way to Indianapolis, so if you don't mind, I could make a detour—"

"Do I mind?!" Robin screeches into his ear. He grins despite the volume briefly disorienting him. "I haven't seen you in a month, get your ass down here!" 

"Well, how could I say no, when you ask so nicely," he laughs.

"Damn right, I do!" she snickers back. "Now go go go, the sooner you start driving, the sooner you get here!"

"Okay, Jesus, so bossy."

They say their 'see you soon's and Steve grabs his duffel bag. Even if the house is a total bust, at least he'll spend the weekend with his best friend. 

The house is not a total bust.

He almost misses the turn leading to it, hidden behind overgrown bushes. The drive quickly turns from asphalt to gravel and then disappears completely, and he hopes the overgrown grass framed with young trees is leading him in the right direction.

His worries subside when he spots the roof peeking from between the trees and he's soon rolling into what probably used to be a driveway.

The sound of his car door closing resonates loudly in the rural scenery, scaring some birds above him. As he eyes the bushes between himself and the house's entrance, he wishes he had taken something other than a club with him. Albeit the worst of it has been torn or pushed aside, probably by Bill who's been here before him. The house itself looks like the pictures, maybe the ivy on the side has grown since then. Despite its age of about forty years and being abandoned, it still looks nice. 

He rounds the car and opens up the trunk, where he always had a couple of necessities. A first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, a flamethrower, and such. And the metal bat he reaches for right now. It's better to be safe than sorry, as he's run into squatters before.

He locks the car and using the bat, moves the bushes out of his way to the porch. He tries the steps first, and they seem sturdy so he steps up to the door. The colorful glass in its frame forms a rose. He's not a big fan of the design choice and wonders if it would be hard to get a matching door without it.

The hinges creak loudly when he pushes inside and takes the first proper look at the house's interior. Whoever planned the placement of all the windows did a great job because it felt illuminated from the inside, despite the dust covering everything. On his left is a study room, covered by shelves and with a huge window to provide proper reading light. He gives the cozy-looking chairs a cursory glance and moves on. On the right extends the front porch but with a couple of steps he finds the living room, with an old TV and a collection of couches that indicate the previous owners had a huge group of friends. 

Further down, he finds the dining room, the steps to the back porch, and the kitchen, where he stops for longer. Because there on the fridge, in colorful letter magnets, somebody has spelled 'fuck off'.

Steve snickers. He thought it was a nice touch for an allegedly haunted house. 

Some of the magnets were holding up drawings of dragons and similar creatures. He spotted some yellowing Spider-Man stickers too, so maybe whatever kids used to live here were also little nerds like his friends. Curiously, he opened the fridge to find an ancient can of Coke inside. The cupboards held long-expired jars of herbs, rice, and pasta. It seemed like the house was never properly cleaned out. 

Next on his journey was the upstairs, where he found three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom held the biggest and most expensive bed he's ever seen. Dragging it upstairs, even in parts, must have been hell. It had a canopy too, semi-translucent and dark. It partially hid the painting hanging over the headboard, and he had to step closer to take a look at it.

It was another dragon, with its wings spread and toothy mouth dripping with drool on a small figure beneath it - a woman in a skimpy dress, with dragonfly wings. Steve makes a face. 

"A man of peculiar taste, I see," he murmurs to himself, backing away from the bed. The rest of the walls had similar paintings of mythical creatures, making Steve wonder what kind of person the previous owner was. And why would he abandon art and furniture that must have cost a small fortune? 

He opened the door on the side, which turned out to lead into a small walk-in closet. It had a full length mirror and the few things left on hangers looked more like costumes than regular clothes. The owner must have been an eccentric artist type. An actor, maybe? Or a musician, he notes, spotting an empty guitar stand in the corner. 

At least the bathroom looks relatively normal if you don't count the gargoyle faucets added in.

The guest room paintings are far more tame, giving the impression the owner wanted the saucy ones for himself. Aside from that, there's nothing really exciting about them. The furniture looks to be on the more expensive side, but if Steve didn't have his realtor knowledge he proably wouldn't even notice.

He checks the windows, which seem to be in good shape, maybe one or two need replacing, and others just need extra insulation. The back porch looks even better than the front one, but the backyard is a mess. It's surrounded by a tall fence to keep the wildlife away, but throughout the years, the forest started creeping through, the roots digging beneath, plants dropping their seeds to grow. It would be a lot of work to get rid of it.

The whole house was a lot of work, but not as much as Steve had feared. The construction was solid and it stood against weather and abandonment for years without taking much damage. He probably wouldn't need professionals for most of it. 

He stood in the middle of the foyer, listening to his guts while looking around the abandoned, empty house. He knew he had time to make a decision. He could talk it out with Robin if he wanted, although keeping it a surprise sounded more fun.

Giving the ground floor one last lazy stroll, he spots a door he had missed earlier. It's smaller than the usual door, making Steve assume it leads to the basement. Or, as the wooden plaque on the door claims, "The Dungeon". Which was not mentioned in the house plans he'd looked through. 

He pulls out the key ring from his back pocket to look for the right one, though he doesn't remember 'basement' being among the labels. He flicks through all of them again.

Main. Back. Master. Guest 1. Guest 2.

No basement in sight. 

Perhaps the key went loose from the keyring, or it was somewhere in the house. He wasn't about to go on a wild goose chase to see some cobwebs and spiders when the alternative was getting on the road to see his friend. 

He steps into the library once again, probably the most normal room of them all, and takes a closer look at the titles on the shelves. It's more fantasy, as he expected, with some classics he's heard about from Dustin, but mostly titles unknown to him. He finds a whole shelf of D&D manuals, too. He picks one up with a curious hum, wondering if there's a way to get those even if he doesn't go with the house after all. 

He's not sure how old the game is (Dustin had told him multiple times, but he always forgets) but he wouldn't be surprised if all the released material so far was in here. He gently places the paperback back in its place, assuming that they were stored in order and he didn't want to disturb that. He took a step back to take the room in.

Walls covered in books, floor to ceiling, a fireplace with figurines on the mantle, four cozy armchairs, and a low table with a map under a glass pane. Middle Earth, of course. 

The Party would love it, he muses. It doesn't feel like a coincidence, that the house he considers buying, has things that would appeal to his friends. But he knows he has to make a smart decision. And nothing clears his mind better than a night out with his best friend. 

read the rest on Ao3

[daniel-nerd]

IMPORTANT

long ass post so here's a TL;DR: I covered a few reports from israeli media outlets, the reports were in hebrew and for israeli civilians. 2 reports about secret prisons where they hold palestinians that were arrested, these prisons existed before the war, but the conditions of the prisoners got worse since, I explain what we can see and learn from the reports, later I brought up 3 other reports, talking about the rescued hostages and their conditions. there was even a video clip from the operation itself. palestinians(a lot of them innocent and being held indefinitely under "secret evidence" without a trial) are under WORSE conditions than the hostages. and while no one is debating the fact that the hostages went through hell, it really shows that israel is as bad if not worse than hamas. you can literally see multiple war-crimes committed by israel in these reports. all links are in the end, you can watch them for yourself, and get to your own conclusion.

this is beyond vile, 2 reports from israeli media was released recently, showing one of the secret palestinian prisons in israel, the same ones that every palestinian is sent to when they commit a crime(any crime), and can be held indefinitely, without a trial, under “secret evidence” that don’t need to really exist because the cops/soldiers don’t need to prove it exist.

now for context, the IDF censored more reports and articles in the past 8 months than in over a decade.

in the first report you can see how the palestinians are treated and being held.

they’re chained 24/7 to eachother and their “beds”.

they sleep on metal frames of a bunk bed.

their food is bread, tomato, and cheese.

their toilet is a hole in the ground.

they have to duck into a fetus position every time a cop is near by.

the cops walk with huge guns (probably m16) pistols and dogs.

deliberately annoying songs are played on repeat as “psychological warfare”(torture).

they’re monitored 24/7 with no privacy whatsoever.

the warden said the most important thing is being able to control them 100%. no free will.

same warden also explained they wake them up every night in the middle of the night and ask their name for “security”(??) and show them that they’re in control.

another warden explained that they need to “leave their emotions at home”

the main warden explained how even the palestinians who were arrested before october 7th are now being held under the same conditions, possibly implying that they were held in better conditions, but after oct 7th they were collectively punished for what hamas did.

late in the report the main warden showed the other foods they get, rice hummus seeds and some vegetables, of course all is stored on the flood in a metal container, no refrigerator, no heating.

he talked about how they plan on adding 888 more cells, and that each cell hold 8-11 prisoners (rough estimates of the size of the cell from what i’ve seen is 2 maybe 2.5 meter by 3 maybe 4 meter), he also implied that this isn’t the only type of cells they have, some are smaller containing less prisoners.

the cells from the beginning of the report(the ones the palestinians who were arrested after octover 7th) held 6 prisoners, the cell was just enough to fit 3 bunk bed frames, and have enough space for all 6 prisoners to be in a fetus position on the floor.

the warden talked about how they used to have a marketplace where they could use money they get from palestine to buy foods(possibly other goods) that were approved by the prison, and since ben gvir came to power, the practice was ended.

since ben gvir they also don’t have washing machines

the warden talked about how they keep them in the minimum condition possible. they want to keep the barley alive, their only hope of seeing the light of day is a hostage deal, which they punished if they dare celebrate hamas kidnapping civilians or taking soldiers as war prisoners. (even if the only reason they celebrate is because that increases their chance to leave this hell)

another report by the same news source show more of their war crimes. the first report was possibly either sde teiman or ktziot, the second report is confirmed as ktziot

you can see in the report young men, (some possibly even minors, even though its just a speculation)

you can see people with yarmulke(kippah) holding a gun (probably m16) watching the prisoners from above, searching for anyone who does anything.

you can see them in the courtyard, all standing still, in white torn up shirts and grey pants, with their heads down, and on the other side, heavily armed soldiers and cops, watching, standing guard.

one soldier told the journalists that she think their conditions are “too good”, that she wanted to be there to look them in the eyes and “see the evil in their eyes”

a bit later she asked if they have ac, the warden answered they don’t even have a fan. this facility is in the desert, where 40°C(104°F) are normal

the courtyard have a catwalk above it, allowing the wardens to see every possible angle.

one of the new soldiers that were assigned to guard the facility spotted prisoner number 77 passing something to 78, immediately everyone were ready for physical intervention. something like 20-30 maybe even more cops behind barded wire, armed to the teeth, yelling at them to lay down on the hot ground. of course when trying to identify the suspect they used bigoted language, after identifying him, the held him by the back of the neck of his shirt, pulled him aside, where another cop cuffed him, 3 soldiers stood guard, and another cop held a dog, the item that was passed? toilet paper, the warden said its an important item to them, they pass it between each other, because they don’t have enough.

the palestinians looked neglected, like they eat just enough to not look like they’re starving, they didn’t have any life in their eyes, i’ve seen videos of concentration camps that looked like this, if not better.

simultaneously, reports from the rescued hostages show us a bit about how hamas is treating the hostages and war prisoners.

they ate very basic foods, just enough to stay alive, they had a bathroom, even though sometimes hamas militants locked them inside said bathroom as “punishments”, they could exercise sometimes, couldn’t really walk but had space to move.

a video of the operation was released, you could hear kids in the background screaming, they burst into the house, holding a gun to their face, asking for names, you can see the hostages were in a pretty bad condition, but drastically better than the prisoners, you could see their room was an average living room, they had mattresses on the floor, pillows, clean clothes, a fan. the journalist talked about how another failed operation that caused the death of a hostage back in January was also in the same camp, and how they went in when the camp was as dense with people as possible.

while you cannot argue they were held in good conditions, its very obvious the conditions were hell on earth, israel is holding the war prisoners and any palestinian prisoner in way worse conditions.

its crazy how the same israeli news outlet, that is subjected to IDF censorship, showed how the hostages are in way better condition than the prisoners. and try to argue that the IDF is the most moral army in the world.

sources:

first report about the prisons- https://13tv.co.il/item/news/politics/security/qipv7-903940171/

second report about the prisons- https://13tv.co.il/item/news/domestic/crime-and-justice/prison-hamas-904097260/?pid=902564625&cid=902988003

report talking about the hostages and their conditions- https://13tv.co.il/item/news/politics/security/ujf51-904098502/?pid=902564625&cid=902988003

another report talking about the opperation- https://13tv.co.il/item/news/politics/security/xjqvp-904093392/

the video of the rescue- https://13tv.co.il/item/news/politics/security/kry3q-904097182/?pid=902564625&cid=902988003

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

Helllooo friend! Just dropping in to say I hope you’re thriving with all the exciting releases lately💖💫

Also throwing in a few requests for the ask game if you’d like~

Planter, Bath bomb, Luna moth

friend!!!!! 💜

omg all of that is the only thing making me feel like i'm thriving right now, i am soooo exicteddddddddd

i hope you're doing well!!

eeeeee okay the ask things:

Planter - Do you have a green thumb?

everybody says i do, so maybe! but. i don't really count it as that, i mean some plants are easy and just need the basic plant care like water, sun, dirt and aren't that picky about it. but if anybody takes the time to look up specific plants and how to make them not die, then anybody can have a green thumb if that's what it is. i've accidentally killed sooo many plants while learning, but there are certain ones that seem like they just refuse to die, even when i've neglected them for weeks/months(depression hits hard sometimes) so i don't feel like i can take credit for their hard work enduring that. that's all on them. the past few years i've been trying to grow cucumbers and i had ONE YEAR where ONE PLANT did good, but then EVERY YEAR PAST THAT something has happened to either KILL THEM or severely damage them. THIS YEAR I NEED WARM WEATHER TO START WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO AND I NEED THERE TO BE NO GROUNDHOGS. also i've been practicing bonsai stuff on little trees i find growing in my yard where they're not supposed to be instead of letting them get run over by the lawn mower. and i have some mint plants in my window right now and a dragonfruit cactus because i had a dragonfruit from the store and was like "i wonder if i can grow these seeds" and i tried one and it grew. so i have that now.

Bath bomb - What is the best form of self care?

russ ballard is the best form of self care.

no but okay, some of the best things i've started doing for myself is actually eating a good breakfast in the morning, sometimes at least something small like some fruit(i love fruit) and making sure i drink water first thing before anything else to keep the habit of staying hydrated. keeping the brain in good working condition can only help, especially when depression and anxiety are running wild again. going for walks does help. giving myself some quiet time somewhere to just think for a while and breathe and observe the world around me. and to just exist. and NOT taking my phone or anything like that with me. outside me-time is for outside and not for screens. but also i live in a very nice place for walks, like i live right next to a forest with trails and things so. i don't know how many people have nice places to go. but just getting out and letting myself air out my brain is good. and one of the other things that's been nothing but helpful to me for the past decade or so is reminding myself that some forms of self care is sometimes confused with "being selfish", which paints it as a bad thing for people to take care of themselves or to see themselves as important in any way. which it isn't. learning the difference is a good start.

Luna Moth - City or country?

continuing the talk about living right next to a forest, i also am on the edge of a very small town area, i could NOT live in a city permanently. i need nature and trees and fresh air and some open spaces like fields and orchards and creeks/rivers and ponds and lakes and things like that. a city would also have its benefits, but i couldn't do it

[anipgarden]

Fun notes from Hellstrip Gardening by Evelyn J. Hadden

I’d mentioned in my liveblogging notes that I’d share the cool stuff I learned/found interesting but my notes quickly got Very Long so they’re now their own post. Seeing as this is what I personally found noteworthy, I definitely encourage people read the book for themselves—you might find value in a place I looked over!

Working with Poor Soil

- Use plants that thrive in less than ideal soil

- Grow herbs 👀 many common perennial herbs like thyme, sage, and oregano prefer nutrient-poor soil and dry conditions make them more flavorful. BUT get your soil tested first. Nitrogen fixers will improve poor soils and manage fine on their own, like false indigo. Flax, penstemons, and salvias are plants that are well adapted to lean growing conditions. I found this interesting because whenever I plant salvias in my garden I give them Scoops of Compost but I guess its not needed lol.

- Deep rooted prairie grasses and flowers can withstand the extremes of clay soil flipping between too wet and too dry. Some sturdy taprooted plants can break through compacted soil.

- If your soil is BAD bad then grow in containers and/or raised beds! It’ll be less costly than trying to improve a huge swath of shitty soil on your own. They’ll also provide textural interest to the landscape.

- Use a fork or pitchfork to improve compacted soil, or a broad-fork. Near tree roots, try pushing a stick/stake/rigid object into the ground and then remove it to make holes where water and organic matter can enter.

- To boost fertility quickly, add dehydrated manure, leaf mold, mushroom compost, alfalfa pellets, or garden compost. I had no idea what an alfalfa pellet was before this.

- Grow annuals for a year, cut them off at the ground level in fall, and leave the roots to decay in place. Plants with big taproots will also help break up soil. Letting roots rot in place create channels of organic matter to aerate soil, hold water, and hold nutrients.

- Sheet mulch

- When it comes to contaminated soils, you can remove the top layer of soil and replace it with good soil, or add the fresh soil on top in raised beds or mounded into berms. If you aren’t in a hurry, certain plants and fungi can be used to phytoremediate or mycoremediate the soil. They remove contaminants and store them in their tissues—you have to remove and dispose of them after though.

- Sunflowers remove lead from soil and store it in their tissues. Increasing their potassium levels increases their effectiveness for this. Cut plants after the growing season and dispose as hazardous waste. Good news! According to this book, the lead and other toxins don’t really accumulate in the seeds, so its safe for seed-eating birds. And since its stored in tissues idk if it’d affect pollinators either?

- Cover bare soil under the phytoremediating plants with a thick mulch or dense ground-covers. For easy living mulch, the book suggests Dutch white clover, annual sweet alyssum, or johnny jump-ups.

- Phytoremediation and mycoremediation require a lot more patience than just removing and replacing soil. It can take a decade or longer, depending on the situation. Definitely test the soil before you use it for other purposes, even if you’ve been phytoremediating.

Working with Laws and Covenants

- Know what the regulations are. This can include what trees are and aren’t allowed to be planted on roadsides, if trees are allowed in strips of certain widths, plant height at intersections, etc. However its also possible that the city will plant a tree for you if its on their list and you qualify, saving you money.

- When confronting a restrictive regulation (esp if written decades ago) whether its from an HOA or a city ordinance, don’t assume it can’t be revised, varied, or taken out entirely after some prompting. Have a civil conversation about it, draw up a plan or describe your garden plan, maybe be ready to make a formal presentation.

- You’ll have more luck if you come to the bargaining table prepared to and willing to compromise, take feedback, address concerns with facts and examples. Offer to meet again after the landscape is in place. Honestly I find this point interesting because the mindset of a lot of people frequently is ‘ask forgiveness not permission don’t ask and fight them if they get pissed’ but also in some situations asking cordially can get the results you want more painlessly. (That being said if lawn lovers dig in their heels maybe then its time to rally the forces and protest it but yknow cross that bridge when you get there I guess)

- Know the applicable laws. Some states (the book lists Colorado, Texas, California, Nevada, and Florida) hqve laws preventing HOAs from prohibiting xeriscaping.

- When proposing/fighting for your garden, focus on practical benefits that are easier to quantify and communicate than emotions and personal values. An HOA might not necessarily care about pollinator habitat, but they might be more understanding of ‘reducing water runoff, erosion control, lower energy use, less water needs, and no noisy mowers and blowers to bother neighbors with and spend money maintaining.’ Assigning dollar values to the garden will help communicate other positives—even if its not your main focus. Speak to them in their language, not necessarily your own.

- Show pictures of examples! If there’s a similar garden elsewhere in town, tell them where they can find it to see for themselves that it Works and Looks Great. Show them that others are doing this kind of stuff and it’ll adjust their view on ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ landscaping choices.

- Consider adding barriers to your beds and paths to help neighbors see that it’s ‘managed’ and actively cared for/enjoyed. Including a path and maybe a bench or some chairs will help it read as more Orderly. Wider paths will also alleviate fears about ticks, snakes, etc.

- If your neighbors aren’t crazy about a meadow garden, a no-mow lawn or groundcovers can give the look and feel of a lawn without being lawn if compromising is needed.

- Get a garden club or other local group to back you up. If there isn’t one already 👀 make one.

Living with Vehicles

- Sometimes if you garden close to the road cars might accidentally drive over parts of it, especially if parking. Put plants that are more easily replaceable on the forefront, and don’t forget to aerate the compacted soil afterwards.

- You could also put in a low fence/wall, a row of rocks, prickly plants or shrubs, or brightly colored taller plants to make the garden More Obvious and Less Drive-On-Able. If it keeps happening maybe request a cautionary sign or speed bump be added, or that a visibility barrier be removed.

- If there’s part of the garden you wanna save for occasional driving/parking, use plants that can be mowed when needed, or install permeable pavement/gravel/driving strips through a low ground cover planting. You can add a barrier that can either be mowed down or moved when that area’s not being used.

- If you have a Hellstrip hellstrip (which this book ends up talking a lot about Total Lawn Transformations but there’s still a lot of hellstrip advice too) then the combo of asphalt on one side and sidewalk on the other is gonna make a heat island. Find plants that like the heat! Use that strip to extend your growing season for warmth loving annuals or even for edible plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash, and melons! BUT get your soil tested before you do that.

- Alternatively you could plant trees to help shade the area and cool it down

- MULCH

- You can plant things to help muffle the sounds smells and other effects of traffic, winds, and passerby. You’ll want a four season barrier for this—plant a variety of things that’ll either stay green and leafed up in Winter or at least add visual interest.

Living with Wildlife

- So apparently geese like to eat the blades of grass lawns??? I thought they were eating bugs IN the grass, not the grass itself. Anyways they especially love eating fresh grass in view of a shoreline so you could add a 20 foot wide buffer of tall plants between the lawn and the shore if you don’t wanna deal with Goose Poop

- Mosquitoes lay eggs in standing water but apparently can also lay eggs in really wet dirt which I DID NOT know so even a leaky faucet onto some dirt can cause issues with mosquitoes.

- According to the book, humans don’t tend to notice damage to leaves until it surpasses ~10%, and don’t notice a particular kind of insect until its population surpasses a certain number of individuals. So instead of trying to eliminate all leaf-eating bugs, aim to control their populations so the damage isn’t noticeable to you and the insect predators will remain in the landscape and continue controlling said population. However, I took note because hey if you plant host plants and either have so many of them or manage to sneak them into so many different places that the leaf damage becomes Barely Noticeable…. Idk that just feels like a good thing to take note of for Sneaky Pollinator Gardening purposes.

- In areas prone to ticks, make your paths wide enough to pass through without touching foliage. Also having other animals around can minimize exposure—pheasants, chickens, and guinea fowl actively seek and eat ticks while possums and raccoons attract them and kill them while grooming. HOWEVER. Mice and deer can be sources of tick reproduction.

- Diverse plantings can limit damage from both insect herbivores as well as larger herbivores like rabbits, deer, and birds. These animals are generalists but may focus on specific favorites, so a mixed variety might get nibbled a little but mostly left alone.

- As a general rule, herbivores are attracted to nitrogen content in foliage, plants kept well watered, and new growth. Pampered plants are more appealing.

- Planting favorites like clover or alfalfa in specific areas may keep herbivores from finding (or at least encourage them to ignore) other areas like a veggie garden. A mulberry tree may make birds ignore your other fruits. A well placed shrub can host a rabbit nest instead of the underside of a deck. Piling ripe seed heads of grasses and flowers alongside an alley or generally away from your house can lure mice away from said house (and possibly expose them to more predators along the way)

- Vertical gardens, cold frames, hoop houses, and green houses can protect edible plants from herbivores

- Maintaining an excessively tidy lawn is a high effort way to avoid contact with particular local species (ticks, snakes, black widows, scorpions, etc.) Gaining more knowledge might help find easier ways to avoid the animal and give more peace of mind. Slight modifications could keep the animal out of your immediate environment. Its possible they aren’t even interested. (This feels fantastic but I feel like the last time I tried to read up on ‘how to keep snakes away from house/out of garden’ the results were basically Dont Have A Garden And Dont Go Outside so)

- I now want a garden toad friend time to find a broken pot to put upside down in the garden

- Early spring bulbs like low iris, species tulips, hyacinths, and crocus will supply nectar at a highly valuable time of year, attracting pollinators to the garden.

- Cleaning up fallen leaves destroys butterflies overwintering under plants.

- Birds will be lured in by the sound of moving water.

- Include prickly shrubs and thorned trees to help give birds a hiding space from predators like hawks or urban cats. Just keep thorny branches out of pathways.

Living with Road Maintenance and Utilities

- If you live in a place where roads are sanded or salted in winter, try to find salt-tolerant plants for your area. To protect curbsides from water logging and salt buildup, slope the ground towards the road/path. Direct salt-laden runoff into a seasonal stream or rain garden planted with salt-resistant species. A berm and/or row of salt-tolerant plants can protect sensitive plants from said salts. Frequent shallow waterings create a buildup of salts in the top layer of soil—deep watering helps flush salts out of the soil.

- Plants can be damaged by piling snow, and soil can be compacted underneath. Make sure the garden includes an area for piling snow, possibly a rain garde or bioswale to shovel into/let meltwater flow to.

- call the local utility company before you make bigass changes to your lawn PLEASE don’t hit a utility line. Also don’t plant tough, deep-rooted masses of roots over shallowly buried utility lines. Consider paths of loose gravel/mulch/stepping stones, shallow-rooted ground covers, and/or annuals and other easily replaced plants.

- Vines can be grown on individual wires, metal fencing, latticework, or wooden poles. Match the vine’s growth habit to the structure you want it to climb. HOWEVER regulations may prohibit stuff like this, and you’ll have to be ready to move/remove any added trellising and plants when maintenance time comes around.

- Shrubs can conceal metal boxes and other equipment, or you can use perennials. When using foliage to hide electrical boxes and other utility containers, keep clear access to any doors and allow their complete range of motion.

- If you can’t/don’t want to mask an object, try shielding it from view in certain vantage points. Or incorporate the colors of the equipment into the garden by mimicking the color scheme.

Living with the Public

- Especially if you’ve got a sidewalk running through the front yard, you have to consider EVERYBODY who’s going through there. Strangers, neighbors, vehicles, animals. Pedestrian traffic is an important consideration—wheelchair users, strollers, children, dogs, and depending on where you are even horses are something to keep in mind.

- Elements that can encourage traffic include mat forming ground covers, level places, and paved/graveled/mulched open areas. Elements that discourage traffic include protective fencing, uneven or sloping surfaces, and plants that are tall or look uncomfortable to touch.

- To minimize damage from foot traffic, enlist self-repairing plants whose stems are capable of rerooting when they’re broken and come into contact with soil. Self sowing plants can seed to fill in bare spots, and running plants can spread to fill gaps.

- Protect your nonwalkable plants with edges, hedges, and other hardscape choices. Berming or hollowing planting areas while keeping paths level can be a more effective strategy. Or you can densely plant s low, prickling, spreading shrub to bar passage.

- If visitors will be parking on the street, make sure they can exit their cars safely, and provide a clear path to your door. Said path can be straight and wide, or meandering. Guests on wheels need to be considered though.

- Plants with high moisture content should be planted closer to the curb where fire is a concern. Idling cars can emit occasional sparks and you don’t want long dry grass catching a spark. Instead consider succulents or a rock/stepping stone border along the edge, and keep dry leaves/pine needles from accumulating near parking.

- Fruit or nut trees can yield a notable surplus. Check for gleaning organizations in the community that may pick your extra edibles for personal use or charitable distribution. Or leave them for neighbors to enjoy.

- When clearing paths consider people’s feet and their faces. Keep prickly branches out of the way, take note of sharp leaves or pollen-laden plants that can make a walkway into an obstacle course hazard. If your area is prone to ticks, keep vegetation far enough from the public walk that it won’t brush against people.

- Some people don’t fucking respect gardens, or don’t have manners. Don’t put super mega rarities or plants you can’t afford to lose where the public can access them easily. Or like. You can. But be warned I’ve seen at least 5 stories of people’s front gardens getting defoliated for ‘bouquets’.

- Frequent presence in a garden (or signs of it) can deter littering, vandalism, and other mischief. A garden that looks well kept can discourage negative attention.

- Consider the garden from several points of view. If you’ve got a lot of neighborhood kids and dogs running around, keep poisonous plants near the back. A mulching of large rocks can lead to trouble with rambunctious gremlins. Etc etc.

- The curbside garden can be a great way to build community. You can even encourage communal use. Include a bench for chilling near the sidewalk, fresh food free for all to pick, a sunflower house or bed of pine cones for kids to play, a bowl of water for passing dogs, etc.

- if you want more curbside gardens in your area, consider sharing extra plants, forming a neighborhood garden club, make a list of Good Neighborhood Plants, establish a local contest, give tours of your yard, persuade a local agency or organization to offer grants, and/or lobby to change restrictive regulations.

[yourreddancer]

about Joann Fabric's demise

A welcome perspective.

Loran Watkins

People keep tagging me on the Joanns thing so buckle up-

As someone who has sewn nearly her entire life (started when I was 3) I'm here to tell you why #joannsfabric closing down is NOT a bad thing.

First - their entire stated mission was to become the biggest, and only, fabric store in this country. They started out by gobbling up Cloth World, moved onto House of Fabrics and just kept going. A very long time ago I was a store manager for HofF, I literally heard a regional manager say this and, at the time, HofF had over 700 stores. When I started, their stock was about $10/share. When I left it was under a buck & quickly tanked. I had a front row seat to their demise so I understand a bit of what happened with Fleece Central.

.For everyone beating their chest and crying "but this was the only store in my area"... THAT was the plan. At one time you DID have smaller, locally owned stores. HofF started the cycle of buying up the tiny 2 and 3 store chains, they wanted to wipe out the competition.

Just to be clear - monopolies are bad.

.Joanns took it further. I remember a time when you had stores that catered to the communities they were in, & you couldn't get candy or kids puzzles or outdoor cushions there. We had craft stores devoted to crafts, stores that specialized in upholstery and drapery fabrics and supplies and none of them were thousands of square feet.

.The average Joanns store uses less than 40% of its entire space for fabric. Of that, about 40% is poly fleece, one of the worst fabrics on & for the planet. But we can talk about that monstrosity later.

.Let's talk about the last years events

A year ago, a group of people that don't know how to sew and neither care or want to learn about the sewing community but had some cash, decided to throw into this game. After all, if they failed they'd sell off the parts, make back some dough and move on. So they went to their suppliers, like the pattern companies and Dritz and anyone else that was owed money and said "Hey. Gotta a deal for you. We'll give you 20 cents on the dollar of what we owe, you'll take it and we'll keep doing business with you. It's this or you get nothing & you lose our entire account blah blah blah" & they took it.

.That's what HofF did and it didn't work out so well either, which is why many of you grew up going to Joanns. That's how these VC jerks used 132 million to get rid of over 500 million in debt. What they didn't understand, but really counted on, was this industry was built on the backs of mostly women, who have been HORRIBLY underpaid, marginalized and lied to for so many years they thought this was "normal".

Pay was minimum wage, benefits were scarce and the average store had 2-3 people for most shifts. In between cutting and ringing you're supposed to put away orders, restock and clean the store. In the last decade the condition of Joanns stores deteriorated to the point that shelves were empty, floors weren't swept often and signage was a joke.

.The bigger busier stores did better than the medium ones but they were heading towards where we are today just before the pandemic. They got a reprieve when they were suddenly important and everyone needed masks, but the basic business problems went unsolved and here we are.

I'm not sad about this at all. We're in a MUCH better position for goods than we were way back when because of so many online resources. Will you be about to get the color thread you need at 8 o'clock Saturday night?

Maybe.

Maybe not

As a professional costume designer I used to rely on being able to run to a local Joanns when the director changed their mind at the VERY LAST MINUTE. Now that that can't happen these folks will have to plan better (& I've got STORIES but that'll have to wait).

.My point is this - now that the Walmart of fabric is leaving the smaller guys have a chance. They were always there, there were a whole lot more of them until the Pushy Fleece Broad showed up with handfuls of coupons to lure you in, hoping that the volume of stuff they were trying to entice you with would more than make up for that weeks loss leaders.

.We NEVER had sales like Joanns rolled on by us on a regular basis. They promoted over consumption of garbage goods that are killing the planet. And that f*&kin fleece, which was a top seller for them. If I never see another wall of fleece I'll be a happy human.

.

The other part of their awful equation was the normalizing of mediocrity, which HofF started but they embraced. When I was in college I worked at a lovely locally owned small chain of family owned fabric stores in the Bay area, New York Fabrics. They used to have a full time staff person at our store who did nothing but design the displays. She'd pull several dozen patterns, put them in the lunchroom & let employees pick the pattern and fabric, which the store paid for, and then we'd make the model garments. They'd be on display for a month or two & then we'd own them. It was a nifty benefit.

.When I moved and started at HofF I asked about a model garment program & was told they weren't allowed to do a store by store program, that everything was decided on by someone in corporate, who contracted with a manufacturer who made 700 of the same thing in the same fabric & sent them to all the stores. Every store in the country got the same poorly made mass manufactured outfit that we were supposed to proudly display. When I talked to that particular department I said " do you really think the customers in Kansas have the same aesthetic as the ones in LA?".

Being unable to set your own store up to appeal to your clientele meant all creativity was removed from a process that was supposed to be creative. It showed, and upper managers never understood why. We've got a generation, or 2, of stitchers that don't know what good fabric is.

.

It's time for a reset. Joanns leaving gives us that.

I know I'm very lucky to have lots of smaller stores in my area I can shop at, but there are folks in various sewing groups sharing their not-so-well-known treasures of stores. There's more than you think and definitely more than you know, so I'll get you started on a few of my go tos..

For notions it's Wawak all the way. They're online, their prices are fabulous, the quality just as good and they've got FAST shipping.

Need more specialized stuff? Try Richard The Thread in LA. Patterns? I haven't bought many from the Big 4 companies in years, I've bought most from independent online sellers, but if you're really looking for the McCalls/Butterick/Vogue/simplicity group go to their sites. They're now owned by a British stationary company but online purchasing is easy.

.This might be the time to check out all the smaller companies that are women owned, women designed and can use our support. Closet Core, Scroop and Seamwork are at the top of my list.

I'll have to do an entire other thread on fabric stores.

One reason I started this thread was because I was tired of giving the same info over and over. I'm also tired of the "bUt wHErE aM I gOinG tO FiNd mY CheAp *fill in the blank*

You may not.

But you might.

But do you really need anything polyester in your life, ever again?

Maybe you do.

Maybe that's you.

I'll tackle that question later.

.There is SO MUCH CRAP out in the world right now, clogging up landfills, that we need to take a step back.

A student was concerned that she could only find cottons, specifically quilting cottons, in her local area, that they aren't "fancy" or "pretty". I told her that Jay won the first season of Project Runway with a finale dress that was all quilting cotton, and STUNNING.

.It's time we rethink our habits, our preferences and what it is we really want.

Joanns hasn't served the sewing public in a very long time, they just convinced everyone this was the best we could hope for and we shrugged our shoulders and said Ok.

We can have better.

We deserve better.

And a big F*&k you to the VC guys who only saw fire sale dollar signs. Had #joannfabrics been a tiny bit better we might have stood up for them like we did when the tech bros came for the knitters.

[weirdbellything]

"how would you feel being seen in the presence of a 300 pound friend in public" really threw me. that's insane to think of even if I've been on the receiving end of fatphobia before. my entire life my father and most of his friends have never been smaller than that, and my mother not far behind......

idk. being fat was still treated as shameful but not necessarily extended to those who associated with you, moreso just the personal lack of willpower & care & of course, health.

quite honestly I often wonder if the reason I developed a fixation and eventual fetish was because this reasoning was so intensely put upon me of "you're going to be fatter than people like, but you still have to try to be as small as you can, and you don't want to end up like your grandfather" -who was, all of my life, extremely fat & disabled, believed to be because of this. (By believed to be, he absolutely was, but I think it was a combination of factors.)

He hated himself and he was depressed also for most of my life because he was fat. He was always dieting, but nothing ever changed.

Personally? Obviously weight alone fucks up your mobility, but I think he got that far without wanting to be because he was ashamed. Being that fat meant he didn't want to be seen in public at all, so he stopped going anywhere or doing anything. It isolated him and imprisoned him because he was afraid and embarrassed. He had mobility aids and tools to go, do more, and people to help him do so....but he hated the way people looked at and treated him. He got weaker and weaker because he didn't move, so he eventually could not move- in my eyes, his mental health fed into his physical health.

as a disclaimer, I am NOT saying it was his fault or he could've fixed himself or some shit. actually, I'm more so illustrating the harm that ostracizing fatness does. It doesn't just make people have bad self esteem, it makes them afraid to live their lives in any way, even in the ways that they should be able to. I can't help but think about how the last couple decades of his life might have been if he had been less afraid, more accepted; if he wasn't treated as an object of disgust every time he tried to leave the house.

Fuck, he might have lived longer! I know he was hoping to die by the end, and it wasn't because of the physical pain he was in, but because he had already believed his life to be basically over for twenty years....

it made my grandma incredibly depressed as well, because it's hard to take care of someone who is that miserable, and their relationship was no longer give and take. she just had to give. (this is not implying that disability makes you a heavy burden no one should ever have to deal with or something. it's more like.... specifically, he didn't even enjoy being around her much anymore. they didn't have anything they did together anymore, even in the house, because he was so disgusted with his body and state. it was, in that way, a degradation of their relationship. to live that way for twenty years is terrible in any situation, I think.)

idk. I guess I genuinely think fatphobia ruined my grandpa's life more than being fat and disabled itself ever did. (Of fucking course it was hard and caused problems. but so many of those problems were because of the way people treated him and made him feel like some kind of disgusting monster; I think so many of those obstacles would have been livable if he had been treated well, if he had felt like he still could live his life, if he still had friends and things to do, fuck, even if he could just comfortably go with his wife to the grocery store.) but even by his family, his condition was treated as some kind of bogeyman, a terrible fate you have to work to avoid (and by work, I mean, of course, stay as skinny as possible). And in turn, it made everyone more ashamed of their own fat bodies- the constant threat of "ending up like him", miserable and trapped.

but I guess the primary thing I see as different is I don't see him as his body being what trapped him, not alone, but the cruelty and ever presence of fatphobia and ableism. what ruined his life was not being allowed or permitted as a normal person in the world anymore, sometimes seemingly not even seen as a person at all. just reduced to an object of disgust or a cautionary tale. there was so much more to him and so much more in his life, but nobody outside of the family ever got to see that anymore.... they only ever saw a very fat and very sick old man.

(and within the family, they were always comparing him to his past self. what he used to be able to do, what he used to be like. I think that's why he liked me so much. I never knew any other version of him and loved him as he was, because that's who he had always been, and I loved my grandpa. and as I got older, it hurt to see someone I loved hate themselves so much, to realize how miserable he really was so often.)

I don't know how to end this. it doesn't really have a lot to do with the themes of this blog, but it is important, I think, and I just don't think many people want to hear it. there is no level of fatness where personhood ends, and honestly, no level where a daily life should have to end, even if in current circumstances it so often becomes so limiting.

[mallowmaenad]

rating the dungeon meshis based on if they could survive at a line cook job:

Laios: Passion for cooking that would slowly get whittled away over time by the working conditions, most of his coworkers would think he's an asshole and he'd grow to feel agitated and isolated from all of them hating him, quits in 1-2 years to work at a pet store 4/10.

Marcille: Would do much better as a server, gets mad at closers for not cleaning up enough but also is a shitty closer. She'd eventually develop a smoking habit that she'd replace with vaping. First on the chopping block when business start to slow down 3/10.

Chilchuck: Hardass no-nonsense sensibility makes him more valuable than some managers at times but very vocal about how he hates his job but he's so good at doing prep work they don't want to fire him for his attitude until he starts trying to unionize the kitchen 7/10.

Senshi: Proper chef, brings his own set of knives into work and management always schedules new hires to train with him because he's nice. Would feel really bad about serving anything frozen or defrosted and tries to push prepping everything in-house, if he were to quit the owner would be running after him to beg him to stay. Does not know what a beard net is. 9/10.

Falin: Would do amazing as a server but doesn't want to be one. Oddly cheery even during lunch rush and quick to remember orders with complex alterations. Gets really decadent shift meals and comes in a little late sometimes. Picks up people's shifts when they're sick or need the time off, secretly only working there for the free/discounted food. Quits as soon as she has a better opportunity but stays friends with everyone else there making them realize that the place they work at kind of fucking sucks. 7/10.

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — Bruce Friedman was moved by “The Diary of Anne Frank” when he read it at age 9. As a child in a kosher-keeping Jewish home on Long Island, he saw in the Holocaust memoir an essential lesson for Jewish and non-Jewish children alike.

“You learn to sympathize, empathize, share the fear and the horror and the fright and disgust with man’s inhumanity to man,” he recalled about the book. “And it’s not just the Nazis. It’s the human condition. We’re really good at hurting each other.”

And yet decades later, Friedman filed a challenge with his local school district in Florida to remove a new version of the diary from classroom shelves. The book, he wrote on a district form, “does disservice to lessons on the Holocaust.” 

He added, in all-caps, “PROTECT CHILDREN!”

Last month, the local school board sided with Friedman and voted to remove “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” from all grade levels in the district, with a spokesperson saying it was removed “based on state statute.” Also removed based on Friedman’s challenge: William Styron’s Holocaust novel “Sophie’s Choice.” 

The successes followed two of hundreds of challenges Friedman has filed against books in Clay County, near Jacksonville, where he moved from New York during the pandemic. He has files on thousands more books that others have challenged. From his home there, the Jewish father has become one of the country’s most prolific and zealous participants in the movement to purge public schools of certain books. 

The movement has largely targeted books featuring LGBTQ themes and content about racial equity, while catching books on other topics — including Jewish stories — in its dragnet. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has embedded the values of the movement into state law, making it easier for a small number of parents — or even just one — to force their districts to make books inaccessible to students.

The movement is most closely associated with a group called Moms of Liberty and inherits its worldview and tactics from decades of Christian family-values advocacy. But it turns out its flag-bearers can be Jewish dads, too.

Friedman recognizes that he stands out. “I figured we’d have a lot to talk about, Jew boy,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

He stands out in another way, too. Unlike many of his fellow book challengers, Friedman, a self-identified “bibliophile,” insists he reads every book he seeks to remove. He documents his objections as he goes in reams of challenge forms that he stores in his home office.

In objecting to a children’s biography of Harriet Tubman, for example, he says, “Telling them that the Civil War was all about slavery is a lie.” The picture book “Arthur’s Birthday,” featuring the cartoon aardvark, was bad in his view because “it is not appropriate to discuss ‘spin the bottle’ with elementary school children.” To Friedman, “Americanah,” a prizewinning novel by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the immigrant experience, is “a horrible piece of garbage.” Reading from his own file on the book, he listed off its problems: “Attempted suicide, immigration fraud, promiscuity, infidelity, abortion, racism, sex, critical race theory.”

For months Friedman has battled the Clay County school board over books, even becoming a conservative folk hero when his antics at a school board meeting drew censure. This week, when Friedman attempted to read from the Mindy McGuinnis novel “Heroine,” about the opioid crisis, board members cut off his microphone, telling him there were children present. When he attempted to keep reading, two police officers escorted him from the podium.

Yet a newer board member has frequently taken his side, recently describing “every single book we’ve banned” as “filthy, filthy pornography” and adding, “People who tell you different have not read the books, period.”

Recently, the board met to revise its book policy — but a school district official said Friedman would complicate the task.

“Mr. Friedman’s erratic and inconsistent challenges make it impossible for us to predict and devise a solution,” the school district’s chief academic officer, Roger Dailey, told the board during its Sept. 26 workshop. “I don’t know that there is a way to satisfy him.”

More than 60% of all book challenges nationwide in the 2021-2022 school year came from just 11 people.  In this context, the volume of Friedman’s challenges carry weight far beyond his own district — and he’s only picked up the pace since.

“He’s been incredibly successful,” said Tasslyn Magnusson, who researches school book bans for the literary free-speech group PEN America and considers Friedman one of the biggest players in a movement she sees as attacking public education. “He’s by far the best example of how this is not about the books, but this is about destroying the system.”

Friedman’s allies, too, say he is making an outsized impact. He is “an amazing person, very patient, compassionate, and really wanted to dig into the issue of the books,” said Elana Yaron Fishbein, the founder of No Left Turn in Education, which has a list of books it deems “problematic.” Friedman is the group’s Florida chapter head; with his master list of every book challenged in every district, Fishbein said, he “really went above and beyond.”

Friedman is not the only Jew who is active in the book-challenge movement. There is Fishbein, an Israeli-born mother and a former employee of the Philadelphia Jewish federation who founded No Left Turn in Education in 2020 to combat what she says is “a leftist agenda” in public and private schools. And Brooke Weiss, a Jewish mother in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a lead organizer in Moms For Liberty. Weiss told JTA she has never challenged a book herself, but she helped put together the group’s first-ever conference earlier this year, attended by several Republican presidential candidates. 

Yet Friedman, who is involved in both groups, stands out for the sheer volume and intensity of his challenges; he is responsible for more than a third of all challenges in Florida, and for 94% of the challenges in his district, which has acceded to hundreds of his requests to pull books and has removed more books than any other in the state as a result. He insists that his efforts are on behalf of children like his own, whom he pulled from public school when they lived back in New York out of concerns about what the child was learning there. 

“I want all lessons in all schools to respect innocence,” Friedman told JTA.

Friedman said his father was a Navy veteran who worked printing art for periodicals, while his mother worked a variety of jobs including as an accountant, seamstress and Yiddish teacher. He celebrated his bar mitzvah in Jerusalem, visiting the Western Wall. His parents, who are still alive, raised him “Conservative, leaning Orthodox” — he now participates in Jewish life via his local Chabad-Lubavitch center — and they imparted other values, too.

“My house that I grew up in was filled with books, and I had unfettered access to everything,” Friedman said. “I was the kind of guy who would stay close to librarians. The library was my happy place.”

Now, looking back, he says the unfettered access wasn’t always to his benefit. He has challenged “Slaughterhouse-Five,” the classic by Kurt Vonnegut about the bombing of Dresden during World War II, which he said he wrongly appreciated as a 12-year-old. “When I read it I had no regard for my own innocence,” he said.

Friedman attended multiple colleges in the New York area and worked as a construction manager in New York. He became radicalized by what he saw in public schools a decade ago, when his wife’s son entered kindergarten on Long Island. Schools in New York and around the country had recently adopted the Common Core, a set of educational standards meant to unify and improve what is taught across districts and states.

The standards had drawn backlash from conservatives who saw them as trampling on the principle of local control of schools. (People from across the ideological spectrum also argued that — in language presaging the book-ban movement — the standards were not always “age-appropriate” for children.)

Friedman said the standards caused his now-stepson to experience “considerable harm,” declining to offer specifics. The couple pulled him from public school and enrolled him in an evangelical Christian school that had eschewed the Common Core. The school’s outlook was also new for Friedman’s wife, who was raised Catholic, and the religious approach was not his own — “I was born a Jew. I will die a Jew,” Friedman said — but the family loved the school. When he saw Fishbein talking about No Left Turn on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show following the 2020 racial justice protests, he knew he had found his new cause.

Friedman moved his family from New York to Florida during the pandemic, “in pursuit of less tyrannical, more favorable governance and in the spirit of liberty.” (He noted that while he doesn’t regret the move, he does miss his family and “the pizza.”) His arrival in Florida came just as DeSantis was making “parents’ rights” a legislative priority. The timing was perfect for him to inaugurate No Left Turn’s presence in that state.

When Friedman and his family moved to Florida, he made the decision to put his son — now in high school — back in public school, believing that his evangelical education had given him “a very good moral base” that would insulate him from danger. But he forbade his stepson from ever using the school library and threw himself into monitoring the library’s contents.

There were so many parents out there, Friedman reasoned, who didn’t have time to thoroughly monitor their children’s media consumption like he did. Even if most of those parents might be fine with their kid reading the occasional racy book passage, some might not be. 

“It’s not the kids that have a wicked dark sense of humor like I was,” he said, describing the child he pictures in his head when he files his challenges. “It’s for the sheltered little people who have parents that are so concerned with their souls that they don’t want them harmed.”

Friedman soon began reading school library books in his spare time, searching for objectionable content he could denounce, and scouring negative online reviews for more dirt on the books. He has turned the book challenge process into a science, filing flurries of official request forms — often with only one or two words of objection listed on them — which, under state law, must be considered by a formal review committee. He also has the ability to appeal any decision the committee makes, and usually does, if the decision doesn’t involve removing the book. 

Recently, he says he landed a local job — but he has kept up the book challenges. “Employment has not slowed me,” he said. “I have the time to devote because I am a very motivated and determined person, and also because I don’t eat or sleep as I ought to.”

For the book challenges Friedman doesn’t author, he volunteers to serve on the committee that will decide their fates, as a parent representative. He then attends public board meetings to hammer home his objections in person; he went viral last year when he attempted to read aloud from a memoir by author Alice Sebold at one board meeting, as part of his justification for why he wanted it removed from the district. 

As Friedman began reciting Sebold’s graphic accounting of a sexual assault, the board cut off his mic, warning him not to read “pornography” during a meeting being streamed to the public. “Hush your mouth and listen,” the school board attorney instructed him. This was hypocrisy, Friedman thought: If he can’t read a book aloud at a public board meeting because it’s pornographic, why should that same book be available in public school libraries? 

Thanks in part to Friedman’s inspiration, reading objectionable book passages aloud at school board meetings has since become a tried-and-true tactic for activists who want books removed. Recent legislation in Florida even encourages such behavior by requiring boards to remove the book if they cut off such a reading for obscenity concerns. 

The intensity of the efforts to ban books in Clay County has alarmed some educators there.

“One of the courses that I teach is on the Holocaust,” a district history teacher said during a school board meeting last year, speaking against the district’s mass book removals spurred on by Friedman. “Do I need to paint you a picture?” 

A picture is exactly what Friedman didn’t like about the illustrated version of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which was adapted by Ari Folman and David Polonsky and published in 2018 by the foundation that controls the diary’s copyright. In an image inspired by a passage in Frank’s original diary, she shares a brief memory of same-sex attraction, which was unacceptable to Friedman.

“The fact that little Anne Frank once had some lesbian thoughts that made their way into her diary, does that help a kid learn the horrors of Holocaust or inhumanity? No. So what is it helping the kid learn?” he asked. Employing a term, sometimes used as part of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, that describes adults training children to accept sexual abuse, he added, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s grooming.”

Friedman’s opposition to the book distinguishes him from Fishbein, who said she supports only “some” of Friedman’s challenges, such as one for the frequently challenged graphic novel “Gender Queer.” The Anne Frank adaptation is a different story: “We do not oppose the use of this book in schools,” she said. Friedman himself has taken to clarifying, in his challenges, that he is not acting on behalf of No Left Turn even as he continues to use an email address associated with the group.

Yet his campaign against “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” has caught on. Since Friedman first pushed his district to review the book this past winter, another Florida district removed it outright after it was challenged by a Moms For Liberty member there. Last month, a school in Texas fired a teacher who reportedly read it aloud to her eighth-grade students.

Critics of Friedman’s movement say it builds on a history of censorship that has always boded ill for the Jews. Copies of Jewish texts have been burned by antisemitic regimes throughout history, including France in the 1200s and the Roman Inquisition in the 1500s. The Nazis led a campaign not only to burn Jewish books, but also to wipe out what they deemed “degenerate art” — which often meant, if not works by Jews, then modernist pieces the regime considered to be vulgar or not generally supportive of their aims. 

“There are parallels with book burnings,” Aaron Herschel Shapiro, an instructor of Jewish American literature at Middle Tennessee State University, told JTA about the contemporary movement. “The rhetoric alone makes that clear. The books, and the ideas they contain, are framed as some sort of cultural contagion that must be purged. That’s a bit on the nose, no?”

The Association of Jewish Libraries has come out against the movement that Friedman represents. “Book bans result in the suppression of history and distortion of readers’ understanding of the world around them,” the group said in a statement last year.

Despite the fact that at least one Moms For Liberty chapter has quoted Hitler in its communications, Weiss says she sees her movement as actually safeguarding Jewish stories and students. She became involved in Moms for Liberty after her daughter was asked, on a quiz about the Octavia Butler novel “Kindred,” to compare slavery and the Holocaust; the correct answer was that slavery was “just as horrible over a much longer duration,” which Weiss said was “Holocaust-minimizing.” Still, she said, “Even my mother has made the claim that this organization is antisemitic.”

Some of the most prominent Jews in the book-banning movement reject any uncomfortable historical resonances. “If we are talking about removing ‘Gender Queer’ from the school, why does that not work out well for the Jews?” Fishbein said. “What does that have to do with Jews or not Jews?”

Friedman, too, rejects the criticism, which he said in an email is coming from “misinformed people that feel it’s a precursor to the next Krystallnacht,” referring to the pogrom that is considered the start of the Holocaust.

“When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you, Andrew, represent your Jewish publication, the JTA, you might feel that everything on earth is about Jewishness,” he said. “The only thing Jewish about my efforts is that they seem to connect with our people’s passion for justice.”

Friedman is continuing his challenges at a full pace, and told the board at its September meeting that he would continue doing so until it established “a rubric and a guideline” for how to better deal with content he believes is “pornographic.” This month, he filed one for Antonio Iturbe’s young-adult Holocaust novel “The Librarian of Auschwitz.” The book is based on the true story of the Jewish Auschwitz survivor Dita Kraus, who as a teenager guarded a slim volume of smuggled books in the death camp’s children’s unit so that the kids would have something to read. Kraus is still alive today. 

Friedman’s challenge to the book, which he shared with JTA, doesn’t mention Kraus’ quest to protect children’s books from Nazis. Instead, he quotes from sections describing nude, emaciated Auschwitz prisoners and Jewish corpses, passages which he believes are inappropriate for all age levels. A message to the board further articulating his objections suggests that his main issue with the book is that it mentions the Holocaust at all.

“Unsupervised forays into the horrors of the Holocaust can be traumatizing for children,” he writes. “They are almost certain to have some impact on a child. I wouldn’t necessarily expect this impact to be positive.” Elsewhere he repeats his familiar objections: “PROTECT CHILDREN,” he writes in all caps. “DAMAGED SOULS.”  

Emily Knox, a University of Illinois professor who researches book challenges, told JTA the movement’s ambitions are inherently at odds with learning about the Holocaust.

“The issue with challengers is that they want books to be pure. And so what they will say is, ‘Why would someone put this terrible thing in a book?’” she said. “But it’s impossible to have a clean book on the Holocaust. That’s not something that exists, unless you decenter the Jewish experience in the Holocaust.”

New laws on the horizon would open the door to even more book challenges. Over the summer, Florida passed a new law that allows any county resident, not just parents, to challenge any book in the district. If even a single challenge claims a book contains sexual content, that book would have to be pulled immediately until a further review can be taken. 

One book that Friedman personally says he doesn’t plan to challenge is a Holocaust work that has become a symbol of the broader book-ban movement. Art Spiegelman’s graphic memoir “Maus,” which relays the experiences of his father’s survival of the Holocaust, last year was removed from a middle school lesson plan in Tennessee after the board objected to some of its illustrations, and has been on the chopping block in other districts in Missouri and Iowa. But just like with “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Friedman has positive memories of reading the book as a teen.

“I absorbed it immediately. I thought it was fantastic,” Friedman recalled. “As far as graphic novels go, and history lessons at the same time, it’s probably one of the very best.”

Still, he said, he’s fine with local efforts to remove the book from schools — even if it comes at a cost to Jews.

“That’s local control,” he said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to work. Even if their reasons are racist, even if they want that book gone because they don’t want any sympathy for Jews and they hate them, that’s local control.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Bruce Friedman has filed more than 3,000 book challenges. In fact, he has filed hundreds, but maintains a master list of all book challenges filed across the country which totals more than 3,000.

[retphienix]

Anyways, since I'm rambling payday 3, some thoughts.

Does anyone else feel like Payday 3, in terms of replay value, is EXACTLY the game people who don't understand Payday 2 think Payday 2 was?

Because I remember the naive opinions I heard when Rock city or whatever came out from youtubers who never played Payday.

I remember hearing repeatedly "The game is repetitious, but I guess Payday fans who replay the same missions over and over and over again won't mind" because these dolts don't understand the randomization / pre-planning / alternate conditions etc that added together to give Payday 2 INSANE replay value on nearly every heist BEFORE you consider the decade of content shoved into that game or the plethora of ways you could build your character to play.

Anyways, playing a good amount of Payday 3 feels like playing the "assumption" version of Payday 2 those youtubers spoke into existence.

There's nothing meaningful that changes on repeat plays- and this feels minorly exasperated by the fact you can't get new seeds unless you quit to the main menu entirely. And majorly exasperated by how gutted pre-planning is with all the insane combinations and alternative heist experiences of Payday 2's system cut to shreds and replaced with.... do you want a shitty alternative entrance? How about a keycard? What about a dumpster to loot into? Pick ONE.

Funny fact on that- why the FUCK can a solo player only pick one? You SHREDDED fucking pre-planning to the most soulless shitty thing it could possibly be- and then punished solo players with the new system too???? why??? Fuck off

Also god fucking damn it do I miss multi-day heists.

Pre-release I said I wanted more "small scale" heists like 4 stores and I was not gifted a single interesting mission like that one (Give me my silly shoplifting missions!!)

And I said I wanted them to further explore multi-day heists that divert based on your actions- like fucking up the election heist and having to "fake" a bank robbery- that's an entire heist track a ton of people never experienced!!!!!!! THAT FORMULA RULES!!!!

WHERE IS IT~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are a ton of problems with this fucking game, there really are.

Progression is shit on MULTIPLE levels

Weapon xp is tied to mission objectives and not anything to do with using the weapon???

XP is 90% weighted towards challenges which are not interesting in the slightest- with highlights like "Do each heist 150 times, kill 1000 enemies with every weapon, and slide 5000 meters (all 3 of these are real and for every weapon and heist btw)" WHERE IS THE CREATIVITY OF THE PAYDAY 2 ACHIEVEMENTS??>????

IF YOU WANT TO UNLOCK ALL THE SKILLS TO ACTUALLY MAKE A FUCKING BUILD YOU WILL SPEND YOUR FIRST 50 INFAMY LEVELS JUST RUNNING A SKILL POINT IN EVERY SKILL TREE- MEANING YOU WILL HAVE NO BUILD AND NO IDENTITY BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO GET XP FILLED OUT SO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE LIST OF SKILLS. WTF IS THAT STUPID NONSENSE.

Also, the feedback loop of this game is non-existent. You do things over here to get progress over there, you play your heart out and get pennies, you fumble with your belt buckle and level up 9 times and unlock 50 challenges. The game has like no weight to what you're doing and "trying" to progress feels... bad!

Like, you figure it out, sure, but the feedback of "do thing get reward" is just fucking JANK!! The fact the fastest way to level weapons is to speedrun heists ASAP because objectives > everything else is ????? what????

The fastest way to level up your infamy is to camp in a corner spamming deployables and kill grinding???? what????? Not weapon xp???

Hell, what else. C-stacks are bugged to fuck in the most mind-boggling way- the way in question is that they Don't List The Correct Price for some fucking reason.

$1,800,000 for 10 C-stacks is actually $2,700,000. Why? Because managing a simple table of data is really hard :(

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

Cosmetics are fucking dog shit across the board- the first paid DLC has some cool stuff coming that was sourced from amazing fan-artists who have been commissioned to help (what a surprise! The talent is coming from OUR side of the table!)

Builds in 3 can be fun! But are not in any way interesting. Like, that's maybe the worst part of it. You can make something "fun" but it's also just.... soulless more often than not. A shotgun build. A throw build. A rifle headshot build. A hipfire build.

The MOST interesting builds are just "I refresh my throwables so I throw a bunch of grenades" and "I use grit and edge to become stagger immune and then hold a hostage".

And again, those can be fun, but man do the list of "interesting" options feel.... nada.

They cowered away from the wacky stuff in 2 and it "works" but where is the new identity? Where's the new "payday"?

I'm being bitchy but look at this rant, I have things to bitch over and plenty more than what comes to mind here.

And all that comes to make the game mid! Just! Mid!

I WANT it to be great as fuck and I don't know if it can when the foundation is so... this! Add pre-planning, expand heist variety IN THEMSELVES (ONE HEIST DOING MORE THINGS ON DIFFERENT RUNS), Multi-days, skills, fucking anything man just give this damn game a chance but hey

that's the operative word ain't it.

There's a chance it's great in a bit of time.

I hope so.

At least Payday 2 is right there still.

[ptiautiste]

Finally...

I was looking for a really good shortwave receiver for at least a decade -an old tube equipped one of course. The problem getting one nowadays is that they were only produced in small numbers half a century (or more) ago, since then most are scrapped, botched, altered or corroded cause of bad storage -or all together. So if you have the chance getting one today you most likely will buy a 'construction site', needing hundreds of working hours for restoring it in a good working condition.

But after a looong search finally i had real luck. A big wooden crate was delivered on a pallet.

In this crate was one of the -for my opinion- ugliest shortwave receivers ever built, but at the same time also one of the best ones: a Rohde + Schwarz EK07.

Built in 1958 this one was a storage unit from the German Army. Well stored, regularly maintained and serviced, not altered, not botched, never used. So it is in nearly mint condition. It wasn't cheap but getting my hands on this was just sheer luck. Without doing anything: it's in perfect working order. No potentiometer, no switch crackles, every tube checks new -of course you can check all the tubes in the radio itself without removing them.

The manufacturer is more known for it's precision Lab-Equipment and less for it's shortwave receivers. This is also because their receivers weren't consumer or amateur gear, this was pro gear by any means. They were used in applications like coast guards or military surveillance and such. Always things where equipment costs doesn't matter -only the outcome. So back in 1958 when this unit was manufactured you could buy at least two brand new cars for the same amount of money. In exchange for this you got a masterpiece of german engineering and craftsmanship -and also an electro-mechanical nightmare if anything fails and you're not absolutely familiar with it's guts.

Fancy? No, there's absolutely nothing fancy on these. These are absolute workhorses, designed for doing an important job 24/7/365 for decades. Just take a look to that bandswich gear in the photo above. How often you have to switch over the bands until this would be worn out? Millions and Millions of times... And nope: this dark residues at that drum on the left and box below isn't mold or such. These are completely silver plated so it's just the darkened silver.

As you may see, most of the structural parts are made of die-cast and aluminum, so from the materials used it's relatively light weight. But all that built-in sturdiness and shielding adds up to staggering 147lbs/67kg. It's only a receiver, not a transmitter or a power amplifier.

Tubes... and more tubes

If you're not familiar with tube radios: your average AM (and shortwave) Radio from the 50's or 60's used 4 tubes (without the rectifier if this was a tube). Your trusty Hammarlund or Yaesu shortwave receiver from that time would have somewhat from 8 to 12 tubes -and these were quite good and sensitive receivers! This Rohde + Schwarz counts 28 tubes.

Some tubes here, some there, all fully shielded. But why the hell that much? The answer is quite simple: stability. On every count. Constant and stable gain over all bands and for a looong service time, stunningly stable VFO frequencies and all that stuff. No, they used no consumer tubes like in your TV or such. All of them are out of the 'commercial'-tube-series with a guaranteed service life of at least 10000 hours like in every aircraft of that time or such. Failing was not an option, this HAD to work.

Speaking about stability and accuracy:

this of course isn't digital stuff -it's purely analog. In the pictures below you can see the dials. Just add both frequencies and you know where you are -here on 29.630MHz or 29630kHz.

As you see: your readout is easily accurate down to less than 500Hz. So you can read at least 500Hz out of 29630000Hz. With other words the accuracy of your readout is 0.001687% in this case. Your average modern digital multimeter would be proud if it came only near to this 65 year old contraption.

Of course that large dial in the picture on the left isn't the only one. There are 12 of 'em, mounted on a drum and rotating according to the selected band. Giving you a simple S-Meter like in other shortwave receiver was of course also not possible.

Instead they provided you with a Voltmeter which displays directly the input voltage at the antenna input -and the threshold voltage for the 'Squelch' (if you have set that) which isn't a normal squelch. If activated it doesn't cut your Audio, it reduces the Gain instead with a settable time constant, so it acts more like a active noise cancelling between any signal -also between any dash and dot if you're receiving CW (Morse Code). Besides that you can choose your IF-Passband between 150Hz and 12kHz, have a absolutely stable BFO, a good Envelope Detector for AM-Reception and a perfect Audio Stage - that's all.

Speaking of the Audio Stage: 2W undistorted output power from a single end class-A is more than you need with a good speaker. McIntosh ® would call that circuit 'Unity Coupled', further a E88CC for the Audio-Preamp. We're talking about an Shortwave Radio, not an 'High-End' Audio Amplifier. Wanna take recordings of what you hear? No problem: here's your Line-Output, symmetric, 600 ohms, transformer coupled and with +10dBm (if you want) and in accordance to all Studio-Standarts. Sound quality for AM Broadcasts? With a passband switchable up to max. 12kHz for the IF better than the majority of stations can provide.

Precise?

So far so good, but what's about the heart of every shortwave receiver: the Oscillator or VFO? How stable and precisely does it beat after 65 years?

In your trusty -and quite good- Hammarlund or Yaesu amateur Radio from these days the VFO usually is equipped with two tubes: the Oscillator itself and the buffer amplifier -both sometimes also united in one bulb. If i hadn't lost track here they used 12 -and tons of other stuff. So that frickin VFO has a component count which is easily about the order of a complete shortwave receiver.

What the hell is all that stuff about -and wtf they had for breakfast back then? The answer is again simple: precision and stability.

As i said: this thing is 65 years old and i touched nothing. Of course I checked how much it's 'off' in terms of the frequency. After warming up for 20 Minutes i checked it every 1000kHz from the bottom to the top of its range. It was a bit different between all points, at some less than 50Hz and about 1kHz worst case.

My Lab-Equipment is quite good and precise, but for these low errors the tolerances of the measuring equipment has absolutely taken into account. So i made a separate measurement only for 10MHz -with the aid of a frequency standard sourced from an atomic clock. So this was 'the real thing'. After warming up for an hour i measured for 15 Minutes. The deviaton was between -717 to -722Hz. Including the error of the dial. This means frickin' 71.7...72.2ppm. PPM -parts per million! 65 years after manufacturing.... Just absolutely stunning -and with what freaking kind of equipment they had calibrated this back then??? Just have in mind: this is pure analog goodness, not a modern PLL. How the f***k they got there? Here's the clear link between a manufacturer of high-grade Lab Equipment and a shortwave receiver. I'm just stunned over the knowledge of the engineers who designed that circuit back then and the precision this was built.

All without doing anything and all it's original capacitors. Yap, i could realign that but tbh it's just wayyy to less been worth the effort. So it will stay as it is.

Nope,

you're not provided with that fancy stuff your new digital or SDR may have on board. There's no notch filter, no panoramic display -not even SSB! Why the hell they just 'forgot' all these things? The answer is easy: it's modular. The EK07 is just the 'mainframe', everything else you wanted to have can be added as external components you had to buy separately -also for tons of money of course.

Wanting SSB? Just add this:

35kg/77lbs and 18 Tubes more -to mention it's also a synchronous detector for AM is not worth the effort. Panoramic display, digital frequency counter, Teletype Adaptor, a remote control for controlling that beast over a telephone line? FM? Diversity reception?? No problem, you had just buy it. Everything of course with the same standards for precision and build quality.

The outcome...

Yea, i spent a good amount of money getting this -but in my opinion it was worth every dime. I wanted a good tube receiver and i got a really good one. Compared to upper class modern Radios it's still a very good radio. So the only thing I have to add is an external SSB/AM-Synchronous Detector. The originals are nearly impossible to get today, so i decided to build one. It's on the way and i will give you the results later. So stay tuned...

[blackwoolncrown]

For the past few days, a heatwave has glowered over the Pacific Northwest, forcing temperatures in the region to a record-breaking 118ºF. Few people in the region—neither Americans nor Canadians—have air-conditioning. Stores sold out of new AC units in hours as a panicked public sought a reasonable solution to the emergency. Unfortunately, air-conditioning is part of what’s causing the unusual heatwave in the first place.

We came close to destroying all life on Earth during the Cold War, with the threat of nuclear annihilation. But we may have come even closer during the cooling war, when the rising number of Americans with air conditioners—and a refrigerant industry that fought regulation—nearly obliterated the ozone layer. We avoided that environmental catastrophe, but the fundamental problem of air conditioning has never really been resolved.

Mechanical cooling appeared in the early 1900s not for comfort but for business. In manufacturing, the regulation of temperature—“process cooling”—controlled the quality of commodities like cotton, tobacco, and chewing gum. In 1903, Alfred Wolff installed the first cooling system for people at the New York Stock Exchange because comfortable traders yielded considerably higher stock returns. Only in the ’20s did “commercial cooling” appear. On Memorial Day weekend 1925, Willis Carrier debuted the first centrifugal air-conditioning system at the Rivoli Theater in Midtown Manhattan. Previously, theaters had shut down in the summer. With air-conditioning, the Rivoli became “the talk of Broadway” and inaugurated the summer blockbuster.

-another direct tie to capitalism. Everything born out of colonio-capitalism carries its toxic mark. Article totally not under the cut for those who can’t pay for Time. It honestly paints a really clear picture of the situation. Bolding mine.-

“It’s time we become more comfortable with discomfort. Our survival may depend on it.“

Before World War II, almost no one had air-conditioning at home. Besides being financially impractical and culturally odd, it was also dangerous. Chemical refrigerants like sulfur dioxide and methyl chloride filled most fridges and coolers, and leaks could kill a child, poison a hospital floor, even blow up a basement. Everything changed with the invention of Freon in 1928. Non-toxic and non-explosive, Freon was hailed as a “miracle.” It made the modernist skyscraper—with its sealed windows and heat-absorbing materials—possible. It made living in the desert possible. The small, winter resort of Phoenix, Arizona, became a year-round attraction. Architecture could now ignore the local climate. Anywhere could be 65ºF with 55% humidity. Cheap materials made boxy, suburban tract housing affordable to most Americans, but the sealed-up, stifling design of these homes required air-conditioning to keep the heat at bay. Quickly, air-conditioning transitioned from a luxury to a necessity. By 1980, more than half of all U.S. homes were air-conditioned. And despite millions of Black Americans fleeing the violence of Jim Crow, the South saw greater in-migration than out-migration for the first time—a direct result of AC. The American car was similarly transformed. In 1955, only 10 percent of American cars had air-conditioning. Thirty years later, it came standard.

The cooling boom also altered the way we work. Now, Americans could work anywhere at any hour of the day. Early ads for air-conditioning promised not health or comfort but productivity. The workday could proceed no matter the season or the climate. Even in the home, A/C brought comfort as a means to rest up before the next work day.

The use of air-conditioning was as symbolic as it was material. It conveyed class status. Who did and didn’t have air-conditioning often fell starkly along the color line, too, especially in the South. It conquered the weather and, with it, the need to sweat or squirm or lie down in the summer swelter. In that sense, air-conditioning allowed Americans to transcend their physical bodies, that long-sought fantasy of the Puritan settlers: to be in the world but not of it. Miracle, indeed.

But it came with a price. As it turned out, Freon isn’t exactly non-toxic. Freon is a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), which depletes the ozone layer and also acts as a global warming gas. By 1974, the industrialized world was churning out CFCs, chemicals that had never appeared on the planet in any significant quantities, at a rate of one million metric tons a year—the equivalent mass of more than 500,000 cars. That was the year atmospheric chemists Sherry Rowland and Mario Molina first hypothesized that the chlorine molecules in CFCs might be destroying ozone in the stratosphere by bonding to free oxygen atoms and disrupting the atmosphere’s delicate chemistry. By then, CFCs were used not only as refrigerants but also as spray can propellants, manufacturing degreasers, and foam-blowing agents.

The ozone layer absorbs the worst of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Without stratospheric ozone, life as we know it is impossible. A 1 percent decline in the ozone layer’s thickness results in thousands of new cases of skin cancer. Greater depletion would lead to crop failures, the collapse of oceanic food systems, and, eventually, the destruction of all life on Earth.

In the 1980s, geophysicist Joseph Farman confirmed the Rowland-Molina hypothesis when he detected a near-absence of ozone over Antarctica—the “Ozone Hole.” A fierce battle ensued among industry, scientists, environmentalists, and politicians, but in 1987 the U.S signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which ended Freon production.

The Montreal Protocol remains the world’s only successful international environmental treaty with legally binding emissions targets. Annual conferences to re-assess the goals of the treaty make it a living document, which is revised in light of up-to-date scientific data. For instance, the Montreal Protocol set out only to slow production of CFCs, but, by 1997, industrialized countries had stopped production entirely, far sooner than was thought possible. The world was saved through global cooperation.

The trouble is that the refrigerants replacing CFCs, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), turned out to be terrible for the planet, too. While they have an ozone-depleting potential of zero, they are potent greenhouse gases. They absorb infrared radiation from the sun and Earth and block heat that normally escapes into outer space. Carbon dioxide and methane do this too, but HFCs trap heat at rates thousands of times higher. Although the number of refrigerant molecules in the atmosphere is far fewer than those of other greenhouse gases, their destructive force, molecule for molecule, is far greater.

In three decades, the production of HFCs grew exponentially. Today, HFCs provide the cooling power to almost any air conditioner in the home, in the office, in the supermarket, or in the car. They cool vaccines, blood for transfusions, and temperature-sensitive medications, as well as the data processors and computer servers that make up the internet—everything from the cloud to blockchains. In 2019, annual global warming emissions from HFCs were the equivalent of 175 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

In May, the EPA signaled it will begin phasing down HFCs and replacing them with more climate-friendly alternatives. Experts agree that a swift end to HFCs could prevent as much as 0.5ºC of warming over the next century—a third of the way to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Yet regardless of the refrigerant used, cooling still requires energy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, air-conditioning accounts for nearly a fifth of annual U.S. residential electricity use. This is more energy for cooling overall and per capita than in any other nation. Most Americans consider the cost of energy only in terms of their electricity bills. But it’s also costing us the planet. Joe Biden’s announcement to shift toward a renewable energy infrastructure obscures the uncertainty of whether that infrastructure could meet Americans’ outrageously high energy demand—much of it for cooling that doesn’t save lives. Renewable energy infrastructure can take us only so far. The rest of the work is cultural. From Freon to HFCs, we keep replacing chemical refrigerants without taking a hard look at why we’re cooling in the first place.

Comfort cooling began not as a survival strategy but as a business venture. It still carries all those symbolic meanings, though its currency now works globally, cleaving the world into civilized cooling and barbaric heat. Despite what we assume, as a means of weathering a heat wave, individual air-conditioning is terribly ineffective. It works only for those who can afford it. But even then, their use in urban areas only makes the surrounding micro-climate hotter, sometimes by a factor of 10ºF, actively threatening the lives of those who don’t have access to cooling. (The sociologist Eric Klinenberg has brilliantly studied how, in a 1995 Chicago heat wave, about twice as many people died than in a comparable heat wave forty years earlier due to the city’s neglect of certain neighborhoods and social infrastructure.) Ironically, research suggests that exposure to constant air-conditioning can prevent our bodies from acclimatizing to hot weather, so those who subject themselves to “thermal monotony” are, in the end, making themselves more vulnerable to heat-related illness.

And, of course, air-conditioning only works when you have the electricity to power it. During heatwaves, when air-conditioning is needed most, blackouts are frequent. On Sunday, with afternoon temperatures reaching 112ºF around Portland, the power grid failed for more than 6,300 residences under control by Portland General Electrics.

The troubled history of air-conditioning suggests not that we chuck it entirely but that we focus on public cooling, on public comfort, rather than individual cooling, on individual comfort. Ensuring that the most vulnerable among the planet’s human inhabitants can keep cool through better access to public cooling centers, shade-giving trees, safe green spaces, water infrastructure to cool, and smart design will not only enrich our cities overall, it will lower the temperature for everyone. It’s far more efficient this way.

To do so, we’ll have to re-orient ourselves to the meaning of air-conditioning. And to comfort. Privatized air-conditioning survived the ozone crisis, but its power to separate—by class, by race, by nation, by ability—has survived, too. Comfort for some comes at the expense of the life on this planet.

It’s time we become more comfortable with discomfort. Our survival may depend on it.

[system-of-a-feather]

anon to avoid harassment: i had a parrot that was neglected when i was younger, primarily because i got the bird as a gift when i was a young teen, and teenagers are not qualified to look after an animal that essentially has the same attention needs as a human toddler.

i think the reason parrots are often a neglected animal is similar: a lot of these birds have attention requirements that are downplayed or not mentioned at all by breeders or stores, and these needs are kind of unrealistic for anyone with a full time job or school to meet while living alone.

over a decade later, i have kind of adopted the opinion that in about 90% of cases, owning a parrot is not good for the animal. obviously exceptions exist, but it reminds me a lot of how recently the reptile hobby has normalized captive lifespans of 10 years in animals that easily live 20-50 in well-qualified zoos and sanctuaries.

i am glad your birds are cared for, i just wish this wasnt a minority case.

Oh yeah for sure. I posted that as a light hearted nudge at just how fucking loud they could be (which is one of the many reasons they are horrible pets) and how its ironic that they are one of the most commonly neglected and abused pets (no statistic but based on my experience) DESPITE also being one of the hardest to actually ignore unless MAYBE we are talking about budgies MAYBE.

Parrots are often neglected cause they are wild animals that are completely normalized to be living in homes. They are absolutely not pets and should never be adopted as though they are pets.

All animals and all pets have a difficulty and a lot of needs that are often neglected and under-estimated and under-spoken which is just a chronic condition of humans with pets - but most don't understand that parrots - even the smallest ones - live 15~ years and the bigger ones can live as long as a human. On top of that, they have extremely (with variation between species, but generally) high social needs as they are all prey-animals and flock-animals as well as high enrichment needs as they are all foragers and in the wild find their foods, homes, and care for themselves by tearing apart wood, plants, fruits and vegetables, so they will destroy your everything.

Then on top of that, parrots are extremely pretty and are extremely smart and extremely cute so they are a really cool and awesome thing to have in your house on a surface level, but they will shit on everything you own, they can't be kept in a cage (contrary to almost every depiction) and they will throw bird seed and feathers everywhere constantly + allergies from dander, so they are horrible decorative (BAD EVEN IN CONCEPT) pets despite that they are usually sought after for being aesthetic

But theyre so smart and wouldnt it be cool to have a pet that can talk to you yet actually most of them are extremely behavioral, a LARGE majority never learn to speak and often in my experience its usually only a result of adapting to having to use humans for enrichment (both entertainment and social needs) which in my opinion would better be done with a bird which would then deter the motivation to teach them to speak (not a bad thing if they do, nor is it a red flag since they do bond and substitute with humans well and filling the need with another parrot is not always viable). If they aren't tame when you get them they can literally bite off your finger depending on the species and send you to the hospital in need of stitches if they go for your face. If they don't want to go to the cage and you don't want to youll be chasing that bitch around for at least half an hour (if you are lucky) and you better hope they dont get hurt while you do that. I could go on about behavioral issues and how god damn horrible and grating pets they can be if they are untame and how much patience and understanding of parrot needs, body language, and behavior is

Then there are all the injuries and illnesses they can get along with all the household items that are toxic and poisonous (note, remember, these birds can not be kept in a cage and they have two wings that can take them to places you couldn't think of). The general vet bills, the on the spot crisises that can happen such as broken blood feathers that if you aren't prepared to handle can get injured and result in a dead bird pretty fast.

Like its all cute and fun and games seeing a cockatoo screaming and throwing a tantrum online, but when its your daily for 70+ years and that's just how it communicates, its a whole different story. Which speaking of which, if you are getting a big parrot at an age where you can probably provide it's needs and afford it, you probably are going to die before the bird IF you care for it right so good luck planning for it to have a good home AFTER you die.

I could literally write a doctoral thesis on why parrots are horrible pets and why I would very much directly like to murder breeders who do it for hobby and why trying to find Popsicle a friend was PISSING me off because I REFUSE to buy from a breeder and lovebirds are so frequently targets of breeders as they are prolific and have a quick turn about.

(Also I've read up on them before I took popsicle in and honestly, out of all the 'small birds' lovebirds are by far the hardest to both tame and care for which makes this even more depressing)

We were raised with birds since we were a kid (finches and parakeets) and a lot of unfortunate situations that I won't go into because there is trauma there - but we ended up with 0 birds at a point of time and one of the few genuinely good things my oldest sister did for me was get me a cockatiel and while we were like 10 at the time, she made us write a 4 page research paper on them before she'd support me in making our parents let me have one. She basically raised me more than I raised her if you ask me and from there we ended up rescuing a few more since my mom was wanting birds again (all of which are still with us, save for one born-disabled male that lived 14 years happily despite being disabled, he died peacefully by euthanasia) and all

But like... my birds aren't pets and they are never treated like them, largely because my brain doesn't comprehend birds as anything other than 'kin' in a way beyond the usual "my pets are my family". It's hard to explain because its not a verbal feeling / experience, but my brain can not look at a bird and not feel "same species" as I've tried to logic it into trying to see a bird as a bird. It doesn't work. *shrugs*

But I'm far aware of the plight of them, as with the lovebird saga, Popsicle came from a neglectful home. Pocky came from a neglectful home. Avery came from a home that probably wouldn't have been neglectful but a dangerous, underprepared and unsuitable home (shes special needs, so much so that my mom who rescued her gave up on her after two years and thus I took her rehabilitation personally). Lucy is the result of my mom's (problematic) belief that all of the birds should get the opportunity to breed once and so he's a baby I've raised from a chick and is the son of my "mom" (first cockatiel and emotional support animal). In my mom's flock though, we have a "bird we are fostering for a college student who will surely come pick her up after 12 years", a bird that the owners thought they could raise on a boat (cant), a bird that was extremely clingy and the owner couldn't handle, and a bird that was bonded to the disabled one (I bought that one from a breeder - derogatory - solely because he was being kept UNDER the table in a dark corner so people wouldn't look at him and it broke my heart cause he looked half dead)

Largely if you have a parrot and are struggling to manage it entirely with a fulltime job, a good way to add "buffer" is to give them at least one bird of their own species to have in a big cage with plenty of enrichment.

Over here I have a fiance and am neighbors with my mom who has her "retirement flock" (they're all old birds save for one XD) and so it helps a lot there, but our birds get let out in the morning while I get ready for work, then get let out the moment I'm home and I regularly spend at least an hour or two with all four of them. Plus I pretty frequently take them along with me to shower, on walks in a carrying back pack, and honestly even let them sometimes visit the "retirement flock" just to make sure they are getting a lot of different experiences cause they deserve it.

Lucy is partially leash trained (partially in the sense that he was good for short walks to the mailbox and back but we haven't done it in a while due to new area and having lost the leash) but we had him doing that before too since he's physically and mentally able to.

I forgot where I was going with this XD But yeah you are 100% right in that.

[egg-emperor]

Thinking about sugar daddy Casino AU Eggman constantly 💕💜💘💖💗

I don't even wanna describe my living situation it's just bad lol but I'm always thinking about how Casino Eggman would be fucking appalled and in disbelief when seeing it like "You actually live like this? In these conditions? With this shitty store brand food? With this lack of scenery and weather in a tiny boring town? You sleep on this bed? You've never been on a plane or boat, never left the country, and haven't been on vacation in over a decade?" and learning of my experiences.

He seems like he's just being a big asshole, turning his nose up, scowling and huffing, totally appalled with a real snobby rich spoiled brat reaction because he's never had to live like this and doesn't think he can stand it for even five minutes but it's my whole life. So he tells me to come with him, offering me to take his hand with rings on every finger which alone are worth more than the total money I've had in my entire life and off we go dhajfbskfjksf

He takes me to his casinos, clubs, bars, restaurants, Chao Gardens, mansions, cruise ships, and anywhere else I want in his fancy pink cars and limo, cruise ships, and pink private jet- including all the big cities I want to see and my first tropical white sand beach I've always dreamed of. We watch fighting tournaments and races he holds at Casino Park and go on trips around the world to see his Chao race. He pushes me to get anything and everything I've ever wanted, no matter the cost.

It turns out he's actually super generous and eager to give me loads of money. He shoves too much into my hands, insisting I use it all for myself with no buts and constantly surprises me with more gifts that I have to accept because he acts like it will break his heart if I don't. XD It quickly becomes obvious that he's really into being a sugar daddy, he loves flaunting and spending his money and introducing me to all the luxuries and seeing how my face lights up when I see them.

He likes to say "aren't I just the best and so generous for buying you all these lovely things?" and all he asks for is kisses, cuddles, and intimacy in return. Even better that it's genuine coming from me because he's so charming and silly and when I find out how fucked up and evil he is it just makes me love him even more, so he's really hit the jackpot with finding someone that not only loves him truly and unconditionally but genuinely loves every side of him too.

I couldn't be happier than to be on his arm, wear the clothing and outfits he's designed, help him keep watch of things around his establishments, serve him his meals and bring him his favorite snacks, sweet strawberry treats and drinks. We love going out and drinking and having silly and risky fun. I love happily fulfilling all his needs, I give him much more than he was expecting and loves it, he feels constantly giddy and overwhelmed with all the love and it's bliss for us both.

He feels great pride in telling me that I can do whatever with his credit card with no limit at any time and that I'll never have to worry about money again if I stay with him. And of course I accept living with him, especially because all the money and luxuries are just a huge bonus when I love the evil silly fruity old man himself so much and he's the perfect handsome big bear sugar daddy of my dreams🥚🐻🍓💜

[itsmeanyango]

THIRD HOUSE PROFECTION YEAR

The third house is the house of local community, transport and communication. This house is ruled by Gemini. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, so this house is influenced by Mercury and Gemini

Gemini is an air sign. Air is needed for transport and communication. Sound passes through air, movement(Transport) causes displacement of air. Air signs are thinkers, communicators and doers. They have their own mind and that explains why during Mercury retrograde communication and transport acts their own way. Cars break down, computers crash, backups fail and newly bought communication devices develop issues. I do not know of any communication/transport company that has ever made a release during Mercury retrograde or its shadow periods, they know what's up. I also have not seen successful musicians release music during this period UNLESS their music was in line with mercury retrograde energy or there were favorable transits.

The third house profection year means you will need to work on your communication skills and have to be on the move. You may be involved in local community work too, like being an interpreter or driving members of the local community around. This year may also have to deal with you, where you learn to talk to yourself and do things for yourself. The transport might also be having to move up and down the house doing one thing or another. This may be the year you learn a new language or have a lot of miscommunication issues. Communication is very sensitive and it can either make or break you. Your social media activity may either get you in trouble or be the beginning of something good. You may become a meme, or like one of those pages people like going to such as Spiritualworld or you may publish work. Whatever you do in your third house profection year will either make or break you in this digital age, or whatever you did in the past will come back up this year and make or break you. Clean your social media like you heard your favorite person is coming over to your house. Screenshots people, screenshots. Screenshot your payment and conversations so nobody tries to paint you dirty. Also, be careful in what you say online or text because people are taking screenshots.

This year affects ages 2,14,26,38,50,62,74,86,98,110,122,134...

I also wanna say that numerology 3 is creation. Tarot card 3 is the empress. So many creative projects may start this year. Creation also means pregnancy.

Age 14,26 and 38are the sensitive ages here. 14 because these are young immature children with so much internet access and they post anything, whatever you little ones are posting this year will come back to you real hard and bad. Or real hard and good. 26 Because you are figuring life out and the life stress can really mess with you. You might already have a child or children or child on the way. You may be having issues with your partner, you may be listening to these dating and or life coaches. You may find yourself talking bad about your partners, following others and abandoning your partner because a dating or life coach said something. 38 because you are probably married and having marital struggles, the children or child might be teenagers or older than 8, you miss your parents or your parents are sick. 26 and 38 if you cheat you will get caught, if someone lied about the child's paternity it will be discovered. The story of the hare and the Hyena describes the 26 and 38 year old's. You guys are the hyena, outside forces are the hare. You can change the narrative and not be the hyena who beats his wife to death just because hair said they should beat their nagging and annoying wives. Or you can be the proverbial hyena. There is so much to share so if you want more subscribe to my Patreon. Now here is the third house profection year in the signs

1. Third house profection year in a fire sign.

Sounds a lot like being in the spotlight, getting exposed or people around you being in the spotlight. Their glory will build you up, do not act on your jealousy or be sore. Them being successful means the good things are also coming to you. Its like the red car, blue car phenomenon. If you think of a red car, you will keep seeing red cars. If you think of a blue car, you will keep seeing blue cars. However, if these people are terrible to you and are kind of rubbing it in your face or making you seem inferior, it means you need to distance yourself because when your glory comes they will trample on it. Or if they see your glory coming, they will go over and beyond to stop it. If you become a bee-eye-tea-see-aich, you will have done yourself a disservice.

2. Third house profection year in a water sign.

Communication will be through your dreams, instincts and gut feeling unless you have anxiety or suffer from paranoia. You might find yourself extra intuitive. You will always feel drawn to places with your best interest and feel repelled from places that are not for you. You will be able to hear what is not said. If something tells you not to meet up with someone or not to leave the house, listen. Unfortunately its also the year parents and friends die or get into tragedies. If something tells you to call someone, do it. Keep a dream journal, you may find relevant messages for the now and far future. In the community, many people may come to you for help. Children may also approach you a lot.

3. Third house profection year in an earth sign.

You may be joining a new school(14 year old's)looking for a relationship to settle down(26 year old's), deciding if your marriage is worth fighting for or not(38 year old's). Whatever way you choose to communicate your desires needs to be well thought out and objective because you guys though doing things by the buke and rules, you don't really listen to other people. You think you are 98% good and only 2% bad. People see you as only 2% good and 98% bad. So 14 year old's, loosen up when choosing friends and do not stick around people who hurt or demean you. 14 year old black people, do not let anyone neo-colonialize you. You are smart, you are amazing, you are talented, you are doing amazing and the person in the mirror looks super awesome. Do not let nobody talk down on you. 26 year old's, make sure that whatever decision you make now is nothing to regret at 38. Be a happy person first, then be happy with another (or others cause not everyone is monogamous). 38 year old's, do not do it for the kids as a reason to fight for your marriage. At 50 you will be looking at retirement in about a decade and you do not want to look back and see how miserable a life you have lived plus the tragedies you put on your children. Sometimes hanging the boots is the best solution, some people are happier apart than together. Do not make your children choose sides. Be very careful about how you speak even in non verbal's because it will affect your children. In Swahili we say Fahali wawili wakipigana, nyasi huumia. In English that translates to, when two heifers fight its the grass that hurts. It means when two people fight, its those around them who get hurt. If anyone is buying a car this year or moving houses, inspect those two very seriously. Congratulations to people closing down on house, buying cars or even just their first computer or phone.

4. Third house profection year in an air sign.

Looks like a lot of energy is here. If you guys want something, speak it up. Make very active steps towards it or else its not coming. You have to speak up. Promote the living daylights out of your art. Be very careful with vehicles this year. Gossip. careless speaking, careless driving. Beware of information you receive and information you put out. Blocked energy like creators block or lack of clarity in things. You may benefit from stepping back from things so you can see the bigger picture. I am having a hard time writing for air signs as a group, this may be a difficult year for you guys. Sorry. Aquarius traditional ruler is Saturn, so Aquarians if you are careless with your communication and movement this year then you will get it rough as Saturn is the planet of karma. Libra ruled 3rd house people may want to be free. Liberation. Freedom of expression and freedom to travel. Its 2021 and there's a pandemic so if you must travel be careful. Travel may also mean going to the mall, beauty supply store, food joints or general movement. You may find yourself always wanting to be on the move. Geminis might be confused and unable to choose between two things or unable to decide what to say.

In conclusion, check where Mercury is on your chart.

These interpretations of mine are general, the aspects in your chart and condition of Mercury may make things vary.

You may notice these things happen around you and not to you, there is a reason why. Learn from the happenings and live your life well.

[asterroidd]

cotton sweatshirt

↬  College AU

↬  Pairing: Levi Ackerman/Reader

↬  Word count: 2.6k

↬  Synopsis:  Fatigue was slowly consuming you, luckily your roommate is there to save the day

↬  Notes: Thank you so much for the request anon! I apologize it took so long before I wrote it. Anw, I hope you enjoy it!

↬  no proofread whatsoever, capn’

5th and 12th prompts: “Give me back my keys! I’m fine!” and “Did you know that you talk in your sleep?”

    It was too much. All too much; the endless tasks, the studying, and numerous all-nighters that you had pulled by now.

    It was so taxing that your body couldn't keep up; eyes blood shot red from restless staring at the laptop screen, sunken cheeks due to the insufficient meal you are getting, and dark bags under your eyes that are evidently visible even from afar. If one would see you in such a state, one would assume you are a zombie or the living dead.

    Chewing your bottom lip, fingers anxiously taped against the wooden desk. Drained yes boring into the laptop screen as you tried your best to understand the text displayed in it. Your professor just had to be missing in action that week due to health reasons and as such couldn't attend most of the classroom session to teach. The replacement is just as worse—having no mastery over the lesson at hand that it only made it more confusing than before. So, you had to self-study for the sole sake of having a passing grade this semester. Finals weeks is looming around the corner and it's best that you understands the lessons beforehand so that you wouldn't have difficulty in studying once again later on.

    Your study session was supposed to be done before noon, yet here you are still hunched over the desk. A pencil at hand in attempt to take notes in the filler notebook. Your other hand curled up a fist full of hair, then ever so often tugging it in frustration. True, you did try to search online for other readings and videos that could potentially help you in your dilemma. Alas, you find yourself scratching your scalp and pulling your hair in frustration as you failed, yet again, to grasp the concept of the topic.

    Perhaps a book, you thought to yourself. There is a local library nearby—suppose a ten minute walk, could be even seven if you walked fast enough. For sure there are a handful of books there that could finally help you in understanding the lesson. And so with a drained sigh, you closed the lid of the laptop and stood up.

    You took in your surroundings; which was an utter mess. Eraser shards littered on top of your desk that some even fell to the floor due to you hastily sweeping them off. Mountains of books scattered around—some opened with a random item on top to act as a makeshift paper weight. Sticky notes plastered all over the walls and stacks upon stacks of paper everywhere. In short, your room looks like a battleground.

     Which it is; an academic battleground, that is.

    That said, you swiftly stuffed a handful of notebooks and pens into a small backpack so you could continue the study session at the library. Perhaps a change in environment would ease you off and clear your mind. When you exited from your room, you were surprised to see Levi lounging off the living room. A bowl of popcorn on his lap whilst lazily popping one in his mouth every so often. His eyes glued to the TV screen as it played a series, The Confession Tapes you presumed. Ever since you showed him the first episode a few days ago, he was so intrigued and thus became so hook with the story line.

    Oh, to have freedom and time for leisure activities like Levi. You would willingly kill just to have that.

    "I'll be heading off to the library for a while," you uttered under your breath. Levi turned his head towards your direction, slowly munching on the popcorn. "I might come home late so I'll bring the keys with me."

    He paused the movie momentarily to narrow his eyes at you. Levi looked at you from top to bottom, assessing and processing the current state you are in. Which was hell. You looked like a vampire that crawled out of your coffin after decades of isolation. Of all the years he and you had been roommate, Levi had practically memorised most of your mannerism and behaviour so much. And at the moment, he knew all to well that you would be, yet again, working yourself to the grave.

    With a sigh, Levi placed the bowl of popcorn on top of the coffee table before approaching you. "Can't you see yourself, idiot?"

    You scrunched up your nose in confusion. What does he mean by that?

    "When was the last time you ate?"

    You racked your brain for answers. When was it truly that last time you had a proper meal besides energy bars that you bought from the convenience store. You went silent for a moment, eyes cascading down.

    "I had instant noodles I think? Last night," you answered after a pregnant pause.

    "Then that means you have not eaten anything since this morning?"

    You only nodded in response, all too tired to argue back with him. All you wanted to do was to finally leave the apartment and resume your study session in the library. Where, in hopes, you could finally progress in.

    Levi clicked his tongue. No wonder you look like a living dead. You are barely getting any nutrition in your body at all! Being studious is a great thing—but being all too unforgiving and torturing one's body too much is an unacceptable habit.

    As swift as a fox, he snagged the keys from your hands. You, in your drained state, reacted poorly and sluggishly. Though, you gave him one ferocious glare.

    "Give it back, Levi." You held out your hand.

    "No. You should rest. You look like shit."

    "Give me back my keys. I'm fine!"

    Levi, much to your surprise, had a hint of worry in his eyes. Silence fell between you and him, eyes focused on each other. You thought of kicking him on the shin, then took the chance to grab the keys. But you find yourself unable to as your body slowly slumped over.

    You let out one tired sigh, eyes closing every now and then in drowsiness, but you can't give in. Not now. Not at least you'd finally understand and finish writing your notes. Still, exams is a couple of weeks away. Surely a brief break wouldn't hurt?

   You groaned, the floor beneath your feet swaying as you struggled to keep yourself upright. It was only then did you notice the ever growing itch in your throat which signifies tonsillitis, mucus flooding your nasal passages, and increased body temperature.

     "I'm fine. . ." you inhaled sharply. "Just—" you continued but was caught short when your knees buckled under your weight, causing you to lean forward. Luckily enough, Levi caught you just in the nick of time before you fell face first into the wooden floor.

     "Tch. Look at what you got yourself into," he huffed, palm pressing against your forehead. "You also have a fever, dumbass."

    Did you now? You let your head rest into his touch, relishing his cool touch against your flushed ones. Maybe you really need a rest.

   "How about you take a seat on the couch while I brew you a cup of tea?"

    "Sounds good. . ." you uttered under your breath.

    That said, Levi practically dragged your body towards the couch and helped you settle on it. Making sure that you are comfortable enough by placing pillows behind your head. The male crouched down to your level, bringing a hand up once again to your forehead to properly estimate your temperature this time.

    "Looks like a bad one. . ." he muttered.

    "You tell me. I feel like shit," you've managed to crack a joke despite your conditions. Levi rose his brow at you, shaking his head at your idiocy. Then you watched him as he removed his cotton sweatshirt that hung loosely on his figure. Suffice to say, you were beyond perplexed when Levi placed the article of clothing on top of your lap.

    "You're cold aren't you?" he shrugged his shoulders. "Wear that for the time being to keep you warm."

    That said, he soon disappeared inside the kitchen to perhaps brew you a cup of tea much to your delight. It is practically known that the male had an immense skill in brewing and perfecting the art of tea. And as his roommate, Levi practically forced you to learn how to brew yourself; mainly because he doesn't want you wasting precious tea leaves that are far too expensive to be wasted. You recalled the time spent with him, hours upon hours inside the kitchen while trying your best to not burn your hands as you, yet again, try to perfect boiling tea. Levi stood beside you, a scowl present on his face as he frowned at your blend.

    Do it again, he snarled. The temperature is not right.

    It was little moments such as those reminds you of how much of a stuck up bitch Levi is. Nonetheless, the male still have a special place in your heart as your roommate and perhaps crush.

    Gingerly holding his sweater in your hands, you took one deep whiff of his scent—despite mucus flooding your nose—relishing the soft floral scent of the detergent that he bought about a week ago. Yet, Levi's natural aroma gradually overflows your nasal cavity; refreshing and clean with a hint of musky scent. It was pure heaven.

    Blood rushed to your cheeks as you let his sweatshirt hug your body, encompassing you more with his scent. Truth to be told, it was your long time dream to wear one of Levi's clothing. Suppose it was the thought of you in his clothes that brings butterflies to your stomachs, or the pure concept of his smell flooding your senses. Either way, you liked it.

    "Hey. . ." Levi's voice boomed which slightly startled you. The male placed a mug full of tea on the coffee table before kneeling down and opening a pack of fever patch.

    "What flavor did you brew?" you mumbled.

    "Chamomile," Levi replied, brushing your hair away from your forehead. For a brief moment, he stopped to stare at your glossy eyes due to the fever. Small patches of sweat that peppered your skin that glistened slightly under the light. Not to mention your lips that he oh so long to get a taste of for months—but he wouldn't tell you that out loud. Red dusted his cheeks ever so lightly that you would've missed if it weren't for your keen attention to detail.

    Levi bit the insides of his cheeks, slapping himself internally to focus at the task at hand which it to place a fever patch on your forehead. That said, he carefully set it against your temples. Making sure that it is adhered on firmly as to not fall in case you tossed and turn in your sleep. A smile adorned your features as soon as the cool hydrogel rested against your skin. You mumbled a quick gratitude towards the male before snuggling deep into his sweatshirt.

    "Levi. . ." you started to which he hummed in response, helping you sit up. Then, the male gave you the mug with hot tea. Its heavenly aroma making you sigh in relax. "Come sit with me?" you asked, patting the space next to you.

    The male opened his mouth to argue; to refuse your request because he doesn't want to catch your germs and be sick himself. Though, with one look at your puppy-dog eyes and pouting lips, Levi knew that he wouldn't be able to resist you. "Fine. . ." he begrudgingly replied.

    You let out a small cheer of victory. Placing your head on top of his shoulder the minute he sat beside you. Even for just a moment—just for this day—you want to delve into your fantasies and revel in the company of the male. Levi looked at you from the corner of his eye, admiring how his sweatshirt that embraces your form. Due to him being quite short in stature, his clothes were not too big. So, naturally, most of his wardrobe would probably fit you. Which he has no complaints about.

    "Can we watch Kitchen nightmares?" you asked, taking one small sip of tea as to not burn your tongue.

    Levi shrugged, "Why not?" That said, he adhered to your request. Playing that one episode in the series that he knew you enjoyed watching despite the countless times you've already seen it.

    You relaxed back into the couch, letting more of your weight press against Levi as your hands cupped the warm mug in between. The brutal and fierce howls of criticism of Gordon Ramsey brings a small smile to your lips, and oddly enough, as well as Levi's. Watching Kitchen's Nightmares (as well as other shows that the iconic chef starred in) was a guilty pleasure, so to say, of both yours and the male's. There is just something so satisfying how the chef makes people humble down and admit their mistakes.

    One great thing that comes from watching his series was that Levi could learn a thing or two in cooking. Even though he was already great from the start. The male picks up a recipe or two just by watching the series, much to your satisfaction. Between you and Levi, he is the mother of the household, if you will. While you're just one lazy couch potato who would receive an ear full of scolding every now and then.

    Soon enough, you felt your eyelids closing involuntarily, yet you fought to keep them open. It was getting into the good part—the climax—of the episode and you didn't want to sleep through it. Though, you find yourself giving in and finally letting your eyes rest for once. You exhaled, rubbing your cheeks against Levi's shoulder blades in attempts to get more comfortable. The male shifted on the couch, allowing you to be cozy and warm with him beside you.

    In your dazed state, you swore that Levi slowly rest his head on top of yours. Nevertheless, you couldn't conclude if it was true since the sweet embrace of sleep consumed you. For the first time in that week, you finally had a good night's rest.

    Levi relaxed under your touch, finally relieved that you gave in and let your body get the rest it deserves after days upon days of continuous work. He contemplated whether to turn off the television so that the noise wouldn't bother you in your sleep, or keep it open since a part of him wants to finish the episode. Though, his thoughts were caught short when you murmured.

    "Levi. . ." you mumbled in your sleep, hands gripping his sweatshirt.

    "What?" he humored, despite knowing that you are in deep slumber and is probably sleep-talking.

    Then to his surprise, you whispered a phrase that he never anticipated would slip past your lips.

    "I love you. . ."

    He was taken a back, eyes wide while his mouth slightly hung open. Levi blinked once, then twice, trying to process if what he heard was real or was his imagination deceiving him.

    "Did you know you talk in your sleep?" Levi said, testing to see if you were truly asleep or was just toying with him. When he concluded that you were—in fact—knocked out and catching some Z's, he breathed lowly the three words he oh so wanted to tell you for months.

    "I love you, too. Brat." He snaked his hand around yours, intertwining his fingers around your hand.

    Little did Levi know, you were half-awake during his confession.