#Challenges Ethiopia

[haqiqaglobalbusiness]

How the Second Africa Trade and Investment Summit Will Boost Africa’s Economic Development

Africa is a continent of immense opportunities and challenges. With a population of over 1.3 billion people, a GDP of over $2.6 trillion, and a young and dynamic workforce, Africa has the potential to become a global economic powerhouse. However, Africa also faces many obstacles, such as poverty, inequality, conflict, climate change, and infrastructure gaps that hinder its growth and…

[koi-the-kaprosuchus]

Finally finished this monster!

From left to right, up to down, we got

Denmark- Dromaeosauroides

Germany- Liliensternus

America- Capitalsaurus

San Marino- Scipionyx

Italy- Saltriovenator

Rome- Cetiosaurus

Ethiopia- Unknown Brachiosaurid

Canada- Albertosaurus

England- Baryonyx

[yaworldchallenge]

🇪🇹  Ethiopia

Region: East Africa

Within These Wicked Walls

Author: Lauren Blackwood

336 pages, published 2021

Original language: English

Native author? No

Age: Teen

Blurb:

What the heart desires, the house destroys... Andromeda is a debtera--an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. She would be hired, that is, if her mentor hadn't thrown her out before she could earn her license. Now her only hope of steady work is to find a Patron--a rich, well-connected individual who will vouch for her abilities. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, she takes the job without question. Never mind that he's rude and demanding and eccentric, that the contract comes with a number of outlandish rules... and that almost a dozen debtera had quit before her. If Andromeda wants to earn a living, she has no choice. But she quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, the reason every debtera before her quit. But leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn't an option because--heaven help her--she's fallen for him. Stunningly romantic, Lauren Blackwood's heartstopping debut, Within These Wicked Walls, ushers in an exciting new fantasy voice.

Other reps:

Genres: #horror #romance #supernatural

My thoughts:

I don’t think I have much horror on the list, and this one looks interesting.

Also consider The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, an adult book that looks at women warriors in Ethiopia’s WW2 history.

Review to come.

Bookshop.org link | Kindle link

[lexipure]

Positivity fuels inner strength. Choose gratitude over complaints. Calm minds weather any storm.

Discover more happiness here.

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

A Big TB Announcement

Greetings from Washington D.C., where I spent the morning meeting with senators before joining a panel that included TB survivor Shaka Brown, Dr. Phil LoBue of the CDC, and Dr. Atul Gawande of USAID. Dr. Gawande announced a major new project to bring truly comprehensive tuberculosis care to regions in Ethiopia and the Philippines. Over the next four years, this project can bring over $80,000,000 in new money to fight TB in these two high-burden countries.

Our family is committing an additional $1,000,000 a year to help fund the project in the Philippines, which has the fourth highest burden of tuberculosis globally.

Here’s how it breaks down: The Department of Health in the Philippines has made TB reduction a major priority and has provided $11,000,0000 per year in matching funds to go alongside $10,000,000 contributed by USAID and an additional $1,000,000 donated by us. This $22,000,000 per year will fund everything from X-Ray machines, medications, and GeneXpert tests to training and employing a huge surge of community health workers, nurses, and doctors who are calling themselves TB Warriors. In an area that includes nearly 3,000,000 people, these TB Warriors will screen for TB, identify cases, provide curative treatment, and offer preventative therapy to close contacts of the ill. We know this Search-Treat-Prevent model is the key to ending tuberculosis, but we hope this project will be both a beacon and a blueprint to show that It’s possible to radically reduce the burden of TB in communities quickly and permanently. It will also, we believe, save many, many lives.

—

I believe we can’t end TB without these kinds of public/private partnerships. After all, that’s how we ended smallpox and radically reduced the global burden of polio. It’s also how we’ve driven down death from malaria and HIV. For too long, TB hasn’t had the kind of government or private support needed to accelerate the fight against the disease, but I really hope that’s starting to change. I’m grateful to USAID for spearheading this project, and also to the Philippine Ministry of Health for showing such commitment and prioritizing TB.

—

One reason this project is even possible: Both the cost of diagnosis (through GeneXpert tests) and the cost of treatment with bedaquiline are far lower than they were a year ago, and that is due to public pressure campaigns, many of which were organized by nerdfighteria. I’m not asking you for money (yet); Hank and I will be funding this in partnership with a few people in nerdfighteria who are making major gifts. But I am asking you to continue pressuring the corporations that profit from the world’s poorest people to lower their prices. I’ve seen some of the budgets, and it’s absolutely jaw-dropping how many more tests and pills are available because of what you’ve done as a community.

—

I don’t yet have the details on which region of the Philippines we’ll be working in, but it will be an area that includes millions of people–perhaps as many as 3 million. And it will include urban, suburban, and rural areas to see the different responses needed to provide comprehensive care in different communities. This will not (to start!) be a nationwide campaign, because even though $80,000,000 is a lot of money, it’s not enough to fund comprehensive care in a nation as large as the Philippines. But we hope that it will serve as a model–to the nation, to the region, and to the world–of what’s possible. 

—

I’m really excited (and grateful) that our community gets to have a front-row seat to see the challenges and hopefully the successes of implementing comprehensive care. Just in the planning, this project has involved so many contributors–NGOs in the Philippines, global organizations like the Partners in Health community, USAID, the national Ministry of Health in the Philippines, and regional health authorities as well. There are a lot of partners here, but they’ve been working together extremely well over the last few months to plan for this project, which will start more or less immediately thanks to their incredibly hard work.

[randomthoughtswhileeatingdonuts]

CONGO

https://cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo

https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/situations/democratic-republic-congo-situation

https://freetheslaves.net/our-work/where-we-work/dr_congo/

https://x.com/silvergrassleaf/status/1758832748649685247?s=20

https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/africa/east-africa-the-horn-and-great-lakes/democratic-republic-of-the-congo/report-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/

Congo Genocide Explained: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. (youtube.com)

CONGRESS: Do Not Allow Our Tax Dollars To Fund Conflict In The Congo! - Action Network

Congo Campaigns - Friends of the Congo

AeonThespain on Tumblr: Congo Action 3

healafrica.org

(1) Elbit Systems,... - Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement | Facebook

SUDAN

https://eyesonsudan.net/ & https://eyesonsudan.net/reading

https://ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/sudan

https://salesianmissions.org/salesian_country/sudan/

https://twitter.com/longlivemireia/status/1721105158736658897?s=46&t=03WDSopg10j_4l7ZJXSPZQ

https://twitter.com/hkzuk/status/1722122606453661940?s=46&t=03WDSopg10j_4l7ZJXSPZQ

from the river to the sea 🍉🕊 on Tumblr: sudanese-led causes to donate to!

NasAlSudan on X: "The War in Sudan - A Thread. (1/5) #KeepEyesOnSudan #SudanActionWeek https://t.co/4B7BGgaAUk" / X (twitter.com)

HAITI

https://theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/12/haiti-crisis-jovenel-moise-gangs-water-way-out

https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/abyss-despair-need-act-haiti-and-its-children-november-7-2023

https://aljazeera.com/where/haiti/

https://rescue.org/article/crisis-haiti-gang-violences-vice-grip-amidst-political-turmoil

https://nacla.org/guns-gangs-and-neocolonialism-hait

YEMEN

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LWER5czCh8xqWDe32f1XqU843t4dkwYNMyvm8OkYVNc/mobilebasic

https://launchgood.com/campaign/water_4_yemen_1#!/

https://thepetitionsite.com/1/endhungerinYemen/

https://linktr.ee/helpsaveyemen

https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/a-timeline-of-the-yemen-crisis-from-the-1990s-to-the-present/

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvP9M_2fl-eN5-GOOFSqKcCAmbD4sF0Ep

https://x.com/absolutelacunae/status/1760728489102332215?s=20

https://theworld.org/stories/2017-11-29/heres-how-you-can-send-help-people-trapped-worlds-worst-humanitarian-crisis

https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/02/1032811

A Timeline of the Yemen Crisis, from the 1990s to the Present (arabcenterdc.org)

TIGRAY

Ways to help Tigray: https://x.com/shimmeringolds/status/1719186653187613101?s=20

Urgent Petition to Save Lives: Resume Food Aid in Tigray, Ethiopia

Text SIGN PDPAKY to 50409 to send this to your officials.

RESISTBOT

Resources: https://x.com/GLITCHDXCTORTTV/status/1759580042877599986?s=20

Ethiopia’s Invisible Ethnic Cleansing | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Ethiopia’s New Year’s ledger: A controversial new port and domestic challenges | Brookings

Ethiopia in Troubled Waters | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)

Ethiopia Humanitarian Crisis - Center for Disaster Philanthropy

Conflict in Ethiopia | Global Conflict Tracker (cfr.org)

X (twitter.com)

Free Tigray Movement

- (tigrayactioncommittee.com)

Tigray Genocide: Everything you need to know. (youtube.com)

United Tegaru Resource Carrd (stopthewarontigray.carrd.co)

Tigray needs YOUR help! | Linktree

WEST PAUPA

What's going on in Papua?: https://x.com/shimmeringolds/status/1761073053880942781?s=20

https://freewestpapua.org/Resources & info: https://x.com/folkoftheshelf/status/1746154482009018614?s=20

https://www.freewestpapua.org/documents/the-neglected-genocide-human-rights-abuses-against-papuans-in-the-central-highlands-1977-1978/ https://news.un.org/en/audio/2014/05/589082

sof’s library ✧˖°. 🥄 on X: "‘what’s happening in West Papua?’ — resources + info + how you can help: a thread https://t.co/4hWOTY6lFA" / X (twitter.com)

PUERTO RICO

𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐮𝐭𝐬 🫐🐾 on X: "since not enough people are talking about puerto rico heres a master 🧵 on information about the genocide going on, how the us is trying to make puerto rico an "american state", and how you can help !! https://t.co/NBJDIQiesi" / X (twitter.com)

‘Cultural Genocide’ in Puerto Rico Displaces Population, Destroys Heritage (sputnikglobe.com)

Puerto Rico | Genocide Studies Program (yale.edu)

Puerto Rico — 500 Years Of Oppression on JSTOR

Puerto Rico faces genocide – Workers World

2020 Plan Means Genocide for Puerto Rico! - Puerto Rican Cultural Center (prcc-chgo.org)

X (twitter.com)

X (twitter.com)

HAWAII

X (twitter.com)

Decolonizing genocide in Brazil: challenges to defending Indigenous collective life - IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs

2023 Point in Time Counts – Hawai'i Health Data Warehouse (hhdw.org)

Tourism's Negative Impact on Native Hawaiians (tripod.com)

Hawaii Tourism: Opposite of a Paradise for Locals (irreview.org)

X (twitter.com)

YANOMAMI

Decolonizing genocide in Brazil: challenges to defending Indigenous collective life - IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs

Yanomami (survivalinternational.org)

thread

KASHMIR

Profile / X (twitter.com)

X (twitter.com)

Template for arms sales email - Google Docs

MYANMAR

Future Bleak for Rohingya in Bangladesh, Myanmar | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Myanmar’s Troubled History: Coups, Military Rule, and Ethnic Conflict | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)

BETTER BURMA

PAKISTAN

Pakistan dispatch: violent crackdown on peaceful Baloch protesters in Islamabad highlights ongoing injustices in Balochistan region - JURIST - News

EAST TURKISTAN

Camp Album Project – Art to Fight Xinjiang Abuse (camp-album.com)

IHH releases new report on East Turkestan | İHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation

Elderly Uyghurs die alone in jail, detained on trumped-up charges – The China Project

N 🖋️ on X: "A 🧵 about East Turkistan. What's going on and what can you do? From an Uyghur Girl: https://t.co/XPLS19T7fh" / X (twitter.com)

thread

ARMENIA

Learn for Artsakh

RESOURCES_COMP.xlsx - Google Sheets

Artsakh Genocide Action Toolkit

GOOGLE DOCS

TIBET

International Campaign for Tibet (savetibet.org)

Free Tibet - Take Action, Donate, Learn. - Our vision is a free Tibet in which Tibetans are able to determine their own future and the human rights of all are respected.

International Tibet Network

PAVIA MAIN 🐺🍬🔪 on X: "🧵from a 🇲🇳 person on some ways to help Tibet and Inner Mongolia - SPREAD THE WORD!! https://t.co/jtRrYtQsKY" / X (twitter.com)

PLACES IVE MISSED

Cheaper & Deeper!! on Tumblr: People & countries mentioned in the thread: DR Congo - M23, Cobalt Darfur, Sudan - International Criminal Court, CNN, BBC...

a𓂆sa on Tumblr: IMPORTANT CRISES THAT ARE BEING IGNORED BY THE WORLD

[tylermileslockett]

Monsters of Greek mythology

The Furies, or Erinyes, were relentless avengers of wrongdoing in Greek mythology.

Typhon, the deadliest monster in Greek mythology, challenged the gods of Olympus with his serpent-headed fury and storm-creating powers.

Hekate, the enigmatic goddess of magic and crossroads, held sway over the night and the spirit world.

Echidna, the mother of monsters, was a creature that gave birth to numerous legendary beasts.

Cerberus, the three-headed dog, guarded the gates of the Underworld, preventing both entry and escape.

The Greae, three ancient sisters who shared one eye and one tooth, were known for their wisdom and appeared in the myth of Perseus.

Cetus, a sea monster sent to ravage Ethiopia, was defeated by the hero Perseus.

The Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull creature, dwelled in the labyrinth on Crete and was vanquished by Theseus.

The Hydra, a multi-headed serpent-like monster, grew more heads when one was severed and was slain by Hercules.

Medusa, a Gorgon with snakes for hair, could turn onlookers to stone and met her demise at the hands of Perseus, who used her head as a weapon.

Support my book kickstarter "Lockett Illustrated: Greek Gods and Heroes" coming in early 2024. 

My self-published book on KICKSTARTER

Linktree:https://tr.ee/DcjSQDSEv3

[ekat-fandom-blog]

Mythical au

Alfred had been the guardian angel of the Wayne family for many centuries. He'd been worried that he'd be forced to watch over a different family after Bruce died, but luckily he'd decided to take in Dick then Jason then a whole slew of children after and he didn't worry about being taken from his family for decades at a time. There would be challenges, he knew, but nothing he wouldn't do for his family.

When Bruce brought home two half dead children, Alfred knew that they were going to be a permanent fixture in the family's lives even if Bruce insisted that he was only fostering them until their aunt could safely take them in.

↓ more ideas ↓

Alfred Guardian angel - has a human form, minor healing powers, minor precognition concerning their charges He's the guardian of the Wayne family and upon his "death" he'll go visit his previous charges. After a few years in heaven, he'll choose a new form and come back to Earth. Knows what species his wards are almost immediately, but tries not to say anything as it's typically considered rude to talk about someone else's species without them saying something first. He isn't aware that some of his charges have no clue they're anything other than human.

Bruce Human No one but Alfred, his teammates, and his children believe Batman is human. No one thinks Brucie could be anything but human. His kids have a running joke that he's not actually human.

Dick Selkie - seal that can turn into a human, in human form they have a coat, if a human steals said coat they can force the selkie to do whatever they want, can be vengeful and dangerous, are normally friendly helpful and attractive. He takes many precautions to hide his coat from everyone. He sometimes sneaks to the pool in the mansion to swim. Bruce didn't know for a few months. Jason didn't find out until before Ethiopia. Tim figured it out after one month. Damian didn't know until Dick decided that Damian wouldn't use his coat against him.

Jason Wraith - steals/hoards souls, holds grudges, targets those who've wronged them until they've captured their soul and can force them to wander outside of the spirit world for eternity. He became a wraith after being resurrected and is very vaguely aware of being one. He's definitely collecting and hoarding souls, but has no idea what to do with the souls he collects. His ultimate goal is to collect Joker's soul and force him to wander aimlessly for eternity. He absent mindedly tries to take any ghosts for his hoard whenever he zones out around them. The magic community and ghost community are aware of this very-much-alive wraith and have mixed feelings about it, but the overall consensus is that it's a bit funny. His family - except Alfred, Danny, and Dani - don't know.

Tim Sphinx - smart, guardian, can prophesy, ferocious, generous, merciful He doesn't know he's a sphinx. He gets glimpses of the future but doesn't normally say anything to warrant anyone becoming suspicious of him having prophetic dreams. If he was aware he was a sphinx, he'd be able to tap into his true form and become stronger, faster, and better at controlling his prophetic ability.

Damian Imp - crafty and mischievous demons with minor magical abilities and a craving for the spotlight, typically garners attention from those who want to enslave them, born pranksters, impulsive, good at shapeshifting and conjuring fire He's very unaware that he's an imp. Talia is also unaware. Ra's is aware and hiding the fact that they're imps.

Danny Halfa He's very confused about Jason being a fully alive ghost (almost, kinda). He does think it's funny when (in ghost form) Jason tries to add him to his hoard of souls when he's sleepy or absent minded.

Dani Will-o-wisp halfa - mischievous, sometimes they're reported to have led people away from their deaths and sometimes they are reported to be the cause of people's death mostly due to causing confusion in said people. Dani's aware of being a will-o-wisp, seeing as she shines brighter than Danny and has a propensity for wandering and mischief. Also, she was told about being a wisp by a wisp while traveling. She also thinks it's funny when Jason tries to add her and Danny to his soul hoard when he's sleepy or absent minded (when they're in ghost form of course, he doesn't react when they're in human form).

[mindblowingscience]

Heman Bekele is not your typical high school student. Rather than spending his free time playing video games or staring at his phone, this 14 year-old from Fairfax, Virginia was calling professors and conducting experiments, all to invent a product he hopes could help change the world. His goal is to create a soap that could treat skin cancer, and to make it affordable for everyone who needs it. His work won him the grand prize in this year's 3M Young Scientist's Challenge, a competition that encourages kids to think of unique ways to solve everyday problems. Bekele's award-winning soap was inspired by his childhood in Ethiopia before moving to the United States at the age of 4. The soap delivers cancer- fighting drugs via lipid nanoparticles – which work to activate the body's immune cells to fend off cancer.

Continue Reading.

[yvtro]

the reason for which jason struggles with forgiving bruce specifically is because bruce is the only person he ever had so much hope in. the only person he came to truly rely on.

he has a huge heart. he forgave his parents for not being perfect and neglecting him, he forgave two-face for killing his father (and said he pitied him, even), his last act was a self-sacrificial attempt to save a woman who set him up for torture and death. he can justify nearly every offence toward himself, because he feels for people so deeply.

but perhaps part of the reason for which it came so easily to him was also that he never expected these people to do any better. he was a parentified child, and he grew up watching his neighbours slipping into the life of crime due to the flawed system. he understood survival, self-preservation, and despair. he was not always alone, he might have been loved, yet he could not rely on "charity." everyone had their own burdens. so jay, 12, already had a deep conviction that he could not be a priority for anyone, and in his books, that was okay. he still believed in the world as a whole. he just wasn't sure if anyone in this world could genuinely care for him.

and then bruce came into his life, challenging this idea. bruce chose him. bruce spent years gaining his trust, dedicated so much of his time to training him. bruce, who patiently worked through his insecurities with him in the field, who looked out for him. bruce, with whom jay spent most of his time, his world being so narrow, everything concentrating on the joy of being robin. bruce, who made him feel so protected when out fighting criminals, that jay's reaction to getting snatched and tied up the scarecrow was merely saying: batman will put you away!

and by the age of 15, jay is open to being loved and cared for. in fact, jason can't imagine not having someone to lean on anymore, to the point where a single doubt that bruce expresses leaves him petrified. maybe he never realised that he could be so greedy before, that he could crave safety so much. but that fear of losing the thing he never even suspected he could have until a couple of years before – this is what now leads him to that warehouse in ethiopia.

and even after all of that, this implicit trust is not gone. fresh out of soil, jay's first thought is that of his dad. but to discover that the world he came back into feels so unsafe, that he is so alone, makes him feel betrayed. because there was a time when bruce made him believe that he was his priority. that he was loved. that he was special. bruce was one single person in his life that he grew to have expectations of. and where is bruce now? of course he doesn't know jason is alive, but where is bruce now? why does it seem like that love never really mattered? where is bruce now?

there is, of course, a part of him that is so quick to forgive, or rather a part that doesn't even think there's any blame. but he also had expectations, expectations of no one else, expectations that his father worked so hard for. and bruce taught him how to ask for things.

so he will ask. just this once.

[probablyasocialecologist]

As used, the term ‘precolonial’ Africa and the distortions it represents cannot illuminate our understanding of Africa and its history. More importantly, it is wrong to think of colonialism as a non-African phenomenon that was only brought in from elsewhere and imposed on the continent. Africa has given rise to a rich tapestry of diverse colonialisms originating in different parts of the continent. How are we to understand them? For example, if ‘precolonial Morocco’ refers to the time before France colonised Morocco, it must deny that the 800-year Moorish colonisation of the Iberian Peninsula, much of present-day France and much of North Africa was a colonialism. For, if it were, then ‘colonial Morocco’ must predate ‘precolonial Morocco’. I do not know how any of this helps us understand the history of Morocco. Similarly, a ‘precolonial’ Egypt that refers to Egypt before modern European imperialism would also deny Mohammed Ali’s colonial adventures at the head of Egypt in southern Europe and Asia Minor. Was ancient Egypt part of some precolonial formation? That strains credulity. To conceive of the history of Africa and Africans in terms only, or primarily, of their relation to modern European empires disappears the history of Africans as colonisers of realms beyond the continent’s land borders, especially in Europe and Asia. It is bad enough that the term distorts the history of African states’ involvement in overseas provinces. It is worse that it misdescribes the evolution of different African polities over time. The deployment of ‘precolonial Africa’ is undergirded by a few implausible assumptions. We assume either that there were no previous forms of colonialism in the continent, or that they do not matter. We talk as if colonialism was brought to Africa by Europe, after the 1884-85 Berlin West Africa Conference. But it takes only a pause to discover that this is false. African history is replete with accounts of empires and kingdoms. By their nature, empires incorporate elements of colonisation in them. If this be granted, Africa must have had its fair share of colonisers and colonialists in its history. When, according to the mythohistory (the founding myth of the empire) of Mali, Sundiata gathered different nations, cultures, political leaders and others to form the empire in the mid-13th century, he did not first seek the consent of his subjects. It was in the aftermath of their being subdued by his superior force that he did what Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century insisted all rulers should do if their rule is to escape repeated challenges and last for an appreciable length of time: turn might into right. Ethiopia, another veritable empire, is a multinational, multilingual, multicultural state whose members were not willing parties to their original incorporation into the polity. Whether you think of the Oromo or the Somali, many of their successor states within Ethiopia are, as I write this, still conducting anticolonial struggles against the Ethiopian state.

[goodstuffhappenedtoday]

He developed a cancer-fighting soap — while in middle school

By Praveena Somasundaram

In a video for a nationwide science competition, Heman Bekele spelled out his mission in a single sentence. “Curing cancer, one bar of soap at a time.” In the two-minute video, Heman, a student at Fairfax County’s Frost Middle School, pitched his idea for a soap that could help fight skin cancer at a cost of less than $10 per bar. The soap, Heman explained, would be made with compounds that could reactivate the cells that guard human skin, enabling them to fight cancer cells. In April, Heman submitted the video to the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, an annual competition that invites students in grades five through eight to “change their world for the better with a single innovative idea.” Earlier this month, after competing against nine other finalists in the challenge, he won the title of America’s Top Young Scientist. “To see that all of the hard work paid off in the end, it was really a surreal experience,” Heman, now 14, told The Washington Post. Heman’s idea for the competition came from the early years of his life in Ethiopia. “There, I always saw people who were constantly working under the hot sun,” Heman said. He moved to the United States at age 4 and never really thought much more about it. But as he started considering ideas for the competition, he harked back to his time in Ethiopia and wondered how many of the people he’d seen working in the sun were aware of the risk of sun exposure. The memories fueled his decision to focus his research on skin cancer. “I wanted to make my idea something that not only was great in terms of science but also could be accessible to as many people as possible,” Heman said. As he thought about his approach, Heman wanted his product to be something that was as much of a “constant” in people’s lives as possible — an item that was “most convenient and most trustworthy,” he said. “No matter where you live, I think you know and trust soap in comparison to other medicinal products,” Heman said.

Gift link to the rest of the story

[yuwigqi]

Batfam members by which obscure Olympic Sport(s) they would be (its a stunt for charity or something):

Bruce: His inquisitive nature leads him to ask: Is there a limit on how many Sports You're Allowed to Compete In? Not for him. He wins gold in Golf, Diving, Badminton, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Ice Dancing with Cass (she's not going to prom of course, so this is his best chance at a father-daughter dance) BMX Racing, Men's Skeet (he has nothing against sport shooting! Honest!), Dressage, and Weightlifting (wait? 860 KILOS??), and Beach Volleyball (Dick is his partner). In fact, he already did sports with Dick and Cass! Why not all his kids! Badminton with Bette (she's basically his niece, come on now), Tennis with Jason, Luge with Tim (Tim literally falls asleep on top of him), and 3x3 Basketball with Damian and Duke.

Kate: Kate runs a poll on twitter asking for the "Straightest sport possible" and that's how she ends up doing a fucking 50 kilometer race walk. Why the fuck is walking an Olympic Sport?? I don't know Kathy, its for charity, just do it please. So for one day, Kate turns into Karen, and speed walks 3. Fucking. Hours. Kate is tempted to melt her Bronze of course its fucking bronze medal down into parts for nose piercings out of malic

Luke: Obvs wants to go into a combat sport. Which is why Dick purposefully tells he he wouldn't be able to do anything else, and dares him to try Artistic Gymnastics. He gets Gold in Rings and Silver in Pommel Horse and Vault

Dick: Dick wants to challenge himself by doing the other Gymnastics he's never done. So he signs up for Rhythmic Gymnastics! But...it's a women-only sport. Which is why Dick comes out as genderfluid and is a woman specifically for the games (cue Tim being fucking furious at Dick about enforcing negative stereotypes). And naturally, Dick wins. But also....you know...he kind of really feels...empowered with she/her pronouns. Like....it feels right. And thus, it took winning an Olympic Sport for Dick to realize he was bigender all along.

Bette: She's like actually a Tennis player, so that. Also, she idolizes Dick and wants to impress him with her super good Gymnastics skills. After winning the gold she bites it in tradition, and it actually bends. She actually ended up with a fucking poorly made tin medal fuck this is so embarrassing noone look at me

Babs: Curling, another weird fucking sport. It's basically like shuffleboard on ice. And honestly, like, its not an athletic sport. Honestly, you probably could do it in a wheelchair. And a huge part of it is technique and intellect. It was MADE for Oracle. After she wins Tesla reachers out for a sponsorship deal to make a robotic wheelchair, and Babs makes a working spaceship just to fucking spite Elon. She also hacks X and removes all the X branding, literally turning it back into Twitter.

Jason: I kid you not, in 2024 they will add competitive breakdancing To the Summer games. Jason is on the first U.S. team. It...you know there were worse ways to make money on the streets than street performing...and you know...it was fun too...I made like $74 one day outside an iHop. No shit fuck Babs don't look for it please don't fuck no please

Tim: Skateboarding has also been recently added to the Olympics. Tim isn't allowed to put his Superboy stickers on it because Young Justice happen to be involved in several international incidents.

Steph: Everyone remembers Steph lived in Africa, but no one even bothered to ask her about it, much less ask which country. Ethiopia, thank you for asking. Curious how they offered her citizenship right after she announced her Olympic plans. Steph wins gold in Speed Skating, giving the continent of Africa its first ever medal in the Winter Games. (She mentions this every single time possible)

Dami: Modern Pentathlon is by far the weirdest fucking sport in existence, but Dami loves it. He gets to swordfight, shoot things, and most importantly. meet a horse.

Cass: Karate kata. Cass in a combat sport would just be unfair, so she does the Kata, just showing off the execution and form. Ice Dancing with Bruce, as mentioned earlier. Her outfit is based on the Black Swan, of course. Frustratingly Bruce is much better at it than her, and she's unsure why. Until it dawns on her she's competing and he's having fun with his daughter. After she stops caring about scores, they two get the highest score in history.

Duke: Artistic Swimming. 2024 is the first year men will be allowed. "No Bruce, I'm isn't going to use my powers to see easily in the water, god." And showing off his abs to that pretty girl in his Women's Studies Elective is definitely not part of his choice of sport. Nope. (She's turned off by his puberty acne, and Duke cries in his room for 8 days straight)

Harper: No Bruce. No Steph. Fuck you Cass. No. No. No. Hey Harper, just wanna let you know, as part of the charity thing, we're doing a gala, and Bernard's busy. Do you think Cullen would like to go?...Fine Tim, I'll do it, for Cullen. Harper of course needs to do something to make an impact though. If she's gonna do this shit, she might as well have fun with it. Which is why she starts a one-woman crusade to add a new sport. It takes petitions, conferences, and a few million dollars in charitable donations to the IOC...but a new sport is added, and Harper Rowe because the Olympic's first ever gold medalist in Sumo Wrestling.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Somalia has described an agreement that landlocked Ethiopia made with the self-declared republic of Somaliland over sea access as an act of "aggression". Somaliland seceded from Somalia more than 30 years ago, but is not recognised internationally. It said that Ethiopia agreed to recognise its independence at some point in the future in exchange for military access to the coast. Ethiopia has not confirmed this aspect of Monday's contentious deal.[...]

Somalia [...] has reacted angrily to the MoU as it sees Somaliland as part of its territory. It said it was recalling its ambassador to Ethiopia. The government said the agreement was "null and void" and a violation of its sovereignty. In a statement it added that it "considers this action as an aggression and... is an impediment to the good neighbourliness, peace and stability of the region which [is] already struggling with many challenges".

2 Jan 24

[ghost-bxrd]

I was skimming the Owl Song tag. Saw the challenge for us to prod you into continuing post Ethiopia. I did have many ideas in response (I personally am fond of my idea that Jason would kidnap Tim as Red Hood, not to- You know what? I'll put that in a separate ask for you to react to). But I thought you would appreciate this one the most... because it is uniquely cruel to Talon and puts him in the most painful dilemma possible... (I'm a little tired and it's making me type a bit melodramatically so sorry for the extensive ellipsis [...] )

Tim attempting necromancy to trade himself for Jason. We've seen it before. And usually it's a bad idea. But if Tim's parents left him with an artifact that traded one soul for another of equal weight (I guess I'm going Egyptian weighing of the hearts for this)... what are the odds that Tim wouldn't try it... even if he thought that his soul wasn't worth Jason's... it was worth trying... he could fix it!

Keep in mind... We know that Dick will handle Jason's death horrifically. We know that Bruce will handle Jason's death horrifically... And in one swoop, Tim, who doesn't have real family, will have lost one brother, watched the other retreat so far into himself that he'd essentially lost him too, and watched Batman become more violent in grief for Jason and desperation for Dick. Under those circumstances... doesn't it make sense for Tim to become as apathetic to his own death as the other two? He doesn't want to die for no reason... but isn't Jason's return the best reason that he could ever have? Because even if he could pull Bruce out of his grief by becoming Robin... if that makes Dick worse then he's making things worse. And then between his own grief (ignored because it's less important than Dick and Bruce's, obviously) and attempts at 'logic' he talks himself into trying it.

He hugs Dick, who doesn't respond. Then he leaves a message on the Batcomputer for Bruce to see when he got back from patrol. Then he goes to the graveyard (probably bribes someone to dig up Jason's grave because he doesn't want to risk leaving Jason down there if this works)... And takes out the artifact, pulling out his notes on how to use it.

And here is where you pick up... because Dick did something Tim hadn't expected... He wandered down to the Batcave, because he did notice Tim's presence during the hug but distantly and he'd noticed he was gone too but it took him a while to react to it... He saw the message (of course he did, Jason's name was on it), he rushes to the cemetery... And what? Some part of him is distantly hoping that when he gets there Tim will be dead and Jason will be alive. Another part of him is terrified of that possibility... does he slow down? Does he let it happen? He can get there before Tim is finished (unlike Bruce after patrol)... What does he do when he gets there?

...Does he let Tim make the trade? Will he sacrifice Tim for Jason?

Sheesh, more hurt and no fluff. That’s evil 😭

But to answer that question there at the end… I’m genuinely not sure.

On one hand I can sort of see Dick being willing to trade Tim’s life for Jason in this particular AU. On the other hand… not.

Ultimately he’d probably feel awfully guilty about that spark of hope he has that Tim manages to pull this off, but he’d still try to stop him. Because in the end, Dick is still a good person. Someone who cares about the lives of innocent people.

And Tim is still part of his little family. He’d never want him to die. :(

[caparrucia]

I've gotten quite a few new followers recently, so I think one of my posts broke containment...

Lemme just.

Take a few proverbial shots in the air:

Trans rights are human rights.

Transmen are men, but they exist within the transphobic clutches of the patriarchy and pretending they have "male privilege" instead of being punished for failing to conform to toxic masculinity makes you sound like someone who's never been in touch with the community IRL.

Trans women are women! They're not inherently predatory and if such a thing as "male socialization" exists, it does not confer them power, but rather punishes them for failing to perform masculinity.

Nonbinary, genderqueer and genderfluid are distinct, valid and separate identities that often overlap but which do not constitute a "third gender" around which to build another stupid gender dichotomy.

Queer is not a slur, it's an umbrella term. If you do not wish to belong to the queer community that is your prerogative, but you do not get to tell MY community that we shouldn't exist because our language makes you uncomfortable.

Acephobia is fucking pathetic and you're a pathetic dork for committing it. Aces, Aros and Demis belong in the Queer community and their struggles are no less real because you want to be a dick about it.

I'm not American. The fact I'm forced to know and keep up with American politics while the average American pretends my country is either a tourist attraction or a humanitarian crisis zone, is in fact a sign of American colonialism and I'm not going to sugar coat it if it makes you uncomfortable to be reminded of it.

Mexican Americans are not Mexican. They're American, with Mexican ancestry. If you center their voices over my own people's when speaking about my own country, I will fucking fist-fight you.

Race is not a game of rock-paper-scissors and intersectionality is not about keeping score about whose opinions are deemed blanket correct without a second thought.

People's existence is not in itself an act of activism, so for the love of fuck, stop being weird to strangers who are just vibing and calling them "brave" and "inspirational" just because they allow themselves to exist in public. You sound like a tool.

Israel is committing a genocide. It is not antisemitic to point out that Israel is in fact doing a genocide. The solution to Israel committing a genocide is not to be antisemitic.

There are in fact several genocides currently on going: Sudan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, India, China, Ethiopia and Congo, just to name a few. It is not racist to point it out. But it is racist to reduce any of them to merely a snarky remark in an attempt to prove how not racist you are. It is extra racist to say "other genocides" without acknowledging them specifically.

There's still hasn't been a situation where siding with the people committing the genocide turned out to be the right choice.

There's no such thing as a funny genocide joke.

No, not even that one. It's a genocide, it is inherently unfunny and if you consider that a challenge, you have lost the plot.

Primarily, though, this is a fandom blog.

Fandom is not activism and if you think it is, you owe me fucking reparations for the stupidity. If you argue about the well-being of fictional characters at the cost of real people, we're gonna have problems.

Neither you nor I are obligated to make every part of our presence online about the human rights violation of the hour. It's okay if you curate a space that exists only to make you feel better. This is my feel better corner. I will talk about things that are important to me, but that doesn't mean I'm obligated to talk about all the things that are important to me.

I reblog art I like, tumblr posts I find funny, the occasional rant and the fic I write in my spare time.

If you like my shit? Cool. Consider throwing a tip my way if you like.

But I'm not a news outlet, and unless I'm quoting extensively and providing and citing sources, I'm talking out of my ass because it's my own corner of the internet and that's what I do here.

I've been on the internet since 1998, I promise you whatever has you in a frothing rage is neither new nor unnuanced. Please assess if it's worth spending your limited time on this earth getting angry at strangers on the internet.

It sure as fuck isn't worth mine.