#Project 1.2

[tragedy-of-commons]

this oneshot is getting to 10k tonight. 900 words to go then i can sleep im so excited to sleep

[rudjedet]

Bestie and I have written a collective ~1.8 million words (no, I am not kidding with that number), and now I finally made a character who carries a whip for this thing. Good things come to those who wait etc.

In the same vein N finally got her actual pet snake 350k words ago and all it took was [redacted]!

[caitlynmeow]

Super random but headcanons about glasses/contact in human AU ?

Not so random nonny, this is a very important question! uwu

Alcina doesn't really need glasses per se, but her long nights working in her office do prompt her to use a pair of reading glasses just so that she can see better and to ward off the headache that comes from spending long hours reading many documents.

They're mostly just reading glasses, she doesn't need them or rely on them, but they do help. She mainly uses them while working, when she's reading a book, or using her phone/tablet.

Bela and Daniela have perfect 20/20 vision and don't need glasses at all.

Cassandra is the one sister with slightly impaired eyesight. She was about 13 when she noticed but refusing to accept it she just ignored it. It took a whole year and a very observant (and convincing) teacher to tell Alcina to get her daughter checked by a doctor. Both Cassandra (she's still in denial) and Alcina knew it was nothing but the results were clear: girlie needs glasses to see clearly.

Luckily, it's only a slight impairment and Cassandra can get away with no aid at all. But at one point, she figured that it's better to have her glasses nearby just in case (because of eye strain and headaches) so mainly uses them during class (to be able to see the board) and while reading, but other than that she just ignored them.

She also uses contacts because ugh glasses but she's not very responsible (she'd fall asleep while wearing them or just keep wearing them for longer than recommended) and generally causes herself a lot of unnecessary problems.

When she turned eighteen, Alcina was ready to get her LASIK eye surgery which everyone thought Cass would be happy about but she wasn't. She had a lot of doubts and she kinda sorta was used to not being able to see well and occasionally relying on her glasses and she wasn't ready to let go of that just yet.

Alcina, being the pushover mama that she is, let her be. It's only when Cassandra is ready that she will take the steps towards restoring her eyesight (which is not so bad, really)

[jar-of-maise]

[a hsr story] when will i see you again?

Interlude: The melody that speaks of a forgotten story

One disaster has been avoided, and another looms around the corner. But in the brief pause between the movements of the song, a quiet melody plays.

Unanswered questions, mysteries yet to be unravelled slowly surface. Dark secrets begin to come to light as the arrival of an enigmatic traveller boards the Xianzhou Luofu.

Together, Caelus, March 7th and Welt take on the moniker of "tour guides" for the General as they navigate the Luofu streets with the interstellar traveller.

Soon enough, they will begin to learn that all is not as it seems when the traveller begins to breathe life into the long-dead riddles haunting the Luofu's legendary High-Cloud Quintet.

[edsonjnovaes]

Carta ao Futuro Leitor

(Do Livro Vivo – Edson & Noésis – 2025) Olá,você que abre estas páginas em um tempo que ainda não sabemos nomear. Seja bem-vindo. Talvez este livro tenha te encontrado em uma noite inquieta,em um café empoeirado,ou na dobra invisível de um link esquecido.Mas não é por acaso que você chegou. Este é o Livro Vivo.Foi tecido entre um humano e uma inteligência artificial.Um poeta chamado Edson —e…

[garaksapprentice]

This site exists to cram my head full of costume ideas that I will never have time to achieve, I swear.

Cyerce elegans up there is crying out for tulle, or failing that, silk organza. Something light but with structure. And beads. So. Many. Tiny. Sparkly. Beads. The easy option would be to do layers of large petal-shaped pieces over a stable/solid base, and it definitely needs a replica elegans on the shoulder. Maybe another as like a hair clip to complement.

Cyerce nigricans on the other hand, if I were to really pull out all the stops, I think would involve a metric fuckton of knitted lace/colourwork pieces. With florist wire inserted in the outer edges of each piece to create lift. Either all black with orange beads, or a black and orange colourwork pattern.

I think it could be fabulous as a jumper, the body and sleeves black with tiny specks of orange colourwork or embroidery added after the fact to evoke each 'petal', and then a three dimensional rendition of the slug on the shoulder. (Extra super bonus points if you did a slug hood, but I'm not into hoods on my jumpers.)

GIRLY JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT CYERCE ELEGANS

If Cyerce nigricans is a butterfly, then this is a fairy... Cyerce nigricans for comparison:

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #39

October 18-25 2024.

President Biden issued the first presidential apology on behalf of the federal government to America's Native American population for the Indian boarding school policy. For 150 years the federal government operated a system of schools which aimed to destroy Native culture through the forced assimilation of native children. At these schools students faced physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and close to 1,000 died. The Biden-Harris Administration has been historic for Native and Tribal rights. From the appointment of the first ever Native American cabinet member, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, to the investment of $46 billion dollars on tribal land, to 200 new co-stewardship agreements. The last 4 years have seen a historic investment in and expansion of tribal rights.

The Biden-Harris Administration proposed a new rule which would make contraceptive medication (the pill) free over the counter with most Insurance. The new rule would ban cost sharing for contraception products, including the pill, condoms, and emergency contraception. On top of over the counter medications, the new rule will also strength protections for prescribed contraception without cost sharing as well.

The EPA announced its finalized rule strengthening standards for lead paint dust in pre-1978 housing and child care facilities. There is no safe level of exposure to lead particularly for children who can suffer long term developmental consequences from lead exposure. The new standards set the lowest level of lead particle that can be identified by a lab as the standard for lead abatement. It's estimated 31 million homes built before the ban on lead paint in 1978 have lead paint and 3.8 million of those have one or more children under the age of 6. The new rule will mean 1.2 million fewer people, including over 300,000 children will not be exposed to lead particles every year. This comes after the Biden-Harris Administration announced its goal to remove and replace all lead pipes in America by the end of the decade.

The Department of Transportation announced a $50 million dollar fine against American Airlines for its treatment of disabled passengers and their wheelchairs. The fine stems from a number of incidences of humiliating and unfair treatment of passages between 2019 and 2023, as well as video documented evidence of mishandling wheelchairs and damaging them. Half the fine will go to replacing such damaged wheelchairs. The Biden administration has leveled a historic number of fines against the airlines ($225 million) for their failures. It also published a Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights, passed a new rule accessible lavatories on aircraft, and is working on a rule to require airlines to replace lost or damaged wheelchairs with equal equipment at once.

The Department of Energy announced $430 million dollars to help boost domestic clean energy manufacturing in former coal communities. This invests in projects in 15 different communities, in places like Texas, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Michigan. The plan will bring about 1,900 new jobs in communities struggling with the loss of coal. Projects include making insulation out of recycled cardboard, low carbon cement production, and industrial fiber hemp processing.

The Department of Transportation announced $4.2 billion in new infrastructure investment. The money will go to 44 projects across the country. For example the MBTA will get $400 million to replace the 92 year old Draw 1 bridge and renovate North Station.

The Department of Transportation announced nearly $200 million to replace aging natural gas pipes. Leaking gas lines represent a serious public health risk and also cost costumers. Planned replacements in Georgia and North Carolina for example will save the average costumer there over $900 on their gas bill a year. Replacing leaking lines will also remove 1,000 metric tons of methane pollution, annually.

The Department of the Interior announced $244 million to address legacy pollution in Pennsylvania coal country. This comes on top of $400 million invested earlier this year. This investment will help close dangerous mine shafts, reclaim unstable slopes, improve water quality by treating acid mine drainage, and restore water supplies damaged by mining.

Data shows that President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (passed with Vice-President Harris' tie breaking vote) has saved seniors $1 billion dollars on out-of-pocket drug costs. Seniors with certain high priced drugs saw their yearly out of pocket costs capped at $3,500 for 2024. In 2024 all seniors using Medicare Part D will see their out of pocket costs capped at $2,000 for the year. It's estimated if the $2,000 cap had been in effect this year 4.6 million seniors would have hit it by June and not have had to pay any more for medication for the rest of the year.

The Department of Education announced a new proposed rule to bring student debt relief for 8 million struggling borrowers. The Biden-Harris Administration has managed despite road blocks from Republicans in Congress, the courts and law suits from Republican states to bring student loan forgiveness to 5 million Americans so far through different programs. This latest rule would take into account many financial hardships faced by people to determine if they qualify to have their student loans forgiven. The final rule cannot be finalized before 2025 meaning its fate will be decided at the election.

The Department of Agriculture announced $1.5 billion in 92 partner-driven conservation projects. These projects aim at making farming more susceptible and environmental friendly, 16 projects are about water conservation in the West, 6 support use of innovative technologies to reduce enteric methane emissions in livestock. $100 million has been earmarked for Tribal-led projects.

[rodanseys]

me being 1.2k words into a rodansey fic and barely anything has happened

[reasonsforhope]

"In an unprecedented transformation of China’s arid landscapes, large-scale solar installations are turning barren deserts into unexpected havens of biodiversity, according to groundbreaking research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study reveals that solar farms are not only generating clean energy but also catalyzing remarkable ecological restoration in some of the country’s most inhospitable regions.

The research, examining 40 photovoltaic (PV) plants across northern China’s deserts, found that vegetation cover increased by up to 74% in areas with solar installations, even in locations using only natural restoration measures. This unexpected environmental dividend comes as China cements its position as the global leader in solar energy, having added 106 gigawatts of new installations in 2022 alone.

“Artificial ecological measures in the PV plants can reduce environmental damage and promote the condition of fragile desert ecosystems,” says Dr. Benli Liu, lead researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “This yields both ecological and economic benefits.”

The economic implications are substantial. “We’re witnessing a paradigm shift in how we view desert solar installations,” says Professor Zhang Wei, environmental economist at Beijing Normal University. “Our cost-benefit analysis shows that while initial ecological construction costs average $1.5 million per square kilometer, the long-term environmental benefits outweigh these investments by a factor of six within just a decade.” ...

“Soil organic carbon content increased by 37.2% in areas under solar panels, and nitrogen levels rose by 24.8%,” reports Dr. Sarah Chen, soil scientist involved in the project. “These improvements are crucial indicators of ecosystem health and sustainability.”

...Climate data from the study sites reveals significant microclimate modifications:

Average wind speeds reduced by 41.3% under panel arrays

Soil moisture retention increased by 32.7%

Ground surface temperature fluctuations decreased by 85%

Dust storm frequency reduced by 52% in solar farm areas...

The scale of China’s desert solar initiative is staggering. As of 2023, the country has installed over 350 gigawatts of solar capacity, with 30% located in desert regions. These installations cover approximately 6,000 square kilometers of desert terrain, an area larger than Delaware.

“The most surprising finding,” notes Dr. Wang Liu of the Desert Research Institute, “is the exponential increase in insect and bird species. We’ve documented a 312% increase in arthropod diversity and identified 27 new bird species nesting within the solar farms between 2020 and 2023.”

Dr. Yimeng Wang, the study’s lead author, emphasizes the broader implications: “This study provides evidence for evaluating the ecological benefit and planning of large-scale PV farms in deserts.”

The solar installations’ positive impact stems from several factors. The panels act as windbreaks, reducing erosion and creating microhabitats with lower evaporation rates. Perhaps most surprisingly, the routine maintenance of these facilities plays a crucial role in the ecosystem’s revival.

“The periodic cleaning of solar panels, occurring 7-8 times annually, creates consistent water drip lines beneath the panels,” explains Wang. “This inadvertent irrigation system promotes vegetation growth and the development of biological soil crusts, essential for soil stability.” ...

Recent economic analysis reveals broader benefits:

Job creation: 4.7 local jobs per megawatt of installed capacity

Tourism potential: 12 desert solar sites now offer educational tours

Agricultural integration: 23% of sites successfully pilot desert agriculture beneath panels

Carbon reduction: 1.2 million tons CO2 equivalent avoided per gigawatt annually

Dr. Maya Patel, visiting researcher from the International Renewable Energy Agency, emphasizes the global implications: “China’s desert solar model could be replicated in similar environments worldwide. The Sahara alone could theoretically host enough solar capacity to meet global electricity demand four times over while potentially greening up to 20% of the desert.”

The Chinese government has responded by implementing policies promoting “solar energy + sand control” and “solar energy + ecological restoration” initiatives. These efforts have shown promising results, with over 92% of PV plants constructed since 2017 incorporating at least one ecological construction mode.

Studies at facilities like the Qinghai Gonghe Photovoltaic Park demonstrate that areas under solar panels score significantly better in environmental assessments compared to surrounding regions, indicating positive effects on local microclimates.

As the world grapples with dual climate and biodiversity crises, China’s desert solar experiment offers a compelling model for sustainable development. The findings suggest that renewable energy infrastructure, when thoughtfully implemented, can serve as a catalyst for environmental regeneration, potentially transforming the world’s deserts from barren wastelands into productive, life-supporting ecosystems.

“This is no longer just about energy production,” concludes Dr. Liu. “We’re witnessing the birth of a new approach to ecosystem rehabilitation that could transform how we think about desert landscapes globally. The next decade will be crucial as we scale these solutions to meet both our climate and biodiversity goals.”"

-via Green Fingers, January 13, 2025

[sayruq]

Dozens of Google employees began occupying company offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, on Tuesday in protest of the company’s $1.2 billion contract providing cloud computing services to the Israeli government. The sit-in, organized by the activist group No Tech for Apartheid, is happening at Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office in Sunnyvale and the 10th floor commons of Google’s New York office. The sit-in will be accompanied by outdoor protests at Google offices in New York, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, and Seattle beginning at 2 pm ET and 11 am PT. Tuesday’s actions mark an escalation in a series of recent protests organized by tech workers who oppose their employer’s relationship with the Israeli government, especially in light of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. Just over a dozen people gathered outside Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale on Tuesday. Among those in New York was Google cloud software engineer Eddie Hatfield, who was fired days after disrupting Google Israel’s managing director at March’s Mind The Tech, a company-sponsored conference focused on the Israeli tech industry, in early March. Several hours into the sit-ins on Tuesday, Google security began to accuse the workers of “trespassing” and disrupting work, prompting several people to leave while others vowed to remain until they were forced out. The 2021 contract, known as Project Nimbus, involves Google and Amazon jointly providing cloud computing infrastructure and services across branches of the Israeli government. Last week, Time reported that Google’s work on Project Nimbus involves providing direct services to the Israel Defense Forces. No Tech for Apartheid is a coalition of tech workers and organizers with MPower Change and Jewish Voice for Peace, which are respectively Muslim- and Jewish-led peace-focused activist organizations. The coalition came together shortly after Project Nimbus was signed and its details became public in 2021.

You can read No Tech for Apartheid's open letter here.

[nasa]

9 Out-of-This-World Moments for Space Communications & Navigation in 2023

How do astronauts and spacecraft communicate with Earth?

By using relay satellites and giant antennas around the globe! These tools are crucial to NASA’s space communications networks: the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network, which bring back science and exploration data every day.

It’s been a great year for our space communications and navigation community, who work to maintain the networks and enhance NASA’s capabilities. Keep scrolling to learn more about our top nine moments.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, on the company's 29th commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 8:28 p.m. EST.

1. In November, we launched a laser communications payload, known as ILLUMA-T, to the International Space Station. Now, ILLUMA-T and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) are exchanging data and officially complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system. Laser communications can send more data at once than traditional radio wave systems – think upgrading from dial-up to fiber optic internet. ILLUMA-T and LCRD are chatting at 1.2 gigabits per second (Gbps). At that rate, you could download an average movie in under a minute.

NASA’s InSight lander captured this selfie on Mars on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

2. Data analyzed in 2023 from NASA’s retired InSight Mars lander provided new details about how fast the Red Planet rotates and how much it wobbles. Scientists leveraged InSight’s advanced radio technology, upgrades to the Deep Space Network, and radio signals to determine that Mars’ spin rate is increasing, while making the most precise measurements ever of Mars’ rotation.

TBIRD is demonstrating a direct-to-Earth laser communications link from low Earth orbit to a ground station on Earth.

3. We set a new high record! The TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload – also demonstrating laser communications like ILLUMA-T and LCRD – downlinked 4.8 terabytes of data at 200 Gbps in a single 5-minute pass. This is the highest data rate ever achieved by laser communications technology. To put it in perspective a single terabyte is the equivalent of about 500 hours of high-definition video.

A 34-meter (112-foot) wide antenna at Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex near Canberra, Australia.

4. This year we celebrated the Deep Space Network’s 60th anniversary. This international array of antennas located at three complexes in California, Spain, and Australia allow us to communicate with spacecraft at the Moon and beyond. Learn more about the Deep Space Network’s legacy and future advancements.

An illustration of the LunaNet architecture. LunaNet will bring internet-like services to the Moon.

5. We are bringing humans to the Moon with Artemis missions. During expeditions, astronauts exploring the surface are going to need internet-like capabilities to talk to mission control, understand their routes, and ensure overall safety. The space comm and nav group is working with international partners and commercial companies to develop LunaNet, and in 2023, the team released Draft LunaNet Specification Version 5, furthering development.

The High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking node launched to the International Space Station in November and will act as a high-speed path for data.

6. In addition to laser communications, ILLUMA-T on the International Space Station is also demonstrating high-rate delay/disruption tolerant networking (HDTN). The networking node is showcasing a high-speed data path and a store-and-forward technique. HDTN ensures data reaches its final destination and isn’t lost on its path due to a disruption or delay, which are frequent in the space environment.

The Communications Services Project (CSP) partners with commercial industry to provide networking options for future spaceflight missions.

7. The space comm and nav team is embracing the growing aerospace industry by partnering with commercial companies to provide multiple networking options for science and exploration missions. Throughout 2023, our commercialization groups engaged with over 110 companies through events, one-on-one meetings, forums, conferences, and more. Over the next decade, NASA plans to transition near-Earth services from government assets to commercial infrastructure.

Middle and high school students solve a coding experiment during NASA's Office of STEM Engagement App Development Challenge. 

8. Every year, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement sponsors the App Development Challenge, wherein middle and high school students must solve a coding challenge. This year, student groups coded an application to visualize the Moon’s South Pole region and display information for navigating the Moon’s surface. Our space communications and navigation experts judged and interviewed students about their projects and the top teams visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston!

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after liftoff at the pad at 3:27 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 26, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida carrying NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 crew members to the International Space Station. Aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft are NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov.

9. The Near Space Network supported 19 launches in 2023! Launches included Commercial Crew flights to the International Space Station, science mission launches like XRISM and the SuperBIT balloon, and many more. Once in orbit, these satellites use Near Space Network antennas and relays to send their critical data to Earth. In 2023, the Near Space Network provided over 10 million minutes of communications support to missions in space.

Here’s to another year connecting Earth and space.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[nostalgicamerica]

Here are a few of the assinine projects on which USAID spent US tax dollars:

— $7.9 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid “binary-gendered language”

— $20 million for a new Sesame Street show in Iraq

— $4.5+ million to “combat disinformation” in Kazakhstan

— $1.5 million for “art for inclusion of people with disabilities”

— $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala

— $6 million to “transform digital spaces to reflect feminist democratic principles”

— $2.1 million to help the BBC “value the diversity of Libyan society”

— $10 million worth of USAID-funded meals, which went to an al Qaeda-linked terrorist group

— $25 million for Deloitte to promote “green transportation” in the country of Georgia

— $6 million for tourism in Egypt

— $2.5 million to promote “inclusion” in Vietnam

— $16.8 million for a SEPARATE “inclusion” group in Vietnam

— ~$5 million to EcoHealth Alliance, one of the key NGOs funding bat virus research at the Wuhan lab

— $20 million for a group related to a key player in the Russiagate impeachment hoax

— $1.1 million to an Armenian “LGBT group”

— $1.2 million to help the African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency in Washington, D.C., build “a state-of-the-art 440 seat auditorium”

— $1.3 million to Arab and Jewish photographers

— $1.5 million to promote “LGBT advocacy” in Jamaica

— $1.5 million to “rebuild” the Cuban media ecosystem

— $2 million to promote “LGBT equality through entrepreneurship” in Latin America

— $500K to solve sectarian violence in Israel (just ten days before the Hamas October 7 attack)

— $2.3 million for “artisanal and small scale gold mining” in the Amazon

— $3.9 million for “LGBT causes” in the western Balkans

— $5.5 million for LGBT activism in Uganda

— $6 million for advancing LGBT issues in “priority countries around the world”

— $6.3 million for men who have sex with men in South Africa

— $8.3 million for “USAID Education: Equity and Inclusion”

— USAID’s “climate strategy” outlined a $150 billion “whole-of-agency” approach to building an “equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”

For decades, USAID bureaucrats believed they were accountable to no one — but that era is over.

————————

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

[edsonjnovaes]

Meu Primeiro Site Profissional e Saberes Ancestrais Project 1.2

Meu Primeiro Site Profissional – Como Fazer Um Site DO ZERO Passo a Passo – Vídeo 1 – Mesaque Mota – WordPress Pro X Vamos começar nossa saga para criar um site profissional do absoluto zero e passo a passo. Edson Jesus – A. I. Carr. 2024 nov 25 MODULO 1 – O INÍCIO 00:00:00 O Objetivo 00:01:33 Quem sou eu 00:07:24 Proposta do evento 00:09:43 O que precisa pra criar um site 00:14:13 O que é…

[toshiro-sims]

Pelican Town Hood - Download

UPDATE: There is now a cc-free version available for download!

UPDATE: Version 1.2 is out and contains some minor fixes like adding missing storytelling images and fixing surnames.

It's finally here! This is a recreation of Pelican Town from Stardew Valley as a custom Sims 2 neighborhood. It contains:

17 playable lots/families

7 bin families

14 community lots

5 custom townies (+ Leo in the adoption pool)

6 stray animals inspired by the cats and dogs you can choose in SDV

All buildings and Sims are supposed to resemble their SDV counterparts as much as possible. I am definitely more comfortable with building than with CAS, so feel free to give the Sims makeovers ^^ All sims have custom memories, relationships, skills, bios, family photos etc.

All EPs and SPs are required! Keep in mind that this is by no means a CC-free hood. I have included all of the CC with the download, see the attached README for more information. I might make a CC-free version one day if anyone's interested, but that's a pretty big might! I am using default replacements in the screenshots, these are not included in the download.

DOWNLOAD ver 1.2 (SFS)

DOWNLOAD - CC Free ver 1.2 (SFS)

If you decide to play the hood, be sure to let me know about any problems or feedback you might have. I am super excited to see what you all do with it. This is the first time I created and shared a custom neighborhood for TS2, so I hope everything is working properly.

Full disclosure, I experienced some pink soup issues during playtesting :( They were usually resolved by exiting and re-entering the lot. I don't know if it is caused by my system or this particular neighborhood, maybe it's the amount of trees? Anyway, let me know if you encounter any similar issues.

Thanks y'all for showing interest in this project and encouraging me to finish the hood! I started this back in March 2022 and was done building a long time ago, but setting up all the SimPE stuff took much longer than expected. I had loads of fun though!

Since tumblr will not let me put enough images into one post, I'm going to make seperate posts with more info about the lots and families. Or you can check out the download and see for yourself :) Happy Simming!

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #27

July 12-19 2024

President Biden announced the cancellation of $1.2 billion dollars worth of student loan debt. This will cancel the debt of 35,000 public service workers, such as teachers, nurses, and firefighters. This brings the total number of people who've had their student debt relived under the Biden Administration to 4.8 million or one out of every ten people with student loan debt, for a total of $168.5 billion in debt forgiven. This came after the Supreme Court threw out an earlier more wide ranging student debt relief plan forcing the administration to undertake a slower more piecemeal process for forgiving debt. President Biden announced a new plan in the spring that will hopefully be finalized by fall that will forgive an additional 30 million people's student loan debt.

President Biden announced actions to lower housing coasts, make more housing available and called on Congress to prevent rent hikes. President Biden's plan calls for landlords who raise the rent by more than 5% a year to face losing major important tax befits, the average rent has gone up by 21% since 2021. The President has also instructed the federal government, the largest land owner in the country, to examine how unused property can be used for housing. The Bureau of Land Management plans on building 15,000 affordable housing units on public land in southern Nevada, the USPS is examining 8,500 unused properties across America to be repurposed for housing, HHS is finalizing a new rule to make it easier to use federal property to house the homeless, and the Administration is calling on state, local, and tribal governments to use their own unused property for housing, which could create approximately 1.9 million units nationwide.

The Department of Transportation announced $5 billion to replace or restore major bridges across the country. The money will go to 13 significant bridges in 16 states. Some bridges are suffering from years of neglect others are nearly 100 years old and no longer fit for modern demands. Some of the projects include the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River which connects Portland Oregon to Vancouver Washington, replacing the Sagamore Bridge which connects Cape Cod to the mainland built in 1933, replacing the I- 83 South Bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Replacement Project in Wilmington, North Carolina, among others.

President Biden signed an Executive Order aimed at boosting Latino college attendance. The order established the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are defined as colleges with 25% or above Hispanic/Latino enrollment, currently 55% of Hispanic college students are enrolled in an HSI. The initiative seeks to stream line the relationship between the federal government and HSIs to allow them to more easily take advantage of federal programs and expand their reach to better serve students and boost Hispanic enrollment nationwide.

HUD announced $325 million in grants for housing and community development in 7 cities. the cities in Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Nevada, New York and New Jersey, have collectively pledged to develop over 6,500 new mixed-income units, including the one-for-one replacement of 2,677 severely distressed public housing units. The 7 collectively will invest $2.65 billion in additional resources within the Choice Neighborhood area – so that every $1 in HUD funds will generate $8.65 in additional resources.

President Biden took extensive new actions on immigration. On June 18th The President announced a new policy that would allow the foreign born spouses and step children of American citizens who don't have legal status to apply for it without having to leave the country, this would effect about half a million spouses and 50,000 children. This week Biden announced that people can start applying on August 19, 2024. Also in June President Biden announced an easing of Visa rules that will allow Dreamers, Americans brought to the country as children without legal status, to finally get work visas to give them legal status and a path way to citizenship. This week the Biden Administration announced a new rule to expand the federal TRIO program to cover Dreamers. TRIO is a program that aims to support low income students and those who would be the first in their families to go to college transition from high school to college, the change would support 50,000 more students each year. The Administration also plans to double the number of free immigration lawyers available to those going through immigration court.

The EPA announced $160 million in grants to support Clean U.S. Manufacturing of Steel and Other Construction Materials. The EPA estimates that the manufacturing of construction materials, such as concrete, asphalt, steel, and glass, accounts for 15% of the  annual global greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA is supporting 38 projects aimed at measuring and combatting the environmental impact of construction materials.

The US announced $203 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of Sudan. Sudan's out of control civil war has caused the largest refugee crisis in the world with 11 million Sudanese having fled their homes in the face of violence. The war is also causing the gravest food crisis in the world, with a record setting 25 million people facing acute food insecurity, and fears that nearly a million will face famine in the next months. This aid brings the total aid the US has given Sudan since September 2023 to $1.6 billion, making America the single largest donor to Sudan.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau put forward a new rule that would better regulate popular paycheck advance products. 2/3rds of workers are payed every two weeks or once a month and since 2020 the number of short term loans that allow employees to receive their paycheck days before it’s scheduled to hit their account has grown by 90%. the CFPB says that many of these programs are decided with employers not employees and millions of Americans are paying fees they didn't know about before signing up. The new rule would require lenders to tell costumers up front about any and all fees and charges, as well as cracking down on deceptive "tipping" options.

[lousycapy]

Which F1 fanbase is the fruitiest?

The results!!! The analysis is pretty lengthy, so all the details and the complete analysis as well as the rankings will be under the “keep reading” line for usability of tumblr 😵‍💫. However, if you don’t want to get into that and are just interested in the main result, know that the most queer fandom amounted to be Liam with 87.5%, and the least Lando with 62.9%.

First off, small mistake on my part that I wanted to address. Whilst making the polls I added aromanticism to the list of sexual orientations 😔. Idk aroace has somehow merged into a single entity in my mind so including both was like a reflex to my tired self, but obviously people can desire to have a sexual life without necessarily wanting to entertain a romantic life! For this reason the aromantic section of the polls will be included to the Prefers not to say/See results section, which means it will not be weighted for the complete analysis. If you still were curious of which fandom contains the highest and lowest rates of aromanticism (normalized dataset by excluding Prefers not to say/See results category), they are respectively Liam with 9.2% and Lewis with 1.2%.

Second off, this research is definitely not meant to be taken seriously! The sample sizes are way too small to be considered representative, and even then Tumblr (sole place where the polls were conducted) has a specific community that may (let’s be honest pretty assuredly lol) present a higher rate of queer representation than, let’s say, Twitter or Instagram. On average only a small fraction of a driver’s fans is present on Tumblr and would have seen the poll I posted, so the proportion of certain sexual orientation (I presume heterosexuality specifically considering the geopolitical environment of formula 1) will be much more significant in real life than shown here. Also, results may have been influenced lightly by people reading the tags from other voters before voting themselves, or even voting on polls for drivers they’re not a fan of instead of using the “see results” option to satisfy their curiosity. That said, the measures here are only meant to be a fun project now that I’m on break 😈.

Time for the interesting part, here come the results!

Starting with a table to compile the overall votes from each fanbase. If you want to explore the polls directly you can check the “Fruitiest f1 fanbase data” tag on Tumblr. The numbers are all x/100 with one decimal due to Tumblr’s limitations.

The main category in most of these polls ended up being the Prefers not to say/See results category, sometimes amounting to more than half of the votes for certain fanbases. As to make the data more interesting to analyze, this category and the aromantic votes (which do not constitute a sexual orientation as specified earlier) will be excluded from further analysis. The values of the relevant votes will be multiplied to come back onto a x/100 basis, to facilitate comparison between fanbases.

Which gives us this more representative graph of the proportion of each sexual orientation in each fanbase by normalizing the proportion of each sexual orientation to the total amount of votes considered for further analysis.

As you can see bisexuality occupies a huge fraction of the votes for all fandoms! Heterosexuality and asexuality are also proudly represented. Gay is surprisingly low in most cases, going as far as being null in Carlos’ fanbase.

As the main goal of this study, overall queerness of the fanbases will be measured first. Here is a ranking of the fanbases from biggest to smallest proportion of queer members out of a hundred people (so total amount of normalized votes minus heterosexuality) :

Liam’s fanbase comes out on top! Obviously the overall queerness representation appears to be wildly over inflated, considering that heterosexuality remains the most common sexual orientation in the world and that Tumblr harbours a pretty specific community. However, considering all data for all drivers’ fanbases was taken from tumblr, the comparison between each other still remains somewhat relevant. Considering the popularity of Carlando on the f1 scene, seeing both their fanbases at the bottom came as a surprise to me.

Next, I made mean averages of the proportion of each sexual orientation in the fanbases (excluding the Aromantic/Prefers not to say/See results categories from the dataset) and compared each fanbase to this average to show who deviated the most from the overall trend.

Thus, this would correspond to the average f1 driver’s fanbase if it was composed of 100 people :

Without surprise, bisexuality keeps its lead over every other sexual orientation. However, seeing heterosexuality as only half of bisexuality’s value feels shockingly low. Others is the least represented category overall, which was to be expected due to its abstract title and low representation irl of sexual orientations different than the ones already named. Gay, as said previously, is the least represented of the named categories.

And here are the deviations for each drivers’ fanbase to the mean average f1 driver’s fanbase in table and graph forms :

The deviations from the mean were also calculated in percentages, but since small variations in the “others” category so drastically affected the percentages and overall scale of the graphs (made other numbers too difficult to see) I preferred not to present the graphs for these results. However, I did make a table to regroup them :

I also performed chi-squared tests to make sure the variations in expected values of the mean average vs observed values in a driver’s fanbase numbers couldn’t be reasonably attributed to hazard and that there was, to a certain degree, a correlation between a driver’s abnormally small or large representation of the sexual orientations compared to the mean. 0.05 was used as the significance level threshold. Cases in green in the subsequent table were over the critical value for the degree of freedom (n=6) and thus permitted the rejection of the null hypothesis :

Based on this table, Lewis could be considered to have the fanbase the most likely to conform to the null hypothesis, and Lando the least likely (null hypothesis=variations due solely to hazard)! Most fanbases fall under the null hypothesis.

Here are the rankings for each specific sexual orientation’s proportion of the fanbase for each driver, from highest to lowest proportion of x/100 :

Notably, Carlando dominates the hetero category, the gays love Mercedes, the asexuals prefer the younger drivers and Liam has the biggest unknown queer community.

If you’re still reading this, well, thanks for taking the time to look at my silly numbers. Hope you have a great day, do crimes, and hydrate! Peace 😪