#also would have been nice to have a more developed rural area

[3liza]

saw someone talking about "scary dog privilege" on here today and cant find the post again but i guess it refers to when women are bothered less in public when accompanied by a large dog, and bypassing the quibble i have with calling that a privilege, i can absolutely 100% confirm it is true.

i was approached by a 30s-40s single white man wearing the Dipshit Uniform (guy in a baseball cap who looks like he drives an f-150 and has voting opinions i would not agree with) on the street the other day and all he had to talk about was Churchgrim. that he was VERY large, looked like a good boy, obedient, what breed is he, etc. this is the only interaction i get from men in public anymore unless i do not have the dog with me, at which point it goes back to the usual bullshit. however it has to be an actual scary-looking dog and you have to visibly have control of it. this is not why i got a large dog, it's just a side benefit. it probably has a lot to do with the masculine cultural coding of any large dog breed that isnt a poodle or a sight hound more than it does the actual violence potential of the dog, but those two things are related. notably, not a SINGLE man has tried to mansplain dog care or handling to me for five years. not one. i cant explain this because its not like being visible capable at a task or skill will stop them in any other circumstance, including when you are holding a literal firearm.

i remember reading some stupid op-ed from some idiot woman who got a dog "for protection" on her jogs and was baffled when men were not intimidated by her golden fucking retriever (although they should have been; goldens bite a lot, statistically, probably explicitly because people do not take them seriously)

the fact that men's body language and tone of voice has changed so drastically from before when i had a 90lbs black shepherd mix standing next to me is pretty damning tbh. all people both intentionally and unintentionally modulate their communication styles around that type of dog to display respect, interest, or fear, experienced dog people can be identified instantly by their comfort and confidence with the dog, and people with dog phobia are the opposite. the dog instinctively puts himself between me and approaching strangers, probably not out of a defensive instinct in grim's case but because strangers are interesting and he wants to be closer to the object of interest, but the physical barrier this creates is a great benefit to me.

specifically, men talk to me much much much more like they are speaking to another man when the dog is there. part of that is men are often genuinely interested in knowing information about a large dog of grim's type and are not using the dog as an excuse to flirt with or harass me. grim has a phenotype that is familiar to certain experiences within the united states as a "porch dog" or "yard dog" or "farm dog" that everyone who has lived in rural areas has usually known or owned a few notable examples of, and thats a general class of dog that tends to be good at listening and responding to humans and has a lot of opportunities to display intelligence or good judgment, so people with rural experience tend to associate him with good memories. he's also "handsome" in the dog sense because he got to keep his balls until he was 3, on the advice of his vet, and as a result he developed nice-looking musculature and a big thick neck which you dont get on city dogs much. he gets a lot of positive attention from older ladies as well, who you'd think would be afraid of being knocked over, but who are always just besotted with him for reasons i havent quite figured out yet. maybe they like seeing a youngish woman with a dog like this, i know that i feel good and happy when i see younger women and girls in situations where they seem safe or protected to me. i think to myself, "i don't have to worry about her" and i feel relief. observing young women and girls often triggers anxiety for women who are even just a few years older than they are, out of pure empathy. its one reason it's so important to be kind to younger people than you are.

anyway it's damning to the men because of course men don't think rationally that the dog would understand and be offended or angry if they sexually harassed or disrespected me. but they are still on their best behavior because the dog is an implicit threat that i can defend myself. and perhaps not only did they have nothing real to discuss with me before now because they assumed we had nothing in common and that i was an idiot or not human, but they are watching themselves carefully to only express normal human civility. i dont get that from random men without the dog. mostly (not entirely but mostly) i get either casual disrespect/disregard, or outright sexual harassment. when i was younger and less experienced with men and had fewer cycles of these interactions, i was completely unaware of how disrespectful these approaches or comments were, which is the interpretation i can see less-experienced women making now, even if they're my age. and when i was 20, my 30 year old friends seemed pathologically misandrist and defensive to me. it was purely the difference in our actual mileage. that sucks man. wish we could just be normal around people and not have to expect the worst constantly.

anyway, good dog

[dullgecko]

Another goblin headcanon is that goblin hoards have a reputation for a lot of in fighting and strict hierarchy, which is just completely untrue.

While they do have leaders this is normally just the oldest/most experienced in whatever area they’re in charge of and hoards are actually normally very close knit and protective of each other.

One reason for this stereotype is that goblin as a language has a lot of clicks, hisses and growls that to someone who’s not used to it would think that anything said sounds aggressive and threatening.

They also wouldn’t be able to tell the nuisance in goblin body langue e.g angry tail thrashing vs excited happy tail thrashing, big toothy smile vs showing off teeth and ears going back relaxed not really concentrating on anything in particular vs ears going back I’m annoyed and about to attack.

Goblins also tend to use a lot of touch to communicate; gentle biting of friends, whining up to someone when they want something they have (especially younger goblins to older ones), playfully pushing each other and cuddling that honestly looks more like grappling and all this from a uneducated point of view could be seen as fighting.

Add this to people already having a low opinion of goblins and a lot of the ‘studies’ and ‘research’ done on goblins is at best extremely biased and inaccurate and at worst just plain racist, and goblins developed the reputation as savages that will attack even those in their hoard.

I’m also imagining a scene where riz and the bad kids go to the mountains of chaos and either run into or get captured by a goblin hoard. And after a few misunderstandings (they did plan on eating them, apart from riz) they’re happily welcomed and shown all around their section of caves, given food, a place to stay the night if they want etc.

It’s definitely weird for riz to suddenly be surrounded by other goblins after spending his whole life with the only other goblins he really interacted with being his mom and his dad and he does get pretty overwhelmed and emotional at points. But it’s also nice to experience for himself that no matter what people say goblins aren’t just these naturally evil stupid creatures.

Also the rest of the bad kids get climbed on, a lot.

These Goblins don’t often get a chance to interact with other races so are naturally very curious about the bad kids and to them getting up and close to new friends is perfectly fine, plus they’re all so much bigger than them so it makes perfect sense to scale up them to say check out gorgugs goggles or check out the colour of Kristen’s hair etc. xx

Honestly, i love this so much that i want to print it out and eat it. Thankyou.

---------------------------------------------------

They only even got attacked in the first place because a group of older goblins out for a hunt came across a pack of tall-men carrying what is clearly a CHILD and stepped in to 'save' them.

Noone actually got hurt, despite a lot of weapon brandishing and hissing, mostly because all the bad kids by this point are EXPERTS at reading Riz's body language and it translated perfectly over to the dozen or so goblin adults surrounding them and were smart enough to firstly drop Riz (who had been play-fighting Fig earlier and was at the time being carried around like a sack of potatos under Gorgugs arm until he calmed down because he had entered the silly and biting zone) and secondly put their hands up and drop their weapons.

It had taken Riz a while to talk them down, mostly because (as he explained to his party later) his mum and dad were from the opposite end of the range and had a WILDLY different accent and he had to wrap his head around that first. Think a New Zealander trying to talk to someone from Rural Texas. They can understand eachother, it just takes a bit for you to get used to the accent.

Once Riz explained to them that they were from Elmsville, and that this was his horde, the goblins attitudes changed drastically from 'intimidating and pissed off' to 'friendly and curious'. There wasnt much of a change in their body language, but all the bad kids relaxed immediatly when they clocked the shift (which only added weight to Riz's claim that these were his horde). Especially since Fig could hiss out a passable 'nice to meet you', even if her accent was terrible.

Some of them even put down their weapons to get closer and examine the rest of the bad kids, several of them grabbing and poking at Fig and Fabians forearms when they noticed the bite marks from the earlier play-fighting and Riz showed off his own bite-marks from Fig.

They get the invite to spend the night in the caves, since its already getting dark by this point and a bit too late to set up camp, and they happily accept. Kristen and Adaine have an absoloute ball playing with the goblin kids who come to investigate (they're so SMALL AND CUTE) while Fig and Gorgug get climbed all over by children and teens in equal parts. All of them kept getting offered food that they knew from experiance they proooobably couldnt eat without getting food poisoning, but they had plenty of rations to offer back and Adaine kept pulling candy out of her jacket to the delight of both the kids AND adults.

Fabian gets spared the brunt of the grabbing and poking, but mostly because Riz has taken refuge on his shoulders after a couple hours and was flicking his tail in mild annoyance anytime someone got TOO grabby. He'd fled up onto his favorite perch when, intrigued by the novelty of a NEW and STRANGELY DRESSED goblin teenager, more than one of the hordes teens had flirted a little too aggressivly with Riz for his liking (a boy around Riz's age had grabbed his tail and done SOMETHING Fabian hadnt quite seen, but the next second Riz was scrambling up his back and hissing so he didnt ask).

[elbiotipo]

If you're from Argentina, you've probably heard about the Iberá wetlands, and you know the tourist pitch: a vast expanse of natural wonders in the middle of Corrientes, full of beautiful lapachos, cute carpinchos and yacarés, and now home to the fastest-growing wild yaguareté population, all with the unique Guaraní influenced culture of rural Corrientes.

Now, things aren't as shiny as they look, since the creation and management of the new national park is still a point of contention in many ways, but you will be suprised that this kind of thinking about the Iberá is very, very recent. Most people considered it an obstacle to progress, a big bunch of swamp in the middle of what could be a very productive ranching province. In a geography book from the 1910s (unfortunately I lost the screencap) it says something like "the biggest obstacle for the development of the province is this swamp, and it should be drained"

This took me to the other side of the world, to the Netherlands. They're known for land reclamation, from literally building their country from the sea. Especially when we're facing rising sea levels because of climate change, the Dutch seem like miracle workers, a look into our future. You will find no shortage of praise about how with some windmills and dams, the Dutch took land "from the sea", and turned it into quaint little polders, making a tiny country in Europe a food exporter and don't they look so nice? But when you look about it, you can barely find anything about what came before those polders. You have to dig and dig to find any mentions of not "sea", but of complex tidal marshes and wetlands, things I've learned are ecologically diverse and protected in many places, but you won't find people talking about that at all when talking about the Netherlands. It's all just polders now. What came before was useless swamp, or a sea to be triumphantly conquered. It's like they were erased from history

The use of that language reminded me of the failed vision of draining Iberá... and the triumphing vision in the Netherlands, and many other places. Maybe those wonderful places, those unique wetlands, would have been a footnote, you wouldn't find anything unless you were a bored ecologist who looked, and not even then. Now, far it be from me to accuse the medieval Dutch, who wanted to have more space to farm, of ecocide. And don't think this is going to be a rant against European ecological imperialism either, as the most anthropized places you can find are actually in China and India. But it does get me thinking.

I work with the concept of landscape, and landscape managing. (Not landscaping, those guys get better paid than me) The concept of landscape is somewhat similar to the concept of ecosystem you know from basic biology, but besides biotic and abiotic factors, you also have to involve cultural factors, that is, humans. There is not a single area of "pristine" untouched nature in the world, that is a myth. Humans have managed these landscapes for as long as they have lived in them. The Amazon, what many people think about when they think about "unspoilt" nature, has a high proportion of domesticated plants growing on it, which were and are still used by the people who live on it, and there once were great civilizations thriving on it. Forests and gardens leave their mark, so much that we can use them to find abandoned settlements. From hunter-gatherers tending and preserving the species vital to their survival in the tundra to engineers in Hong-Kong creating new islands for airports, every human culture has managed their natural resources, creating a landscape.

And this means these landscapes we enjoy are not natural creations. They are affected by natural enviroments; biomes do exist, species have a natural distribution. But they are created and managed by humans. Humans who decide what is valuable to them and what is not. The Dutch, seemingly, found the tidal marshes useless, and they created a new landscape, which changed the history of their nation forever. We here in modern Argentina changed our perception of Iberá, decided to take another approach, and now we made it a cherished part of our heritage, which will also speak about us in the future.

Ultimately, what is a useless swamp to be drained or a beautiful expanse of nature to be cherished depends in our culture, in us humans. We are the ones who manage and change ecosystems based in our economics, our culture, our society. This will become increasingly important, as climate change and ecological degradation becomes harsher and undeniable. We will have to decide what nature is worth to us. Think about what is it worth to you.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

Do you have any ideas on how to world build a massive overpopulated city but it isn't dirty or in shambles. Basically, everything is neat, clean and works well. Just a massive population density. I'm thinking 30k people per km2 with a total area of 1200km2. When I find images or descriptions of such high density populations I often see buildings that kind of look all rundown and slummy (not to mention high crime rates and poor if not in poverty) Or is that like.. impossible if you have such a massive crowd in one spot?

Tex: “Overpopulated” implies “more residents than the infrastructure can accommodate”. What’s considered dirty or in shambles is the result of a garbage disposal system that isn’t structured to the amount of residents + guests (tourists, relatives, holiday-goers, etc). To have a city or other area properly equipped with the amount of employees to maintain sanitation and employees to repair buildings degrading over time, it must have properly-allocated funds, and enough of it. This is at its core a governance and taxation issue, not a morality issue of “just don’t make it dirty”. Crime and poverty are the natural result of neglect by one’s government, both at a local and larger level, which requires a lot of forethought in the amount of space an individual needs to live in private and public spaces.

Utuabzu: I’m going to assume you want a prosperous city with very high density. Happily for you, there are many examples of this in the real world. Density occurs when the demand for living/working space in an area is greater than the physical space available, meaning it is worthwhile to create more space by building upwards. This naturally occurs in the centres of all cities, because proximity to one another is a big draw for both people and organisations. In the absence of any limiting factors, this is usually counterbalanced by cost making it cheaper to build outwards and simply accept longer travel times, resulting in a relatively gradual gradient of density from rural periphery to urban core.

You get greater density when there are limiting factors on outward expansion. These can be geographic, like in the case of Singapore, Hong Kong and Manhattan (all islands), legal, like in the case of Vancouver, London and many other cities (laws and policies preserving green belts or valuable farmland), or political, such as was the case for Hong Kong and still is for Singapore (an international border acting as a constraint). Often it’s more than one of these. While places like Kowloon Walled City can exist - and it in particular is a very interesting case study in urban form - for the most part very high density occurs when people want to live and work somewhere, which usually means it’s a pretty nice place to be (at least in comparison to the other options anyway). Tokyō is the world’s largest city, with 36 million people (11 million more than the entire continent of Australia), but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone accuse it of being dirty or in a shambles.

It is also worth noting that density doesn’t necessarily look like skyscrapers towering overhead. Paris has a population density of almost 25k/km² when one excludes the outlying woodland park areas, and is predominantly mid-rise buildings. The 11th Arrondissement of Paris outdoes what you ask for, with a population density just under 40k/km², and is mostly historic midrise buildings. Other European cities like Barcelona, Naples and Thessaloniki have a similar development pattern, largely due to having been built mostly before elevators existed or were commonplace, which naturally limited building heights to around 5 to 6 floors (any higher becoming increasingly impractical for the sheer number of stairs).

Feral: The International Residential Code has the minimum size required for a house to be 120 sq ft/11.1 sq m. That’s a pretty standard secondary bedroom size in suburban USA. Your population density would have one person per 33.3 sq meters, which sounds great except that doesn’t account for any non-residential use space. Given your desire for the entire city to be exceptionally well-maintained, free of crime, and presumably a wonderful place to live, that means you need great air quality, multiple green spaces, art, food, entertainment. And your city’s overall size is massive. It’s 20.5 times the size of Manhattan, 11.3x the size of Paris, and 1.6x the size of Singapore - to name a few of the cities brought up in previous answers. This kind of sprawl does not make for good urbanization - just ask the city of Los Angeles, which is almost exactly the same overall size as what you’re aiming for but has a tenth of the density.

A few articles to get you started on density, urbanization, and sprawl:

Cities Really Can Be Both Denser and Greener by Emma Marris

Is There a Perfect Density? By Michael Lewyn

When is density good, and when is it harmful to cities? By Philip Langdon

Making cities more dense always sparks resistance. Here’s how to overcome it. By David Roberts

[tg-headcanons]

Thinking about ghouls as farmers/farmhands

I imagine that some types of kagune would be excellent for harvesting/ploughing with a nice bonus of no carbon emissions. I imagine ghouls, after criminalisation, would possibly even revolutionise farming/carbon footprint from farming?

(Although of course ideally a farm wouldnt till but even then for harvesting ghouls would be quite efficient.)

GHOULS IN FARMING AND FOOD PRODUCTION IS SO INTERESTING

Ghouls have always been a part of society, and regardless of where they are or how accepted they are, they’ve always had some hand in farming since, especially before industrialization, it was a good field for them. Their strength, senses, and kagune make them fantastic at cultivating, protecting, and harvesting food

In old world cultures where ghouls were always ostracized, they couldn’t be open about why their crops grew so well, so they tended to make up myths and stories about some ritual or another that makes their harvests so bountiful. They had senses of smell and pressure detection that could help them sniff out blights and pests, as well as semi-accurately predict rainfall, letting them handle issues before they got too bad. That, and their strength that lets them handle the physical task of planting and harvesting, helped them produce a lot of plants. But telling humans how they did it is off the table, so it was common for them to have a plowing Ox just for show and to say they said some prayer that helped

A lot of why ghouls thrived in farming is due to their regeneration. It may not be talked about much anymore, but it is DANGEROUS. Not just the modern machinery, but the strain of lifting and carrying. The illnesses carried by plants and animals. The workhorses and oxen that can just fucking kick you to death. The PIGS. It’s all risky work, and back before antibiotics, just one cut and you’re done for. A person who can not only survive almost any cut, but take a donkey kick to the face and get right back up to finish plowing the field is one of the most valuable people any farming village can have

Farming animals is more hit or Miss, because a lot of prey animals panic when they smell ghoul. Some ghouls still kept them and after enough time, or enough animals born around the smell of them, they could get used to it. Historically ghouls have run a lot of butcher shops because it was one of the best places to hide human meat before dna testing became widely available, so some animal husbandry skill was a good thing

Ghouls tended to make good shepherds. In especially rural areas, a lot of humans would collectively decide not to talk about the fact that someone is obviously a monster because they’re simply so fast and strong and don’t let sheep and cattle go missing or get hunted. If you were in Cold Ass Nowhere Ireland in 1635 and you had a shepherd who not only never loses a sheep but also eats the English, you’d pretend you didn’t notice either

In areas and cultures where ghouls were more accepted, they were essential to hunting and farming. North and central american ghouls had traits designed for taking down megafauna to supplement their diets, and their human companions could depend on them to bring countless Buffalo and deer home. Jungle subspecies had traits built for climbing, and were central to the harvest of high growing fruits and beans. A now likely extinct species native to Canada had semi aquatic adaptations and a thick layer of fat who were designed to hunt seals and small whales, and shaped the way any community lucky enough to have some survived. In places where ghouls were welcomed, they were so efficient at harvesting and hunting that land rarely needed to be developed for monocultures at all

When ghouls are decriminalized in more parts of the world, their physical abilities are allowed to shine again. Stories of ghoul farmers through history arise. Plenty of American and Polynesian communities (who had been telling people about ghoul’s contributions to their land and cultures for years and were having that brushed off as myth) can legally reintroduce the old practices of ghoul hunting and harvesting techniques. Smaller farms hire more ghouls once it’s clear that they can do machine level work without the expense of maintaining machines, and it’s one of the biggest ghoul hiring fields at the start of their legalization

Naturally, ghoul farming unions are quick to form. They can do machine level work, but are not going to risk being treated like machines for it. As with any Union there’s some backlash, but when it becomes apparent just how much better ghouls are at crop maintenance and harvesting, demands are met. It’s become a well paying profession, and has been good work for ghouls that struggle with the human grade education they were denied when they were younger, or ghouls who simply prefer to work outside doing something that benefits people

[myfirstbreakcharacter]

Get Random With Me

I wanted to make an adventure site using the tools presented in the book and I wanted to show how I go about it. The first step is in gathering results from BREAK!!'s tables. I prefer to start on p342, and going through the section on Encounters. I'll use 2 results from some tables but only 1 from others. That'll give me a list....

From there, I start matching up elements. This is where rolling multiples of some items can come in handy. This quickly establishes a lived-in narrative in a way that makes this adventure make sense, because no element exists in isolation. It's about how everything relates to each other.

I don't feel like the restraints trap really fits in with everything else in a way which speaks to me so I may scrap that result but I'll leave it in for now. Let's look at what we've got so far: 1. A hidden grave (read: unmarked) in a difficult-to-cross, eerily serene area suggests to me a forgotten cemetery of some kind, one of those places like you see in Dark Souls or New Orleans or rural areas where folks are just....piled on each other over time. Peaceful and nice in its way but not calm in a welcoming way. If we're recovering lost tech then the strange mechanism may be something that the grave's occupant wanted to take with him....that may even explain why the grave is unmarked. May be some kind of portal device. An inventor who wanted to protect the world from what they created? 2. Our noble could be someone who coveted that technology and has spent a long time searching for it. The birds/skree are his eyes and ears, and Medium-sized growls act as his muscle. He may be old. He's not even for sure a "he" but cmon wasting all this time pursuing this power that doesn't belong to him when his station could afford him ANY other opportunity? That's a guy. He's been digging, probably using a grid system in search of this grave....a mechanism by which he can seal off sections of the cemetery while he searches could make sense. Probably a magical barrier, a ward.... 3. I like the idea of making the fog more of a local hazard than a trap, and making that what's obscuring everyone's vision. I wouldn't make it too toxic in terms of burning through players' hearts but I might make it toxic enough that only those with Rebreathers can recover hearts, including after a Fight. The glowing light leading them through the fog is a nice idea....the spirit of the departed inventor? It's also raining frogs (ribbittys?) who are unaffected by the fog. 4. Abandoned quarters could represent the home of the inventor on the grounds....is this his ancestral stead, or was he a brilliant gravedigger?....the confused god imprisoned within could have been the key to unlocking the secrets of the portal device. The god may not have a full understanding of time or death, or for that matter of imprisonment; this can be a god in the sense of a force less than a full personality. It may still be expecting the inventor to turn up. I've watched enough Danny Phantom that it makes sense to have the portal device be used to seal away the "hungry adventurers," which could be your standard walking dead but which I prefer to make a kind of ravenous semi-spectral horde, one which perhaps terrorized this plain in the wake of a great battle until sealed away. That wouldn't leave much opportunity for an abandoned home or a cemetery to develop, so maybe they only manifest at certain anniversaries....

Thinking about how the opening to Ninja Gaiden or an oldschool anime recap would handle this helps to put things into perspective for me. Also, when in doubt I just think about the images I want to capture. In this case there are 3: the entity/horde being sealed away as they try to breach into the world again, the noble villain surrounded by his animal servitors, and the uncomfortable effort of clambering over markers and amphibians while following a light in the fog. If I wanted to capture the restraints-trap, I'd do so with the lashing, grasping limbs of the phantom horde as they first escape their containment, moving and flailing as one creature... "In the misty ruins of a mansion's grounds, a bitter aristocrat continually searches for the magical technology he believes is rightfully his. Our heroes must brave the dangers of the Coughin' Gardens or else an ancient curse will be re-visited upon the surrounding countryside."

There's a version of this scenario where the noble listens to reason and it's only through the united efforts of the company, the noble, the god, and the spirit of the inventor that the device is able to renew the seal against the horde, and their opposition comes from a mutiny by the carrion-feeders the noble employs as his spies. Manipulated by the same deathly forces which bind the hungry horde in its sinister cycle...

But it's also an interesting PLACE to spend a session and at least 3 interesting figures around whose struggles the scenario revolves. There's a handful of clear goals. I'm also a big fan of scenarios where things are already moving toward either escalation or resolution by the time the players gets involved. It lets them choose whether to bring a deft touch or a Gordian knot solution to the proceedings when it feels less like all these people were standing around waiting for some adventurer to come and do everything for them; players feel less like their level of investment is being assumed on their behalf.

Battlefield areas can be Isolated or Precarious, most of them can be Obscured, and I'd keep the threat of suffocation at bay and out of a fight's logistics if I were to employ my heart-recovery restriction I mentioned earlier....

Anyhow, that's what I'd do...

[mortuarywriting]

*slides you a snack of your choosing* tell me more about turkeys. i’m deeply curious

- @pfhwrittes

Snackies are always appreciated!! And hell, have some fun Morg lore

Look, I'm from a Very Rural Area, like I'd say I'm just a jerk from a small town but the house I consider the one I grew up in? The "town" didn't constitute as a town because we didn't have our own post office. There were more cows than people in the two towns we were squeezed between and we weren't a cattle farming dominant area!!! Our agg priorities were different!! Cows just helped with the fields!

All this to say: we had family friends who had a farm that we would visit somewhat regularly because their kids were my parents godkids and they've been family friends for A Hot Minute. Good people but it was a farm so yanno there's only so much to do.

They always had a fun spread of chickens because they wanted some neat breeds (I know they had the polish fancy ones, but I dont remember the breed they had that laid eggs that were just slithtly pastel kinda easter colors. They were neat), a handful of ducks, and turkeys. Maybe a goose or two? They had a bit of everything tbh. Dunno what it is about turkeys that I've gotten so fond of em but they're so fuckin silly!!

Really they try to be big and impressive but I meant what I said when they just deflate and go back to vibing if you pet down their back. While they don't lay quite as often as chickens turkey eggs? Much larger in comparison!

You can get 2-3 eggs worth for a single turkey egg. Ducks and geese also have eggs that are larger than chicken eggs. It's neat stuff and they're pretty good!

We had a lot of chicken raising in the area I'm from and that's where the 4H kids would take field trips to, and after they'd interacted with the chicks the chicks couldn't be reintroduced to the rest of the flock because they've been introduced to outside germs and sickness and if they got sick could infect the lot. It's easier to count the chicks as losses because the American poultry system is. Not pretty. And casualties among the flock happen. I would not recommend looking this up.

ANYWAY there were always kids who were like "no ill take the chicks home with me!" And then there were chicks running around the highschool because it was a school trip during school hours. High schoolers are known to be so responsible, so naturally a giant shock when people weren't paying attention and lost em. Chicks would just kinda wander until someone else scoops em up and finds who they belonged to.

From a teacher who wound up with one of these chicks they uh. Don't ever really develop properly in the sense of acclimating properly to becoming a free range chicken after the conditions they were raised in initially. Commercial chicken raising is, again, a nightmare in the states and from what little I've mentioned to my friends in the UK it wouldn't be acceptable practice there. So that's nice.

Anyway the chicken wire comment is exactly what it says on the tin: chicken chicks are like the perfect size to be an owl's lynch if they can get into the area you're keeping the babies in. Nature and circle of life and all that, but chicken wire for the most part will keep em away from the babs. Turkey chicks are a bit bigger but I still wouldn't put it past a hungry owl tbh. I also personally call turkey chicks turklets. They're very cute to me and I always love seeing wild turkey moms with like 6-7 of em.

So yeah. Turkeys are neat and funny and I absolutely derailed this to talk about chickens whoops. Fun turkey story we have from some family friend or another- he was at a bar, was supposed to be home by 10, rocked up at home after midnight, couldn't get in, it was below freezing, so he just. Went in with the turkeys, grabbed and held one, and just slept in with them. If you're their people they're fine with you in with them, I think it's neat.

Have a wild turkey fact people don't think about: these bitches do fly. That is a thing they do. They also sleep in trees! Somewhere on my phone I have a picture of a turkey hanging out at the top of a tree to stay out of the rain. I wouldn't wanna get out of bed for a dreary day either.

[dailymothanon]

can

can i humbly request

some alaska hcs

maybewithasmidgeoffruitylittlemantexas

aLso

lowkey highkey feral for your art i want to eat it (very joyful) i love your style uddksgiehk it's so pretty omg

i hope you have a day as wonderful as your drawings, thank you op for your brain food

This might be long idk

Alaska:

-he has a monotone voice, and his facial expressions are very limited — sometimes his voice would magically switch in tones but he overall doesn’t try to control it cause he doesn’t care

-he has very calloused hands, mostly because he’s more of a hands-on person and that being put in the wilderness a lot caused that, I guess in a way the callousness of his hands are like permafrost? I dunno

-when he decides to actually hibernate for the winter no states wanna bother him— even Florida (like how Florida was concerned when Gov asked him to call Alaska because Alaska likes to be alone)

-like Alaska said himself, he doesn’t actually hate Texas, so I doubt he actually hates any of the states

-Alaska’s actually rather a mother bear towards the other states occasionally, despite his constant stoic personality

-yeah no he gotta be autistic. -he’s built like MOOSE respectively. And a bear, and imo he has the fierceness of a wolverine if he wants to

-out of all the states, I like to imagine he has the most notable or prominent canine teeth, mostly because in the wilderness of Alaska, most of the food you’d find there are meat, fish, and berries. -I’m sure he has back problems. If only he had a cowboy that could offer him a massage or something

-I gave him a slit eyebrow and a scar just above it because I saw someone hc him with it somewhere else but I can’t remember where, but I decided why not yknow

-I call his hair The Bush, which essentially is what we call the non urban or suburban areas, or the extra rural rural Alaska, which is like 2/3 of Alaska, that’s why it’s so wild and unkept

-Alaska is known for being a usually prepared person, mostly a habit he’s picked up from living in the wild

-listen…. I don’t think Russian is his second language. He has 20 official languages (excluding English) and they’re his native languages. He’d speak the native languages before Russian any day. Him as an individual does know Russian due to his history, but as a state he speaks indigenous languages rather than Russian. -again, he’d speak his indigenous people’s languages the most after English

-no, he’s not russian

-yes, i base him more off of his native culture

-he has black hair and dark eyes

-he hates bright lights with a passion, but natural lights are an exception (I like to think this is why his garage is dimly lit)

-some of the states call his garage his ‘den’ cause he’s like a bear in a cave

-he has some of the best eyesight mostly due to being THE hunting state and living in the middle of nowhere sometimes just because he can

-when he’s in a story telling mood, he can go on for hours, but this doesn’t happen often because all the other states tend to be busy or he’s not comfortable talking to them, also he’s been shot down from his rambling before and it hit him hard, his poor soul

-many states like to go to his garage when things get overwhelming or too hot out, I like to imagine that’s why in the scene where Texas entered his room, the door was already unlocked

-Alaska actually does have fire seasons, it’s just that he doesn’t talk about them cause he feels they’re not as important as anyone else’s issues, it’s a problem he’s developed over time

Texas:

-i don’t have as much hcs for him but

-his hair is probably brown, darkish I think

-his boots have spurs and he does bounce his leg without thinking

-probably has keen eyes, I wouldn’t know, but they’d probably not be as good as Alaska’s hunter eyesight (Alaska will make fun of him for that)

-loves cowboy stuff a hell of a lot

-he actually rather likes the bickering he and Alaska do, it’s a nice distraction and a good excuse to talk about his state and learn about the other’s

-he knows how to braid hair n other stuff. Because I said so

-he sometimes actually goes to California for advice, he hates to admit it if he ever will

-he probably has names for his guns, if we’re gonna be honest, but he tries not to talk about it in front of other states

-he has to admit to himself, Alaska is rather a good anchor for him to keep him grounded and not off his heels about himself

-Texas is easier to fluster than it is to shake the pollen off a flower

-he has dry as all hell hands. Get his ass some lotion or something

Both Texas and Alaska:

-as far as I’ve seen, in wttt Alaska and Texas are the only ones that I know have cleaned their things during meetings and such (Texas with his gun and Alaska with his ulu knife)

-so I want to imagine they’d both busy themselves with cleaning their stuff while having conversations with each other

-Texas often calls Alaska ‘Big Guy’ and Alaska often refers to him as ‘Cowboy’

-Texas actually went to Alaska for help when he froze over since Alaska is experienced with the cold — but Alaska decided to spare him and not talk about it during the Alaskan Recap and said he simply went ‘camping’ instead

-they often bicker that it’s basically a way to communicate together now

-Texas actually does listen to Alaska’s stories when he has the time, and Alaska in return would listen to him rant about whatever’s troubling him (even if it’s stupid)

-if you ask Alaska, he’d probably just straight up answer whatever you asked, but Texas depending on the question, wouldn’t directly answer especially if it’s about him and it isn’t about how holy he is

-yeah no the two have definitely camped together before

-Texas sometimes teaches Alaska about different southern terms and sayings

-also they have NO ass, they’re flat as all hell, Alaska probably has a little more ass, but it’s mostly to make sure Texas doesn’t get too ahead of himself yaknow

-Texas taught Alaska how to square dance actually, I would know cause I was there

that’s all the hcs I can think of at the moment, I might edit it a few times

[inherstars]

Had kind of a fucked up thing happen yesterday, and I'm still not 100% sure how this is going to shake out.

Where do I even start with this.

So our overall neighborhood is divided up into many small cul de sacs. It was built in the late 70s, each cul de sac has about 10-12 "twin" homes (two side-by-side houses that share a party wall) crammed all the way around. It's created a situation where each individual cul de sac in the development becomes it's own close-knit neighborhood where everyone knows everyone's business, everybody sends their kids out to play in the street, etc. Which is nice!

It also means that it's harder to avoid conflict, and if you have one or two neighbors in the circle that don't keep their property up, or are assholes, or some other issue, it also becomes everyone's business.

A funny thing happened a couple weeks ago, where a lady from ANOTHER cul de sac behind ours made a shitty comment on a local Facebook page about the way OUR cul de sac parks their cars, making it hard for her to walk her dog. Which resulted in EVERYONE FROM OUR CUL DE SAC basically rallying together and laying into this woman, and now only her husband walks their dogs because I guess she's afraid of invoking the rage of this tiny misfit suburban army.

It's ridiculous. But anyway.

Marc and I befriended one of the neighbors a few houses down from us. She always kept to herself, nobody really talked to her, and she didn't seem to have many friends on the street. There was a lot of drama with her roommate at the time, and it was stressing people out. As I got to know her and befriend her, I also sort of stepped i and helped smooth out some issues that were getting stirred up between her and her neighbors on either side. It was just one of those "Nobody is at fault, everybody is a little at fault, let's just try to be kinder and more understanding to each other" situations.

We've all gotta live here, let's make it as pleasant as possible.

And this has worked well so far, and the neighbor and I became friends. She worked tough hours, so I would often go over and walk her dog and play with her cats (he's the pit bull I mentioned months ago, that I was teaching some tricks to.) She has some dietary restrictions, and I'd cook for her, pick up special groceries for her, just... trying to be a good friend and neighbor.

One of the issues that I think people had with her, initially, is that -- at first glance, and unless you know the truth -- she can seem... methy. We have a SERIOUS drug problem in our area, and those sorts of things aren't uncommon. Rural + Redneck + Meth = lots of people with no teeth. She's also a POC, and I think that contributes to people immediately writing her off, in this neighborhood especially.

In actuality, she's a college grad, hard-working as fuck, but she's been battling a recurring form of cancer since she was 18 years old. She had to have multiple surgeries on her jaw.

I don't want to get into the long and short of it, but in the past year or so she has just had a terrible, terrible fucking run of luck. Relationship issues, home repair issues, job issues, injuries, insurance, and she also recently found out that the cancer is back, and she's going to have to have major surgery, reconstructive surgery, will be in the ICU for awhile, need a feeding tube. And I'm giving you the good parts version of all this. There's even more complications, and she is clearly, understandably overwhelmed.

She also has guns.

To make a very long story a little shorter, yesterday afternoon she called me at a time I couldn't pick up. I texted her back, and she asked me to come over. I was RIGHT in the middle of dinner, and I told her I needed like 10 minutes, but she was... evasive and dodgy, and phrasing things in a way that were really troubling. So I ham-fisted pizza into my mouth and went over.

Anyway. She had a moment, and her guns are now at my house, where she can't access them. I don't know how the dog knew what she was planning, but he physically prevented her from locking herself in the bathroom where she had some bad ideas.

This is way above my paygrade. She is doing this alone, she basically has very little family that can be an active day-to-day help, and there's this one shady fucking dude she made friends with who is trying to convince her to let him move into her house to "help", and to write a will and make him executor. All out of the kindness of his fucking heart, I'm sure.

She's safe, and in the short term that's the most important thing. I'm going to try to check in with her every day, and help her try to navigate the other things that are going on, but it's..... a lot. I am not really equipped to be the help that she needs, but I also can't just turn my back on her?

But holy shit. It was a day.

[void-botanist]

9 (in my defense i'm a social scientist ajdjfjfkfj), 18 and 27 for the character development ask game!

I'll take Zel for this one because I really don't talk about her enough. I'm also going to do these out of order because I went on a whole adventure for number 9, the question about socioeconomic status.

Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others? Wisdom is what she most actively admires, because she wants to be capable and collected and not chaotic, and to avoid more pitfalls of being ambitious. Once upon a time she had ambitious academic and career goals: when she started college in Takolem City, she wanted to be a veterinarian. She made it about a year and a half in her veterinary science program before various factors led to her transferring to a school in Winchester and finishing out a degree in literature, and she has a lot of regrets about how that went. She's also just plain envious of her brother, who somehow managed to get all the way through a doctoral degree and then land an extremely cool space job almost by accident?? Rude???

How does your character normally deal with confrontation? It really depends on the context and who's involved. In public, or with people she doesn't know well, she tries to defuse things with humor and sarcasm, often @ herself. But in private, especially with people she knows well, and especially her brother, she accelerates pretty quickly from defusing with sarcasm to full-on shouting match. Except it's not really a "match" with Zalen because it takes a lot to make him yell at anyone. She's never shouted at Anni, but Anni also doesn't really confront people that much.

Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up? I possibly thought about this way too hard and went kind of sideways, but I think I understand socioeconomic status better as a concept? If I say anything that makes you go ?? feel free to reply/message me/send another ask.

Anyway, the short answer is yeah, mostly. Zel grew up in a tiny rural mountain town in Takolem. Goods that had to be brought in from elsewhere—even up from the foothills—tended to be more expensive, but the town and its nearby neighbors could produce most of the basics themselves (food, water, soap, furniture, etc.) and the community tended to be pretty cohesive and supportive of mutual aid. Universal basic income was provided to adults by Takolem's government, but it was scaled by average costs for basic requirements of living. Those requirements were defined broadly, but still, for Zel's hometown, the payouts were some of the lowest in the country, even as prices for external goods rose in tandem with costs of living in other areas. Zel's grandfather had a decent job that shored up the UBI payouts to support a four-person household, but a lot of the tech that Zel owns now would have been luxuries during her childhood.

Zel now lives in a major city in Deridis, where UBI payouts are generally higher, even if the exact details of why are different for Deridis's goverment. She could coast on UBI for a while since she's only supporting herself in a small apartment. But it's nice to have the extra money (and tax write-offs for some of her tech) and she likes streaming. So that's kind of the economic part. The socio- part of the question is more complex. (To be clear, I'm looking at this from a US perspective because that's what I know.) I haven't thought a lot about how it's conceptualized in-world, but in both of these contexts blue collar jobs and trades are actually valued, and more even income and wealth distribution means that there isn't a stark division between "haves" and "have-nots" in terms of numbers or social standing (I know making use of resources like tutoring or extracurricular activities is more complicated than just how much time and money people have available to them, but on those basic levels there's more equality). Zel does sometimes struggle with no longer living in the same community as she did growing up, because she doesn't have the benefits of directly knowing people and being able to learn from them. She still hasn't really succeeded in building up a new community around herself that she can rely on and contribute to. There's also an element of how different species' cultures influence one another. Zel's home culture was mostly in conversation with local tree and mushroom person cultures, whereas Deridis has a strong relationship with orea-nawwen cultures, which does change some of the underlying attitudes and species distribution across different types of jobs. So overall Zel has a higher socioeconomic status now than when she was a kid, but it's complicated especially when you look at it in terms of social class.

[zepskies]

Now that you are giving free live advices, i would love to have your opinion about my situation, if you are free, no pressure or anything…

So, there this guy in my class that I’ve rarely seen during last 2 years of my college, maybe due to different schedules. But now we are partnered up for an assignment. And when i tell you, “He is fictional character written by a female writer”, i mean it. One day i said, I’m not feeling well, and he got me chocolates, he always offers me a hand when we are walking around thin roads(for surveys, mostly in rural areas or in undeveloped areas), whenever i bend to tie my laces under the bench, he places a hand on the lower side of the bench to protect me from accidental head bumps, he pulls the chair for me whenever I’m looking to sit down, he gets me flowers from places he’s been to for surveys, he is nice, soft spoken and funny.

But, i dont know what to feel, i mean i am confused a bit, i feel sometimes i like him more than a friend and i should talk to him about how i feel, but sometimes, i don’t feel anything for him. The last guy i dated left me for someone else(more like cheated on me with his ex), guess I’m just scared? When i found out my ex cheated on me he said I expect too much from him, but apart from everything that happened, the worst part of my previous relationship was the fact that he was my childhood bestfriend and my first love. I don’t talk about him too much and i think I’ve developed trust issues. And it’s affecting me, I’ve turned down many guys from last couple of years, but i don’t want my past to interfere with my present.

Hope you are doing well and staying healthy 🫂 TC hon✨❤️

Hello, lovely anon!

I'm honestly flattered that people seem to want my advice lol. I'm just writing fanfic over here, but if you want an objective opinion from a Single Pringle gal, then I gotchu! 😅🤙🏽

This guy sounds lovely! I would love to meet one as considerate as he seems to be. It also sounds like you haven't encountered a guy like this before, this openly kind and considerate, and it's calling your attention.

Your ex sounds like a selfish asshat, and it's understandable that you would hold trauma from that experience. Cheating is an ultimate betrayal, and coming from your former best friend and first love, that's just awful and I'm so sorry you went through that.

Have you spoken to someone about what you went through? Whether it's a friend or a mentor or a therapist? I myself have sought advice from a professional when I needed it. And if it's still affecting your potential future relationships, I would say maybe think about that. Like you said, you don't want your past to define your future and limit your opportunities to meet someone special.

But as it stands with this new guy, do you get the "butterflies" when you hang out with him? Do you find yourself thinking about him when he's not around? If you really want to explore something with him, I would just be honest and ask if he wants to grab a coffee sometime (or maybe dinner, if you're feeling brave). Most people should be happy to know that someone likes them. ❤️

Good luck! I hope all goes well. I'm actually getting over a cold after a trip I took this past weekend, but I'm pushing through! lol Hope you're healthy and thriving as well. ❤️

[complexion-me]

Interview : Dr. Valerie Hanft on A02 Clear

Valerie Hanft, MD, has practised general medical and paediatric dermatology for 20 years. She has served on the FDA Task Force, participated in many clinical trials, and authored multiple peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Hanft has been consistently chosen as a Texas Top Doctor and included in Austin Monthly’s Top Doctor list in dermatology. She has also volunteered on medical missions to Haiti, where she provided care in rural clinics and area hospitals. We spoke to her about a new game changing product called A02 Clear.

1) Hi Dr Valerie, could you tell us more about how you came across A02 Clear.

A mutual acquaintance introduced me to Zvi Yaniv, the physicist who patented the oxygen nanobubble technology. At that time, he had developed a formulation to treat peripheral neuropathy. He consulted me inquiring about potential  applications in dermatology.

2) There’s really no other product like this in the market. How does it actually work on acne?

The bacteria that causes pimples, Cutibacteria acnes, is anaerobic. This means it thrives in an environment like the skin pores where there is lack of oxygen. By flooding the pores with oxygen nanobubbles, AO2 Clear is a natural antibacterial agent. Clogged pores occur as a result of excess sebum (oil) production and improper turnover of the lining of the skin pore. This process is also perpetuated by a low oxygen state. Thus, AO2 Clear not only targets the bacterial source of acne, but also the blackheads and whiteheads that accompany the pimples.

3) How do you recommend patients use it?

I recommend people use a gentle cleanser then pat the skin dry. Apply AO2 Clear with the included compostable sponges with a gentle exfoliating motion then allow the skin to air dry. Best results are achieved when using the product twice daily.

4) Can the product be used alongside other topicals like tretinoin and spot treatments (benzoyl peroxide or clindamycin)?

As long as users allow their skin to air dry after using AO2 Clear, they can use all the products they normally would use in their daily regimen. Many users have reported replacing their toner with AO2 Clear which is not drying like most toners. This creates a nice clean skin canvas before applying other products.

5) I’ve heard this also helps speed post-procedure healing. Could you tell us more about how this works?

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-accepted treatment for wound healing. Oxygen at a high pressure gradient will move into tissues where the oxygen pressure is lower. For chronic wounds, oxygen has antiinflammatory effects, leads to improved blood flow, and increases collagen production by fibroblasts. AO2 Clear uses the same principles as hyperbaric oxygen therapy to accelerate skin healing whether this is post-procedure (after laser resurfacing or chemical peels, for example) or in the setting of irritating topical treatments as seen with retinoid use.

6) Are there any contraindications for using this?

There are no contraindications for AO2 Clear! Women who are pregnant, nursing, or trying to conceive can safely use this product. It can be used alone or in conjunction with any other treatment. Even people with very sensitive skin can use AO2 Clear as it contains no chemicals that could cause irritation. https://ao2clear.com/

[highplains123]

Usda Rural Housing Loan Liberty Federal Credit Union

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Individuals who thought they would be unable to qualify for traditional loans are often in a position to obtain financing through USDA loans. You also comply with our Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy relating rural area home loans to the data regarding you. This consent applies even if you're on a company, state or national Do Not Call record.

However, you still need to pay for the inspection, appraisal, and shutting costs. This kind of USDA mortgage loan is out there to low- and very-low-income debtors. Loan proceeds may be used to purchase, renovate or relocate a home, or to make site improvements together with installation of water and sewage companies. Keep studying to study extra about eligibility for a Rural Development Single-Family Home Loan and tips on how to start the appliance course of.

Tim Eagan, is a really professional and an excellent Loan officer, he explains up front what to expect, and get you the best fee attainable in the marketplace. I will suggest Grandview Lending, Inc to anyone excited about buying house. This is the second time I even rural home loans have used Kimberly Irving for the refinancing of my home and he or she has been extraordinary! She and her assistant Glenn Hubbard walked me via each step and made positive I understood every thing that was occurring. If I had any questions Kimberly and her group have been jolly on the spot. I highly advocate Kimberly Irving at Grandview Lending.

I would highly suggest Tracy and the Grandview Lending group for your home mortgage needs. Kim went above and past to get our household the best fee she could! She kept in fixed communication and made the complete process quite simple and stress free. We would use suggest to anyone to offer Grandview Lending your business.

I highly suggest Grandview Lending and they will actually make you are feeling like a valued buyer, and not only a quantity. Kimberly Irving helped make my first home shopping for experience totally enjoyable! I was offered quick turnaround time and reliable communication that made the customer support stand out from other companies i’ve tried. I highly suggest to anyone looking for broker/loan companies. Tracy Harding and the staff at Grandview can do what nobody else can do, and make you feel good about it while they do it.

I extremely suggest them and have despatched a number of friends their method. A USDA loan could additionally be less costly than an FHA loan, so it’s price contemplating a USDA loan first if you meet the eligibility requirements. USDA loans typically don’t require down funds, making them engaging to homebuyers who don’t have a lot cash saved up.

The rates of interest are nice which is able to allow you to maintain your funds low. Qualifying for a USDA Rural Development loan is similar to an FHA mortgage nevertheless there are two necessary necessities you must meet for earnings limits and rural home location. We were more than happy with Tim Egan's work on the mortgage for our new home buy. We would recommend his services to anyone in the market to buy or refinance. He spend a lot of time explaining the process and answering our questions and that led to no surprises along the means in which.

“Rural” doesn’t imply dust roads and farms that are disconnected from the remainder of the world. It means more space, extra tranquility, and extra of the things that suit your lifestyle rural home loan. We have created an easy-to-useonline application toolso you could start the method. New development loans to construct the residence you’ve been ready for.

[maineruraln784]

Facilities Provided By Maine's Rural News

Maine is one of the state's most remote and least developed regions. Its remoteness is what makes it a great place to raise a family. Tens of thousands of vacationers flock to Maine each year to take in the area's natural beauty. Many of those visitors are multigenerational Mainens looking to enjoy the good life.

The region is home to a few things that make it an attractive place to live and work. In addition to the natural wonders of Maine, Downeast has a robust community network and a strong sense of stewardship. One example is the Community Technical Education Center, which addresses shortages of boat mechanics and other skilled trades. Another is the Maine Farmland Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the future of farming in the state.

The region has a lot to celebrate, including a new federal designation that will provide $100 million in federal funding to boost broadband connectivity in rural communities across the state. In announcing the award, Governor Janet Mills reaffirmed her commitment to providing high-speed Internet to every Mainer by 2024. The state also recently announced that it would soon be home to the world's first superhighway, which will be a boon to tourism. Moreover, the region has many multigenerational Mainers who understand that they can make a difference in their communities.

As for the state's traffic statistics, the traffic fatality rate was slightly lower than the average American driver. However, it was still more than twice that of the rest of the state. This has been attributed to several factors, including a booming tourist industry and a stay-at-home order that resulted in fewer drivers on the road. The state is also home to several airports that have set records this year.

In addition to the usual suspects, several newcomers have come to Maine, most notably the migrant workers who chose to raise their families here rather than where the corporate execs are headquartered. The area also has seen a flurry of tech startup activity, which is good because it means jobs for locals. Moreover, many of the region's migrant workers have become business leaders.

Among its tidbits, the largest town in the region, Rumford, is home to the state's largest fire department and the largest number of fire engines. The area also boasts one of the state's best libraries, with many books that are available for free. Another big draw is the area's burgeoning tourist industry, partly due to the nearby scenic beauty of Acadia National Park. The big one, though, is the COVID-relief package, which includes $1.9 trillion in relief for Maine's Rural News timber industry, which is a nice windfall for a state home to some of the country's largest tree farms.

[cinnabargirl]

As much as I love Oblivion, one of the things that has always bugged me about it is the very lacklustre worldbuilding, especially concerning the west-east/Colovia-Nibenay divide in Cyrodiil as stipulated in lore. There is so much lost potential when you really get into it, and when you compare it to what's in game the latter just falls really flat. Not to mention that Cyrodiil and Imperials as a whole are supossed to be inspired by ancient Rome but what we find in game is just generic north western European inspired medieval fantasy.