#implementing local

[bunnyboy-juice]

i would love to backhand someone at least once in my life

[funkycrabturtle]

last post of the year! unfortunately no art (yet), so i'm just gonna say that I went to visit the royal botanic gardens. that's it!

anyways, happy new year to all of you! enjoy your last day of 2024 while you can.

[qesii]

I’m concerned what nonamericans will face with new foreign policy and what type of military force will be used to secure America’s economic interests now that we don’t dominate world trade

[essektheylyss]

I have edited ONE WHOLE CHAPTER and honestly, this shit isn't even that hard. What the fuck was I so worried about.

[tiffanyachings]

Hi! Just ignore this if you like, I know it's not actually your job to explain this stuff, but you understand the current political shenanigans like 8000x better than I do so I thought I might as well ask. I live in a Tory safe seat. Like, the safest seat. Even with everything going on, all the polls still say the rat bastard, as he is known, stays in charge here. In a situation like that, where chances are the best anyone can do is make him think for a split second that maybe this time he won't get in (before he inevitably does) what do you think the best vote to cast is? Like, I want to vote for something, obviously, but I don't know if there's anyone I can vote for where it would even matter. Is my best bet to vote for whoever is most likely to come in second place, to try and close that gap; or whoever I think would actually make the best MP for the area; or whichever party I'm most on board with? (The last two aren't the same, unfortunately). Sorry for bothering you with this. You just seem smart and informed and I'm so overwhelmed with all this election stuff that I want to scream.

aww thank you, and you're not bothering me at all, i love talking about politics!! my sympathies for being surrounded by so many tories though :((

tbh i'm an advocate for voting for whoever best represents your views because i don't think holding your nose for someone you don't really agree with to try and game the (terrible) electoral system is how we get political change - parties just take it as a mandate to continue with whatever they were doing wrong, there's no incentive to do anything different.

my recommendation generally is to 1) look up the manifestos of the parties standing in your area (i believe there are websites where you can compare them on different issues if there's anything particularly important to you) and also 2) look up the profiles of you local candidates - some parties allow people with verrrry different views to stand. i think in your case it would just come down to whether you think it's more important to have a good local rep or someone pushing the best policies nationally. hope that's useful!

[squintsintwink]

I won’t lie, businesses and hobbies does expand a lot in terms of story telling. Like I can have a sim run a functioning coffee shop that doubles as an art studio.

Or I could have Kyle Kyleson running 8 Bells in StrangerVille just to have a consistent bartender to ask about town lore.

There’s just a lot that’s really made my game feel more alive, even if the actual game content feels kinda lacking, the gameplay really does expand a lot.

[crystalistrappedintheinternet]

oh my god i get what the tankies are on about you guys are infuriatingly pro-biden

[airxn]

made a realization with the new collection + reply system tumblr is testing. if you don't know about what they're beta testing– side blogs will soon be able to leave replies on posts and collections are essentially collecting your favorite blogs + tags and making your own curated feed outside your following tab. meaning... soon side blogs will to be able to, of course, comment on peoples posts, but also create their own collection / curated dashboard. so side blogs could have their own dashboard so you won't have to dig through your following feed to find your specific rp partners for that blog and its aesthetics

[enyementv]

The Minister of Local Administration discusses with the Taiz Governor the implementation measures for the province's projects.

Minister Discusses Development Projects in Taiz Today, in the temporary capital of Aden, Local Administration Minister Hussein Al-Aghbari met with Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan to discuss procedural steps for implementing development projects and programs supported by United Nations organizations in the province. Focus on Economic and Social Development During the meeting, which included Deputy…

[lowkeyed1]

Why cant us allies save us from yourselves and russia's influence? Why are we being left to die? Why is no one invading us and taking out these clowns and restoring order

i mean :/ it probably has something to do with how the US has a huge military and is a really really really big country. and also how countries don't generally invade for altruistic reasons, but because they either feel a large threat or see a large advantage. you're making it sound like it would be simple to just. roll into the US, off a bunch of bad people, set up a new government and have everything work out. history tends to show that's not really gonna be the case and you don't even have to go that far back. just look at the different countries the US has messed with and how bad it's gone. even a game of risk is more complex that what you're proposing, i'm afraid. it's a nice thought that someone might roll in and save us from ourselves but... unlikely at best, i think.

[senadimell]

.

[reasonsforhope]

"Doctors and women now have the final say about when an abortion should be performed, after a Maricopa County Superior Court judge struck down the state’s 15-week ban following last year’s vote to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution. 

Two local OB-GYNs and the Arizona chapter of Planned Parenthood took the state to court over the ban late last year. The trio argued that the 2022 law, which prohibited abortions after its gestational deadline unless a patient was facing death or the impairment of a major bodily function, should be struck down because voters in November [2024] overwhelmingly decided to make the procedure a fundamental right via Proposition 139. 

Judge Frank Moskowitz agreed, writing in a two-page ruling that the 15-week law is instantly nullified and no one will ever be able to carry out its punishments. The law threatened doctors who violated it with up to two years in prison. 

“(The state of Arizona), its respective agents, officers, employees, successors, and all persons acting in concert with each or any of them are hereby immediately and permanently and forever enjoined and restrained from implementing, enforcing, or giving any effect to (the 2022 law),” reads Moskowitz’s order. 

The 15-week ban directly conflicted with Prop. 139, because the voter-approved constitutional provisions explicitly allow abortions to be performed to the point of fetal viability, generally regarded to be around 23 to 24 weeks. It also includes a carveout for abortions beyond that point if a doctor deems one is necessary to preserve a patient’s life, physical or mental health. 

Abortion rights advocates celebrated the ruling, which has been long-awaited and represents the first win in tearing down Arizona’s many hostile abortion laws. More than two dozen anti-abortion laws remain on the books, including laws that mandate a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion can be performed and forbid the use of telehealth to prescribe the abortion pill. Each of those will likely need to be individually challenged in court. 

Dr. Paul Isaacson, one of the OB-GYNs involved in the lawsuit and the co-owner of a private abortion clinic in the Phoenix area, said the ruling restores his ability to offer his patients critical care without worrying about being criminalized for it. 

“For nearly three years, my hands were tied because of this cruel ban,” he said in a written statement. “It is a relief to no longer have to turn away patients from essential health care.”"

-via Arizona Mirror, March 5, 2025

[sophsweet]

A new local creative cafe venture - jumping in

When discussing this idea with a friend recently, expecting everyone to talk me out of it, I realised that every time I had considered a new venture or starting down any path if anything ahead was not visible, I got serious cold feet. The other realisation I had was that everything I have done, which was worthwhile – including a course during 2020 that paid a stipend and turned out better than…

[gaylienz]

The 7 R’s of Sustainability:

Did you know that ‘recycling’ is step 6 of the 7 Rs of sustainability? The other R’s are just as important even if they are often forgotten.

Rethink- Do I really need to buy this? The point of this step is to stop and think.

Refuse- Does this product damage the environment? If so, refuse to spend your money on it. i.e. single use plastics, harsh chemicals

Reduce- How much of this do I really need? Buy less! Buy in bulk when you can as it often equals less packaging to throw out.

Reuse- Can I use this product again? Can I fix what I have so that I don’t need to buy something new? Reuse that plastic water bottle a few times. And instead of buying new, try thrift shopping, flea markets, yard sales etc.

Repurpose- Unlimited creativity! Does this item have another use? i.e. old torn clothes can be rags or plastic cups can be planters.

Recycle- Can I recycle this? Not everything can be. There are also some important steps to making sure your recycling is done properly. If unsure, look up local recycling regulations.

Rot- Can I compost this? Food waste, yard clippings, newspapers and many other items can be composted instead of being tossed in the trash. Composting is surprisingly simple and helps reduce harmful greenhouse gasses from entering the atmosphere.

What is the point of the R’s? The number one benefit of the 7 R’s are the reduction of the amount of waste sent to incinerators and landfills. The EPA website provides a lot of useful information. Other benefits that we can reap from implementing these concepts in our life are (as listed on the EPA website): • Prevents pollution caused by reducing the need to harvest new raw materials • Saves energy from not making a new product • Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change • Helps sustain the environment and natural resources for future generations • Saves money from processing our waste • Increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials • Helps create jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States

https://www.northglenn.org/government/departments/public_works/trash/recycling.php https://www.nrdc.org/stories/composting-101 https://www.epa.gov/recycle https://www.northglenn.org/Recycling%20Article.pdf

[thrivingisthegoal]

Golf Courses ARE Being Converted

The Solarpunk "fantasy" that so many of us tout as a dream vision, converting golf courses into ecological wonderlands, is being implemented across the USA according to this NYT article!

The article covers courses in Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, and New York that are being bought and turned into habitat and hiking trails.

The article goes more into detail about how sand traps are being turned into sand boxes for kids, endangered local species are being planted, rocks for owl habitat are being installed, and that as these courses become wilder, they are creating more areas for biodiversity to thrive.

Most of the courses in transition are being bought by Local Land Trusts. Apparently the supply of golf courses in the USA is way over the demand, and many have been shut down since the early 2000s. While many are bought up and paved over, land Trusts have been able to buy several and turn them into what the communities want: public areas for people and wildlife. It does make a point to say that not every hold course location lends itself well to habitat for animals (but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make great housing!)

So lets be excited by the fact that people we don't even know about are working on the solutions we love to see! Turning a private space that needs thousands of gallons of water and fertilizer into an ecologically oriented public space is the future I want to see! I can say when I used to work in water conservation, we were getting a lot of clients that were golf courses that were interested in cutting their resource input, and they ended up planting a lot of natives! So even the golf courses that still operate could be making an effort.

So what I'd encourage you to do is see if there's any land or community trusts in your area, and see if you can get involved! Maybe even look into how to start one in your community! Through land trusts it's not always golf course conversions, but community gardens, solar fields, disaster adaptation, or low cost housing! (Here's a link to the first locator I found, but that doesn't mean if something isn't on here it doesn't exist in your area, do some digging!)

[vaspider]

So... apparently the NaNoWriMo organization has been gutted and the people at the top now are fully focused on Getting That AI Money.

I have no reason to say this other than Vibes™️ and the way that every other org who has pivoted to AI has behaved but I wouldn't trust anything shared with or stored on their servers not to be scraped for training LLMs. That includes pasting stuff into the site to verify your word count, if that's still a thing. (I haven't done Nano since 2015).

Also of note:

Age gating has been implemented. If you haven't added your date of birth to your profile or if you're under 18, it's supposed to lock you out of local region pages and the forums. ... It's worth noting that the privacy policy on the webpage doesn't specify how that data is stored and may not be GDPR compliant.

...

Camp events are being run solely by sponsors. Events for LGBTQIA+, disabled writers, and writers of color no longer appear to be a thing at NaNo.

Just... go read the whole thing. It's not that long. Ugh.