#not just first nations on turtle island!

[tepehkwi]

culturally-specific orientations and gender identities are real and they exist whether you want to validate them or not. terfs and truscum refuse to accept these facts because their ideologies can only be defended by racist and colonialist arguments, such as insisting that gender is biologically-dictated or that your gender is not real unless you experience gender dysphoria and pursue medical transition with hormones, surgeries, and legal document changes.

biological essentialism, cis-normativity, and the pathological idea of ‘transgenderism’ are racist, they’re concepts made up by colonizers that are violently enforced by christianity and white supremacy. when we say “gender is a social construct” we mean “the gender binary and the idea of transness, as it is defined by western standards, are ideas constructed by a white christian society.” i am ‘trans’ and ‘queer’ only because i am considered trans and queer by white christian standards. in my own culture, i would not have to ‘transition’ because my gender would simply be accepted.

colonizers force upon us their concepts of gender, biological sex, and sexuality while they continue to erase ours. you cannot separate the extermination of our culturally-specific sexual orientations or genders from the violent genocidal destruction of our cultures. the words that once existed for our concepts of gender and attraction were erased when our languages were banned and we were punished, beaten, and tortured for teaching them.

my own two-spirit identity can only be labeled using the language of my oppressors because the words for what i am are no longer spoken.

[fairuzfan]

Hello! rly appreciating your posts, in particular the ones about GLAM... it made me curious if you or your followers happen to have any resources/literature to recommend on 2 areas of interest?:

1. Relating salvage anthropology to modern day ideas of trauma porn

2. Palestinian-led museums/archives/oral history projects/other collections or exhibitions of note. (Or if not literature, any names involved besides the few I know of like POHA/the nakba archive/the arab resource center for popular arts; the palestine museum; librarians & archivists with Palestine; activestills; forever our land; and art for gaza)

Anyway, again, thanks for all the time/work you’re putting into analysis and info dissemination <3

hello, thanks for sending this in. sooo i have like. no idea about the first one haha but i have so many for the second one.

The Institute for Palestine Studies has a bunch of scholarly articles and anaylsis about Palestine

Librarians and Archivists for Palestine is not completely Palestinian led but it's one that I'm a part of and really like, even though you already mention it.

The Palestine Museum Digital Archive is an AMAZING resource led by Palestinians in Palestine. I recommend scrolling through their intifada posters, downloading them, printing them, and hanging them around town.

The Palestinian Oral History Archive project in case people were wondering what POHA is.

The Museum of the Palestinian People in DC is really great and has a lot of digitized features.

The Palestine Museum US has a lot of books as well, based on Turtle Island.

The Arab American National Museum is not Palestinian led but I can vouch that they're a great group.

The Met has a lot of Palestinian clothing BUT.... warning in that it is very colonial in its arrangement and description and we dont super know how people got the material they have. If you want to look at the content feel free, though. Will say that Wafa Ghnaim, one of the leading experts on Tatreez in Turtle Island is working on recataloguing the Palestinian collection.

Visualizing Palestine is an infographic organization that might interest you.

The Nakba Archive for people wanting to check it out.

The Library of Congress is. Honestly it's pretty racist but it does have content if you wanna look at it.

Tirazain is a tatreez pattern library that's really cool.

There might be more that I'm forgetting but here are some just from me sitting here thinking for the past few minutes. If anyone else has any recommendations, feel free to add.

[intersectionalpraxis]

BREAKING| Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denies that Israel has been committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza saying that his country rejects the premise of South Africa's case at the ICJ, which was described as fact-based and compelling. [@/ QudsNen on X]

do you know how many more unmarked graves there are in this settler country? It's unfathomable and heartbreaking just thinking about it.

there was also people who made unauthorized trips to 'dig up' sacred spaces in Kamloops this past year in order to 'disprove' that remains of Indigenous children were being found -which is inherently genocidal apologism.

Canada wants to erase this history of genocide against Indigenous people on Turtle Island through denialism and political lip service about reconciliation and recognition. and it's beyond horrifying.

[emilybeemartin]

Inktober Days 10-12

Day 10: "Fortune"

On the farthest-flung spit of the Florida Keys are a handful of islands bearing the second-oldest surviving European name in the US, recorded by Ponce de León for the abundance of sea turtles and the lack of fresh water (Florida’s name is considered the oldest). Shallow straits create a ship trap that has claimed hundreds of vessels from the age of sail, including loaded Spanish treasure galleons. Old lighthouses stand as memories to the effort to guide ships through lucrative but risky channels. Rising from Garden Key is a hexagonal fortress—Fort Jefferson, the largest all-brick fort in the US, which housed Union prisoners during the Civil War. Under the turquoise water are some of the most intact coral reefs in the continental US. The water teems with sea life, and in addition to several year-round seabird species, the islands serve as stopovers for migrating birds. It’s a treasure trove lousy with natural and historical abundance. A vast fortune of biodiversity and human history.

This message is not brought to you by Visit Dry Tortugas LLC—it’s brought to you by a too-romantic ranger who’s a sucker for lonely maritime outposts and would desperately like to visit this unusual little member of the National Park Service.

Day 11: "Wander"

Some parks more than others seem to invite visitors to wander. It’s the twists of a path, dipping in and out of the rises in a landscape. It’s the light filtering through dark forests, promising something new beyond the branches. It’s the shoulders of a massive mountain standing like a beacon, or its invisible summit covered in clouds. Mount Rainier, like so many other protected places, seems to beckon—come. Explore. Take it in.

But stay on the path—alpine habitats are fragile.

Day 12: "Spicy"

Olympic was the first park I fell in love with, and it was a twenty-year long-distance relationship. A National Geographic article I read in high school painted a picture of verdant rainforests dripping with moss, wild windy coastlines, and high snowy peaks. I desperately wanted to see these places myself, stand under the towering cedars and breathe in their spicy scent. My desire to visit was so strong that the summers I worked in Glacier and Yellowstone, I would constantly plot the drive west, hoping the travel time would somehow get shorter. It was eleven hours. I could do that in a long weekend, couldn’t I? Take one of my precious few days off and just blitz to the coast?

The plans never worked out, which is probably for the best. Instead, after two years of Covid-cancelled plans, my husband and I decided to make the trip together from the east coast. It was infinitely better than a snatched day and a half all alone. For a week, we explored the glaciated mountains, rocky beaches, and primordial rainforests. After two-thirds of my life spent pining after this park, it was everything I’d dreamed it would be and more.

[ur-frndly-neighborhood-memer1]

A THEORY ABOUT OZAI-

Why was Ozai so cruel?

Fire Lord Ozai is the absolutely malicious and tyrannical main antagonist of the Avatar: The Last Airbender. In the series, he comes across as a cruel, ruthless, and a megalomaniac dictator. Which is why he is often considered as a 2 dimensional cartoon villian with no rich background compared to the other villains like Azula, Zuko (formerly), Hama; Amon, Zaheer...

We never really see his inner struggles or anything complex about his character at all. His only motivation is like "Evil for sake of being evil". That's why some fans complain about his character being too shallow and too cartoonishly evil. And this really stands out when we compare him to rest of the characters, and arguably, they're all more complex characters than Ozai.

But... is this really true?

Could there be something more interesting and tragic about Fire Lord Ozai's character? Do we only see the only a small part of the iceberg? Well, let's find out!

There's literally nothing we know about his childhood or his early ages. All we know is that he was married Ursa when he was 30 and Ursa was 21, Ursa was specifically chosen because she happens to be the granddaughter of Avatar Roku. So, they could have powerful heirs for the Fire Nation. And it actually happened because Zuko and Azula really are exceptionally powerful firebenders.

Another thing we know about him is this panel,

They actually look like a normal, ordinary family here and it hurts. They're on a vocation; Ozai and Ursa just sitting calmly, baby Azula playing with sand, little Zuko running to save a turtle-crab... And when when the wave washed over Zuko, Ozai ran to save him.

Could the whole thing be true or Ozai was lying? I personally don't think it was a lie, because Zuko seems to remember some rare memories of his family being happy once and coming to Ember Island all together. Yes, you can say that Zuko could be an unreliable narrator here since he kinda romanticized those memories... But again, it's what happens with memories. Don't we all remember our childhood as purely innocent and happy? Because we like to remember those happy times and often forget about the bad ones. But the bad times don't erase the good memories! Also, in the "Beach", when Azula came to comfort Zuko, she also seemed a bit depressed. It means she was also missing those happy and innocent times of their life. So no, Zuko's memory was correct and Ozai probably wasn't lying either. Their family had some good times once.

Could it possibly be a redeeming quality for Ozai? Perhaps. However, we all know that it didn't last long. And we also know that Ozai was always sort of like that and Iroh comfirms it in "The Legacy of The Fire Nation" novel

And something interesting here... Iroh admits he sort of blames himself for not being a better guide for his brother. Which makes me think... Did Ozai really ever have a positive influence on his life?

You can arguably say Iroh, but i'd disagree. First of all, there's a huge age gap between Iroh and Ozai. And Iroh was a general who was busy with fighting in battle, such as the siege of Ba Sing Se. So I imagine they didn't really have a chance to spend time together and bond as brothers.

Also, Iroh wasn't exactly a positive influence before the death of Lu Ten. He used to be more ruthless and hungry for glory. Yes, he still was a caring guy towards his family, but he only realized the terrible side of violence and terror after losing his dear son... This is when he finally developed empathy towards everyone, not only for his family. So I don't think he would be able to be a better influence for Ozai when they were younger...

And if not Iroh, who could possibly be a good guidance for Ozai? Azulon? Pfft, yeah right! He definitely favored Iroh over Ozai, and was seen to be cold and harsh towards his son. So nope, he was an abusive father and far from being a good guidance.

But... What about his mother? What happened to her?

The only thing we know about Iroh and Ozai's mother is her name, Ilah. And she was married to Fire Lord Azulon. There's literally nothing else we know about her. So, we don't know what kind of a relationship she had with Ozai either.

And that's why I have this theory in my mind! Could it be that Ilah died when she was giving birth to Ozai? And maybe that's why Azulon was cold and cruel to Ozai?

The death on childbirth was a common incident during middle age and in the earlier ages too. Unfortunately, it still can happen in modern world too... But thankfully, it's a rare incident now due the modern advantages.

So yes, it's very possible that Lady Ilah to die on the childbirth. Because we never see her in the series nor in the comics. If she was alive at the moment, she would totally show up on Ozai and Ursa's wedding. But she didn't, which means she was long gone, at least for like 20 years. But since neither Iroh or Ozai mentions her for once, we can assume that she died very long ago.

Could this be why Iroh turned out to be a caring and compassionate person towards his own family? Because he had maternal love and support? Well, he obviously didn't get that from Azulon (even though Azulon seemed to care for Iroh and Lu Ten in a certain level). And that might be why Ozai became a cold and cruel jerk, because he never had this kind of love and support in his life.

And it also explains Azulon's bad treatment towards Ozai, reminds me of how Tywin Lannister despised his son Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. Tywin hated his son Tyrion because he was a dwarf and also because he "killed" his mother in childbirth

So maybe Azulon was going full Tywin on Ozai and blamed him for "killing" his own mother.

If that's the case, it makes a ton of sense for Ozai's character! Because he never really had a chance to redeem himself and grow up in a healthy environment. He was being told that he was a killer since he was born and accused with killing his own mother. I can totally imagine Azulon telling him that he is "An ill-made, spiteful creature. Full of lust and low cunning" (Quote from Tywin Lannister), or maybe even calling him a "monster"?

If this theory is true, then it makes sense for Ozai's character and why he became a brutal, ruthless and narcissistic person.

And let's not forget, narcissism isn't only a personality disorder but also a coping mechanism. Narcissists actually have fragile egos and low self-esteems. That's why they fake confidence and a false sense of grandiosity as a self-defense mechanism. The exact reasons of narcissism is not known, but researchers show that both genetic and environmental factors are in it. And it's very possible to occur because of a trauma or abuse too.

So maybe Ozai was crushed under the abuse and pressure of being "guilty" for killing his mother in childbirth, and he found comfort in creating a false sense of superiority.

And this also might be why Iroh and Ozai became distant towards each other. Ozai was probably jealous of Azulon's nicer treatment towards Iroh. So he didn't want to be around him and see how their father treats him better, because it would remind him of the fact that he was the unfavorite child. And from Iroh's aspect, maybe he was devastated after the death of his mother and wanted to distance himself from Ozai for it? Yes, it doesn't really sound like something that the Iroh we know would do. But again, we really don't know the Iroh before Lu Ten's death, but he surely cared about his family so much. And maybe that's why he distanced himself from Ozai because he took away a part of his family? And because of Azulon, Iroh probably didn't have a chance to accept Ozai a part of his family at this point. And when he did, it was probably too late. The damage was done. Ozai already became a narcissistic jerk and a potential tyrant.

So, that's my headcanon about Ozai's evilness. You can agree or disagree with it. If you have different thoughts, please feel free to share them with me

[prying-pandora666]

Where does it imply that Sokka and Suki broke up? I haven't read the book and I can't find anyone talking about it online.

I simply just want to see where you got that from.

I gotchu.

Baby Lion Turtle has a pretty good video covering it:

But the basics are are follows:

In the canon book Legacy (not to be confused with the sequel Legacy of the Fire Nation), we get letters from the Gaang to Aang’s youngest son Tenzin.

Sokka and Toph are called “Uncle Sokka” and “Aunt Toph” but Suki is noticeably called just “Suki”. Even within the same sentence where Sokka is called Uncle.

Sokka retells the story of him and Toph stopping Ozai’s airships during the finale, except he forgets Suki was involved. At all. Toph has to remind him. It’s very strange.

All references to Sokka and Suki’s relationship are in the past tense. Not a single time is it addressed in the present tense as if they’re still going out/married.

We get our only adult picture of Suki. Here we are told that she retired to Kyoshi Island to lead her warriors. It isn’t Sokka that’s with her, but instead Ty Lee who remains by Suki’s side.

As a bonus, while Legacy doesn’t tells us anything is going on between Suki and Ty Lee, the fact that Suki Alone introduced us to Suki’s childhood first love (who is canonically a lesbian), some could read it as an implied Ty Suki ending.

It’s sad if true that this is how they’d choose to reveal it. Sokka and Suki deserved better.

[germiyahu]

Calling the North American continent "Turtle Island," and then dusting off your hands and thinking you're an ally to various indigenous/First Nations groups, or that you've actually materially helped anyone is laughable.

Like, you picked an English translation of a specific culture's mythological term for the land they live(d) on. There are hundreds of Nations that still exist in the US and Canada (we're not going to get into the indigenous groups in Latin America).

This group of cultures is a fraction of the diversity on this continent. But their somewhat related myth(s) are chosen as the sole legitimate name for this entire landmass? And why do you use an English translation? Why not call it Hah-nu-nah? Is that not legitimizing the presence/hegemony of English on this occupied land?

Or maybe it's that there are hundreds of indigenous languages on this continent and choosing just one might be seen as playing favorites. That doesn't make sense for all the points above: this creation myth is not universal among indigenous peoples, and even so you chose the colonial language to refer to the True Indigenous Name??

And again I stress, none of this achieves land back, sovereignty, reparations. It's just a way you can annoy your friends at your favorite artisanal coffee shop by playacting that you're more woke than them. It's a badge of honor. It's a sign that your Leftist Power Level is higher.

[quiltsforsurvivor]

Quilts for Survivors

My name is Vanessa Genier. I am an Indigenous mother from Missanabie First Nation in Ontario. I have a passion for quilting and believe that a quilt is love sewn together to bring people together.

I started a group on Facebook asking other quilters to join me to make quilt blocks to honour residential school survivors. We wish to honour the lives of the children who are just now finding their way home as Turtle Island releases the children back to their Nations across this land.

Mission Statement: To create comfort and healing through the making and giving of quilts.

Vision Statement: To see that all living survivors receive a quilt. 

[staycalmandhugaclone]

Aloha!

My lovelies, lemme tell yuh: that. was. magical!! We flew back home a couple nights ago, but took the weekend to get re-situated, so now I'll take a minute to recap for funzies! The hubby and I got to spend over a week on the Big Island of Hawaii, and we did just about everything! We witnessed baby sea turtles make their first trip to the ocean, we saw the volcano erupting, we visited every national park on the island (and a few state parks), walked through lava tubes, snorkeled on black and white sand beaches with hundreds of tropical fish, swam with wild manta rays, blew $300 on an incredible resort dinner (we definitely got 2 desserts), and sat nearly front row at a mesmerizing luau!

I'd say we're happy to be back, but... Hawaii... that being said, we are back, and, if nothing else, I'm pretty excited to start writing again (totally didn't mean to have our lovelies on a tropical island as I visited a tropical island, but it was very fun timing). I missed you all and will gradually catch up on everything I've missed over the next couple days, but I think I really want to spend some time writing for now 😆

We nearly ran into the sea turtles a couple times while trying to get out of the water!

[mylittlesecrethaven]

I Just Wanna Talk About Every Avatar Now

Cause why tf not?

(this is just gonna be listing the avatars, saying what job they focused on more, and any major achievements they made)

Emmm... So not all the avatars are known.... so whatever I can find, I'll put it down. I'll also list their nation, cause why not.

Avatar Wan

Nation: Fire Lion Turtle (so technically fire nation I guess)

Job: Spirit World Handling

Achievements: Literally the first Avatar and helped bending actually start without needing the lion turtles. He also separated the human and spirit worlds.

Avatar Gun

Nation: Unknown

Job: N/A

Achievement: Nothing really. He tried to stop a tsunami from flooding a city and failed.

Avatar Szeto

Nation: Fire

Job: Fire Nation Handling

Achievements: He did a lot for the fire nation, but also for anything surrounding the fire nation.

Avatar Yangchen

Nation: Air (Specifically the western air temple)

Job: World Dealings Handling

Achievements: She helped set up a lot of the four nations ways of life and the connections between those nations. However, she ended up causing problems with the connection between the spirit world and the human world.

Avatar Kuruk

Nation: Water (Specifically the northern water tribe)

Job: Spirit World Handling

Achievements: Not much besides spirit world stuff. He saved the world from many dark spirits, but many simply thought he had abandoned his other duties of helping out the human world. As he grew older, his spirit weakened and he could no longer do any of his other Avatar duties besides his spirit world ones.

Avatar Kyoshi

Nation: Earth

Job: Earth Kingdom Handling

Achievements: She did help out with some dealings between the four nations, but she mainly focused on the Earth Kingdom. She also made her own island. She did lead the world into peace for as long as she had her avatar powers though.

Avatar Roku

Nation: Fire

Job: World Dealings Handling

Achievements: He dealt a lot with the dealings between the nations, instead of what was actually going on inside of them. This led to a lot of the downfall with the Fire Nation (Fire Lord Sozin) and the Earth Kingdom (the corruption of the entire kingdom). He did help with many advances in technology and helped solve many political issues.

Avatar Aang

Nation: Air (Specifically the southern air temple)

Job: World Dealings Handling

Achievements: Aang had to pick up a lot of the pieces left over from Roku and Aang's own disappearance. He had to end the 100 year war and put the Fire Nation in their place. He also had to help rebuild a lot of the nations and fix many of their problems.

Avatar Korra

Nation: Water (Specifically the southern water tribe)

Job: Spirit World Handling

Achievements: She did have to deal with wars involving the water nation, but she's better known for what she did with the spirit world. First, she opened the gates to the spirit world, allowing spirits to now come into the spirit world, and two, severed her connection to all the past avatars. She also helped stop terrorists, so that's something.

And that's all I could find.

It's amazing how long the world of Avatar went without someone dealing with the spirit world.

Lemme know if I missed anything important!

[mariacallous]

On a spring day in 1978, a fisherman caught a tiger shark in the lagoon surrounding Enewetak Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the north Pacific. That shark, along with the remains of a green sea turtle it had swallowed, wound up in a natural history museum. Today, scientists are realizing that this turtle holds clues to the lagoon’s nuclear past—and could help us understand how nuclear research, energy production, and warfare will affect the environment in the future.

In 1952, the world’s first hydrogen bomb test had obliterated a neighboring island—one of 43 nuclear bombs detonated at Enewetak in the early years of the Cold War. Recently, Cyler Conrad, an archeologist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, began investigating whether radioactive signatures of those explosions had been archived by some particularly good environmental historians: turtles.

“Anywhere that nuclear events have occurred throughout the globe, there are turtles,” Conrad says. It’s not because turtles—including sea turtles, tortoises, and freshwater terrapins—are drawn to nuclear testing sites. They’re just everywhere. They have been mainstays of mythology and popular culture since the dawn of recorded history. “Our human story on the planet is really closely tied to turtles,��� Conrad says. And, he adds, because they are famously long-lived, they are uniquely equipped to document the human story within their tough, slow-growing shells.

Collaborating with researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which was once directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer, Conrad was able to use some of the world’s most advanced tools for detecting radioactive elements. Last week, his team’s study in PNAS Nexus reported that this turtle, and others that had lived near nuclear development sites, carried highly enriched uranium—a telltale sign of nuclear weapons testing—in their shells.

Turtle shells are covered by scutes, plates made of keratin, the same material in fingernails. Scutes grow in layers like tree rings, forming beautiful swirls that preserve a chemical record of the turtle’s environment in each sheet. If any animal takes in more of a chemical than it’s able to excrete, whether through eating it, breathing it in, or touching it, that chemical will linger in its body.

Once chemical contaminants—including radionuclides, the unstable radioactive alter egos of chemical elements—make their way into scute, they’re basically stuck there. While these can get smeared across layers in tree rings or soft animal tissues, they get locked into each scute layer at the time the turtle was exposed. The growth pattern on each turtle’s shell depends on its species. Box turtles, for example, grow their scute outward over time, like how humans grow fingernails. Desert tortoise scutes also grow sequentially, but new layers grow underneath older layers, overlapping to create a tree ring-like profile.

Because they are so sensitive to environmental changes, turtles have long been considered sentinels of ecosystem health—a different kind of canary in the coal mine. “They’ll show us things that are emergent problems,” says Wallace J. Nichols, a marine biologist who was not involved in this study. But Conrad’s new findings reveal that turtles are also “showing us things that are distinct problems from the past.”

Conrad’s team at Los Alamos handpicked five turtles from museum archives, with each one representing a different nuclear event in history. One was the Enewetak Atoll green sea turtle, borrowed from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. Others included a Mojave desert tortoise collected within range of fallout from the former Nevada Test Site; a river cooter from the Savannah River Site, which manufactured fuel for nuclear weapons; and an eastern box turtle from Oak Ridge, which once produced parts for nuclear weapons. A Sonoran desert tortoise, collected far from any nuclear testing or manufacturing sites, served as a natural control.

While working at Los Alamos, Conrad met isotope geochemist and soon-to-be coauthor Jeremy Inglis, who knew how to spot even the most subtle signs of nuclear exposure in a turtle shell. They chose to look for uranium. To a geochemist, this might initially feel like an odd choice. Uranium is found everywhere in nature, and doesn’t necessarily flag anything historically significant. But with sensitive-enough gear, uranium can reveal a lot about isotope composition, or the ratio of its atoms containing different configurations of protons, electrons, and neutrons. Natural uranium, which is in most rocks, is configured very differently from the highly enriched uranium found in nuclear labs and weapons.

To find the highly enriched uranium hidden among the normal stuff in each turtle shell sample, Inglis wore a full-body protective suit in a clean room to keep his uranium from getting in the way. (“There’s enough uranium in my hair to contaminate a picogram of a sample,” he says.) Inglis describes the samples like a gin and tonic: “The tonic is the natural uranium. If you add lots of natural uranium tonic into your highly enriched uranium gin, you ruin it. If we contaminate our samples with natural uranium, the isotope ratio changes, and we can’t see the signal that we’re looking for.”

The team concluded that all four turtles that came from historic nuclear testing or manufacturing sites carried traces of highly enriched uranium. The Sonoran desert tortoise that had never been exposed to nuclear activity was the only one without it.

They collected bulk scute samples from three of their turtles, meaning that they could determine whether the turtle took in uranium at some point in its life, but not exactly when. But the researchers took things a step further with the Oak Ridge box turtle, looking at changes in uranium isotope concentrations across seven scute layers, marking the seven years of the turtle’s life between 1955 and 1962. Changes in the scutes corresponded with fluctuations in documented uranium contamination levels in the area, suggesting that the Oak Ridge turtle’s shell was time-stamped by historic nuclear events. Even the neonatal scute, a layer that grew before the turtle hatched, had signs of nuclear history passed down from its mother.

It’s unclear what this contamination meant for the turtles’ health. All of these shells were from long-dead animals preserved in museum archives. The best time to assess the effects of radionuclides on their health would have been while they were alive, says Kristin Berry, a wildlife biologist specializing in desert tortoises at the Western Ecological Research Center, who was not involved in this study. Berry adds that further research, using controlled experiments in captivity, may help figure out exactly how these animals are taking in nuclear contaminants. Is it from their food? The soil? The air?

Because turtles are nearly omnipresent, tracing nuclear contamination in shells from animals living at various distances from sites of nuclear activity may also help us understand the long-term environmental effects of weapons testing and energy production. Conrad is currently analyzing desert tortoise samples from southwestern Utah, collected by Berry, to better relate exposure to radionuclides (like uranium) to their diets over the course of their lives. He also hopes that these findings will inspire others to study plants and animals with tissues that grow sequentially—like mollusks, which are also found in nearly all aquatic environments.

The incredible migratory patterns of sea turtles, which sometimes span the entire ocean (as anyone familiar with Finding Nemo may recall), open up additional opportunities. For example, sea turtles forage off the Japanese coast, where in 2011 the most powerful earthquake in Japan’s history caused a tsunami that led to a chain reaction of failures at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. With lifespans of up to 100 years, many of those turtles are likely still alive today, carrying traces of the disaster on their backs.

Recently, the Japanese government started slowly releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant into the Pacific Ocean. Scientists and policymakers seem to hesitantly agree that this is the least bad option for disposing of the waste, but others are more concerned. (The Chinese government, for instance, banned aquatic imports from Japan in late August.) Through turtle shells, we may better understand how the plant’s failure, and the following cleanup efforts, affect the surrounding ocean.

The bodies of these creatures have been keeping score for millennia. “For better or for worse, they get hit by everything we do,” Nichols says. Maybe, he adds, “the lesson is: Pay more attention to turtles.”

[coralcatsea]

How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?

I feel Hetalia needs some kind of really nice, wholesome ending with the nations all doing something fun and silly with each other. They have many differences, but they can relate to and understand each other in ways no human can, which allows them to come together and feel a sense of belonging. They can't fix the world; it'll never be perfect, but there is hope for the future.

They could play games, sing songs, and reminisce on some Hetalia scenes from the past, like:

America: Remember when we sat around a campfire on that island? England kept chanting like he was trying to summon the devil!

England: That reminds me of when you prank called me and pretended to BE the devil!

Belarus: Sometimes I like to prank call Poland and just breathe into the phone.

Poland: That was you?!

China: On the topic of pranks, how about that crazy April Fools' Day where we all got blackmailed?

France: Hey, remember when I tried to trick you by pretending a marriage registration form was a calendar?

England: I don't know how you ever thought I would believe that!

Spain: Oh, when I tried proposing to Romano he gave me all these conditions!

Romano: There weren't that many!

England: Oh, I recall when America got upset because I didn't give him chocolates for Valentine's Day.

Italy: Haha! You proposed to him? Germany gave me a ring once on Valentine's Day! It turned out to be this whole big misunderstanding!

America: You're always giving me ice cream and chocolate bars and things! I just figured you would give me some then, too!

England: Well, I brought them later and you tried to play it off like it never happened!

America: Haha, did I do that?

Prussia: Oh, speaking of England giving out food, remember when I posted on my blog about how he made me food and everyone thought I died?? Not cool, guys! As if I would be defeated by that!

Germany: We were just concerned.

Prussia: Some of you got REALLY concerned! That was interesting!

Austria: Well, there's no need to be foolish!

Hungary: Yes, you may be a handful, but you have your good points! For one, there was that time you gave me a piece of fabric from your clothes to help me cover up...

Italy: He helped clean my house!

Romano: That idiot cheered me up once when I couldn't get a role in a movie.

America: I like to make movies! You can get a role in mine if you want! Maybe we can make it about...the Pictonian invasion!!

Prussia: Oh! What about a movie inspired by that fantasy game we all played together?

Estonia: Maybe it could be based on this dream I had where you all became women! It was really weird!

Japan: What–?

Russia: I think it would be nice to make a movie about some of the pleasant memories we've been discussing.

Spain: We should include the time I had turtles crawling all over the place!

Canada: Sometimes Cuba and I have ice cream together. That's a nice memory.

Japan: Learning English with England-san and German with Prussia-san.

England: There was that one time Germany and I stopped fighting on Christmas to play football...

Japan: Rooming with America.

Lithuania: Oh, yes, I liked staying with him, too.

Romano: I guess it was all right.

Belarus: ...I didn't like it much. But some parts were okay.

Russia: Don't worry, we can definitely skip all that!

America: How about that time Russia sent cardboard cutouts to everyone? That was hilarious!

Japan: Hmm...when we learned about America's Furbies?

Italy: When I wrote a song for Germany! That's a good memory!

Germany: ...When I first found you hiding in that tomato box.

It ends with them singing a new song, and then finally, Marukaite Chikyuu. Italy then says, "The series may be over, but history never ends!"

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Its 10:45pm time to yap about ANOTHER au (because I cannot be stopped)

So remember that untitled atla x tmnt 2012 au I came up with thats inspired by A Tale Of Spirits?

Well...it has a title now :)

"Before The Summer's End." (Look A Tale Of Spirits is already a really good title but I can't USE it because its already claimed and I've been wanting to yap about this au for so long and couldn't come up with an idea so SUE ME)

So basic premise, the turtles (including my own tmnt 2012 versions of Venus and Jennika because they are my beloveds and its my au I can do whatever I want, plus those two are not in fics often) all get transported to the alta world and separated from each other. (Again like A Tale Of Spirits but that fic has rooted itself into my brain and this au isnt gonna be a carbon copy so its cool)

So key differences from A Tale Of Spirits

Its tmnt 2012 (my beloveds) post season 4 (the turtles are all 20)

It includes Venus and Jennika

It begins at the end of season 1 episode 3 "The Southern Air Temple" unlike A Tale Of Spirits which starts at the beginning of season 2

So already pretty different

And for once Leo ISNT gonna be the main victim of my angst hammer. Its gonna be DONNIE (I have plans for him >:3)

So who exactly ends up with who?

Venus will be the first turtle introduced, landing in the Southern Air Temple and will meet Aang, Katara and Sokka straight away (Venus and Jennika will definitely get the most screentime since I am basically inserting characters that were never in tmnt 2012 and making them fit in with my favorite turtles because the two girlies definitely SHOULD'VE been there Im just saying)

Jennika will land on Kyoshi Island and will join the Gaang soon after they meet. (Girlie gonna have a field day)

Leo meanwhile will land in the ocean close to Prince Zuko's ship, close enough to warrant investigation. (Ok I know that Raph, Jennika, maybe even Mikey would've been better fits for Zuko but I didnt want to take the obvious route plus Zuko becomes "The Blue Spirit" wielding twin swords and later on calls himself "Lee" the joke was right there and I had to take it)

Raph lands in an Earth Kingdom town, very close to the estate of the Beifong family. (Yeah I loved the Raph Toph dynamic in A Tale Of Spirits, bite me)

Donnie ends up in the Northern Air Temple (he aint gonna STAY there because...I have plans for him. He's gonna learn the lesson Leo has already learned. Being the author's favorite is NOT a good thing :3. Donnie's gonna go through it that's all I'll say)

And Mikey is gonna land right in front of Princess Azula, in the heart of Fire Nation territory. (Purely because I am very tired of Mikey being treated as a "fragile weak innocent baby" by fanon. NO MIKEY CAN BE JUST AS DANGEROUS AS AZULA. Especially if he gets angry)

Its gonna be very fun, especially on multiple occasions that the kids need adult the turtles will realize that THEY are the adults

Hehehehe

("We need an adult...I am the adult")

Almost forgot to post the age order of the turtles oh my god I am tired

Ok so the age order from oldest to youngest is

Leo, Raph, Venus, Donnie, Jennika, Mikey

[shamandrummer]

Music as a Political Act

Cree singer Sandy Scofield sees her music as a pathway for raising awareness and celebrating culture.

Sandy Scofield is a multi-award winning composer, musician, musical director, singer, songwriter and performer. She has studied classical, jazz, African, Indonesian gamelan and electro-acoustic music. Leader of the all female Cree band of singers, Iskwew, Sandy started making music before she can even remember and has played and sung in many bands over the years. From Cajun to rock, classical and folk, the foundation she had before coming into Cree Aboriginal music incorporated a wide variety of sounds and instruments. She plays piano and guitar in addition to being a singer.

Scofield came to Aboriginal music later in life, embracing her heritage through song. She says, "I went to the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1995 and did a ten-week intensive with Sadie Buck from Six Nations in Canada -- she had this residency for urban women who grew up without oral tradition and she brought in women elders from all around Turtle Island (North America) to teach them their traditions, songs, and song traditions."

When asked whether she feels that what Iskwew does is political, Sandy said, "We have many educated people holding their PhDs and working as doctors and this and that who are changing how society views First Nations people, but largely people still think of them as the drunks down on Skid Road, and that's all part of… So, in answer to your question -- Yeah."

What we're doing is politically showing people the pride in our culture. The fact that we come out and wear regalia, just to show very basic cultural teachings, we're trying to present through the songs. I have a floating group of women based on who's available that comes with me, but some of the other women who've gigged with me are just as vocal as I am onstage. It isn't like I'm leading every song and I'm talking all the time. Some of the other women get in there and talk and talk about teachings and talk about what we're wearing and talk about our role as women in our culture and how we're esteemed.

So that's what we do, and when we get to go play international festivals it's really important because, you know, one of the girls that sings with me, she went to Italy and some guy said to her, 'Where are you from?' and she said, 'Well, I'm Cree Indian from Canada,' and he was just aghast, he was saying, 'No. They were all extinct. They don't exist,' and she's going 'You're crazy!' You know?

But there's crazy ideas out there, so especially if we're on the international stage, we're trying to show the very best of who we are. And in Canada, half of our work is in what we call Indian Country, which is all of the country except dominant society doesn't see us. So we perform for other native people or we perform for dominant society, and so when we perform for dominant society, it's the same thing again. We're trying to show the really fantastic things about our cultures, our collective culture which really concerns community, egalitarianism to a certain extent, just pride, culture, the interconnectedness of all life and that we’re interconnected with one another -- things like that."

[attackfish]

I know I have asked this before but please could you do five headcanons for the gaang age swap au?? if you don't mind

Universe tag: #Gaang age swap AU.

1. Let's talk about the Serpent's Pass and Ba Sing Se. I've been glossing over that until now, because it's a sad and tangled mess. Zuko and Iroh are traveling with the Gaang at this point, and when they meet a pair of peasants (be nice, Zuko) who are robbed of their tickets and passports, they too are dragooned into crossing the Serpent's Pass. Iroh however, knows exactly why the Serpent's Pass is named that, having lost quite a few ships on that lake that were meant to function as his supply lines during his six hundred day seige. He helpfully informs the Avatar of this fact.

2. The peasants lose what little wits they have (what did I say about being nice, Zuko? Besides, it's little wit or few wits, not little wits. Bad grammar makes you sound like a peasant.) and the situation is not improved when an old friend of the Avatar and his companions shows up, a young woman named Suki, who is working as part of the port security force. She grew up on Kyoshi Island, and has plenty of experience with big sneaky water monsters and she wants nothing to do with this one, and thanks going over the Serpent's Pass is a terrible idea. Not to worry, Iroh's troops figured out how to handle a serpent emergency. He buys for dirt cheap two elderly turtle-oxen from a refugee who wasn't allowed to bring them into the city, and was struggling to persuade the ferry cooks to buy them for meat. Then, when the lake monster starts getting too close for comfort, Iroh quick gives a shot of lightning to the first turtle-ox and Toph uses earthbending to launch it far into the lake. The serpent takes off after the splash, finds dinner, and is distracted. They keep going, and when the serpent is done, they do the same with the second turtle-ox. They get across safely, and Aang finds the whole experience a powerful reinforcement for his commitment to vegetarianism.

3. Once the peasants and their new bundle of joy are gone, finally, (Nephew, really!) and Suki has hitched a ferry ride back to the other side of the lake, Iroh quietly tells the group that they can't let anyone in Ba Sing Se know who he or his nephew really are. They're just friends of the Avatar. No names. That night, once Sokka and Zuko are asleep, he tells Aang, Katara, and Toph about the seige of Ba Sing Se. Toph tells him she already knows.

4. Zuko spends their entire time in Ba Sing Se being, as he sees it, disregarded, disrespected, and ignored. For example, after that Joo Dee lady leaves, Zuko helpfully informs the Avatar that he wouldn't have to wait if this were the Fire Nation. He would get to see the Firelord right away, and sure he'd be drugged and in chains, but at least he wouldn't have to wait six to eight weeks for some bureaucrat to decide to let him see the monarch. The Avatar laughs and ruffles his hair. See, such disrespect. His uncle and the Avatar have him right where they want him and now that they do, they just want to treat him like a helpless child!

5. Is it any wonder that when later, his sister asks for his help, and treats him as able to give help, he says yes?