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mostlysignssomeportents · 9 months

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Greenwashing set Canada on fire

On September 22, I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

As a teenager growing up in Ontario, I always envied the kids who spent their summers tree planting; they'd come back from the bush in September, insect-chewed and leathery, with new muscle, incredible stories, thousands of dollars, and a glow imparted by the knowledge that they'd made a new forest with their own blistered hands.

I was too unathletic to follow them into the bush, but I spent my summers doing my bit, ringing doorbells for Greenpeace to get my neighbours fired up about the Canadian pulp-and-paper industry, which wasn't merely clear-cutting our old-growth forests – it was also poisoning the Great Lakes system with PCBs, threatening us all.

At the time, I thought of tree-planting as a small victory – sure, our homegrown, rapacious, extractive industry was able to pollute with impunity, but at least the government had reined them in on forests, forcing them to pay my pals to spend their summers replacing the forests they'd fed into their mills.

I was wrong. Last summer's Canadian wildfires blanketed the whole east coast and midwest in choking smoke as millions of trees burned and millions of tons of CO2 were sent into the atmosphere. Those wildfires weren't just an effect of the climate emergency: they were made far worse by all those trees planted by my pals in the eighties and nineties.

Writing in the New York Times, novelist Claire Cameron describes her own teen years working in the bush, planting row after row of black spruces, precisely spaced at six-foot intervals:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/opinion/wildfires-treeplanting-timebomb.html

Cameron's summer job was funded by the logging industry, whose self-pegulated, self-assigned "penalty" for clearcutting diverse forests of spruce, pine and aspen was to pay teenagers to create a tree farm, at nine cents per sapling (minus camp costs).

Black spruces are made to burn, filled with flammable sap and equipped with resin-filled cones that rely on fire, only opening and dropping seeds when they're heated. They're so flammable that firefighters call them "gas on a stick."

Cameron and her friends planted under brutal conditions: working long hours in blowlamp heat and dripping wet bulb humidity, amidst clouds of stinging insects, fingers blistered and muscles aching. But when they hit rock bottom and were ready to quit, they'd encourage one another with a rallying cry: "Let's go make a forest!"

Planting neat rows of black spruces was great for the logging industry: the even spacing guaranteed that when the trees matured, they could be easily reaped, with ample space between each near-identical tree for massive shears to operate. But that same monocropped, evenly spaced "forest" was also optimized to burn.

It burned.

The climate emergency's frequent droughts turn black spruces into "something closer to a blowtorch." The "pines in lines" approach to reforesting was an act of sabotage, not remediation. Black spruces are thirsty, and they absorb the water that moss needs to thrive, producing "kindling in the place of fire retardant."

Cameron's column concludes with this heartbreaking line: "Now when I think of that summer, I don’t think that I was planting trees at all. I was planting thousands of blowtorches a day."

The logging industry committed a triple crime. First, they stole our old-growth forests. Next, they (literally) planted a time-bomb across Ontario's north. Finally, they stole the idealism of people who genuinely cared about the environment. They taught a generation that resistance is futile, that anything you do to make a better future is a scam, and you're a sucker for falling for it. They planted nihilism with every tree.

That scam never ended. Today, we're sold carbon offsets, a modern Papal indulgence. We are told that if we pay the finance sector, they can absolve us for our climate sins. Carbon offsets are a scam, a market for lemons. The "offset" you buy might be a generated by a fake charity like the Nature Conservancy, who use well-intentioned donations to buy up wildlife reserves that can't be logged, which are then converted into carbon credits by promising not to log them:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/12/fairy-use-tale/#greenwashing

The credit-card company that promises to plant trees every time you use your card? They combine false promises, deceptive advertising, and legal threats against critics to convince you that you're saving the planet by shopping:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/17/do-well-do-good-do-nothing/#greenwashing

The carbon offset world is full of scams. The carbon offset that made the thing you bought into a "net zero" product? It might be a forest that already burned:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/11/a-market-for-flaming-lemons/#money-for-nothing

The only reason we have carbon offsets is that market cultists have spent forty years convincing us that actual regulation is impossible. In the neoliberal learned helplessness mind-palace, there's no way to simply say, "You may not log old-growth forests." Rather, we have to say, "We will 'align your incentives' by making you replace those forests."

The Climate Ad Project's "Murder Offsets" video deftly punctures this bubble. In it, a detective points his finger at the man who committed the locked-room murder in the isolated mansion. The murderer cheerfully admits that he did it, but produces a "murder offset," which allowed him to pay someone else not to commit a murder, using market-based price-discovery mechanisms to put a dollar-figure on the true worth of a murder, which he duly paid, making his kill absolutely fine:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

What's the alternative to murder offsets/carbon credits? We could ask our expert regulators to decide which carbon intensive activities are necessary and which ones aren't, and ban the unnecessary ones. We could ask those regulators to devise remediation programs that actually work. After all, there are plenty of forests that have already been clearcut, plenty that have burned. It would be nice to know how we can plant new forests there that aren't "thousands of blowtorches."

If that sounds implausible to you, then you've gotten trapped in the neoliberal mind-palace.

The term "regulatory capture" was popularized by far-right Chicago School economists who were promoting "public choice theory." In their telling, regulatory capture is inevitable, because companies will spend whatever it takes to get the government to pass laws making what they do legal, and making competing with them into a crime:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/13/public-choice/#ajit-pai-still-terrible

This is true, as far as it goes. Capitalists hate capitalism, and if an "entrepreneur" can make it illegal to compete with him, he will. But while this is a reasonable starting-point, the place that Public Choice Theory weirdos get to next is bonkers. They say that since corporations will always seek to capture their regulators, we should abolish regulators.

They say that it's impossible for good regulations to exist, and therefore the only regulation that is even possible is to let businesses do whatever they want and wait for the invisible hand to sweep away the bad companies. Rather than creating hand-washing rules for restaurant kitchens, we should let restaurateurs decide whether it's economically rational to make us shit ourselves to death. The ones that choose poorly will get bad online reviews and people will "vote with their dollars" for the good restaurants.

And if the online review site decides to sell "reputation management" to restaurants that get bad reviews? Well, soon the public will learn that the review site can't be trusted and they'll take their business elsewhere. No regulation needed! Unleash the innovators! Set the job-creators free!

This is the Ur-nihilism from which all the other nihilism springs. It contends that the regulations we have – the ones that keep our buildings from falling down on our heads, that keep our groceries from poisoning us, that keep our cars from exploding on impact – are either illusory, or perhaps the forgotten art of a lost civilization. Making good regulations is like embalming Pharaohs, something the ancients practiced in mist-shrouded, unrecoverable antiquity – and that may not have happened at all.

Regulation is corruptible, but it need not be corrupt. Regulation, like science, is a process of neutrally adjudicated, adversarial peer-review. In a robust regulatory process, multiple parties respond to a fact-intensive question – "what alloys and other properties make a reinforced steel joist structurally sound?" – with a mix of robust evidence and self-serving bullshit and then proceed to sort the two by pantsing each other, pointing out one another's lies.

The regulator, an independent expert with no conflicts of interest, sorts through the claims and counterclaims and makes a rule, showing their workings and leaving the door open to revisiting the rule based on new evidence or challenges to the evidence presented.

But when an industry becomes concentrated, it becomes unregulatable. 100 small and medium-sized companies will squabble. They'll struggle to come up with a common lie. There will always be defectors in their midst. Their conduct will be legible to external experts, who will be able to spot the self-serving BS.

But let that industry dwindle to a handful of giant companies, let them shrink to a number that will fit around a boardroom table, and they will sit down at a table and agree on a cozy arrangement that fucks us all over to their benefit. They will become so inbred that the only people who understand how they work will be their own insiders, and so top regulators will be drawn from their own number and be hopelessly conflicted.

When the corporate sector takes over, regulatory capture is inevitable. But corporate takeover isn't inevitable. We can – and have, and will again – fight corporate power, with antitrust law, with unions, and with consumer rights groups. Knowing things is possible. It simply requires that we keep the entities that profit by our confusion poor and thus weak.

The thing is, corporations don't always lie about regulations. Take the fight over working encryption, which – once again – the UK government is trying to ban:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/24/signal-app-warns-it-will-quit-uk-if-law-weakens-end-to-end-encryption

Advocates for criminalising working encryption insist that the claims that this is impossible are the same kind of self-serving nonsense as claims that banning clearcutting of old-growth forests is impossible:

https://twitter.com/JimBethell/status/1699339739042599276

They say that when technologists say, "We can't make an encryption system that keeps bad guys out but lets good guys in," that they are being lazy and unimaginative. "I have faith in you geeks," they said. "Go nerd harder! You'll figure it out."

Google and Apple and Meta say that selectively breakable encryption is impossible. But they also claim that a bunch of eminently possible things are impossible. Apple claims that it's impossible to have a secure device where you get to decide which software you want to use and where publishers aren't deprive of 30 cents on every dollar you spend. Google says it's impossible to search the web without being comprehensively, nonconsensually spied upon from asshole to appetite. Meta insists that it's impossible to have digital social relationship without having your friendships surveilled and commodified.

While they're not lying about encryption, they are lying about these other things, and sorting out the lies from the truth is the job of regulators, but that job is nearly impossible thanks to the fact that everyone who runs a large online service tells the same lies – and the regulators themselves are alumni of the industry's upper eschelons.

Logging companies know a lot about forests. When we ask, "What is the best way to remediate our forests," the companies may well have useful things to say. But those useful things will be mixed with actively harmful lies. The carefully cultivated incompetence of our regulators means that they can't tell the difference.

Conspiratorialism is characterized as a problem of what people believe, but the true roots of conspiracy belief isn't what we believe, it's how we decide what to believe. It's not beliefs, it's epistemology.

Because most of us aren't qualified to sort good reforesting programs from bad ones. And even if we are, we're probably not also well-versed enough in cryptography to sort credible claims about encryption from wishful thinking. And even if we're capable of making that determination, we're not experts in food hygiene or structural engineering.

Daily life in the 21st century means resolving a thousand life-or-death technical questions every day. Our regulators – corrupted by literally out-of-control corporations – are no longer reliable sources of ground truth on these questions. The resulting epistemological chaos is a cancer that gnaws away at our resolve to do anything about it. It is a festering pool where nihilism outbreaks are incubated.

The liberal response to conspiratorialism is mockery. In her new book Doppelganger, Naomi Klein tells of how right-wing surveillance fearmongering about QR-code "vaccine passports" was dismissed with a glib, "Wait until they hear about cellphones!"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

But as Klein points out, it's not good that our cellphones invade our privacy in the way that right-wing conspiracists thought that vaccine passports might. The nihilism of liberalism – which insists that things can't be changed except through market "solutions" – leads us to despair.

By contrast, leftism – a muscular belief in democratic, publicly run planning and action – offers a tonic to nihilism. We don't have to let logging companies decide whether a forest can be cut, or what should be planted when it is. We can have nice things. The art of finding out what's true or prudent didn't die with the Reagan Revolution (or the discount Canadian version, the Mulroney Malaise). The truth is knowable. Doing stuff is possible. Things don't have to be on fire.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/16/murder-offsets/#pulped-and-papered

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beatrixstonehill2 · 3 months

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"Guys, Josie and I have awesome news! You know how Arizona finally opened its first few detransition facilities? Guess whose doctor sent along two requests for us to participate? That's right, we are SO psyched he put in those requests and we got accepted. We each got a letter in the mail with our doctor's inquiry and it went something like,

'Dear (Director of Our County's Detrans Facility)

My two patients, Olivia and Josie, are optimal candidates to test your facility's detransition program. Both are males who have lived as girls most of their lives, going on blockers in junior high, and a substantial dose of hrt in high school. These boys love 'living as girls', and have exaggerated feminine figures (excessively big breasts, large asses and wide hips), and don't express much interest in detransitioning, despite me suggesting it as an option quite often. I would love for nothing more than to see these young men finally detransition and embrace male puberty.

Sincerely, Dr. Blah-Blah-Blah'

We read the copy we got in the mail and immediately whipped out our pathetic three-inch cocks and jerked off..... well, rubbed them like girls until we came. Sure, our doctor has wanted us to detrans for some time but we've been hesitant to do it. We both want huge cocks, to finally start growing facial hair, and to get chest hair and stuff, not to mention these big fat boobs make us both crazyyyy dysphoric like they're so huge. 🤢🤢🤢 But we liked being 'girls' just enough that we were scared to detrans, although we've both been thinking about it..... even if we don't tell our doctor.

Soooo, finally the choice was taken from our hands! We'll be detransed by the state in just a few days, this is SO exciting! We are absolutely ecstatic, calling up all of our other local trans 'girl' friends, asking if they got picked and a lot have! We're on Discord practically losing our minds anticipating our long-awaited detransition! From what we've seen of videos recorded in these places, it's like a big spa where you're given luxury accommodations and put on testosterone, as well as a massive dose of dick-growth pills. They basically use pumps and medication to make your cock 15+ inches, thick around as our upper arms, and our balls will be forced to grow to the size of grapefruits, at least! Oh, and naturally they remove our breasts shortly after we arrive!

Then we'll be put in a theater, where they'll show us extremely filthy, hardcore porn as our cocks are pumps by a machine, conditioning us to be turned on by the extreme pornography they show us. Stuff like graphic public gangbangs, free use and rape alike, pissing on girls, throat fucking them until they puke, all the girls are thick, massively pregnant, unable to escape, their breasts at least double even our size. And we'll be subjected to watching this for hours on end every day until our brains finally break and the only thing that can get us off is going out, finding some cute pregnant girls with nice plump asses and to pounce on them, jamming our oversized cocks into them like wild animals until we cum--and oh, I hear these orgasms are incredible, like shooting a whole liter of cum, rope after rope, your brain feeling totally shattered from the high, so much so the only thing you can even think about is finding pussy to fuck, just like us men are meant to be! ❤️ Wish us luck..... we'll be rooting for all you fake girls out there to get picked next!"

#detrans kink #mtf detrans kink #mtftm kink #body modification kink

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pedripics · 13 days

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PEDRI in Collaboration with AUDEMARS PIGUET - BARCELONAS GOLDEN BOY

Similarly, Pedri grew up in the mountainous municipality of Tegueste in the Canary Islands, surrounded by natural beauty. Spending hours near the sea playing football with his brother and friends, he has experienced the joys of the planet and its beauty before entering a life of football, fashion and bright lights. But a profound sense of where he has come from remains, and humility and humbleness continue to lead the 21-year-old’s choices.

His recent collaboration with Platano De Canarias, an institutional brand fighting malnutrition through the promotion of bananas, is a testament to that. The banana is the most important crop in the Canary Islands and for decades, the industry has been the protagonist of the economic growth of the archipelago – accounting for 60% of Europe’s banana production. He is also an ambassador for Kick Out Plastic, a non-profit international campaign fighting for a world free of plastic pollution and climate change.

“Climate change is something that affects us all and should concern us all, especially young people,” Pedri explains. “Sustainability and recycling are part of my daily life because my parents instilled it in me since I was a child. Being from a natural paradise like the Canary Islands, which also lives mainly from tourism, I am very aware of the importance of taking care of nature for all of us.”

As a 21-year-old with over 13 million followers on Instagram, you might not expect such issues to be on Pedri’s radar. Yet he is acutely aware that he not only has the world at his feet but in his hands — a gift he has no intention of wasting.

Intelligent, humble, and grounded, Pedri represents the younger generation with flying colours. He is a role model to all those who find themselves lucky enough to share his position and an indication that the high-profile figures at the forefront of modern football might just have deeper purposes.

On the pitch, Pedri has been hailed like no other — ‘One of the world’s best’ in the opinion of Barcelona’s manager Xavi Hernández, and ‘The signing of the decade’ according to Marca, Spain’s leading sports news outlet.

Lionel Messi’s final campaign in the famous red and blue hoops of Barça didn’t quite live up to expectations but offered an exciting window into what could be. Pedri was fresh on the scene; quiet, innocent, slight in figure and polite in persona; terrorising defences with a low centre of gravity, immense skill, close control and vision. His personality and playing style drew obvious comparisons to the iconic Argentine with whom he had struck up quite the partnership on the field. By all accounts, Barça’s next messiah was born.

But the story of a wunderkind is rarely so simple. Following his move to Barcelona and The Kopa Trophy win, he played a staggering 73 games and over 4,000 minutes in less than a year and subsequently suffered a string of injuries that would leave him out of the side for months at a time. While he has since returned to the team and reasserted his peerless playmaking form, the issue of over-played, over-pressured, fatigued young players falling victim to a demanding fixture schedule remains a pressing problem with the modern game.

“Professional football is very, very demanding, not only physically but mentally too,” Pedri admits. “I try to face things professionally and prepare myself to always be in optimal condition. That’s why it’s even more annoying when an injury forces you to stop and start all over again.

“In difficult moments, my brother Fer — the person I love the most in this life — is the one who protects me and is always by my side. I like to spend my days off at home with him and my family, watching TV series, playing board games and enjoying their company.

At first glance, Pedri appears to be an ordinary young man, but one who is poised on the brink of greatness. As the bricks for the new Camp Nou are laid one by one, Pedri is quietly constructing his own empire, drawing support from family, friends, and his sheer love for football.

“I am who I am because of my parents,” says Pedri. “They raised me with very clear values: you must be humble and respect everyone. I live my life by a quote from the legend Johan Cruyff, ‘Salid y disfrutad’ which means to ‘go out and enjoy’, and I think that sums up my approach to life.”

#pedri #pedri gonzalez #fc barcelona #fc barça #barça #*interview

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mercurianchild · 3 months

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I read your post about Pluto-Ascendant and loved it! I have Pluto conjunct Ascendant and you nailed it. In which way also having Mars square, Neptune sextile, Saturn trine, Jupiter trine, NN square, BML sextile ( 0-degree orb ) on the Ascendant is manifesting? Could also having Venus biquintile be considered? I've heard this aspect ( as well as a quintile ) is quite underrated. What are your thoughts about all these aspects? Many thanks✨

Hey! Thank you so much! ✨

Let’s have a look at the aspects to your ascendant!

Mars Square Ascendant: The Mars square to your Ascendant adds a dynamic and assertive energy to your personality. You possess a strong drive and determination, but you may also face challenges in finding the right balance between assertion and aggression. Learning to channel this energy constructively can lead to powerful self-expression and assertiveness in pursuing your goals.

Neptune Sextile Ascendant: The Neptune sextile to your Ascendant infuses your personality with sensitivity, creativity, and a touch of mystique. You have a natural ability to tune into the emotions and needs of others, and your intuition guides you in navigating the complexities of human relationships. This aspect can also bestow a sense of idealism and spiritual insight, inspiring you to seek deeper meaning and connection in your interactions with the world.

Saturn Trine Ascendant: The Saturn trine to your Ascendant brings a sense of discipline, responsibility, and maturity to your personality. You possess a strong work ethic and a practical approach to life, which allows you to steadily pursue your goals with determination and perseverance. This aspect bestows a sense of stability and reliability, earning you the respect and admiration of others for your grounded and disciplined demeanor.

Jupiter Trine Ascendant: The Jupiter trine to your Ascendant expands your horizons and imbues your personality with optimism, confidence, and a spirit of adventure. You possess a natural charm and generosity that draws people to you, and your positive outlook on life inspires others to believe in themselves and their potential. This aspect enhances your social skills and may bring opportunities for growth and success in your personal and professional endeavors.

North Node Square Ascendant: The North Node square to your Ascendant indicates a karmic lesson or challenge related to self-expression and identity. You may feel a sense of inner conflict or tension between your past conditioning and your soul's evolutionary path. Learning to embrace authenticity and follow your true calling can lead to profound growth and fulfillment in your life's journey.

Black Moon Lilith Sextile Ascendant: The Black Moon Lilith sextile to your Ascendant adds depth and intensity to your personality. You may possess a magnetic and enigmatic allure that intrigues others, drawing them to you like moths to a flame. This aspect can also indicate a strong connection to your primal instincts and a desire for authenticity and empowerment in your interactions with others.

The Venus biquintile Ascendant aspect is not typically considered a traditional aspect in astrology, as I’ve learned. If anyone has a different way of seeing this, please let me know!

But from what I’ve read, biquintiles are considered aspects of creativity, talent, and inspiration, suggesting a harmonious blending of energies between the planets involved. In the case of Venus biquintile Ascendant, it could imply a natural affinity for expressing beauty, harmony, and artistic creativity in one’s persona and interactions with others.

These aspects combine to create a complex and multifaceted personality, blending assertiveness with sensitivity, discipline with optimism, and depth with charm. Embracing the insights and opportunities they offer can lead to deep personal growth and self-discovery as you journey towards realizing your fullest potential and finding fulfillment in life.✨🦋

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themakeupbrush · 6 months

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Miss Earth Namibia 2023 National Costume

The leaves are made of silk organza which is a sustainable fabric, and recycled tulle fabric and green plastic leaves from recycled plastic bags. As for the glitter beaded part, these are recycled beads that have been hand glued onto mesh net. The hat is made of cardboard and covered by the beaded fabric. Now, the aloe plant, with its ability to thrive in harsh conditions of the Namibian climate, embodies the spirit of survival and adaptation that is deeply rooted in our culture. It stands tall in the face of adversity, just as the people of Namibia have for generations. When everything seems barren and desolate, the aloe blooms with vibrant, healing properties, mirroring the optimism and potential for growth that resides within us all. Aloes are not only emblematic of hope; they are also a source of sustenance and healing. For centuries, our people have turned to the aloe for its medicinal properties. Its gel, extracted from the fleshy leaves, soothes and heals, providing a remedy for the ailments of both body and soul. It symbolizes our ancestral knowledge, our respect for nature's gifts, and our commitment to sustainable living in harmony with the Earth. Choosing the Aloe Plant as a representation of Namibia is a testament to our connection with the environment, a reminder that we are the stewards of this remarkable land.

#miss earth #Namibia #pageant #national costume #national costume contest

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celestialxtasy · 11 months

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planetary archetypes: ancient astrology

𖤓 hierarchy of the cosmos 𖤓

the luminaries [sun & moon] are the brightest celestial bodies that emit the most light. the moon ☽ is the sun’s ☉ mirror, reflecting solar light and illuminating the night sky

the following planets are in order according to their distance from earth.

moon ☽ ➝ mercury ☿ ➝ venus ♀➝ sun ☉ ➝ mars ♂ ➝ jupiter ♃ ➝ saturn ♄

sun ☉ diety: sol [roman] hēlios [greek] shamash [babylonian] surya [indian] is the light of the mind, perception of the soul, the source of energy. its creative power is absolute. at a personal level, sun expresses itself as self-esteem and confidence, sense of purpose, ambition and determination. associated with the symbolism of an emperor with his central authority, leadership. illuminator. so[u]l.

moon ☽ diety: luna [roman] selēnē [greek] sin [babylonian] chandra [indian] is a cosmic mirror, reflection of solar and creative light, thus the analogy with multiplication, reproduction, and chaos. it is constantly going through its phases and cycles from new moon to full moon. associated with the mother and nurturing principle. body.

mercury ☿ diety: mercurius [roman] hermēs [greek] nebu [babylonian] budha [indian] is the writer of destinies, the scribe god, bestower of intellectual and practical wisdom. interpreter of dreams. mercury rules the mind and as the fastest moving planet, it symbolizes the speed of thought. messenger and trickster.

venus ♀ diety: venus [roman] aphroditē [greek] ishtar [babylonian] shukra [indian] is the goddess of love, femininity, beauty, music, art, and sexual pleasures. venus is the yin side of libido, passive and dark. venus is magnetic and seductive, she knows how to make things happen without actually doing anything tangible. brings harmony and softness. affinity with artistic endeavours, aesthetics and creativity.

mars ♂ diety: martus [roman] arēs [greek] nergal [babylonian] kuja [indian] is the god of war, the warrior, the rage, anger, passion, vitality, will to fight; the will to live. it is violent aggressive. the yang side of libido, active and light. mars brings destruction and chaos when not disciplined. mars is sharp either physically or mentally.

jupiter ♃ diety: jove [roman] zues [greek] marduk [babylonian] brihaspati [indian] is the sage of wisdom, abundance, optimism, faith, luck, philosophy, and higher knowledge. jupiter is the biggest planet in the entire solar system, symbolizing expansion and growth. jovial and hopeful.

saturn ♄ diety: saturnus [roman] kronos [greek] ninurta [babylonian] shani [indian] is elder, the authoritative figure who puts you in solitary and through long-lasting punishments. saturn makes you or breaks you, for the greater good in the long-term. the visible rings around saturn symbolize constraints and restrictions. what bounds you can also be your key to freedom.

classification of the planets:

hot - sun ☉ mars ♂ jupiter ♃ venus ♀ changeable - mercury ☿

cold - moon ☽ saturn ♄

dry - mars ♂ sun ☉ saturn ♄ changeable - mercury ☿

moist - moon ☽ venus ♀ jupiter ♃

planets can be classified as hot, cold, moist, and dry

benefic - jupiter ♃ venus ♀ changeable - mercury ☿

malefic - saturn ♄ mars ♂

planets can be classified as benefic, "doers of good", or malefic, "doers of bad".

masculine - sun ☉ jupiter ♃ saturn ♄ mars ♂ androgynous - ☿

feminine - moon ☽ venus ♀

diurnal - sun ☉ jupiter ♃ saturn ♄ common - mercury ☿

nocturnal - moon ☽ venus ♀ mars ♂

planets can belong to either the diurnal (day) sect or to the nocturnal (night) sect.

what planet is your chart ruler? what condition is it in? let me know in the comments!

made by yours truly <3

- @celestialxtasy

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crystalsenergy · 2 years

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𝐏𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐘𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐒 - 𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐋𝐘, 𝐄𝐍𝐕𝐘 🎭🧿

understanding Pluto's unconscious dynamics (to avoid being a toxic, jealous, destructive person)

Note: These are just possibilities. bringing this post to remind you that all placements have their bad sides. the manifestation of this traits as well as the change to a better state of being depends on each one.

we don't have to pretend we aren't also insecure, that we don't have our shadow sides. instead of pretending what we are not, let's work on these issues consciously.

𝐏𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐒

Pluto in 1st house: envy of other people's self-esteem, problems with accepting to see others winning and accomplishing things. not being able to wish the best for other people in terms of projects. envy of the personal achievements of others. problems with wanting someone to win, always wanting to win. envy of someone else's body.

Pluto in 2nd house: envy of other people's stability, feelings of comparison in relation to the material life of the other, irritability with other people's values, with other people's morals, envy of other people's financial conditions.

Pluto in 3rd house: envy of the intelligence of others, comparison of your ability to learn with that of the other, envy of the knowledge that a person has, envy of a person's abilities. envy someone's communication skills.

Pluto in 4th house: envy of other people's emotional growth, irritability with intimacy and emotional connection in other people's relationships, discomfort in front of a intimate family, projection of oneself in other people's family matters. envy of someone else's home,

Pluto in 5th house: envy of the success of others, comparison, projection of your ego on the other, feeling of inferiority. envy of the expression of others, of artistic abilities, envy of the self-confidence. problems with happiness, which can be manifested in several problems, such as a difficulty being around children and light people. not being able to relax and enjoy life because you have issues with it and, in the end, you feel "angry" at the happiness of others. you can't be happy seeing others being praised: you live comparing yourself.

Pluto in 6th house: discomfort with the organization of others, envy of the other's routine, the care of the other with him/herself, discomfort with the other's health. person who sees her/himself as the unlucky because she/he can't stop having health problems, but sees healthy people and envy them, doesn't wish them well. envy of the other's ability to help and serve.

Pluto in 7th house: envy of other people's relationships, envy of what appears to have harmony, for not achieving the same in your life. projection of your relationships onto others. uncomfortable in relation to partnerships of others: marriage, business. envy of the other's ability to be harmonious and not quarrelsome.

Pluto in 8th house: envy of the deep bonds of others, envy of the intimacy of others, envy of the power of others, annoyance in relation to the spiritual openness of others, projection in the deep situations of the other. envy of the other's capacity for regeneration and "rebirth". envy of the other's spiritual wealth and spiritual awareness.

Pluto in 9th house: envy of other people's optimism, uncomfortable with very open and diverse views of things, difficulty accepting that things are going to get better, having some repulsion towards optimism (exactly because you can't accept that your life can work out). envy of the courage of others. fear of deep knowledge, although therein lies what you may need to grow.

Pluto in 10th house: envy of others' social position, envy of others' professional growth abilities, uncomfortable with someone's good relationship with their parents and authority figures. envy of someone else's professional happiness, envy of someone's notoriety. aversion to prestige, popularity of others. uncomfortable in relation to the structure that the other has built. not being able to deal with a person's self-confidence in what they want to be (career, path in life in general). envy of the reputation of others.

Pluto in 11th house: envy of a person's ability to make friends. envy of your own friendships. not being able to make friends because you have trouble socializing without getting lost in the middle of it (becoming dependent or very fixated on just that group). envy anyone who has such ability. not being able to get involved in social causes and having a certain aversion to those who do so. not allow yourself to dream, envy dreamers.

Pluto in 12th house: envy of the empathy, discomfort towards those who show understanding and compassion to the other, reluctance to accept and approve altruism and sacrifices from others, as you may have extreme difficulty in doing the same for others. projections in relation to more internal problems of others: not understanding this facet of the other easily because you can't understand yourself easily. envy of one's evolutionary consciousness.

#pluto in the houses #pluto and jealous #envy #jealous #astrology posts #astrology #pluto in 1st house #pluto in 2nd house #pluto in 3rd house #pluto in 4th house #pluto in 5th house #pluto in 6th house #pluto in 7th house #pluto in 8th house #pluto in 9th house #pluto in 10th house #pluto in 11th house #pluto in 12th house #pluto

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successinsider · 6 months

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probablyasocialecologist · 8 months

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In the dominant cultural imaginary of growth societies, this figure of the growth subject is powerfully gendered: it is coded as masculine. The classical figure of the white bourgeois, the agent of capitalist expansion, is that of a man seeking to optimally deploy the resources at his disposal so as to rationally and purposefully enlarge them. This image, however, makes the social and natural preconditions of such supposedly sovereign activity invisible. And it conceals the fact that this kind of agency could only be asserted based on hierarchical divisions of both a symbolic and practical nature, allowing the socially privileged male to appropriate nature and the labour of those excluded from such privileged status. ‘Masculine domination’ has thus become inscribed in the gendered division of labour of capitalist societies as well as in their cultural imagery, which associates masculinity with public visibility, independence, strength, technological dominance and control over human and nonhuman nature. This does not mean that only men are growth subjects and that others are not, nor that all men have incorporated growth subjectivity in the same way and to the same degree – but rather that key aspects of growth subjectivities are coded as masculine due to the historical genealogies of their cultural understandings. In fact, within modern growth societies the cultural, social and economic logics that structure people’s everyday experience are so deeply impregnated with ‘masculine’ principles of expansion, exclusion and competition that these leave a mark on everybody, regardless of gender. Growth societies are inherently androcentric societies because their inner logic makes masculine growth subjectivities the norm and the condition for success. While everybody is to some degree subject to ‘masculine’ growth subjectivation, the variable forms of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ that arise as epitomes of the successful growth subject are most readily adopted and performed by men.

#degrowth #growth #gender

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tanadrin · 11 months

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@snazzyjazzsounds

it’s weird how for much of human history “democracy” was just like. technologically unfeasible within a medium sized state.

on the one hand i’m a big fan of, like, material conditions as an explanatory factor for social and political structures. on the other, i’m wary of letting the dicks of history off for their dickishness, as if it was impossible to know or nobody ever suggested that war and slavery and exploitation were bad, because, y’know, they did.

i think the paucity of something we might call democracies in the ancient world is due to several factors:

1) states originating as wealth-extraction machines. the earliest states seem to have approximately in common the monopolization of a valuable resource, as in hydraulic despotism, and a degree of keeping people in place by force, so elites can glean the excess of farmers and live without having to do food production themselves. sometimes this supports things people consider to be socially valuable activities, like the upkeep of temples, and sometimes not. but if you want to live in an egalitarian society, even one with villages and farming and whatnot, your best option is the extremely vast territory outside the control of organized states, which at least back in the beginning of Sumerian civilization is, like, most of the Earth. States compete over resources and optimize for better resource extraction, and more sophisticated hierarchies and ideologies that enable them to control larger territories, but the goal of “roughly egalitarian society without a ton of coercion” is exclusive with the goal of “live within the boundaries of a state.”

and i think a lot of ancient commentators noticed this; this is why the Tao Te Ching seems so down on the whole idea of statecraft to begin with, and why it paints the picture of an ideal society being one where the people of one state can hear the dogs barking in the next state over, but have never met those people face to face in their lives. because it was written in a period of fierce inter-state competition, and it did not escape the authors’ notice that states were mostly a bad deal for the people who lived under them.

(as we might also notice of the Roman Republic and Ancient Greece, even “democratic” forms of government were ways of brokering power-sharing between elites; most people living in ancient democracies had no ability to participate in their political systems.)

2) infrastructure is expensive, communication is hard. as you note, how the fuck do you coordinate a medium-sized democracy when it takes days to get a message from one end of your state to the other? on the one hand, yes, very big states did exist in this period, like persia. as did states with comparatively well developed apparatuses, like rome. but a lot of how big states operated historically was delegating to local elites--you tax the big men in the province you just conquered, and trust them to figure out how to get the most money out of their peasants. our modern idea of democracy is in many ways predicated on our modern idea of a state, which is somewhat different an animal than an axial-age kingdom!

and a big part of why this is so difficult i feel like has to be linked to the small size of towns, which is linked to the fact that most of the population had to be farming, because the amount of extractable surplus from the rural population was small.

for centuries--longer than the industrial revolution itself, maybe since the late middle ages--my sense is that the yield per farmer has been gradually increasing, which in addition to the population growth enabled since the industrial revolution itself has really vastly increased the amount of time we can spend on things other than producing food. and i suspect that that means states have a lot bigger pool of manpower available to them to assist in their administration, and gives them the capacity to do things like be run for the benefit of a larger subset of their population--and in turn for the population to demand that they be run that way.

3) i suspect lots of ancient societies were run in ways we would approve of, i.e., comparatively egalitarian, not terribly exploitative. i also suspect these societies didn’t look much like (their neighboring) states. you’re not building pyramids for the pharoah if you don’t have pharoahs after all. your court officials are not writing histories of your dynasty if you have no court and no dynasts. so these societies, along with very many others, leave less of a historical impression.

but i don’t want to overly romanticize the past; lots of societies that left no lasting historical record also probably sucked ass. slavery is observed even among hunter gatherers. humans can be real dicks, and we have, as terry pratchett noted, a really unfortunate tendency to bend at the knees.

#very highly speculative #don't take any of this too seriously

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cloudyswritings · 6 months

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hollow knight biology: Vessels

so I’ve been on a hollow knight kick again and it’s got me thinking about why the vessels grow the way they do. Specifically why THK and the Broken Vessel are much larger than the others we see in game despite being nominally the same age. This really stumped me for a while but the more I thought about their parentage the more it made sense. See we know the vessels hatched in eggs in the abyss, or rather what look like eggs, but the thing is we also know based on the size that it was the White Lady who made them(keep in mind that gender doesn’t matter all that much for gods, look at Loki in Norse mythology for that) . That would mean that the vessels actually came out of seeds of some sort.

Okay, you may be saying but what does that matter for the growth of the vessels? A whole damn lot actually, because knowing that the vessels are at least partially plant and came from seeds mean that we can apply some behaviors related to plant growth to them. A ton of species of plant will grow less, or present a different phenotype if conditions aren’t optimal for growth. Oftentimes this translates to a lack of resources or nutrients and occasionally inadequate lighting. Now, given that we’ve never seen vessels eat in game, and they are mute I’d assume it’s fair to say they have no mouth, leaving us with two resources they could be exposed to. Soul and Light.

If we take a look at THK and BV it becomes clear that THK has been clearly exposed to soul(given their soul magic swords as pure vessel) and Light(both from their Father and Radiance). BV on the other hand was at very least exposed to light through the Radiance, although this appears to have happened after their death and their ghost is still the same size. That leaves soul unaccounted for, but it’s entirely possible that like Little Ghost they could have learned to use soul along the way.

Essentially what I see happening is that vessels start out very small and underdeveloped until they’re exposed to Soul and Light in large enough quantities. A lack of one or both can stunt growth, this is why BV is shorter than THK. As vessels grow their mask functions a bit like the bark of a tree, with each year of growth sitting on top of the last— this translates into the mask mechanic in game and also explains why THK and BV are much more durable than Little Ghost is, they’ve simply had better growing conditions. This would also explain why falling from the climb into the abyss was fatal to the majority of vessels but not little ghost. They actually got close enough to take in some of the Pale kings light before falling, and thus were just durable enough to survive the landing. Additionally the need for light and soul would explain why the vessels were instinctively drawn upwards towards the king when they hatched. Plus the image of little plant babies is very cute to me. In short, vessels are trees and Light + Soul = Growth

#hollow knight #speculative biology #hk vessels #the hollow knight

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