#saving here for article

[asgardian--angels]

**URGENT** HELP SAVE THE USGS BEE LAB!

PLEASE circulate this as widely as possible, as soon as possible.

Hi all, you may not know me but I am a native bee researcher in the eastern US. People like me work to study and protect the 3600 species of native bees in North America, many of which are in severe decline.

We just received devastating news, that unfortunately was not surprising. The Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget is set to defund most of the ecological research happening at the USGS, and that includes zeroing out the budget for the USGS Native Bee Inventory & Monitoring Lab.

Don't know them? Maybe you've seen stunning photos like this:

These gorgeous and evocative focus-stacked photos of native bees on black backgrounds - all of which are public domain - come from the USGS Bee Lab (here's their Flickr). Through these, they've helped bring the beauty and importance of native bees to the public's attention. Hundreds if not thousands of news articles, videos, and publications use these photos.

But that is just one tiny slice of what the USGS Bee Lab does for pollinator conservation. Its primary role is much bigger; they provide technical support, research collaborations, and financial & grant partnerships to federal and state agencies, academic institutions and researchers, and much more, so we can study, manage, and protect North America's wild pollinators. They conduct research of their own that has led to species rediscoveries, and produce invaluable resources that have greatly advanced our understanding of wild bees and our approaches to studying and conserving them. They also provide the essential and irreplaceable service of bee identification. For those who don't know, identifying bees is hard. Sometimes Really Hard. And this lab is one of just a handful of places in the entire country who can identify some of the toughest groups of bees, and who sit on the forefront of breakthroughs on taxonomy and identification that the rest of us in this field rely on. Without this service, agencies and researchers trying to survey and monitor bees in order to track population declines, manage land, and get policy changed are stuck with a lot of nameless bees, severely limiting the usefulness of that data.

Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of bee specimens pass through this lab annually, plus the thousands in permanent storage, from long-term monitoring efforts by state and federal agencies, and researchers like myself. They operate at a greater capacity than basically any other institution doing this kind of work. Few if any bee researchers in the eastern US, or even the country, have not benefitted from this lab's work, and those benefits are passed on to you through being able to protect pollinators and the services they provide both in agriculture and ecosystems.

This lab is headed up by scientist Sam Droege, who has dedicated decades of his life to this cause, and whom I consider not just a research partner but, humbly, a friend. I am utterly indebted to him for helping me get my start in this field, and for the support and kindness he has shown me and every other young professional who is passionate about pollinators. The Lab operates with an insanely small budget already, and a very limited staff, yet the impact they have is exponentially outsized. Losing the USGS Bee Lab would be a devastating blow to pollinator conservation in this country, at a time when native bee species are sitting on the precipice, and sustainable agriculture is non-negotiable for our future.

You can read more about the Bee Lab here. The Lab is not well-publicized, but it's a lifeline for the many dedicated people who work to try and protect pollinators and the environment at large.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Sam Droege has sent out a request for help, and has encouraged us to post on social media. This is what he wants you to do to help us save the Bee Lab.

This is verbatim:

What is Happening: ·       The USGS Bee Lab is at risk of being permanently closed due to cuts in the 2026 Federal Budget and looming federal RIF’s ·       Specifically, the Ecosystem Mission Area (EMA) budget, which funds the USGS Bee Lab and the Eastern Ecological Science center has been zeroed out ·       Thousands of layoffs to hit Interior, National Parks imminently - Government Executive What you can do ·       Write to your representatives, the White House, and the Department of the Interior that they should restore the funding for the USGS Bee Lab ·       Send digital or physical letters, write emails, post to social media What you should be highlighting: ·       Personal anecdotes about how the Bee Lab has impacted you or your organization ·       How important the research the Bee Lab is conducting is to your state Contact Information: 1.      Representatives: Find Your Representative | house.gov 2.      Senators: U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators 3.      White House: Contact Us – The White House 4.      Interior: feedback@ios.doi.gov Send a copy of the letter to droegesam@gmail.com Pass this email around.  Post your response to social media

IT'S OK if you are not a scientist and have not directly interacted with the Bee Lab. Have you seen the lab's photos? Are you concerned about native pollinator declines? Are you aware of any pollinator conservation initiatives or policies in your own state - those almost certainly have drawn, directly or indirectly, from work the Lab has done. Speak about American food production and agriculture, how the Lab's research and collaborations are essential to safeguarding pollination services (this might help reach across the aisle).

Sam urges that these letters, emails, phone calls, etc, must happen quickly - within the next couple days. This information went out on May 8th and that is the day I am posting this. So please, don't wait.

If 'save the bees' has ever meant anything to you, this is the agency that is playing one of the biggest roles in this country in making that happen. Please, contact your representatives, and pass this call to action along however you can. Thank you.

[camellcat]

I think it's a bit funny I have seen spike been called both a trans man and a butch lesbian. the people may not be able to agree on a specific label here but the answer's certainly queer

[comradesaucegay]

From Des 2020,

Around 2013, U.S. intelligence began noticing an alarming pattern: Undercover CIA personnel, flying into countries in Africa and Europe for sensitive work, were being rapidly and successfully identified by Chinese intelligence, according to three former U.S. officials. The surveillance by Chinese operatives began in some cases as soon as the CIA officers had cleared passport control. Sometimes, the surveillance was so overt that U.S. intelligence officials speculated that the Chinese wanted the U.S. side to know they had identified the CIA operatives, disrupting their missions; other times, however, it was much more subtle and only detected through U.S. spy agencies’ own sophisticated technical countersurveillance capabilities.

i wonder how much these improved chinese intelligence operations are responsible for the waning of U.S. hegemony, especially if they're sharing their methods/data with other countries

[crossbackpoke-check]

blessed be (lorscher bienensegen) | telling the bees (wiþ ymbe)

"Bees" [remixed, abridged], Claudia Emerson // "Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now" [remixed. abridged], Matthew Olzmann // "Letter to my Great, Great Grandchild" [remixed, abridged], J.P. Grasser | Len Redkole, Nina Weiss, Brian Babineau, Christian Peterson, Mitchell Leff, Dave Isaac, Megan DeRuchie

[kseniyagreen]

The symbolism of the world of Manyang. Part one: the reed field

Even when I first watched Beyond Evil, I had this strange feeling of "animality" in the world of drama. And then, when I read in an interview with Shin Ha Kyun that they were told to "play Manyang," I realized that I was not mistaken.

Manyang is really another hero of the drama, with it's own soul - separate, and at the same time uniting all the heroes into a single whole, like a common collective soul.

And each of its locations is both a piece of the material land and a special territory of the mental world.

The first such special zone is the reed field.

Right before visiting it Lee Dongsik says his phrase about the observer “who is always looking from somewhere" and the entire shooting in the field is structured in such a way as to create this feeling of an observer.

We see Han Juwon from below, then from the side, then from a great height. As if an unknown disembodied entity was watching him.

The encounter with a wild, incomprehensible element confuses Juwon. After all, he so diligently suppressed his own, inner element.

In confusion, he shouts: "Are you playing with me?". And it is at this moment that a gust of wind comes.

As if the field itself is laughing at him, a city snob who naively believes in his own rationality.

Lee Dongsik effectively "rescues" him from the "playful element".

And this is how their first physical contact takes place.

And here Lee Dongsik notices an important feature of Han Juwon - he does not dodge danger. And in general, too in his own world, and sometimes he needs a friendly slap in the face to return to reality.

Bang Juson's father goes into the field as a memory. If Juwon is most afraid of getting lost, then Bang Juson's father seems to be lost willingly, finding solace in it.

It is difficult to describe what the field is in drama. But, probably, it is the world of the subconscious, the world of memories and deep feelings. Here you can lose yourself forever. And yet, sometimes you just have to get lost in order to truly find yourself.

And sometimes this chaotic world itself, suddenly, reveals its secrets to you. And it is here that the first body "floats" out - evidence of Kan Jinmook's crimes and Han Juwon's mistake.

Then the first real contact between the two main characters occurs. First attempt to see each other.

Here, in the field, where stauses and positions are irrelevant. Just two souls lost in the dark

Further, the field is no longer so actively involved in the plot, but this is where Han Juwon comes after his panic attack.

He comes for air, for a sense of space - and, probably, for help. Нere he begins the journey to his real self .

[icewindandboringhorror]

sometimes looking at like Self Help Strategies lists for the symptoms I'm having is always just like:

thing that I already do

thing I have tried 10 times

thing I already do

thing that I don't have the money to do

thing I already do

thing I've been doing since I was 10yrs old to no avail

thing that is impossible given my situation

thing that doesn't apply to me

thing that I already do

thing I have already tried

hrmm, oh wait, maybe finally- OH, yeah.. okay. thing that I already do but it was just phrased slightly differently

thing I have already done

[supersaiyajopping]

Unlisted/removed nathan fielder youtube videos that I still can’t find :

Weird friend / Dogpile / Nathan Fielder on Age

[notasapleasure]

Kay, thanks for this link, reading the essay was almost quasi-religious to this lifelong atheist. It's an absurdly optimistic piece and all the more rebellious for it, I think.

I could quote so much more from it, but perhaps this is the most relevant bit right now...

For radicals, fetishizing the guillotine is just like fetishizing the state: it means celebrating an instrument of murder that will always be used chiefly against us.

Those who have been stripped of a positive relationship to their own agency often look around for a surrogate to identify with—a leader whose violence can stand in for the revenge they desire as a consequence of their own powerlessness. In the Trump era, we are all well aware of what this looks like among disenfranchised proponents of far-right politics. But there are also people who feel powerless and angry on the left, people who desire revenge, people who want to see the state that has crushed them turned against their enemies.

Reminding “tankies” of the atrocities and betrayals state socialists perpetrated from 1917 on is like calling Trump racist and sexist. Publicizing the fact that Trump is a serial sexual assaulter only made him more popular with his misogynistic base; likewise, the blood-drenched history of authoritarian party socialism can only make it more appealing to those who are chiefly motivated by the desire to identify with something powerful.

-Anarchists in the Trump Era

Now that the Soviet Union has been defunct for almost 30 years—and owing to the difficulty of receiving firsthand perspectives from the exploited Chinese working class—many people in North America experience authoritarian socialism as an entirely abstract concept, as distant from their lived experience as mass executions by guillotine. Desiring not only revenge but also a deus ex machina to rescue them from both the nightmare of capitalism and the responsibility to create an alternative to it themselves, they imagine the authoritarian state as a champion that could fight on their behalf. Recall what George Orwell said of the comfortable British Stalinist writers of the 1930s in his essay “Inside the Whale”:

“To people of that kind such things as purges, secret police, summary executions, imprisonment without trial etc., etc., are too remote to be terrifying. They can swallow totalitarianism because they have no experience of anything except liberalism.”

[heirloommtomatoes]

the whole argument of ai "saving time" to do job-related tasks is so bizarre to me...what time are you saving? those tasks are...the literal job? that you're there for hours every day to do?

[daydreamerdrew]

(8/17/16)

[yazzydream]

Animage #8, 2022

[princesshair]

.

[powpowhammer]

.

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/pynkhues/769063810095087616/im-curious-about-your-thoughts-on-something-i?source=share

Okay this whole post just blew my mind

Ahaha, I hope in a good way!

[fideidefenswhore]

Do you think if Fitzroy lived there might have been some friction/envy with him and Edward? I was thinking as Henry gave Fitzroy so many titles probably he did think of making him heir at one point, and maybe always still thought of him as backup if things didn't work out. I even heard one theory the 1536 Succession act wanted to make him place holder heir (or imply it by clearing away Mary and Elizabeth) but he died as it was in parliament. As he was called prince that was as there wasn't one, like he'd never be called that or given so much if any of KOA sons survived. And maybe calling him that would help people think, well he's almost royal so that's good enough.

But when Edward came along, wouldn't Fitzroy stop being called prince as there's a real one now? And i could sort of see some resentment building there. Fitzroy was used to being the only son and now he's less important.

And from Edward's pov, he's the heir yeah but he missed out on all the good years with his dad. Fitzroy got to know him when he was still young and active, could play sports with him, but Edward was born after Henry was injured and the end years and decline. He'd probably be sorry he couldn't have decades and memories of that.

Not sure how Henry would feel or if they meant different things to him

Yeah, these are all interesting questions. As I remember, Beverely Murphy's biography doesn't much go into counterfactuals as far as Edward VI and nor does Elizabeth Norton's on his mother, Bessie Blount, but let me see...

Ok, highlights from the former:

HVIII might have named Fitzroy as regent for Edward VI's minority

His funeral in 1536 had provided an 'excuse' to isolate Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, from favour (well...probably another significant factor at play here, too), possibility also of Norfolk at head of regency council rather than Seymour, as the pieces fell, without Fitzroy's death, by 1547

John Dudley in this scenario, also playing ' a less pivotal role', esp. since Dudley was supported in his bid for power by Richmond's former stepfather, wouldn't he have been more likely to support his former stepson instead?

"Everything suggests that Richmond and not Mary would have been next in line for the throne [circa 1553]", mm, not sure about that one myself, but...

"Edward would have acknowledged his half-brother's position as heir apparent", I think this underrates Edward VI's sanctimonious piety and morality, Fitzroy was unquestionably illegitimate even if male, it's predicated on the assumption that Fitzroy would have been next in line by Act of Parliament had he lived, and forgets that even if that were true in this counterfactual, so were Mary and Elizabeth, who Edward wrote out. /shrug (My own personal opinion, I think this is more likely if Fitzroy had become as staunch a Protestant as his brother, and/or if he and his wife had issue that were...maybe Edward would invest Fitzroy as regent for Fitzroy's children, ie, his own nephew?)

'If there had been any opposition it would not have come from Mary" (um...let me mind my business...sorry, all respect to BM as a historian aside, this seems based on a fundamental misunderstanding of Mary's character and beliefs)

Ok, now I'm falling off these counterfactual bullet points a little/getting off the point but the next section is too misogynistic and ridiculous to bear repeating ("the idea that she might rule at all, much less without husband at her side, would have astonished her" she did that for like a year???)...I can't believe I haven't seen this section criticised in reviews, omg...

"Richmond may also have emulated some of his father's less attractrive traits" I'd argue all his children did (and his more attractive, too), but whatever...

Do you think if Fitzroy lived there might have been some friction/envy with him and Edward?

But when Edward came along, wouldn't Fitzroy stop being called prince as there's a real one now? And i could sort of see some resentment building there. Fitzroy was used to being the only son and now he's less important. And from Edward's pov, he's the heir yeah but he missed out on all the good years with his dad. Fitzroy got to know him when he was still young and active, could play sports with him, but Edward was born after Henry was injured and the end years and decline. He'd probably be sorry he couldn't have decades and memories of that.

Oh, for sure. This would have been a fascinating relationship dynamic, and I'm truly bummed we'll never know (much like had Arthur Tudor survived, what would his an Henry's relationship be like, and his with his sisters, it's just interesting, esp since it seems like Margaret was Arthur's favorite and Mary was Henry's), it'd make an interesting novel, tho! Just for starters, they would have a comparable age gap to Mary & Elizabeth, and that was a fascinating and complex relationship with lots of resentment, for sure. And also a similar dynamic of Elizabeth being Princess while Mary is a bastard, then them both being considered so, then Elizabeth being considered so and Mary erasing her own when Queen...

Fitzroy would have been devastated had he survived to see sons born by any of his father's wives. It's plausible he was, not devastated, but somewhat resentful of his only stepmother, as his troupe of players (ie, actors that performed pageants to HVIII's subjects in his name and for his benefit) was disbanded when Princess Elizabeth was born, which could not have been done without HVIII's sign-off but was likely at the influence of Anne Boleyn (these troupes were for the 'children of the King' and obviously Anne would not have wanted any child of the King acknowledged by the people except her own child/ren, Mary's troupe was disbanded too, although remarkably Fitzroy's remained during the entirety of the time COA was technically Queen...in this context, it makes sense he was such a thorn in her side).

I'll add Norton's if there are any, when I get more spoons, x.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

thinking of how like reading albert cashier's (19th century trans man, fought in the union army) wikipedia article is devastating to me, in a good way, when like there's no The Diary Of, The Posthumously Discovered Letters Of Albert Cashier, it's all like fairly dry Facts about someone living a fairly ordinary life mostly Known by us all later via like, here's his stints at various jobs....and it's that like it's this life where several times due to injury / illness, his being trans was Known to any other people, and those people who, as is always the case in any matters of how we treat others, didn't Have to be respectful & simply mind their own business, but they did anyways, no known added factors, they Just Did. noting that despite hospitalization in the union army stint, he evaded detection(tm), but that it's then later on like this ordinary guy with an ordinary job, albert gets sick & a family he had meals with (a) takes care of him thus (b) becoming aware he's trans, and they: mind their own business about it. later, different job, totally different & even more removed party in the physician involved who realizes this person is trans, Also just minds their own business like aaugh!! the tragic downturn that when becoming "too" disabled for a Soldiers & Sailors Home (where friends & soldiers from his union army regiment visited, it says!! this with notes prior about like "other soldiers in the regiment noted he tended to keep to himself but he's not the only one in the world doing so huh" like waaah!!) being institutionalized & like of course in that environment that's where we get the violence of ppl learning someone's trans & this disabled person being forced into clothes they obviously even now would not choose for themself, or they'd already be wearing them!! but that then what Also happens is that even being this Extra vulnerable now and being trans being Known such that his military pension was investigated for fraud, Former Comrades vouched that this is the same person who fought with them, it was decided the pension payments should continue for life, they did, he was buried as albert cashier with full military honors i'm sooo ;;;m;;; like Cry Every Time (crying now. help) when it's just So like, people, as they do, don't Have to treat anyone decently, and obviously trans people are vulnerable & you're of course made to believe there weren't even 19th century trans people & everyone would Of Course summarily reject it if so b/c the internet wasn't around to mess things up, so that's an extra layer, but truly that timelessness anyways like. this person w/his identity so Lifelong that no "birth name" was known until someone handling his estate traced it back years later, this guy just out here, living his life, with nothing asserted to make him so "exceptional" as to "justify" Exceptions(tm) Made, with nothing about otherwise leveraged power or advantages or appeals....just various assorted people in his life all choosing to be respectful, even when they didn't Have to, just people coming through and Recognizing This Person. thus i sure do cry every time