frogeyedape

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Some 2025 news that doesn’t suck because news always sucks these days:

Some articles found by @reasonsforhope

$300 million in federal funding for Indigenous-led conservation in the Northwest Territories arrives

Portugal introduces paid menstrual leave for endometriosis and adenomyosis

Healthy, sustainable climate 'is a human right', rules UN court

Indigenous Amazonians win landmark ruling against mercury pollution in Colombia

Saint Lucia High Court Decriminalizes Same-Sex Conduct

Ciara Becomes Citizen Of Benin Under New Law For Slave Trade Descendants

Tennessee to become first state in South to protect access to IVF, birth control

All major Las Vegas Strip casinos are now unionized in historic labor victory

Ghana passes Affirmative Action Bill after decades of advocacy

‘Long Overdue’ Lead Ammunition Ban Announced in the UK to Save Thousands of Birds

Yellowstone aspen showing signs of recovery following 1995 reintroduction of wolves to park

Chess Lover Introduces Game to Malawi’s Prisons, Schools and Street Kids

Dutch Cities Are Building These Tiny Staircases to Help Cats Exit Their Canals

Arab women in maritime finalize strategy to advance gender equality

Endangered ‘Blue Dragon’ of the Caymans Roars Back from the Brink as Population Climbs Above 1,000

A Tiny Gecko Species Once Thought Extinct Just Made a Comeback in the Galápagos

Iran’s Asiatic Cheetah Population Rises to 20, Says Department of Environment + Video

Wattled Crane no longer Critically Endangered in South Africa

Gov. Jared Polis signs bill protecting gender-affirming care coverage in Colorado

Judge Upholds Birthright Citizenship in Landmark Ruling Backed by Letitia James

Wisconsin bear with plastic jar on their head has been freed, is safe

Spain offers 17 weeks of paid parental leave to new parents

Thailand ranks first globally for gender equality in women's education

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Sure, strive to be better but…

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you'll be hanging out with the sweetest person ever and they'll randomly tell you a childhood experience that would have vaporised you and you're like oh we should find your parents and murder them irl

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these teenagers and their dog are trying ruin our money laundering business. no tony put the gun down were doing this the old fashioned way. were gonna dress up as monsters and scare them

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Permafrost mummies! All these creatures represent a real animal found preserved in the permafrost. There's something so fragile and special about the earth and ice reuniting us with an animal our ancestors would have been so familiar with, that shit makes me cry.

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outing myself as the worlds first shuttah fan

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Leverage (2008) // eliot entrances

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hey so anyone else just, feel thin. sort of stretched. like butter scraped over too much bread. like you need a holiday. a very long holiday. and you don't expect you shall return? or is that just me and bilbo baggins

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Yessss prev re: proportionality of age difference. Small age differences matter much more when the young person is like. A kid. A teen. A young adult. Once they get out of baby adult stage the gaps can get looots wider without being problematic. EG 10 year gap for a 10 year old with a 20yo is obviously wrong and extremely damaging whereas a 40yo and 50yo together is nothing. They're discovering middle age. Their bones hurt. They've Been Through Shit *and* put perspective on the experience

Every time I read one of those age gap posts the age where you're still helpless and being taken advantage of gets higher and higher, like 26 years old is too young to interact with older people what the fuck? I have lots of friends who were/are well into doing a PhD at this point. My dad had me at 26 years old. You're a whole grown ass person participating in society, you can vote and join politics, you can work, you can live in your own.

This smolbeanification has to stop, it's frankly embarrassing.

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Hnngh. The Audible "hack" is making the rounds again, with people claiming you can use your Audible credit to listen to a book and then return it "for free." While I am the first among many to say "fuck Amazon and we should gullotine Jeff Bezos," I need you all to know it's not Amazon refunding you.

It's the authors.

They take that out of our royalties. And that's after they take 80% of our royalties on sales we do make.

(Note: Also, do not assume that your credit is worth the price listing that Amazon shows. Amazon does not pay us the cost of the listing. ((WHICH THEY PICK, we cannot set our own prices on audiobooks and then that forces us to use the Amazon price for the rest of the market!!)) What we get is 20% of the credit's value, so my book might appear on Audible for $20-30. However, if you received an Amazon credit for one of those $4.99 deals, I'd get 20% of $4.99. Yes, it's fucked, it's all fucked. Yes, other audio retailers do the exact same thing. This is one of the reasons authors don't make half as much money as people think they do.)

This became such a big issue that they had to make it impossible to return books after a certain point without talking to a customer service representative, because people were using Kindle/Audible and Amazon's return policy "like a library," and some authors (myself included) were getting royalty checks that showed negative income.

At this point, I don't even know if the Audible "hack" still works (Amazon has made changes to protect authors from this kind of thing at a glacial pace), but I need you to know it's not Amazon that's refunding you. This isn't a fun little "fuck Amazon" thing. The way Amazon has it set up, it's directly fucking the authors over.

So, yeah. Obviously, if you download something and can't get into it, or if something pops up on the author's side that makes you not want to support them anymore, yeah, process that return. Yeet the bitch. But please don't use it "like a library."

It's really harrowing to see your predicted income based on sales and then find out you're getting one-tenth of that because of refunds. And it's not even because people didn't like your book. They're just using the wrong place like a library and fucking over your algorithm as well, because once you get too many returns, you stop getting promoted.

Try using a library. You can access places like @queerliblib for FREE provided you have a US library account that you've hooked up to Libby. It's a little bit of work, but once you've got a card number, you're golden.

Just, y'know, throwing it out there because I don't think people realize this is how it works. You're not taking something back to Walmart, and Walmart is eating the refund before dumping the item in the garbage. Amazon takes the refund, turns to the author, and takes it off our plates.

Note: this does not affect Kindle Unlimited. Flip through the end pages to give the author maximum pages read, and then return that bad boy so the author can get paid. But also, please, maybe think about switching to a Kobo+ account instead. It offers the same subscription-based membership without demanding exclusivity, so authors aren't locked into just Amazon the way they are with KU. (Royalty rates are roughly the same, but it's a better deal in terms of allowing broader market access.)

This has been a rambling and exhausted PSA from your local peddler of weres.

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Star Trek won't show me enough queer rebellious counter culture on Cardassia so I will do it myself

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If you are still seeking recommendations:

^This one does a good job of explaining the limited practical function of VPNs--just to bypass government firewalls/restrictions/censorship.

The next one goes into what you brought up re: the Seychelles, trying to stay out of the 14 Eyes (Big Brother ass name):

Some redditors seem to agree that no VPN is gonna be ironclad especially against a determined government (extra technical vulnerabilities that I don't get), but they're still good for preventing your ISP-internet service provider-from seeing what you do on the internet. Which does at least take away the government's easiest option of subpoenaing your ISP.

So in conclusion: not totally pointless. Really depends on what you want & need.

ExpressVPN showed up in both lists from the above recs, if that gives you any peace of mind. Apparently Nord is also outside the 14 Eyes? Who knew

Subreddit for window breathing online privacy sickos: Haha stop complaining about censorship! Get a VPN if you want to be safe!

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing, whose knowledge of programming and computers is limited to game apps where you push around a giant hole and snicker: Can you rec a good VPN that is really simple and basic? I need to shield some activities.

Sicko 1: They shoot you for making recs in this sub. Don't even mention them by name.

Sicko 2: Any will work if you install Linux on your three-dog firewall crypt0-modem and then run two-stream pissfiltering to reroute your ISP through the insulin pump of your last house's neighbor. It's easy and you're a fucking idiot if you can't figure it out. God, why are you even here? Oh shit. Can I say Linux?

Sicko 3: Lol VPNs don't even do what you think they do, they won't protect you from the feds or anyone else, in fact that neighbor's baby was born knowing your passwords and will grow up disgusted with you for being into ovulating puppygir-- *gunshot*

PrivacySickoMod: Sicko 3, you have been banned for mentioning the name of a VPN service.

(Sicko 1 spits on his corpse. I wonder why they bother using anything at all if none of it works, if there "IS no privacy anymore", but that's not the question that comes out of my mouth.)

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing: They named a VPN Ovulating P--

PrivacySickoMod: *moves closer and shows me a picture of my cat taken through my window, mouthing silently* Go.

I go.

One sleep later...

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing, in the rec and review subreddit: Hey so, I need a VPN, and I think it should be in the Seychelles or something? Consider me single-celled, in terms of technosavvy. It has to be simple, and also run on my phone and at least three devices, and I need it to be able to travel with me. Can I have recs please?

Arguer A: You're an asshole for posting this and not searching or using the monthly loser thread, which we don't have pinned because you personally suck. Just google for a list of reviews and read them and make up your own mind. But don't actually use Google. Use a VPN stacked with Jaguar Nuts. If you pissfilter--

Arguer B: Pissfiltering is UNNECESSARY and NEVER WORKS. It is NOT COMPATIBLE with JAGUAR NUTS or DIESEL. GOD. It's like babies in here!

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing: I've heard that JoobVPN works fine, their terms make it sound like it should be okay for most things and it lets you install it on--

Arguer A: NO! They're secretly owned by Facebook and still won't let you look at porn! They sent the FEDS to my grandmother's HOUSE for torrenting Slipknot albums! They de-intubated her!

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing: Are--are you sure they were the ones who--? Wait, was SHE torrenting Slipknot?

Arguer C, who has the aura of a sigma male with the knowledge of many memes: Your digital privacy is irrevocably compromised already, and there's nothing you can do to conceal your activities from a government determined to destroy you. A basic VPN will lie about where you are to websites, but the sites you want to access may note your digital thumbprint, so you may not be able to watch lactation porn without more complex--

Sicko 2, from the first forum: God, this again?! USE TOR ENROBED IN SMEG! BURN YOUR FINGERPRINTS OFF WITH ACID! PISSFILTERING! GO USE WIFI AT MCDONALD'S IF YOU JUST WANT A SECURITY BLANKET!

Arguer A: NO! They detect VPN use now and will launch unthawed chicken nuggets at you with a modified crossbow!!! Fuckshit, I've seen you on the short kings sub. You're what, the size of a rat, or a really big frog? IT COULD KILL YOU!

Sicko 2, also in this sub: THAT! IS WHY! YOU PISSFILTER!

Arguer B: Shut UP about PISSFILTERING or I'm going to install ARSON on your HOUSE!!!

Me, Fuckshit the Vaguely Afraid: Umm. So. Haha. About Ovulating Puppygirls. Is it good? It's not primarily about the porn, really, it's for secure e-commerce. I don't want my questionable purchases traced back to me and I kept getting told a VPN might help. It's all anyone will say.

Arguer C, who has just silently killed Arguer B for being insufferable despite agreeing with him about pissfiltering, pivots and looks at me like a snake ready to strike: We don't advise on illegal activities here. Understand?

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing, trying to deescalate: Who said it was illegal? Maybe it's just really, really embarrassing. Like, let's pretend that They throw us back to the Comstock days and my bank history shows I recently bought six 24" horse dildos and a 55 gallon drum of lube. It was legal then but I still don't want the Men In Black to know this, hahaha. *sweating emoji* I'm not going to torrent Slipknot or anything. I swear.

Pervert I, who has looked at my Reddit comment history and is now DMing me: So...horse dildos? ;)

Me, Fuckshit the Now Understanding Arson: YES AND AN OVIPOSITOR TOO, WHY NOT, JESUS CHRIST. I JUST WANTED A VPN.

Pervert I: You wanted to Vore Pussy Nightly?

Me, Fuckshit, James Fuckshit: I share this interest. Blocked.

MEANWHILE IN THE COMMENTS:

A man (Fuckshit) walks back in with pizza to find the entire thread ablaze. Recommendations are being flung out wildly and just as swiftly struck down. It's mayhem, every man for himself. They're arguing like they're wearing those explosive collars from The Running Man, and their heads will be blown off if they agree on anything. It's Strasbourg in 1518 and they have ergot poisoning and have to dance until someone is The Most Correct. Someone's entire skin flies past, like a Thneed.

Stories are ending here. Two brothers lie dead, links to Google spreadsheet VPN comparisons and review websites still clutched in their hands. One poor bastard has a printed-out Trustpilot review of Sharkjunk stuffed into his sucking chest wound. Four stars. I cringe away as a bad review on Wired flies right into the barrel of a TechRadar recommendation, which explodes, killing the author, asleep in his home in Fremont. The ground is soaked with unfiltered piss.

Me, Fuckshit the Sobbing: P-please. Someone just tell me what to do! I'm so scared.

Arguer 3, the sigma male, striding out of the fray, untouched: C'mon, Shit. Haven't you figured it out yet? (He removes his mask to reveal that he is also PrivacySickoMod, who I watched kill a man.) We shoot people for doing that here.

Me, Please, Mr. Shit Is My Father, sniffling and baffled: You...you look just like Higgs from Death Stranding. I don't understand any of this!

SigmaHiggs, almost kindly: You aren't meant to. We aren't here to help. None of us gives a fuck about you specifically. You're just a meaningless query, the bell that tells us when to tear each other apart. We argue to pretend we have victories. We don't make recommendations to help people, we do it to be right. Nobody's saving you. Nobody's saving any of us. Your privacy is doomed.

(All around us the combat continues. It's degenerated into arguing over Linux kerning or something, it's hard to tell with all the screaming. In the distance, someone plays the bagpipes. Or maybe it's a calliope, because this is a fucking clown show. I feel like I've swallowed a live eel.)

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing, taking SigmaHiggs' outstretched hand: Yeah. I get that now. Please. I want to go home.

(I know that if I do, if I tell anyone on the outside what happened here, I'm going to get the opposite of this. I'm going to get helpful and STILL far too tech-knowledge-dependent advice. I'm going to be helped until I want to fling myself into the beautiful mechanical simplicity of a box mangle. And I also fear that word of what I say will make it back here to the killing floor of Reddit, where they don't piss on the poor, they give you the ol' bolt gun just to laugh at how you twitch.)

(I draw myself up to my short king height. I try to be brave but...god, Reddit is big. So many people could see this. My words could end up being read aloud on a YouTube video with a little Minecraft guy jumping around. What if it breaks containment and when I get disappeared by the MIB for being disabled and trans and having six hypothetical horse dildos, it's this bullshit that I'm writing right now that becomes a bigger part of my legacy than Primal Bog Monday?)

(What if SigmaHiggs is right?)

(What if I'm not loved enough to save?)

(They're probably right. What's a VPN going to do against all this? I'm nothing but a bleeding animal trying to cover its tracks with mangled little paws.)

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing: Hey, Higgs? Can I go home now? Back to Tumblr?

SigmaHiggs, uncomfortably close: Do you want me to ban you?

Me, Fuckshit the Unknowing, swallowing hard: Do I need to say something bannable first?

SigmaHiggs, in my ear, breath hot: Would it help you?

(I squeeze my eyes shut and nod shakily.)

Me, Fuckshit the Understanding: Higgs was an Ovulating Puppygirl.

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I just committed highway robbery

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大阪のranbu さんには、ゆる〜い雰囲気のゾウリムシブローチ(改良版)も置いて頂いてます！プラスティックシャーレ入り。

New version of my lazy paramecium brooches are available at ranbu in Japan! Comes in a plastic petri dish.

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I know it's unfair vilification and stuff but it's also a lot of fun to see old media and stuff where people were SO scared of big animals like lions, sharks, crocodiles and wolves were fully expected to just come and eat you the moment you stepped into their territory. In older media we also made that assumption about gorillas and in still older we thought it'd be whales. But some animals that will actually fuck you up got left behind. Boars will kill you and eat you. They're way more likely to do so than any of those other things actually. Hippos, obviously, got off like bandits always being depicted as cute and dopey. And then there's the squids. Not giant kraken size squids. The eight foot squids that hunt in packs and will fuck you up if you fall in the water at night. I can't BELIEVE people slept on that. It's like all they cared about were the huge deep sea ones we never see. The medium size wolf pack squids were right there.