holy-sturgeons

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It's my birthday month!! Aaahhh!!

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AAAHHHH LOOKIT THESE BABIIIIES! What perfect benthic children~

sturgeon

recently found out they have their OWN TAG?!?? IM SO INSANE ABT THEM ITS NOT FUNNY

here’s my contribution

This aquarium had a shitload of fish and they all had different water temps to their natural environments but these guys were just swimming in a tank

I was worried about their health but after watching them for about a half hour they looked ok and healthy which I was happy for

I kinda wanted to break all the fish out but I cannot do that

EDIT: didn’t expect this to be so popular so here’s my entire sturgeon collection:

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Some linocut prints of a cockatrice fighting a weasel and a coelacanth & sturgeon

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When you’re sorting the tank filters and a big boye wants cuddles. 

(Source)

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Hey, Oregon friends (and anyone really)!

Check out this resource for training and advice on how to stay safe in this current political climate. This group has loads of information about how to keep yourself safe while protesting and helps you learn your rights so you can better protect yourself if you are ever confronted by the police.

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Indigenous rainforestation

Indigenous communities in the Philippines’ Mt. Kalatungan protected area have since 2021 carried out a tree-planting campaign to restore native vegetation lost to decades of commercial logging and agriculture.

Known as rainforestation, it aims to rejuvenate vital ecosystem services like flood mitigation, which benefits urban areas downstream, while also providing incentives for the communities driving the restoration.

The rainforestation program is led by community groups, making use of their knowledge of native plants, and marks a shift from the government’s decades-long, centrally managed reforestation efforts that relied on planting nonnative species.

Communities are already benefiting from exports of the coffee that they grow in the shade of larger trees, but proponents of the scheme say there needs to be more interest and funding from outside to ensure long-term success.

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A resource for Californians.

Image transcript: [THIS IS HOW RAPID RESPONSE WORKS:

If you see ICE activity in your community, call your rapid response hotline.

Once you call, legal observers will arrive to document any suspicious activity from ICE.

If there is an arrest, an attorney will provide legal assistance to those affected.

A button at the bottom reads “FIND YOUR LOCAL RAPID RESPONSE NUMBER”] end id.

You can find your local rapid response number here (again, this resource is California-specific, feel free to add other states’ resources in the reblogs, I’m just not aware of any yet).

I recommend adding your county’s number to your phone contacts so that you can pull it up quickly when needed.

Be safe out there, friends. You have people on your side.

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YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE

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"Oh look love, how you've changed me."

New for the BOXED series, the salmon! Available now on my INPRINT!

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Sharing this incredible piece because I am tired. I am scared. I am raging at the walls because I don't feel like I have anywhere to put it. But this post here reminds me that I DO have something I can do. That I CAN face down the frightening future looming for me and thousands of other Americans. I can. And I will.

How to begin a sustainable way of life

This is a draft of something I've been writing for a couple months. It is mainly focused on the culture of the USA. Feel free to repost or otherwise share, with or without credit.

Do not tell people what to do—help them do it! 

Give the gift of relief from being forced to engage in society’s unsustainable ways of life. 

“People need to eat more plant-based foods.” ->Talk about your favorite recipes, give others recipes, cook for them, and grow vegetables and plants in your garden and give them away as gifts. 

“People need to repair their clothes.” -> Offer to repair others’ clothes, and teach people how to repair their clothes. 

“People need to buy less clothes.” -> Give them old clothes that you don’t want, help them repair their clothes

“People need to buy less plastic stuff.” -> Learn to make things that can serve the same purpose, such as baskets, and give them as gifts. Let people borrow things you own so they don’t have to buy their own. 

“People need to stop using leafblowers and other gas-guzzling machinery.” -> Offer to rake the leaves. You can use them as compost in your own garden. 

“People need to be more educated about nature.”-> Learn about nature yourself. Tell people about nature. Be open about your love of creatures such as snakes, spiders, and frogs. Do not show awareness that this could be strange. You are not obligated to quiet down your enthusiasm for creepy crawlies to demonstrate awareness that it is weird. Point out at every opportunity how these animals are beneficial. 

“People need to use cars less.” -> Offer rides to others whenever you must go somewhere. Whenever you are about to go to the store, ask your neighbor or your friend who lives along the way, “Is there anything you need from the store?” 

You cannot control others’ behaviors, but you can free them from being controlled. 

If you think to yourself, “But this would be so difficult to do!” ask yourself WHY? Why does your society coerce you into less sustainable ways of living, forcing you to consume excessively? After thinking about this, consider that it is less simple and easy than you thought to make more sustainable choices, so why would you judge others for not doing it? 

Do not act alone—act with others! 

Environmentally friendly behaviors that can be done alone, without collaborating with or consulting another person, are the least powerful of all. Whenever an “environmentally friendly” behavior is suggested, figure out “How can I give this as a gift?” or “How can I make this possible on the level of a whole community?” 

“Personal choices” do not work because every single person has to make them individually. If you are focused on making your own personal choice, you are not focused on others. If you are not focused on others, you are not helping them. If nobody is helping each other, most people won’t be able to make the “personal choice.”

You inherently share an ecosystem with your neighbors  

            Start with your neighbors, the people physically close to you. You live on the same patch of land, containing roots from the same plants and trees. You can speak to them face to face without traveling, which means you can easily bring them physical things without using resources to travel. 

            Always talk to your neighbors and be friendly with them. Offer them favors unprompted and tell them about how your garden is doing. Do not be afraid to be annoying—a slightly annoying neighbor who is helpful, kind, and can be relied upon for a variety of favors or in times of need is a necessary and inevitable part of a good community. If you make the effort to be present in somebody’s life, they will have to put up with you on some occasions, but that is just life. We cannot rely on each other if we do not put up with each other. 

Simply spending time with someone influences them for good 

Every hour you spend outside with your neighbor is an hour your neighbor doesn’t spend watching Fox News. Every hour you spend talking with someone and interacting with them in the real world, eating real food and enjoying your real surroundings, is an hour you don’t spend only hearing a curated picture of what reality is like from social media. 

            Isolation makes it easy for people to become indoctrinated into extremist beliefs. When someone spends more time alone, watching TV, Youtube, or scrolling social media, than they do with others, their concept of what other people are like and what the world is like comes more from social media than real life. TV and online media are meant to influence you in a specific way. Simply restricting the access these influences have to yourself and others is helpful. 

A garden is the source of many gifts 

If you grow a garden, you can give your neighbors and friends the gift of food, plants, and crafted objects. This is one of the foundational ways to form community. When you give food, you provide support to others. When you give plants, you are encouraging and teaching about gardening. It is even better when you give recipes cooked from things you grew, or items crafted from things you grew. You can also give the gift of knowledge of how to grow these plants, cook these recipes, or craft these objects. 

More on gift-giving

            Some people are uncomfortable with receiving items or services as gifts. They want to feel like they are giving something back, instead of having obligation to return the favor hanging over them. 

            It can help to ask a simple favor that can be easily fulfilled. People generally like the feeling of helping someone else. 

When you give someone a gift, it can help to say something like “Oh, I have too many of this thing to take care of/store/eat myself! Do you think you could take some?” This makes your neighbor feel like they are helping you. 

When allowing others to borrow items, you might not get them back. Don’t worry about that. It just means the item found a place where it was needed the most. You can ask about the item if you think it might have been forgotten, and this can create an opportunity for a second meeting. But don’t press. 

If the person you give to insists upon some form of payment, this is a good opportunity to negotiate a trade. 

Ask to be given compostable or recyclable things 

Ask your neighbor to save compostable scraps, biodegradable cardboard and paper products, and any other items that might be put to use. Use them in your own compost pile. Or, start a compost pile at the edge of the yard where you both can add to it. Remember that “wet” compost like vegetable and fruit bits needs to be mixed with twice as much of “dry” and “woody” compost like cardboard, leaves, small twigs, paper and wood bits. 

Use the front yard for gardening

Overcome the cultural norm that the front yard is only decorative. Use the front yard for gardening so you can be seen by others enjoying your garden, and others can witness the demonstration of the possibilities of land. In the front yard, anything you do intentionally with your land can be witnessed. It also makes you a visible presence in your community. 

Grow staple foods 

Don’t just grow vegetables that cannot be the core component of a meal themselves. Grow potatoes, dry beans, black eyed peas and other nourishing, calorie-dense foods. Grow the ingredients of meals. You could even build a garden around a recipe.

Invite neighbors and friends over to eat food made from things you grew 

Be sure to send them home with leftovers.  

Grow plants for baskets 

Containers are one of the fundamental human needs. If we had more containers, we wouldn’t need plastic so much. You can learn to make baskets, and to grow plants that provide the raw materials for baskets. 

If someone rakes their leaves, ask to have the leaves  

If you see someone putting leaves in bags, don’t be afraid to ask if you can have the leaves. More likely than not they will be happy to agree. 

Collaborate with neighbors to plant things in the no-man’s-land of the property line 

In the border land between your neighbor’s yard and your yard, it is almost always just mowed grass because no one can plant anything without it affecting their neighbor. But these border lands add up to a lot of space. It would be much better if you talked to your neighbor about what would be nice to plant there, and together created a plan for that space. 

Give others the freedom to wander 

Make it clear that you will not get mad if the neighbor’s kids play in your yard or run across it. Invite the neighbors onto your land as much as possible. Tell them they are allowed to spend time in a favored spot whenever they would like.  

The power of the hand-made sign 

If there is a yard sale, you always know about it because of the hand-drawn signs placed around. Therefore, a cookout or unwanted item exchange can be announced the same way. In rural areas I have seen hand-made signs that say: FIREWOOD or WE BUY GOATS or EGGS. This is one of the few technologies of community that remain in the USA. If someone who looks to buy and sell can put up a hand-made sign, why shouldn’t you?  

Religious people or people with strong political opinions like to put signs everywhere. If they have the confidence and courage to do so, why shouldn’t you? 

So if there is a message you would like everyone to see, use the simple power of the hand-made sign. Proclaim “BEE FRIENDLY ZONE!” above your pollinator garden with all the confidence of a religious fundamentalist billboard. Announce to the world, “VEGETABLES FREE TO ALL—JUST ASK!” “WE TAKE LEAVES—NO PESTICIDES.” Instead of YARD SALE, or perhaps in conjunction with YARD SALE, you can write, PLANT EXCHANGE or SEED SWAP or CLOTHING SWAP. Who can stop you? 

Someone has to do it for society to change  

Some of these ideas might be eccentric, strange, or even socially unacceptable, but there is no way to change what is normal except to move against it. Someone has to be weird. It might as well be you. 

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Finished two assignments in one day! They opened up to view today at 3am and I got them done. No procrastinating this week!! I stayed up terribly late getting homework done down TO THE WIRE last night. Cannot do that again. Makes me miserable and makes my face puffy in the AM.

Made green chile stew for dinner, which was delightful. Green chiles are my go-to for when it's cold out. More vitamin C than an orange, babes~ Had a bit of walnut brownie for dessert while I turned in my second assignment.

I had a long day at work and my knee is tight and hurting so I'm going to do some mild stretching and take my medicine before bed.

Left in the day:

Brush teeth

Nightly skin care

10 mins light stretching

Lay out clothes for tomorrow

Gratitude to Aphrodite and Ares

Goodnight, sweetsparks

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I can't stress enough how much I miss StumbleUpon

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In my last relationship, any time I found myself impassioned about a current event, my ex would call me a crusader but in a condescending way. He could not understand why I, in his words, felt the need to get so involved in issues that don't really affect me. When the Black Lives Matter movement took to the streets in force, I wanted to go. I am a biracial Black woman, so this affects me. I would go even if I was not Black. He tells me I'm shouldn't go because it's too dangerous, what about COVID, and then pulls out some center-right leaning bull crap about all lives matter.

He had the same attitude when I got heated about the walk back of reproductive healthcare and his exact words were "well good thing you aren't getting an abortion, then". That led to a whole conversation about how he would leave if I got an abortion. Whole 'nother story there.

He argued with me about the Confederate statues, about how it was silly of me to get so emotional about Gaza or any current event because I would get myself so upset.

So, fast forward to my current, beautifully Sapphic relationship, and my pretty girlfriend says she's ready to disrupt and to organize and is actively looking at community opportunities for such a thing to combat 45's agenda. It's whiplash but I love it. I'm here for this energy. I need someone to match my passion for this.

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Only day you can reblog this

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Uuuugh I hate doing homework right down to the wire like that. Hate. It.

I also hate that my classes don't have an easier, AI-free, subscription-free way to do some assignments. The way that I just fought FOR MY LIFE to make a music video?!?! Like... I don't HAVE those SKILLS?!

I'm so tired. I just want to do my animal sciences but I have to get all my basic stuff out of the way first.

At least I have sea turtle rehab next term. 😤

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learning a new meduim? Try fishies…

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the way i NEED a house with this aesthetic