#Cultural Loss Recovery

[delicatelysublimeforester]

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: Reflecting on the Past, Embracing the Future

[poundfooolish]

I have been on a binge reading so much bullshit about the trojan war and odyssey and myths and historicity and doing EVERYTHING IN MY POWER to absorb the stories without actually reading them.

I have to finish Ghosts of the Tsunami first but WHEN I DO-

[undead-moth]

It’s amazing how fatphobes will swear up and down that they exercise for their “health” and that fat people need to exercise for their “health” too but the second someone says they exercise even though they aren’t trying to lose weight or a doctor says “exercise doesn’t cause weight loss but it’s good for your health” fatphobes are immediately like “UM why even do it then?” Like they expose themselves every time it’s amazing. They’ll keep insisting it’s about health though lmao.

Me: Exercise does not cause weight loss. This is a fact that has been demonstrated so robustly in research that even doctors, who hate and fear evidence, are grudgingly starting to admit this.

Someone reading that post: Cool, but have you considered that exercise leads to weight loss?

Me: I am going to eat you

[drdemonprince]

if sex is no big deal and just a normal thing like having dinner with someone, how do you square that with the belief that children can't consent to sex? Like idk this whole thing of "sex is a normal act like any other and we shouldn't treat it differently" makes me soo uncomfortable because i feel like it's really obviously not in a lot of situations? Otherwise what's the difference between being told by my boss to have lunch with one of our prospective clients being told by my boss to blow one of our prospective clients? :/

let's take your dinner example to its logical conclusion, because you are on to something here, but I don't think quite in the way that you think.

children are forced to eat food that they this really dislike (due to sensory issues, allergies, or just run of the mill unfamiliarity) quite regularly by their caregivers. they are also sometimes denied the right to eat because they didn't behave the way their caretakers liked, and sent to bed hungry, or barred from eating food that they can handle, and instead left to go hungry because they won't eat food they can't handle.

treatment like this causes a lot of food issues and trauma to children. It exacerbates eating disorders and erodes a child's sense of their own body autonomy. It can also cause children to have nutritional issues and a scarcity mentality around food that can be really damaging to them.

similarly, people are forced to share meals with people who they are viscerally uncomfortable around all the time too, often to extreme negative effects. employees are forced to sit down with clients who debase them or harass them. Young people in particular are forced into sharing tables with relatives who have crossed their boundaries, insulted them, abused them, bullied them, and whom they want nothing to do with. people in recovery from eating disorders are surrounded by co-workers, family members, or friends at meal times who speak about calories and weight loss and comment on their own bodies and other people's bodies in incredibly invasive and triggering ways that often make them feel way worse, and make taking care of their own bodies far more difficult.

when a powerful institution wants to exert control over other people, they also often do so using food. prisoners are given almost no control over the kind of food they eat, and are often given very low quality food that is in a disgusting condition, or that violates their own nutritional requirements or religious beliefs. patients in hospitals and in mental institutions are also subjected to such treatment, and people in poverty are expected to eat anything that they are given without complaint. It is an extension of their dehumanization to control and limit the kinds of food they're allowed to access, and how and when they are permitted to eat.

each of these experiences surrounding food can be incredibly violating and harmful. food is quite frequently a tool of control and abuse. yet it is not because there is some magical quality to food or to dinners that make them uniquely fraught with the potential for trauma. these experiences are traumatic because they involve a violation of a person's body autonomy, and a lack of social power.

sex isn't any different from dinner. we just have a series of cultural beliefs surrounding it that make the pressure involving sex something that's both a lot more acknowledged, and mostly encountered in the private realm.

Sex is treated as an almost magical thing, at once both sinister and sacrosanct, and so people are primed to see the potential for harm in it, and it is frequently used as a tool for harming people because it is so loaded, but that doesn't mean there aren't abuses involving every other mundane human activity that we simply are conditioned to ignore because doing so is so normal.

People's body autonomy surrounding food is violated traumatically all the fucking time. unfortunately because we consider dinner to be a neutral activity and sex to be this incredibly fraught and almost magical one, we ignore the massive amounts of coercion, pressure, and violation surrounding food.

your boss shouldn't be able to force you to get dinner with someone. and people are uncomfortable with discussions about body autonomy that neutralize sex, because it forces them to confront how little freedom we actually have in every facet of our lives.

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - March 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles! This month’s doodles, like every third month, will be free to the public, so take a look!

1. Zoo 'overjoyed' as lion cubs increase pride to 10

“The litter of rare northern African lions was the second batch to be born recently at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, after three arrived in November. […] "The youngsters will grow up side-by-side with their half-siblings, and I'm sure they'll love having an abundance of playmates."”

2. Ohio Appeals Court Rules Trans Care Is Healthcare, Strikes Down Ban For Trans Youth

“The ruling rested on two key findings: first, that gender-affirming care constitutes legitimate medical treatment, and second, that parents have the constitutional right to make healthcare decisions for their children.”

3. Oystercatcher Recovery Campaign Offers a Rare Success Story about Shorebird Conservation

“Fifteen years of coordinated conservation efforts have produced a significant recovery in the U.S. population of the American oystercatcher[….] Schulte predicted that the protection efforts will survive [federal funding cuts] because of the large number of non-federal partners involved.”

4. Fish-tracking robot aims to make fishing more sustainable in developing nations

“A solar-powered, transparent [robot] that can roam the waters autonomously for five days at a stretch, counting fish [… can help fishers] avoid the overfishing [… and] mean less fuel consumed by boats searching for schools of fish, and less degradation of nets due to trawling where there are no fish.”

5. Zoologist Rediscovers Grasshopper Species Believed Extinct

“[… T]he Appalachian grasshopper […] camouflages with its surroundings—perhaps part of the reason people haven’t seen it [since 1946]. [… A zoologist] had seen some reports on iNaturalist that he thought could have been the species[, …] and after surveying several locations, he found a female.”

6. Scaling agroforestry can support fisheries, local food production and cultural practices

“The research found that combining native forest protection (100,000 acres) with transitioning suitable fallow agricultural land to agroforestry (400,000 acres) could [reduce] erosion and boosting nearshore food production by almost 100,000 meals per year[….]”

7. A cell pulls off one of the 'Holy Grails' of biotechnology

“[… A] single-celled alga with a nucleus [… can conduct] a chemical conversion reaction that helps create some of the essential building blocks of life. […] One day, Capone says the nitroplast could be introduced to crops to allow them to convert their own nitrogen without relying on external fertilizer.”

8. FERC: Solar + wind set for a strong 3-year run despite Trump’s sabotage

“Solar accounted for 68.2% of all new generating capacity placed into service in January – more than double the solar capacity added a year earlier (1,176 MW). […] Around 30% of US solar capacity is in small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data.”

9. As ghost junk haunts the sea, ‘mermaids’ are fighting back

“Just two days after completing the training, Diana Garcia, one of the Sirenas, helped remove nearly 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds) of [abandoned] ghost gear and debris in the waters near her community[….]”

10. A Nest-Protecting Program Pays Off for Alabama’s Snowy Plovers

“Over the past two breeding seasons, 18 Snowy Plover chicks fledged—a major turnaround after five years of almost no chick survival. [… The team made] a concerted effort to educate the public about the need to give the birds space[, … and] people have not directly caused plover losses in Alabama recently[….]”

March 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[evelyn-and-art]

“As the cold sinks deep into every crevice, I hope my love gives you warmth.”

My submission for Week 2 of Tea’s SuoSaku Monsterfucking Month. With the prompt “He Came Back Wrong”, I decided on a Xianxia AU featuring demonic cultivator! Suo and fierce corpse! Sakura.

Extras (and lore) + Topless Version

Topless Version [TW: (softcore) necrophilia, loss of body parts (but it’s wrapped/stitched), scars (if you’re squeamish about that) & implied decapitation and torture]

—

The idea came from @ros-ales who said to me,

She knows me so well <3. Me thinks Nirei didn’t intend for Suo to actually go through with it, they’re all in mourning after discovering Sakura’s remains and a lot of things can be said carelessly in the moment. Unfortunately, Suo was already unhinged to begin with and Sakura’s death just made him spiral down further. So yeah, this is both horny and sad. Horny sad. (Week 3 is just horny, promise 🖐️😔)

They also gave me the idea for Sakura’s left eye (or lack thereof 😭) since his golden eye might be a valuable prize for some (in this AU skr was considered one of the strongest cultivators in their generation) and I’d imagine the opposing sect responsible for his torture and death would do something like that. Why is it not back in his body like his head? Uhhh, me thinks his scarred eye serves for better storytelling. Oh! And Sakura’s choppy haircut was the result of his head being *gestures to the neck*. Between you and me, Suo has some of the hair remains kept preserved in a pouch inside his magical storage sleeves.

-bUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE:

In East Asian culture, the standard practice in wearing traditional robes was left over right; in China, this is called Yòurèn (右衽, lit. right lapel). The opposite, Zuǒren (左衽, lit. left lapel), is commonly used for the deceased.

Considering in this AU Suo dresses Sakura daily, he was initially hesitant in putting on the robe the appropriate way since it would be the final nail to the coffin (ha!) so to speak—thank you to @psychicwavementality for this additional tidbit! Ah, but I love making Suo lowkey insane so eventually he gave into his delulu and dresses Sakura as if he were still alive. It terrifies and worries the sect though, they’re scared of what might happen if they address this to Suo directly (Suo left quite the mess in their first recovery of Sakura’s body) so they continue to indulge with the pretense. It goes without saying that this is not a healthy way to cope, like at all. If you ask the sect, they would say they’re doing this for Suo, but remember it’s not just Suo who was devastated by Sakura’s death.

—

Week 3 is already out as well since I was working on it at the same time ^^. Ahhh sorry this is so late Tea ( ˶╥﹏╥)7

[thusspoketrish]

Hiya, I'm Trish! Below you'll find a list of my completed Drarry fics + a gist of the story + a handful of tags. All of my stories are postwar, EWE, and rated E or M. I will update this list as I complete more stories! Wooo!!!

MOST RECENT FIC:

Netflix and Chills | E | 20K Halloween might be over, but the tricks, treats, and heat between the sheets are just beginning for our favorite dynamic duo! Humor. Post-Second Wizarding War. EWE. Drarry in the Muggle World. Established Relationship. Snarky Draco Malfoy. Muggle Technology. Slice of Life. Humor. Romance. Domestic Fluff. Pop Culture References. Shenanigans. Halloween Night. Netflix and Chill. Banter. Mystery. Idiots in Love. Light Dom/Sub Elements. Dirty Talk. Blue Ball Hell.

Summary: When Draco innocently asks what "Netflix and Chill" means, Harry simply can't pass up the opportunity to impart some knowledge while demonstrating a masterclass in the art of seduction. Now, if only those plans weren't constantly interrupted by trick-or-treaters—some of them far more trick than treat.

The Art of Getting By | E | 149K Recovery fic set in a psychiatric hospital. Mental health Issues. Trauma/Traumatic Experiences. Heavy Angst. Harry and Draco admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Therapy. Fastburn. Co-dependency. Falling in love. Draco's + Harry's POV. Please read warnings. Dead Dove.

This Year's Love| E | 84K. A Drarry slowburn inspired by When Harry Met Sally! Humor. Light Angst. Draco in the Muggle world. Lovable Disaster!Harry. Enemies to Best Friends. Modern Dating. Layabout!Harry. Medical Student!Draco. Draco Dates Zaddies. Harry Is Living His Best Heaux Life. Sex (or no sex!) Positivity. Idiots In Love. So Much Pining. Harry's POV.

Everything That Happens Is From Now On | E | 42K. A sensitive story that explores the aftermath and recovery from a stranger SA. Established relationship. Secrets. Supportive/Loving Partner. RTS. Living Together. Body Positivity. Enthusiastic Consent. Hope. Draco's POV. Please read warnings.

Lemon Colour, Honey Glow | E | 67K. A love story that takes place over a series of unfortunate nights at the Leaky Cauldron. Enemies to Lovers. Falling in Love. Auror!Harry. Potion Master!Draco. Secret Relationship. Emotional Hurt/Comfort. Possessive Harry. Flangst. Beer Gardens. The Leaky Cauldron. The Slytherin Trio. Bullying/Violence. Spoilers Left Untagged.

Super Rich Kids | E | 81K. True crime meets wild government conspiracies when Draco becomes a twisted sort-of Robin Hood, robbing the badly behaving rich to give to...well...you'll have to read the story to find out! Angst. Murders. Coverups. Enemies to Friends to Lovers. Bisexual Draco. Lush descriptions of glamour. Humor. The ULTIMATE Slytherin ensemble. Mental Health Issues. Drug Usage/Addiction. Pureblood Elitism. Social Season. Angst with a Happy Ending. Draco's POV.

On The Last Day | E | 53K. Draco's role as an Unspeakable, Harry's untimely death and ghostly return, and conspiracies bind them in a quest for truth and redemption. Mystery. Angst. Hurt/Comfort. Grief/Mourning. Horror Elements. Science. Neurology/Neuroscience. Slowburn. Memory Loss. Draco's POV.

My Best Friend, the Serial Killer | E | 37K. Ride or Die BFFL Draco finds he's tired of moonlighting as a serial killer's accomplice. No matter how much he loves Pansy, he draws the line at helping her dispose of a sexy, flirty Harry Potter. Dark Humor. Campy/Kitsch Elements. Serial Killer!Pansy. Healer!Draco. Femme Fatale Trope. Falling in Love. Self-Love. Jealousy. Everyone is seriously morally grey. Draco's POV.

A Ferret, a ScarHead, a Weasel, & a Baby | E | 91K. The ultimate bromance takes centre stage (alongside a sweet and tender Drarry romance) in this Three Men & a Baby inspired story! BAMF Auror Draco. Protective Draco. Healer Harry. Capable and Emotionally Intelligent Ron. Illegal Potions Ring. Orphaned Baby. Roommates. Nothing to Something to Everything. Draco's POV.

Seven Days | E | 8K. It takes seven days for the Malfoy-Potter family to unravel. Grief/Mourning. Child Abduction. Death of a Child. Implied Mpreg. Alcohol Relapse. Coming to Terms. Harry's POV. Please Read the Warnings.

Portrait of a Young Girl | M | 8K. Navigating the complexities of love, marriage, and child-rearing, Harry and Draco face a new challenge when they suspect that four-year-old Teddy might be transgender. Married Drarry. Young Couple. Inexperienced Parents. Marital Problems/Disagreements. Stay-at-Home Dad Draco. Fluff. Acceptance. Love. Family. Happy Ending. Harry's POV.

A Day at the Park | M | 6K. Draco discovers that love has its own timing, and sometimes, that means returning to the place where he once lost it all. Estranged couple. Flashbacks. Pining. Postman's Park. Exiled Draco. Draco's POV.

Long for Bliss! | E | 9K. A random night out takes a dark and thrilling turn when Harry, after taking MDMA, encounters Draco Malfoy, looking like something straight out of his wildest dreams – or nightmares. First Time Drug Use. Nightclubs. The Perils of Ennui. Mildly Dubious Consent. Rooftop Sex. Light Dom/Sub Elements. Harry's POV.

Idiot Boys In Love & More | Various Ratings | 18K. Here you'll find a collection of one-shots, drabbles, and poems about Harry and Draco that are all standalone pieces! Each story is centered on a prompt provided by @drarrymicrofic and said prompt will be listed in the summary of each story (Series I completed). Harry + Draco's POV.

[nousrose]

The temporary payoff of other addictions—drugs, gambling, food—pales in comparison with what the transcendent Other may offer. It is not just relief from this world's pain, an anodyne to boredom and depression, but a recovery of that fabled Eden one seeks in the neurological labyrinth of our history. Nothing has greater power over our lives than the hint, the promise, the intimation, of the recovery of Eden through that Magical Other. No wonder, then, the dismay, the horror, of losing Eden again, when its precincts were glimpsed from afar. Who would want to live on, having lost it yet again? The repeated loss of Eden is the human condition, even as the hope for its recovery is our chief fantasy. Yet, we all know that the Other, a simple, flawed human being just like ourselves, can never carry the full weight of our Eden project. Nor can we carry the Other's. Those two diagonal vectors in the relational diagram are the most active of all the twelve possibilities. Invariably, as they carry so much weighted history, so much longing, such a large hope, they will collapse. At that moment, one falls out of love, as the culture has it. More than half of all popular songs mourn this loss of the beloved Other. "Who are you," "I don't know you anymore." "You've changed," "You've broken my heart"—that is, failed my Eden project. But since my Eden project, my desire to go home through you, is essentially unconscious, I am unaware of its origin in myself and can only blame you for this great disappointment.

The Eden Project

James Hollis

[gem-femmes]

Hi to all my readers 💝

This list of my guides and longer articles will be updated periodically.

🦢 Social Skills

How to Handle Running Into a Former Friend or Ex that You’re Not Looking to Reconnect With

How & Why Gatekeep Yourself

10 Conversation Topics to Create a Deep Connection

Level-Up Tip: Sometimes, It’s Best to Let People Learn on Their Own

The Faux Pas Recovery Guide: How to Bounce Back from Awkward Moments

The Art of Asking Questions: How to Open Doors with Curiosity

🦢 Social Climbing

My Experience with “Old Money” & “New Money” in Europe and England

Insider Secrets: The Truth About “Old Money” Style and Breaking Into Elite Circles

7 Subtle Ways People Try to Sabotage Young Women

Sentences that People Might Say to Undermine You

How to Cultivate Presence: The Quiet Power of Being Noticed

The thing no one tells you about social climbing

Social Grace 101: Small Gestures That Make a Big Difference

The Art of Subtle Influence: How to Be the Person Everyone Wants Around

How to Master the Dinner Party Power Dynamic

Body Language Secrets of the Social Elite

Gatekeepers, Allies and Rivals: Navigating Complex Social Hierarchies

🦢 Personal Development

Why Do I Believe that I Can’t?

How to Move On Faster and Build Resilience

My Weight Loss Journey: What Works & What Fails

I didn’t feel like exercising but I did it anyway

Stop Overloading Yourself: Do Less, Not More

The Myth of Effortless Growth Realizing You Can Change, Right This Second

Level Up Reminders Because Why Not

Some Thoughts For Your Own Main Character Era

On Finding (and Firing) Mentors

Babe, You Can Change Your Life Right Now

🦢 Art & Culture

How to Understand an Artwork: A Brief Guide

🦢 Career

How to Subtly Push Back in a Negative Job Interview

🦢 Lists

tiny daily habits for a more intentional life simple ways to romanticize your everyday life ten simple habits for a beautiful and fulfilling life tiny ways to treat yourself every day ways to make your space feel more magical quick ways to spark creativity simple ways to feel more confident every day ways to add luxury to your daily routine how to be the most well-rounded woman in the room in 2025 little ways to stay grounded and present tiny joys to brighten your day ways to romanticize your evenings simple ways to feel more aligned with yourself

🦢 Dating

Advice for Dating at University

[funeral]

[T]he conceptual metaphor of spectrality is deeply embedded within the discourse of loss, mourning, and recovery that delineated the multidisciplinary project of trauma studies as it emerged . . . To be traumatized . . . is to be "possessed by an image or event" located in the past. To be "possessed"—gripped indefinitely by an anachronistic event—also describes the condition of being haunted . . . In other words, when we think of ghost stories . . . , it is the haunting of the present by the past that emerges as the most insistent narrative. The mode of expression that many scholars use to describe the spectral, then, is similar to, if not fully consonant with, the terms used to describe the affective qualities of trauma.

Introduction, The Spectrality Reader: Ghosts and Hauntings in Contemporary Cultural Theory

[girlactionfigure]

The @IsraelMOH will submit a report to the UN detailing the abuse endured by survivors of Hamas captivity. 

Read this thread. Share this thread. The world must know just how evil these Hamas psychopaths are.

1️⃣ Women, men & children who returned reported that they endured severe physical & sexual abuse such as beatings, isolation, deprivation of food and water, branding, hair-pulling & sexual assault.

Some reported that the captors sexually assaulted them or forced them to undress.

2️⃣ 

The hostages were denied medical treatment for injuries caused on and after October 7, and untreated chronic conditions. Fractures, shrapnel wounds, and burns were treated inadequately, leading to preventable complications which required additional surgeries.

3️⃣ 

The captors tortured those injured by performing painful procedures without anesthesia.

4️⃣ 

Many hostages suffered from untreated chronic conditions leading to severe medical deterioration, such as low blood pressure, bradycardia & hypothermia. 

1 hostage died from untreated complications. Several women required urgent treatment due to hypertension & hypothyroidism

5️⃣ 

Half the hostages were deliberately starved. Poor diets led to extreme hunger. They were kept in dark spaces, causing vitamin D deficiency. The average weight loss was 8-15 kg (10-17% of weight). Children lost an average of 10%. In one case a girl lost 18% of her body weight.

6️⃣ 

Poor nutrition may lead to Sarcopenia, delayed wound and fracture recovery, and a weakened immune system. Malnutrition also negatively impacted cognitive function and mental health, and as for children, it may hinder development and growth.

7️⃣ 

The captors attempted to improve some of the hostages' appearance and weight before their release exposing them to Refeeding Syndrome and electrolyte imbalances such as hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, and hypophosphatemia, particularly among elderly hostages.

8️⃣ 

In cases with complex medical backgrounds, these electrolyte disorders can be life­threatening. Additionally, the hostages were denied essential medications and treatment for their injuries, leading to the risk of widespread metabolic disorders.

9️⃣ 

The poor quality of food & water and unsanitary conditions, led to increased morbidity among the hostages. Many suffered from diarrhea, abdominal pain, and sometimes constipation. They had limited access to showers and returned with skin infections, including Dermatitis.

1️⃣0️⃣ 

Infections were detected in hospital cultures (Clostridium, Salmonella, Vibrio, Shigella, Giardia, E. coli). 

2 hostages suffered from acute case of Q fever. Some women developed Deep Venous Thrombosis due to no access to medication & lack of mobility during captivity.

1️⃣1️⃣

The abduction of children, women, men, and the elderly from their homes is a traumatic event, often occurring after the murder of family members or close friends. In some cases, children were taken without their parents or after their parents' murder.

1️⃣2️⃣

Hostages witnessed their homes burned and looted as well as their community members raped. 

The captives were taken to Gaza in open vehicles alongside bodies of those murdered. They endured beatings, humiliation, and verbal, physical, and sexual violence.

1️⃣3️⃣

The captivity was designed to torture the hostages psychologically. During their time in captivity they endured family separation, immobilization, arbitrary, frequent transfers & exposure to further violence. Some witnessed the killing of other captives.

1️⃣4️⃣

In captivity, the hostages were often subjected to solitary confinement, poor sanitation, severe medical neglect, lack of sleep, starvation, sexual abuse, violence, threats, and brainwashing through media designed to break their spirit and make them submissive.

1️⃣5️⃣

Medical and psychosocial teams report sharp mood swings, with some showing signs of hypomania upon return, followed by extreme depression. Even those who appeared strong initially showed difficulties adjusting to reality, sometimes experiencing dissociative episodes.

1️⃣6️⃣

Some returned hostages had paranoid anxieties, fearing retaliation against their loved ones still in captivity if they spoke about their experiences. The inability to share their trauma with therapeutic factors, which made it harder to process their trauma.

1️⃣7️⃣

The returned hostages have been experiencing "survivor's guilt" feeling responsible for being rescued while their loved ones remain in Gaza. Some wish to return to captivity to help those left behind and cannot be rehabilitated as long as their loved ones are still there.

1️⃣8️⃣

Many experience fear, restlessness, emotional detachment & confusion. Some afraid to leave rooms, even in the hospital's protected areas. They couldn't let go of behaviors from captivity - not eating, neglecting hygiene, hoarding food out of fear they would not have enough.

1️⃣9️⃣

They reported severe nightmares & sleep deprivation. Some experienced derealization struggling to accept their presence in the Israeli hospital as real rather than a dream from captivity. Avoided anything that reminded them of traumatic experiences, including certain foods.

2️⃣0️⃣

Most had no home to return to and learned upon their return of the deaths of family and friends, the destruction of their homes, and the collapse of their communities. Many found themselves without the support they once had, which has significantly hindered their recovery.

2️⃣1️⃣

Two of the children that were held together during captivity reported that they were held bound and were beaten throughout their captivity. Signs of binding, scars, and marks consistent with trauma were found.

2️⃣2️⃣

2 young children had burn marks on their lower limbs. One child stated that the burns were the result of a deliberate branding with a heated object. Both the child and adults who were with him described the incident as a purposeful branding event, not an accident.

2️⃣3️⃣

One hostage described being sexually assaulted at gunpoint by a Hamas terrorist. Captors forced women of all ages to undress while others, including the captors, watched. The captors sexually assaulted them and were tied to beds while their captors stared at them.

2️⃣4️⃣

One woman, injured during the attack, was held in a dark isolation for 30 days, bound and unable to move. She had no contact with the outside world, received an inadequate amount of food and water, and did not receive treatment for her injury. 

2️⃣5️⃣

The men endured severe physical abuse, including continuous starvation, beatings, burns with galvanized iron (branding), hair-pulling, confinement in closed rooms with a limited amount of food and water, being held in isolation with hands and feet tied, and being denied access to the bathroom, which forced them to defecate on themselves.

2️⃣6️⃣

These are the testimonies of those who were captive for 2 months. There are still living hostages enduring this for 450 days. 

Please share and help Bring Them Home Now. 

Ministry of Health

@TheMossadIL

[dogtoling]

Biology of Inkfish - Splatting

“Splatting” is a severe state that all inklings can end up in due to major loss of ink. While inkfish in either of their forms can be splatted, this most often occurs in swim form or minutes within having been in swim form previously. During transformation into swim form, the skin lets more ink through, which makes the introduction of foreign liquids extremely non-ideal. During splatting, enough foreign liquid enters the system for the ink system to forcibly eject most, if not all, of the ink in the body as a response to unidentified ink. This happens when the ink hearts* all contract in unison to try to replace unfamiliar substances in the ink stream, or as an extreme response to a threat. Ink is sprayed out from all ink ducts in an explosive manner, which may deter an attacking predator and clear out the ink system, but which also leaves the inkfish stranded on the ground. 

*The ink hearts are minor organs situated at different points of the ink vein network, and are responsible for cycling and ejecting ink.

Inklings have extremely stretchy skin, as well as specialized muscle structures that keep their shape and strengthen when ink is coursed through them. Thus, when ink flow is redirected or reduced, these muscles shrink and flatten - when ink is removed from the muscles and the body, smaller inkfish can lose more than 50% of their total body weight. In inkfish, this adaptation is useful as the shape of the body and even the consistency can be greatly altered. However, it comes with the downside that an inkling that has lost most or all of its ink will struggle to move quickly and may be unable to escape from predators until enough ink is recovered, which may take minutes without outside help. To adapt, inkfish have also improvised a way to utilize their significantly lighter bodies and use the propulsion organ inside their heads to use the remaining bits of their ink to launch into the air and fill the organ with air to attempt to float to safety.

[A diagram of an inkling's basic ink layers. The major ink veins run across the body, pumping ink from the ink sac and splitting into hundreds of minor ink veins. Minor ink veins transport ink to the ink-holding tissue within muscles as well as the ink ducts, which bleed out ink through the skin. When these ink ducts are open, the flow of ink between the skin and the body is high.]

Splatting is a key element in some aspects of inkling culture, like Turf Wars and other extreme sports. In Turf Wars, enemy ink of another consistency will cause a rejection of all the circulating ink in an inkfish’s body in large amounts. A more controlled form of splatting can also occur as a defensive mechanism from extreme agitation, and is used in some attacks, such as the Kraken spin and especially Splashdown. These splatters are typically sustainable for users during Special states due to the high amount of ink that is being produced. Being in contact with other people's ink is known to boost ink production as a whole.

Splatting looks very violent to other species, but it is mostly harmless to inkfish with normal bodily functions. Inkfish in a safe environment will regenerate from splatting on their own given enough time to regain their ink, and splatting can be immediately treated if replacement ink is introduced. Splatted inkfish will absorb ink from their environment and replenish their bodies in a matter of seconds. The only common situation in which splatting is irrecoverable is in situations where the body is engulfed in water, in which case water being absorbed through the skin will flush the ink from the body and prevent recovery. This makes inkfish ill-fitted for being in the water, though they can use their air sacs to float on top of the surface, and attempt to swim or jet propel themselves onto land.

[An example showing the processes of the body when inkfish are splatted. The body rejects ink of the wrong color by forcefully ejecting all the ink in the ink sac and system, leaving the body in a low-ink "splatted" state. Inkfish are able to draw air into their mantles to utilize their reduced body weight and jet propulsion abilities to fly to an area where ink can be absorbed back into the body, which is a fast process.]

[azriona]

Friday Five: Winterhawk Edition #1

Hey, look, it's Friday, awesome. Today's Five focus on Winterhawk (Clint/Bucky). A good mix of canon divergence and straight-up AUs here that run the gamut from schmoopily romantic to downright terrifying. Yay variety!

Want a different pairing? Check out the Friday Five Masterlist!

Silhouette by @mariana-oconnor

(E, Canon Divergence, no superpowers but there is a SHIELD and a metal arm)

Steve and Bucky are SHIELD agents. Natasha and Clint are vigilante assassins. Steve and Bucky are assigned to track and apprehend Natasha and Clint. Things do not go as planned. The epitome of a thriller spy love story, and long-distance secret romance at its best.

💘

Complications/Publications/Sensations by @flawedamythyst

(Teen through Explicit, Soulmate, Avenger!Bucky)

A set of three WinterHawk stories. The first is how they become soulmates and how they deal with the complications. The second is how they manage their relationship with the never-endingly annoying press. The third is my favorite. When Clint is hit with a magical curse that removes all of his senses, he and Bucky have to figure out how to continue Avenging – not to mention whether or not they even can. There’s plot going on too – the first two mostly with Bucky’s Hydra programming, and then the third with Clint’s determination to do everything himself despite having Bucky as backup.

💘

Falling off the Face of the Earth by @teeelsie-posts (Teeelsie)

(Explicit, post CA:CW, Bucky & Clint on the run, Winter Soldier warning)

Bucky’s going through his recovery in Wakanda when there’s an attack, and Steve sends Bucky with Clint to safety. It goes pretty well, until it doesn’t. This fic had me on the edge of my seat in the second half.

💘

This is not a Date, it’s a Kidnapping by sara_holmes

(Teen, Bucky on the run, humor, Lucky the dog)

Bucky Barnes wants Steve to stop looking for him. So obviously the best way to send a message is to kidnap Clint and threaten him until he delivers it. Except Clint’s really bad at convincing Steve to do anything, plus he’s really easy to kidnap, and now there’s a dog, and is it really Bucky’s fault that he keeps kidnapping Clint? ‘Course not. Guy’s too kidnappable, that’s the real problem here.

💘

Ain’t That a Kick in the Head by Finely Honed

(Explicit, new relationship, no powers, disabilities, PTSD)

So technically this is the third in a series that focuses on Stony, but as this is a prequel to the main storyline, it works as a standalone really well. Clint and Bucky are newly invalided out of the Army, and have to navigate not only their new relationship but also their new personal situations (Clint’s hearing loss, Bucky’s amputation) and the reverse culture shock of being civilians again. It’s the trifecta of trauma! But no, seriously, this isn’t half as angsty as it sounds, and their joy in each other is the best part of the fic.

Don't see your favorite fic? Send me a rec!

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

Internet culture is so fascinating because usually if you've got this piece of art that through the years has been distorted or somehow lost, that's basically all you've got and there's no way of recovery -- a painting losing its ink over time, or an old tv show episode's only surviving copy being a rough capture with a cheap recording device.

But on the internet if there is an old meme or other well-known image that through various uploads through the old web has lost its original vibrancy and taken on a new visual identity through the filter of file loss, chances are the person who made that artwork or meme is still out there and might just have the original file and so you do in fact have the good chance of seeing it as it was originally made.

It's just so fascinating I think that the internet is both so new and so entrenched in advances constantly being made to perfect old technology that any original eroding is extremely recent and has a very good chance of being fixed

[entity56]

weight loss culture has spiraled so out of control that when we say 'exercise is healthy and good for you' the first thing that comes to mind is 'because it makes you lose weight'. thats not even CLOSE to the top priority and should never have been in the first place. for folks that can, they should work out because of the VARIOUS OTHER health benefits, including assisting in mental illness recovery. it improves your blood flow. it regulates your emotions and stimulates dopamine production. it encourages muscle development. makes you more energetic and (if done right) flexible and mobile. improves your sleep. hell it can even make food more enjoyable! i'm serious!

so when people say 'fat people are unhealthy' they're completely overlooking the fact that A) Body Types Exist and B) having extra 'fluff' does not a health condition make. inactivity does. even something as simple as a quick yoga session or a swim or brisk walk can DRASTICALLY improve your health in multiple different ways. while fat.

when we say 'work out' it's not supposed to mean 'you're fat' it's supposed to mean 'you could benefit from some physical activity'. bar none. period. full stop.

[anachrosims]

I’m healing up with six holes in my torso and laying here in bed, unable to sleep, thinking about the state of the world.

I’d like to think that B*den leaving the race, and H*rris losing, would be a wake up call to the left; that sometimes we have to support shitty people to prevent shittier people from getting back in power; and that the US has yet to culturally come to terms with its history of racism and misogyny. And no, it’s not fair that we’ve had to choose between lesser evils just to tread water—it’s stupid, vile, horrific, to ask people to vote for politicians who are still more like rulers than representatives, especially when those people are directly impacted by systemic bullshit every day.

But it just boggles the mind, that so many of y’all either forgot or weren’t clued into the damage Dump did in his first term, and were so willing to do things like tell me to kms just because I was encouraging my fellow Americans to vote. At the end of the day, no, it’s not about me—it’s about what you’re willing to do to make a better future happen, and stupid petty bitch squabbles online ain’t gonna do shit for anyone.

I’m laying here being kept awake by a future that is as uncertain as it ever was in my life, and any other. And as I get older, the more I internalize that time is the one thing we can’t get back—time with loved ones, time to make the most of opportunities, time to just sit and turn off the screens and just BE alive. Too often, time is stolen from us—by abuse, illness, loss, and other hardships. But it’s still up to us to try and make the most of what time is left.

I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t have any pithy clapbacks, snappy one-liners, wordy manifestos. I don’t have any solutions—suggestions, maybe—and God only knows I can’t tell you where my own life will be in five years, let alone our collective fate as a species. All I can truly champion with any certainty, is the truth that we should try to put more love into the world—tell someone you love them, go on that road trip while you can, make time to visit someone you cherish, donate excess items, food, time to those who need it. Leave nothing unsaid with those you love, while you still can.

… Sorry for the lack of my own content. I’m a week into recovery and my laptop started spluttering out, so I’ve traded it in (by proxy since lol I ain’t leaving the apartment like this). I need to set the new one up, but I’ve been bedridden and sleeping through the healing process. (I am in fact about 10lbs lighter. They removed ten g-damn pounds of fibroids and uterus out of me.)

Anyway, thank you to my followers and mutuals. Please, remember you are loved. Go pet an animal, go watch your favorite movie, go hug someone you love. Life is… not easy, by any means, but doing those things can make it a little more bearable.