#Spend Reduction

[trans-axolotl]

it's getting cold + snowing in my city and I am so fucking angry because this year cops have evicted more encampments then we can ever remember them doing in like the past five years. it keeps happening when we're going to do outreach + mobile syringe exchange and we'll drive past the spots we always go to and our neighbors are just gone, because in the middle of the night without announcing it cops evicted everyone. and like they've been doing this shit for years but it is so much worse this year. they've put in so much more new anti homeless and anti sex work architecture this year and even though there's some rad ppl fucking it up, there's still so much. and i'm just fucking livid every time we go out there for overnight outreach and all my sex worker friends tell me how much more cops are harassing them this year like. fuck this shit so much. stop criminalizing survival. we keep losing track of so many ppl because of this and we keep having to wonder who's alive and who died bc the cops trashed their tent and it's fucking below freezing outside. we lost four people in october and november who were murdered for being trans sex workers and it's just. there is so much grief and there is so much anger and i want to tear it all down

[arctic-hands]

Did I drop like twenty dollars on an ancient ass e-ink ereader from goodwill, one that's so old the charger is circular and not a USB port and the software is unsupported now I'll have to rely on calibre? Yes. Look I was having the obsessive urge to spend money anyway so better a ten dollar (the rest was shipping) used device that still works fine and has free workarounds than like a hundred dollars on a new thing with only midling reviews like I almost did

[kendallroygf]

like there has to be other people on here who are reading past the surface level implications of tom’s behaviour to shiv this episode. it’s part of a wider trend that’s been prevalent since the start of the show. like shiv repeatedly has told tom not to touch her this season yet he never took her seriously and then he flicks her ear. not gently might i add. and no matter your interpretation whether you consider that to be hitting her or not (it basically is) that’s still unwanted touch. it crossed a line shiv literally recoils right after. she looks shocked and tom knows he crossed a line but there just has to be a middle ground between reading it as ‘tom is a wife beater’ or ‘this is just silly failmarriage hijinks’ like there’s so clearly a tonal shift after he lays a hand on her. no less in an episode which clearly shows how similar waystar and gojo are as companies that enforce the idea that women are expendable and under the authority of these companies women are harassed and ignored and abused and then the nature of this abuse is trivialised. and like tom has always felt a certain entitlement towards shiv (eg attempting to baby trap her in s3 + the repeated social climbing attempts made through her every season since s1) but it’s so clearly emphasised this season. and like who has tom been in close proximity to since the s3 finale up until just recently who also feels a entitlement over shiv and also belittles and weaponises her gender against her? who also forces her into the gendered role of Wife/Daughter against her will and whose own abuse towards her is specifically misogynistic in its nature? like it seems to me the proximity around logan has enforced the idea in tom’s head that he has a certain given entitlement and right over shiv no matter what. like the jokes about tom being openly hostile towards shiv now when he hasn’t in past seasons. like i wonder where he internalised all that. who else has acted just exactly like that.. . simply put logan labels shiv as tom’s “fucking wife” enforcing the idea that shiv is just an extension of him and tom. and even now that logan’s gone tom’s misogyny and his utilisation of it has so clearly intensified from watching and learning how logan himself operates in regards to his treatment of shiv and other women close to him.

[vvitchynerd]

Traditional art jumpscare🔪

Just finished sketchbook I started in Feb of last year, first and last pages

Unedited versions below:

[trainingdummyrabbit]

Nothing to apologize for. Go off, my liege. I love hearing your thoughts.

THANKYOU..... the beast is allowed a Little complaining... as a treat..

[intertexts]

gonna be such a formpilled shapecel this autumn......

[eighthdoctor]

I do apologize if this is a bit of a broad ask, but what do you feel you've gained from studying so much of human history?

I'm going to come at this a bit obliquely

I had a fascinating conversation with some history majors in my final year of undergrad--I was a psych major, but I minored in classics for fun, and took a bunch of history classes for my honors component.

And we came to the conclusion that psychology predisposes you to find similarities in people: We're looking for the ways human brains function, the ways they break, how to fix them, how to help, etc. But history predisposes you to find differences: What's different about then versus now? What happened?

One of the principles of studying history, in fact, is that we cannot understand how historical people thought. We can guess at it, we can infer from what they left behind, but we'll never really get it, because everyone is a product of their environment. And the environment is always changing, and while that's PARTICULARLY true if you were born post-1980 or so and grew up with computers, it's ALWAYS been true, and someone in 1923 would've been just as inaccurate about how someone in 1723 interacted with the world as we are.

So on the one hand, a field about the universality of humans, and on the other hand, a field about how you cannot ever really understand someone, it is literally impossible to walk their mile in their shoes.

And then I sit with those two for a bit.

[rezcowgirl]

Lmao. I am not a “public-health intelligentsia”, but I can say that Marshall Smith is a money driven charlatan and also a complete piece of shit on a professional and personal level.

If he says “I can be hard to work for - I can be bitchy” to group of professionals like that’s somehow funny and just a ~quirky way~ he gets things done, you cannot imagine how he treats people behind closed doors. There are so many stories about the way he treated people in BC, and to be clear, I am just a low-level employee. I’m not even “in the know” about all the discourse. It’s just a well known fact in the place he ran away from that he is a nightmare person.

The amount of money in the private (often faith-based) abstinence only recovery sector is staggering. Guess where he got his start and guess who he is best buds with (other than Danielle Smith, apparently).

I genuinely feel heartbroken for people in Alberta.

[colourofmagic]

i'd be unstoppable if only i had smaller or no boobs

[plethoraworldatlas]

The innovation of a 3D-printed device from the University of Edinburgh could pave the way to the abolition of animal testing. The plastic “body-on-chip” device contains human cells from five major organs — the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver — and simulates chemicals moving through the circulatory system by using positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. “This device is the first to be designed specifically for measuring drug distribution … essentially, allowing us to see where a new drug goes in the body and how long it stays there, without having to use a human or animal to test it,” Liam Carr, inventor of the device, told The Guardian. Future models could also show how organs in different stages of disease react to medicine — as well as how everyday items like foods, aerosols, and cleaners affect the human body — improving precision in biomedical experiments. This device is an example of innovation in biomedical models that could replace animal testing. It could also be cheaper and faster than testing new drugs on live animals. “This device shows really strong potential to reduce the large number of animals that are used worldwide for testing drugs and other compounds, particularly in the early stages, where only 2% of compounds progress through the discovery pipeline,” said Dr. Adriana Tavares of the University’s Centre for Cardiovascular Science according to WION News.

[sergle]

When I got an orchidectomy my surgeon stitched that shit up so good that my regular doctor couldn't even find the scar at first, some surgeons are straight up magicians

yeah like. 1) I had to look up what an orchidectomy is, and 2) FOR REAL. I guess it makes sense, since he's so fucking expensive!!! some people do magic in the OR.

[dollar-and-sense]

Building a Solid Financial Foundation: Budgeting, Saving, and Emergency Funds

The importance of budgeting for financial stability Creating and sticking to a personal budget is essential for achieving financial stability. A budget helps individuals track their income and expenses, identify areas for saving and cutting costs, and ultimately achieve their financial goals [1]. By creating a budget, individuals can gain a better understanding of their financial situation and…

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

A Tale of Seashells & Shenanigans

YA fantasy

follows a grumpy 19yo who works in the fantasy thriftstore

when a girl tells them she accidentally donated her selkie sealskin on their watch, they have to go on a quest with her across the sea to the other store the donations were sent to against their will

but things quickly go wrong and they get stranded on a desert island, and they have to survive by busking, and hitchhike with some pirates to make their way there, and their frustration eventually grows into attachment

nonbinary ace disabled (cane user) MC, aroace ‘love interest’, QPR-ish

[coochiequeens]

Not only are Leicestershire police focusing on this when that area is dealing with actual hate crimes but they are using photos of a model in the advertising might not be getting paid.

Leicestershire Police are under fire for a Twitter post in which they appear to suggest that using an incorrect name for a trans-identified individual could be reported as a “hate crime.”

On October 8, Leicestershire Police’s Stay Safe Twitter account launched a social media campaign advertising Stamp It Out, an anti-hate resource website which provides information on the laws surrounding hate crimes in the area.

Stay Safe, a combined account for the force’s Crime Reduction Officers and Hate Crime Officer, was encouraging social media users to utilize Stamp It Out’s online reporting system in the event they experienced a hate crime.

The campaign’s Twitter posts, of which there were 7 in total, all include a black-and-white graphic with a photo of a person, and a quote in which they described an experience being targeted on the basis of their identity or appearance.

But one of the posts in particular has gone viral for appearing to suggest that calling a transgender person by a non-preferred name would be considered a reportable hate crime.

The graphic featured a photo of a man with long, blond hair, and a quote which read: “I get called by my previous male name on purpose, but that’s not who I am. it can be really hurtful, especially when it’s just seen as a joke.” The quote and photo were attributed to “Jane, 57” of Hinckley. 

Despite purporting to depict a real member of the community, “Jane” is in fact a stock image model who has appeared in dozens of licensable photos across popular stock image websites.

The model was also featured in a “body positive” lingerie campaign in 2015 for Lane Bryant, an American women’s apparel and intimates specialty retailer focusing on plus-size clothing. 

The photos used by Leicestershire Police were taken from a series shot by Arizona-based photographer Anna Griessel. It is unlikely that the model was aware of their likeness being utilized by Leicestershire Police for the campaign, as the rights to stock photos are usually purchased through third-parties.

As of this article’s writing, Leicestershire Police’s post featuring “Jane” has wracked up over 3,000 overwhelmingly negative replies, compared to just 267 ‘likes,’ many of which were ironic. 

Many users in the United Kingdom pointed out that Leicester has seen a massive surge in crime recently, and that the force’s campaign appears to demonstrate misplaced priorities. 

“Leicester has just seen unprecedented unrest and violence, including rioting and looting, on its streets, and there have been numerous reports of sexual assault in the county this year. Fortunately, the police are on the case,” popular UK-based information service @ripx4nutmeg wrote sarcastically.

“You will not compel my speech. Do your real job. 3 women a week in the UK are murdered by men not to mention countless rapes and attacks. Where’s your publicity campaign for them and their children?” User@joolzdenby wrote, referencing femicide statistics which show one woman dies by domestic violence every three days in the United Kingdom.

Responding directly to Leicestershire Police, police watchdog We Are Fair Cop asked: “where is the hate crime here, please?”

Speaking to Reduxx, Dr. Kate Coleman of Keep Prisons Single Sex pointed out that what Leicestershire Police were suggesting was a criminal offense — “deadnaming” a transgender person — was in fact not a legal matter at all.

“A hate crime is a normal crime plus an aggregator. In this case, it would be hostility on the basis of transgender identity,” Dr. Coleman said. “But where is the crime in the example Leicestershire gives There is no crime. So this cannot be a hate crime.”

Coleman is the director of Keep Prisons Single Sex(KPSS), a campaign group focused on advocating for prisons to be segregated by sex, not self-declared gender identity. KPSS is vocal about the rights of women in the UK legal system, and has recently launched a crowdfunder to assist with their activism efforts.

Coleman slammed Leicestershire Police for their apparent lack of insight into the laws they were purporting to enforce, noting that it was a widespread issue in the United Kingdom. She speculated the cause may be that the police have become “institutionally captured” by gender ideology or its proponents.

“Police forces appear to be consistently unaware that in order for a hate crime to be reported, an actual crime must have been committed,” she said. “Hurting someone’s feelings, offending them, upsetting them or making them cry are not crimes. Yet the police are stating that they appear to be willing to act as if they are.”

Despite “misgendering” and “deadnaming” not being crimes in the United Kingdom, multiple women have been arrested or threatened with arrest on those grounds.

In 2019, a mother in Hertfordshire was arrested in front of her children and held for over 7 hours after being reported for “misgendering” a man who identified as a woman on Twitter. Kate Scottow’s conviction was ultimately overturned on appeal the next year, but was just one of many similar cases that would emerge. 

Coleman expresses cautious optimism for the state of free speech rights in the United Kingdom, but stresses that many women are still concerned about being arrested and possibly charged for expressing factually accurate statements related to biology or gender ideology.

“I firmly believe that our determination to fight on will continue. Each day more people, men as well as women, realize the extent of this threat to freedom of speech. I am optimistic, but it would not surprise me if police forces double-down before things improve.”

The backlash against Leicestershire Police comes just weeks after a similar incident in Sussex. 

The Sussex Police force came under fire after a series of posts cautioning Twitter users who were “misgendering” a serial pedophile named in one of their case updates. Taken by many to be a thinly-veiled threat of criminalization, some users asked if they could be charged if they continued to refer to the predator as a “man.” Sussex Police replied to those users with a link to their website outlining the nature of a hate crime, and encouraging people to ensure their “gender critical views” were “not targeted at an individual.”

Sussex Police ultimately retracted the tweets and apologized after widespread outrage.

By Anna Slatz Anna is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Reduxx, with a journalistic focus on covering crime, child predators, and women's rights. She lives in Canada, enjoys Opera, and kvetches in her spare time.

This what the cops should be focusing on

[pumakaji64]

._.

[icryyoumercy]

... i feel like the easiest solution to the whole ~but migrants keep coming here with nothing and then expecting us to feed and clothe them~ thing and whining about the cost to the coast guard of trying to find the boats they arrive on would be

offer free shipping? station a number of reasonably big ships near or at where migrant ships usually leave from, kind of a schoolbus version of a passenger ship, nothing luxurious or pretty, but staffed and equipped to transport as many people as possible in safety and dignity while being as cheap and low-maintenance as can be. and then get barracks set up as close by as possible, where people can stay until the ship sets sail, with the same low-cost, low-effort setup

and then anyone who wants to cross the mediteranean, instead of having to pay exorbitant amounts of money to some shady entity for a space on an overloaded ship, can just. report to the official coast guard ship, which will make the trip the same time every week, and if they missed it, they can get a bunk in the nearby barracks and wait for the next one

and then! everyone who shows up can get basic medical treatment and at least temporary papers if they haven't any, and there can be co-ordination with the european ports, so everyone knows when and where the next ship will arrive, how many people are on board, what immediate assistance they will need, and any other relevant information

hell, if there's something stressful or expensive or otherwise troublesome at one port, they can contact the coast guard and go 'yeah, we said we'd accept the next ship, but there's been [thing] and we're overwhelmed as-is, but the next port over is set up for your arrival', and then no one needs to deal with the unexpected arrival of several hundred injured, ill, or starving people that need immediate help in a million ways

just. we know migrants will cross the mediteranean. it's a thing they've been doing for decades at this point. we also know it's a source of stress and trouble for everyone involved. might as well accept it and make it as safe and controlled as possible, reduce the amount of emergency something-or-other to react to and ensure that the people who arrive are fed and clothed and ideally can actually migrate with their families instead of having to figure out who they can afford to pay the fare for and make their situation even worse