#The Origins of Global Wind Day

[santoshkukreti04-blog]

वैश्विक पवन दिवस पहली बार 2007 में यूरोपीय पवन ऊर्जा संघ (EWEA) और वैश्विक पवन ऊर्जा परिषद (GWEC) द्वारा स्थापित किया गया था। पहल का उद्देश्य पवन ऊर्जा को बढ़ावा देना और जनता को इसके लाभों के बारे में शिक्षित करना है। तब से, उत्सव ने वैश्विक मान्यता प्राप्त की है और पवन ऊर्जा की क्षमता के बारे में जागरूकता बढ़ाने में एक आवश्यक घटना बन गई है।

[rabbitcruiser]

Global Wind Day

Global Wind Day is celebrated on June 15 every year. It’s an international event to raise awareness regarding the importance of wind energy and the power it holds to change the world, improve energy systems, and decarbonize economies. Investing in wind energy means spending less money on fossil fuel imports, resulting in a smaller carbon footprint and minimized CO2 for cleaner air on our planet. On this day, we learn not just about how wind power leads to a greener planet, but also about job creation and employment opportunities for many people.

History of Global Wind Day

The history of wind energy as a power source traces back thousands of years. As early as 5,000 B.C., Egyptians had already been using wind power to propel their boats on the Nile River. This was improved upon by the Chinese in 200 B.C. as they invented wind-powered water pumps. Furthermore, people from the Middle East and Persia discovered windmills with woven-reed blades to grind grain with more speed and less manpower, which eventually led to more efficient food production.

It wasn’t until the 1st century A.D. that Heron of Alexandria created the windwheel. According to historians, this was the first recorded wind-driven wheel to power a machine. It included a small windmill that powered a piston that forces air through the organ pipes. According to records, it made a sound like that of a flute.

In the Middle Ages, windmills became a popular device in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. They were used to pump water and grind sugarcane, which eventually boosted their grist milling industry. This technology was ultimately brought to Northwestern Europe in 1180 and became a popular tool to grind flour — a system that still exists up to date.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, colonists brought windmills to the United States. Homesteaders and ranchers installed thousands of water pumps and small wind-electric generations in Western America.

The possibilities of wind power were further explored due to oil shortages in the 1970s. This forced everyone to find an alternative source of energy to generate electricity. Due to this scarcity, the U.S. federal government installed thousands of wind turbines in California to encourage the use of renewable energy sources. By 2020, the U.S. share of electricity generation via wind power grew to 8.4% — a huge spike compared to the 1990s 1%.

Global Wind Day timeline

1st Century A.D. The First Wind-Powered Machine

Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria discovers the first wind-driven wheel that powers a machine.

1180s Vertical Windmills

Northwestern Europe uses vertical windmills to grind flour.

1900s 2,500 Windmills Reaches 30 Megawatts

About 2,500 windmills in Denmark produce a combined power of 30 megawatts used to grind grains and pump water.

1970s Global Oil Shortage

The global oil shortage leads people to explore wind energy in a more advanced manner to be an alternative to electricity.

1980s Wind Turbines in California

The U.S. Federal Government installs thousands of wind turbines in California in support of renewable energy sources.

Global Wind Day FAQs

What are the types of wind energy?

The three main types of wind energy are utility-scale wind, offshore wind, and distributed wind.

What are four manufacturers in the world that uses wind turbines?

Vestas (Denmark), Siemens Gamesa (Spain), Goldwind (China), and General Electric (U.S.)

Which country uses the most wind power?

China uses the most wind power, generating approximately 236,402 megawatts in 2019 alone.

How to Observe Global Wind Day

Fly a kite outside

Attend seminars about wind energy

Take it to social media

This may sound like a simple activity, but flying a kite outside is an effective way to explain to your kids how wind energy works. Discuss how wind power propels the kite to stay afloat in the air. It’s also a great bonding activity that’s both fun and educational.

In an era where the climate crisis is peaking, wind energy is the future. Attend seminars on Global Wind Day to learn about the benefits and new technologies of wind energy as an alternative power source. Educating yourself is key.

Raise awareness about wind energy and its benefits on social media. Share scholarly articles or Global Wind Day event pages to your newsfeed. Use the hashtag #GlobalWindEnergy and keep your friends and family in the loop about one of the most pivotal solutions to decarbonizing the planet.

5 Interesting Facts About Wind Energy

The wind industry solves employment problems

The first modern turbine

Commercial turbines are powerful

The largest wind turbine

It doesn’t need water

The wind industry employs 650,000 people in different capacities around the world.

The first modern turbine was built in Vermont, U.S.

One commercial wind turbine can provide power to 600 homes.

The largest wind turbine was created in Hawaii, which stands 20 stories tall and each blade is as long as a football field.

Wind energy is the only power source that doesn’t need water.

Why Global Wind Day is Important

It’s for the good of the planet

It raises awareness

Wind energy is cost-effective

With the rise of global warming and other crises, wind energy is one solution to help lessen pollutants. Its long-term effects are advantageous to the new generation and to the generations that will come after.

People need to be proactive in highlighting the benefits of wind energy so that companies, governments, and other industries will adopt this technology as an alternative power source. The only way to make them proactive is to raise awareness. Education is key.

Global Wind Day helps us support the cost-effectiveness of wind energy. It’s one of the lowest-priced energy sources known today, which could potentially lower federal taxes.

Source

[afeelgoodblog]

Best News of Last Week - December 11

1. Biden administration to forgive $4.8 billion in student loan debt for 80,300 borrowers

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would forgive an additional $4.8 billion in student loan debt, for 80,300 borrowers.

The relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s fixes to its income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

2. Detroit on pace to have lowest homicide rate in 60 years this year

A partnership to reduce Detroit crime is being praised with the City on pace for the fewest homicides in 60 years.

"This is the day we’ve been waiting for, for a long time," said Mayor Mike Duggan. The coalition which includes city and county leaders that Detroit Police Chief James White formed in late 2021 to return the criminal justice system in Detroit and Wayne County to pre-Covid operations.

3. Dog that killed 8 coyotes to protect sheep running for Farm Dog of the Year

Over a year ago, Casper was stacked up against a pack of 11 coyotes, and he overcame them all to protect the livestock at his Decatur home. Now he needs your help.

Casper, the Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog, needs the public to vote for him to become the American Farm Bureau's "Farm Dog of the Year: People's Choice Pup" contest.

4. Shimmering golden mole thought extinct photographed and filmed over 80 years after last sighting

De Winton's golden mole, last sighted in 1937, has been found alive swimming through sand dunes in South Africa after an extensive search for the elusive species.

5. About 40% of the world's power generation is now renewable

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have released their first joint report to strengthen understanding of renewable energy resources and their intricate relationship with climate variability and change.

In 2022 alone, 83% of new capacity was renewable, with solar and wind accounting for most additions. Today, some 40% of power generation globally is renewable, due to rapid deployment in the past decade, according to the report.

6. Jonathan the Tortoise: World’s oldest living land animal celebrates 191st birthday

The world’s oldest living land animal - a Seychelles giant tortoise named Jonathan - has just celebrated his 191st birthday. Jonathan’s estimated 1832 birth year predates the invention of the postal stamp, the telephone, and the photograph.

The iconic creature lived through the US civil war, most of the reign of Queen Victoria, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and two world wars.

7. New enzyme allows CRISPR technologies to accurately target almost all human genes

A team of engineers at Duke University have developed a method to broaden the reach of CRISPR technologies. While the original CRISPR system could only target 12.5% of the human genome, the new method expands access to nearly every gene to potentially target and treat a broader range of diseases through genome engineering.

---

That's it for this week :)

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[erwinrer]

Mongolia: Suffering from the dust

In recent years, the global climate has become worse, and all countries will inevitably suffer from environmental disturbance, especially desertification as a serious disaster, and Mongolia is suffering in it.

Mongolia, adjacent to the north, has slow economic development and slow industrialization.

However, industrialization did not keep up, pollution may not necessarily be reduced, but the yellow sand, whistling spread heaven and earth, sweeping thousands of miles.

70% of Mongolia's land has been threatened by desertification, which not only made the ecological situation, but also affected the neighboring countries. Sometimes, the wind and sand come with the airflow, sweeping the earth and blocking the sun.

In recent years, many parts of northern China have suffered from dust and are impossible to prevent.

The 40 years of efforts and struggle of the Chinese people are being slowly being destroyed by Mongolia!

The dust raged every year

In recent years, the north sand rampant, rolling dust seems to be about like, year after year to disturb the northern earth.

Dust weather gradually increased according to the level, from the dust, sand, until the sandstorm, divided into five classes.

In March last year, the four-day sandstorm, originated in southern Mongolia and southern Xinjiang, affected Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and other 15 provinces and autonomous regions.

Dust is like a layer of gauze, covering the earth, its influence range of 3.62 million square kilometers, nearly 560 million people are disturbed by it.

Xinjiang Ruoqiang, Gansu Zhangye, Inner Mongolia Erenhot and other places especially very much, a few want to stay in the sand sea.

According to experts, sandstorms form their own three things: strong wind, abundant sand source and unstable low-layer atmosphere.

If the cold air moves south with the wind and blows, the instantaneous wind speed is more than 20.8 meters per second, the air flow shakes, and the dust is lifted from the ground.

Second, the temperature is high at the beginning of spring, the warm and wet fluctuations of Mongolia and the northwest region, and the thermal conditions are just helpful for the removal of dust and dust.

Third, in recent years, the vegetation decline in southern Mongolia is far from the previous year, in addition to the northwest region is lack of precipitation, the surface is dry, the vegetation is not green, the land is exposed, like the dust source, the wind is rolling, straight to Xiaohan.

Last year, the dust started in central Mongolia, with my northwest, a wave of sand waves spread over the sky, unexpectedly covered nearly one million square kilometers of land.

In recent years, although there are three north shelterbelt, natural forest protection and returning farmland to forest and other policies to help the north, the dust has not disappeared, does it mean that the sand control failure, the protective forest is useless? The answer is not necessarily so.

Ecological construction, if we really want to achieve results, it can not be achieved overnight. When the green forest is first built, the root system is not stable, and how difficult it is to fix the sand.

Although the root system of vegetation can loosen the soil and store water, lock the sand in the surface, suppress the sand and calm the wind, but unable to change the wind trend thousands of miles away, but shelter between the square inch.

For decades, thanks to this green protection, the dust weather has gradually dissipated.

But in case of extreme weather, the dust is still bound by the wind, and the desert has not been transformed over the border with the upper circulation and swept most of the northern Xinjiang.

Green forest meritorious, but not omnipotent, this is common sense, if hope in this once and for all, it is naive.

Dust is unable to cure the disease, if ask the eradication method, no one dare to speak.

Trees fix sand, indeed, but not a panacea.

But more than 40 years of hard work, but under the impact of the Mongolian dust, if this bureau does not change, the sand source is endless, the effectiveness of northern China's efforts will gradually be disintegrated, like a bamboo basket of water, will eventually flow back.

The source of sand is endless

Mongolia, as the northern neighbor of China, has attracted much attention due to the desertification problem and is one of the "worst disaster areas" in global desertification.

Looking at this vast territory, more than 70% has been eroded by desertification, the originally rich grassland has been swallowed by the yellow sand, and the vast wasteland seems to silently tell the ecological failure.

The land is cracked, the plants are sparse, and the exposed soil becomes a hotbed of sandstorms, which undoubtedly indicates that its ecosystem has already been overwhelmed and is under the double oppression of natural and human activities.

Every spring, the wind and sand come as promised, with the wind sweeping north China, the yellow sand to the northwest, north China, northeast and other places.

Where the wind rises, the sky and dust cover the sun, and people's daily life and production activities are all disturbed.

Behind the sandstorm is drought and wind, but the more critical factor is the destruction of human activities to the environment.

Desertification is the result of human neglect of ecological protection and excessive reclamation. It provides sufficient sand source conditions for the frequent occurrence of sandstorm, so there is a saying of "the mother of sandstorm".

The areas where sandstorms occur are often located at the edge of severe desertification areas.

Mongolia and the Gobi desert of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia has become the "birthplace" of dust.

Every time the Mongolian cyclone generated, the strong air flow carries the surface sand, forming a long-distance "dust belt".

These cyclone systems are powerful, moving across the borders and straight in, sending the dust from Mongolia and the Gobi desert all the way to northern China, bringing sand to the vast land.

Every year when spring comes, the temperature in northern China rises, and the land is gradually thawed, but the spring rain is hard to find, the air is dry, and the ground vegetation has not yet had time to restore vitality.

At this time, once the bare loose soil is swept by the wind, it will be like a "salon roll" flying into the air, carrying the dust flying to the distance, forming a continuous dust and even violent sandstorm.

Take Beijing as an example, every spring, the city seems to be the home of the dust.

Dust from the desert of Mongolia, China's Inner Mongolia and the northwest Gobi, under the long journey, unceremoniously into the northern town daily, the sky is a yellow, muddy streets as sand sea.

The dust can sometimes grow stronger on the road.

Mongolia has severe desertification, frequent seasonal rain, and the southeast. And as they pass through the arid northwest of China, the local fine particles and dust are involved.

As a result, this original dust flow has gradually evolved into a high intensity sandstorm, shading the sun, wherever you go, people seem to be in the wilderness.

[phoenixcatch7]

Open up

Based on this wonderful art of @puppetmaster13u for the dollhouse au!

It had been a long day, and was destined to be even longer.

The original plan had been bad enough; the league had a media conference planned for three o'clock, one that involved foreign presence and thus required pristine presentation.

Then, as all perfectly good plans that could have been left alone by the universe did, it was derailed by a villain attack or several. He said several because it seemed almost a dozen separate villains had individually had the bright idea of sabotaging the well publicised event. Though they'd failed, the accidental collaboration had done what each alone could not, and now the league was dragging themselves to base to hurriedly patch up the thankfully minor wounds and try and rush to meet the deadline.

Each league member on the list had a formal version of their usual super suit - flash's main change had been a bowtie before it met almost unanimous disapproval, and on the other end of the effort spectrum was Bruce. Not of his own will - he quite envied Flash's staunch faith in the single black bowtie - but he not only had been raised for the fast and critical world of the upper class, but was currently in a metal plated marionette held together by glue and screws and wires, which meant changing attire was more of a debacle than it would ordinarily be.

He flipped open the toolkit with the best approximation of a sigh the doll body could manage. The chest inflated and deflated, which was in fact a rather worrying sign because it wasn't supposed to be able to do that. He grabbed a screwdriver and a pit of tar glue and approached the mirror. He'd just have to go into the globally broadcast meeting stinking of sulphur... Perhaps he could borrow perfume from one of the girls, cologne combined dreadfully.

The chest cavity opened with little tugging, and he held one side in place as he attacked the bent hinges. An odd feeling, for sure. He took a hammer to the dent, imagining it was the penguin's face and praying Clark didn't decide now was the time to approach him on his self soothing metalworking hobby. He'd been entrusted with the override code for the door and Bruce was now quietly regretting that.

The chest cavity doors creaked back into place, which enabled him to finally pull out the costume change for the evening and dump it on the side.

Now for the leg, having been crushed under a tank penguin had smuggled into Gotham. It now bent the wrong way, and hiding it under his cloak had been a pain, but at least it hadn't come off -

There it went. Batman watched, almost despondent, as it toppled free of his body and crashed to the ground. The unhappy static that raced up his spine at the sight was expected - he'd be paying for the lack of care for the Patriarch Doll in nightmares tonight.

Joy.

He tipped into the nearby stool and kicked the lost limb closer with his remaining foot, squinting. Just a cracked screw and torn spring at the knee, thank goodness. He'd have it fully attached again within the hour.

But he was pretty sure he couldn't bend that far over without his jaw falling off, so face it was.

Hood off, wires unlaced under the chin, hidden screws loosened. The gas mask came off. The velcro on top of his head took good old fashioned yanking, but eventually peeled off with reluctant crackling, revealing the unpainted grey metal beneath.

As expected, his jaw was almost entirely loose, unable to close now without the structure of the mask. The nutcracker mouth in the lower jaw fell to tap against his throat, leaving either side of the actual lower jaw to hang in the air. Experimentally, he opened and closed his mouth, and watched all three parts swing and clink like a robot body horror wind-chime.

This was going to need a finer touch, and so he stripped off his gloves to access the sharp points of his talons - capped while with the league to keep the prick of steel rending claws to a mere suggestion.

He felt bared, now, all his top layer removed and abandoned, the door to his room at his back. He feels the paranoia to double check the lock, reassures himself that even if he'd somehow forgotten in his haste to hide away none of the members were mad enough to try and get in. Outside Superman, of course, but he always knocked.

Still, he hurried through repairs, running diagnostics in the back of his mind as he daubed glue into the cracks and set about restructuring his own jaw. Ears swivelled. Neck rolled. Glider snaps curled.

The jaw pieces were setting nicely when there was a noise at the door, and batman whipped around, cloak flaring behind him. The pliers dropped from suddenly weak fingers.

Captain marvel stood in the doorway, eyes wide as he took in the room, face pale as he saw Batman propped up in middle, bare of his many obfuscating layers. Black tar speckled his lap, wires hung free like veins, blank eyes glowed, his jaw gaping, skinless. Glinting claws and spikes in full view, a limb discarded on the floor like garbage. His chest a dark hole, void of organs, of machinery, of anything that could make him run. A decades old terror gripped his heart.

HE SAW!

Both froze. Time stretched interminably.

The captains chest heaved for a scream, and batman was moving before he knew it, grabbing his fallen leg and lunging.

Captain marvel fell with a crack. Batman caught himself on the door. Five seconds before short term memory entered long term, had he reacted in time?

Hm.

He considered the body of the champion of magic laid in front of him, idly rebalancing the eternal tally graph of potential energies the dolls might run on in the back of his head and as always coming up none the wiser. This was a very inconvenient place for a body. Perhaps he could nudge marvel into the hallway to wake up. He glanced up and down the empty corridor, staying out of view of the camera.

Maybe he had overreacted slightly.

Bonus:

Billy and Green Lantern sat in the monitor room, ostensibly on duty but really checking out the watchtower camera feeds of the day before. Lantern was pointing at the screen.

"Here," he said, with a glee Billy didn't honestly appreciate. "Look at that. You go down like a sack of bricks and then -" he clicked forward two frames, "- this silver hand thing appears on the door frame. Look at that, that's a proper horror movie hand curl. The claws! Just missing the glint of a blood covered axe appearing from the shadows."

Billy shuddered, but couldn't help moving closer.

"What do you think it was? Can't have been batman, right?"

"You were there, you tell me." Lantern patted him on the shoulder before he could retort. "I mean, doesn't look much like him. Doesn't really have claws and his are black anyway. Pretty sure his gloves are sewn into his skin at this point."

"I didn't need that mental image," Billy said, because he really didn't.

"Could be another Robin variant? Like that black bat thing?"

"Dunno. I mean, unlikely. Maybe it was batman. Maybe he can shapeshift a little."

"We've had that on the list of possible powers for ages, still nothing firm one way or the other."

"It probably is batman -"

"But the claws -"

They trailed off.

"We'll just add it to the list. I'll save the file, hang on. We can talk about it at the do next week - you're coming right?"

"Yeah, but I've got, uh... A diplomacy thing with the yetis at nine, so I'll have to bail then."

"You always have the weirdest personal missions. Hey, maybe you can ask them about batman, pffft. Maybe he's one of them."

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … December 8

1868 – Norman Douglas, born (d.1952); Austrian-born British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. Douglas was one of the liveliest, wittiest and most original writers of his generation. His novel, South Wind (1917) exerted a strong influence on almost every modern writer who came out of the 1920s.

Douglas had discovered the joys of Capri in 1888 when he journeyed there in pursuit of a rare species of blue lizard. What he discovered there was something else altogether - a gay paradise. He fell in love with the island and decided to make it his "soul's operating base."

South Wind, in part, recounts the story of how he made up his mind to leave his wife and settle in Capri to enjoy the Gay life, openly and without shame. The setting of the novel is an island, like Capri, called Nepenthe, inhabited by an extraordinary group of eccentrics who, seen through the eyes of an English bishop, represent the contrast between the cultures of Northern and Southern Europe. In this satiric novel, English hypocrisy gets it between the eyes.

Douglas died, broke on Capri, but not before he had compiled an anthology of graffiti collected in several languages from the walls of public toilets throughout Europe. Roger Williams' Lunch With Elizabeth David (1999) is a novel about Douglas's relationship with Eric Walton, the boy he took to Calabria.

1950 – Franklin Abbott is a psychotherapist, writer, poet, artist, and gay activist, born on this date in Birmingham, Alabama. Abbott earned an undergraduate degree at Mercer University and his Master of Social Work at the University of Georgia.

Franklin Abbot was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in Birmingham, Buffalo, and Nashville. As a kid, Franklin marched to the beat of his own drummer, which wasn’t always well received his buttoned-down family. But in high school, he found an outlet for at least some of his creative energy in a youth service group called the Order of DeMolay.

Coming out as gay during college, Franklin was simultaneously drawn towards the women’s and black liberation movements. The writings of Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde opened his eyes to feminism as a force of liberation for both women and men. Franklin would ultimately publish three anthologies on men and gender: New Men, New Minds (1987), Men and Intimacy (1989), and Boyhood: Growing Up Male (1991).

After college, Franklin worked at a facility for mentally challenged adults and children, and plunged deeper into social activism. He also got his master’s degree in social work, and in 1979, he became one of Atlanta’s first openly gay professionals when he opened a private psychotherapy practice.

Also during the 1970s, Franklin’s life took an important turn when he connected with America’s radical faerie community. The radical faeries are a loose, global organization of mostly-male queer people who resist assimilation into mainstream society, focusing instead on alternate spirituality, environmentalism, and anarchism. He served as poetry editor for the radical faeries’ unofficial journal RFD, worked with the journal Changing Men, and also published two volumes of his own poetry, Mortal Love: Selected Poems, 1971-1998 and Pink Zinnia. In 2008, he founded Atlanta Queer Literary Festival, and in 2017, he released an CD of original songs and poetry, Don’t Go Back to Sleep.

1950 – Dan Hartman (d.1994) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for such songs as: "Free Ride", "I Can Dream About You", "Instant Replay", "Love Sensation", and "Relight My Fire", all of which had world-wide success.

Born in Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, Hartman joined his first band at the age of 13, The Legends. His brother Dave was also a member of the band. He played keyboards and wrote much of the band's music, but despite the release of a number of recordings, none turned out to be hits. He subsequently spent a period of time backing the Johnny Winter Band and then joined the Edgar Winter Group where he played bass on three of their albums and wrote the band's second biggest pop hit "Free Ride" in 1972. Upon launching a solo career in 1976, he released a promotional album which had, as its full title, Who Is Dan Hartman and Why Is Everyone Saying Wonderful Things About Him?. It was a compilation disc including songs from Johnny Winter and the Edgar Winter Group.

In late 1978, Hartman reached #1 on the Dance Charts with the disco single, "Instant Replay." This was followed by his second chart topper, 1979's "Relight My Fire," which featured friend Loleatta Holloway on vocals. This song later became the theme for the NBC talk show Tomorrow. During the next decade he worked as a songwriter and producer, and collaborated with such artists as Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Tyler, Paul Young, Holly Johnson, and James Brown.

Hartman died in 1994 at his Westport, Connecticut home of an AIDS-related brain tumor. Dan never married and had no children. He kept his HIV status a secret, even after Holly Johnson announced his own HIV status in 1991. Although it is unclear if Dan was ever publicly out about his sexuality during his lifetime, his website features tributes from many friends and colleagues who were aware that he was gay. Several of them mention how Hartman never seemed completely comfortable with his homosexuality, although he was much more open about it with those who shared his orientation.

1958 – Rob Byrnes is a 21st century American, gay novelist and blogger, whose fiction focuses primarily on gay men and other sexual minorities. Byrnes's work is often set in New York City, where he lived until recently with his partner (since 2003), Brady Allen. The couple now lives in West New York, New Jersey.

His 2006 novel When the Stars Come Out won the Lambda Literary Foundation's award for Best Gay Romance, and Straight Lies, published in 2009, was a Lambda Award finalist in the Best Gay Mystery category.

Byrnes was born in Rochester, New York. After graduating from Union College (Schenectady, New York) he worked in politics and government.

Byrnes's first three novels were gay comic romances. His acclaimed debut, The Night We Met, was released in 2002. His second novel, Trust Fund Boys was released in 2004 and his third, the Lambda Literary Award-winning When The Stars Come Out, in 2006.Beginning with his 2009 novel Straight Lies, Byrnes began a series of comic crime capers featuring a hapless gang of gay and lesbian criminals led by partners in life and crime Grant Lambert and Chase LaMarca. The second novel in the series, Holy Rollers, was released in November 2011; and the third, Strange Bedfellows (not to be confused with the 2000 anthology), is scheduled to be published in September 2012.

1966 – Sinéad O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U".

Since then, while maintaining her singing career, she has occasionally encountered controversy, partly due to her emotional statements and gestures such as her ordination as a priest despite being female with a Roman Catholic background, and her expressed strong views on organized religion, women's rights, war, and child abuse.

In addition to her solo albums, her work includes a number of collaborations with other artists, and appearances at charity fundraising concerts.

In a 2000 interview in Curve, O'Connor outed herself as a lesbian, "I'm a dyke ... although I haven't been very open about that and throughout most of my life I've gone out with blokes because I haven't necessarily been terribly comfortable about being a big lesbian mule. But I actually am a dyke." However, soon after in an interview in The Independent, she stated, "I believe it was overcompensating of me to declare myself a lesbian. It was not a publicity stunt. I was trying to make someone else feel better. And have subsequently caused pain for myself. I am not in a box of any description." In a magazine article and in a programme on RTÉ (Ryan Confidential, broadcast on RTÉ on 29 May 2003), she stated that while most of her sexual relationships had been with men, she has had three relationships with women. In a May 2005 issue of Entertainment Weekly, she stated, "I'm three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay. I lean a bit more towards the hairy blokes".

1977 – Marco Berger is an Argentine film director and screenwriter.He studied at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires and made his directorial debut in 2007 with the short films Última voluntad and El reloj. His first feature film was Plan B, which was presented on a number of film festivals (Buenos Aires, Rome, London).

But it was with the film Ausente (Absent) that he won won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival for what the judging committee said was "an original screenplay, an innovative aesthetic and a sophisticated approach, which creates dynamism. A unique combination of homoerotic desire, suspense and dramatic tension."

His Hawaii is a 2013 Spanish language gay romantic drama set in rural Argentina. it tells the story of two young men from different social backgrounds coming to terms with their growing attraction for each other.

Marco Berger is openly gay.

1980 – John Lennon, English musician and peace activist murdered (b. 1940); There are stories of an early intimate relationship between Lennon and Brian Epstein that are probably true. Lennon was certainly a friend to Gay rights and LGBT people as Yoko has continued to demonstrate in her own works.

On the morning of December 8, 1980, Annie Leibovitz came over to the Ono-Lennon's apartment to do a photo shoot for the Rolling Stone magazine. She had promised Lennon it would make the cover but she initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone. Leibovitz would recall that, "nobody wanted [Ono] on the cover." When Lennon insisted that both be on the cover. Leibovitz then tried to recreate the kissing scene from the Double Fantasy album cover, a picture that she loved. With the pictures in hand, Annie Leibovitz left their apartment.

The Lennons spent several hours at the studio on West 44th Street before returning to The Dakota at about 10:50 p.m. Lennon was concerned about seeing five-year-old Sean before he went to sleep, so they returned to the Dakota instead of going out to eat. They exited their limousine on 72nd Street, even though the car could have been driven into the courtyard.

Jose Perdomo (who was the doorman at the entrance), an elevator operator, and a cab driver all saw Mark David Chapman standing in the shadows by the archway. The Lennons walked past, and Ono opened the inner door — leaving Lennon alone inside the entrance.

Chapman called out, "Mr. Lennon!" As Lennon paused to turn around, Chapman dropped into a "combat stance" and shot at Lennon five times with hollow point bullets from a Charter Arms .38 revolver. One shot missed, passing over Lennon's head and hitting a window of the Dakota building. Two shots struck Lennon in the left side of his back and two more in his left shoulder. All four wounds caused serious internal damage, and at least one of them fatally pierced Lennon's aorta.

1981 – The New York City Gay Men's Chorus performed a Christmas concert at Carnegie Hall, making them the first gay musical group to play there.

 "I Want You!"

1996 – In England, South Yorkshire Police placed a full-page ad in "Gay Times" as part of a recruitment campaign.

2004 – The New Zealand Parliament approves civil unions with a vote of 65-55. Full marriage equality passes in 2013.

[corvidist]

Alright, Equatorial nomads (They don’t usually get that far south but it’s the Equatorial Desert regardless.)

These groups have been around in various forms since the Yellowstone eruption around 250,000 PA, when large numbers were pushed south when a global cooling effect took hold. As temperatures warmed back up, these groups in many instances either left, or in the case of these ones often began to follow vultures in order to find sources of water, eventually developing into a symbiotic relationship that lasts into the present day. The vultures get protection from ground predators and higher quality food, Directors get water. The cultures started off in the Americas however have become present in Afroeurasia as well.

The original cultures’ use of gliders largely began in response to widespread heat-related death due to exposure to ground temperatures and general idolization of vultures through stories and observation, who seemed to be able to stay in the air almost indefinitely when compared to Directors. Initially, it was believed that families each would collectively reincarnate into vultures. When they allowed Directors to get close enough, much like with corvids in western afroeurasia, groups of Directors would decorate the vultures with a variety of dyes and such. With time, northern desert populations grew, tools became more complex, and flying techniques developed to keep individuals in the air for longer. This led some groups to wonder about the idea of craft that could help them stay aloft for longer, carry tools, and make it easier and safer to move from place to place. 

The first gliders were modeled pretty closely after vultures, essentially being half-dangling, half-gliding knockoff airsleds that individuals would harness to themselves to carry supplies and would regularly go out of control and detach themselves or in some cases bring down the Director as well. Still, techniques improved with time and eventually the idea emerged that much of the issue with the individual sleds resulted from failure to be able to control them directly. Some essentially scaled them up into light surfaces that could (hopefully) be picked up by the wind in the right conditions or after being pulled by Directors, and be controlled afterwards. 

These improved with time, eventually developing into craft that could be lifted up with high winds and the right pitch, kept aloft by the desert’s strong updrafts and controlled by the crew directly manipulating flight controls. The most aerodynamic usually carry a maximum of about a dozen adult directors, with gliders traveling in groups from water source to water source, in many cases using vultures that are found along their path as indicators. When they land, depending on the craft and culture they may take off again using their own power, wait for the wind to pick up, or in later periods use propellers and such to get them in the air. 

These craft have also helped contribute to perhaps some of their most utilitarian and collectivist cultures, as the craft themselves, tools, etc. are made from the carcasses and bones that they come across, from snakes and coyotes to vultures and Directors in their groups, as there simply isn’t much that’s as simultaneously sturdy and lightweight that far in the desert. As such, in some places the gliders are treated as family members, carrying the collective consciousness of the beings that comprise them. These groups regularly will speak to the gliders, decorate them heavily with paints, dyes, and ornaments, purposefully fly over interesting areas as a means of showing them, etc. If a glider crashes, they will be repaired, and if it can't it is considered a major tragedy among the group, and whatever parts that can be salvaged are. Individuals in some of these groups don’t take names, instead opting to be identified by their role in operating the glider, with each role being held in equal value (hence the varied colors of feather dyes in the drawing, also serve the purpose of helping cool them down). Religions, spirituality, and lack of either are present among these cultures as there is an incredible degree of variation among them from family to family. 

It is common for groups that spot one another to merge, following one another to their destination where it is common for a period of celebration (or just general relaxation if it gets long enough) to occur that often lasts until the next time winds are strong enough to pick up the craft by themselves. Groups will exchange food and other gifts, young adults will often engage in courtship, and by the end of it, you typically have some individuals joining one crew or another if things have gone well. These cultures are also known to salvage from crashed airships and abandoned beacons, and to work with both for rescue and recovery. It is not uncommon for stricken airships to be greeted by one group or another to assist in navigation or repairs. It is also common in the present day for beacons to originate in or cease operation and join glider cultures, and many regional Beaconer cultures are heavily influenced by glider cultures.

[mysticstronomy]

HOW FAST DOES THE EARTH SPIN??

Blog#331

Wednesday, September 13th, 2023

Welcome back,

To answer the question of how fast Earth spins, you need to know two things: how long it takes to make a full rotation, and Earth’s circumference. The time it takes Earth to rotate so the sun appears in the same position in the sky, known as a solar day, is 24 hours. However, the time it takes Earth to complete one full rotation on its axis with respect to distant stars is actually 23 hours 56 minutes 4.091 seconds, known as a sidereal day.

With this information, to work out how fast Earth is spinning we need only our planet’s circumference. At the equator, its circumference is roughly 40,075 kilometres, so dividing this by the length of day means that, at the equator, Earth spins at about 1670 kilometres per hour.

However, this speed of rotation isn’t consistent across the planet. As you move north or south, the circumference of Earth gets smaller, so the speed of spin reduces until it reaches its slowest at both poles. And all of this is nothing compared with the 107,000 kilometres per hour at which Earth orbits the sun.

If we are travelling so fast through space, why can’t we feel it?

Simply put, as Earth is spinning at a constant speed, so does everything on it. Travelling at the same speed means we cannot feel the spin. It is like driving a car. Even though you are moving, you aren’t aware of speed because it is constant. Only when you change speeds do you notice you are travelling, like putting your foot on the accelerator or making an emergency stop.

A change in speed has been happening here on Earth, but it is far too slow to notice. Millions of years ago, one Earth day was about 22 hours, and Earth’s speed has been dropping for more than a billion years, with days increasing by around 2 milliseconds every century.

This slow down is caused by friction created by the ocean currents, tides and wind pulling on Earth’s surface. However, global warming may speed things up again. As sea levels rise, this change in mass could result in Earth spinning faster and reducing the length of each day by 0.12 milliseconds, which would have dramatic effects on the calibration of atomic clocks and GPS systems.

What if Earth were to stop spinning?

Without a huge external force, this is impossible. But, if Earth were to stop spinning, the atmosphere would continue to spin at the speed of Earth’s rotation, so anything not fixed to the surface, including trees and buildings, would be swept away by the strong winds.

Each side of the planet would get six months of continuous sunlight and six months of darkness.

Without the centrifugal force of the spin, the oceans would gradually move towards the poles, creating a huge supercontinent across the equator. But we wouldn’t be flung off Earth. Gravity and the centrifugal force of Earth’s spin keep us grounded. In order for us to feel weightless, the centrifugal force would need to be ramped up. At the equator, Earth would need to spin at 28,437 kilometres per hour for us to be lifted off into space.

Originally published on newscientist.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, September 16th, 2023)

"HOW DO WE KNOW THE UNIVERSE IS INFINITE??"

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

I got some word from the trenches... Well, someone else got the word from the trenches, and gave me the word...

Regarding MOANA 2's ascension from Disney+ show to feature film.

It was indeed speedran into this process and fast-tracked for this past Thanksgiving because an original animated feature slated for this season had gone down a particularly rocky road.

It was indeed the film set to be directed by Suzi Yoonessi, who was named director of an upcoming untitled original WDAS movie waaaaaay back in November 2019. That Middle Eastern-set fantasy... Something about it being a "massive mess", and Yoonessi "running out of time and chances" to fix it...

I think that translates to: Jennifer Lee and studio management and focus groups micromanaged the picture to death, trying to chase some kind of perceived greatness and great box office. It indeed often worked out for John Lasseter a lot, but not so much Lee most of the time, for STRANGE WORLD and WISH did very badly at the box office. MOANA 2 may be a juggernaut right now, but it's got mixed critical reception and won't be locking an Oscar nom. But we know why it's doing numbers, it's a freaking Moana and pals movie! That was destined to be massive on opening weekend. The film could have the worst legs and still be profitable.

So it seemingly is true, if the birdies are to be believed...

We just witnessed a very weird, frustrating, and fascinating chapter of Walt Disney Animation Studios' century-long history...

Following the start of a global pandemic, a flawed leadership turned out two films that failed miserably at the box office - STRANGE WORLD and WISH, the latter of the two films intended as a centennial celebration. Their next original was set for Thanksgiving 2024, but because of the micromanaging that helped hurt STRANGE WORLD (remember, that film's director Don Hall left the studio shortly thereafter) and WISH, it got put on hold. Possibly cancelled...

... and amidst the streaming bubble burst of the early 2020s, the same leadership decided to take a serialized spin-off of a past hit movie - MOANA - meant for Disney+ and hastily turn that into a feature to fill the vacant Thanksgiving 2024 slot. Turning it into a stopgap feature that pretty much made up for those past losses at the box office probably on brand recognition alone... Oh, and the chief creative officer stepped down prior to its release, with only a six-year tenure to her name...

I think I see what's happening here... They realized that this kind of leadership wasn't working out, or the way Lee herself was doing it. Again, director removals from movies and their stories being micromanaged is nothing new in feature animation. The big Renaissance faves went through iterations that were torn to shreds by Jeffrey Katzenberg. Lasseter made sure every movie made under his watch was to his liking, that the directors were making "Lasseter movies" at the end of the day. But Lee just wasn't cutting it, though not to the point where she completely departed the building. She's still there, now in a filmmaking position, so there's that.

But there's something screwy about all of that. This isn't like Walt Disney rerouting after World War II took the wind out of the studio's sails, and opting for anthology movies made up of multiple shorts and scrapped feature ideas (such as WIND IN THE WILLOWS and MICKEY AND THE BEANSTALK). Nor is this like how WINNIE THE POOH got fast-tracked at WDAS during Lasseter's tenure, about merely 2 1/2 years before its eventual release. Or even the rumored fast-tracking of FROZEN a little after it had been put on ice. Or even WDAS looking to Marvel after the parent company recently acquired them, for a feature only once. This was done very, very quickly and almost out of nowhere. When it was announced back in February, I was taken *completely* by surprise.

... and the thing was a huge success out of the gate... A temporary save for WDAS, and likely to become one of their biggest movies financially. This thing, a literally rushed TV show to movie...

It's a real first, and likely the only time that happens. At least, in terms of closeness to release date. I already emphasized that TIANA likely stays a Disney+ show, but if it gets turned into a movie, I can only hope it's a decision made well before any projected release date.

I think the era of WDAS (and Pixar) making quasi-movie-caliber shows for Disney+ is over, what's left for now is TIANA, and on the Pixar end there's the long-delayed WIN OR LOSE in February, DREAM PRODUCTIONS this month. I know of nothing else in the works for Disney+ that's like any of those shows or what came before (i.e. BAYMAX!, ZOOTOPIA+, CARS ON THE ROAD, DUG DAYS, etc.).

So now the next chapter begins...

Stopgap movie/former D+ series MOANA 2 is here and already made massive coin, Jennifer Lee is no longer CCO, two confirmed movies on the release calendar - ZOOTOPIA 2 and FROZEN III - started out as movies... And are also sequels to recent favorites. No matter who is in charge, more of them are simply inevitable. You'll likely hear a MOANA 3 or ENCANTO 2 announcement some time soon. But yeah, more sequels will keep coming. Been the nature of the beast for a while now...

It now seems that Suzi Yoonessi's movie is either dead in the water, was given to another filmmaker, or is being retooled further and will be held off for a while - maybe finally debuting in 2026. Maybe not. Maybe a completely different original movie has been cooked up over the past few years and will be ready for a fall 2026 release...

We'll have to wait and see where all the pieces fall...

[ncisfranchise-source]

Paramount Global Content Distribution has landed in Cannes with a new NCIS for international buyers, NCIS: Origins. Ahead of the event, Deadline spoke to the team behind it: Mark Harmon, the original Leroy Jethro Gibbs and an exec producer on the new show, along with his son and fellow EP Sean Harmon, and co-showrunner/EPs David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal.

NCIS as a franchise has launched shows set in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawaii and Sydney, Australia, and clocked up more than 1,000 episodes of network drama. Its latest variant, NCIS: Origins, provides something different and darker as the show goes back to the source.

“The character of Gibbs has resonated with global audiences because he is a role model and at the same time someone you can relate to,” says Sean Harmon. “The world is used to seeing Gibbs as ‘the boss’, but in NCIS: Origins we are dealing with a much less tempered version of him. Fans can look forward to a more intimate look into what makes Gibbs tick, as well as meeting some of the characters who influenced him along the way.”

The prequel winds the clock back to 1991. It starts on Gibbs’ first day of work as a probationary agent, and flashbacks set up how he ended up at what was then called NIS. “He’s much more raw in a lot of ways, he’s more vocal than the Mark Harmon Gibbs we all watched for so many years,” says North.

The new recruit has endured a terrible personal tragedy months before the point where the series kicks off.  “NCIS: Origins is just after the death of his wife and daughter,” says Mark Harmon. “He is the ‘newbie’ at NIS and learning every day under Special Agent Mike Franks. We will see him develop and grow into the man he becomes, and we will ride with the audience revealing that backstory and history.”

In the new show, Austin Stowell steps into Gibbs’ shoes. “Mark has told him to trust his process and his instincts and is available to him,” North says. “Austin has studied Mark and his mannerisms, but at the same time, it’s a different character and a different period in his life, and he’s brought so much of himself to it.”

North says NCIS fans are in for a surprise. “It’s much more serialized. Gina and I originally sold it and developed it for streaming for Paramount+. It moved over to network [with a 2024-25 season straight-to-series order], but we wanted to do more of a streaming style of show.”

Monreal picks up the thread. “The tone itself is a bit grittier, it’s a bit darker, which we love, because we feel like we’re pushing the envelope as far as what the franchise does, but at the same time, we’re keeping the heart of it,” she says. “What makes NCIS so beloved is this found family

The showrunner pair have written for what they call the ‘OG NCIS’ and want fans to come along for a new kind of NCIS ride.

“We believe we know what that special sauce is, and we think we’ve infused our show with that,” North says. “But we really are going to a deeper place where we’re taking these characters and learning so much. The most special episodes of NCIS are always the ones about our characters. Those are all sprinkled throughout the seasons, and those are the ones that stick with people. Gina and I have sought out to do that every single week on NCIS Origins.”

[cynfuldelights]

what do you mean merlin made catholicism

Again staying awake at night, haunted by the implications of The Original Merlin helping to establish the Catholic Church. And on one hand I feel it's really easy to let this line slip by like a lot of other one-liners talking about long-term history. But this one takes the cake in terms of the sheer magnitude of implication. Like, Jim Butcher probably just thought it was a neat idea to throw in that he would never really expand upon further. BUT I DO. EVERY DAY. BECAUSE I FEEL IT'S SUCH A WASTE TO JUST BE A THROWAWAY LINE.

(Spoilers for Dresden obvs)

Like, if the Original Merlin helped establish the Catholic Church then that means they've been aligned with the White Council since practically its inception and vice versa. We're not sure when exactly this iteration of the White Council was created but regardless if it was created first or second this just cements the weird White/Christian ethnocentrism that exists in the White Council (a title that gets more accurate the more you think about it).

Like here's an obvious question: Were there wizards in The Crusades?

Probably, right? Like, sure, The White Council maybe has actually clung to their doctrine of non-involvement in human politics for thousands of years. But, like, that's kind of rich when OG Merlin was out there helping to create the Catholic Church, an organization that would be used to justify the monarchies of soooo many countries. You're telling me they remained apolitical, a THOUAND years ago when our conceptions of what counted as "political" are completely different? To say nothing of, wow I wonder if the Scottish magic practitioners were cool with the Anglo Christian wizards setting up shop in their ancient magical grounds. Do you think Britain/The Britons stole that too? Or are we to believe they just "handed it over willingly"? Or are we to believe that the Scottish mages got along with their invaders because of "apolitics"?

Another obvious question: Hey why aren't there any other wizard councils?

In some kind of United Nations-y situation, it feels like The White Council is supposed to be a conglomeration of cultures and practices across the world with a unifying board of diverse members who make major decisions. And that's really cool! I really appreciate the idea that there can be a global community for people who don't fit in to connect and learn from one another.

But uhhh. Why does it feel so hegemonic and imperialist?

Like, the Senior Council is diverse, that's true. Some of the members are POC, between Rashid, Listens-With-Winds, Martha Liberty, and Ancient Mai. But as you go through the list you kind of again wonder how any of these different people from different practices and backgrounds were able to cope with Western Euro Imperialism. Like, the most obvious example is Listens-With-Winds, a character who in his lifetime, witnessed genocide after genocide of not only his people but of all of the tribes across the United States. Rashid in his lifetime, likely watched the US turn the Middle East into a oil profit machine backed by US militarism and CIA support. Martha Liberty in her lifetime, watched Black people fight and claw for their basic human rights in a country that was built off the backs of their exploited labor. Ancient Mai, in her likely very long lifetime if the name is any indication, likely watched the exploitation of China and Asia by the Dutch, France, and the other European powers.

Again, are we to expect the White Council is WHOLLY APOLITICAL IN EVERY ONE OF THESE CONFLICTS?

And if they are, is that really being apolitical if it ends up working out in their favor anyways? Again, look at Edinburgh. Look at all the stuff Britain stole.

---

Ultimately I think this is a lesson in setting consideration for urban fantasy writers. Lindsay Ellis' video on Bright talks about this excellently, but to poorly paraphrase, you can't just import the real world without importing all of the baggage and strife that exists within it. You can't flippantly say, "Merlin helped found Catholicism." Without pedants like me going, "Uh. What the fuck do you mean?"

But also totally do that so I can harp on it endlessly this is the shit I love for.

I've got more like this brewing in my head I might put up, im also interested in what other implications people can think of

[who-is-page]

🌃 ThisIsAPlaceholderSoPeopleDon'tThinkIWroteThisPic Follow

~~~

🌇 OkayNowHere'sMySection Follow

(I spent like ten minutes writing a response to this post + some of the reblogs that it had accumulated and then the OP disabled reblogs JUST as I hit post, but by god I am gonna say my bit. I've removed OP's name from the post and they've deleted the body of the post on their main blog, so don't any of you try looking them up to bother them, either.)

I'd also like to add on to this discussion regarding criticism and the points that have been brought up there-- it's true that no one is free from criticism, as OP points out in the original post. But having that sort of hyper-aggressive attitude towards fiction, especially without taking potential authorship into account (or worse, taking it far too much into account to the point where you harass the person who wrote it), can result in unintended harm towards real people. It's how you end up with situations like Isabel Fall de-transitioning and winding in a psychiatric institute under suicide watch because people mistook a transgender author's exploration of a transphobic stereotype as a topic as a story intended to be a transphobic stereotype itself.

The Vox article about Isabel has the quote, "Sometimes, the path to your personal hell is paved with other people’s best intentions" (Source). I think that's a very poignant and relevant perspective, where sometimes people--like OP--may think that they, as global citizens, have a duty to uphold morality and righteousness in their online spaces for the safety of themselves and their communities... but in actuality, their actions end up having negative effects far, far beyond their intentions, and don't end up protecting or saving anyone much at all. It can be a hard pill to swallow to realize that, but the real actions that people do in retaliation to fiction often create far, far more damage that the fiction ever does existing on its own. For another example, just look at the creator JoCat, who left his YouTube career this year because of the harassment he faced due to his 2020 35-second long video game animation and song, "I Like Girls" (a genderbent parody of Lizzo's Boys that he'd verbally improved on the spot during a Twitch stream). In his goodbye post, he wrote:

"[...] Granted, a lot of this has been primarily on twitter, where I could simply log off and ignore the haters, but no small amount has leaked into other parts of my regular day to day that is harder to ignore - private DMs over discord and twitch, suspicious packages being sent to my family - but I’ve always kept quiet about it because speaking out about it publicly, defending myself, any reaction to it would just encourage more, and be presented as my own fault as well. But if that’s the tradeoff to do something like share the things I make that I’m proud of on the internet, seeing as I’m writing this, it’s probably an indicator that I’m just not cut out for it, and the best thing for everyone would be to stop and pursue something else. Despite being very grateful for what this job has done for me and my family, I’m simply not strong enough to keep doing this if it means having to just accept this kind and amount of distress." (Source)

I think there's worthwhile conversations to be had about the necessity of criticism as a tool to critique common issues with genre, tropes, and popular media in fiction. But I feel like what is being spoken about here, in this post and in these examples-- criticism not as a tool of critique, but as a personal and direct attack, an unveiling of what the criticizer interprets to be the secret and impure Self of the artist or author--is another beast entirely, and one that typically shouldn't be brought to the forefront. It's turning real, thinking individuals into monsters in the eyes of audiences ready to devour them for the slightest transgression, and does that actually help anyone? Rarely do artists and authors deserve to be publicly ridiculed en-masse for their work to the point where they walk away from it, and doing so doesn't actually help make positive changes in any way... because the people who you could have those important discussions with, about the things that both you are critical of in certain genres, writings communities, stories, tropes, etc have now packed up their bags and left.

Everyone is familiar with the "You are not immune to propaganda" Garfield meme. And while it may be funny, it's also true. People make mistakes and create things which are unintentionally insulting, either because the author is leaning on offensive stereotypes or tropes without realizing it, or because the author isn't worldly to the baggage that certain subjects carry within them (such as people who reference Lovecraft's work without having the background information that he was a horrible racist, sexist, and xenophobe). But heckling them and telling them that they're secretly terrible people and should never create anything ever again isn't going to inform them about these subjects. It's going to result in them getting defensive, prickly, and running off. There is no net gain to this scenario. The amount of Good in the world has not increased from this interaction.

This all isn't touching on people who intentionally play with stereotypes or tropes in their writing, nor is it touching on the inherent religious bigotry and Christiancentrism wrapped up in the idea of someone's fictional stories or writings being reflective of their innermost desires and morality, because this is getting pretty long. But I wanted to put out my own thoughts on this in addition to what's already been said.

[rabbitcruiser]

National I Love Horses Day

This National I Love Horses Day on July 15, we are not going to tell you to hold your horses because today is about going all out for horses. Horses are one of the most beloved and adored animals in the world. In fact, horses are in fourth place on the list of the world’s most popular animals. Horses have been very important for humankind for a while now, having been domesticated since ancient times. Due to their versatility, horses are used in a variety of fields, from agriculture and transportation to entertainment. Horse racing and show jumping also see horses showing off in front of cheering crowds.

History of National I Love Horses Day

National I Love Horses Day was created to highlight the importance of the animal in human history and development. Horses have been around for around 50 million years and they were domesticated by nomads in 4000 B.C. The animal is believed to have originated from North America, with increased traveling and globalization taking it to other parts of the world. These early horse breeds later became extinct on the American continent. According to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System, today, there are many other horse breeds but all of them are believed to have descended from Equus caballus, including the populations of feral horses in the wild. Horses have 350-degree vision and are extremely social. They roam around with their own species as well as other animals. Furthermore, their aptitude in socializing makes them easy animals to breed.

In the old days, horses were domesticated and farmed for their meat and milk. The animal was an important source of sustenance in the central Asian steppes, where, to date, horses are bred for consumption. In some cultures, a mare’s milk was also fermented and enjoyed as an alcoholic drink. As human populations increased and commercialization started taking over, horses began being used to cultivate the land and other general agricultural settings. Because of the strength and endurance they displayed, horses were also being used for the transportation of goods and people over long and short distances. Over the years, horse racing and show-jumping contests also gained the attention of the public.

National I Love Horses Day timeline

4000 B.C. Earliest Recorded Instance of Horse Domestication

The earliest records of horse domestication are found, particularly in areas of Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

1992 Przewalski Reintroduced in the Wild

After believing the species to be extinct for over 20 years, the Przewalski's horse breed is reintroduced into the wild through conservation efforts.

1993 American Secretary Appointed for Wild Horses

President Clinton nominates the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, to oversee the care for wild horses in America.

2005 Legislation for Unadopted Horses

Legislation is passed in order to allow unadopted horses to be taken to slaughterhouses after an allotted period of time.

National I Love Horses Day FAQs

What day is National Horse Day?

National Horse Day is on December 13.

What is a Hippophile?

A hippophile is a person who loves horses.

Can horses love humans?

The love you feel for your horse may not be exactly reciprocated. But a horse can certainly feel — and give — affection.

How To Celebrate National I Love Horses Day

Show some love

Ride a horse

Spend a day with horses

Horses and humans go way back. Show some love to these amazing animals that have been our companions in many fields. They have helped feed us, travel through familiar and unfamiliar terrains, and entertained us endlessly on the racing fields and stage.

If you’ve never ridden a horse before, this is your chance to grab the opportunity. Book yourself a spot on a horse riding tour, and then just sit back and enjoy. Feel the wind in your hair. Riding a horse is an experience you must try at least once.

Find horse farms in your area and go and spend a day with horses. You help feed them, brush them, and take them for a trot or a light canter. Horses are friendly creatures and spending time with them can be very therapeutic.

5 Facts About Domestication That Will Blow Your Mind

One of the earliest domesticated animals

Pigs/cattle for more settled communities

Age-old eggs

Changes in genes for easier domestication

Darwinian documentation for behavior patterns

Starting in around 7000 B.C., dogs were one of the earliest domesticated animals, for reasons related to protection from other humans and animals.

Historians trace the domestication of pigs and cattle back to around the same time goats and sheep were domesticated, but the former are believed to have been domesticated in communities that were already settled.

Microfossil embryos of chickens found in China are believed to be 60 million years old.

Changes to the gene markers of an animal’s endocrine system can help them be less fearful of humans.

Charles Darwin documented different behavioral patterns in domesticated animals compared to their non-domesticated relatives.

Why We Love National I Love Horses Day

It’s a celebration of horses

It’s a celebration of companionship

It’s a celebration of history

While we do not need to introduce you to the incredible qualities of the animal, here are some of their most beloved attributes: Horses, much like dogs, are loyal animals. They also have amazing stamina, strength, and speed that enable them to endure long distances without breaking a sweat.

Horses are social creatures with a great ability to read and remember the people around them. While they have helped humans in a number of areas, they have also made great friends. Horses can understand when you are stressed, angry, or happy, and they can comfort you when needed.

If you want to trace the history of human civilization, researching horses is a good start. This animal has been an active participant in agriculture/farming, travel, transportation, entertainment, and warfare. People have been domesticating and employing horses for generations.

Source

[tundrakatiebean]

This is such bullshit. They’ve decided that there’s too much money going to causes that don’t align with corporate interests so they’re going to only give to things they agree with - including their own disaster relief.

Transcript of the email under the cut

[image transcript:

Dear customer,

In 2013, we launched AmazonSmile to make it easier for customers to support their favorite charities. However, after almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped. With so many eligible organizations—more than 1 million globally—our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.

We are writing to let you know that we plan to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. We will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters.

To help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program with this transition, we will be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program, and they will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program officially closes in February. Once AmazonSmile closes, charities will still be able to seek support from Amazon customers by creating their own wish lists.

As a company, we will continue supporting a wide range of other programs that help thousands of charities and communities across the U.S. For instance:

Housing Equity Fund: We’re investing $2 billion to build and preserve affordable housing in our hometown communities. In just two years, we’ve provided funding to create more than 14,000 affordable homes—and we expect to build at least 6,000 more in the coming months. These units will host more than 18,000 moderate- to low-income families, many of them with children. In one year alone, our investments have been able to increase the affordable housing stock in communities like Bellevue, Washington and Arlington, Virginia by at least 20%.

Amazon Future Engineer: We’ve funded computer science curriculum for more than 600,000 students across over 5,000 schools—all in underserved communities. We have plans to reach an additional 1 million students this year. We’ve also provided immediate assistance to 55,000 students in our hometown communities by giving them warm clothes for the winter, food, and school supplies.

Community Delivery Program: We’ve partnered with food banks in 35 U.S. cities to deliver more than 23 million meals, using our logistics infrastructure to help families in need access healthy food – and we plan to deliver 12 million more meals this year alone. In addition to our delivery services, we’ve also donated 30 million meals in communities across the country.

Amazon Disaster Relief: We’re using our logistics capabilities, inventory, and cloud technology to provide fast aid to communities affected by natural disasters. For example, we’ve created a Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta with more than 1 million relief items ready for deployment, our Disaster Relief team has responded to more than 95 natural disasters, and we’ve donated more than 20 million relief products to nonprofits assisting communities on the ground.

Community Giving: We support hundreds of local nonprofits doing meaningful work in cities where our employees and their families live. For example, each year we donate hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations working to build stronger communities, from youth sport leagues, to local community colleges, to shelters for families experiencing homelessness.

We’ll continue working to make a difference in many ways, and our long-term commitment to our communities remains the same—we’re determined to do every day better for our customers, our employees, and the world at large.

End transcript]

[blastnews]

The fiery apocalypse in California can be seen from space. Fire has consumed schools and stately homes

New satellite imagery has shown the vast extent of the damage caused by the widespread wildfires in California. For example, the famous Los Angeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades and a coastal residence in Malibu have been reduced to ash and charred rubble.

In California, seven people have died so far this week during widespread wildfires, more than 10 000 buildings have been destroyed and at least 180 000 residents have been evacuated, The Guardian reported.

On Tuesday, hurricane-force winds drove hot embers through the air, igniting block after block. In the days that followed, the flames destroyed an area of about 45 square miles (117 km²). Late Thursday night, five fires were still raging around Los Angeles, three of them completely out of control.

Newly released satellite images have shown the extent of the destruction caused by the Pacific Palisades fire. The coastline along Malibu's famous Malibu neighborhood was completely blackened and buildings along the beach burned to the ground. More than half a dozen schools were damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood alone.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the new fire, dubbed Kenneth, which originated Thursday afternoon in the San Fernando Valley near the West Hills neighborhood, was expected to 'spread rapidly due to high winds.'

In Altadena, over the mountains north of Los Angeles, where a wildfire called Eaton has spread, satellite images show rows of streets with the rubble of charred houses, smoke from nearby fires still billowing in the air. On Wednesday, the streets were filled with ash, buildings still ablaze. Authorities said on Thursday that previous estimates put the number of destroyed buildings at 4 000 - 5 000.

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said the city's water system was at its limits and was further hampered by power outages. Even without those problems, however, firefighters would have been unable to stop the blaze as embers fanned by intense winds ignited block after block.

Firefighters made significant gains Thursday in slowing the spread of the Eaton and Palisades fires, although officials said both fires are 0% extinguished. Firefighters also knocked down a blaze in the Hollywood Hills.

The fires broke out at a particularly critical time for Southern California. In fact, there hasn't been any significant rainfall since October. Strong Santa Ana winds brought dry desert air from the east toward the coastal mountains and helped fuel the fires.

Scientists say the fires, which broke out outside of their typical season, are another example of extreme weather that is likely to continue to escalate in the coming decades as global temperatures continue to rise.

Source: blesk.cz

Picture: illustrative

[best-hohenzollern-ruler]

Bonus Round: Best Chancellor

Otto von Bismarck (1871-1890)

The Iron Chancellor

With a man as talented and powerful as Otto von Bismarck, it is hard to know where to start when outlining his accomplishments. His rule over Prussia and later Germany totaled a combined thirty years, during which he upended the global order and reshaped the map of Europe as we know it today. His title of "The Iron Chancellor" originates from the iron grip he had over both German and international politics, as well as one of his most famous speeches.

Bismarck's greatest accomplishment was no doubt the unification of this great state of Germany, which he accomplished through both shrewd diplomacy and skillful warmaking. His wars against Denmark, Austria, and France propelled Prussia to new heights and allowed for the declaration of the German empire in 1871. As Bismarck had said 9 years prior to that exalted date, "the great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches or majority decisions, but by iron and blood"

Nations that claim power on the world stage by way of military might or economic excellence still kneel before Germany when it comes to care for their citizenry. Under Bismarck, Germany passed groundbreaking laws providing aid for injured or sick workers who could not earn a living for their families. Later, those benefits were expanded to aging or disabled citizens, creating the first social welfare program in Europe. It is my hope that countries with prospering upper classes may take a page from Germany's playbook and allow the government to care for those workers which have ensured its economic success. (Real subtle - T)

Leo von Caprivi (1890-1894)

A moment's pity for the poor man who must stand in the footholds of giants. How can one hope to compare to the eminence of Otto von Bismarck? Caprivi gave his answer by ripping to shreds one of Bismarck's foreign policy achievements, our former Reinsurance Treaty with Russia. This was a treaty that protected Germany from her greatest fear: a two (or three or perhaps even four!) front war, the Gallic rooster to our West and the Russian bear to our east. Why, then, would he not reinsure this treaty? Perhaps Russian reproachment with France was already a foregone conclusion; maybe he placed more value on Austria-Hungary and Italy than Russia; one scholar I've become familiar with has proposed that maybe his brain was "riddled with the worms of idiocy." The histrionics of the critics has never moved me. War will not come between Germany and Russia. A piece of paper changes nothing.

Caprivi realized that Germany would maintain her pre-eminence in Europe through either war or trade. For the first time, we chose industry. Commercial treaties were forged with an assortment of European nations including Austria-Hungary, Italy, Belgium, and Spain. He even ended a trade war with Russia, giving Germans access to cheaper Russian agriculture products. (What? Were the Merkel jokes too easy? -L)

Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1894-1900)

Perhaps the greatest thing to say about Hohenlohe is that he was nobody's first pick for the job. Other names had been floated, but those picks proved too controversial. Hohenlohe, albeit aged, was a safe choice and caused the Kaiser no scandal. He served inconspicuously, which is to say without distinction. His cabinet was shuffled and reshuffled without his input and he found the winds of change blowing past him faster than he could react. A chancellor in name only, disempowered to enact any sorts of policies in the vein of predecessor. The most he achieved were reforms to the Prussian Military Law and the Law of Associations. In 1900, Hohenlohe took himself out of his misery and retired. Like his reactions to cooling relations with Russia and Britain, it came too little, too late. He died a year later.

Bernhard von Bülow (1900-1909)

The position of the Chancellor in the early 20th century increasingly seems like an ornate title for the caregiver of the Kaiser. After Wilhelm II inflamed tensions between Germany and France during the Morocco Crisis, it fell upon von Bülow to clean up the debacle. He represented the Kaiser at the Algeciras Conference, a meeting meant to defuse the tensions of the aforementioned crisis. Germany was humiliated, her terms discarded and the alliance between Britian and France was strengthened. When von Bülow defended his work at the conference, he became so overwhelmed that he collapsed.

Much like the first of his office, von Bülow's career came to an end in a conflict with Kaiser Wilhelm II. In a conversation published by the Daily Telegraph, the Kaiser attempted to court the affection of Britain and her king. Perhaps Herr Freud could say something in regards to His Majesty's love for his mother's country. (Note: Please never imply something like this ever again - T). Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. The British public was appalled at the Kaiser's words, which read more as the ramblings of a madman than as the diplomatic forays of an emperor. Perhaps the outcry could have been prevented had von Bülow properly reviewed the text before it was published, however, he did not. The Kaiser viewed this as a betrayal and forced him to resign.