#but they're also not so small they're fragile and die within like 2 years

[barbieaiden]

i just love bunnies so much, tiny affectionate destructive little blobs with ears

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Hi! I've been doing a ton of research on snakes and really want to get one. But today I read an article from PETA basically saying do not get a pet snake under any circumstances for a bunch of different reasons (https://www.peta.org/living/animal-companions/snakes-never-pets/). Thoughts?

Link for everyone to the artcile - be warned that this is PETA, though, so definitely read with caution and your critical thinking glasses. Article contains many images of animal suffering.

So, like with many other things that PETA put out, most of this list is absolute malarkey. I totally get that it sounds really compelling if you're still new to the reptile-keeping scene, though! So I'm going to go through this list point by point, and hopefully that'll help. :)

"The pet trade is abysmal."

Yeah, it is. Fortunately, you can (and should!) avoid contributing to reptile breeding mills by buying a snake from an ethical breeder. I never recommend buying your pet reptile from a chain pet store. Buying from a reputable breeder, though, means you'll be getting a healthy, well-started pet, and supporting a small business to boot! Check out my "buying a snake" tag for tips!

2. "No captive environment can compare to snakes' natural habitats."

This argument really hinges on the assumption that snake owners are tossing their pets into a barren glass box. That is not what good snake owners do. The point of a good snake enclosure is allow room and opportunity for natural behaviors, like climbing, burrowing, and exploring.

3. "Snakes aren't 'starter pets.'"

No, they're not. That's why I always advocate for a great deal of research before buying any reptile.

PETA also brings up a study that "75% of pet reptiles die within one year in captivity" - this study is heavily skewed by counting wild-caught lizards, which are notoriously fragile. If you buy a reptile from a reputable breeder and your husbandry is good, the chances of your pet dying within the first year are very small.

4. "Snakes have specific needs that are nearly impossible to meet in captivity."

Frankly, if you don't know that your snake will have highly specific temperature, humidity, and enrichment needs, you shouldn't be buying a snake. We know that it's possible to meet the needs of snakes because their captive lifespans average literal lifetimes over wild lifespans, and minimalist keeping isn't okay.

5. "Buying small animals to feed a snake supports the cruel pet trade, even if you adopt a snake."

I never recommend feeding your snake live rodents. Instead, feed your snake frozen/thawed rodents - they're bred for the purpose from non-pet lines, and are humanely euthanized before being sold.

6. "Having a snake doesn’t make you look edgy—just foolish."

This one kinda baffles me, to be honest. The people who buy a pet snake just to look "edgy" should not be buying snakes.

7. " Not only can snakes make you sick, you can also make them sick."

This point hinges on the risk of reptiles transmitting salmonella to humans, which you can easily avoid by taking common sense precautions. The snake health issues mentioned, like respiratory illness, are all associated with poor husbandry and are not an innate risk to captive snakes.

8. "Snakes have feelings."

We can't be sure how snakes experience the world. That said, though, when PETA argues here that minimalist keeping causes snakes pain, they're right. No snake should ever be kept in a barren enclosure - and, once again, people who keep them that way shouldn't have snakes.

9. " Snakes have rights."

I'm a strong believer in animal welfare, and that means animals should always be free from poor treatment. I don't believe that captive-bred pet snakes are suffering, though. There is just no evidence to support that.

Like a lot of PETA's stuff, this article heavily relies on misinformation and presenting bad situations from the chain store pet trade as the norm.

There can be many good reasons not to get a pet snake - maybe you aren't in a situation where you can find or afford necessities like a large enclosure, f/t food, or veterinary care. Maybe a snake just isn't the right pet for you! But snakes in captivity are most often perfectly ethical pets, and if you do your research before buying, you can ensure a pet snake will live a long, happy life.

[goocy]

On creating unique heirloom artifacts

Mankind is entering a low-power stage. Even if this civilization recovers from the upcoming end of oil, I don't expect this current level of per-capita power - roughly 2.6 kilowatts continuously, at least in the EU - to be a normal state of living for the next 50000 years. We will have to abandon our high-powered activities, which will make low-powered devices much more attractive than today.

Phones and laptops are currently the most power-efficient computing devices we have. This low-power usage paradoxically relies on a very high-complexity production process: the manufacturing of high-density chips. This high density is the most important factor for power savings, vastly more important than any other architecture and power-saving structures.

Since we're moving towards simplification, this means that this decade's chips are more power efficient than almost anything that will come afterwards - at least when looking at comparable price points. This makes our current phones and laptops unique assets that can only grow in value. It's easy to underestimate how powerful these things are, because they're being used to work on utter mundanity. For comparison, the calculator app on my phone alone would have replaced hundreds of workers calculating ballistic trajectories in WW1. The charger chip in my phone cable has more computing power than the Apollo Moon lander.

These chips are technological marvels that we'll only ever produce in a limited time window. Before 1950 we didn't know how, and after 2050 we'll have lost most of the infrastructure to do keep these high-tech facilities running.

Currently these chips are easy and cheap to produce, so there are hundreds of billions of them on the planet. But because humanity only has a 100-year window to produce them, this is still a limited supply that needs to last tens of thousands of years. Worse, we're treating these chips as disposable, so 99% of these chips end up being destroyed after a 2-5 year use window. To me that's a tragedy because they have a near-infinite lifespan, when treated correctly. [yes I know about ionic electrochemical migration; it's an overrated concern] It also means that if you preserve your own chips, and know how to leverage them, you'll have a unique advantage over most other people.

The preservation of these chips is facing a couple of issues. Some of those are obvious (batteries, breaking touchscreens), some of those less so. There's a unique multiplier to adapting to these challenges now, before collapse progresses too much.

I'm writing this post to help you preserve your chips, which I consider one of the biggest marvels that mankind has ever created.

Issue #1: Batteries

Batteries are the most immediate aging bottleneck. No matter the chemistry, they all die within a couple of years. They're chemically fragile and don't store well, so I can't recommend stocking up. If there's no radical battery breakthrough in the next couple of years, we're going to lose battery operation for most phones and laptops completely. I'll assume that this will happen.

The easiest solution for failing batteries would be to hook up a phone / laptop to a less portable power source, like a bike generator, water wheel, or solar panel. Those are fairly low-tech and will probably be widely available long into civilizational collapse, but you'll need a rectifier and a DC-DC converter to run a phone / laptop with them. Both of those are going to become unavailable in the next decade or two.

For anything besides a water wheel, you'll have to deal with fluctuating power sources. My best idea for that are supercapacitors. They're bulky, they're relatively expensive, they don't hold their charge well, but they'll basically last forever. Especially for mobile operations powered by solar panels or hand cranks, a small array of supercapacitors would be essential. Specifically for this combo of solar panels and supercapacitors, you'll also need a buy a MPTT charge controller before they become unavailable.

In stationary usage, nickel-iron batteries or potential power storage could be good alternatives. These are fairly low-tech and not urgent to procure.

Issue #2: Touchscreens

They obviously break. Less obviously, they're surprisingly hard to produce, because they use Indium, one of the rarest elements on the planet, for their core function. There's no plausible way to repair a broken screen, and because the quantities on the screen are so low, recycling the Indium is also implausible. This means that touchscreens for your device will become unavailable in the next decade or two. It's possible that we'll get graphene touchscreens soon, which should be a bit simpler to produce than our current models, potentially extending the availability of replacement touchscreens beyond 2030. But good luck getting one for your specific phone.

The low-tech solution is to protect the screens. Use heavy-duty cases, laptop cases, maybe even a padded enclosure when you're facing rough travel.

But inherently, this fragility makes phones less viable than laptops. With a laptop, you can change or repair a keyboard, you can switch to fully remote operation with a network cable, or you could set it up to operate with esoteric input (audio cues, for example). A broken screen also opens up the phone for water damage.

Issue #3: Software

Obviously, after the end of Google or Apple, all of your purchased apps are not going to be available. Unless you've already downloaded them to your phone. AND NEVER DELETE THEM AGAIN. Don't run out of storage space (a topic continued in issue #4).

On the app side, there's a big split between the two camps:

Android makes it possible to install third-party apps, so you'll probably have a choice of aftermarket app stores for a decade or longer. You can also re-install apps if you happen to have the APK stored somewhere else.

On the Apple side, this looks much worse: you'd need a jailbroken phone to install new apps. And even most contemporary jailbreaks essentially expire after 8 days, requiring you to fetch permission from Apple each time. The last iPhone that was fully jailbreakable was the iPhone 5. If you, like me, prefer the iPhone, that's probably going to be your device for the majority of your remaining life. I own two. You also need to jailbreak them while Apple still exists, because they need to sign a cryptographic certificate in the process.

Bonus points: if you do end up perma-jailbreaking your iPhone 5, you'll also unlock the full compute platform, allowing you to develop your own apps on a separate computer. I recommend downloading Xcode and the Swift documentation if you want to go that route.

Because there's no more firmware updates, you'll also be vulnerable to exploits and hacker attacks. Once Apple and Google are gone, I'd recommend **going offline outside your home network** and avoid the risk of your phone becoming unusable.

Issue #4: MOSFETs

This is where it gets fiddly.

Every computer, no matter how big or how small, has a few DC-DC converters. MOSFETs are the reliable, powerful and cheap core component in these DC-DC converters. They'll also all fail within 20-50 years, mostly because they're usually undersized for their purpose (for multiple money reasons).

Almost all other electronic components have an effective lifespan in the tens of decades, potentially centuries, but MOSFETs tend to die much earlier. This wouldn't be bad in itself - we'll have plenty of spare parts from millions of other broken electronics - but the insidious fact is that, when MOSFETs die, they usually kill an important chip too. And those are not easily replaceable, and not repairable at all.

There is a good mitigation for this:

You add a transient voltage suppression (TVS) diode in parallel with your chip, which you can think of as a bulletproof vest. It'll take the hit when the MOSFET tries to kill the chip. And you add a small fuse before your MOSFET, so it doesn't kill anything upstream either.

These two components are tiny and cheap, but this needs to be done for every one of your devices, at multiple locations, possibly up to 30 times. You'll need a skilled repair person for this who knows how to modify existing circuits. Both the TVS diode and the fuse also need to have the right voltage and current values for each local circuit - just like picking the right size of bulletproof vest.

There's potential to be fooled here by some supposed expert who just puts in some random TVS diodes and fuses that they happen to have in stock. Potentially they don't even know that the right values are important. And you'll only notice that they made a mistake years or even decades later. I expect this to become a "on customer demand" service at electronic repair stores in the 2030s. Don't skimp on this and get someone reputable.

Issue #5: NAND degradation

This is where it gets ugly.

Every cell of storage in your phone / laptop has a limited life span. The more often you write to it, the shorter it will ultimately last. After the end of its life is reached, each cell gets marked as dead, and your overall capacity shrinks. This is not repairable.

Because all existing operating systems are designed to take storage as disposable, there are almost no options to avoid this issue. In phones, you can only mitigate:

- leave a decent amount of empty space to spread the depletion across multiple cells - pay someone to install a fresh storage chip (which you stocked up on, wisely) - generally avoid saving big data (videos, pictures etc)

On laptops, you have a few more obscure choices that all boild down to one thing: perform most of the operations in RAM (which has a practically indefinite lifespan) with a read-only operating system.

You can also mitigate with other physical media (harddrives, tape) but those will also break eventually, without adequate replacement. Reliable data storage during civilizational collapse is a whole separate can of worms.

NAND depletion is the factor that's probably going to kill 99% of even the collapse-adapted devices. If you want to mitigate for this, essentially creating a valuable heritage artifact, always get the highest capacity storage and stock up on the NAND chips that are compatible with your devices. You can buy the chips themselves new, but they're not super cheap ($10-$20). I'd suggest buying a broken phone instead, the same model as your own. Even old phones have basically virgin NAND chips. Avoid water-damaged phones and the ones that don't charge. Physical damage is the best.

[capri-ramblings]

Yikes,I know there's bound to be questions but trust me, chapter 3 will answer most of them. Aha,I'm sorry if this chapter is kinda confusing at first,I'm not good at planning out thoughts or stories systemically,it kinda makes it harder for me to write whenever I try to. But here,the second chapter of Raptured! Thank you for reading! ( ꈍᴗꈍ) ♥️

[ R a p t u r e d ]

Chapter 2: Banter

In the moment Riddle had finished telling his brothers what conspired with their human captive, the first to speak up was Azul.

"They offered what?" His words were a mix of shock and amusement, gaze fixated on Riddle who seemed almost flustered from how red his cheeks were.

The red haired sighed, sending him a narrow eyed glare before crossing his arms.

"The head of their own brother"

"By their own hands?" Kalim asked aloud, his features scrunched up worryingly. "Isn't that bad? Why would anyone want to kill their own brother so suddenly?"

From the chaise across the room,Leona let out a scoff, lips upturned into a smirk.

"What are you? A five year old? If you give a herbivore the chance of freedom,they'd leave their entire fleet open to make sure they survive. Humans aren't so different."

"Indeed" Vil joined in with a smile of his own. "Humans are very fickle things, they live out their life struggling and as a result they stink of repulsion."

"They can barely even stand on their own.." Idia added thoughtfully and as the gazes of his brothers turned to him, the flames on his hair flickered and he looked away.

"Maybe the isolation's got to their head?"

Riddle let out a scoff, his lips upturned in a sneer almost too vicious to be formed on such a delicate looking face.

"The cottage they were in was secluded from the rest of the village,they were already a reclusive. Why should it bother them now?"

"Maybe Idia has a point" Kalim interjected then "Before they were on their own by choice...and they weren't exactly trapped in a tower either"

"It's all the same" Leona snapped " Damn herbivores will always be too fragile."

"Though, our soft-shelled brothers have a sound reason" Vil's lips curled in an effortless smile,his ever sharp gaze glinting like jewels.

"At this rate our small hare is going to die before the homage from her brother, and that makes all of this pointless."

The room went silent then. Each males having their own thoughts wrapped around the situation.

When they came to a decision to face the hunter who killed their family beast, he was nowhere to be seen and left tending to his cottage was none other than their captive human, a young sibling unaware of what their fool brother had committed. They opted it was easier to simply kidnap them and have their brother come looking since neither one of them wanted to wait around. There was also the fact that the death of the beast had affected their Mother's health greatly, and all seven brothers fumed with rage.

"Our methods doesn't matter anymore" Riddle spoke up, "What's done is done. We can't exactly just put them back where we found them."

"I agree" Azul said "Though if the human dies in our care now, when we're fully able to change their situation, I fear the price of that loss would be great."

"What? Are the humans going to chase us around with pitchforks?" Leona sneered,his sharp fangs visible as he leaned back into the chaste. "You saw how further in their cottage was, chances are the herbivore doesn't even go down to the village often enough for people to notice them missing."

"They can't die." Idia drawled the words out this time,his gaze sharp and harsh as he stared down Leona who all but grinned at his brother.

"Why? Because you like them?" The laugh that barked out from Leona was cruel and Idia flinched.

"Go ahead and save the poor herbivore then,Prince Idia of the lands of burrowed moles. You think they'd ever look at you fondly?"

"Enough." Riddle came between the fight with his own ire and before he sent a glare towards Leona, he let Idia catch the solace in his.

The situation was getting worst. They needed a decision quick.

"You're not a five year old as well,Leona, so keep that tongue of yours tamed"

"What are you? Suddenly playing the role of the Eldest when you can't even reach his height?" Leona scrutinized Riddle with an aggression that seemed ready to claw him in the face, but Riddle kept his own spite and promptly choose to ignore his brother.

Instead,he turned to Azul.

"The hunter should've came back and see his sibling gone, you even sent those eels of yours to make sure he got the hints. Why hasn't he made a single move? It's been two months."

"Maybe he's forgetful?" Kalim chipped in, eyes glowing. Riddle wanted to tap the side of his face and gently tell him to shut up but Vil patted his head instead.

"A forgetful hunter managing to kill a wild beast is unlikely, mein bruder"

Azul crossed his arms,gaze narrowing.

"They've sent word that they have information regarding our human and the whereabouts of their brother"

"And?" Vil prompted.

"I told them to come meet us as soon as they can, which shouldn't be long."

The moment those words were uttered, a dull thud came from the would-be-entrance of the tower, and a familiar voice calling out.

"My Princes! Open the door please!" The urgency of the voice had all the present Princes turning their head, though the one who seemed genuinely surprised and concerned was Kalim.

"That voice..." He said, turning to Azul "Is that who I think it is?"

Azul's lips curled into a knowing smile and with a flick of his fingers, the sound of a door being swung opened then slammed shut could be heard within the tower itself,followed by light rapid footsteps approaching them.

Out of breath and desperately panting, a young girl made a hasty bow as she came before the Princes, though the way her legs slightly trembled suggested that she was near collapsing.

"It is her!" Kalim's eyes grew wide with familiarity, the worry in his voice replaced with joy as he came up to place his hand on the girl's shoulder.

"The last time I saw you, you were still learning how to walk!" Kalim's loud voice seemed to make her flinch but the girl met his gaze with warmth before she bowed her head again.

"Pleasure to meet you again,Prince Kalim." She's heard stories of him, the Prince Fae known to give out bits of his treasures to those who come wishing at his well. It seemed odd to act as if she's known him, but she knew better than to put logic before courtesy. He was one of the seven Princes after all. Acting too smart with them was a fool's mistake.

Before Kalim could say anything else, Azul stepped forward and the girl promptly met his side with a suddenly serious demeanor.

"I'd ask you for the information I had you fetch but I wonder why you were running in the first place?"

The girl laughed dryly if not nervously.

"Floyd wanted to see who could win in a race in getting here,your Highness."

Azul frowned, internally sighing.

"Why on Earth did you agree to that?"

Again, the girl laughed. "He terrifies me,my Prince."

Riddle couldn't place where he's met her, but hearing her words had him internally sympathising her. Azul's leeches were a pair he'd gladly avoid for eternity as well.

"So,you got a changeling to be at your beck and call as well,Azul?" Vil sounded amused as he turned to Azul, but the degrading glance he gave the girl bellied the smile coyly sitting on his lips then.

"She's indebted to us anyway" Azul stated simply "Why not put her to work?"

His gaze returned to the girl.

"What do you have about our human then?"

It took a full ten minutes for the young changeling to inform them of what she's managed to compile on their human and hunter. Turns out they aren't related by blood but by marriage. Apparently most of the villagers knew of the hunter but rarely saw the younger sibling as they took more liking in staying indoors. There was also talk that their relationship with one another was never close and answered Riddle's question as to why he hadn't showed up yet.

"So, he's just going to leave his sibling at our mercy?" Kalim asked,he had his expression scrunched up with worry and pity again but Leona shared none of it and only growled with distaste.

"There won't be mercy if they're left with us a second longer"

Riddle caught the flicker of Idia's flames and instantly reacted.

"Threaten to murder our captive one more time and I'll have your head,Leona."

"Hah, you're trying to scare me,Riddle?" Leona sneered,fangs glistening with malice. He's been irritated by the whole situation since the beginning. Taking in a human in hopes that another would appear to save them, it was all a damn fairytale. Leona knew humans were selfish, his brothers should've had that piece of common sense drilled into their heads as well. No one was going to play hero for their captive.

Riddle gritted his teeth and again instead of lashing out senselessly, he swirled around to face the changeling. Every bit of his anger flaring in his grey gaze.

"Where's the hunter now?" He asked,though it sounded painfully like a death threat.

The changeling bowed her head.

"He's at the human King's palace,Prince Riddle. King Aothor ...of Nostorne"

The words sent the entire room tilting, and Riddle would've gripped her by her neck if Azul hadn't stepped forward.

"King? Since when did the humans have a King?" The last time they came to the world,their mother's shrine was built almost everywhere to acknowledge her ruling. Had times changed so drastically since their absence?

"Yes. It's been this way for years now. A dukedom raised after Her Most Divine's departure from the human realm and ever since then a lineage of human nobles have taken the throne as the Human ruler."

"My, how futuristic, and here we were in the guise that we still sat on the top of their world" Vil was laughing but his words cut into the tension of the room like a blade coated in venom and the changeling girl shifted uncomfortably.

"It seems like the order of the slaughtering was made by him and ultimately fulfilled by the hunter. His name is Cyril and he's being celebrated by the King for his bravery."

Leona heaved a heavy sigh,leaning once more into his chaise. He looked ready to fall into a deep slumber already but his irritation kept him awake.

"So,we have information. Now what's the plan?"

***

Jade and Floyd,two of Azul's trusted companions came into the situation while the Princes were sorting out their thoughts and opinions (Which all greatly contradict one another) and brought word that their hunter had refused to save their sibling in a conversation Jade overheard him had with another hunter right before he was called on by the King.

"He said he knew of the Fae's trick and that by taking something of theirs as his own, he'd gladly give anything they took from him as compensation." Jade explained in his usual matter-of-fact tone,his mismatched gaze still and knowing.

Riddle clicked his tongue, brows furrowing. Idia's was the most sympathetic along with Kalim while Leona and Vil seemed ready to send a fleet of their army to storm into the human villages.

"I'm not really surprised though" Floyd spoke up lazily "He seems like a guy who'd do that kind of thing anyways"

"But now the Princes are stuck with keeping a human captive in their care", Boe,the young changeling from earlier, pointed out grimly.

"What if we sent you to negotiate with him in our stead?" Idia suggested which earned a rather hasty look from the girl.

"Human royals don't take too kindly to my kind,Prince Idia. I doubt he'd even let me enter"

Leona let out a menacing growl. One that reverberated through the tower walls.

"This is going nowhere. Riddle, go up to that damn herbivore and have them beg their brother come and pay his homage so we can give them back."

Riddle frowned.

"You heard the changeling,Leona. If their relationship with their brother is as bad as we've heard, do you really think they'd beg for him to come save them?"

"Couldn't you talk some sense in them?" Azul had eyes turning once more to the young changeling who all but reluctantly slumped her shoulders.

"I don't see how me being the one talking will get them to cooperate..."

"Clamshell,you should at least try,right?" Floyd's smile was sickly sweet and when he attempted to sling his arm over her shoulders, she avoided the outcome by shifting close to Jade.

"What would you want me to say to them?"

"The offer they gave" Riddle said "Have them elaborate more on that. I'm not going into a deal without knowing why it was proposed in the first place."

There was hesitation in her eyes but it was swiftly changed to a silent resolve as she nodded her head.

"I'll see what I can do."