#clubs and local groups

[techdriveplay]

Facts About RC Cars

In this article, I'll share some fascinating facts about RC cars, drawing from my experience and deep appreciation for this hobby.

Ever since I could remember, Radio Controlled (RC) cars have been a significant part of my life. From the moment I got my hands on my first RC car as a child, the fascination has only grown stronger. In this article, I’ll share some fascinating facts about RC cars, drawing from my experience and deep appreciation for this hobby. These miniature marvels, which can be controlled from a distance,…

[karlachismylife]

I just know Gaz is so fucking good at rock climbing. He's just built perfectly for it, he's got the endurance, the flexibility, the grip, the core strength, the agility, the arm spread, he's not too bulky and heavy like Soap or Ghost, his height gives him quite a lot of advantages (even though sometimes there are trails for us hobbits, but mostly being tall helps). Price could probably give him a run for his money, but since I headcanon that Price has seriously fucked up his spine and joints, especially in his fingers, he might be held back by this. Also I feel like Kyle has the best endurance out of all four of them, so he does extremely well on the long ones. He's also got that magical ability to be able to take a rest at the tiniest little handle, like literally catches himself with two toes and a pinch on a non-existent bump in the rock and relaxes as if he's lounging on a beach, all muscles resting before the upcoming difficult few meters.

Also he's one of those who will climb even in slippers, just because he gotta flex like that.

No I'm not drooling over his fingers wrapped in that tape in places where he ripped calluses off, you are.

Also this was induced by a SoapGaz thought where Gaz runs Soap through some intensive training on the climbing walls and enjoys the view of all that muscle bulk flexing and rippling as Soap struggles to find his balance and makes mistakes in dispersing his weight which limits his reach. He's so tense, he can barely slur his Scottish nonsense out, sweat streaming down the dip of his spine and soaking his tank top through.

When he finally falls of the wall after reaching the top handle, his fingers are shaking and he needs Kyle's help to untie the harness knot. Wipes his forehead, leaving a white streak of magnesia stuck to the wet skin, and huffs and grumbles about how he'll still beat Kyle's PR one day.

Gaz won't let him, of course. But he won't stop Johnny from trying either, because after that he gets to massage all those sore muscles Soap didn't even know existed, and listen to him groan as he shamelessly leaks into his boxers. Because why wouldn't Soap get off the post-gym muscle strain, really. And why wouldn't Gaz enjoy watching him get painfully hard and sensitive from barely sexual touch, exploding into his mouth as soon as Kyle wraps his lips around Soap's tip.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hello! I was wondering if you’d be willing to take commissions someday 👀. No pressure tho! I just love your art so much

The short answer: "not at the moment, but it is very possible in the future'!

The slightly longer answer: I would have to figure out a good pricing and payment system! PD-MDZS is also where most of my free time goes, so until my life settles down a bit, I would be on the slow side to complete them.

[fatliberation]

I remember way back you mentioned you were skinny, when did you start considering yourself “fat”?

I gained a lot of weight over the past couple years and lost access to things like finding my clothing size in stores and being able to fit into seats with arms on them, and my family has tried to put me on weight loss drugs (BARF) because my bmi (fuck the bmi) is in the ob*se category. Idk what to tell ya. Yes, I used to be a size 14 ally who had the capacity to hold people’s hands and teach them about systemic anti-fatness, but after being affected by it every day, I’m sick and tired!

[winxwiki]

Winx Club at Napoli Comicon official poster! Our girls are having a nice tour in the city of Neaples

[diamondrib]

people have got to quit bullying autistic people even if the autistic person thinks it's a joke or laughs along/lives with it bc they don't understand what you're doing or feel like they deserve better. why are there still so many middle school mean kids in real adult life

[fall-and-shadows]

How is everyone this NYE? I miss talking to a bunch of you. What do you have planned for the day or the new year? What goals do you have for 2024? I'm staying in and cuddling with my cats as usual lol, but also trying to decide what to do with some amazing job opportunities I can't believe I got at the end of the year. I also really want to prioritize friendships this year because 2023 I devoted way too much time and effort to work that I hated. Hoping these opportunities allow me to scale back or at least have better work life balance. Oh and read more! Anyone read any good books in 2023?

[frankierotwinkdeath]

Speed running my book for book club in 3 hours

[crystalistrappedintheinternet]

oh my god i get what the tankies are on about you guys are infuriatingly pro-biden

[ladyinshiningarmor]

on this blog we stan our local library

[sensenotsense]

its hard trying to make friends at work like everyone is either 40+ or fresh 19. also since i dont really drink or leave my class so i barely know anybody's name lmao

[insert-funny-url-here]

Just the other day I was chatting with an older woman about this exact thing. She's retired so she enjoys going on almost-daily walks around her neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods. Well she told me that it was really weird that in the newer constructions where the younger families live, EVERYONE has their blinds closed all the time. In fact she can tell a younger family lives in a house based on the simple fact of whether or not their blinds are closed in the middle of a sunny day. It's to the point where she can't even tell if they're even HOME and available for a visit to welcome them to the neighborhood!

When she said that, I realized that I do that too when I live in a more publicly visible apartment. I told her that I think it's because of the internet. Younger people feel like we're constantly being watched, observed, and JUDGED for merely existing. So when we're home, we just want to be alone, unbothered, and unobserved because it's the one place we can control that. She was very surprised to hear that I felt like that and she was VERY concerned for us young folk (and to be honest after talking with her I became pretty concerned too...)

People from her generation will have their blinds open all day, hang out on their front porch, and randomly visit/enjoy random visits from neighbors and strangers. If a stranger knocks on my door it's scary and if they want to stay and chat? It's a huge inconvenience and it feels super awkward and weird and I'm stuck wondering why exactly they're talking to me, when just a few decades ago welcoming someone new to the neighborhood was just what you did! In fact to not do so was rude!

It made me really worried that as the Panopticon sinks its teeth deeper into our psyches, we are losing the very essence of what makes us human and got us this far as a species: community. I find that being on the internet for hours a day tends to almost trick my brain into thinking "I've been social all day, my social need is full" when in reality I've only talked to one, maybe two people I know from my real life all day, and only for short bursts, not REAL conversation.

I find it hard to have the energy to invite friends to hang out, and when I want to I feel like I'm a big inconvenience for asking them to take a break from their busy lives for me (not that they would ever say that's the case, but it's this nagging feeling internally). I feel like while we used to be a series of large islands of local community, our islands splintered apart and started drifting away from each other. Now your island is just you, your immediate family, and maybe a couple close friends. Those living physically closest to you feel like they're miles away and unreachable, to the point where you might as well not even bother.

I guess I just have one question for you: Do you know the names of your next door neighbors?

[itgetsbetter]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ GOOD queer news for the TL: a bunch of students across the U.S. are using grants to make their schools more welcoming for LGBTQ+ youth

Queer students deserve to feel safe at school! We're in our third year of giving grants to put the power in their hands to make their schools more welcoming - students know what they need most in their own communities and their own schools.

Through 50 States, 50 Grants, 5,000 Voices, we've awarded over $1.5 million in grants across the U.S. to support student-led projects. Our third season has some of the most badass projects yet, like these:

❤️ “With this grant, we’ll establish an LGBTQIA+ community space in the library, open to all students, with guest speakers, arts and crafts, LGBTQIA+ books and literature, and LGBTQIA+-specific resources.” - Pocatello, Idaho

🧡 “Our project aims to support LGBTQ+ students through teacher training, development of gender-neutral bathroom protocols, and the organization of a district-wide Queer Prom.” - Gypsum, Colorado

💛 “We’ll take students from the 3 middle schools and our local high school to Honolulu Pride to make local LGBTQ+ friends, feel accepted in a large group, and see the community beyond just school.” - Ewa Beach, Hawai'i

💚 “We’re going to increase access to queer literature by working with a local nonprofit to expand our school’s collection, host storytelling events, and foster community connection." - Mobile, Alabama

💙 “Our plan is to create new Inclusivity Zones across the state in critical areas for local GSA clubs to meet, plan shared events, and be their own safe space.” - Charleston, West Virginia

💜 “We’ll host the Rainbow Youth Summit for LGBTQIA+ youth from across southern California to network, learn, and have fun in a safe, judgement free and supportive environment.” - Cathedral City, California

These students are truly the definition of making things better - you can see the rest of the amazing projects lined up across the country on our blog here!

[ableism]

I know i’m functionally a gay DARE officer at this point but I do in fact feel some sort of way about Cocaine being back in vogue. Surely I sound like a square + narc and I’ll concede ok do whatever you want, nobody can materially stop another person from using drugs if they really want to 🤷🏻 I don’t really care that it’s hip to do party drugs, moreso I want to articulate a general level of caution and concern that I never see a sidecar of harm reduction and safe using practices along with the commonplace clips of people straight up snorting coke I’ve seen for “brat summer!!!1!!”

You 🫵 are not immune to ingesting fentanyl or any number of other additives. Do you think drugs at the gay club are different than the drugs people are taking under bridges and in gutters? I promise they’re not! So if you want to use drugs and continue being alive, do your part to be safe. Protecting yourself protects others and your community.

Do not accept drugs from strangers. Test your drugs with fentanyl test strips. Carry narcan and know how to administer it. Never use alone. Have an exit strategy if you’re using drugs in a public space. Know the contact information for your local harm reduction groups, overdose emergency hotline, and if you need/want it, addiction treatment orgs. This is all the bare minimum for community care if you intend to be out in the world using drugs. Mainly I encourage you all to be buzzkills if it means you don’t have to die of an accidental overdose. Overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans under 40. I have a whole lot of social workers in my network and however bad you think the synthetic opioid crisis is, it’s worse. The war stories I’ve heard from my people on the ground are… The shit of nightmares. Don’t let it be you or anybody you love.

If you live in the state of Georgia, DM me for a longer list of resources.

Fentanyl information (harm reduction.org)

Get Narcan

How to use fentanyl test strips

Call 311 to find out where to get Narcan in your community at no cost to you

[captainjonnitkessler]

I keep getting notes on this like "well then your union isn't trying hard enough to be accessible to members. Have you tried a newsletter or maybe a website?". And look, it's good to take note of where the union is failing, and there are some real horror stories in the notes about unions that actively do make it incredibly hard to attend or be involved . . .

But my union HAS a website, a Facebook page, a newsletter, an app, and sends out letters for especially important meetings, and the meetings are held in a central location, at the same time and place every month, at a time that 95% of the membership is guaranteed to not be working. Short of rounding people up at gunpoint and marching them to the hall, I don't know what else you want me to do.

>Join a union

>Hear people constantly complaining that the current union leadership is super corrupt, it's all just the same ten guys making all the decisions in secret and nobody else in the union ever gets to know what's going on

>Go to the monthly union meetings that are completely open to all 1200 union members

>The only attendees are the same ten guys every month, giving detailed reports about everything that's going on

[great-and-small]

When I was in vet school I went to this one lecture that I will never forget. Various clubs would have different guest lecturers come in to talk about relevant topics and since I was in the Wildlife Disease Association club I naturally attended all the wildlife and conservation discussions. Well on this particular occasion, the speakers started off telling us they had been working on a project involving the conservation of lemurs in Madagascar. Lemurs exist only in Madagascar, and they are in real trouble; they’re considered the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. This team of veterinarians was initially assembled to address threats to lemur health and work on conservation solutions to try and save as many lemur species from extinction as possible. As they explored the most present dangers to lemurs they found that although habitat loss was the primary problem for these vulnerable animals, predation by humans was a significant cause of losses as well. The vets realized it was crucial for the hunting of lemurs by native people to stop, but of course this is not so simple a problem.

The local Malagasy people are dealing with extreme poverty and food insecurity, with nearly half of children under five years old suffering from chronic malnutrition. The local people have always subsisted on hunting wildlife for food, and as Madagascar’s wildlife population declines, the people who rely on so-called bushmeat to survive are struggling more and more. People are literally starving.

Our conservation team thought about this a lot. They had initially intended to focus efforts on education but came to understand that this is not an issue arising from a lack of knowledge. For these people it is a question of survival. It doesn’t matter how many times a foreigner tells you not to eat an animal you’ve hunted your entire life, if your child is starving you are going to do everything in your power to keep your family alive.

So the vets changed course. Rather than focus efforts on simply teaching people about lemurs, they decided to try and use veterinary medicine to reduce the underlying issue of food insecurity. They supposed that if a reliable protein source could be introduced for the people who needed it, the dependence on meat from wildlife would greatly decrease. So they got to work establishing new flocks of chickens in the most at-risk communities, and also initiated an aggressive vaccination program for Newcastle disease (an infectious illness of poultry that is of particular concern in this area). They worked with over 600 households to ensure appropriate husbandry and vaccination for every flock, and soon found these communities were being transformed by the introduction of a steady protein source. Families with a healthy flock of chickens were far less likely to hunt wild animals like lemurs, and fewer kids went hungry. Thats what we call a win-win situation.

This chicken vaccine program became just one small part of an amazing conservation outreach initiative in Madagascar that puts local people at the center of everything they do. Helping these vulnerable communities of people helps similarly vulnerable wildlife, always. If we go into a country guns-blazing with that fire for conservation in our hearts and a plan to save native animals, we simply cannot ignore the humans who live around them. Doing so is counterintuitive to creating an effective plan because whether we recognize it or not, humans and animals are inextricably linked in many ways. A true conservation success story is one that doesn’t leave needy humans in its wake, and that is why I think this particular story has stuck with me for so long.

(Source 1)

(Source 2- cool video exploring this initiative from some folks involved)

(Source 3)