#coastal towns wiped off the map

[melon-fodder]

Tw: natural disasters/hurricane

I don’t know exactly how to put this into words, and I have to draw upon my own experience, but anyway

As someone who has gone through a catastrophic hurricane several years ago (Harvey), I have seen the aftermath and complete devastation. I’m not sure if I even have followers in the regions hit by Helene, and if I do, I doubt you have the means to access the internet, but maybe someone will see. Maybe a worried loved one.

I am sending y’all all the positive energy I can.

In hurricanes like this—really any disaster—even if you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t lose property or family, watching it all unfold around you and being completely helpless and trapped, is so traumatizing. So much worse for those who do suffer losses.

During Harvey, we kept our power for a few days before it went out, and the whole time we had the news on. I will never, ever forget hearing the anchor say that first responders could not get to everyone, to stop calling emergency numbers if you weren’t in chest deep water. Chest deep. I won’t forget watching the interview of the lady who had lost everything in Katrina only to lose it all again decades later in Houston. I won’t forget officials telling a neighborhood to evacuate because they had to open a nearby dam in a controlled way before it was destroyed. I will never forget the recordings of people begging for help because they had elderly parents and young children in a flooding home, the images of people on rooftops waving for help.

To those of you weathering Helene, you will never forget this, and I am so incredibly sorry for that.

However, you will never forget the way your community will come together afterward. People you’ve never spoken to will help you clean up, will push totaled cars out of the streets, will pick up debris and offer what they can be it food, power from a generator, clothes.

And, it’ll take a long time to come back from this. A long, long time.

But you will get through it. So please take care of yourselves. Please fight. Please survive.

[thicctails]

><((((º>‿︵‿︵‿︵Undercurrent‿︵‿︵‿︵<º))))><

A Merformers x Reader Fanfiction

Chapter 1 ° Shoreline

The worn leather of your car's steering wheel was almost uncomfortably warm beneath your touch, the heat of the sun causing beads of sweat to roll down your neck and dampen your shirt. You wiped at your brow, eyes squinting as you tried to see through the bright glare.

You, in your infinite wisdom, had packed your sunglasses up with all of your other belongings instead of keeping them with you for the week-long drive to your new home. In your defense, you'd been so eager to leave after you'd gotten the confirmation call that you'd basically just grabbed everything and chucked into into your old beat up pickup truck.

Sandwind was a tiny, coastal town that was miles and miles away from any other settlement, it's population in the low hundreds and mostly consisting of elderly folk who wanted somewhere warm to live out their golden years. It was an insignificant blip on a map.

Which is to say that it was perfect for you.

People fucking sucked. If they weren't ignoring you, and they often were, they were either being complete douchebags or trying to get into your pants. Usually both. It didn't matter that you had excelled both academically and in the workplace, you were still seen as just an object or tool by almost everyone. If you were seen at all, that was.

Even when you finally managed to break into your field, veterinary care for aquatic creatures, you'd found yourself struggling to find opportunities to move up the ladder. Your colleagues were uninterested in you, and your old boss had been too interested, which had led to you jumping ship and starting again under someone new. It had hurt like hell to do that; to abandon all the hard work you'd done just because some old creep couldn't keep his hands off you, but it had a silver lining.

Marissa Faireborn was a godsend. She saw your potential, saw how hard you worked and the quality of care you provided to the wildlife that were brought to you, and after a few years of being employed by her, she'd given you the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to start your own wildlife care clinic, under the condition that you move immediately, handle your own housing situation, and work with a military research team that were currently set up on an island not too far away from the mainland.

You weren't exactly sure what they were researching, but you'd figured that you could ask when you met up with the head researcher in a few days.

The research team had been stationed at the property previously, and Marissa had used her influence to gain the authority to purchase the building after they'd relocated. You'd been given a grant to fund your work, but you'd had to arrange for everything to be bought and set up yourself.

It had been difficult, especially since your now ex partner had thrown you out of your shared apartment after a particularly nasty argument over your job, which had snowballed into a screaming match when he'd let slip that he'd been sleeping with one of your coworkers, forcing you to temporarily move back in with your family, something as unpleasant as stepping into a snakepit.

Needless to say, once you knew that you were good to go, you'd leapt into your old shitbox truck and hit the gas pedal with the speed of a thousand coked-up cheetahs.

Now, free of all the comments about your looks or your weight or any other thing your parents loved to pick at, you found that a smile had begun to tug at the corners of your mouth. You were out. You were finally out. And you were never going back.

By the time you'd finished unpacking, the sun had lowered from its place in the middle of the sky, now skimming the horizon line as the first shades of pink and orange hues began to appear. The warmth of your skin told you that you had likely gotten a sunburn from hauling boxes back and forth between your truck and the dusty little shack that was your new living space, but that was a small price to pay for the feeling of immense satisfaction and excitement that was currently thrumming through you.

The facility was amazing. The central building consisted of a walk in area at the entrance with a desk and some filling cabinets, a stocked cold storage room for various medications, a regular storage room, a large room in the back with several decently sized aquariums and metal tables, a kitchen/food pantry, washrooms that included showers, and a fenced outdoor area with two large inground pools and one smaller above ground pool.

All of the necessary equipment that you had ordered months ago had been delivered recently, and the mail carrier had even been nice enough to not just dump the packages at the small mailbox located outside the main facility, taking the time to make sure that they were neatly stacked beneath the shelter overhang of the main entrance.

Now, it was up to you to set everything up.

You started with the medicine and various medical supplies that didn't need to be kept cold, dragging box after box into the storage room and organizing the different pill bottles and tools.

You'd purchased a label gun before the move, and were now labelling anything and everything that you could get your grubby little paws on. In the beginning, you'd been completely professional and responsible with your labels, but by the time you'd gotten around to setting up various water pumps, heaters, and monitoring machines hours later, you'd started to act a little bit silly.

There was now a stethoscope named Steve in a drawer, a mug named Bartholomew sat empty next to your much beloved coffee machine, Randy. Sarah the clipboard was held in your hands, helpless to stop you from gluing a pair of googly eyes onto the top of her as you giggled quietly.

Okay, mayyyybe it was time to turn in for the night. This was odd behavior, even for you.

Setting Sarah down on the desk (which sported a little label that said 'Desk') you yawned and cracked your knuckles. You hadn't gotten around to installing a clock yet, so you reached into one of your pant pockets and retrieved your phone. Clicking the power button, you gaped at the time the device displayed.

"It's 2 AM?!" you squeaked, wondering how it had gotten so late without you noticing. You quickly pocketed your phone once more and made a beeline for the door. You were no stranger to staying up late, often times pulling an all-nighter to study or read fanfiction, but you had to actually act like a somewhat put together human being tomorrow, so that wasn't really an option tonight.

You stepped out into the night air, the smell of salt hitting you immediately. The once clear sky had become cloudy, and the very distant rumble of thunder met your ears. A storm was coming, and you had no intention of getting caught out in it.

Skittering across the sand like a seagull honing in on a French Fry in a Walmart parking lot, you quickly dashed towards your shitty little cottage, praying to God that if there were any spiders in here, that you didn't see them until tomorrow. You snagged your phone charger, set an alarm for Stupid o'clock In The Morning, plugged in your phone and crashed onto your shitty, half inflated blowup mattress. Silently agonizing over the back pain you knew would be coming tomorrow, you let your eyes slip shut as sleep claimed you.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Personal rant below the break

The 24 hour news cycle has broken my father. He's hooked like a junkie, physicologically incapable of turning the news off while he's in the house. Not even the living room, I mean the house. If he is not at work, the TV must stay on at full volume so he can listen to the news every waking hour no matter where he is. They repeat the same stories every half hour, there's almost never any breaking news, but he insists on leaving it on in the background. He keeps the news on the TV, he whips out his phone and listens to more news there, if he had a laptop or a tablet he'd have a third outlet going, it's a cacophony! I go into my room, close the door, put my headphones in, AND I CAN STILL HEAR IT. It's relentless! I have a VISCERAL hatred of the news, no mattet what channel! He watches the local Fox affiliate in the morning, then numbs his brain with CNN and MSNBC all afternoon. If we ask him to change the channel, he becomes enraged. If we ask him to turn it down, he becomes enraged. I don't even think he's paying attention to it half the time, it just seems to "soothe" him like white noise, though the half he actively pays attention to enrages him more than anything. He yells at the screen as if the pundits can hear him, "FUCK YOU, FUUUUUUCK YOOOOOU, you fucking white devil, you piece of shit, someone needs to blow your fucking head off!" Just turn it off if it! I've asked him why he watches stuff that makes him angry, and he told me "because this is real life, I don't live in fucking fairy world." That's the same reason he gives for staring slack-jawed at his phone every night before he goes to bed watching plane crash videos and trains hitting school buses and tsunamis wiping coastal towns off the map. "This is real life, I can't just pretend it's not happening." He is sick in the head. I don't think he gets off to any of this, but he feeds on it. He is miserable and depressed and angry, and he goes out of his way to increase his misery and depression and anger. He can't feel happiness, so this is his way of feeling anything at all, and then he drinks heavily until he stops feeling it. There's no helping him. He doesn't want help. My mom and siblings and I have tried for years and years, and it's gotten to the point that we just have to let him go. As soon as I move out, I never want to see him again. I wish I'd never known him growing up. He is cruel to me and my mom and my brother, he is cruel to strangers he sees on the street and in the store, he is paranoid, agoraphobic, racist (especially towards Cubans), helpless and hopeless. Everything about him pisses me off, and my mom was gonna divorce him this year but decided against it because he's been emotionally and verbally abusive for years and it's broken her spirit; they're codependent, and now that his mind is starting to go she feels obligated to take care of him even though he has never lifted a finger to help anyone but himself. He is manipulative and entitled and selfish, and I know she could do better, but she thinks this is her lot in life, and there's no convincing my very southern baptist mother to leave him now. Sunk cost fallacy.

[abovethemists]

If you’re the religious sort, and even if you’re not, please pray for New Orleans today. And for the small coastal towns that stand to be wiped off the map and won’t get the media coverage or government aid that New Orleans will. A lot of people are going to lose everything from this storm.

[aj-allen97]

I just can’t stop thinking about the time era 2050 in the Loki series.

Like from what I can tell humanity screwed up the ecosystem and the climate to the point that we are now way passed level 5 storms, that they are up to devastating level 8? Or was it level 10? type storms…and yet I can’t stop thinking about that little Alabama town and it’s residents who are wiped off the map because of the storm. Because according to the TVA no one from that town survived apparently.

For instance, when I lived in Florida we knew about storms in advance to the point my school teachers would be encouraging my family to take us out of state (my grandparents had a little summer cabin up north) so us kids in the family didn’t have to deal with the full burnt of the upcoming hurricane. We had meteorologists that can predict a upcoming hurricane, we have meteorologists that can predict potential flooding before it happens.

So is meteorologists as a job no longer a thing in 2050???? We’re they predicting a level 5 hurricane and got a level 8 instead???? Are Level 8 so sudden that they don’t even need time to build up their rage in the Atlantic before rushing into the coastal areas? A good meteorologist should have picked the still forming hurricane up before it hit land, and some people should have packed up and moved north to avoid it, especially if level 8 are now common that people know what’s about to go down. If this is the first time a Level 8 hit the USA and they were still expecting a survivable hurricane, why didn’t some people take the precaution and leave town to be on the safe side?

No one thought to pack up their car and drive north away from the hurricane? What? Was the USA experiencing a apocalypse level type storm in every state? Tornados up north? Blizzards up north/east? Another dust bowl up West???? I get it debris are falling from the sky left and right, but they were able to get school buses to the Roxxcart and they know the storm is bad enough that they are hoping for the National Guard to come in and evacuate people.

Also nitpicking here but, why are there no sandbags barricading that Roxxcart door?? Why arnt they flood proofing the heck out of that door to the best of their abilities??? They are literally right next to a flooding ocean! At the very least manually shut it off! Like I have automatic doors at my place of work and those things are sensitive as heck, a gust of wind is enough to register with the sensor (and yet small kids do not register with the sensor?) and yet they are still going the automatic route letting in water and who knows what else?!?

It’s just….this whole scene bothers me because they act like people don’t know what to do in a hurricane…that they would take shelter in a store that is literally right next to the flooding ocean without even attempting to flood proof the front doors. It’s like the Titanic all over again! Or any other preventable disaster that ended up happening because people dropped the ball. They act like not one person attempted to flee with their family for safer grounds. It’s just….it’s just…frustrating….juts do your homework Marvel.

[arathergrimreaper]

LXXVIII. Can Nature Actually Kill You Or At Least Make You Wish You Weren’t Born? More At Eleven.

Since we are on the subject of what is viewed as a natural order of life, why do we always bang on about how “natural” things are as though they can only ever be good for us? Oh, try these dates, they’re organic. This face mask only uses ingredients found in nature. This spring water is better for you than well water that came out of the ground (you know, like most freshwater does). Come try this cold brew enema from Venezuela, brewed this morning! Skip the drinking part and just immediately shit yourself! Have you tried tree sap on your eyelashes? Glues ‘em shut so well you never have to look in the mirror at your ugly mug ever again! I lost two hundred pounds eating a metric ton of boiled soybeans every morning! In spring water! Pbttth, pbttthhh, pbbttthhhhhhhhhh.

You know what else is fucking “natural”? Grizzly bears. I don’t see four out of five physicians prescribing those for your goddamn health any time soon. Opium and heroin come from poppy flowers. Those are “natural”. Beaches are a totally “natural” phenomenon too. This does not mean a tsunami cannot wipe a whole coastal town off the fucking map.

My point is, we talk about how “natural” getting pregnant and having children are, but just because it’s a natural stage in a human life cycle, it doesn’t make it safe or necessary for everyone to do. It doesn’t make it pleasant or worth the fucking struggle just because it’s “natural”. Also, “natural” for fucking who? Not to me, someone who feels so disconnected to my own body because of other people’s hangups about what it can do that I have no interest in doing and never will. I have to dissociate just to get through a fucking pap smear because it feels so fucking wrong and disgusting to be perceived as female by others, let alone being pregnant, but I better just keep upper lip stiff and press on with the worst decisions we can make because it’s what’s “natural”? Bitch, please.

Most of what we base our entire ridiculous existence on isn’t “natural” at all. Cars aren’t natural. Clothes aren’t. Money sure as shit isn’t “natural”. We invented all of that. We invented race, gender, and the roles we are all supposed to fill to play nice with society. We enforce them with extreme prejudice too, so how “natural” can they possibly fucking be? You think sloths have even an inkling of what ‘money’ is? What ‘justice’ is? I highly doubt it. We’re supposed to be the smart ones and really all we do is eat hot chips and lie about everything that’s around us while pretending it has some higher purpose as long as we toe a narrow line and read from the script with a gun to our heads. What’s “natural” about any of that?

[phroyd]

Every year, I look for important themes in sustainability that will have lasting impact on society, from glaring evidence of global megatrends to inspiring stories of corporate action. The year 2018 brought extreme change — in weather and environmental ecosystems, in political winds and power, and in the expectations of business. It also brought incredible clarity about the scale of our challenges and opportunities.

So let’s start with the big picture before moving to some corporate success stories.

The world’s scientists sound a final alarm on climate

We have about 12 years left. That’s the clear message from a monumental studyfrom the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To avoid some of the most devastating impacts of climate change, the world must slash carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, and completely decarbonize by 2050 (while, in the meantime, emissions are still rising).

The IPCC looked at the difference between the world “only” warming two degrees Celsius (3.8°F) — the agreed upon goal at global climate summits in Copenhagen and Paris — or holding warming to just 1.5 degrees. Even the latter, they say, will require a monumental effort “unprecedented in terms of scale.” We face serious problems either way, but every half degree matters a great deal in human, planetary, and economic losses.

It wasn’t just the IPCC that told a stark story. Thirteen U.S. government agencies issued the U.S. National Climate Assessment, which concluded that climate change could knock at least 10% off of GDP. Other studies tell us that sea level rise is going to be worse than we thought, Antarctica is melting three times faster than a decade ago, and Greenland is losing ice quickly as well. If both those ice sheets go, sea level rise could reach 200-plus feet, resulting in utter devastation, including the loss of the entire Atlantic seaboard (Boston, New York, D.C., etc.), all of Florida, London, Stockholm, Denmark, Uruguay and Paraguay, and land now inhabited by more than 1 billion Asians.

All of this suggests that business must dramatically change how it operates: companies will need to push well past their comfort zones from areas like politics and policy to engaging consumers to how they make investment decisions.

Entire towns are wiped off the map by extreme weather

This year the weather devastation around the world got, in the words of one colleague, “biblical.” The town of Paradise, California, was effectively eliminated by wildfires (that, yes, are made worse by climate change), killing at least 85 people. Most houses in Mexico Beach, Florida, were destroyed by Hurricane Michael. Unprecedented rains and damage from Hurricane Florence slammed North Carolina and temporarily turned a major highway into a river. Typhoon Mangkhut ravagedthe Philippines and parts of China, killing dozens of people. Incredible heat blanketed four continents this summer, with records falling across Europe and Asia. Venezuela’s last glacier is disappearing. Finally, Capetown, South Africa, is essentially out of water due in part to drought — the city nearly shut off all the taps this year, but has held off “Day Zero” through ongoing restrictions and aggressive citizen action.

The consequences of these extremes are not theoretical. What is the economic cost to an area with no water, or one that’s under water, or burned to the ground? In the U.S. alone, it was $306 billion in 2017, shattering records.

Coral is dying, insects are disappearing, and the fate of major ecosystems looks dim

The world’s top coral expert confirms that at 2 degrees of warming, all coral will die. This will destroy a critical part of an ocean system that provides protein to hundreds of millions of people, helps blunt coastal storm surges, and supports the livelihoods of people working in fishing and tourism.

And it’s not just coral: there’s the death of pacific kelp forests, radical declines in insect populations, and continuing population drops in all mammals and bees.

How does this all connect to business? For some sectors, it’s obvious: the food and agriculture industry will have trouble feeding us without pollinators, and tourism takes a big hit without coral and other wildlife. But more broadly, society will not thrive in a world where entire pillars of planetary support are collapsing. And if society can’t thrive, neither can business.

The U.S. environmental protection system continues being dismantled … from within

The EPA and Department of Interior are reversing years of protections for air, water, and land. In 2018, the Trump administration has opened up offshore waters and rolled back safety rules for drilling, greatly weakened the voice of science in policy, reduced focus on children’s health, and moved to make it easier to build dirty coal plants.

The big question now is whether businesses will push back and go down a cleaner path on their own. It’s easy to see why multinationals might as they face pressure from sub-national regions — California Gov. Jerry Brown held a Global Climate Action Summit which produced many aggressive climate goals from cities and state, for example. Gov. Brown also signed aggressive new laws committing to carbon-free electricity statewide by 2045 and requiring solar on all new homes. So even if U.S. action sputters, governors and mayors who influence local and regional business conditions will be pushing the clean economy and pro-climate agendas.

In pointed contrast to the U.S., the EU backed a proposal to strike no new trade deals with countries not in the Paris climate accord (i.e., only the U.S.), France will shut coal plants by 2021, India just cancelled plans for big coal plants, and China banned 500 inefficient models of cars.

A prominent leader retires, but new leaders step up

For nearly a decade, no business leader has done more to bring sustainability into the business mainstream than Paul Polman, Unilever’s outgoing CEO (Full disclosure: I’ve worked with Unilever). His depth of understanding of our biggest global, social, and environmental challenges, and his commitment to use business as a way to tackle them, has been unparalleled. But it wasn’t just talk. The company also grew throughout Polman’s tenure and the stock outperformed peers and the FTSE index. Luckily, there are other corporate leaders who are stepping up, including Danone’s Emmanuel Faber (see below for more).

But climate isn’t the only area where we’re seeing bold stances. Societal issues more broadly made headlines, too. The New York Times declared 2018 year that “CEO activism has become the new normal,” with prominent voices like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff leading the way. Other notable moments include Nike making Colin Kaepernick — the man who led NFL player protests about police violence against African Americans — the face of its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign (sales rose quickly). Under pressure from survivors of school mass shootings, Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault weapons, and other companies cut ties to the powerful National Rifle Association. Kroger celebrated a year of its “End Hunger” initiative. Unilever threatened to pull its substantial ad dollars from Facebook and Google if they didn’t police “fake news and toxic content.” One hundred U.S. CEOs urged action on controversial immigration issues. And more than 100 U.S. companies gave employees time off to vote.

Danone North America becomes the world’s largest B Corporation

A “B Corp” certification requires answering an intensive set of questions on environmental, social, and governance issues. But most importantly, it commits a company to create value for all stakeholders (customers, employees, communities, and so on), not just shareholders.

French consumer products giant Danone has now put 30% of its brands and businesses through the certification process and says that “companies are fundamentally challenged as to whose interests they really serve.” Becoming a B Corp is arguably is a direct statement about whose interests it values most, and it’s and fascinating frontal attack on the dominance of shareholder capitalism.

More investors are viewing climate and sustainability as core value issues

Something is shifting in finance. Vanguard wants CEOs to be a force for good. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, said that “70% of [UK] banks, who normally have a shorter horizon, are viewing climate as a financial risk—not a CSR one.” Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset owner, encouraged longer-term thinking about environmental, social, and governance issues in a strongly-worded letter to large-company CEOs.

Anecdotally, I’ve talked to leaders at big banks who are now thinking differently about purpose and systemic risk. And in a quieter move, a major real estate investor in Miami began pulling money out of coastal assets to avoid risk of sea level rise. Watch this space.

The clean technology explosion continues and accelerates

Three big clean tech themes wowed me this year.

1) Renewables keep getting cheaper. According to Lazard’s annual analysis of the cost of building new power plants, renewables are now the cheapest. And another global analysis showed that new wind and solar are cheaper than one-third of the coal already on the grid — and will be cheaper than 96% of existing plants by 2030.

2) Corporate buying of clean energy keeps rising. By the end of just the first half of 2018, businesses bought more clean energy than they did in 2017. Companies like Owens Corning (disclosure: a client of mine) are buying enough green energy to pitch their products as cleanly manufactured (which they started doing in late 2017).

3) Electric vehicle sales are exploding, and it’s not just small vehicles: even container ships are going electric. UPS bought its first EV delivery vehicles at price parity to combustion engines, and China is adding nearly 10,000 electric buses to the roads — equal to the size of London’s entire bus fleet – every five weeks.

China rejects the world’s trash

For years, the U.S. had a great deal: When container ships arrived from China with goods, we sent them back filled with our recyclable paper and glass. But starting January 1, 2018, China stopped accepting our trash. The ripples of this move are unpredictable and still moving through the system, but in some regions, materials piled up and prices for recycled content plummeted. In a business world trying to go “circular” (i.e., find a use for everything and eliminate waste), it was a wake-up call about how much waste we still produce.

The battle against single-use plastic heats up, starting (somewhat oddly) with straws

Sometimes weird things hit a tipping point. For a combination of reasons, including a viral video showing a turtle with a straw stuck in its nose, companies waged war on straws this year. Marriott, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and the city of Seattle, among others, all banned or are phasing out straws. It was a very small part of a larger conversation about “single-use plastics,” most notably plastic bags, which IKEA and Taiwan are banning as well.

Raising the bar for suppliers

The greening of the supply chain is a perennial story, but there are some noteworthy recent actions. Apple created a $300 million fund to help suppliers in China build more solar, and also partnered with Alcoa and Rio Tinto to develop a better smelting process to make carbon-free aluminum. On the labor side of the supply chain equation, PepsiCo and Nestle cut ties with a palm oil supplier over human rights abuses and Coca-Cola said it would work with the U.S. State Department to use blockchain to fight forced labor.

Meatless options grow plentiful

Given the way most cattle is currently raised, one of the most effective things an individual can do to reduce her carbon footprint is eat less meat. The options to do so are growing, and the rise of products made from non-animal proteins has been remarkable. The Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat, and other brands have made believers out of skeptics (they taste great) and are, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “overrunning grocery meat cases.” In another fascinating move, tech company WeWork went meat-free in its offices and even stopped reimbursing employees on business trips for meat meals.

What comes next…

I’m sure I missed many stories, especially globally (my view is from the U.S.). Predictions are hard, but I’m safe in assuming 2019 will be a bumpy ride again. Ultimately, today’s global political situation is, at best, unpredictable. Brazil now has a strongman-style leader who talks about cutting down the Amazon, but the U.S. just swung its House of Representatives back the other way, giving power to Democrats who want more focus on climate change, inequality, and other sustainability agenda items. No matter what happens politically, it seems clear that companies will continue to feel pressure, internally and externally, to do more on social and environmental issues. While the problems face we are extremely serious, I remain optimistic that companies will be doing more in 2019 than ever before.

[rickthejournalist-blog]

Crime and taxes P1.

A tail of two crime organizations 

-The following is a semi-historic account. All names and locations have been redacted for obvious reasons.-

Let me set the scene - Conflicts between two major crime organizations grow and grow like the boil of a kettle on a hot flame. Things at first seem to resemble a general simmer. Basic gang conflicts, turf wars even simple cases of good ol’ fashioned revenge. But as tempers rise, crimes escalate. Things that used to be called simple gang conflicts were later deemed by officials as: total chaos in the streets. 

Casualties and warrants stacked like a tower to the skies. This was truly a dark time for Los Santos. Mention of these two groups went from mere whispers to all out screams of terror. The Mob and the Mafia took center stage. 

Things took a particularly chaotic turn when one day the Mob was caught in what they describe as “the wrong place and wrong time”. The events open as follows - Many notable members of the Mob are making bank massive transfers via one of the major banks in the city. To civilians its just another day. Men in suits and ties simply conducting business. 

However, things under the surface were not as clear cut as this. What the members of “the family” mob/crime organization were not aware of was that one of the bank attendants tipped off the mafia. What originated as a simple transfer of large sums of cash quickly turned into an all out assault. 

What first comes to mind is some kind of bloody death match resulting in massive casualties. This was far from the case. You see, the mafia knew there was a possibility of great bloodshed if this violent path was taken. So someone had a brilliant idea which is being felt by the mob to this day. Someone simply called the cops and tipped them off to an alleged bank heist. 

Before the members of this crime family knew it, their vision was blurred by a barrage of blue and red as police stormed the bank and arrested many of the member of the unsuspecting crime organization. Countless high level arrests were made that day. Multiple counts of possession of dirty money, felony evasion and charges for possession of fully automatic weapons are but a few incriminating factors which put almost all the members of this crime family away that day. 

Needless to say, a major blow had been dealt to this crime organization. After the bank event, this group had to change their tactics. No longer could they walk the streets as seemingly free men. There were targets on each and every one of their backs. 

Due to reasons I am still investigating, many of the members of this family were released with what the citizens had deemed “a simple slap on the wrist”. This greatly troubled many members of the community due to the horrific acts this crime organization had taken part in throughout their time in the area. If the police couldn't even contain this beast of an organization then who would be able protect the people of the state from their onslaught? 

The worst part about all this? I do not even believe this organization is the worst force within these borders. Countless lives had been lost throughout their various criminal forays but the influence they had/have over the more localized and brutal crime within the city has me thinking about that query which popped into my head when I was being mugged by some low level scum bags: “Does the city NEED these crime organizations in conjunction with the police so that way we might remain truly safe?”

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. We need to see how this story ends. 

The terror perpetrated by the criminal organization known as the mafia continue to explode in the city with an effect akin to a grenade going off within the cab of a small vehicle. The blood continues to flow and the dirty money moves right along with it. It can not be stressed enough how insane this period in Los Santos was. The mafia was known for their large packs of motorcycle toting members rolling through the cities like some totalitarian nightmare. Whenever you heard the collective roar of their engines, you knew terror was sure to follow. 

This is not to say that other small tier criminal organizations didn’t make an effort to try their hand at filling the power vacuum left as a result of the mobs absence. Some were partially successful for a short time. Obtaining gang held territories as well as establishing certain illegal coastal supply lines. There seemed to be an active effort on the part of Los Santos’ criminals to balance the scale.

These small coins of success did not last long.  

The small tier crime groups trying to make a stake in the game were one by one wiped off the map. Some luckier than others being offered an ultimatum by the mafia. Join or die. Pride got the better of many groups but some folded and became pawns for the mafias malicious plans. 

Fast forward weeks after the bank fiasco which seemingly drove the mob out. The city had became a truly hellish landscape to live in. There was no safe place for the common citizen to hang their hat without the fear of hearing those roaring engines of the mafia. 

Unlike many crime organizations, the mafia believed their strength was in riding together. They would often go on massive rides up to the norther parts of the state to conduct large scale drug deals and weapon trades. Little did they know, this self assumed strength would be their greatest weakness. 

On one faithful night, when the moon was full, the mafia road their bikes like the horsemen of the apocalypse towards a small town they would frequent for business. The goal was to conduct one of many drug drops and dirty money pick ups. A fairly standard procedure. They road up a long winding dirt road, their bikes engines echoing through the hills like an ominous thunder cloud rolling in. One by one their engines shut off and soon after the town was bathed in silence. 

The deal went underway. The leader and head members spoke to the buyer as the majority of the mafia members mingled amongst their bikes and comrades.

Suddenly out of the night two small pops echo in the air as 3 men, all in suits and red ties step forward. Two members of the mafia ,which occupied the far ends of the gang of bikers as a way to take guard, lay face down in the dirt with blood pooling around them. The leader of the trio stepped forward to face the mafia boss. Stopping only feet away. They were close enough to see the details of each others cold illuminated expressions within the light of the full moon.

The mafia boss’ face filled with prideful disgust and determination as he spoke. 

“Do you honestly think you can stop my men with only three of you? Your family has crumbled, torn to the ground by the hands of my men! You have made a grievous mistake.Such fools.” 

At this, the leader of the men in red ties chuckled. This chuckle turned into a full uncontrollable laugh. After a moment of levity, he focused and stared the boss dead in the eyes. 

“You know? You’re absolutely right! How rude of me?! Please, let me formally introduce you to my family!” 

Men in black suits and red ties seemingly came out of no where. As if a box of fire crackers had suddenly been ignited in the lonesome town, the night air erupted in a barge of gunfire. The chaos lasted all of 30 seconds before each and every mafia biker lay dead in the dirt next to their rides. Those who had enacted the hit had slipped back into the shadows as quickly as they had appeared. All but the trio in suits, the mafia boss himself, and the individual who intended on purchasing a large shipment of drugs still held breath within their lungs. 

At this point the mafia boss began to scramble for words in an attempt for self preservation. Nothing came out aside from near gibberish. The leader of the trio approached the simple drug buyer and offered him a simple point of advice. 

“The only things that are certain in this life is crime and taxes. If you choose to stay clear of either of those certainties..” 

Pausing he turned to the Mafia boss and without hesitation points his hand gun directly between the mafia leaders eyes.

“...death is sure to follow” 

And with one final pull of the trigger, the small town was silent once more. the trio dusted themselves off as they walked amongst the dead. Surveying their work and assuring there job was complete. Satisfied, one of the men pulled out his phone and called their ride. Within minutes they were loaded up in their stark white SUV and began to exit the scene. The boss rolled his tinted pitch black window down just before departing and made eye contact with the still stunned drug buyer. With a smirk on his face he offered one last phrase with a certainty as if he had practiced it in the mirror countless times. 

“Remember, pay your taxes!” 

This story always makes me stop and wonder a few things. For one, how accurate actually is it? And more importantly did the mob honestly think they solved their problem for good that night?

Soon after the events on that night of the full moon, sources indicated seeing high members of the mafia occasionally throughout the city. But this must always be taken with a grain of salt. Lots of people think they have seen UFOs too.

However reports every day continue to come out in regards to a resurgence of mafia related activities. To me it honestly seems this tale of two crime organizations for the most part has come to a close. 

Perhaps things have just devolved into a cold war of sorts. These organizations simply turning from the streets towards the board rooms as their new battle fields. Much of the activities mentioned above still occur to this day but behind closed doors and in far more controlled circumstances. Tactics transforming from simple sword play into laser surgery.

Others indicate that after this great conflict, both organizations disbanded entirely their members now attempting to live honestly, crime free, lives. 

I personally don’t buy that load of horse shit for a second. I mean honestly how do you expect me to believe “the family” isn’t still out there when every day I get reports of gun shots in their very stomping grounds. I find vehicles littered with bullet holes left only blocks from areas where they reportedly have been seen half an hour prior. 

Yeah, not buying it.

I don’t necessarily believe all the folk lore surrounding the events of the past. What I do know is the tax which touches many of the criminals in this city is very real. Sure enough I have heard stories of low level thugs attempting to shrug off the tax and lets just say they don’t frequent the city much any more. 

So I finish this part of the article series with a question to you. Do you feel there is a net positive having organizations like “the family” within the borders of our fine state? Or do you feel these groups over all put our lives in greater danger? 

All I know is this rabbit hole goes so much deeper and we have only scratched the surface. 

Until next time

Your friend,

R.

[serpentariusart]

Y’know, I’m a little worried about the fire situation here. Because it’s only a matter of time before a fire starts up that will be incredibly devastating, more than anything we’ve seen in recent decades.

To give you guys an idea on the fire situation here, ‘fire season’ tends to be late jan-february-march, with feb being the worst for fires. Because I live on the coastal plain, there’s ocean to the west, hills to the east then nothing but flat land north and south. This means when a fire happens, you can see the smoke from it very easily.

And aside from 2, maybe 3 control burns back in december, I haven’t seen a single fire. And not because I’m unobservant. I’ve always been great at spotting smoke from fires. 

This is bad for so many reasons. Firstly, many of our fauna and flora depends on fires to reproduce, because they’re just part of every season. No fires is damaging to that life that needs it. Plus, the fuel load (leaf litter buildup) is gonna be really big. This means when a fire does happen, it’ll be monstrous.

It’s been an issue for a long time in certain areas. My grandpa was a forestry worker, and for all of his years in the job he would complain that they never did enough control burns in the hills. Which is true, because they do none. I kinda get why (smoke from the burns drifts over the city, people complain) but it’s still bad news for the future. I’ve walked around on tracks in the bush there, and there’s thick layers of leaf litter covering the floor. Sure, small animals love it but they won’t when a fire happens. 

A few years ago we had a fire that wiped an entire town off of the map. The before/after pics are heartbreaking “burned for two weeks, killing two Yarloop residents, destroying more than 180 properties and burning through about 70,000 hectares of forest and farm land“ is the scale we’re looking at here.

But that’s nothing compared to the fire that would happen if the hills lit up. Unlike the coastal plain, there’s few places you can put roads, meaning there’s very few escape routes. There are towns there in the hills that are gonna suffer one day. And this years lack of fire hasn’t helped one bit.

[leanpick]

Mapoon faces tourism challenge in Qld

Mapoon faces tourism challenge in Qld

Almost 60 years after the Queensland government tried to wipe Mapoon off the map, the Indigenous coastal town is hoping for a brighter future based on tourism.

[yarti]

[ Yarti / Snakestone / Fanar / Fannah ] - Wide Open Sea

Story below:

A thought occurred to me as I lay in bed this morning. My back against Snake's chest, a sheet tucked up under my chin, I stared toward the wardrobe side of the room. Just to the right of my head lay my little rudimentary garden. Some plants that the kids that bought for me as a gift some time ago. "Rare plants" from Morrowind, they were told but they were just weeds. I think I made mention of it in my journal at the time. I glanced toward those plants and the sun beaming through the rafters caught them in a particular way. I thought about fields of that grass. That though lead to another, the kids frolicking in that field. A warmer place. A little vacation. We already owed them a trip to Hammerfell once they were old enough for the journey, this would be but a taste. I thought to have Snake contact Darfin. We could go out to sea like we had done a few times in the past, then before returning to port, a slight detour to the east. It was summer, those lands would warm this time of year. The northwest coast of Morrowind. We could make landing, visit the closest town, just explore a little in the safety of a town. A much better idea than crossing the border on foot. The thought of going back that way made me sick at my stomach. It would be different if we were further north. I rolled over, intent to wake Snake and share my idea but he was already awake. Our eyes made contact, breath hastened. We had our time beneath the tousled sheets then I began my chores for the day, the passion of the morning wiping the idea from my mind.

Though as the morning went on, the thought slowly crept back into my mind, until I found myself subconsciously preparing for the trip. I had lined up a set of outfits for each of us and a full pack of supplies by the time I caught myself. I brought the news to Snake and the kids after breakfast and by midday, Snake had wrote to Darfin with the request. A few weeks passed, as expected. He was not an easy man to find. He could be at any coastal city from High Rock to far east of Morrowind. On another ordinary morning, a courier knocked at the door with our reply. By lunch of that day, we were already on carriage bound to Solitude.

We arrived in fair weather. The kids enjoyed the carriage ride. Every landmark was a new experience, no matter how many times we had passed through this way. From the carriage down to the dock, Fannah hummed the entire way. Once she spotted Darfin's boat she was ecstatic. She ran ahead and stood at the edge of the pier waving to him as he moved the boat into position. We gathered around her, trying our hardest to contain her outbursts before boarding. Snake, with outstretched arms called out to him. Wishing him goodmorning and asking how the trip had been. Darfin himself stood up on the upper level, a relaxed posture, guiding the ship as though it were an extension of himself. They spoke for some time before things were settled enough for us to cross over. The kids went first, never leaving my grip until they were safely footed. Then Snake, then myself by the grace of his strong hand.

And so we set out. The kids were none the wiser, they thought it just another fishing trip, a week at sea then a joyous return to Solitude, certainly followed by visits to the shops. They had already been discussing it in hushed voices. The detour would truly be a surprise. They found their favorite spot in front of the cookpot and waited for Darfin to get us out to sea so he could sit and tell them more of his fishy tales. Snake enjoyed his company just as much. He was really the closest thing to a father figure in his life, these little trips were prime bonding experiences for them and only served to strengthen an already strong friendship. On the wide open sea, Fanar peered over the side and down into the swirling depths. His eyes transfixed, darting back and forth at movement beneath us. Schools of fish and the like. Fannah joined him but hers was not of mere curiosity, she wanted to catch them. Her little fingers came tugging at the seams of Darfin's tunic, followed by her sweetest words and most pleading of expressions. Before long, he had disappeared into the cabin and returned with a handful of fishing rods and a tin of bait. He and Snake took to one side and cast into the abyss and in no time at all, dinner had came to us. Fannah stood at Snake's side the entire time, cheering him on and proclaiming that "Fanar would never be that good at fishing". She said it several times, always delivering a sharp glare in his direction as she said it. But this was their special trip and discipline would have to wait. Her words stung him, I could see his special day worsening by the minute and intervened. Fanar and I found a shady spot on the other side of the ship and stood together and talked. A few minutes of hugging, words of encouragement, and most importantly, combing of fingers through his hair, he soon calmed down and together we made way to the cookpot and started work on dinner. Snake, Darfin and Fannah celebrated the catch as Fanar and I tended to the meal. Darfin carried a variety of foreign spices, that and the assortment of fish they managed to catch made for an interesting enough meal. And so came sunset, bellies full, the kids exhausted everything of interest on the lower level and ascended the stairs to the upper deck. Darfin manned the wheel as they toyed with his navigational maps. I found myself in Snake's arms out on the bow of the ship. I held him until the sun above us waned, the signal to prepare the beds. Snake and I retreated to the cabin, laid out two bedrolls, and put fresh sheets on the actual bed. Fanar would have the bed if I had my way, but in all likelihood Fannah would demand it as soon as she saw it. Anticipating as much, I took great care in making the bedrolls as comfortable as possible. The job done, I cracked open the door and called the kids to bed. Fannah dove into the bed screeching “Mine!” as Fanar sulked toward the bedroll in the corner. Shuffling his sheets and pillow, he discovered a candy I had hidden for him. His rare smile was a welcome thing. Darfin had lent us the cabin for the duration of the trip. He would hold watch on the upper deck and sleep under the moonlight. The next few days repeated much the same as we made good time eastward. A fair bit away from the coast, but not far enough north to run into ice flow. We kept the kids occupied as best we could. When they asked where we were, we would give them a location far west of actuality. As far as they knew, we were already en-route back to Solitude on those the last few days of the journey. Thinking Solitude on the horizon, Fannah’s attitude began it’s inevitable shift. Out of her arose her best behavior, so she could have her choice at the shops. We knew her tricks all too well. The kids got along well from that point onward. Lending to that, the decks and ocean itself had grown quite boring. Toward the end, they spent most of their time indoors, making up games or rummaging through Darfin’s things. 

The big day. The kids rose before us and scampered about the room. After a small cold breakfast, I unlocked the door so they could dash out to the deck, expecting to see Solitude in the distance. Much to their surprise, they instead saw sheer cliffs topped with mushrooms, taller than any building they had ever seen. Their eyes grew wide, mouth agape. You would think they had woken into a dream land. Fanar, the more studious of the twins put two and two together and asked why we were in Morrowind. "I thought you would like to see it" I said, again brushing his hair. My eyes narrowed, lifting my arm I pointed out into the distance. "Does that grass look familiar?" He shook his head then darted off. The two of them threw themselves against the railing of the starboard side, taking in as much of the view as they could muster. Far off, we spotted a small coastal town. Massive fungal pods dotted a dreary dirt path through the town center. Off to one end lie a boarding platform of some sort, intended for some beast of travel I imagined. Darfin knew the town well and assured us we could find a room to rent for a few days if we so wanted. We pulled alongside the dock and disembarked. The happy family stood in a line just off of the dock, peering out into strange lands.

[xboxe33333]

The Best 5 Casinos In Macau

The recent development in the world of online casino has given a new meaning to what casino games are all about. The days of land based casino have long since passed and now with the Internet in full force, online gaming has challenged land based casinos on all fronts. With the development of the Internet, online gambling has experienced incredible growth, perhaps the most notable being casino tourism. Maybe the main reason why online gambling has not only wiped land based casinos off of the board but also off the map is because the industry has been able to adjust. This being said, there are still many areas in the world where land based casinos still dominate.  แจกเครดิตฟรี

Macau, a beautiful Portuguese town that is considered one of the jewels of South-east Asia, has emerged as one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. It is no wonder that this small coastal town has attracted millions of tourists every year. Located in the foothills of mountains and surrounded by rich natural scenery, Macau has much to offer the discerning tourist. A perfect place for those looking for relaxation, there are also a good number of sightseeing opportunities to be found in addition to the casinos. This has made online gambling more popular among those seeking an alternative way of entertainment, from poker, craps and blackjack to slots and baccarat.

Another small island in the Brazilian Amazon, Rio de Janeiro is becoming one of the leading destinations for those interested in a little bit of casino fun. There are even daily tour buses that take visitors on a short trip around the city, which is another testament to its popularity. In addition to a wide variety of entertainment options, Rio also offers some unique sites, including the statue of Christ the Redeemer. One of Brazil's largest and most famous gambling resorts, Belo Monte, is located in Rio and serves as the base for all of the gaming that goes on here. The sheer scope and wealth of this amazing resort makes it something of an oasis for those looking to relax or get away from the stressful aspects of everyday life.

Las Vegas, Nevada - although most people consider the gambling and drinking that takes place here to be synonymous with Las Vegas Strip, there are actually two separate areas. The lower strip contains numerous land-based casinos, hotels and restaurants. The main hotel area, known as the Las Vegas Strip, hosts hundreds of shops, restaurants and shows that draw hundreds of tourists every single day. While many people think that Las Vegas is strictly a gambling haven, there are actually quite a few other attractions in the area. Many celebrities, including the Shakespearian actors, are based in Las Vegas as well, so the area is very popular with tourists who enjoy sightseeing and nightlife.

The final location on our list is Macau, which is also known as Belo Monte. Like Las Vegas, there is a good selection of hotels, casinos and restaurants in Macau. However, it is a much smaller area than that of Las Vegas. This is because Macau is the world's oldest Portuguese city, and was home to a sizeable Portuguese population before the country became independent. Many of the Portuguese residents still live in the area and tend to vote in municipal elections, which tends to skew the percentage of residents who support building new casinos in their cities.

In conclusion, there are currently four main gambling destinations in the administrative region of Macau. The casinos mentioned in this article are operated by a number of different international operators. It is important for potential visitors to research the operators in order to ensure that they find a casino hotel that meets their needs. While the cost of visiting these locations can be relatively high, it is important to remember that the experience should be more than worth the expense. Casinos in Macau offer visitors everything from elegant gourmet cuisine to breathtaking scenery.

[dunnystuff]

Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2021 12:04 PM

Subject: Rich's Blog

Now We know How Churchill Felt Watching Neville Chamberlain

Hi to all -

The Aftermath

I had heard that during his term, Obama would sometimes ban Biden from attending strategy meetings because his 'thinking was dangerous'. Guess even Obama knew that Biden was not a diplomat, leader or thinker. Just a political hack, easily manipulated.

Well, everyone can now watch this. Yes, Biden did meet the plane returning the bodies of our fallen. He dutifully stood there, trying to look somber, but he was clearly not there in spirit. As each of the 13 bodies was carried off the plane, Biden stopped and looked at his watch. He had someplace more important to be than honoring our soldiers. Perhaps if those coffins had been filled with cash from China, he could have spared some time. Some of the families noticed this, and said very unkind things about Biden.

Remember Hurricane Sandy? That storm devastated the coastal areas of New Jersey. Obama paid a visit to see the destruction, and in one very revealing moment, he stood amidst the ruins of a home, holding up a weeping woman, and promised her with all the sincerity a politician can muster that he would not desert them, but would be there to take care of their tragedy. Then, he looked at his watch, and literally dropped this woman, saying he had a fundraiser to go to. Later, these people were told, by mail, that they did not qualify for federal aid, just because their houses had literally been wiped off the map. One homeowner sent the bureaucrats a letter, with a photo of himself standing in the ruins of his home, and inviting them to come over for dinner, since they were not experiencing any loss, or deserving of any aid from the government.

Now that the battle is over, and there is nothing to be done, the GOP members of congress held a long presser today. Lots of hand wringing, and the usual lamenting that someone must be held accountable, etc. Easy to do, after weeks of silence. But several members got up and told angry stories - these were often vets of that war - of people they knew being executed by the Taliban. One congressman told of his interpreter having been captured by the Taliban, and having to watch them behead his wife and children, before they beheaded him.

Nancy Pelosi was asked to attend. But, Nancy, like all piss ant tyrants, is a coward, and refused to attend to hear the stories, or answer the questions, etc. Nancy can only function in the dark, or in an environment she totally controls. Daylight is as dangerous to her as it is to any vampire. She sent some poor underling who was powerless to say or do anything.

For weeks now, Nancy has forbidden any discussion in congress about the situation, and blocked every effort by others to mitigate the problems or prevent the losses. Treason? Conspiracy? Efforts to destroy America? You decide. And, there was a lot of angry emotion in the room. A group of 90 generals and admirals demanded the resignation of General Milley and General Austin (Head of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense) for their total failure in this bungled effort. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was revealed to have had detailed knowledge of the attacks on our troops in advance. He even notified medical personnel to be prepared for a 'mass casualty event' more than 1.5 hours before it happened! Dereliction of duty, anyone? In fact, our intelligence people had been presenting detailed descriptions of what was happening, and what was about to happen, when and where, to our forces on the ground. The word 'impeachment' was not mentioned. How odd.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby blithely dismissed leaving so many stranded people as 'We have people stranded all the time.' He refused to answer any questions about the botched pullout . he refused to answer why, knowing what was about to happen, he failed to warn or protect our soldiers. But what really got a lot of folks riled up was the reveal, and photos, of our service dogs being abandoned, in their kennels, on the airfield. These dogs are soldiers, too, who work and give their lives for our soldiers. There is a move to rescue them, as they are in the custody of friendly people still there.

But, if we stall questions for a short time, they will be unnecessary. The Taliban is going house to house slaughtering 'enemies of their new state'. When I said this was going to happen, Big Brother censored my story.

Biden, meanwhile, is claiming that this was a 'great victory', and dancing his victory dance. He did what no one else could do. Well, that part is correct. We have never had a traitor like this before. And, all those $82 billion worth of weapons will be on the world arms markets in days, if they are not there already. This is more weapons that many of our allied nations possess - and they will go to the highest bidder, and will soon be used against us right here - coming across our southern border. Did you see the videos? Pallets of pistols, rifles, binoculars , night vision gear, body armor, and tons of ammo. Thousands of vehicles, even aircraft.

By the way, Biden is trying to get the CDC to ban ammo sales and distribution as a health and safety issue, since he cannot do it by Executive Order. An old Obama back door approach. He also wants private companies to do what he cannot do - discriminate against manufacturers and buyers of weapons - even as our own weapons are coming to attack us.

Do you remember what Ike did as he was about to launch D-Day? Chances were not so great that it would succeed. So, Ike prepared two statements. One, to give if the landings were successful, and another if they were not. In the second case, Ike said that the failure was his, and his alone. There are no Ike's in the Biden White House. Only whining finger pointers.

Teachers Union

President Cecily Myart-Cruz noted that kids are not doing well, and says that lockdowns that have kept so many out of class for nearly a year and a half is no problem at all. Just because they do not know their multiplication tables, or how to read, or spell, or write their own names, that does not mean they are not educated. Not at all. After all, she said, they have learned resilience. And, they know all about riots, protests, and insurrection. That is more important than basic functional skills, right?

General Flynn

He is still hated and feared by the left. He just posted a letter he received from Chase Bank - which caused quite a stir. The letter said "We decided to close your credit cards on September 18, 2021, because continuing the relationship creates possible reputational risk to our company." Well, such blatant discrimination got a lot of folks up in arms, and Chase had to issue a retraction, claiming 'it was an error'. No, it was not. It was an attempt to punish a man because of his political beliefs.

To put this in perspective, Chase just agreed to a $920 million settlement with the DOJ for conspiring to defraud the markets for precious metals and Treasury Bonds . If the settlement is nearly a billion dollars, just how big was this fraud?

New Orleans

Well, they are getting into action for the aftermath of storm Ida. The looting is already in progress, so the head of law enforcement made the announcement that this would not be tolerated, and that looting was a felony, and anyone arrested would be treated as a felon. Some have already been arrested. Compare to Katrina.

Years back, I lived in a small town with a very corrupt local government. It had been a family fiefdom for years. The Judge was family with the sheriff, and all other officials were on the take. Cops would raid one drug gang, and then sell the drugs from their police cars while on patrol. There were organized theft gangs, hitting up to 100 homes per week. No one ever saw their goods again. Except for one. When the gang hit the home of the judge, he complained to the sheriff that his wife's silver and furs had been taken, and by the most amazing coincidence, the sheriff found those items the very next day, and returned them to the judge.

Finally, the feds had enough, and swooped in and arrested everyone above the rank of meter maid. The mayor ran for reelection from his jail cell! Well, a new crop of folks took over, and one of the first things they did was institute a new law for the holidays. See, business robberies were an everyday occurrence during the holiday season (your Christmas shoplifting), as I knew first hand from being on the receiving end of an armed robbery, with daytime raids and nighttime break ins. So, there was an announcement that in any case of questionable behavior, police would shoot first, ask questions later. It was not long before two incidents brought this policy to light. A young man tried to rob a convenience store, and was shot dead as he exited the building. Another young man was discovered climbing out of a basement window of a business, with what looked like a weapon, but turned out to be the screwdriver he used to break in with, and he was also shot dead. When these two stories were reported on the news, robberies and other crime dropped by 90%, and never returned to former levels. Even crooks have a risk limit.

War of 1912

During this war, the British sent a force up the river to seize control of an important American post. A man on the riverbank yelled at the British "If Washington were still president, he would not let you do this !" The British officer responded "If Washington were still president, we would not even try." Teddy Roosevelt expressed this well, when he said "Speak softly, and carry a big stick". When people know you mean it - they will leave you alone.

China

They are concerned over how much time young people spend on video games. So, now all video games must be registered with the state, using real names and personal ID card numbers. All games will be monitored by the state, and youth will be allowed no more than three hours weekly to play games. One hour daily on weekends, and one hour on holidays. Kids and game makers are not happy, but this is China, and you have no say in your own life in China. Look for similar things to come here.

Rich

[livingcorner]

The hidden history behind one of Australia’s most secretive naval bases

Before he was made the Commanding Officer of HMAS Stirling, the Navy’s base on Garden Island, south of Perth, Captain Ainsley Morthorpe confesses he thought the island was “a bit of a dump”.

“Particularly if you get off at the airport, you drive down through the industrial areas — it’s a port and you don’t see anything outside of here,” Captain Morthorpe said of his previous visits.

You're reading: The hidden history behind one of Australia’s most secretive naval bases

But since taking over as Commanding Officer in February 2019, he has had a chance to explore beyond the red brick and concrete buildings of the base and discovered that “it’s actually beautiful, there’s amazing stuff here”.

The Navy has control of the entire island but only uses about 30 per cent of the land — the remaining land is covered in natural bushland and the odd relic from World War II.

The Henderson shipyards at what was Careening Bay. Five frigates and all six submarines are based out of Garden Island.(

Supplied: Royal Australian Navy

)

A keen photographer, Captain Morthorpe regularly goes out to the remote corners of the island, taking pictures of the environment and hoping to spot one of the three pairs of ospreys that live there.

The island became separated from the mainland about 6,000 years ago and despite the impact of colonialism and the naval base, remains a protected ecosystem.

The remains of the WWII coastal defences are slowly being reclaimed by nature.(

ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne

)

Protected island leads to ‘fitter penguins’

It is joined by a bridge to the mainland, but visitors can only come by private boat during daylight hours, and are required to observe strict rules, including not bringing any plants or animals onto the island.

The island is now a Class-A nature reserve and a haven for birds and the rare tammar wallaby, as well as quite a few carpet pythons.

Read more: Do’s and Don’ts for Choosing the Right Fence Colour | Maria Killam

A carpet python on Garden Island.(

ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne

)

It also has healthy growing Rottnest cypress and Rottnest tea trees, all but wiped out on the mainland.

“One of the reasons why this is such an amazing place is because there was no-one out here chopping trees down so we still kept it all and they all still exist — it’s an ark,” Captain Morthorpe said.

The healthy and protected conditions have also inspired the little penguins of nearby Penguin Island to move.

“I don’t know exactly when they came across here but I know that when we built the navy base we also provided them with perfect breeding habitat,” the Captain explained.

“They now live here and they’ve been studied and they’ve been tagged.

An ill-fated island garden

The island was spotted by Dutch sailors and marked on maps as early as 1658 and again by French sailors in the early 1800s, but it was Captain James Stirling of the Royal Navy who gave it the name Garden Island when he landed in 1827.

Garden Island from above at sunset.(

Wikimedia Commons: Scott Palmer/CC0

)

Stirling had recognised the island as an ideal base from which to explore the Swan River. He was prevented from sailing into the river because of the sandbar across the river mouth.

“This is why this island was so important, because when Stirling turned up because there was a bar across here, it was really difficult for them to get anything into the river,” Captain Morthorpe said.

“They had to actually unload the boats and then drag them across the bar and it was very dangerous so he was here for about three months.”

The beach at Sulphur Town, WA’s first colonial settlement on Garden Island.(

ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne

)

Leaving with plans to return and start a colony, Stirling planted a vegetable garden and left behind cow and several sheep and goats for his return, but had no idea how harsh the summer would be.

“When he came back in 1829 of course it was all dead,” the Captain said.

“The soil is poor and there is no real water.”

Sulphur Town settlement

When Stirling returned with 450 soldiers, sailors and free settlers, they made their first homes on Garden Island, naming it Sulphur Town after the transport ship HMS Sulphur that brought them.

“He set this up as his safe and secure site whilst he finished his exploration off what is now Perth,” Captain Morthorpe explained.

Most of the settlers only stayed for a few months and by 1834, what was left of Sulphur Town was destroyed by fire.

Read more: Vegetables to Grow in Winter: 8 Crops for Winter Harvesting

“By that stage he basically gave up on the place but he still owned the island, and that he didn’t allow anybody else to do anything on here that he didn’t control,” the Captain said.

Later, Careening Bay, on the eastern shore, was used to repair boats — it has now been developed into the ship yards, but then there was little infrastructure.

A ship lying beached in Careening Bay, a platform is used for repairs, 1880s.(

Supplied: State Library of Western Australia

)

“At nice big shallow beaches like that you can bring a sailing boat in, put it up on the beach and at low tide it falls over and you can get access to the hull and you can repair it,” Captain Morthorpe said.

After World War I Garden Island became a place for holidays, picnics and fishing.

Land was sold off for shacks and a jetty built.

Garden Island, 1936. Between the wars, shacks and ferries served holiday makers.(

Supplied: State Library of Western Australia

)

During World War II, batteries were built as part of Perth and Fremantle’s coastal defences and Careening Bay was used to train members of the secretive special boat section in using vessels including the ‘Motorised Submersible Canoe’.

Construction of the naval base, HMAS Stirling, began in 1971 and was completed in 1978, along with a bridge and causeway that allows personnel to drive onto the island.

It is now Australia’s largest naval facility and home to five frigates as well as the entire submarine service.

When all the ships are in port, there can be up to 4,500 personnel living on the island.

ABC Radio Perth will broadcast live from Garden Island on August 2.

Posted 30 Jul 201930 Jul 2019Tue 30 Jul 2019 at 3:14am, updated 30 Jul 201930 Jul 2019Tue 30 Jul 2019 at 7:59am

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/the-hidden-history-behind-one-of-australias-most-secretive-naval-bases/

[asktayenbell]

A Letter From A Texan

I am from Texas. I was born and raised there, left when I was 8 (against my will, mind you. thanks Mama). I have family there.

My family just so happens to live in East Texas.

So just imagine how hard the people I love got hit by this historic hurricane.

My father, who hasn’t made any effort to speak to me in almost ten years, called me because he wasn’t sure if he was going to make it because of Harvey. He was forced to evacuate. This man and his wife lived in Corpus Christi for a year and a half. Their home? There isn’t even a foundation left.

Galveston? Gone. Anahuac? Poof. Texas City? You wouldn’t even know it had existed.

There is absolutely nothing left of the coastal towns I grew up around. Not even debris in some places.

Do you need anything else to prove just how bad this storm was?

My Mama grew up in Troup and Anahuac. She cried when she heard that Harvey was going to hit, because she knew that the town she knew and loved as a child would be wiped off the map. She called her childhood friends and made sure they evacuated and left nothing behind.

The Brazos River, the river that separates East Texas from West Texas, is at an 800 year high. There’s a wildlife reserve not ten minutes from the banks. 

I know that river like the back of my hand. I swam in it as a kid. I know every twist and turn of that river. So yes, I have my facts right. Yes, I know what I’m talking about.

The state I know and love is in danger.

If you have the opportunity to send out care packages or to donate to victims of Harvey or even just to write a letter of hope to a victim, please do so. Listen to a Texan: Texas has never needed more help than she does now.

I hope y’all take this message to heart, because I’m near in tears writing this.

Sincerely,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Texan

[angelholme]

Natural History and an Unnatural Future

We arrived at The Natural History Museum after a long walk under the streets, and saw a very old tree. 

Then we queued up for a bit before having our bags subjected to the most cursory security check (they asked if we had anything sharp, and that was pretty much it) then we went inside. 

There was a kind of a scary blue marlin, and a whale shaped skeleton hanging above the main hall (which I have since learned is called Hope). 

We headed off to the dinosaur exhibition (because dinosaurs are cool) but got waylaid by the Human Biology section, which turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought. There were a lot of fun interactive games based on memory, reactions, vision and so on, teaching you all about nerves, muscles, bones and all the other parts of the body. There were also quite a few NSFW displays and pictures about human reproduction, birth, early life and puberty. 

After that we went for lunch, via the long corridor towards THE RED ZONE (which mostly involved prehistoric fish, birds and creepy crawlies. Some of which we have pictures, and some of which we don’t because why would we take pictures of spiders? Do we look like we are insane?)

Following lunch, we went up into THE RED ZONE, which was all about the earth and it’s creation and history. We went through something that - on the map - looked like The Death Star, but was actually a representation of the planet when it was forming.

First we saw a series of displays about volcanoes and earthquakes which was kind of scary. Krakatoa killed thousands, was so noisy it was heard over 3,000 miles away and changed the landscape forever. Other volcanoes had similar effects, as well as tales of poison gas fields and tidal waves wiping out entire coastal areas. There was also an earthquake simulator which was also kind of scary.

There was the shifting surface area, with a massive collection of rocks, minerals and jewels. Some of them looked amazing - either very, very shiny or so jet black that they were like night.

After a brief history of earth and its climate (turns out climate change is real - who knew?) we went into the land of the dinosaurs, which was very impressive despite going in about the same time as a family with three very over excitable children and three equally over excitable parents.

The full size animatronic T-Rex was superb and (as far as I could tell) very life like.

There were also a number of full size skeletons, and smaller parts, that were equally stunning.

After our sojourn in history, we went across town to Aldgate (which was a far easier trip than we would have thought, as it turns out The District Line runs from South Kensington  all the way through to Aldgate East, which is where we had to go) then had a fun fifteen minute walk down to “AREA 52″ - a superhero themed burger bar that my girlfriend had found a few days previously and suggested we should try. 

The burgers were incredibly nice, and also superhero themed. 

The service was good, the decor amazing and the food fantastic. We can both recommend it should you be in the area.

And that concludes the three day story of our holiday in London in September 2017. A fun time was had by all :)