#i also think he would do well as a climate scientist

[radioactive-earthshine]

Marine Conservation Biologist Kon.

Taking a wide step away from the more common headcanons that Kon goes back to being in the public's very visible eye as a career I feel that him being in conservation science is a great match not only for story telling but is unique and fitting for him personally having deep ties to Hawai'i and the water itself.

Child of Earth, Child of Stars, Child of Science, Solar Boy born from Water who is as mighty and variable as the ocean itself finds a way to utilize his own genius and abilities for a cause on par with stopping crashing planes.

It would be fulfilling as a career for him where he would be making a deep impact during a critical moment in our climate crisis while also carrying on a theme of standing up for those who are the victims of apathy.

[tom-hossain-minis]

Holy shit politics tumblr what the fuck. Are there no communists on this site? Or people with memory greater than that of dory from finding nemo ? Does nobody recall every promise Biden not only broke but actively did the opposite of what he said he was gonna do? And I also have to ask, and I’m sorry to do so, but I think it’s important, are you all white? Cause I seen yall saying “your pic friends will suffer” and the way it’s phrased makes me think perhaps yall are not yourselves poc, for the most part. Furthermore, all *my* poc friends are well fucking aware that Joe “I’m against desegregation” Biden is a fucking racist POS, as is his entire administration. Let’s not even get into increased climate destruction, his support for trans people being barred from sports, his general apathy towards lgbt people, his really fucking vile southern border behaviour and policy, his explicit fucking islamaphobia, anti black racism, and anti-Asian racism, his supreme belief in police barbarism, his total economic shitshow these last four years, and finally, something I suspect non Americans literally are unable to fathom, his vitriolic hatred of the rest of the world, and the danger he poses to humanity’s continued survival as a result. It’s true, your political system sucks fucking balls, I pity you for having only one party and not being able to remove your head of state, but don’t you dare tell me that you think Joe Biden is a “good president in most regards except Palestine”. And guess what, “trump is worse” is something I wholeheartedly agree with. But for some reason you Americans have no concept of “saying no”. You don’t have a permanent minimum standard. I can’t understand it, is there some weird part of American culture that says you can’t have a sense of personal dignity, or, dare I say it, a spine? It’s inconciliables to me that every person in the most well off, powerful, heavily defended nation on earth would not only allow themselves to be, in the most shakespearien sense, raped by their political system every four years, but that *some* would revel in it. I genuinely mean it when I say I cannot understand this behaviour. Aren’t you outraged at this treatment? Where is your fury against such degradation? Wouldn’t you fight and work and claw at everything against you until your bones were raw and white and broken rather than settle for this most violating and humiliating of lifestyles, in the hope of something better? Don’t get me wrong, I come from the cesspool that is Britain, and that’s its own thing, but I know why and how the British spirit was so thoroughly crushed so I know why people have given up there, and even then, we not only still have some resemblance of fight, but also a system that at least in theory can allow for some better representation than the American one. Britain has a proud history of rioting when things get too bad, we stole the idea from the French, just like everything in our history and culture, but America never seemed to have the same; is it just too vast a country? I just, really need someone to explain it. When and how were the American people politically lobotomised? And I’m sorry if this is rude or confusing but I really am at a loss. As a scientist I really am dedicated to and obsessed with making the world a better place for everyone, but America, the biggest problem by a landslide so massive it could be its own planet, completely and totally baffles me.

Tl;dr: fuck Joe Biden, I have a sneaking suspicion tumblr is mostly racist white people, America’s very existence can drive a man insane like the visage of Cthulhu

[mariacallous]

It’s almost that magical time of year that the Humane Society of America likens to a “natural disaster.” Kitten season.

“The level of emotions for months on end is so draining,” said Ann Dunn, director of Oakland Animal Services, a city-run shelter in the San Francisco Bay Area. “And every year we just know it’s going to get harder.”

Across the United States, summer is the height of “kitten season,” typically defined as the warm-weather months between spring and fall during which a cat becomes most fertile. For over a decade, animal shelters across the country have noted kitten season starting earlier and lasting longer. Some experts say the effects of climate change, such as milder winters and an earlier start to spring, may be to blame for the uptick in feline birth rates.

This past February, Dunn’s shelter held a clinic for spaying and neutering outdoor cats. Although kitten season in Northern California doesn’t typically kick off until May, organizers found that over half of the female cats were already pregnant. “It’s terrifying,” Dunn said. “It just keeps getting earlier and going later.”

Cats reproduce when females begin estrus, more commonly known as “going into heat,” during which hormones and behavior changes signal she’s ready to mate. Cats can go into heat several times a year, with each cycle lasting up to two weeks. But births typically go up between the months of April and October. While it’s well established that lengthening daylight triggers a cat’s estrus, the effect of rising temperatures on kitten season isn’t yet understood.

One theory is that milder winters may mean cats have the resources to begin mating sooner. “No animal is going to breed unless they can survive,” said Christopher Lepczyk, an ecologist at Auburn University and prominent researcher of free-ranging cats. Outdoor cats’ food supply may also be increasing, as some prey, such as small rodents, may have population booms in warmer weather themselves. Kittens may also be more likely to survive as winters become less harsh. “I would argue that temperature really matters,” he said.

Others, like Peter J. Wolf, a senior strategist at the Best Friends Animal Society, think the increase comes down to visibility rather than anything biological. As the weather warms, Wolf says, people may be getting out more and noticing kittens earlier in the year than before. Then they bring them into shelters, resulting in rescue groups feeling like kitten season is starting earlier.

Regardless of the exact mechanism, having a large number of feral cats around means trouble for more than just animal shelters. Cats are apex predators that can wreak havoc on local biodiversity. Research shows that outdoor cats on islands have already caused or contributed to the extinction of an estimated 33 species. Wild cats pose an outsized threat to birds, which make up half their diet. In Hawaii, known as a bird extinction capital of the world, cats are the most devastating predators of wildlife. “We know that cats are an invasive, environmental threat,” said Lepczyk, who has published papers proposing management policies for outdoor cats.

Scientists, conservationists, and cat advocates all agree that unchecked outdoor cat populations are a problem, but they remain deeply divided on solutions. While some conservationists propose the targeted killing of cats, known as culling, cat populations have been observed to bounce back quickly, and a single female cat and her offspring can produce at least 100 descendants, if not thousands, in just seven years.

Although sterilization protocols such as “trap, neuter, and release” are favored by many cat rescue organizations, Lepczyk said it’s almost impossible to do it effectively, in part because of how freely the animals roam and how quickly they procreate. Without homes or sanctuaries after sterilization, returning cats outside means they may have a low quality of life, spread disease, and continue to harm wildlife. “No matter what technique you use, if you don’t stop the flow of new cats into the landscape, it’s not gonna matter,” said Lepczyk.

Rescue shelters, already under strain from resource and veterinary shortages, are scrambling to confront their new reality. While some release materials to help the community identify when outdoor kittens need intervention, others focus on recruiting for foster volunteer programs, which become essential caring for kittens who need around-the-clock care.

“As the population continues to explode, how do we address all these little lives that need our help?” Dunn said. “We’re giving this everything we have.”

[valyrfia]

I'm starting to believe you have a certain gift for predicting stuff and since you do tarot as well, you might indeed have a certain sensibility on knowing things before. Because I remember you said you were having a bad felling about the triple header for ferrari and I was not believing but now two weekends already were a disaster...

Amd there was another time, I'm not sure if this or last year when you said something about having a feeling the weekend wouldn't go well for charles and you were right

Yeah it was Brazil last year I think, I remember feeling such trepidation all weekend for no reason only for Charles to go off in the formation lap.

You're absolutely not the first person to say I have some sort of precognition, but I will say I believe a lot of intuition is just our brains recognising cues subconsciously and then putting a pattern to them–and since my job is capital P Physics I've trained my brain in a way to look for and analyse patterns and connections. I had a bad feeling about the triple header because of Canada. I knew Spain was included in that triple header and Carlos would try and pull something because it's his last home GP with Ferrari and Charles WON his home GP so Carlos might feel like he is "owed". Silverstone has historically not been good for Ferrari and team orders, not to mention the fact that all the other cars are developed and tested around Silverstone and Ferrari is at a disadvantage by testing their cars in a completely different climate.

I like tarot and it tends to be unnervingly correct when I pull, but also I'm a scientist and I'm hesitant over confirmation bias. I kind of exist in a grey area about it. I really don't know what I think, which I guess means you can just take my readings at face value.

[druidshollow]

Hey, what health condition thing does Rivers have? I must know why he’s discriminated against.

i was gonna answer this in the rivers longpost but i think having a separate post w this little graphic that i link back to is fine mostly because then i dont waste 4 of my 30 image slots! :D

@crows-junk-pile asked about it a while ago too but i lost the ask at some point and all i have is a screenshot sorryyyyy (also sorry for the ping but i figured since youd asked once i would)

it's called unstable neuron disease, but the term disorder would be more accurate since its not really a disease at all. maybe iterators will pick up the name unstable neuron disorder after the mass ascension

for this number i pass the mic to my colleague four falling phrases

great thanks phrases

phrases' dialogue text transcript below!

Unstable Neuron Disease (Abbreviated UND) is an illness of the Neuron Flies. It is the flies that are sick, not the iterator themself. This is a common misconception. Iterators ailed with UND often refer to themselves as sick for simplicity's sake. It causes irregular movements commonly called "twitches" or "shocks". When the flies twitch, rogue electricity runs through them, and an erroneous signal containing the fly's neural contents is sent to the iterator housing them, confusing the iterator and disrupting their train of thought. When two flies twitch at the same time and collide, it causes the rogue electricity in the flies to run through the iterator's structure and centralize in the puppet. It is quite painful, and scientists are still unsure why this happens. The iterator also recieves the information of BOTH flies when this happens, being even more disorienting and overwhelming. For a being dedicated almost entirely to thought and work, this irregularity can be quite frustrating.

There is no known cure, but there are treatments and modifications that can be made to ease an iterator's struggle and pain.

It mostly afflicts generation 1 models, and has never been recorded in a gen 3 model. It is most likely caused by environmental factors, such as infrequent temperatures (like you'd see where we live), and dryer climates (similar to how the North was before the Great Equalizer). It was greatly misunderstood for a long time. For a while, the insulting name "Unreliable-Minded Iterator Disorder" was bounced around Esteemed groups and Council Houses. Sick iterators historically were shown little sympathy and were treated as… dramatic slackers, until model #313 A Fleck of Flame fell ill, and he and his administrator dedicated themselves to studying the disease, giving it the proper name it has now.

Fleck is responsible for most information and research we have on UND, as well as viable treatments that do not invade upon Taboo Law.

[myragewillendworlds]

A lot of racists and misogynists, and a lot of people mad that eggs are more expensive than they were 4 years ago, and most no other strong political views besides these.

Eh, that's not the whole story, though. While Trump is insane and I just have no words for how baffling it is that such a massive amount of people is willing to vote for a pathologically lying, narcissistic, sociopathic, hateful, demented, criminal lunatic – there's also a reason why even the people he openly hates turned around to vote for him.

The left-wing (in much of Europe as well) has completely lost touch with their traditional working class following, having become too elitist or too expensive (attempting to revert climate change at this point comes with high costs, as scientists always predicted and warned for) for the working class to be able to identify themselves with anymore. Years of neoliberalism fucked us all over and the long-term solutions the left proposes cost too much money for the working class to be willing to bear in the short term. Meanwhile, right-wing populism promises quick, easy fixes, promises them their jobs back in dead industries, promises to make climate change go away by ignoring it, promises to lower taxes by burning some more fossil fuels, and manipulatively redirects their growing anger and frustration in the direction of whatever blameless group of people they happen to hate most at the time. Something very obvious that we've very obviously seen before, and people still run with it.

What's most hilarious about this though (or would be if it didn't come with such consequences) is that in turning away from the elitism of the left-wing, the working class decided that the non-elitist side to vote for was the born-rich, "small loan of a million dollars", wealthy business magnate and his good buddy, the literal richest man of the entire planet. Truly the side that understands and cares for your financial struggles.

What's also aggravating, because fuck it this is an essay now, is that people are too goddamn dumb to understand how anything works. Bush fucks over the economy, sends tons of people to their death, creates global chaos that will last for decades after, and Obama gets to inherit his mess. Trump fucks over the economy, lets god knows how many people die carelessly, sabotages international relations and collaborations, and Biden gets to inherit his mess. You can't turn that much destruction around and make it all okay in just a few years time. People expect the easy answers, think new leadership can just magically make it all better and if it's not immediately better, welp, time for the next populist asshole to give it a go! People blame Biden's presidency for their situations as if Trump had nothing to do with it, as if the whole world isn't currently dealing with high prices and lack of housing, and then turn around and vote for the one who created and will gladly worsen that mess in the first place. We'll never know how much worse people's situations would've been if these kind of morons had continued on their rampage, without the left-wing breaks in between that allowed for at least some normalcy to return.

TL;DR too bad that bullet missed its target.

[kaythefloppa]

The Future of Season 7 of Wild Kratts

In light of this week's premiere of Wild Kratt's 7th season, Martin Kratt has discussed the new season as well as the overall history of the show and what is to come in the future of the series.

You can read all of what he has to say in this article, but I'm going to address the very interesting stuff regarding what to expect next for Season 7.

“There's so much that people know about animals that hasn't been published yet,” notes Martin. “So, we can find things that aren't even in books yet and put them in the show by talking directly to these scientists. One thing about the format for this show and the subject matter is we'll never run out of stories. There's so much to do still, and so many animals left to write about. This season we’ll be breaking the 200th episode and we’ve only scratched the surface.”

Now I will not lie, this paragraph gave me a lot of joy. Because Martin is right, there IS a crap-ton of animals that people know so little about. Anyone who says this show isn't a cultural impact for all that it's done to inform and inspire this generation over the past 12 years of its airing is lying out of their fucking asses.

Ok now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's address the bolded point:

Wild Kratts will air its 200th episode in Season 7.

200th Episode!!!

Now everything is starting to make sense: The reason why the hiatus took nearly 2 full years was because they were producing a minimum of 47 episodes. That's even more episodes than Season 1 had:

Which means that the potential for this season is limitless: And that's not even going into what Episode 200 may be about. This season is totally going to be worth the two-year long wait and these madlads at PBS are going to make damn well sure of it!

...

Then there's this line from Martin:

Still, what would a monumental seventh season be without a bit of mysterious animal flare? And, of course, the occasional lemur?

Ok now it's getting good. It looks like we'll be going on a return to Madagascar for more lemur-centric episodes. Fingers crossed for more Zooboomafo references:

---

“A big special we’ve got coming up in Season 7 is called “Blue and Green: The Living Earth,” which is all about habitats and climate and it features blue whales,” says Martin. “It also has another lemur in there, the Indri, which is the largest living lemur."

FUCKING BLUE WHALE'S Y'ALL. AFTER A DECADE WE'VE GOT A BLUE WHALE EPISODE. 🥳🥳

Also, google search what an Indri lemur is, I gaurentee you that it's very interesting!

.....

This is all so exciting and honestly, anyone who felt let down by the first few eps. of S7, I think you guys will feel very vindicated by the remainder of this season. I think after the lackluster 5th and 6th season and the subsequent negative response for that, they're bringing forward a revival era for WK's quality that may be on par with, or even succeed the earlier seasons. Regardless, I'm excited for where this shit goes.

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

Books to Try if You Loved Miraculous Ladybug

The way I have always viewed media is that it’s stories, first and foremost, and then the medium comes next. Medium can make a lot of difference in how stories are told, with visual media working quite well for the superhero genre and interiority shining in the written format. I want to draw attention to books that I think lovers of certain stories would also enjoy while also throwing in a few extras along the way and highlighting a diverse range of authors and genres.

If you loved the romance between a biracial artist and someone who likes science, try:

Red String Theory by Lauren Kung Jessen

Rooney Gao grew up the daughter of a famous artist and wants to make a name for herself in the art world independent of her mother, going by the moniker Red String Girl. Drawing from Chinese folklore about the red string of fate, Rooney also follows ideas of destiny in many aspects of her life, including love. Jack Liu is a scientist at NASA who is perfect for Rooney, but his own insecurities and resistance to fate might be enough to keep them apart.

If you loved the Parisian setting and strong fashion components, try:

If I Promise You Wings by A. K. Small

A. K. Small spent part of her life in the Sacré-Cœur of Paris and you can feel the city come alive in her story of grief and moving on. Alix Leclaire has graduated high school and lands her dream job at the Mille et une Plume, a feather boutique that plays a part in the haute couture fashion scene. Despite her happiness, the loss of her best friend is still a fresh wound for Alix to heal from.

If you loved the Parisian setting and the exploration of a character with anxiety, but want more of the Eiffel Tower and a Queer historical bent, try

The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall

Fin Tighe is working for Gustave Eiffel as they work to build the Eiffel Tower in time for the World’s Fair. But as the illegitimate son of an English earl with no other heirs, the guardian of a ballerina cousin who wants to focus on her craft, and the love interest of a member of the Parisian elite, Fin and his anxiety are going to be tested in ways he never thought possible.

If you loved the dynamic of Adrien coming from a famous family and Marinette coming from a working class family with the struggles of making friendships, try

Love at First Knight by Megan Clawson

When Daisy Hasting, LARPer enthusiast from a family of LARPer enthusiasts, is volunteered to be a temporary knight at the Tower of London for a summer camp, the last thing she expects it to find love, let alone with a member of the royal family.

If you liked the secret identities but want a more grounded romance, try

Maya’s Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja

School teacher Maya Mirza has agreed to an arranged marriage with her friend from college, but on her way to Pakistan, she Sarfaraz, a Pakistani-Canadian divorce lawyer who is cynical towards love and romance. Both keep meeting up as roadblock after roadblock appears on their way to Pakistan.

If you loved the magical girl elements, but want an adult POV, try

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon trans. Anton Hur

When the protagonist is told that she is the legendary Magical Girl of Time, she’s thrust into the world of women with superpowers. From job expos to credit card debt to discussions around climate change to conversations surrounding grief and loss, this is the perfect book for people who grew up on the magical girl genre.

Bonus:

If you liked the monsters being people the MCs know and are impacted by strong feelings, try:

Princess Tutu

When Ahiru is transformed from a duck into the magical girl Princess Tutu to save Prince Mytho, she has to fight her own friends and grow closer to enemies to accomplish her goals, even at the risk of breaking her own heart. A metacontextual examination of opera, ballet, fairy tales, and broader storytelling, Princess Tutu scratches the Miraculous itch while also doing something wholly new.

You can also find this post on substack under:

[featheredpheonix]

Very dispassionate and clinical poli sci/conflict theory thoughts on a dark and emotionally charged topic here, regarding the tragic death of Aaron Bushnell: Others have pointed out the self-immolation, regardless of our feelings regarding the act, have on a quantitative level been not very successful at actually bringing about the political aims of those who carry out such acts. I agree with the evidence, it speaks for itself; however, I also think Aaron Bushnell's death appears somewhat distinct from previous case studies. The aspect of Aaron Bushnell's self-immolation that I do think is worth pointing out as somewhat unique to other self-immolation cases, is that he was a member of the organization (i.e. the US Armed Forces/U.S Government) whose behavior he was seeking to change, whereas most previous cases were appealing to either indifferent but powerful third parties, or their opponents themselves. The US climate scientist who immolated himself on the SCOTUS building plaza back in April 2022 wasn't a judge or a worker in the fossil fuel industry, for example. If your political opponents literally set themselves on fire, one would predict just carrying on carrying on, as has been the case in other self-immolation cases. That has not yet been demonstrated as the case when its 'your own' performing public and ghastly suicides - least of which because it evokes all the actions they could have taken as alternatives that most people would not.

In Bushnell's case, his self-immolation invokes the specter of a great many alternative actions he could have performed. Dying as painfully and as publicly as he did, by his own hand, suggests he did not fear punishment or sanction - how much damage could a cyber-defense analyst like Bushnell do if his principles convinced him he needed to undermine US support of the occupation in Gaza via sabotage, espionage, etc., indifferent to the personal peril involved? It arguably adds an entirely new dimension to the political calculus surrounding Gaza: how long can we support the siege if it creates the risk of another Aaron Bushnell? Especially if the next Bushnell is not content with only harming themself, and wishes to strike out against Americans or Israelis as well.

[talkingpointsusa]

To the surprise of literally nobody, Matt Walsh has no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to forest fires

Well folks, I'm back from a weeklong camping trip and am ready to tackle some more right-wing media brain rot. While I don't normally like covering the same show twice in a row I figured what better way to celebrate being back from the woods in Canada than debunking an episode about the woods in Canada.

So, Matt Walsh decided to cover the recent forest fires in Canada (finally, my country gets a mention) and you would think that it would be very hard to make that offensive. Shockingly enough though, Matt managed to find a way. At least he's innovative.

01:10, Matt Walsh: "One of the most basic assumptions about climate change that you're told to accept is that if you give the government enough power and make enough personal sacrifices you can help change the weather. You can make natural disasters less likely, you can save beaches and endangered species, even entire countries, the entire world can be saved and all you need to do is pay more in taxes to fund more government bureaucracy and give up your car and your gas stove and airline travel and plastic straws and maybe your entire livelihood and then everything will be fine."

Right out of the gate there is a mountain of BS that needs to be addressed here. Strap in guys, we've got a lot to unpack.

Matt's conflating weather and climate, what else is new? I explained this in a previous post but weather refers to short term changes in the atmosphere while climate refers to the weather of a specific region over time. Does climate change increase the probability of extreme weather? Yes! For example, 2023 was the hottest year on record and the world saw record breaking heatwaves as a result.

More specifically, many recent extreme weather events can be directly tied to climate change. According to Carbonbrief.org, which has actually mapped extreme weather events across the world and determined which ones have ties to climate change or not, 71% of the extreme weather events mapped by their organization were made more likely or severe by anthropogenic climate change. Furthermore, 93% of the extreme heat events charted by their scientists were made more likely or severe by anthropogenic climate change. So yes, climate change does change the weather and addressing climate change will make those disasters less likely. The only way to agree with Matt's BS assessment that climate change is a government run scam is to ignore mountains of data.

As for Matt's list of things that we're allegedly being forced to give up, it's complete rubbish;

Nobody has banned gasoline cars, although they're being phased out in favor of EV's. Even with this phaseout, you can still drive your gasoline car or even buy a new one if you chose and even if you couldn't you still have the option to drive an EV or hybrid or even a hydrogen powered car in certain states.

While New York state did ban gas stoves (and even then only by as early as the year 2026 meaning it's not like they're going to come into your house and drag you and your gas stove out by force), nationally they are only subject to energy efficiency and health related guidelines.

Airline travel is absolutely not getting banned, if only because the airline industry controls a fourteen million dollar lobbying arm that would crush that idea in five seconds flat.

As for plastic straws, a lot of states have banned them but to be honest who gives a crap? As someone who lives in a country that has banned single-use plastic straws, society has yet to collapse. Using a paper or metal straw isn't some herculean sacrifice.

In terms of peoples incomes, it would be dishonest to say that some people won’t most likely lose their jobs due to phasing out fossil fuels. However, renewable energy will also create thousands of jobs many of which can be occupied by the people who were previously employed in the fossil fuel sector. According to the DOE, there are currently just over 8 million jobs in renewable energy in the United States and in both 2021 and 2022 renewable energy job growth outpaced overall US employment. Another thing that the government could do is provide federal grant money and create transition programs, similar to Colorado’s lauded Office of Just Transition, to help out of work coal miners and other fossil fuel related workers transition to other jobs in the energy sector. I doubt Matt would like that solution though because that would require a bump in his taxes and as we’ve already established, he doesn’t like that very much. Taxes have gotta stay low, actual solutions to climate change that help everyone be damned!

Also, climate change is the real job killer. According to the National Climate Assessment Report, climate change will also drive up electricity costs and severely impact trade and the economy. In other words, if we don't address climate change Matt's economic fears will not only occur but will be a thousand times worse than what will happen with regulation.

*pants*, I know that was a lot of words but it's important to address Matt's arguments for what they are: poorly sourced bullshit.

01:42, Matt Walsh: "Now there's no other country on Earth that's internalized this way of thinking more than our neighbor to the north Canada."

First of all, get my countries name out of your goddamn mouth.

Second of all, not even close. I'd say that Denmark, which is honestly a case study in how countries should address climate change, is a lot more of a climate-friendly nation than Canada. We don't even make the top ten nations leading on climate and we're still pretty beholden to oil interests up in Alberta unfortunately.

01:48, Matt Walsh: "They've declared a national climate change emergency, they have a constantly increasing national tax on carbon which raises the cost of living for pretty much every household in the country, they've banned plastic straws, they've shut down oil and gas permits off their pacific coast. If you're an insomniac and you pull up a video of a debate in the Canadian parliament to help you sleep there's a good chance they'll be debating climate change in some way or another."

Brief pause, the carbon tax hasn't significantly increased the cost of living for the average household in Canada. According to StatsCan, the carbon tax has only made overall consumer prices 0.6% higher. As a matter of fact, Canada has a climate rebate called the Canada Carbon Rebate that actually helps small businesses and families offset pollution pricing.

Hmm, it almost sounds like Matt doesn't know what he's talking about here. Perhaps if he actually decided to look into Canadian politics instead of just going "boooring" and looking at random right-wing blogs talking about some obscure report released by the health department (we'll get to that later) he wouldn't make these extremely stupid mistakes while covering this story.

02:22, Matt Walsh: "Surely we can assume that at the very least Canada's carbon emissions are much lower as a result of all of this government beuracracy. After all, Canada's not even a top twenty country by population. The GDP barely ranks in the top ten, shouldn't be hard for them to rank low on the list of global carbon emitters, especially since they've been trying so hard and punishing their citizens so much.

We actually have the ninth largest GDP in the world according to the World Bank but go off I guess.

Also, how are these things that Matt previously listed off "punishing citizens"? As mentioned previously, the carbon tax has barely impacted the cost of living and comes with rebates. Banning plastic straws is an extraordinarily mild inconvenience at best, as a Canadian I can confidently tell you that I've barely noticed the difference. As for shutting down oil and gas permits off the Pacific Coast, your average citizen has zero idea that that even happened. This is completely ridiculous.

Also, the Canadian economy is outperforming expectations. Pretty much everything that he's saying here is a lie.

02:43, Matt Walsh: "But, as it turns out Canada is currently one of the biggest carbon emitters on the planet. They're setting new records in the wrong direction. They're adding more of that dreaded carbon into the atmosphere than countries three times their size and it's all because of a series of wildfires last year that the Canadian government clearly could not control, watch."

Matt's citing a study in Nature that actually contradicts his climate change denialism. The study makes it extremely clear that Canada's record breaking forest fire season was made more likely due to the impact of climate change. Here's a quote from said study:

"Canadian forests cover a vast area of nearly 362 million ha (ref. 9), amounting to 8.5% of the global forested area. These forests are an important sink of carbon, absorbing fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and slowing the pace of climate warming. However, climate change is increasing forest fire activity, acting to suppress the carbon uptake capacity of these forests. Although more frequent fires have been widespread, 2023 has seen forest fires on an extreme scale."

So, essentially the way to address these extreme forest fires is to address climate change. In the meantime, countries need to learn how to adapt to record-breaking forest fires as they will only become more common as the climate continues to change. The study says as much here:

"The role of Canada’s fire management strategy in managing fire carbon emissions also deserves some discussion. Fire management strategies require balancing several considerations, including socioeconomic costs, ecological impacts and carbon emissions. Canada’s present strategy adopts a risk-based approach, for which decisions on whether or not to suppress fires are made on a fire-by-fire basis, with differing priorities across provinces and territories. Understanding how fire regimes will change with climate change is thus of high importance, for future decision criteria and costing."

This is a pretty important point to hammer in because it shows how lazy guys in the conservative media ecosystem like Matt Walsh actually are. They don't read anything that they're trying to cite, they don't bother to look into the topics that they're discussing, and when you look into those topics the stuff that they're citing often directly contradicts the point that they're trying to make.

03:59, Matt Walsh: "Now, if you check in with the experts of course they'll tell you that the wildfires were only so severe because of climate change."

The experts which include the study that you're citing. But yes, as the world gets hotter and drier forest fires will become more likely and more severe. I find it absolutely bizarre how Matt can admit that the Canadian forest fire season was record breaking but also try to make the argument that this...disproves climate change somehow. The mental gymnastics here are gold medal worthy.

Matt reads from an article published in MIT Technology Review that ties climate change to forest fires and decides to make a really dumb argument.

05:16, Matt Walsh: "Now, what's striking about explanations like this is that they conveniently absolve the government of all responsibility from managing the forests which is the single most direct way to prevent wildfires from spreading out of control like they did last year. And even the Canadian government admits that, I went on the website of Canada's Natural Resource Department and found that in addition to blaming fossil fuels they admit that they could do more to prevent wildfires from spreading."

What kind of dumbass argument is that?

"Oh yeah, this argument absolves the government from responsibility to manage the forest. And to prove that I'm gonna read this article from the government that says that it's the governments responsibility to manage the forests."

Absolutely galaxy brained content from friend of the blog Matty Walsh here.

06:18, Matt Walsh: "Now they don't mention that preventing arson is another way to stop these fires even though that's true as well. While the majority of these fires were apparently caused by lightning and some other natural event, there's at least one guy that pleaded guilty for setting more than a dozen fires last year."

What Matt's talking about is a story out of Quebec where a far-right conspiracy theorist plead guilty to setting fourteen fires.

The arsonist, a man by the name of Brian Paré, was a climate denier who posted multiple conspiracy theories that the government of Canada intentionally started forest fires across the country. Hmmm, sounds almost like someone who would agree with Matt and other right-wing media nutcases.

So, essentially what we have here is some guy who watched too much stuff like Alex Jones who set multiple fires after seeing posts about the record breaking fire season. This doesn't prove anything outside of the fact that right-wing conspiracy theory nonsense often has dangerous consequences.

So, Matt says that the government should "do things competently and prevent and contain forest fires" which is exactly what the government is trying to do. Then he finds another thing to lie about.

07:59, Matt Walsh: "And volcanoes erupt too like the one I talked about last year that drove temperature changes all of the world."

Matt's talking about the Tonga Volcano eruption and wouldn't you know it, he doesn't have the facts straight on this one either.

While the Tonga Volcanic eruption did impact the climate as well as weather patterns around the world, there are dozens of studies showing that the majority of climate change is anthropogenic, or caused by humans. Most volcanoes actually have a net atmospheric cooling effect with Tonga being an outlier meaning that they don't explain heating across the planet in years before the eruption occurred.

08:40, Matt Walsh: "Instead they're predictably turning the wildfires into another opportunity to harp on racial grievances and divide their country even more. TrueNorth reports this week quote; 'The Public Health Agency of Canada Wants To Review the Way That Wildfire Evacuations Are Conducted Because They Supposedly Disproportionately Impact Minorites.'"

Ah yes, well known reliable source of information TrueNorth.com.

Since I don't trust some dumb right-wing blog to reliably convey what this report was all about, I went and found a copy myself and wouldn't you know it, they're not telling the full story.

First of all, this report was published by the Public Health Agency which is not responsible for forest fire prevention. That falls under the jurisdiction of the governments of the provinces where the fires occur unless the fire occurs on federal land in which case it would probably fall under the Federal Government and Parks Canada. Provinces also have resource sharing agreements which are all outlined in the Canadian Wildland Fire Prevention and Mitigation Strategy which was published by the Canadian Council Of Forest Ministers which is a coalition of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments established to address forest related concerns in Canada such as wildfires. In short, this report on the health effects of wildfires published by an agency that has nothing to do with actual forest fire prevention isn't the only thing that Canada is doing to manage forest fires. It may come as a shock to Matt but governments are huge entities capable of doing multiple things at the same time.

Second of all, right-wing entities like TrueNorth.Com and Rebel News are severely misrepresenting the contents of this report. While Indigenous communities are mentioned in this report, mainly because their land is often in areas more susceptible to forest fires, it also talks about other groups that have nothing to do with race and sexuality such as women, children, and the elderly and how they're more vulnerable to the negative physical and mental health impacts of wildfires.

09:22, Matt Walsh: "Yes, they've turned their worst wildfire season on record into an opportunity to complain once again about nonbinary people. Yes, nonbinary people are more impacted by fire than the rest of us. The rest of us are impervious to fire, it turns out, as a straight white male they could set me on fire and I would be unharmed by it."

Nonbinary people only got mentioned in the 26 page analysis once and it was about the mental health impacts of wildfires on kids that identify as nonbinary. Quote:

"Results from several studies conducted after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire found that women experience worse mental health impacts in comparison to men. This was also noted for people who did not identify within the gender binary. Among Grade 7-12 10 students, those who identified as female exhibited higher mental health symptom scores, higher rates of probable diagnosis of MDD, PTSD, and GAD, and lower scores for self-esteem, quality of life, and resilience in comparison to their male-identifying students. (27) Students who identified with another gender or preferred not to state their gender identity exhibited worse mental health outcomes compared to both their female- and male-identifying counterparts."

So yeah, he absolutely did not read this document and is just riffing as right-wing media morons tend to do.

09:57, Matt Walsh: "So, here's a couple of lines from the Canadian governments report to give you some idea how unhinged the country has become. Quote; "The impact of wildfires on Indigenous peoples is influenced by colonialism and has forced many Indigenous peoples to live in isolation or in communities that are isolated from the rest of the country. Evacuation measures conducted in Indigenous communities served as traumatic reminders of being taken away to residential schools and or the sixty scoop as some were forced onto busses and separated from their family.'"

He's playing a pretty dishonest game here as he's mashing two sentences that appeared on different pages of the report into one big sentence and leaving out critical context for each. Quote (from the report):

"The impact of wildfires on Indigenous Peoples is influenced by colonialism, (33) and has forced many Indigenous Peoples to live in isolation or in communities that are isolated from the rest of society. Their geographic isolation makes it difficult to access basic goods, services, and other resources that are necessary for mitigating and building resilience against the impacts of wildfires. In addition, Indigenous communities often depend on the land for food, water, recreation, and cultural practices. Therefore, wildfires disrupt Indigenous ways of life and threaten important cultural activities, such as hunting, fishing, harvesting, and gathering."

Sounds a lot more reasonable when you read the actual context behind the sentence huh? I feel like I shouldn't have to say this but "people who live in isolated areas have a harder time accessing resources" and "wildfires impact peoples way of life" aren't dumb statements.

The sentence about trauma occurs a page later as part of a bulleted list of the impacts that previous wildfire evacuations had on indigenous communities in Canada. Quote:

"These findings were reinforced by a report from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs that examined the impacts of the 2017 wildfires on First Nations communities across Canada. (41) The report found that many Indigenous Peoples also faced additional economic challenges during evacuations and recovery phases. While they were eligible for reimbursement of funds utilized during an emergency through Indigenous Service programs; many experienced difficulties claiming these expenses due to challenges with applying for reimbursement and not always receiving the full amount of a claim. (41,42)

For First Nations evacuees, there was a lack of space for the practice of traditional activities and preparation of traditional foods, as well as a lack of mental health resources for those being temporarily housed in shelters.(41)

Finally it was noted that the evacuation measures conducted in Indigenous communities served as traumatic reminders of being taken away to residential schools and/or the Sixties Scoop as some were forced onto buses and separated from family(41).

A community-based qualitative case study examining how residents of Sandy Lake First Nation were impacted by the 2011 wildfire evacuation found that a lack of pre-event preparedness resulted in some Elders with medical conditions being evacuated without a caregiver and families were separated and displaced during evacuation operations. (43)"

Again, it's a wonder how much context changes the report that you're lying about. I guess it doesn't matter when you can just deceptively combine sentences together and ignore half of what the report was actually saying.

Conclusion:

Matt Walsh: Forest Fire Prevention Expert wasn't something that I had on my right-wing media bingo card but here we are. This was just a really dumb experience all around but dumb experiences seem to be the name of the game in right-wing media these days.

Also, as a palette cleanser here's an image I created in photoshop after I finished the fact-check to celebrate Matt's newfound "expertise" in forest fire prevention.

Original Video:

“Ep. 1433 - When Wildfires Strike, Canada Blames Racism instead of Taking Action.” Dailywire.com, The Daily Wire, 29 Aug. 2024.

Sources Cited:

Lopez, Nuria. “Copernicus: 2023 Is the Hottest Year on Record, with Global Temperatures close to the 1.5°c Limit | Copernicus.” Climate.copernicus.eu, 9 Jan. 2024.

Pidcock, Roz, and Robert McSweeney. “Mapped: How Climate Change Affects Extreme Weather around the World.” Carbon Brief, 2022.

“There’s a New Federal Standard for Gas Stoves. Here’s What It Means for Your Kitchen.” CNET, 2024.

Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. “Clean Energy Job Creation and Growth.” Energy.gov.

U.S. Global Change Research Program. “Fourth National Climate Assessment.” Globalchange.gov, vol. 2, no. 4, 31 Dec. 2017, pp. 1–470.

“Carbon Pricing Is Not to Blame for Canada’s Affordability Challenges.” Policy Options, 7 Dec. 2023, policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/december-2023/carbon-price-affordability/.

Agency, Canada Revenue. “Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR).” Www.canada.ca, 20 Apr. 2022.

Byrne, Brendan, et al. “Carbon Emissions from the 2023 Canadian Wildfires.” Nature, 28 Aug. 2024, pp. 1–5.

Ghori, Aiman. “How Can the Forest Sector Respond to Fires due to Climate Change?” Canadian Climate Institute, 31 Jan. 2024.

Serebrin, Jacob. “Quebec Man Who Blamed 2023 Wildfires on Government Pleads Guilty to Setting 14 Fires.” CBC, 16 Jan. 2024.

Canada, Public Health Agency of. “Rapid Review: An Intersectional Analysis of the Disproportionate Health Impacts of Wildfires on Diverse Populations and Communities.” Www.canada.ca, 18 July 2024.

“Canadian Wildland Fire Prevention and Mitigation Strategy - Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM).” Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM), 27 June 2024.

[unnounblr]

IDK if you're the right person to ask about this, but a big concern I have about Project 2025 (aside from all the others, obviously) is, based on what the GOP has been doing on the state and local level, that they don't actually need to put a Republican in the White House for it to go ahead. Is this a realistic concern or just doomerism?

I am absolutely not in any way the person to ask.

I think broadly though. Like, I'm pretty sure state governments and city governments can't force the federal government and federal agencies to enact policies? So, like, a state government can't force the military to not hire trans people, or the EPA, or department of energy, or FDA, whatever.

Congress. Might be able to enact parts of Project 2025 or things like it at the federal level, regardless of who the president is. They can pass bills, and with a supermajority in both houses could override a veto. Which is why, if there are any downballot races (which, there are, every seat in the House of Representatives is up for reelection, every two years, the problem is in a lot of places they run unopposed) those matter and need to be voted for.

The president is commander in chief and head of the executive branch, so, the parts of 2025 about different departments and government offices needing to have absolute loyalty to the President. Like, I think the Republicans would only push for that if it was. Their guy. And I at least hope a Democratic administration wouldn't be stupid enough to fire career bureacrats that have done their jobs well enough solely based on party affiliation.

Like, while I'm not a fan of the way the Harris campaign has cozied up to lifelong Republicans like fucking Cheney (I mean, Liz Cheney I could understand, given her many feuds with Trump, and she's more politically relevant because of it than Dick is right now, but) that would also make it. Odd. To suddenly about face and say "people employed by government for subject matter expertise or ability to perform bureaucratic and administrative tasks also have to always agree with the President and be part of the President's party, even if they are in positions which aren't elected or appointed".

Which. That part of 2025 always seems to me like it's because Trump and the GoP felt personally slighted by Fauci and other scientists, in any field, like when he didn't like their meteorological data and he drew his own weather maps.

Part of the idea of Project 2025 there is, potentially, to get rid of all the data and research on climate change, or get people in that are loyal but don't care about scientific accuracy, to claim that it isn't happening. And also to spread lies about disease and health and whatever else might be inconvenient at the time.

And. Even if a democratic administration comes in afterwards (and. Parts of 2025 are also about ending and controlling voting, and. I think that's. Probably where Local and State level governments. Might already be able to enact parts of it, partially) then I think the scientific legitimacy of the CDC and EPA would be basically gone, once the official standard is ever "who is most loyal to the president and the party, and willing to say whatever they want to hear" rather than "who actually knows what they're talking about and what they're doing".

[la-pou-belle]

So I'm in a local email group which is intended for sharing ceasefire events in the area. Some folks shared news of Aaron Bushnell's death, and described him as a "true hero" -

which prompted a climate activist and policy guy I know, Dan, to say: "Killing yourself is not heroic. If he wanted to do something brave to make the world better, there are many ways to do that without killing anyone. There are a lot of people in despair in the world, and they don't need this kind of encouragement to murder themselves. [...] I think it’s wrong for people to promote and publicize such an action. We need people alive and working to make peace. Every death is a loss. [...] I refuse to believe that nothing Aaron could have made of his life would have been better than what he made by ending it. Believing the opposite, that all the people he might have loved, or clothed or fed or taught, or made to smile, are insignificant compared to impact of death in flames, seems really disrespectful to those who loved him."

This led to two other folks responding, telling him he's in no place to criticize this action; to think twice before saying this in an email group; asking "Dan, you must be in the wrong group, then?"; Doubling down on describing Aaron as brave, "having the guts to make the ultimate sacrifice", etc; and complained that Dan was hard-hearted, rather than compassionate.

I've met Dan before and I don't think policing his tone or questioning his values are good responses. Self-immolation is an extreme act of protest and it's divisive, for fair reason. When I mentioned climate activism, that's because I know Dan from these fields - and it's entirely possible Dan has lost comrades, friends, or even loved ones to suicide. In regards to self-immolation in the U.S., I can think of Wynn Bruce and David Buckel off the top of my head who have taken this act to protest climate inaction. But climate scientists commit suicide in other ways at an alarming and well documented rate. Frankly, we don't know what Dan's relationship to this topic is and I think it's valid for him to show concern, even anger, when someone's suicide is depicted as the best/ultimate sacrifice in a public, activist space.

I suspect all of us in activist circles know an activist - even if they've never explicitly said so - who struggles with depression and privately wishes to end their own suffering. This is difficult work for all of us. I didn't want to police anyone's tone in that thread, more just encourage folks to lay off of Dan, but I will say that the Society of Authors has guidelines on how to discuss suicide/self harm in ways to specifically avoid encouraging these actions in others (https://www.samaritans.org/about-samaritans/media-guidelines/guidance-depictions-suicide-and-self-harm-literature/). Young people, bereaved people, and folks struggling with mental health (all demographics who I know are on this email thread) are statistically more likely to respond to prompts from media depicting suicide.

I fully expect there to be a string of similar self-immolations considering the publicity Aaron Bushnell's death has received, available videos of it, descriptions of this act as "heroic" and him as a martyr, and the available details on his method. If I'm being honest, I'm personally worried for some high schoolers I know who have expressed they no longer can function in school and are gripped with hopelessness at how they can effect change. I'll do what I can to offer them support.

I respect Aaron Bushnell's choice and I am going to continue to push for change. I hope to honor his memory. But I will also never say that self immolation was the best use of his, or anyone's, life. If I'm being selfish, I would prefer folks like Aaron to continue building community, educating their personal circles, and "make up" for their participation in the military with good works - but it's not my decision and it shouldn't be my decision.

Anyways, I'm ranting about it here because I think it's important for us to have space to express opinions like these without being pushed out of community or publically dog-piled. In my ideal world, Aaron's death and motives are accurately covered by the media, but details and descriptions of his method are left out of it (as per the writing guidelines, details on method - especially novel methods - increase the likelihood of mimicking the method.)

[moonstone27ls]

Chucky season 3...

Warning...

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Spoiler warning....

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After this I'm done warning....

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I warned you.....

Sooo quite a bit happened. Some of it felt crazy, maybe it was rushed. But considering they went through a writers' strike, etc. And its Chucky in general, I kinda let some of it slide. It was still a decent season. And I'm hoping they'll give it a fourth season. Especially since it ended on a cliff hanger.

Ep 6 was pretty decent. I mostly felt sorry for Henry, poor kid was manipulated so badly and all that he saw. He's gonna need a lot of therapy.

I almost can not get over that out of all the things Chucky wanted he wanted to blow up the North Pole, just to ruin the kids belief in Santa. In fact his last words were "Fuck Santa".

Bigger picture wise (yes I know its a horror/comedy but I still have a right to nitpick 8B)... I am a LITTLE surprised that the military did not even remotely question the "President"'s orders to blow up those designations. You would think one would be "Uhh... sir why the North Pole?". I mean you'd think one person would question whats happening the moment they hear him go "Abort" later that it should been a big red flag to turn EVERYTHING off.

And also.... though its the North Pole and climate change in all.... still feel there should have been some effect from blowing up the North Pole oO;. What I dunno. I'm not a scientist but still should have done something.

Ep 7: Feel like the Underworld was a nod/or inspiration from Beetlejuice lobby scene. And I dunno if its because they're all "ghosts" still... a bit confused why Chucky's victims were there with Damballa. Since you know they assuming didn't worship him.But I enjoyed the scene still.

I really did enjoy his banter with his god. Lol Damballa's own surprise to hear he killed the President. And he's "Oh well of course I wasn't paying attention, YOU cheated on me with other gods".

Though... and yes I'm nitpicking. Chucky's other chance... Damballa said he needed to kill without a body. I thought it was already achieved when he killed the three people at the seance... but I guess Jake's killing in the next ep still counted? Or maybe that was just an ad on for "kill counts". And as confused as I am where G.G. stands (good/or villain wise). I did like the message they left their mother

Then we get onto the finale... as much as it was interesting to see world of the dead/limbo, etc (I dunno). It honestly felt a bit obvious it was a trap. Why... because as much as Jake kept stressing there was "good chucky".

That was technically brainwashing. Brainwashing that was never really proven/or even successful. Cause... they did that in what in a couple of days. That can take weeks or months, maybe years. Not to mention all the other Chuckys. I dunno don't think thats how death works. But this was probably more fun I guess.

Did enjoy Jake's scene with him forgiving his dad. Though I do feel they missed a good opportunity for him to make up with all his family. His uncle, aunt and even Junior. (cousin) Junior I think especially considering, Junior died with no resolution between his animosity with Jake. Yes, yes I know Lexy "love". Butt doesn't scrape off the kid died with issues. He murdered his father (whom he had daddy issues). He spent his last days either bullying/or hating his cousin. Whom from I can see Jake didn't hate him, it was like his dad. He just hated how he was being treated.

But oh well, maybe they couldn't reach the actors/or didn't have time.

Not entirely surprised the CIA group would bomb the house to "cover up things". Would be shocked/or sadden by the medium Timmy dying... but he was only there two eps. The impact isn't as strong/or surprising. Did enjoy Pyrce was somewhat haunted by the ghosts before he died. I dunno feels almost poetic. Though it was cute Grant saw the ghost of his father holding hands with his baby brother Joseph... felt so sad/or bittersweet.

Then there's Tiff's escape.... uhh don't get me wrong I was okay. She's practically part of Chucky's entourage. And I'm not shocked she'd get out/maybe even reunite. Its just the continual luck that baffles me. I mean again this Chucky, so I went with it. But still lol.

She was so adamant about having those dolls. Making it implied she needed them or her spells wouldn't work(though I always find it strange her "dolls" influence feelings is a stretch). But literally they all come to her without even touching them. And if its the case they're all acting odd, you'd think someone family/or staff would notice oO. And I'm not buying that a random convict is that good of a shot at killing a sniper. Lol but I guess Chucky's gotta have his kill count.

And also how DID Tiffany know to come RIGHT to Wendell's house or that he'd be there oO. Had they been talking about that plan and when? But oh well. They brought back Chuck/Tiff which I'm okay with. There aren't that many "horror" couples and I feel they just kinda fit. Like a horror verse of Dr Girlfriend/Monarch.

I admit it was cute they actually tried to make these two like normal parents. And were nostalgic about G.G and wished to hear from them.

Then we have Caroline.... guys I'll say it again I have mixed feelings with her. And I'm gonna give fair warning, this is MY observation. I know I don't speak for a whole community. This is just from what I HAVE seen and read from other commentators on such topic.

Now bigger picture. The evil kid trope is not shocking or even unheard of. Same for killer kid trope. And if done right, they become icons like Children from the Corn, Rhoda Penmark, Sadako, and Damien (young Damien). And no just to make obvious, I'm not expecting Caroline to be an automatic icon.

To explain better... its that she's been hinted to be autistic. And for that matter her automatic switch to evil while its not completely out of the blue... feels problematic. Again I am NOT autistic and I know I shouldn't get on a pedestal and rant about something I'm not a 100% familiar with. But I bring this up for one reason, (there might be others but this is the only one coming to mind) The Predator made in 2018. Several people were not fond of how the portrayal was used. Furthermore making her a killer/or would be killer felt like it was going with a bad trope/stereotype. Again this is my understanding.

Do I think Mancini did this on purpose? That he's being an ableist following a stereotype. I ... don't think so. But even good creators can make mistakes. I think for the most part... this feels bad because this came out of no where and had no development. From all acounts Caroline was a normal, sweet kid. That judging by the writing was struggling to be understood by her family.

Yes that part I got. Cause I can imagine its tough for parents with a child thats most likely autistic, while the other one isn't (Lexy). Yes she ignored some of Chucky's violent stuff. But with no REAL development you can chalk it up to she's just a kid. Orr yes they'll just go "oh she's autistic".

In all honesty her going to the "dark side" was more of a plot twist for season 2. HAD we seen actual signs or development it'd be different. Show Caroline showing a big interest in dissection or tormenting animals. Have her be actual violent. We've seen Chucky influence children. They could have done that, SHOW Chucky telling her how to think. Show her enjoying it/or even questioning before giving in. But up until then we had NOTHING.

So her abandoning her family because Chucky told. So her "thats why I never fit in" and "this is who I am now". While I don't think Mancini meant to bring a bad representation. But without real development or something. It just looks like "oh she was evil cause she's autistic". That this is who I am moment just feels like a BAD allegory for autism. Sooo.. yeah have mixed feelings on Caroline.

But all my griping aside. Thats not to say I didn't love this show. No it was still good. The effects were great, you still had feels for the First family. Anddd we still had everyone alive. And although I'm sure some were hoping we'd get Andy and Kyle. I'm okay with it. Because it means they're still alive. And thats all I want. I want the originals to still be alive. If Mancini wants them to retire and let the new kids handle evil, thats also fine. Just don't kill off the original kid heroes.

Then we have the unknownnnnn.... SEASON 4!! Will we get it? Hope so cause that was a cliffhanger and I hate cliffhangers, lol.

Is there anything I want for season 4 if its greenlighted. Uh... I dunno. I'm okay with Chucky getting away (I'm sorta use to it from watching Elm street and Jason movies). Killer dies, comes back or you get a clear hint of sequels but heroes are still alive so you can be happy.

I know there are rumors? or confirmation Mancini was given a greenlight to make another Chucky movie. But as the show, if he wants to continue it I'm all for it. I would just like one episode to have Robert Englund. Cause I heard rumors of a Freddy/Chucky crossover. And while I don't know if it'd work for a movie. I think its a great chance for a season/or at least couple of episodes. Get Englund and Dourif together before I dunno they get/or feel too old to voice the roles again. Yes I said voice, cause I can imagine 76 yearold Englund might not wanna go through that make up process again. I dunno get a double to wear it and let him voice act. Fiona did her dad's "younger self".

Keep Tiff/Chuck together. Let Andy and Kyle live. I would like to see G.G. just at best to know what are they? Evil? Good? Good but you can't poke too much cause they'll go Norman Bates on you. Let Nica... let Nica get therapy oO;;. Poor gal couldn't win this season.

I don't have much aspirations for our new gen of heroes. They're okay but most of their conflicts feel resolved (aside from cliff hanger)... so yeah I guess skip them. Though I do wanna know what they did with their bodies. For that matter Tiff's ... no Jennifer to go back to her old body... so does that mean she just died?

Figure out... what the heck do they plan to do with Caroline. The rant I just wrote aside... what is there to do? Kill her off? Send her to a home for delinquents? No seriously I dunno.

[theultimatenonbinarynerd]

New Who Kid Watches Classic Who: Genesis Of The Daleks

Introduction

Classic Who is something I owe a lot too even though I have never seen it. Without Classic Who my Grandma never would have gotten my Mum into Doctor Who and without my Mum getting into Doctor Who I never would have become obsessed with New Who. Its a generational cycle in my family that only my brother has broken.

With all of Classic Who being put on BBC I Player well most of it. (I'm gutted about an unearthly child) I decided it was time to get into the era that thrived my Grandma (Rip) and Mum's love for scifi. But before I started from the beginning there were three episodes I knew I needed to check out, let's say they were for lore curiosities sake. The TV Movie, Genesis Of The Daleks and The Five Doctor's. I'll share my thoughts on The TV Movie and The Five Doctor's in separate blogs, for now I gotta talk about Genesis Of The Daleks. It's gonna take me a white to get use to the 6 part stories and dramatic cliffhangers but I'm willing to give it a chance.

Okay I will say as a disabled person I see what Russell T Davies means but he needs to rewatch this episode as The Disabled Villian trope becomes worse if the character is motivated by their disability Davros isn't. I completely understand the thoughts though I just hope that skit was non cannon or an alternate universe and they treat him with respect. He was a manipulative menace in this episode and its pretty ironic that in the end he got out manipulated. I hope his other appearances are just as good and they explain his survival well.

What I Liked

There's a lot I loved throughout this six parter it was very tense and climatic. I also thought our tardis team of The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan worked together masterfully. Whilst The Ponds reminded me of A Married Couple Babysitting their goofy Son, These three reminded me of Two Siblings trying to keep up with their Older Wise But Mad Sibling. It's the first time I've seen Sarah with a Doctor other than 10 and 11 and they work together beautifully.

Firstly I have to praise the incredible cinematography. Man the shots despite this episode being filmed so long ago are absolutely beautiful even on a wide screen TV. The angled shadowy shots of the Daleks are really menacing and it adds to the dark tone of the story as it is. All the settings including the clean white aesthetic of the karld labs create a deeply unsettling feeling in your stomach. I also think the cuts to Davros make you very uneasy as well, his introduction and reveal was absolutely magnificent.

Secondly I have to praise the incredible themes and philosophy incoperated into this story. Toxic Fans like to scream and yell at Moden Doctor Who calling it woke when it always has been. Terry Nation crafted a really good story about the ethics of war and genocide even if you know that the very think you plan to stop might become an earth shattering unempathetic killer. It was very heartbreaking but seeing all the karld scientists wiped out by the Daleks was so important to include as it shows the deep juxtaposition between Davros and The Doctor which makes them brilliant rivals. Despite all the Daleks will do The Doctor can't bare to initiate a genocide of them in their earliest form, a mistakes that will haunt The Doctor's character for many years to come. Whilst Davros would happily kill his own men and play a Palpatine chess like game between The Karld's and The Tharls just for the survival of his creation. Its a story with very important messages and themes that the audience need to evolve. Its also a bold one as we finally get to see the orgins of The Daleks and why they are so Heartless. My mum pointed out but I already knew that the Daleks are definitely a metaphor for a certain group in World War 2. The Cybermen too you could argue.

Finally I have to praise the high stakes and thrills. My mum stared at my gasps and started laughing when I said that Classic Who seems to be more of a blood bath than the New Series. I know Bad Wolf and Parting Of The Ways was brutal but this story is just on a whole other level. As well as laughing with me she did hold my hand too I was absolutely heartbroken at some of the deaths and was routing for The Doctor, Harry And Sarah to survive and over come everything. Not to mention the cliffhangers showing this deep danger are characters were in. I was glued to my seat anticipating what might happen next. Nobody was safe and I definitely felt for all the characters that fell to The Daleks peril. This story is definitely worth it for The High Stakes alone.

What I Disliked

Okay so it might be because it's early days of me watching but I didn't like the cliffhangers as they felt disruptive to the flow of the story and very repetitive as half of the cliffhangers were are tardis team in peril or being kidnapped. My mum saids its just the fever of being a new who baby and that it was exciting at the time but for me it was a bit frustrating.

Secondly I feel like Sarah who was beautifully written in New Who didn't get much too do at all. It feels like she was running around for the sake of it and I would have loved her to play an even bigger role then she did. Whilst Harry got to help The Doctor rescue Sarah I felt like Sarah only got to hang around with other characters for the sake of it. I loved Elizabeth Sladen and will forever miss her so I want to see more awesome moments with a younger Sarah.

Conclusion

So those are my first thoughts after watching Genesis Of The Daleks. It was a really good story arc to the point I can tell why it haunted The Doctor so much even in The Time War. Poor Eight especially was haunted by it. I think it still holds up well despite the effects. My mum's right I just gotta lose myself in the story considering it's media that came out during her time. Very invested though. I can see why so many people like Four but like how everyone loves Ten he's probably not gonna be fav Classic Doctor as I tend to route for the underdogs.

Davros is so menacing and I generally can't wait to see his other appearances in Classic Who apart from the one where he's a floating head as I do think that's problematic and it makes me uncomfortable. I seriously admire the boldness of the stories and can see how they've shaped New Who. I hope New Who can make the Daleks as scary as they were in this episode. I miss when the Daleks weren't just a running gag.

I'm gonna definitely be excited when I get back to this Tardis Team. Sarah and Harry are companions that beautifully compliment the 4th Doctor. I really am excited for this journey though as a whole.

This has been Mel with a classic who review over and out.

-Melody-

They/Them

[back-and-totheleft]

"The same old bullshit"

Oliver Stone said Friday he was shocked to hear that the stars of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had walked out of its London premiere the day before as SAG-AFTRA officially declared strike action.

“I know several producers are opening movies, like Oppenheimer. Chuck Roven, he was in London. I heard it was going to be cancelled,” said Stone, when asked for his view on the strike.

“I don’t know if it went ahead but all the actors left. That was shocking that they really meant business and cut off right away all the promotion, which is big.”

Commenting on the ongoing 11-week WGA strike, Stone suggested the roots of the current industrial action lie in the deal brokered to end the five-month writers strike in 1988.

“There was a basic miscarriage of justice way back when, when Brian Walton was the head of the WGA, when we gave in. I wasn’t on the front line, but I supported that strike,” said Stone.

“We gave in to the producers. They got away with murder on one of these deals where all that DVD money was deferred. They claimed they were in the hole, in the red, and that they had to get their money back from DVD.

“I forgot what the percentage was, but they took something like the first 75% off the top. The DVD business was huge, especially for my films. So, the gross was never divided fairly.”

Stone said this trend had continued with residuals and profits.

“Not so much residuals, as profits really. Residuals are important for some of the writers who don’t make as much money. But people who do make money, they don’t touch the profits from the film, the studio does,” he said.

“The studio is always telling you that they’re losing money, but they always find a way to make a new level of profit for 10, 15 years. … It’s that perpetual industrial problem with a capitalist group that pays its executives more and more money and screws the average writer.”

Looking back over past industrial action, Stone recalled how the 2007 writers strike initially led to the postponement of his 1968 My Lai massacre drama Pinkville, and then resulted in it being cancelled for good.

“We had three weeks to go and it got cancelled. We got hurt,” he said.

Stone said he doubted there would be a quick or easy resolution to the current writer and actor disputes.

“I don’t think it will be wrapped up quickly. Because well, I don’t understand the economics of Netflix and these new guys, but it’s the same old bullshit. You know they’re making money and they always say they’re losing money. It’s the classic conflict that goes back to the 1880s in America.”

Stone was talking to Deadline at the Jerusalem Film Festival, where he showed his 2022 documentary Nuclear Now, arguing the case for nuclear power as the only viable way to tackle climate change.

Based on the book A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow, the work premiered at Venice last year.

The work is a passion project for Stone, who says he was inspired to make the film by his fear of climate change.

“I’m not a science expert and I have no kinship with nuclear power. On the contrary, you could say I was a mild believer in the Jane Fonda-Ralph Nader concept of the 1980s that nuclear power was dangerous,” said the director, who also took co-writing credits with U.S. scientist Joshua Goldstein.

“But it’s clear to me from my travels all over the world, that it’s getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter. We were in Italy, two, three days ago, and they said it was hottest day on record or something.”

Stone was also honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Jerusalem Film Festival at the opening ceremony Thursday evening alongside Helen Mirren and Belgian directorial duo Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.

The director last spent extensive time in the country in 2002 at the height of Second Intifada to make his documentary Persona Non Grata, in which he interviewed Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon as well as the Palestinian Al Aqsa Brigade on the Middle East conflict.

Two decades on, he suggested the situation is unchanged.

“It’s a repetitive cycle. I’ve been here several times. I planted an olive tree for peace here in the ’90s with my then-partner Arnon Milchan and came back in 2002 for Persona Non Grata. … I don’t see a difference. It’s just worse. Like it’s getting hotter. It’s just getting more and more choked.”

-Melanie Goodfellow, "Oliver Stone Shocked By ‘Oppenheimer’ SAG-AFTRA Strike Cast Walkout; Says Roots Of Writers Strike Lie In 1988 Deal," Deadline, Jul 14 2023

[forestryfae]

I saw your concept art about a Generator Rex mermaid au! Tell me all about it, it sounds awesome!

i forgot to answer this ask ages ago and now i remember nothing except like. being a mermaid is contagious. dont ask how idk it just is. its like werewolves or the flu. you either have it permanently (born as a mermaid and cant turn human) you were infected somehow (you can now turn mermaid because magic ig but only for a short while, you dont have every mermaid trait and generally can only breathe water and might get webbed feet and scales and stuff like some horrible seamonster but it goes away), you can turn into a perma seamonster of some sort (thorugh chronic infection, like youve been infected with mermaid gunk so much your body cant fully get rid of it all and you just sort of turn permanently into a mermaid/seamonster) and then theres the variation that happens if one parent is a mermaid and the other is infected (you cant turn into a mermaid if only one parent was a mermaid while the other was a regular noninfected human tho) uhhhhhhhhhhhhh i think part of the plot was?? mermaids are your typical human on top/fish on bottom mermaids, there was a mermaid version that had legs with webbed feet and gills instead and was temporary but still mutated you and could become permanent, and then theres humans. mermaids are generally born in the sea and kinda hard to find and not very well known about despite being one of the most common fish in the sea, so to speak, so not much is known about them. humans live on land and do human stuff but also do research on mermaids cus otherwise there wouldnt be a plot or providence. uhhhh. some mermaids are mean. rex inherited the mermaid gene from his violeta and raphael, one of which was a perma-mermaid and one who was shortterm mermaided (dont ask who was what i dont care and its irrelevant. do what you want go wild), so he can shift between mermaid and human forme. cesar cant and is a full time employee of the mermaid species. theyre both a warmer sea not so far into the depths of the ocean fish so they cant tolerate too much pressure but they can get a good couple km down there. theyre primarily omnivorous. rex is orange and white w blue spots. cesar is primarily red and brown, i say as if i didnt draw him with GREEN scales. come on. sometimes they change colors but generally thats a seasonal thing. six is a human and has a scuba diving certificate. wk is wearing one of those old school scuba diving suits with the round helmet w the glass on it. or hes afraid of the sea idfk. hes the boss guy or something. maybe he has an allergy to seafood holiday is still smart and also does fish science. she also has a scuba certificate

noah is a human but rex keeps infecting him w fish lung disease so they can fuck around and find out in the ocean breach is of course an octopus. nothing else would make sense. her tentacles are purble as of now circe is. probably also half mermaid half human the same way rex is?

van kleiss is a deep sea cold climate shark mermaid, which means he can dive like all the way to the marina trench and probably get halfway to the borrom or so before he dies. idk i dont know science. its 2 am. hes mainly brown and has some yellow golden stripes. he could also be an orca if realistic mermaids based on real animals is a thing people prefer cus frankly orcas are fucking mean. the only thing meaner than orcas are dophins but i dont think he realy ahs dolphin vibes. also orcas are black and white soooo. his diet is carnivorous and eats seaweed and algae sometimes. hes missing an arm from having an anchor fall on him. totally not his fault skalamander is a kind of crocodile or some shit idfk. biowulf is also there?? at absolutely every point during the making of this au i forgot they even existed

basically violeta and rafael were scientists and stuff and they did science w humans and other mermaids and they were doing some stuff and then vk killed them and it resulted in rex losing his memory and vk getting an anchor dropped on himself which cut his entire arm off (not his fault he did nothing wrong) due to the ship exploding after vk did some tech shit and blew it up. later providence started to exist idk. they got big ass aquariums and they use it to study mermaids??