#mine ban convention

[mineaction]

Beyond Oslo - Taking stock of Gender and Diversity mainstreaming in the Anti-personnel mine ban convention.

Considering improvements in gender & diversity mainstreaming within mine action?

Our "Beyond Oslo" report analyzes the effectiveness of current strategies & explores potential paths forward.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) is a reference in gender and diversity mainstreaming. In its latest Action Plan, known as the Oslo Action Plan (OAP), APMBC States Parties committed to take a number of practical steps to integrate gender perspectives and the diverse needs and experiences of people in affected communities into all aspects of mine action and programming.

As the OAP enters its final year of implementation, this report provides an overview of the implementation of action points covering gender, diversity, and inclusion, with the intention to assess its impact and reflect on the way forward. Drawing on official reporting and statements made by States Parties, as well as on a survey conducted with key actors in mine action, this report outlines instances of progress achieved regarding gender and diversity mainstreaming, as well as challenges and areas for improvement that could be addressed in the next Action Plan.

Citation: Renata H. Dalaqua, Paula Jou Fuster and Hana Salama (2023) "Beyond Oslo: Taking Stock of Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming in the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention", UNIDIR, Geneva.

[catboymoments]

Not at all in lunasol's side, I have no idea who they even are.

BUT a friend of mine is currently facing a harassment campaign, got stalked at a transformers convention that happened the weekend before last, and people were taking pictures of their booth to further harass them.

So I kinda get why that person would be upset at someone they don't like or doesn't like them for taking a picture of their booth.

Oh absolutely I 100% should’ve never posted the picture or taken it in the first place but the reaction from their supporters and how they reacted even after I acknowledged that I was wrong and deleted the post was way overblown. I only knew them from that one “you are a minor who knows nothing of the world, brat” tweet and I was like “woah it’s that guy” and suddenly I’m getting death/doxx threats for like a week and people saying I should be banned and blacklisted from future jobs

[the-typing-dragon]

Ok but like why does every other class have relatively normal weaponry, the the Driller is over here speedrunning the Geneva Convention. Bro has flametrowers, ice throwers (which im sure would be banned if they were as powerful as the cryo cannon), sludge which I'm pretty sure counts as a bio weapon, literal microwaves to boil thing's internals, and repurposed mining equipment. Bro can cause frostbite and heatstroke at the same time and cause you to immolate on the spot.

[coelii]

Super disappointed to hear that my country is providing Ukraine with anti-personnel mines

The use of which were banned by the Ottawa Convention of 1997, which over 130 countries have signed and ratified (including Ukraine)

[lulu2992]

Uncovering the unreleased Far Cry 5 in-game Encyclopedia

The almost complete but unused in-game encyclopedia, reconstructed thanks to the oasisstrings file.

Please note that it’s still cut content, so some information might not be relevant anymore.

You can read the oasisstrings file here. Pictures from this encyclopedia were also extracted and posted by @xbaebsae here.

Part 4: Locations - Henbane River

Tanami Residence

Some idiot drove a dredge into Roy Tanami's property, damaging his bunker beyond repair. Out of options, Tanami swallowed his pride and joined the Whitetail Militia up north.

Vasquez Residence

Home of Mr. Vasquez, former employee of Nolan's Fly Shop.

Hollyhock Saloon

One of the first businesses to fall to Eden’s Gate when they banned alcohol in the county. No one knows if the owners moved or were taken.

Can of Worms Fishing Store

Rods and tackle a-plenty. Owned by Sherri Woodhouse, who does salvage runs for sunken treasure in her spare time.

Deep North Water Treatment Plant

Built in 2002 to treat the toxic water from decades of mining practices. Today, Eden’s Gate uses it to disperse Bliss into the water.

Misty River Gas

A local gas station by the water, owned by Mr. McDevitt.

McCoy Cabin

Home of Darby McCoy who joined the cult against his will. This cabin is both close to the water and the Misty River Gas, an ideal spot for the cult to run operations.

Peaches Taxidermy

Mable's a rough-edged taxidermist. She lives here with her pet cougar.

Barlow Residence

Residence of Dr. Phil Barlow. He was a pharmacist who joined Eden’s Gate.

McClean Residence

Residence of Travis McClean. He was a former Air Force veteran turned prepper. Like so many others, he and his husband are on the run from Eden's Gate.

Eden’s Gate Outreach Center

This was once a place to learn more about Eden’s Gate and the Father’s message. Nothing out of the ordinary, until it became what it is today.

The Pillars of Eden

An outdoor amphitheater and a place of worship for Eden's Gate.

Drubman Marina

The Drubman Marina began in 1992 as an oil sands prospecting venture. Hurk Drubman Sr. became rich, but ost the property in a divorce to his wife Adelaide. She has big dreams for the place.

Silver Lake Campgrounds

A place to camp with a nice view of the mountains, the water, and the Whitetail Mountain Rail Bridge.

Silver Lake Summer Camp

An old summer camp. It was forced out of business by Eden’s Gate about 8 years ago. The cult used this place to stockpile their goods while their bunkers were being built.

Howling Cave

A well-known wolf habitat. The cult frequently takes animals from here and sends them north to Jacob.

Taft Lookout Tower

An old firewatch tower built in 1945. The cult uses it as a checkpoint and surveillance location. As expected, it is heavily guarded at all times.

Raptor Peak

A mountain peak that's a favorite nesting spot for birds of prey.

Camp Cougars

The Resistance has set up a camp to use as a base of operations for attacks against the cult and rescue missions for those on the pilgrimage path.

Dire Wolf Basin

A smoking basin that Eden's Gate has claimed as their own. Also a place of worship for the cult.

Sabre-Tooth Springs

These hot springs and the nearby cave used to be a tourist destination. It's right next to a road, meaning this location spent little in advertising. Today, it only attracts the cult.

Eden’s Convent

The very first building set up by the Project at Eden’s Gate in Hope County. People came here for spiritual retreats and to learn the Word of Joseph. When they left, if they did, it was with a permanent smile on their faces.

Sacred Skies Youth Camp

Formerly a Christian youth camp that was shut down fifteen years ago when the population dwindled. Eden’s Gate quietly bought it ten years ago. They use the land for growing Bliss flowers while living on-site.

Joseph’s Word

A statue of Joseph Seed that was constructed almost overnight. It commemorates the Father bringing his Word to the world. It also houses a rare, one-of-a-kind manuscript that is sacred to Eden's Gate.

Purpletop Antenna

Eden's Gate controls the radio towers. There's no signal but Joseph's Word out here.

Dead Man’s Mill

A water mill left over from the gold rush heyday. Everyone in Hope County has a different version of how it got its name, but the most popular story is a man's suicide after the closure of the mines.

Mastodon Geothermal Park

A tourist attraction established in 1836. People used to come here to admire the unique geological landscape. Now Eden's Gate uses it as an execution site.

Chan Residence

Back in the day, the owner of the Sacred Skies Youth Camp lived here. The cabin now belongs to Jasmine Chan, a big game hunter who was recruited into Eden's Gate against her will.

Counselor’s Cabin

This used to be the counselor's cabin when the Sacred Skies Youth Camp was in operation.

Nature Cabin

It once belonged to the Sacred Skies Youth Camp. Kids would come here to learn about animals, or rest after hurting themselves on the nearby zip line.

Throne of Mercy Church

A gold rush era church run by Jerrod Wilson, a preacher and rival of Emmet Reaves in the late 1800s. The church survived until about ten years ago when the cult closed it down.

Administrator’s Cabin

This used to be the administrator's cabin when the Sacred Skies Youth Camp was in operation.

Boshaw Manor

The humble dwelling of Charlemagne Victor Boshaw IV, gentleman fire enthusiast.

King’s Hot Springs Hotel

Once a spot for the posh to "take the waters," a landslide triggered by an earthquake in 1917 closed it temporarily and made it a ghost hunter's gem. It reopened, only to close again in 1994. Eden's Gate has put it to good use.

Moonflower Trailer Park

Once the fanciest trailer park in Montana run by the Boshaws. When the economy dried up and the Boshaws did nothing to retain their tenants, people relocated to the Silver Lake trailer park in the Holland Valley.

Sinclair Residence

Frankie Sinclair dreamed of being a world class French chef. Only problem? He couldn't speak a lick of French. He worked at the King's Hot Springs Hotel until it closed in 1994.

Horned Serpent Cave

A sulfur cave that's part of the volcanically active landscape of the region. It was once an industrial site, but the cult has turned it into a mass grave for Angels who can serve the project no more.

Henbane River Station

Copperhead Rail was created in the late 1800s by Emmet Reaves. It was shut down in the early 70s after the last of the local mining industries dried up. This station has been abandoned ever since.

Grimalkin Radon Mine

Once a part of a radon spa chain, it shut down in the 60s. Guy Marvel fell in love with the aesthetic and figured it’d be the perfect place for his next movie masterpiece.

Lydia’s Cave

In 1912, some loggers saw a girl eating a goat with wolves. She was captured in this cave and brought to a doctor who named her Lydia. She escaped and was last seen deep in the wilds suckling two wolf cubs.

Whistling Beaver Brewery

This brewery and pub opened in the late 1880s. It closed in 1916-1918 for Prohibition and reopened in the 30s. Pushed out of the national market by artisanal beer, the brewery was struggling and quietly sold to Eden's Gate.

The Misery

A dredge that belonged to the Catamount Mining Company. When the mines dried up, they tried to get gold from the riverbeds, but failed and abandoned it. The Resistance tells horror stories about what goes on there now.

Faith’s Gate

A bunker under Faith's guardianship. It is shrouded in Bliss, ensuring that those who are sheltered here will not be frightened when the Collapse comes.

Feeney Residence

Home of Dwight Feeney, a prepper and chemistry aficionado who joined Eden’s Gate when they promised him an important role in the creation of Bliss.

Eden’s Altar

A place of worship for Eden’s Gate. The faithful gather to hear sermons about Joseph’s visions and plans.

Gethsemane Greenhouse

A building used to precisely control the growing conditions of plants. Whatever these plants were before, they are now Bliss flowers.

Lorna’s Truck Stop

Lorna Rawlings used her BINGO winnings to create the best place for hard-working truckers like her husband to refresh and refuel. The cult came to take the place. She said no. She hasn’t been seen since.

Henbane River Chalets

A tourist trap that was shut down by the cult. The lake view was also sought after as a filming location.

Aubrey’s Diner

One of the first places to close when the cult took over. Their grilled cheese was no good.

O’Hara’s Haunted House

A professional clown named Edward O'Hara bought a barn and turned it into a haunted house that was a Halloween tradition in Hope County. Edward himself disappeared, and people disagree on whether or not the cult got him.

Ghost Cat Mine

The old mine has been closed for decades but the headframe warehouse is still there, used by the cult to store their containers of Bliss.

The Last Best Resting Place

An old, overgrown graveyard left from the gold rush era.

Jones Residence

Home of Kanti Jones, a Blackfoot woman and ranger who used to work in Whitetail Park. She was forced into retirement when the park closed. She fought against Eden’s Gate, dying in a shootout in her home.

Nelson Residence

Home of Coyote Nelson. He tried to lay low and enjoy fishing and painting but his peaceful pastimes didn't save him.

8-Bit Pizza Bar

The presence of pizza and an arcade made this the most exciting spot for teens within a hundred miles.

Pepper Residence

Holly Pepper and her girlfriend Charlie were among the first locals to join Eden's Gate. They abandoned this house and were never heard from again. The cult turned the property into a grow op.

Hope County Jail

20 years ago, a riot caused a jail break and a bus full of escaped prisoners ran off the road somewhere in Holland Valley. Later on, the prison closed due to budget cuts. Today, the Cougar resistance takes shelter here.

Nolan’s Fly Shop

Nolan Pettis ran his fly shop and gave fishing tours happily for years, although he was never a famous outdoorsman like local celebrity Skylar Kohrs. The money for his shop dried up and he joined Eden’s Gate.

Johnson Residence

Bob and Penny Johnson struck it rich in cattle futures, then they lost everything. After such a fall from grace, Joseph’s cult seemed welcoming. They handed everything over. No one knows where they are now.

Bright Warden Radon Spa

A health spa shut down in the 60s. Eden’s Gate has been spotted going in and out of this mine, using it as a storage facility.

Prosperity

Founded by rail and lumber baron Emmett Reaves. As the industry dried up, the town died and people moved west to Fall’s End. What remains of the ghost town is now used by junkies and the homeless.

Abercrombie Residence

Home of Melvin Adams Abercrombie. He robbed a bank in the 1940s and got away with it. He used his money to build this property and to prepare for the total collapse of the global financial system.

McCallough’s Garage

Once owned by Steve McCallough. He tried to warn everyone about Eden’s Gate, and even had a getaway car and some supplies ready. One day, his shop got boarded up and Steve was nowhere to be found.

Jessop Conservatory

Dr. Rachel Jessop created this place to protect and research at-risk flora and fauna. After budget cuts gutted her funding, Eden's Gate bought her out and devoted the facilities to developing potent strains of Bliss flowers.

Harrison Lookout Tower

One of the towers built in the 1940s to spot forest fires. It was abandoned ten years ago when funding ran out and the cult bought the property. It overlooks the site of one of Clutch Nixon's legendary stunts.

Seeley’s Cabin

Residence of Dwight Seeley. He worked in the local mines and then got kicked out of his place when the cult took over.

Deer Tiger Mine

Established in 1912, this mine was closed down in the 70s. Eden’s Gate appears to use it for storage.

Puma Mine

Another relic of a bygone gold rush, the Puma Mine has been abandoned for decades.

Ancient Bison Tunnel

A closed-off tunnel. No one gets in. No one gets out.

[olderthannetfic]

(cw for mentions predatory behavior/grooming) I wish people understood how unsafe the furry fandom is for minors. I know that every fandom has that problem to some extent, but from my personal experience it seems to be much worse in the furry fandom. I was in it for many years as a young teen (age 13-16 ish) and literally ran away from it by the end. If you're into fursuiting at all you will be surrounded by adults in their 20s ish that are often dangerously and upsettingly immature for some reason. Despite how "sfw" the like to claim they can be, they aren't. The amount of times in which either I have or had witnessed someone else under 18 being intentionally shown p-rn either directly or through groups that call themselves "sfw" is revolting. Fuck's sake I once saw one of those "guess my age by my art" posts in which some grown adult went "I guess you're 15? Can you guess mine?" and attached nsfw art to their comment (the genitals were censored but STILL). facepalm with me, please. Attending irl events is another can of worms, really. Just hope that event runners keep an eye out for predators in the community and promptly ban them. Id like to think that there was a misunderstanding, really, but I once had to report an adult commissioner who took advantage of their commission contracts with minors to get flirtatious with them regardless of how much discomfort they voiced (I even had a video of the guy m-sturbating that he had sent to someone that was even younger than me that I would have happily provided as proof). And the convention runners didn't blacklist that guy. This isnt an isolated case either, registered sex offenders have been hard to blacklist from cons in the past. The problem here is the immaturity that adults who claim to be able to make a safe space for everyone have makes them really struggle to hold that promise.

--

I haven't hung out in furry spaces much. I do think that in-person events that are at least partly about sexual stuff are a minefield and many of them just ban everyone underage because it's easier.

Is suspect Furry spaces are suffering from a common problem that happens when something perfectly reasonable is seen as freakish and socially unacceptable. When banal queer sexuality is driven underground, it's harder to sort the consensual adult stuff from the predatory stuff. When half the priests out there have secret, forbidden but perfectly consensual adult relationships, it makes it easier for the predators to hide in the general atmosphere of secrecy.

People cry wolf so often about furry being scarybadcringeyuck that I'm sure a lot of furries just dismiss any challenge to anything.

--

Outside of furry circles, people usually just think of furries as a Weird Sex Thing, so they're unlikely to imagine children should be hanging out in those spaces.

[johannestevans]

Come see me in Leeds this Friday!

Good morning, good morning!

Remember you can sign up to get this update directly as an email. Anything that I can't promote or post as per Patreon's more stringent guidelines will always still be in my regular email newsletters.

First things first, in the aftermath of the piece I submitted to Trans_Muted late last year, I'm going to be at an event at The Bookish Type, a queer bookshop, in Leeds this Friday evening! Tickets are sold out online, but there will be more tickets available on the door at the £0-£5 range depending on how much people can afford.

It's going to be a Q&A and discussion sort of night, with some readings as well - as well as me, there'll be Dalton Harrison, the founder of StandFast Productions, a collective for ex-offenders to share art and stories; there's Loren Lepton, who does all sorts of rocking art across different disciplines and has published poetry in Trans_Muted; and of course there's Dorian Rose, the founder of Trans_Muted!

Here's the piece I'll be discussing and potentially reading from:

Questions You Wish You Could Ask A Gay Transgender Man — A tongue-in-cheek take on cisgender people’s frequently asked questions.

Read here in Trans_Muted!

Also On Medium / / On Patreon.

There will be books and such forth available from us, as well as the fact that the Bookish Type is an excellent queer-run bookshop that will have all manner of wonders for you to peruse as ever.

Great news for those who enjoyed my Minotaur talk a while back - Romancing the Gothic have invited me back to do another talk as part of a charity event toward the end of March!

On March 16th 2024, Goths for Breakfast is going to centre a variety of talks about gothic literature to raise money for hungry kids, and mine is going to be a presentation and dive into Crimson Peak (2015, dir. Guillermo Del Toro) and its appeal as a modern gothic romance, with a bit of examination about people's hunger for ~problematic~ themes in the age of BookTok, book bans, and rising puritan values and opposition to nuance. Title is yet to drop, but in the meantime, go sign up for Romancing the Gothic and check out their other events!

My plan is to write more non-fiction in the next few months as honestly, I need the money - I'm settling well into the new place but I'm getting used to balancing all my bills against furnishing everything, and I'm currently in need of some dental care. I've talked about it at length here, and there's two polls here and here at the moment about particular essays or non-fiction people would be most eager to see and read, but please let me know if there's anything you'd really like me to write about!

I have a few media recs this week - I already mentioned that I've been playing Dragon Quest XI and I'm now replaying Final Fantasy XV again, but onto some movie recs! A few of these fucking rock, and I definitely plan to write a bit more about them at length.

The Holdovers (2023, dir. Alexander Payne) - This one was good, not a new favourite of mine or anything, but it's well-paced and has a lot of well-done slice-of-life and character study, which I know people who like my work will undoubtedly appreciate! It's a loving and sensitive film - I found it to be a bit bland for my taste, but for being this sort of film it's not at all too saccharine, and it definitely might be worth a watch if you like nasty old men or nasty young men! I'll be honest, though, none of the men in this are particularly to my taste - I did love Da'Vine Joy Randolph's performance though, she really makes the whole film.

Demon (2015, dir. Marcin Wrona) - This film has been criticised a lot by genre horror fans because they're upset that it doesn't meet genre horror conventions: it doesn't. This is a real fucking horror film delving into the reality of living on haunted, bloodied land, and it's a modern retelling of The Dybbuk - gentiles at a wedding become haunted by the ghost of a dead Jewish bride, and horrors unfold for them. This film is beautiful, and I don't think I've ever seen a film that depicts gentiles grappling so much with the violence that's been done by them and their community to Jewish people, and then making the decision to turn away from it. The haunting of the pogroms in this film is visceral, and it feels all the more salient at the moment given the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the historical-to-now experiences of Palestinians in the face of that colonial violence.

Minyan (2020, dir. Eric Steel) - This is a super gorgeous film as well - I've watched a lot of coming-of-age flicks about young queer men coming to terms with their sexuality, particularly set in the 80s, but I've never seen one that has such a loving depiction of a man's developing sexual identity at the same time as his developing religious one and the relationship he has with his Judaism and with worship and religion, and other queer men in his community and how many there are once he knows how to look for and find them. I really love the undercurrent of his relationship with James Baldwin's work, especially a contrast at one point of a fellow young Russian Jew saying he's going to join the IDF, and then immediately jump to work from Baldwin. I would recommend Baldwin's short open letter on Zionism, antisemitism, and Palestinian liberation from '79 in The Nation, which you can read here.

New Works Published

Serial Update: Powder and Feathers

Chapter Fifty-Four: Colm has a painful discussion with his granddaughter; Jean-Pierre bonds with his niece.

--

It seems to Aimé Deverell that there is very little point to life, except for what pleasures can be enjoyed before the grave. Life is short - thank God - but at least there's enough in the world to dull the senses in the meantime.

That philosophy shatters like glass when he meets Jean-Pierre, an angel.

Read on Medium / / Read on Ao3 / / Read on WorldAnvil

Erotic Short: Wine Barrel

The angel Jean-Pierre lets himself get caught by the all-too-friendly Dionysus.

Rated E, trans M/everyone at a party. Featuring object insertion, inflation with a womb filled up with wine, unsafe alcohol consumption, lactation, milking, public humiliation, voyeurism, transformation, very drunk sex, sadomasochism, free use, objectification, begging, multiple orgasms, overstimulation.

Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon / / Read on SubscribeStar / / Read on Ao3

Erotic Short: Window Trap

Jean-Pierre makes an unwise decision, and gets caught amongst the wrong crowd.

Rated E, 3.9k, trans M angel gangbanged by Greek gods, mostly by Hermes (Aetos Talaria). Doros is also here — Doros and Jean-Pierre both being characters in Powder and Feathers.

Dubious to non consent here after some pure hubris, with a gangbang, large insertions, come inflation, deepthroating, spitroasting, predicament bondage with Jean-Pierre stuck in a wall, humiliation, degradation, dirty talk, masochism, stomach bulges.

Read on Medium / / Read on SubscribeStar / / Read on Ao3

Non-Fiction: My Top 6 Films of 2023

2023 had a few knock-out hits as far as the cinema goes — obviously, people were very excited about the respective releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer, but my top films of the year were a bit different.

One  thing I do think unites a lot of these — and a trend I hope to see from  more films in the next few years — is a trend toward more earnestness  and sincerity in scripts and plot lines, and I’m hoping that trend  continues!

Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon/ / Read on Tumblr

Woe, Boypussy Be Upon Ye: Transing Characters in Fanfic & Fanart

What’s the deal with envisioning your blorbos as transgender?

Read on Medium in Prism & Pen / / Read on Patreon/ / Read on Tumblr

Erotic TweetFic: Building Stamina

A new addition to a band of mercenaries struggles to keep pace with them - but no worries. They've another role in mind for him.

Read on Twitter

[occasionaltouhou]

Do you think Kappa made Lego traps (thought of mines originally) would be a much deadlier weapon to humans because of the whole "insane agony stepping on a Lego provides" sentiment? If the humans made a Lego mine somehow, would it be of usable and effective against Youkai? Should Lego weaponry be banned by the Geneva Convention in the context of combating the supernatural?

Many such questions to be asked

these are the real questions, and have been under fierce debate ever since the concept of a lego brick weapon was inadvertently introduced to gensokyo by sanae and a couple of 2005-era lego kits

[infinitemonkeytheory]

[L]et’s talk about what else Trump said about abortion yesterday. Because wow. 

In addition to spouting his usual nonsense, claiming that everyone wanted Roeoverturned and he just gave the issue back to “the people,” the disgraced former president tried to downplay how important abortion will be come November. Trump said the issue had become “very much subdued,” “very much tapered down,” “much less of an issue,” and a “very small issue.” He insisted, “I don’t think it’s a big factor anymore.”

Something tells me that the women going septic or being forced into hysterectomies don’t think abortion is “much less of an issue.”

[…]

Trump also talked about ‘post-birth’ abortion again, accusing Walz of supporting the murder of newborns and making clear that he won’t be losing the insane talking point anytime soon. You all know I think Harris should go on offense, and explain to Americans what Trump is actually talking about here: palliative care for fatally-ill newborns. 

I can’t imagine a more powerful message to voters than explaining that Trump is calling grieving parents murderers.

(emphasis mine)

So, does Trump even know what mifepristone is? And does it matter?

Based on his meandering reply, I’d say that no, he has no idea what mifepristone is. And to the second question, it does not matter. Though Trump and other Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the issue of abortion, going as far as not mentioning the word at all during the Republican National Convention last month, their plans are clear.

Project 2025, the far-right presidential-transition plan authored by Trump alumni, outlines the ways his second administration could implement a de facto national abortion ban. One of the proposals is to enforce the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that would prosecute people who send abortion pills through the mail. Project 2025 also calls for the next Republican president to direct the FDA to rescind its two-decade-old approval of mifepristone. All the rambling can’t disguise that, if given the opportunity, Trump would go further to end abortion access this time around.

[beardedmrbean]

The Left Alliance and the Greens are now the only political parties in parliament which clearly oppose Finland withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, the news group Uutissuomalainen reports.

A survey of parliamentary party group leaders found that the National Coalition Party, the Finns Party, the Christian Democrats and Movement Now are in favour of withdrawing, while the Social Democrats and Swedish People's Party are willing to discuss the issue.

The Centre Party did not respond to the question.

However, Ilta-Sanomat points out that the Centre Party's chair, Antti Kaikkonen, told the party newspaper Suomenmaa at the weekend that anti-personnel mines must be re-evaluated if the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) demand it.

The debate on anti-personnel landmines was reopened at the weekend by the FDF's commander, General Janne Jaakkola. He told Finnish news outlet MTV the changed security environment is now different from when Finland joined the Ottawa Treaty in 2011.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) told Iltalehti on Sunday that the nation's foreign policy leadership is discussing the land mine issue. Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) said on Monday that he launched a study on the need for anti-personnel mines already this past summer.

The government is currently finalising its latest defence policy report. The report is due to be submitted to Parliament during before the end of the year.

More resources for police

This past autumn, the government decided to increase the budget for the Interior Ministry by 19 million euros, of which around 11 million will be allocated to the police, in particular to fight street gangs, juvenile crime and the grey economy.

The additional resources are expected to be allocated to police departments in the capital region and in Central Finland.

Hämeen Sanomat is among the papers reporting that the number of police officers is expected to increase by just under 60 members next year.

Additional personnel have already been recruited for operational police tasks, in particular for criminal investigations, and operations targeting gang crime and cybercrime.

According to preliminary estimates, 310 new police officers will graduate from Finland's Police University College this year and 250 next year. The number of openings for police training was increased to 500 this year, up by 100 over previous years.

Over 100,000 foreign students

The news agency STT takes up figures published by the Finnish Education Employers organization (FEE) showing that there were more than 114,000 foreign students studying in the country last year.

The number of foreign students in vocational and other higher education and has doubled since 2014 and tripled since 2009. The number of foreign children and pupils has also increased in both early childhood education and other forms of primary and secondary education.

"The fastest growth has been in vocational education and training, where there were over 40,000 foreign students last year. The internationalisation trend is positive and necessary, as Finland needs immigration for work and education," FEE Managing Director Susanna Niinistö-Sivuranta said in a release.

The number of international teaching staff also increased at all levels of education during the past year, according to the FEE report.

Home purchase discounts

The new housing market remains stagnant, new houses and flats are selling poorly and builders are now more willing to negotiate discounts on list prices, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

According to the paper, there are more than 3,000 new homes for sale in the capital region.

Among the sellers interviewed by HS was Markus Heino, CEO of JM Finland, who said that right now it is difficult to sell new homes without negotiating over price.

According to Heino, how much can be cut from list prices is a case-by-case matter, depending on factors such as overall supply in the area.

"Some discounts are very small, others can be more than 10 percent," he told HS.

JM Finland has also adjusted its list prices, but Heino added that it is unlikely that the market will see big price reductions.

There are already small signs of an upturn in the market for older homes, and Heino said he believes this will soon be reflected in the new housing market, as well.

Cold and colder up north

A new record low temperature for this early winter season is possible in Lapland on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

The coldest temperature so far this season was -22.5 Celsius on 21 November in Utsjoki in the far north of Finnish Lapland.

A forecast carried by Iltalehti looks to chilling daytime temperatures in Lapland this week of 10-20 degrees below zero.

According to Foreca weather service meteorologist Joonas Koskela, if skies remain clear, part of Lapland may see the thermometer dip down as low as -25 Celsius overnight.

[underground-boss-clay]

📰

Words of Wyndon, 3rd of August, 2003

Unovan Business Tycoon Lands Galar's New Chairman in the Hospital

Written by Clishma Claver

Galar has hardly revealed its newest energy source for a day and already other regions are beginning to be up in arms about our region's beloved Wishing Stars! What is more, they are taking it out on our most beloved star, our new Chairman himself!

We start at the great Wyndon Technology Expo, where Macro Cosmos first revealed the Wishing Stars, and the wishes they truly could grant--a new source of energy, freeing us from clouded skies and bringing us the new battling convention of Dynamaxing! A tactic that sets our beloved Galar apart from all other regions!

But of course, every great innovation comes with critics and nay-sayers. And in the case of Dynamaxing, no one objected more loudly to our Chairman's stellar vision of the future than Clay Erden: Ground type Gym Leader of Unova, business tycoon and a stubborn advocate of mining. His objections echo sentiments from Gym Leader Ravenwood of Spikemuth City, claiming that this cleaner energy source would "bar cities who cannot or do not wish to use the Wishing Stars in Gym battles." Gym Leader Erden even went so far as to claim the Wishing Stars may be radioactive! An accusation that our esteemed Chairman was quick to dismiss.

But even when his cries fell on deaf ears, Clay Erden would not take no as an answer! During celebrations after the first presentation of Dynamaxing, Clay Erden attacked our beloved Chairman!! Fortunately, the Chairman's Copperajah senses her trainer was under attack and broke out of her own Ball to valiantly protect her trainer! A Gym Trainer from Turffield had a front seat view of the whole thing:

"Chairman Rose, gracious host that he is, was simply checking on all of his guests. He greets everyone, after all, and is so friendly to them, especially since they come from so far away. But then he went over to Mr. Clay's table and I heard such a noise! When I looked over, the Chairman was doubled over and coughing something terrible!"

As this clear attempt on the Chairman's life was in full view of the entire Galar League, the motion to ban Gym Leader Erden and his company, Driftveil Mining, from any future business in the region was near unanimous. The only objections came from Gym Leader Hemlock Ravenwood, who had this to say:

"The bloke was caught completely off guard by Rose. I was talking to him bout possibly helpin' Spikemuth--small as we are, he said we had potential with our shops an' crafts to make the city bigger--when the Chairman popped outta bloody nowhere behind Clay an' clapped a hand on his shoulder! Shook the chap good, little wonder he freaked the way he did."

As Gym Leader Erden is unfortunately not available to interview, we instead turned to his wife, Celia Erden, who had this to say about her husband's behavior:

"[My husband] gave the Chairman every warning about getting too close. Now that they're both in the hospital, you dare to vilify him for establishing his own personal space? Shove your ears up your ass, because that's clearly all you want to hear."

A very outspoken woman, especially in front of her own son! Still, what else can one expect from a region such as Unova!

[mineaction]

10th Session, 21st Meeting of State Parties to Mine Ban Convention.

Twenty-First Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.

Description

12. Consideration of requests submitted under Article 5

13. Consideration of matters arising from/in the context of reports submitted under Article 7

14. Consideration of requests submitted under Article 8

Failing the establishment of a cooperative dialogue and the resolution of the current status of non-compliance through the submission of an extension request by Eritrea by 31 March 2023, the 20MSP mandated the President of the Twenty-First Meeting of the States Parties to seek clarification and resolve questions related to compliance by Eritrea through the Secretary-General of the United Nations in accordance with Article 8.2 of the Convention and to report back to the States Parties at their Twenty-First meeting.

The President will report back to the States Parties on the implementation of this decision.

15. Election of the President of the Fifth Review Conference of the States Parties and of the Twenty-Second Meeting of the States Parties

The Meeting will be asked to agree that H.E. Ly Thuch, Senior Minister and First Vice-President of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) be elected to preside over the Fifth Review Conference of the States Parties.

The Meeting will be asked to welcome the offer made by Japan to preside over the Twenty-Second Meeting of the States Parties.

The Meeting will be asked to welcome the offer made by Zambia to preside over the Twenty-Third Meeting of the States Parties.

16. Duration and matters pertaining to the preparations for the Fifth Review Conference and the Twenty-Second Meeting of the States Parties

The Meeting will be asked to agree that the Fifth Review Conference take place in Siem Reap, Cambodia from 25 to 29 November 2024.

The Meeting will be asked to agree that the First Preparatory Meeting in advance of the Fifth Review Conference take place on 20 June 2024 in Geneva and that the Second Preparatory Meeting in advance of the Fifth Review Conference take place on 18 September 2024 also in Geneva.

17. Any other business

18. Consideration and adoption of the final document

19. Closure of the Twenty-First Meeting of the States Parties

The Meeting will be asked to take decisions on the requests for extended mine clearance deadlines which will have been or may be submitted by Eritrea and Ukraine.Delegations will be given the opportunity take the floor on matters that have not been covered otherwise by the meeting.The Meeting will be asked to consider and adopt its final report.The meeting will be closed by the President.

[azspot]

One of the consequences of American exceptionalism is that the U.S. government considers itself exempt from legal and moral standards accepted by other nations in the world. There is a long list of such self-exemptions: the refusal to sign the Kyoto Treaty regulating the pollution of the environment, the refusal to strengthen the convention on biological weapons. The United States has failed to join the hundred-plus nations that have agreed to ban land mines, in spite of the appalling statistics about amputations performed on children mutilated by those mines. It refuses to ban the use of napalm and cluster bombs. It insists that it must not be subject, as are other countries, to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

Howard Zinn

[your-god-empress-lavender]

Henrow blorbo

first off, ohmyfuckinggodyouaresocoolllllllllllllllll

secondly, what ya workin' on currently? <- is deathly interested, yes please please please info dump if you have the spoons

- Ryan

Bonjour my furry friend. At the moment i'm mostly working on getting a job so that i can afford rent, but when i'm not doing that, i'm working on designing some new N-substituted 5MeO-tryptamines (in order to avoid being banned for breaking tumblr TOS, i can't say exactly what for, but if you look up 5MeO-tryptamines, you should see). So far i've only managed to make things that make me super sleepy (and maybe a tiny bit inebriated), so presumably my body is mainly metabolizing them into melatonin. I also have been working on working through the details of making a rocket engine which relies on both muon catalyzed fusion and z-pinch fusion (mostly because even though i know it's way above what i'm probably capable of, i just love space so much i desperately need to see it for myself and i figure that since rockets are so absurdly expensive, the only way i'll end up in space is if we can get a whole new generation of ultra-efficient rockets (for example, given p-N14 fusion, if we manage to get 1% or more (i don't really expect more than 0.1% max, but still) of the hydrogen fusing with nitrogen, we'd be able to put 150 tons on the moon from earth with only using about enough fuel to fill a small car (instead of needing a skyscraper sized rocket to send maybe 30 tons)). Now, if it were as easy as my calculations show it to be, i can't imagine how there are any rockets flown that aren't fusion, but seeing as i haven't even made a working proof of concept yet, i'm not in a position to criticize the thousands of aerospace engineers who are working on conventional chemical rockets. I love fusion because it's simultaneously so easy (i live pretty close to an old uranium mine where i can actually pan some uranium out of the creek near me, then use that uranium to make a neutron source (B10(α,n)) which is really just fusion between helium and boron, happening at room temperature because of how high energy the α particles released by uranium are) and so absurdly difficult (without catalysts like muons, it requires absurdly high temperatures and pressures that almost always take more energy put in than they can give out). Anyway, i've also been sorta working on studying a material that a while back i got way too excited over and may have called a room temperature superconductor (almost certainly not the case), but in an attempt to make it more pure and study it for real i've been trying to work on the exact calculations of its composition and finding a better way to heat it up to high temperatures (i might just put it in a flat-bottomed flask, especially since it finally warmed up enough for me to go back outside where the fumes released by its production won't make folks mad).

And then there's the biological experiments, currently with electroceutical tissue modifications since most of the other projects i have planned require me to have a gene printer capable of reliably printing genes thousands of base pairs long and i'm not sure when i'll be able to build that. The most recent thing i've been working on is really exciting because if it works it means that i've successfully done something that has never been done before to a human body (and given the long lasting pain in that part of my thigh, it seems very possible it is working), but i'm hesitant about sharing what the project is because i don't really want folks putting gap junction blockers, calcium channel blockers, and sodium channel blockers into open wounds without knowing how to do it safely and correctly to get the desired results and not just a really messed up wound. If/when this experiment turns out well, i might give directions in private, but i'm still somewhat hesitant due to the risks inherent in this (the biggest and most likely is literally giving yourself a form of cancer, something i'm not eager for others to risk). Soon i might try chemical dedifferentiation of skin cells (thinking on my back or upper arms) followed by some mildly dangerous experiments to test how reliably i can make it turn into other cell types. And while i haven't made good work on it in a while, i've also been trying to make something similar to shimmer from arcane (ideally not addictive or harmful to the user, but most importantly the quick energy burst, decreased pain, and increased regenerative abilities (obviously it won't be anywhere near as dramatic as in the show, so calling it shimmer may not really make sense, but it is where i got the inspiration)).

Then i suppose there's the battery project i was talking about in my last post, and i'm also trying to learn how to make alcohol under my desk (i mean, it's super easy, it just doesn't taste great). There might be a few more things i'm working on but rn i'm super eepy and have talked about a lot already. If this seems like i'm doing a lot or impressive, also note that i'm actively failing out of college (for my own pride: the material is super easy and mostly i already know it, i just can't stand wasting so much of my time doing homework that doesn't help anyone or anything) and not yet working a job, so i have a lot of time and so much free brainspace to think about and do all this. I also work very slowly on each thing because i keep bouncing back and forth between all of them and almost always end up adding new projects before i've finished the old ones and so i almost never see a project all the way through to completion (at least some of the bio projects are just sitting in my body and i am just waiting to see how they turn out in the next 2-3 months, so those necessarily will see completion, even if it's failure). I really hope i see the fusion rocket to completion because if i don't think i'll ever be able to see the earth from afar or the moon from up close.

[aeide-thea]

sigh

up in the middle of the night (or, really, rounding the corner of it now) rereading old fic (from a fandom i was never actually in, about a canon i never actually read, because if we're gonna go full Deep Internet we might as well go all the way, i guess) about a, hm, partially queerplatonic polycule and also somebody being nonbinary in a way that somewhat maps onto the way i'm nonbinary—

(or, i don't know, i stopped feeling confident about claiming that language for myself sometime around the time i first saw theyfab discourse happening in the distance and no one in my social vicinity deigning to acknowledge it even long enough to push back at it, so like, these days i mostly just feel like no language assigned or aspired-to is really mine to use, honestly, but i guess 'genderqueer' feels like a modest enough assertion i can probably safely make it: genderqueer, agender, what even is a gender anyway—)

but it really is just like. i wish i could have the experience you're supposed to have in your, like, early- to mid-twenties really, where you live with a bunch of people you have, like, ambiguously queerplatonic relationships with and get to be casually nakeder than conventional norms allow and be, like, a shirtless genderless person around other people and get that reinforced for myself. but of course instead it's like. i missed the boat on the possibility of that experience just like i missed the boat on the rest of life, and i live with my father which is—a grab bag of nice/comfortable/mediocre/stifling but mainly for the purposes of the current conversation just not a plausible environment in which to push nudity taboos and attempt to reframe bodily meanings; and so what i get instead is to flop around in the middle of the night like an unevolved magikarp feeling crazy and melancholy and reading fic where imaginary people make unconventional impossibilities possible for one another because they love each other and it's, like, an updated version of that pathetically tragic anecdote abt the woman calling the gay bars just to listen down the phone and know they were out there…

like honestly i probably would want top surgery really, or at least, to like. wave a wand and have—no tits? smaller tits? something, anyway, sometimes—but i also want people's perception of my self not to depend on my making that happen? i don't know. it's like. my ugly little tits are ugly and i never wanted to sprout them in the first place but it's also like. sux that all roads to social gender acceptance/affirmation regardless of direction involve active cosmetic modification of my own body. like actually that was a major part of the concept/constraint i wanted to get out from under.

i don't know. the things i want seem unreasonable and impossible no matter what camp you ask and i feel gadfly-maddened and oversensitive and despairing about the whole tangle of it (never mind any other aspect of my (non-)life). like it's no fucking wonder i spend so much time as a disembodied word-utterer on the disembodied internet. language my truest tongue of my truest body. heart-sea and heart's ease and heart's blood-without-blood. (found myself thinking here abt heaney's ban-hus (blood-holt, dream-bower) and went to look it up and was poured right back into the problem and then back out of it again. (woman-)body as wordless geography, limned and unlimbed by words.)

gender of the day: poiesis. (ἡ ποίησις, of course—the feminine article, which transcribed becomes he: a meaningless homograph, to be sure, but then so too am i a queerly-drawn thing; and anyway even a wildly-strung cat's cradle is still a cradle, the dots of it connected to hold a meaning like any other constellation…)

[eretzyisrael]

Embedded explosives in the ground are pretty much the definition of landmines. The Jenin terrorists are burying landmines in their own town, where their own people could be killed.

If the mines can be triggered by a person, they are considered illegal under the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.

It sure looks like many of these IEDs can indeed be triggered by someone stepping on them. Here is a relatively small one being detonated by the IDF.

I have yet to see a condemnation by any NGO or state about Palestinians putting their own people at risk of being blown up by these IEDs. 

Israel's clearing of the mines is considered a bigger crime than the mines themselves. 

Which tells you a lot.

UPDATE: The "State of Palestine" acceded to the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, which proves yet again that the only reason they signed these conventions was to be accepted as a state, but had no intention to actually do anything to adhere to the various conventions' rules. (h/t Ian)