#north west Ireland

[khaperai]

Sligo, Ireland 1956

[rickchung]

Kneecap (dir. Rich Peppiatt).

[The] controversial West Belfast hip-hop trio, [...] known for rapping republican lyrics in their native Irish language, star in their own titular biographical film about their rise to fame and infamy. Set in 2019, [...] Peppiatt directs the plainly titled Kneecap with an energetic, riotous verve to its provocative, explicitly anti-UK material of rebellion.

[thekeypa]

“My name is Jemma Dolan. I am a MLA in Ireland. I’m appalled by the silence regarding war crimes committed by the Israeli government. I, & many with me, demand a ceasefire, open humanitarian corridors. Facilitate for water, food and medicine to Gaza now!”

[ornithological]

no appreciation for corncrakes on this webbed site. look how pretty he is!!!

[runalongprincevaliant]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Priscilla Luna 🇲🇽🖤 (@priscillaluna__)

Via Instagram: @ykhong

Read through all the slides. More than one country has been divided by the Empire for their own greed.

[c00kietin]

Okay, I was inspired by the previous blog I reblogged and found a geoguessr for Ireland!!

I'm curious to see how people do!

[stainlesssteellocust]

US diplomat: "Okay, so you bought some of Alaska's land from Russia, okay, okay. But...your people live on the other side of the world, and, let's be real here, we're too racist to respect you as equals. Why should we honour your deal with the Russian Empire when we can just...waltz in and annex your little home away from home?"

Tsalal Alaskan colonist leader: "Good question! Do you see this missile, this one right here, bigger than a train? Its warhead is filled with several tons of fuel-air explosives. Now, I'm not saying that we have a dozen of these things stocked on ships ready to fire at any given moment and a bunch of fanatical suicide pilots ready to fly them ludicrous distances into your nearest population centers...

"But I'm not not saying that."

[hussyknee]

Yeah the people in the notes going "obviously the government isn't the people" are missing the point, which is that being white and western and therefore a beneficiary of the colonial order consistently breeds racism and apathy towards the suffering of Black and brown and Global South people. Ireland maybe a little better than the rest of Europe but at the end of the day there's still no incentive to interrogate their privilege. Praising it inordinately for showing the bare minimum of decency allows them to cover up all the ways they're also complicit and uninvested. Give the privileged an inch and they take a mile.

anyway in the past week the irish government has voted down two motions which would have condemned the genocide in gaza.

i need everyone to stop lionising ireland as if its not also a european government with strong ties to the us. american weapons pass through shannon airport and will continue to, because yesterday the motion to stop that was voted down 83 to 50.

other governments have done much more but somehow people still act as though ireland is the ultimate palestinian ally and exempt from criticism on its handling of palestine bc it was once colonised, even though that past experience clearly isnt being taken into account by the irish government when creating policy.

i live here i know there’s a lot of public support and sympathy for palestine, which is great, but that isnt reflected in government, and i think ireland should be treated like other countries whose governments have done nothing.

[khaperai]

Graves of rural Ireland

[xtruss]

Environment: Death Cap Mushrooms are Extremely Deadly—and They’re Spreading

The Invasive Death Cap Mushroom is thriving in North America. While it can be difficult to distinguish from an edible one, make no mistake: It can do a number on you.

— By Emily Martin | August 31, 2023

The Death Cap is the World's Deadliest Fungus, responsible for 90 percent of the World's Mushroom-related Poisonings every year. Native to Europe, Death Caps have spread around the World over the past Century. Photograph By Yves Lanceau/Nature Picture Library

The name itself is both alarming and self-explanatory: the death cap mushroom.

Scientifically known as Amanita phalloides, death caps are responsible for 90 percent of the mushroom-related fatalities that occur every year, making them the world’s most lethal mushroom. The infamous fungus was recently in the news after three people in Australia died after ingesting what investigators suspect were death caps.

The mushroom originates from the U.K. and parts of Ireland, but over the past century, it has hijacked trips around the world, spreading to Australia and North America.

Since arriving on the West Coast, the invasive mushroom has spread rapidly throughout California and has even appeared as far north as British Columbia, but much about its arrival remains a mystery. Why the mushroom spread so quickly, when exactly it arrived, and how it will impact the environment it grows in are the topics of ongoing research.

Here’s what you need to know about this deadly mushroom—and how to spot one—in case it emerges in a forest near you.

How The Mushroom Earned Its Name

The unassuming mushroom can grow up to six inches tall with a similarly sized domed cap, sometimes tinged yellow or green. Under its cap are white gills and an off-white stem—characteristics that make it difficult to distinguish from an edible mushroom.

Yet unlike an edible mushroom, it can cause extreme damage to the liver and kidneys, or in some cases, death.

That’s because the mushrooms contain a unique set of toxins, says U.S. Department of Agriculture plant pathologist Milton Drott. Though it is safe to the touch, a death cap contains amatoxins, which prevent cells from creating proteins, ultimately causing cell death and organ failure.

Drott notes that these toxins may have allowed the populations spreading through the U.S. to thrive, serving up a defense against any new predators the fungus encounters in its environment.

But studying the death cap mushroom can be difficult. It’s challenging to replicate ideal environmental conditions for a mushroom in a lab, and studying plucked mushrooms requires complex DNA sequencing.

Some fungi can damage the environment, like the fungus that wiped out American Chestnut trees, but so far, there’s no strong evidence that death caps are a threat to their new environments. In fact, trees and other plants benefit from their presence.

Death caps are a mycorrhizal fungi, which means they form a relationship with plants that’s mutually beneficial for both plant and fungus. The plant receives nutrients from the soil that the fungus extracts, while the fungus receives sugars from the plant.

A Mysterious Move Around The World

It’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the actual moment the deadly mushroom made its way to the western U.S. and why exactly it’s continued to spread since then, says Anne Pringle, a mycologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a leading expert on death caps.

The earliest record of the mushroom in California is from the 1930s. Some researchers theorize that death caps immigrated in the soil of a cork tree transported from Europe to California to make corks for a then burgeoning wine industry. Others say the mushroom may have hitched a ride on a mystery plant imported to beautify college campuses.

Regardless, both Pringle and Drott say the only thing they’re certain of is that the fungus was likely dormant—and thus hidden from human eyes—in an imported plant’s soil.

Scientifically known as Amanita Phalliodes—Death Caps were first spotted in California in the 1930s. Some scientists think they were imported in the soil of cork trees, used to make corks for California's wine makers.

“When they planted that tree in the ground, they also effectively planted the fungus. So, what exactly is the smoking gun, who did it, and when—that's the thing I think we'll never truly know,” Pringle says.

Pringle can’t say for sure what makes the state such a friendly habitat for the invasive species, but she does note that the fungus can tolerate different environments throughout Europe, growing as far north as Sweden and as far south as southern France.

Since arriving, Pringle says its geographic extent has grown larger and spread to other States; most recently it appeared in Idaho.

Retracing Their Steps

When scientists first spotted death caps in the U.S., they thought they may be native to the region because of how widespread they are.

In 2009, Pringle was the first to label the population in California as invasive, a discovery she made by inspecting the mushrooms’ DNA.

“When they planted that tree in the ground, they also effectively planted the fungus. So what exactly is the smoking gun, who did it and when, that's the thing I think we'll never truly know.”

— Anne Pringle

And when scientists did realize the death cap had newly spread into the U.S., there wasn’t any preexisting data to provide clues about where exactly it entered North America and how quickly it multiplied.

“There's so many ideas to test, it’s hard to even know where to get started,” Pringle says.

Research on invasive fungi in the environment is quite new, Pringle says, so answers to questions of why death caps are spreading and its impact on local ecosystems may still be years away.

Drott thinks the mushroom may be proliferating because it thrives in its new soil and with its adoptive plants, or there may be a lack of predators in these new habitats to keep death cap populations in check.

His research has revealed at least one clue: the genes responsible for producing toxins in American death caps are extremely unique, distinct from their genetic cousins in Europe, and may be the key to understanding how the invasive plant has thrived in North America.

Earlier this year, scientists published preliminary research suggesting the death cap can reproduce both with and without a mate, and that a single fungus can live a long, reproductive life.

Encountering A Death Cap

Spotting a death cap requires vigilance.

“It’s scary that these [pass for] delicious mushrooms,” Drott says.

He adds that, in addition to an unalarming physical appearance, the death caps’ toxins don’t smell or provide any other obvious giveaways. Its toxins are also extremely stable when heated and don’t break down when cooked, unlike other edible fungi that are only dangerous to eat raw.

That’s why scientists suggest erring on the side of caution and steering clear of foraging mushrooms. Pringle also emphasizes the importance of learning the plants in your local environment.

“If you can tell the difference between Swiss chard and spinach, you can learn difference between edible and poisonous mushrooms,” Pringle says, emphasizing the small but recognizable differences between the two greens. “People want a magic rule, but there’s nothing I can hand you in a sentence or paragraph."

Rather, she says identifying physical differences between death caps and a safe mushroom can become easier with exposure.

Spreading Awareness

Many death caps have been found in National Parks, including Point Reyes National Seashore in California, where Pringle assisted with a study on the invasion in 2010.

National Park Service (NPS) science advisor Ben Becker notes that parks are constantly seeing new invasive species with the frequent movement of people and equipment, and the death cap is a good example of how humans can transport tiny fungal invaders around the world.

Becker says NPS works with local mushroom science groups like the Bay Area Mycological Society to spread public awareness about the dangers of foraging mushrooms.

If you’re concerned about something you have eaten, go to the emergency room and if possible, take pieces of the mushroom you ate for identification.

And as many foragers and scientists say, don’t munch on a hunch.

[streetsofdublin]

THE NEW BUS PLAZA THAT I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT

The opening of the new bus plaza will support a 75% increase in bus services. The revised network will see the number of buses increase from 12 buses per hour per direction to 21.

AT LIFFEY VALLEY SHOPPING CENTRE I started out with the intention of visiting Chapelizod today and got the the G2 bus instead of the 26. I knew that the 26 served Chapelizod on it way to Liffey Valley but I missed the 26 by about two minutes and the G2 which goes to Liffey Valley arrived a few minutes later so I boarded it. Much to my surprise it took a very long time to get to Liffey Valley and…

[mapsontheweb]

200 million ya, Ireland and Scotland were a part of the same range as the Appalachian mountains, where, funny enough, the majority of Scottish and Irish emigrants settled in America.

from Evolution of the Rheic Ocean via u/MUNKIESS 

The Rheic Ocean, which separated Laurussia from Gondwana following the closure of Iapetus, is arguably the most important ocean of the Palaeozoic. Its suture extends from Mexico to Turkey and its closure produced the climactic Variscan–Alleghanian–Ouachita orogeny that assembled the supercontinent, Pangaea.Following protracted Cambrian rifting that represented a continuum from Neoproterozoic orogenic processes, the Rheic Ocean opened in the Early Ordovician with the separation of several Neoproterozoic arc terranes from the continental margin of northern Gondwana. 

Separation occurred along the line of a former Neoproterozoic suture following the onset of subduction in the outboard Iapetus Ocean. The timing of rift–drift transition and drive for subsequent spreading was likely governed by slab pull, accounting for the rapid rate (8–10 cm/yr) at which the Rheic Ocean widened.During the Ordovician, the ocean broadened at the expense of Iapetus and attained its greatest width (~ 4000 km) in the Silurian, by which time Baltica had sutured to Laurentia and the Neoproterozoic arc terranes had accreted to Laurussia, closing Iapetus in the process. 

Closure of the Rheic Ocean began in the Devonian and was facilitated by northward subduction beneath southern Baltica and southward subduction beneath northwest Gondwana. Closure was largely complete by the Mississippian as Gondwana and Laurussia sutured to build Pangaea, North Africa colliding with southern Europe to create the Variscan orogen in the Devonian–Carboniferous, and West Africa and South America suturing to North America to form the Alleghanian and Ouachita orogens, respectively, during the Carboniferous–Permian.The Rheic Ocean consequently plays a dominant role in the basement geology of southern Europe, in the Appalachian–Ouachita orogeny of North America, and in the Palaeozoic sedimentary, structural and tectonothermal record from Middle America to the Middle East. With its closure, the ocean brought about the assembly of Pangaea and brought the Palaeozoic Era to an end.

[fatehbaz]

Travel back [...] a few hundred years to before the industrial revolution, and the wildlife of Britain and Ireland looks very different indeed. 

Take orcas: while there are now less than ten left in Britain’s only permanent (and non-breeding) resident population, around 250 years ago the English [...] naturalist John Wallis gave this extraordinary account of a mass stranding of orcas on the north Northumberland coast [...]. If this record is reliable, then more orcas were stranded on this beach south of the Farne Islands on one day in 1734 than are probably ever present in British and Irish waters today. [...]

Other careful naturalists from this period observed orcas around the coasts of Cornwall, Norfolk and Suffolk. I have spent the last five years tracking down more than 10,000 records of wildlife recorded between 1529 and 1772 by naturalists, travellers, historians and antiquarians throughout Britain and Ireland, in order to reevaluate the prevalence and habits of more than 150 species [...].

In the early modern period, wolves, beavers and probably some lynxes still survived in regions of Scotland and Ireland. By this point, wolves in particular seem to have become re-imagined as monsters [...].

Elsewhere in Scotland, the now globally extinct great auk could still be found on islands in the Outer Hebrides. Looking a bit like a penguin but most closely related to the razorbill, the great auk’s vulnerability is highlighted by writer Martin Martin while mapping St Kilda in 1697 [...].

[A]nd pine martens and “Scottish” wildcats were also found in England and Wales. Fishers caught burbot and sturgeon in both rivers and at sea, [...] as well as now-scarce fishes such as the angelshark, halibut and common skate. Threatened molluscs like the freshwater pearl mussel and oyster were also far more widespread. [...]

Predators such as wolves that interfered with human happiness were ruthlessly hunted. Authors such as Robert Sibbald, in his natural history of Scotland (1684), are aware and indeed pleased that several species of wolf have gone extinct:

There must be a divine kindness directed towards our homeland, because most of our animals have a use for human life. We also lack those wild and savage ones of other regions. Wolves were common once upon a time, and even bears are spoken of among the Scottish, but time extinguished the genera and they are extirpated from the island.

The wolf was of no use for food and medicine and did no service for humans, so its extinction could be celebrated as an achievement towards the creation of a more civilised world. Around 30 natural history sources written between the 16th and 18th centuries remark on the absence of the wolf from England, Wales and much of Scotland. [...]

In Pococke’s 1760 Tour of Scotland, he describes being told about a wild species of cat – which seems, incredibly, to be a lynx – still living in the old county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the south-west of Scotland. Much of Pococke’s description of this cat is tied up with its persecution, apparently including an extra cost that the fox-hunter charges for killing lynxes:

They have also a wild cat three times as big as the common cat. [...] It is said they will attack a man who would attempt to take their young one [...]. The country pays about £20 a year to a person who is obliged to come and destroy the foxes when they send to him. [...]

The capercaillie is another example of a species whose decline was correctly recognised by early modern writers. Today, this large turkey-like bird [...] is found only rarely in the north of Scotland, but 250–500 years ago it was recorded in the west of Ireland as well as a swathe of Scotland north of the central belt. [...] Charles Smith, the prolific Dublin-based author who had theorised about the decline of herring on the coast of County Down, also recorded the capercaillie in County Cork in the south of Ireland, but noted: This bird is not found in England and now rarely in Ireland, since our woods have been destroyed. [...] Despite being protected by law in Scotland from 1621 and in Ireland 90 years later, the capercaillie went extinct in both countries in the 18th century [...].

---

Images, captions, and text by: Lee Raye. “Wildlife wonders of Britain and Ireland before the industrial revolution – my research reveals all the biodiversity we’ve lost.” The Conversation. 17 July 2023. [Map by Lee Raye. Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[johannestevans]

Where do I find the queer people?

Making friends and finding social & community spaces as an LGBTQ+ adult.

Originally published with Prism & Pen. Also on my Patreon.

Photo by Brett Sayles via Pexels.

A friend and I recently went to a Queer Open Mic night after I saw it advertised on the same afternoon. While we were on the way back, she asked about how I’d found it.

“I just feel like you always know loads of queer events that are on,” she said, “and I don’t know how to begin to find them.”

I sat down with her a few weeks later and showed her some of the ways I find events, regular or otherwise, and where I look for others — especially given that on social media in the past few days I’ve seen a few people talking about the difficulty of finding and meeting with new queer people when not online.

I thought it might be useful to put it together here.

It’s quite hard with the pressure on and elimination of many third spaces to go out and easily meet people, and given that most of us use a lot of online socials and dating apps, it can feel difficult to seek out and engage with in-person spaces without knowing exactly what the protocol or format of the event is going to be.

Especially given that many people are still more isolated than they were before the start of the Covid pandemic, and/or struggle with seeking out events for themselves having finished school or university or other more structured environments, there can be a lot of anxiety about attending events or meeting new people. But it’s worth it to remember that pretty much everyone else is in a similar spot, and there’s nothing weird or unusual about wanting to make friends or have social time with others.

I am based in the North of England and generally go between the UK and Ireland. So this guide might be less useful depending on where you are. Obviously, in countries with more repressive legislation on queer identity, community groups will by definition be far more underground. Even in areas where this isn’t the case, some of these suggestions might be more viable than others depending on how densely populated your area is, how accessible different venues and events are, and how active your local queer communities are. So, just take what’s good for you and leave the rest.

Finding Local Queer Community Groups

In your search engine, put in simple search terms — [queer] [group] in [my area].

If you can, narrow your search to websites updated in the last 6 months to 2 or 3 years — you’ll sometimes find a website from six or seven years ago where the events haven’t been running for half that when you were already excited about it.

Search your town, city, or county first, and then widen your search — I normally initially look for Bradford and Leeds respectively, but then might broaden my search to West Yorkshire or even North England depending on the time of year and if I’m more willing to travel for certain events, e.g. looking up summer events around Pride, or specific holiday events if you’re looking at Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s, etc.

Combine:

“Queer”, “LGBT” or “LGBTQ”, “Trans”, “Gay Men’s”, “Lesbian”, “Transgender”, “Transsexual”, “Gay Rights” or similar terms

With:

“Charity”, “Support Group”, “Social Space”, “Community Space”, “Meetup”, “Society”, and similar terms

Swap around the terms and find what language seems to be used in your area — remember that depending on the age group and demographic you’re looking at or for, there might be terms you prefer.

I personally search for a lot of gay men’s groups because the average age tends to be a lot older and focused more on the experiences and social spaces of men who love men rather than general queer spaces, which I find can be a bit too young and fast-paced for my speed.

In general, I find that there’s a loose separation between younger trans and queer social groups, which tend to be a mix of differing identities and ages but with a big emphasis on young adults in the 18–25 area, and then specific gay men’s or lesbians’ groups, which will have a wider swathe of ages and might be a little bit less online.

I understand the fear some people have of these spaces being more transphobic than younger spaces — that’s not personally been my experience, as transphobia and lateral bigotry might happen in any social space, but unfortunately, you just don’t know the specifics of an event or a group until you get there and actually meet and talk to the people.

Some charities or community groups that run a variety of spaces might have specific age or identity guidance on group titles — some might be particularly for younger or older people, be for trans people more than cis people, and some might focus on particular sub-communities, such as BIPOC queer groups or specific religious or ethnic meetups, disabled queer groups, etc.

You also might find meetups that are centred around certain hobbies, professions, or interests — boardgames or Magic the Gathering, Doctor Who or fantasy novels, medical professionals or blacksmiths, etc, depending on how big the area you’re in is and how populous it is.

If you are already a member of an institution or society, whether that’s your school or university, your union, some workplaces, your temple or other religious institution, etc, you might find that there are already events running for you!

Finding Queer Events Online

There are almost certainly queer events on, and they’re probably advertised, but where do you find them?

What’s annoying about the Internet as it exists, corporate online spaces and otherwise, is that most events will be posted in one or two spaces out of hundreds. The good ones will sometimes be hard to find because there’s a bunch of shitty advertising in the way, and because individuals and small charity or community advertisers don’t necessarily know about things like search engine optimisation or how to make a good, searchable post. There will be really cool events that are advertised online, but just aren’t tagged or easy to find.

This means that it’s worth looking often but keeping it casual — glancing through the top page for events that might be coming up or meet some keywords, but if most of what you see is ads, just leave it and move on. Digging through for the good events in busy areas that are also ad-heavy can take ages and might not even turn up much.

If you find socials for local community groups or charities, even if they don’t run events themselves, they might regularly share other local events or cool ones, so it can be worth following them!

Ditto for other queer people in your community — follow local artists, performers, academics, creators, public speakers, craftspeople, or any local community leaders or public figures, and see if they share and boost local events.

They might boost special interest events that are of interest to you if you follow people who share certain communities or interests. If, for example, you have an interest in lolita fashion and follow queer lolita dressers in your area or in areas you can travel to, they might post events that are of interest to them and maybe to you — whether that means specific lolita events, other clothing and fashion events like gothic or steampunk markets and shows, or even anime cons or renaissance faires or whatever.

Obviously searching on social media can help — looking for keywords like “queer event” or “LGBT social” on one site or other can be especially good if it’s a site where you can localise your search results, such as Facebook or Instagram.

With that said, Facebook and Instagram are increasingly difficult sites to use given how much they’re overwhelmed by sponsored and corporate posts as well as spam and bot posts. So, it’s generally worth it more when you focus on either events in smaller and limited areas, such as small towns, or when you’re looking for crossing over of different areas of interest, such as particular queer hobbyist or interest groups. When you start looking for broader spectrum events in a busier or more populous area, you can get inundated by spam and copy-and-paste duplicate ads that have all been promoted. But it’s still worth it to have a glance and see if anything is up at the top!

Sites and apps like Eventbrite or TicketSource, or equivalents in your area, will often let you search for specific events . As with social media, these sites can have the same problem of sponsored events coming up first, and annoyingly you can’t block particular event providers or organisers to make sure they don’t show in your search results if they’re not your thing.

Use every option that comes up and see if you can cross search where you can — pick a particular location or area, click on free or paid events, pick events at certain times, pick a certain kind of event, add in tags like LGBTQ or similar if it’s a site that allows it, etc.

If an event comes up that you like the idea of, note it down, then look the organizer up on social media and see if they run or share other events.

Looking for local tourism sites will let you search for other local events as well — especially if you live in a city or regularly visit one, they’ll often have a What’s On page or a Visit [Blank] website or equivalent, and you can search through that — most of them will have cultural events or a specific LGBTQ section you can glance through.

Here’s the Visit Bristol site, for example:

What’s On in Bristol — VisitBristol.co.uk Click here to find out What’s On in Bristol!…Get the latest information on the latest Events, Festivals, Carnivals…visitbristol.co.uk

For obvious reasons, sites like most of the above will focus on paid events, especially evening and party events. Pub quizzes, drag events, bingo nights, balls, drinks offers, parties, etc.

These events aren’t for everybody — and if they’re not for you, focus on events that take place, if not in cafés and restaurants, then in libraries, universities, museums, and other public buildings.

Queer Events Locally Advertised In-Person

Wait, do people still do that?

Look for poster and notice boards in:

Libraries, museums, community centres, university lobbies

Vintage and alternative clothes stores, music venues, etc

Your temple, church, or other religious institutions

Gay bars, queer cafés, LGBTQ centres, queer bookshops

Doctor’s offices, GUM clinics, and sexual health clinics

Anywhere else you see a noticeboard with events showing!

Also look on flag poles or in windows around your local gay bars or businesses if you have any, generally around the gay village if there’s one to go through.

How do you know the events are good? How do you know they’re legit?

How old does the poster look? Do you see many copies of it around?

Look for dates for the event(s) they’re advertising on the poster, and then look up the venue the events are meant to happen at. Do the dates match? Is it a regular event? Is the event showing on the venue’s website or social media?

Is the event run by a local group, collective, or charity? When you search them, do they have socials or a site of their own? Do they seem active?

If a local queer poster gives you socials, check those socials out — do they have any followers you’re familiar with? Do they post their venues publicly and have defined and public meeting times? Do they seem to have active and engaged commenters? Is there a face or faces behind the social media, or are they anonymous?

If an event is run by anonymous people, or if it seems like they don’t have many followers on social media or very active ones, that might be a bit more suspicious — ditto if an event just gives you a phone number but not any further identifying info.

It’s not inherently suspicious for a queer event to be at an undisclosed location, because of course people do want to ensure some safeguarding and vet people before they come, but if it’s an undisclosed location in combination with anonymous organising, that might be a bit suspicious, and should probably be avoided.

Finding Queer People in Specific Hobby or Other Community Spaces

You don’t have to go to queer-specific events to meet other queer people — any hobby or community you can think of, there’s probably queer people in attendance.

If you’re in a busier or more populous area, say there are 5 events that centre around the same hobby — of those 5, some of them will have more queer people than others, and it might be worth checking them out just to see if you click with anyone there.

My partner and I attend queer-specific board-game evenings that are run out of gay bars or by queer clubs, but pretty much any board-game night is likely to have one or two queer people knocking about, whether they know or would identify themselves as LGBTQ+ off the bat or not.

While there are obviously more open queer people at the queer events, I would say that when we went to a local board-game night run by older straight guys, about a quarter of the attendees were older queer people.

Of my queer friends, pretty much all of them have varied interests and attend different groups or clubs with a lot of other queers knocking about without them being labelled or explicitly queer events — knitting and crocheting, computer coding, electronic music and DJing, fandom, blacksmithing, glassblowing, stand-up comedy, improv, cooking, gardening, board games, cosplay and historical costuming, LEGO, live-action roleplay, tabletop roleplaying games, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and other trading card games, poker, burlesque, sports games and clubs, swimming, cycling, fishing, photography, book clubs, bug collecting, birdwatching, weaving, painting, sculpture, pottery, video games, singing, songwriting, poetry…

The list goes on.

Hell, half the people I know seem to go and meet new dates at the local climbing wall, where it seems like all the lesbians and gay guys are crawling all over one another. Another friend of mine attends their local WI, and have met other queer people there.

Other Tips

Remember you can meet people on dating and hook-up apps and that doesn’t necessarily have to be for sex and relationships, whether that’s Grindr, Her, Lex, etc — or you can ask hook-ups and casual dates where they go or if there are local events they think are good or fun. Poly people are particularly useful for this, because they’ll often have a whole network of regular events crossing over and diverging.

If you’re nervous about going to an event alone and you don’t have anybody to go with you, it can be worth checking it out on socials first and see if you have any mutual friends with people that are going — if not, it’s worth heading along anyway, because people might well speak to you before you have to open the conversation with them.

Community groups will often have icebreakers or sessions where people swap names, pronouns, and basic introductions, and that can ease the way into getting used to the space.

If you see somebody else on their own who seems nervous to talk to people, they can be good to approach and say, hey, I also don’t know anyone here, what brings you here? And so on. Remember, other people are pretty much always in the same boat as you.

For me, one of the biggest anxieties about going to new events alone is the fact that I’m disabled and dependent on public transport, and that combo can make it tough on me if I get to a place and it’s inaccessible or just not my speed, and then I have to sort of immediately turn heel and leave, but wait ages for a bus in the meantime. I’ve missed more than one event I was really excited about just because transport didn’t line up for me.

Some considerations to keep in mind when you look for events:

Is the event free or paid? Is this clearly marked? Do you need to buy tickets in advance?

How recent is the posting about the event? Is it posted on a web page or a social media page? Are there recent comments or engagement on the entry? If there is a contact for the event, is it active and responsive?

Is this event regular or recurrent? Is it for a special occasion, and does it have sister events or concurrent events?

Is the event exclusively online, exclusively in-person, or do they change between the two formats? Would you prefer to attend online before you attend in-person?

Do you want to go to a closed and more private group — for example, one that has you message them for the time and location, seems to have capped attendee limits, seems to have a regular community. Or do you want to attend a more casual event in a larger, open space where people might not notice as much as you come and go? Is it going to be very crowded or more spaced out?

Where is the event located, and will you be comfortable in that venue? Is it in a community building such as a charity space, community group, religious institute, school, or university? Is it in a café, restaurant, pub, bar, club, or late-night venue? Is it an explicitly or dedicated queer space? If you are not out to other members of your community, will going into this space reveal that you might be a member of a queer group?

Is the venue age-restricted, and will it require ID? If you must provide ID, will providing your ID in a dead name or in a different gender presentation to your current one be anxiety-inducing or a potential problem for you?

How accessible is the venue to you? Is it walkable, on a regular bus route, or does it have appropriate parking for you? Does it have ramps or elevators? Is it well-ventilated, and does it have a HVAC or other air filtration and purification protocol? Is masking enforced, and/or are masks provided? If you might be watching something together, is there a hearing loop, will there be subtitles on a screening? Is there a first aider at the event? Does the venue serve food or drink, or provide refreshments?

If you are attending alone and have specific needs or requirements, or might need to leave abruptly, is there someone you can let know at the event, such as a first aider or community leader? Are there regular buses, a taxi rank, or online taxi access if you need to quickly head home? Have you let someone else know where you are going, just as a safety concern?

Is the event activity-based, or is it a space where people just sit and talk? Would one or the other of these feel more natural or comfortable to you? Do you have to bring your own activity, such as with a craft or knitting circle, or are supplies provided, such as boardgames or a screening?

Does the group or host for the event(s) have social media? Do they advertise the regular events on socials, or have a newsletter, or some other helpful reminder system?

Most community events will be free, but if it’s an activity group or society, or if it’s a private event, especially one where they buy equipment or supplies, there might be an up-front ticket or access fee, a membership fee or a collection jar or similar — most events will tell you in advance if there is a fee or if they might request a donation.

Most importantly, like… Have fun.

If it sucks, hit the bricks — there’s no obligation to stay anywhere if it’s not fun or doesn’t satisfy you in the way you were hoping.

There’s always other events out there, and you’re very unlikely to truly be the only gay in the village, even if it sometimes feels that way. Good luck!

[bootleg-nessie]

Things that will happen in the future (based on my own experiences with time travel):

***FAQs at the end***

*All of these observations are copied directly from my notes in roughly the order I took them in

*Don’t ask about the interchanging use of past/present/future tense, you know how that stuff is with time travel

Women just started all growing three boobs instead of two. Scientists baffled

Genetically engineered catboys (no literally)

The great pyramid of Giza has been converted into a Bass Pro Shop

The entire state of Rhode Island was bought by some rich tech CEO who promptly dug a 500 foot wide trench around the entire state so that it could in fact be an island. It was soon converted into the world’s largest parking lot

Pollution has gotten so bad that fresh oxygen is now delivered straight to most homes via a subscription service

Basic necessities such as food, water, and housing are now provided for free by the government, but only for the top 1% of wealth holders

Insulin now costs twice as much as rent. “Get fucked,” say pharma companies

92.6% of new electronic appliances now have smartphone integration and require a monthly subscription to use

Most billionaires have real estate on earth’s moon

As an ongoing film experiment, Taika Waititi successfully convinced a Nebraska man that he’s been raptured and is now in heaven. He actually got Truman Show’d and now millions of viewers tune in every week to watch God (played by John DiMaggio) manipulate Robert into confronting his own views, battle cognitive dissonance, and face the realization that he might not have been as good of a person on Earth as he thought he was

Carrots have gone extinct, as have highland cows

Species of extinct animals and plants now are being posthumously renamed after the billionaires and elites most directly responsible for killing then off

Researchers discovered a sentient colony of fungus off the coast of Chile, it prefers to go by Fleebo and appears to have a incredibly complex intelligence far greater than any other observed organic being

Nobody knows where Ireland went. It literally just disappeared off the face of the earth one day and nobody bothered to question it. The story couldn’t compete in the news cycle with the recent news about a company in China that made the first real life pokemon. An entire civilization of people gone and I’m the only one who seems to remember it or even care

Fleebo and its offspring have annexed Madagascar and are threatening any retaliation with nuclear warfare and “making The Last of Us a reality.” Nobody knows if Fleebo actually has the capabilities to do this, but after the Lovecraft incident we’re all TOO goddam scared to fuck around and find out

Large snails have replaced cats and dogs as the most common household pet. Snail culture has largely taken over the world, especially Japan

The president of the United States is now decided with an oiled up twerking competition. Most people were hesitant at first but this has produced vastly more competent leaders so now everyone just kinda goes along with it

With the cost of living crisis only worsening with time, selling tattoo space on your body to advertisers has become common as people struggle to afford rent and pay their bills

North and South Korea have reunited into “Korea 2.0”

Germany has split up into East and West Germany again

Belgium and France have been annexed by West Germany and renamed “Wester Germany” and “Westest Germany” respectively

The entirety of Florida is now underwater. Most of Kansas is too for some reason that scientists refuse to explain because they’ve “sworn an oath to the eldritch gods” and that “much worse things would happen” if they did

The melting ice caps in Antarctica unveiled a lost civilization of intelligent creatures descended from a species of lungfish, predating human civilization by millions of years. They planned on hibernating for another 10-15 million years to observe the course of evolution on Earth and are very very angry at humans for waking them up prematurely and ruining all of that with global warming

The politically correct term for lungfish people is “Dipnoid” but most people refer to them by a variety of slurs, such as “finwalker” and “kelp muncher” (not that they even eat kelp)

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has now increased to nearly half the size of what was formerly known as Canada and has been colonized entirely by pirates (the flag is actually pretty cool). The pirate nation has the 17th largest economy in the world and is projected to surpass the United States in GDP

Africa is about 2% smaller. Nobody knows why. Most people point to Fleebo, who denies having any involvement

All human-Dipnoid interaction was promptly banned by most world governments, except for the GPGPRP (Great Pacific Garbage Patch Republic of Pirates), whom the Dipnoids rely upon extensively for trade

Scientists have used DNA from fossils to recreate other species of humans. We now live alongside them like we did for thousands of years before everyone besides Homo sapiens went extinct. Racism is at an all time high

Class C and above robots are now legally recognized by most progressive countries as people

The United States government has been exposed for secretly funneling billions of dollars into the GPGPRP and using it to fund terrorist operations all over the world.

A new major religion revolving around Dave Grohl has skyrocketed in popularity. Grohilsm is now the world’s largest religion, second only to Fleeboism

Scientists discovered a new continent in the Pacific Ocean, and then promptly lost it again. Most people are convinced this was just an elaborate practical joke, but scientists “swear it definitely happened”

For a brief period of about 30 years, everything in George Orwell’s 1984 happened almost exactly as written in the book. Literally 1984

It was revealed that Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself. He actually faked his death and spent the next few years in a drug-fueled episode of psychosis making sock puppets in a cave in Italy and then molesting said sock puppets until he died from a sock puppet related illness

Bigfoot was discovered off the coast of Georgia doing cocaine with a congregation of alligators. When questioned, he said he normally lives in Montana and was only there on vacation. He is now a celebrity, and has been featured in a number of tv shows and films, two of which he won an Oscar for. Last I checked, he was a washed up actor living in Hollywood with a reanimated Neanderthal woman

The GPGPRP raided most of England’s museums with the object of “doing exactly what they did for the last few centuries” England was understandably furious, but the rest of the world found it rather amusing

England declared war on the GPGPRP, which it promptly lost after hackers brought down the entire country’s military overnight. Much like in the 21st century, England is the world’s laughing stock

The entirety of Luxembourg relocated itself to the moon

Russia attempted to take over most of Eurasia. In retaliation to the full global effort to stop them, they launched nukes at the world’s 600 most populous cities outside of its current territory. Most of the warheads were stopped in time, but a few major metropolitan areas got hit pretty badly, including Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Mexico City, and Istanbul. Japan was understandably super pissed that Hiroshima and Nagasaki got nuked for a second time

In the wake of the nuclear holocaust, Canada assumed control over what was formerly Russia and assimilated many of its citizens and leaders into its own society and government. Under the new rule of formerly Russian leaders, Canada became a puppet state for the second coming of Russia. It annexed much of the United States, Mongolia, China, and a handful of other countries, becoming “the world’s first megacountry.” Crungolaska now controls a majority of the northern hemisphere

As part of a practical joke by Adam Sandler, Tom Hanks was actually marooned on a desert island like in Castaway. He lasted less than a week before he died. When I left this era of the future, Adam Sandler was serving a lifetime sentence in prison for murder

Fringe groups of crows with above-average intelligence have started popping up around the world. So far they have been observed forming small communities, crafting relatively complex tools, using rudimentary speech, performing rituals, and creating music

Aliens visited earth and had a formal meeting with many of our world leaders, but decided to leave us alone for a few thousand more years because humanity is “not yet mature enough to handle the responsibilities of interstellar travel.” They have incentivized us with a the blueprints for an Alcubierre Drive and a means to produce the exotic matter to fuel it once they deem us as being ready

The original colony of settlers on Mars has declared independence, officially becoming the first country not on Earth

We sent Tom Cruise back to space but this time we just left him there

The tether for the space elevator broke. The town known as Vatorville, famous for being the location of the takeoff point of the elevator shuttle on Earth, was completely decimated as tens of thousands of miles of steel cable came crashing back down. There were no survivors

Most people in first and second world countries have mandatory microchip implants that serve as a personal ID

Last Thursdayism has been largely denounced by quantum physicists. Current theories now revolve around “Next Thursdayism,” the belief that the entire universe was created in the future and that we all exist as a memory in the past

Synthetic organ farms for transplants and research have become a massive industry worth billions of dollars. However, there is still a huge black market for organically grown human organs, as they’re much cheaper to acquire and aren’t taxed at the exorbitant rates that lab-grown organs are

China dug a hole all the way to the center of the Earth. Turns out it’s hollow and there are people living inside. Who knew?

A university reconstructed the entire city of Rome as it was in its early days during the Roman Empire. It’s actually pretty historically accurate, except for the fact that there’s a lot less sex because it’s run by a bunch of sweaty history nerds

After Rome 2 resulted in the creation of a cult revolving around the Roman god of the dead that gained traction as a minor religion, Pluto was officially reinstated as a planet by NASA when cultists picketed their headquarters every day for nearly 3 years straight. “Fine, we’ll give these fucking virgins what they want so they’ll finally shut the hell up,” said NASA’s administrator in chief

In a display of the biotechnical prowess of Disney’s Imagineers, all the animatronics in Disney’s Hall of Presidents were replaced with clones of the originals, which went about exactly as well as you’d expect. After reports of the presidents hurling a series of racial slurs and other obscenities at the first black family to enter surfaced, the project was shut down almost immediately after it had opened. Minority admission to Magic Kingdom plummeted to 2.3% of its numbers from the previous year, making it the second whitest place on earth after a taylor swift concert

Plastic now makes up about 3% of every organism on earth by weight

Public officials are now required by law to take shrooms before running for office

Trees are considered a rare and highly sought after commodity, and are usually only owned by public institutions and the rich (the vast majority of oxygen farms use algae to produce oxygen)

FAQs:

FAQ: What time period(s) did you go to?

A: I have no fucking clue. The world stopped using the Gregorian calendar in 2063 after a gamma ray burst hit the sun. The GRB led to stellar ablation, which changed the length of a year on Earth. The sun would continue to lose mass at an accelerated rate for several more years, with the length of the year changing slightly from year to year. The world adopted a variety of different calendars which kept being updated frequently and were often super confusing and contradictory. I traveled to about a dozen different points in time, which based on my best estimates spanned within a few millennia of the current date.

FAQ: How did you obtain a time machine?

A: I think it was the 17th or 18th of June, 2055? That night, a large sci-fi looking box thingy roughly the size of a VW Bus appeared a few hundred yards away in the open field in front of my house. I tried to take a picture of the box, but for some reason the closer I got, the more the image on my camera started to become fuzzy, and by the time I got close enough to take a decent picture, the camera had stopped working altogether. I pulled open a door to reveal a corpse inside that was charred beyond recognition, who appeared to have suffocated and/or burned to death during a fire that damaged most of the interior. I also noticed a number of strange tumors and growths on the body. I pressed a random button on the remains of what I believed to be a control panel, expecting nothing to happen, but the door closed automatically and I suddenly lost consciousness. When I came to, I exited the box, expecting to still be in the field in front of my house, but instead found myself a ways outside of a small snowy village that based on my best estimates, was somewhere in northern Asia around 2-3 thousand years ago. The villagers started coming after me with spears, so I quickly ran back to the box and pressed another button, hoping it would return me to from whence I came. This time, the people I found (who were thankfully much nicer and spoke a dialect of English that I could mostly understand) told me that it was the year 506 of the PGRB-Δ4 calendar (the calendar that the United Territories was using at the time). I repeated this maybe a dozen more times trying to get home until I landed in 2023, which as far as I could tell, was the closest I had gotten back to my original time so far. It was at this point that I decided to stay and seek medical attention, as I was rather concerned about some nasty new growths on my arms and legs similar to that which I had seen on the corpse.

FAQ: Where is the time machine now?

A: No idea. It disappeared a few days after I landed in 2023. My best guess is that some poor sap found it and ended up sometime else.

(I never ask for likes/reblogs but I literally spent fucking WEEKS on this one so if you liked it pls show me some love <3)

[vestaignis]

Сахалин — крупнейший остров России — расположен на Дальнем Востоке, у побережья Евразии. По площади он сравним с Чехией или Сербией и лишь немного уступает Ирландии. Омывается сразу двумя морями — холодным Охотским и более тёплым Японским.От южной точки острова до японского острова Хоккайдо всего 44 километра.

Первые люди поселились здесь ещё в доисторические времена. Самой древней стоянке человека, обнаруженной археологами на Сахалине, около 230 тысяч лет. Местное коренное население — их осталось около трёх тысяч человек — племена оленеводов уйльта и эвенков и рыболовов нивхов до сих пор живут согласно древним традициям.

Большинство путешественников едет на Сахалин ради природных красот. Здесь есть действующие вулканы, горячие термальные источники, и изумрудно-зелёные скалы. Растительность на острове довольно необычная. На севере можно прогуляться по тайге, а на юге и западе — увидеть несколько видов лиан и курильский бамбук. А ещё на Сахалине есть «ботаническое чудо света»: папоротники, крапива, гречиха и другие травянистые растения в некоторых местах вырастают на высоту до 3-5 метров. При этом на материке из их семян появляются растения обычной высоты. 

На Сахалине умеренный муссонный климат с высоким уровнем влажности, дождливым летом и холодной, снежной зимой. Летом часто появляются туманы, создающие таинственную атмосферу. В конце лета и начале осени бывают тайфуны. Осень мягкая, яркая и тёплая, почти без дождей. Погода на Сахалине непредсказуемая, поэтому лучше быть готовым к любым капризам природы.

На озере Тунайча гнездятся разные виды птиц, а на Тюленьем острове близ Сахалина находится крупное лежбище тюленей и огромные птичьи базары. В окрестностях самой высокой точки острова — горы Вайды — расположены карстовые пещеры. С вершины горного хребта Жданко открывается вид на живописные окрестности. На мысе Великан можно увидеть природные арки, гроты и столбы, которые возникли под воздействием ветра и соленой морской воды.

Подходящее для туризма время на Сахалине — с мая по сентябрь. К маю почти везде сходит снег и уже можно отправляться в путешествие по острову.А самое популярное для путешествий по Сахалину время — тёплый и солнечный август. В этом месяце лучше всего исследовать дальние уголки острова, купаться в море (вода в этом месяце иногда прогревается до +21 °C) и пробовать лесную голубику и чернику.

Sakhalin, Russia's largest island, is located in the Far East, off the coast of Eurasia. In terms of area, it is comparable to the Czech Republic or Serbia and is only slightly inferior to Ireland. It is washed by two seas at once — the cold Sea of Okhotsk and the warmer sea of Japan.It is only 44 kilometers from the southern point of the island to the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

The first people settled here in prehistoric times. The oldest human site discovered by archaeologists on Sakhalin is about 230 thousand years old. The local indigenous population — there are about three thousand people left — the tribes of reindeer herders Uilta and Evenks and fishermen Nivkh still live according to ancient traditions.

Most travelers go to Sakhalin for the sake of natural beauty. There are active volcanoes, hot thermal springs, and emerald green rocks. The vegetation on the island is quite unusual. In the north you can walk through the taiga, and in the south and west you can see several types of lianas and Kuril bamboo. And also on Sakhalin has a "botanical wonder of the world": ferns, nettles, buckwheat and other herbaceous plants in some places grow to a height of 3-5 meters. At the same time, plants of normal height appear from their seeds on the mainland.

Sakhalin has a temperate monsoon climate with high humidity, rainy summers and cold, snowy winters. In summer, fogs often appear, creating a mysterious atmosphere. There are typhoons in late summer and early autumn. Autumn is mild, bright and warm, with almost no rain. Weather on Sakhalin is unpredictable, so it's better to be prepared for any whims of nature.

Different species of birds nest on Lake Tunaicha, and on Seal Island near Sakhalin is home to a large seal rookery and huge bird markets. Karst caves are located in the vicinity of the highest point of the island — Mount Vida. From the top of the Zhdanko mountain range, you can enjoy a view of the picturesque surroundings. At Cape Giant, you can see natural arches, grottoes and pillars that arose under the influence of wind and salty sea water.

A suitable time for tourism on Sakhalin — from May to September. By May, snow is falling almost everywhere and you can already go on a trip around the island.And the most popular time for traveling around Sakhalin is warm and sunny August. This month, it is best to explore the far corners of the island, swim in the sea (the water sometimes warms up to +21 °C this month) and try wild blueberries.

Источник://bolshayastrana.com/blog/top-dostoprimechatelnostej-sahalina-229,//experience.tripster.ru/articles/sahalin/, /sakhtravel .com/tury-po-sahalinu/tury/tvoya_yarkaya_zima_na_sakhalin, ://wikiway.com/russia/sakhalin/photo/, https://www.tripadvisor .ru/LocationPhotos-g4355184-Sakhalin_Sakhalin_ Oblast_Far _Eastern _District.html,//www.culture.ru/institutes/34988/ostrov-sakhalin, ://tonkosti.ru/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F.