#they probably are healthier than the average american

[youruncleolaf]

honestly if i lived in a country where there were so many additives in all food eating pizza made me actually ill i’d probably dive head first into the crunchy lifestyle too

[thebrilliot]

As a straight white cis dude, I find it entirely rude that other straight white cis men are not trying to teach me to love myself and others, and instead are selling me cryptocurrency and superhero stories. Don't give me that fake hero-and-money-glorifying crap. Give me the real stuff, like being a kid of divorced parents and trying to survive high school, or a multi-generational story all about community and family in a mountain town in Colorado, or making an unlikely friend in the big city, or even good romance.

Do you know how good girls have it reading literature written by women for women about real women's struggles? Book stores are alive because of women's literature. They're packed full to the brim with books written by women for other women. They're just writing poetry back and forth to each other! It's beautiful! These women love each other! Meanwhile, the only thing I can find that is written for men is sci-fi and fantasy and geez it's all the same thing. I don't need fantastical anymore. I don't want to spend another 6 hours figuring out the story behind your world. I don't care if it's epic and grand. Give me some good, reality-grounded, relatable stuff.

Here's what I want to happen in pop culture. I want men to say, "let's talk about forgotten people in history and lift each other up and support each other" which is Six the Musical's message to women. Which is way healthier than what men write for men. Don't try to convince me that I should idolize a founding father who pulled himself up by his bootstraps (by marrying into an influential family where both daughters were in love with him - and note that there is no evidence that Angelica Schuyler ever had feelings for Alexander Hamilton - because who else would I want to idolize other than a man whom women find irresistibly attractive) and single-handedly against all odds created the American financial system, cheated on his wife, paid hush money to keep cheating on his wife, then publicly revealed the affair because he would rather be seen as a cheater than a traitor to his country because hOnOr Is So ImPoRtAnT, then got his son and himself killed in two different duels because AGAIN hOnOr Is So ImPoRtAnT. Nowhere in the entire plot of Hamilton did Alexander Hamilton actually do something purely because he cared about someone else. The revolutionary war and every political dispute was fought and won through pride and stubbornness. John Laurens died in a different part of the country. He didn't pause his work to spend time with his family. He didn't abandon honor to protect himself or his family.

I didn't mean for this to be a rant about Hamilton, but it is a great example of the literature and art that men create for other men. Great music, pacing, etc. but riddled with things that keep bothering me about patriarchy. Stop telling me to be a hero that does everything by himself. Just tell me how to be happy and love the people I love! Don't tell me that because I'm average and feel overlooked that there's actually something special about me that makes me some sort of chosen one. That's not real! I already got told enough of those lies in school. I grew up in gifted and talent student programs through grade school and they told me the same thing. "YoU'rE gOiNg To ChAnGe ThE wOrLd." Actually, probably not, but because I'm a good kid and just the right amount of neurodivergent, I'm going to take you seriously and put an unhealthy amount of pressure on myself and also then fail to reach any of my vague and lofty goals, especially because no one is telling boys and men that community is a crucial part of human life, happiness and fulfillment, mental health, change and progress, and personal growth and accomplishment.

Maybe I don't want to change the world, and maybe I don't want to do things all by myself, and maybe I don't want to rely on finding a wife and having children as a way to find or create a community or a support system. Maybe I get fulfillment out of things other than fame and sex. Where are the men who are writing to me as an audience?

Anyway, the patriarchy sucks. Fuck patriarchal messaging. I reject that. Men, be better. Write something worthwhile for once.

[niconiconwo]

Honestly cannibalism peeps are full of shit like listen there is a 7 in 8 chance you're American, and knowing the average American diet is trash and the average American is so drugged up with various prescriptions, and the general squick of having to not only kill a person but dress them I just don't buy it.

Personally I firmly unquestionably believe eating roadkill is probably way healthier and safer than eating the average American. That'll be my go to if it came to it long before I'd ever eat a person who probably takes enough drugs to kill me and has a nutrient density approaching a twinkie.

[dwellordream]

“In the Puritan colonies, civil authorities deemed knowledge of the Bible so important that they passed laws requiring that children attain basic literacy. Taught by their parents, by the head of the household in which they served as apprentices, or, increasingly after 1690, in a ‘dame school’ that convened in the home of a local woman during slack periods of the agricultural year, most boys and girls probably learned how to read. Writing, however, was considered a separate skill (even an art), one reserved primarily for boys.

…In mid-17th-century New England, roughly 60 percent of white men could write well enough to sign their names on a will; only 30 percent of Anglo-American women could. As late as 1775, when nine out of ten white men in the region could write, less than half of New England’s white women had the same degree of skill. The gap would not be closed until the second quarter of the 19th century.

…In the Dutch colony of New Netherland, in contrast, an economy based on commerce made knowing how to read and write essential. There, literacy was widespread for men and women alike. Although boys typically received more schooling than their sisters, most girls learned the rudiments of reading, writing, and math. In the late 17th century, an estimated 80 percent of women in New Netherland could write.

…Formal education for African-American slaves was virtually nonexistent, especially in the South, where less than 1 percent of blacks of either sex could read and write. In New England, where the population of slaves and free blacks remained small, black children might receive some rudimentary schooling by attending classes along with their white neighbors.

…In New England, most women had reached their early 20s before they married for the first time. In the Chesapeake, a more complicated pattern held sway. For women like Elizabeth Montague, who came to Virginia from England in the early 1650s, marriage had to wait until the end of a lengthy indenture. Many women of her generation were thus over 25 years old by the time they were free to wed. …The woman who survived her childbearing years (most in the Chesapeake did not) would have delivered, on average, eight or nine children over the course of her reproductive life. As many as 13 or 13 live births were not unheard of.

…Throughout the 1600s, roughly one-quarter of the children born in the Chesapeake died before their first birthdays; fewer than half reached the age of 20. New England proved much healthier: nine out of ten infants born there survived at least until age five, and perhaps three-quarters lived to see adulthood.

…The woman’s vow of submission in marriage expressed a view of that world that imagined man to be superior and woman to be inferior in almost every respect. Many English writers of the day referred to women as ‘the weaker vessel,’ a phrase denoting a being with less intellectual ability, less physical capacity, and less moral fortitude than a man. …Even among the English, female submission was upheld more often in sermons and statutes than in actual practice. In day-to-day reality if not in law and letters, wives in British America were meaningful partners in their marriages. They were not, in any sense, their husbands’ equals.

…In New England, where marriage was regarded as a civil contract that the courts could dissolve, divorce was granted when a spouse could prove adultery, unusual cruelty, or desertion. In New York and Pennsylvania, only adultery was considered grounds to terminate a marriage. In the southern colonies the Church of England followed the same rules as it did in the home country; divorce was granted only by a special act of the legislature.”

- Jane Kamensky, “Of Marriage and Motherhood: Family Lives” in The Colonial Mosaic: American Women, 1600-1760

[mrlnsfrt]

Keys to a long life

Are you interested in health and longevity?

Recently, I have been listening to the book Outlive, by Peter Attia, MD. I heard enough interviews with him that I decided to get the book. I am not done with it yet but it has been very interesting so far. I imagine that part of my interest in health and longevity has to do with my upbringing and my faith.

I am a Seventh-day Adventist and my whole life I have been aware of the importance of

Nutrition Exercise Water Sunlight Temperance Air Rest Trust

You probably noticed that the initials spell NEW START. For me it’s a way of life, it is part of my identity.

You may also have heard about Blue Zones. They are regions in the world where people are claimed to live or have recently lived, longer than the average. The five blue zones suggested are Okinawa Prefecture, Japan; Nuoro Province, Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California, United States.

Loma Linda is the only Blue Zone in the United States. Interestingly their longevity has been linked to their faith.

Living a decade longer than the average American is a group of 9,000 Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California. Loma Linda is coined a blue zone by National Geographic Fellow and New York Times bestselling author, Dan Buettner. Blue zones consist of five places in the world where individuals are healthier and live longer. - Pulitzer Center

I mention all this because many of the things described by Dr. Peter Attia in his book on health and longevity fall in line with what I was taught my whole life. I never knew all the scientific data that supports my lifestyle, not to the degree that Dr. Peter Attia describes it. And I am definitely learning new things, but none of it has been shocking, it simply sheds more light and emphasizes a path I have been on for decades.

Some accuse Seventh-day Adventists of being legalistic. And I have met several who were. Some think that my lifestyle might be rather strict and disciplined. There is also some truth to that. But my lifestyle is a personal choice. I do encourage others around me to live healthy lifestyles but it goes far beyond simply diet and exercise. When I think of a healthy and happy life, it goes beyond the physical, it touches the emotional, social, and, especially, spiritual dimensions of life.

I live my life not in fear that if I am not disciplined I will lose my salvation, but rather focusing on how much I can get out of this life. I am aiming for the best, longest, possible life. And so far, it has been working well.

How does all this tie in with Deuteronomy 6?

I am glad you asked.

Commands and Decrees

“Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ - Deuteronomy 6:1-4 NKJV (bold mine)

Many of us probably do not want to read about commands and decrees and statutes and judgments. It sounds like legalism and salvation by works. But here is another way of thinking about it. Imagine God loves you. Imagine God loves you so much He is willing to send His One and Only Son to die for you (John 3:16). Imagine God offers you salvation, and eternal life, as a free gift (Romans 6:23). Imagine God wants to reveal to you the best possible way for you to live and to enjoy life and get the most out of it. Would you be interested?

Salvation is a free gift. But are you also interested in getting the most out of this life here in this sinful world?

Hear O Israel

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NKJV

The sentence begins with a command to hear (shema in Hebrew), and it is in the second person singular, meaning “you.” In Hebrew, this command to hear would be understood as a command to obey.

“To hear,” in Hebrew lexicography, is tantamount to “to obey,” especially in covenant contexts such as this. That is, to hear God without putting into effect the command is not to hear him at all. - Eugene H. Merrill, Deuteronomy, vol. 4, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 162.

Because the first word in Hebrew is pronounced “shema,” this passage is often referred to as the Shema and is understood to be the heart of all the law. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:34-39; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-28) He quoted this (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and its companion in Leviticus 19:18) and the fundamental tenets of biblical faith.

Here I’ll refrain from going into a deep theological study of the implications of this passage because I want this post to be a bit more practical. (I do have a devotional based on this text as a video and you can click here to watch it.)

What to do with these laws?

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. - Deuteronomy 6:6 NKJV

The point of these laws is not to make a list and make sure to check each item off the list each day. The point of the law is not even to save you. But that does not mean that we have no use for the law. Many books have been written on the relationship of the law and salvation and I will avoid going down this path at this time, but I do wish to highlight what Moses said, that these words should be in our hearts.

Do not think about the law as an external list that must be checked off, but rather as something that lives in you and shapes all your interactions and every area of your life.

One way I think about this is

Instead of thinking “If I lie I will lose my salvation.”

I prefer to think “I am an honest person.”

You could argue that I just exchanged six for half a dozen (that’s a Brazilian expression “trocou seis por media dúzia”). But I would argue that it makes a difference. One way of looking at it, the law is outside of me to punish me when I fail. The other way that law is in me, it shapes who I am, and to go against it would be to deny my true identity in Christ. I no longer tell the truth because I am afraid of hellfire if I do not, rather I am honest because that is how I see myself as a child of God.

The teachings of God given through Moses were not meant to be a checklist, they were meant to be internalized. God was shaping the culture of His children and love was the key. When we love God with all that we have and all that we are we live our lives differently. Not because we are afraid of the consequences of disobedience, but because love compels us.

I attended public schools and as a member of a choir that toured and competed I was voted “most likely to miss an event due to religious reasons.” Interestingly that took place at a Friday night awards banquet that I missed because of my observance of the Sabbath. My friends sometimes would ask me to talk to my pastor to get permission. What they didn’t understand is that it was not the pastor that was keeping me from participating. If my church pastor had told me to go I would not have gone. My behavior was and is shaped by my walk with God, and my love for Him. Spending my Sabbath drawing closer to God and focusing on Him was more important for me than the awards banquet at my high school. After all, without God’s blessings, I would not have earned any of the awards I have received in my life.

I don’t want this to seem like it is about me. I just want you to understand where I am coming from. God’s guidelines for life belong in our hearts, in our minds, shaping our lives, not as an external list of expectations that I must meet in order to receive something in return. I approach God’s law as someone who already has eternal life in Jesus. I received my salvation as a free gift. My salvation is not based on my performance. I live a life of freedom, yet I choose to discipline myself because I am deeply interested in living out the life God has planned for me. I believe that is the best possible life I can live. I identify as a child of God and His will is deeply important to me. I have also experienced personally the blessings that come from living a life that aligns with God’s will as revealed in the Bible.

Teach diligently

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. - Deuteronomy 6:7 NKJV

I am a father, but I do not think this command is limited to parents. But let us begin with parents.

Parents, even if you place your children in Christian schools, the teachers are there to partner with you, but not to replace you. Discipling your children, teaching them about God is primarily your responsibility. The church is there to help you, but teaching your children about God remains primarily your responsibility.

To everyone else, teachers, grandparents, uncles, cousins, friends, coaches, neighbors, we all get to help. It really takes a community to reveal to a child what it looks like to have Jesus in your heart. A child is not interested in theological debates. They want to see the law of God in your heart, shaping your actions. They want to experience your love for God in the way you treat them. They want to see the difference God makes in your life in practical ways.

The biblical text is clear here. Discipleship happens throughout the day, throughout life. It’s what you talk about, it’s how you treat each other, it’s how you live your life. Are you kind? Are you honest? Do you offer to help? Kids are watching and they are learning what loving God looks like.

At my church, Cloverdale Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Boise Idaho, USA, I encourage my church members to take upon themselves the burden of pointing others to Jesus by the way they treat them. We all take responsibility for modeling for our kids what love for God and for one another looks like.

A sign

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. - Deuteronomy 6:8-9 NKJV

This last part I take to be symbolic because binding God’s law between your eyes and to your hands will not necessarily impact your behavior. I see this as a reminder that God’s law must impact your behavior (what your hands do) and your thoughts (between your eyes or on your forehead). I find it interesting that God’s law must be symbolically on both your forehead and your hand. I highlight this because Revelation 13:16 talks about people receiving the mark of the beast on their hand or their forehead. I understand this to mean that God is not satisfied with you simply doing His will without it being convicted in your mind/heart or for you to simply have His law in your mind but not act according to it. Whereas by contrast, Satan is happy to have his mark either only on your mind or only on your hands. Meaning Satan does not care what you believe if you behave according to his will, that is against the will of God, and Satan does not care what you do if you think according to his values, even if outwardly you behave in a religious way.

God asks for our whole being, heart, soul, and strength. He wants His law as a sign on your forehead and on your hands. Satan is satisfied with just a little bit, just your head, or just your behavior. He knows that either one is sufficient to make you not fully God’s.

I take verse 9 to also be symbolic. Not that I need to write God’s law in the entrance to my house but rather as a symbol that in my house we follow God’s will. I may not have control over how things are done out in the world, but within my gates, under my sphere of influence, we will live according to God’s will. The way I run my household and treat people who come into my house will reflect God’s character.

This does not mean that I have everything figured out and always do the right thing. But these verses encourage me to aim for this, to aim to teach my children throughout the day in all that I do, and to manage and lead my household according to the will of God.

What about living long?

When we live according to God’s will, freely choosing to be honest, loving, and kind, to work hard and help those in need, to remember God’s commands in all areas of life, to eat and drink for His honor and glory (1 Corinthians 10:31), when I treat my body as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) I also live not only a longer life but a life of higher quality. I live longer and I enjoy a better life. Just notice I did not say an easier life.

Maybe you have some questions about the specifics. Welcome to the club. I am still learning. But I know where to aim. I read the Bible to familiarize myself with the will of God, and I read books and consume media that I believe will help me better fulfill I what I believe God has called me to do.

Practical Application

What I want you to take away from this is a desire and a curiosity to discover and follow God’s will. Not in a legalistic sense where you are trying to somehow purchase salvation or blessings. But as a free person, saved by grace, desiring to live your best life possible.

Read through the Bible, the Old and New Testaments. Familiarize yourself with God’s laws. Don’t get hung up with the parts you don’t understand yet, but begin to practice what you do understand. Place the things you learn about God deep in your heart and let them shape everything you do. May God’s will be a sign in your head and in your hand. May God shape how you think and how you act. That way you will be a light in the world (Matthew 5:13-16).

so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. - Deuteronomy 6:2 NIV

[educationalinstitutesindia]

5 Signs That Your Body Is in Need of a Detox

Your body goes through a lot, each and every day. Between digesting your food, protecting you from outside diseases, carrying you from place to place, and performing the very functions that keep you alive, the human body certainly works itself to the bone. That’s why, every now and then, it pays to give your body a thorough detox. What’s a detox? Well, it depends on your personal preference to some extent, but in general a detox is considered a period in which you abstain completely from unhealthy substances such as alcohol and sugar and replace them with antioxidants, healthy veggies, and other beneficial ingredients. Sometimes, your body gives you signals that it’s time to embrace a detox and get back on a healthier track. If you have any of the following symptoms, it’s probably time to toss the soda and pick up some green tea. Problems Maintaining a Healthy Weight and Constant Cravings Most Americans’ struggles with weight begin in the kitchen, and it comes as no surprise that a large percentage of the population is overweight or obese. Manufacturers slip added sugar into more than 74 percent of the packaged foods people consume, and the majority of the salt we eat comes from processed meals and restaurant food. Even if you’re trying to lose weight, it’s almost impossible to do so without accidentally consuming sodium that makes you bloat and sugar that’s more than a little addictive. By doing a detox, you give your body a chance to adjust to life without hidden calories in the form of sugar and salt. The longer you detox, the less your body will crave those ingredients and the easier it will be for you to maintain a healthy weight. Keep in mind that the average detox lasts between seven and ten days, so don’t overdo it without speaking to your doctor first. Fatigue and a Low Immune System With so many people succumbing to the dreadful flu this year, pretty much everyone is looking for a way to pump up their immune system and combat nasty illnesses. Although sleeping enough, working out, and eating right can help you do that, a detox is another fantastic way to boost your immune system. Many detoxes encourage people to drink teas that cleanse the body and give you added protection against disease, like chamomile or dandelion. If you’re still mourning the loss of the Teavana shops, consider these Teavana replacements before you buy anything. Detoxes also encourage you to eat foods that will give your body plenty of energy for fighting off viruses and colds. Fruits like blueberries and strawberries might contain a little all-natural sugar, but they also contain vitamins that will protect you during the sickest times of the year. Out-of-Control Mood Swings Believe it or not, your mood swings might actually correspond to the food and drink you’re putting in your body. Sugar and other unhealthy ingredients can cause you to experience extreme highs like a sugar rush, as well as extreme lows. People who eat too many unhealthy foods often struggle to regulate their moods properly. By detoxing, you give your brain a break from constantly dealing with over-activity in the serotonin pathways. If you’ve been feeling off lately, or if you’ve been swinging between joy and depression far too often, then it might be time to reset your body and let your brain relax a little. Problems With Your Digestion As many as 60 million Americans are affected by some sort of digestive disease, and problems with chronic constipation, gallstones, gastrointestinal infections, and irritable bowel syndrome are all too common. In general, digestive disorders can be drastically improved by altering your diet. That’s why detoxes can help your body regulate itself; most of them encourage users to eat plenty of cruciferous vegetables, which are full of fiber that helps with digestive problems. Additionally, detoxes usually involves drinking a substantial amount of water instead of soda or alcohol, which can help your body flush itself out properly. Keep in mind that your favorite caffeinated coffees can also cause problems, so it might be worth taking a break from all your favorite sugary beverages, not just alcohol and soda. Blocked Sinuses and Allergies Spring is coming, and you know what that means: horrendous seasonal allergies. As many as 30 percent of adults and 40 percent of children in the United States deal with allergies that accompany the different seasons, and springtime is one of the worst for chronic allergy sufferers. If you’re already packing your bags with boxes of allergy pills in preparation for the coming months, it might be time to consider a detox. Although one wouldn’t think that a detox could affect blocked sinuses and nasal allergies, it can. Your body naturally attempts to perform detoxes on itself, but a bit of extra help during the worst allergy months can go a long way. Avoiding sugar, wheat, and dairy can help you avoid allergy attacks. Oils like lavender, chamomile, and eucalyptus can also improve the effectivity of your spring detox. Take Care of Your Body If performed correctly, a detox can be a safe, natural way to re-energize your body and improve your health. It can eliminate your unhealthy cravings and help you obtain a healthy weight, and it can give your immune system the extra boost it needs to combat this year’s widespread illnesses. Furthermore, if you’ve been feeling run-down, irritable, depressed, or out-of-control, a detox can help you center yourself. Think about it this way: you’re going to give your house a nice spring cleaning, so why not do the same for your body? Read the full article

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day.

Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday.

Stressed grass snakes smell of garlic.

Flowers can grow faster by listening to music.

Poor eyesight (myopia) is associated with higher IQ.

Japan has one vending machine for every 40 people.

1 in 400 men is flexible enough to suck his own penis.

English has only one word for ‘love.’ Sanskrit has 96.

The more sex you have, the more you want, research says.

The penis stops growing when a man is in his early twenties.

Your heartbeat will synchronise with your date's if the date is going well.

Lack of sleep can cause weight gain of two pounds (0.9 kg) in under a week.

Having sex just three times a week has proven to make you look 5-7 years younger.

The 62 richest people in the world are now wealthier than the rest of humanity combined.

Squeezing a man's testicles can kill him, due to the release of too much adrenaline.

A sophomaniac is a person who’s under the delusion that they are extremely intelligent.

When fathers share the housework, their daughters tend to pursue higher-paying careers.

In 2020, human triphallia — having three penises — was reported for the first time in history.

No matter how strong of a person you are, there’s always someone that can make you weak.

If you are 16 or older, there's an 80% chance you've already met the person you are going to marry.

Fast food restaurants use yellow, red, and orange because those are the colours that stimulate hunger.

The generation that invented the internet, the smartphone, and the iPad all played outside as children.

A study found that those who go out alone and those who go out in a group have the same amount of fun.

The most children born to one woman was 69, in which she had 16 twins, seven triplets and four quadruplets.

You likely overestimate how interesting you are to talk to but underestimate how good you are at dancing.

A male’s testicles hang at uneven levels so that they don’t damage each other or collide when running or sitting.

Emotions are contagious. Unpleasant or negative emotions are more contagious than neutral or positive emotions.

According to the largest study ever done on marijuana, smoking it once or twice a week is not bad for your lungs.

Studies have shown that the average person believes he or she will live a longer and healthier life than the average person.

Economists at Danske Bank believe that Sweden’s high inflation in May can partially be attributed to Beyonce’s world tour.

If the internet went down for a day, 196 billion emails, three billion Google searches and 500 million tweets would have to wait.

Palmerston Island in the Pacific has a population of fewer than 60 people and is home to the fishing spot Scratch My Arse Rock.

Women cry on average between 30 and 64 times a year, while men cry between 6 and 17 times (but more if you support West Ham!)

No male jaguar has ever successfully mated with a female tiger. If it were to happen, the resulting animal would be known as a ‘jagger’.

Yellow teeth are stronger. The natural colour of our teeth is a light yellow colour. Whitening your teeth can permanently weaken them.

Dimples may be cute but they are an inherited genetic flaw caused by a fibrous band of tissue that connects the skin to an underlying bone.

Poland is changing the name of its bus route 666 to Hel to route 669 after some religious conservatives complained that it was “spreading Satanism.”

According to a 1985 paper, everything takes 2.71 times as long as you think it will. Thus, if you think it will take you a minute to do, it will probably take close to three minutes!

When famed jazz saxophonist and composer Paul Desmond died in 1977 from lung cancer, he donated all his royalties from his compositions to the American Red Cross. It has been said that, to date, the Red Cross has received over $6 million from Desmond’s gift.

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

[wardrobemoments]

Me and Theo were having a long conversation about how, whether you like it or not, The Mentalist is very much a copaganda show; and even though it does portray police corruption, it kinda brushes it off as okay when the "good guys" do it for so-called justifiable reasons/good intentions.

I love Lisbon as a character but I live in the United States and I would have to be extremely blind, bigoted, or both to deny how corrupt and evil the police are in this country. And even if I'm aware of these things, that's not to say the "average" (read: probably WASP) viewer is, and media that normalizes this kind of police behavior, that gives the impression that cops should have whatever leeway they want to get the "bad guy," is...damaging.

Many American viewers don't take the time to educate themselves on the reality of policing and systemic injustice (I was raised by very pro-police parents so I didn't until I left home), so these comparatively light and easy-to-digest shows simply perpetuate the beliefs held by those who are privileged to not have to fear the police.

Is it okay to still like The Mentalist? Sure, why not? There's a ton of "problematic" stuff out there that you can still enjoy and benefit from. I'm not here to tell you what you should or shouldn't watch. Many politicians are trying to ban books in the US right now and that's the best way to keep people from learning and growing. People are gonna watch what they watch, and having an open line of discussion is healthier than shutting them down for being bad or wrong.

I don't think The Mentalist has a great message about police, but it does have a lot to say about grief and healing and love. I think ultimately my point is that...it's good to be critical about stuff you love. And it's also okay to enjoy things that aren't perfect. I'm not saying anything new here but I think it's worth acknowledging the show's potential for harm as well as good.

[downtoearthmarkets]

American consumers purchase an average of 280 eggs per year, so you’ve probably noticed that eggs can be harder to come by these days while their price rose more than any other grocery item in 2022. This so-called “eggflation” has stretched into 2023 with the price of eggs rising 8.5% in January compared to the month before. There are multiple factors contributing to the ongoing egg shortage and price spike, including the worst outbreak of avian flu ever recorded that has wiped out millions of egg-laying hens. If you don’t want to crack your egg habit and are looking for a place where eggs are plentiful, tasty and locally produced, head directly to your neighborhood Down to Earth Market this weekend and pick up a dozen or two. Healthier Chickens The vast majority of eggs produced in the United States, around 88.7%, come from battery farms where large numbers of chickens are kept in very small cages or crowded conditions. Egg-laying hens kept in these facilities are denied access to the outdoors and are so tightly crammed together that they are unable to stretch their wings, scratch, peck or engage in other natural chicken-y behaviors. Not only are these unhealthy conditions for the hens, but they also provide an ideal breeding ground for viruses such as the current strain of avian flu that is circulating amongst commercial flocks. The disease spreads easily through contact with other infected birds, so when numerous chickens are confined together in close quarters it allows the virus to proliferate rapidly. It is estimated that over 52 million chickens have been lost to the latest outbreak so far. On the other hand, small, local egg producers, such as the vendors that you’ll find at Down to Earth farmers markets, have been far less impacted by the avian flu outbreak. Their eggs come from humanely treated, free-range, pastured hens which means the birds are raised in small flocks and given room to exercise and engage in natural behaviors while spending time foraging outdoors. Tastier Eggs It only makes sense that healthy, happy hens will produce tastier, healthier eggs. If you’ve ever compared the taste of a battery-farmed egg to that of a pastured egg, you know there is a world of difference between the two! Pastured eggs have a richer, “eggier” flavor and a creamier texture. They even look different as the yolks of pastured eggs are typically a dark, vibrant orange versus the pale-yellow yolks of commercially raised eggs. Whereas battery-farmed hens are confined indoors and fed a diet of commercial chicken feed, pastured hens are free to forage in the sunshine while dining on plants, insects and other biologically appropriate foods.   The proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes, and studies have shown that eggs from pasture-raised hens contain significantly higher amounts of vitamins A, D, E, beta-carotene, and long-chain omega-3 fats than those from conventionally raised hens. In addition to the extra nutrients, eggs from small, local farms are typically fresher because they are produced in small batches and sold quickly, rather than sitting on long haul trucks and grocery store shelves for weeks. Winter Production Chickens require twelve to fourteen hours of daylight to keep producing eggs, so natural egg production drops off precipitously during the winter. Free-range, pasture-raised hens spend time outdoors when weather permits during winter daylight hours, which is supplemented by barn lighting to provide them with adequate production exposure. In contrast, battery farms keep their giant flocks under artificial lighting throughout the year in order to maintain consistent egg production at commercially optimal levels. This constant, intensive energy expenditure is one of the reasons these factory farms have an oversized environmental footprint. Plus, the soaring price of electricity is in turn fueling the higher cost of their end product, which is currently on par with that of specialty eggs. So, if you’re looking to make the switch from conventionally raised eggs to deliciously fresh and tasty farmers market eggs, now is a most eggcellent time to do so! And, if you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket, keep a look out for ostrich, quail and duck eggs which you can sometimes find being sold in our farmers markets too.

[saint-ambrosef]

Could I get your thoughts on veganism from like an environmental perspective?

ehhhh.... i don't have like, super complete thoughts on it, but i've personally found most vegan "environmental" arguments unconvincing. there is often just as much evidence in contradiction to what they claim as there is evidence to prove their claims. it's pretty murky.

it's probably true that the average american eats way more animal products (especially meat and dairy) than they should, and industrial factory farming has an environmental impact. but i disagree that the solution is for everyone to stop consuming all animal products. instead, we should be promoting regenerative farming practices, which (in addition to much happier animals and healthier environment), due to the increased cost of regenerative farming, also reduces demand. there's a much better chance of convincing the average person to just eat less animal products than to stop eating them at all. and if everyone reduced their animal product intake by half, that'd make a big difference environmentally (presupposing the vegan claims are true).

but i dont think i've ever met a vegan that was only environmental and not also either dietary or ethical vegans, so i don't think they'd accept that argument.

[thekitschdiet]

my take on the literary masterpiece, the chic diet

Firstly, I am no one. It’s part of my charm. My fifteen minutes of fame was years ago, when I had an instagram niche meme page. I didn’t even take any brand deals! And my posts averaged six thousand likes! Anyhow. I am hardly literate and well hydrated and carry a small sephora-CVS-hybrid worth in my mini tote bag. Here is my guide on how to live like me, the intermediate kitsch-rat, aspiring influencer. But like, in an apathetic, somewhat dissonant, ironic way. I like saying I live by dogmatic principles. But a lot of it, um, is just eating disorder rituals. But that’s not really important. You’re as hot as you say you are, and as much an authority on what you write so long as you say it with, you know, conviction. It’s kind of venerable how fucking delusional I am, actually. Giving any sort of advice like I’m anywhere close to the ritzy ideal of the amphetamine-areyouami label-american. New York, ideally. West Village, preferably. But I guess the kind of guide I can write is better suited to someone living in a suburb, in a house with the twelve-paned windows. I always thought those were so chic. SO quaint, in a somewhat luxe way. Like, Connecticut vibes. My parents used to drive me up there as a child to buy books and ice cream. Nowadays I’d opt for a matcha latte with novelty ice cubes, but I guess at the time it was pretty sweet. 

Because I popped a Vyvanse at like, 10pm, this next little bit could go one of two ways. I will write the most articulate, brilliant piece of literature of my life. Magnum opus, if there was a skinnier word for it. Or, I will get wrapped up doing something like folding all my last-season knits (which is part of my look, okay! I don’t have a job!) and fixating on a paragraph on how a girl’s collarbones are almost as identifying as a fingerprint, or a signature. I’m not a graphologist, but if you write your A’s with the little tail on top (like on a computer), you’re probably a snake. Nothing personal, just an observation. Also, I do have a biology final to study for. Not that I’m super anal, or even particularly committed to academia, but even in my precariously manicured (read that as separate terms; I did a good job on my nail polish, okay? But I happen to also be teetering on the brink of an epiphany or a collapse. Hence the use of the word precarious.) state, I know it’s important enough I can let one of my countless side-quests sit idle for a couple more days. 

The first section seems only natural to be about hydration. And the whole idea of drinking things, really. There was a section in The Chic Diet about Adderall dry-mouth, which deeply resonated with me. Once I bit off a chunk of a Nivea Strawberry Shine (my favorite lip balm, more on that later) and swished it around my mouth. Didn’t help. Really, really didn’t. Anyway, I suppose that even if it served no purpose for combatting my prevacatingly ingenious cottonmouth solution, I was able to milk a sentence or two out of the experience. “Do it for the Vine”, all grown up! And wearing bananapapaya resin hoops too. Side note, that Etsy shop is a parasocial enemy of mine. It stems from jealousy, which sucks, but hating from inside a club I’m adjacent to is much healthier than being a hateful individual towards people I would, you know, interact with. Daily. Or something. I stopped going to therapy because I felt stupid about going and I don’t live in the right kind of town to warrant vacuous $300 hours. Bitching about my well-adjusted parents and how desperately I wished my anxiety would just “go away” was plainly gross, and a waste. Like, pretty sure almost every problem I have could be solved by a couple painful conversations taking place during a hurricane. Such a shame it doesn’t rain much here. Anyhow, I digress. 

Staying hydrated. It is essential to my character, my persona, if you will; to never be without either an elegant metal bottle (I’m loyal to the smooth enamelled S’well ones, printed to look like marble or a semi holographic solid) or a little 16oz tumbler with a metal straw. Hydroflasks were some of the worst things to happen to society. I want to preface this claim with the fact that I wanted one in the same way a teenage girl wants a new iPhone so she can keep up appearances with her dermatologist-dad friends who still have the XR, by the way. But I ended up spending the money on like, a minidress at Brandy Melville before it fled my city. Or maybe a Fresh Sugar tinted lipbalm. For the better, even though the dress has a busted zipper now and the lipbalm tube has inevitably gotten dinged and dented by the other contents of my mini-totebag. Unlike a car, though, a couple scuffs on your laptop or your luxury lipbalm tube looks kind of cool. Like, you’re not someone who values the pristine, unused quality of an item that was ambiguously intended to be used versus displayed on Instagram.  Now, I’m wondering why this paragraph about hydration is so fucking impossible to stay on track for. I literally drink several litres of water a day, and more tea on top of that. And sometimes an almond milk latte if I can budget it in. Not that I’m so anorexic I can’t afford a 45cal latte. They’re just not that important to me. Anyhow. Drinking lukewarm (on the cool side) water is better than ice-cold. Partially because I just get it out of the tap of my ensuite and I can’t be bothered to wait for it to run cold enough every time, and it just seems wasteful. Plus, there is something so.. skinny about drinking water at an “obscure” temperature. Trust me, I want to know why my thought process is like this too. My favorite tea is blueberry tea foraged in a side aisle at my local supermarket. I love a good commercial, high-end steep or fruit infusion as much as the next girl. Maybe more. My pantry is filled with tins labelled with things like “emerald jade organic” and “magic potion”, which is really just currants and butterfly pea flowers. But there is a necessary glamor about drinking dirt-cheap tea on the daily. Seriously, a box of 25 sachets is like, $3. At a higher point with my, um, Adderall problem, I spent like several times that on pills. I didn’t really need to include that, and could have linked the price point to the cost of a drugstore lipbalm, but I wrote it in. And I’m married to it, stubbornly, as all amateur writers should be when they wittle in a somewhat indecorous little joke. This tea is sooo good because it has a strong fruit-reminiscent taste (not as sweet as a fresh blueberry, but who wants that anyway?), it’s zero-calorie, it’s the most GORGEOUS color ever. The latte, the third drink in my little trifecta, is nothing special. But necessary. The trick is to use a milk frother to whip up sugar free syrup with instant coffee and a little bit of hot water in a glass. It’ll make the most luscious foam.. Top it off with almond milk. My dad is a coffee purist, owning both an upstairs keurig AND a downstairs one (among other more analogue methods, but I can’t name-drop, so what’s the point?), so he hates this drink. Now, calling oneself a plebian is so unglamorous and teetering on self-deprecating territory, dangerously close to insecurity. But I can use it here because I am at least posh enough to have a different pair of earrings for every outfit I could possibly come up with, and I only wear Patagonia if I am in a situation where I just have to wear fleece. Like I was saying. It’s such a simple drink, certainly not a delicacy, and… I had a joke about the word plebian but I keep getting up to refill my water and I fear I have forgotten about it. 

Next section; the importance of a good tinted balm

In the intro I alluded to how a girl’s collarbones function essentially as an identifier, the way a signature or fingerprint does. This is a lie, or at least an exaggeration. But one’s ultimate tinted lipbalm is  actually extremely indicative about who you are, as a person, as a member of society, even… 

If you are loyal to Dior Lipglow, I have a couple questions. One; did you shoplift one tube, once, and refill it with cheaper stuff afterwards? I did that. I consider it one of my better-kept secrets, but now you know. Might as well explain the catalyst for my parent’s first separation now, and the horrifying experience that was meeting my dad’s Manhattan sugar baby (?) at the age of thirteen, wearing an overalls dress from, like, Topshop or something else equally embarrassing. .. Kidding. I digress. It’s such a fancy lipbalm, and good too! It smells like thin mints! But I could just never justify cell phone monthly installation payment money on something I will inevitably talk off. I do own three, but two I stole (before I lost the nerve, somewhat unfortunately) and one, a boy(not)friend bought for me. This is not something I feel any remorse about, because his house was easily four thousand square feet and his sisters had a dedicated all-glass room for their shared peloton. Oil money. Ugh!

My personal favorite lip balm, and I have tried a frightening amount, has got to be the Nivea Fruit Shine collection. The frosted one is shit-ugly. Hideous. But the strawberry one is the love of my life. It’s such a pleasant red, looking healthy and rejuvenated and really completes any look. Only downside is it will always, hopefully not always, remind me of Charles. Kissing Charles, specifically. And him asking me what lipbalm it was, because he knew I was somewhat frivolous and definitive and would have a very long answer. But for whatever reason, I simply stated it was from “out of town”. Not really sure why I said that, but it plagues me (minorly) to this day. Of all the things to make up.. .. The peach one is a perfectly demure spring classic shade. Cherry exists too, but the only tube I have ever had the fortune of owning was purchased in Costa Rica and lost somewhere on the way home. Honestly tragic, it was the juiciest shade. Blackberry is perfect too, but I have to layer it with either peach or untinted lipbalm to avoid what I imagine TooPoor would choose if she believed in tinted lipbalm. I don’t mean this hatefully, I think she’s a queen, but super dark, smudgy makeup suits the eyes better in my opinion. Or something. Or something.

Afraid to bore the reader, I have to move on now. Maybe at a later date I will release an addendum on my ultimate lipbalm buying guide. But also, that is so deeply personal (and everyone needs the excuse of “hunting for the perfect staple shade!!”), so it is really not my place to have any authority on something so intimate and subjective. Etcetera. 

Moving on; Decorating your room

Here is a section I lifted out of my memoir document. It fits, because as enigmatic as I hope I am, I am also quite unchanging.

 I just pushed three hangers and two tiny strappy tops with the tags still on, off my bed. Most nights, all, these days, actually; I spend in my large but cluttered bedroom. I have a little ensuite with a jetted tub I’ve never used because I just never get around to it. There’s a plush grey rug, spanning the expanse of the room (covering an ugly cherry wood that doesn’t match the rest of the house; no clue why. I never asked, and the previous owners were eager to sell so they could finally ditch this town and retire in Montreal for the bagels, or Hawaii for the monk seals. Point is, I’ll never know) with loose beads and loose pills and little shards of glass from plier-crushed beads. I vacuum every day. The whole room tells you exactly the kind of person I am; the clutter I possess, the encapsulation of the projects I start, start, start and the hours I don’t sleep for and the clothes I tried on (these to sell, these to cut up with kitchen scissors; thrifted lululemon and aritzia and heaps of knits and plaid fabric..) I would not say the room is a mess. Lived in, maybe. Chopsticks and mugs and gum wrappers. Single dangle earrings. I just finished the last of my Creme Brulee eos lipbalm; disguised as a relic of 2015, I was gifted it Christmas of ‘20. I think my next waxy conquest will be a tinted Burt’s one I palmed a while back, before I lost the nerve. Peering around the room you will see shopping bags strewn about the mouth of my walk-in closet. Every surface has something shiny or colorful stacked up on it. Cluttered, busy, but intentional. Except for the walls, which are bare. Bare and gray and miles-tall when I lie flat on my back, high out of my mind, willing things to change but knowing I’m responsible for a first step I will always be too scared for. Bare, pristine, no gumtack. Empty, Like they’re waiting. I wait around a lot. It makes sense. That was an awful lot of words about my stupid blank walls when truly it does not bother me that much; I really just don’t get around to it. I have other things on the ground to tend to, like post-email nausea, addressing envelopes, marrying wire and bead.  Writing a document I care about because I am determined and I am alive, alive, alive, goddammit. 

Excerpt over. The memoir is coming out when I get famous, or something earth shattering happens. Like I become the world’s least remarkable entrepreneur, and I get retweeted by Colorpop. I don’t want to be the next Elizabeth Wurtzel. I read two of her memoirs one restless night, absorbing it to make up for the nutrients I didn’t that day (you can laugh. I think that is pretty clever), heart breaking a little bit. She writes about her struggles so intrinsically, you either get it, or you don’t. Anyway. She had the books and the fame from it, and she wrote more memoirs than I think a single person should. That is admirable. Aspirational, even. But I do not want to be like her. Where was I? Oh. Yes. Decorating/adorning/filling your room. Your room should serve as the kind of place to watch a movie (if you believe in film. I don’t) and put on ridiculous glittery eye makeup, or smoke an ~artistic cigarette~ or stay up all night on the phone, which is different from staying up all night simply on your phone. Chatting with someone you are tepidly in love with is much more exciting. Not chic as the whole affair is so juvenile, but fun regardless. It’s somewhere to keep your worldly possessions, too. I know I have a lot! Also, it is kind of thrilling to hide things in your room in little crevices only you know about. Now, unfortunately, everyone reading this will know too. But, like, I trust you not to really.. do anything about it. I keep my extra juul pods in the sliding box my apple pencil came in. That box is almost more useful than the pencil itself. I’m somewhat morally opposed to the iPad. Whole culture is so embarrassing! I have a tea tin with an ounce of golden teacher shrums in it. This is tossed in my closet among tins filled with other things, like lace trim and buttons. Which makes it actually a pretty terrible hiding spot, I see now… Anyhow. Keeping benign little secrets like that is so fun. You can tell I don’t have siblings. I sort of wish I did, but it is easier to believe there is something aristocratic about being an only child. Not sure if older-sister me would be egalitarian enough to share things. But that’s prophesying, which is kind of a waste of time. I live in the now, in a room positively cluttered with meaningless things that mean the world to me, chewing on my lip because my mouth is just so dry and 5gum is just not an after-8 indulgence. To live truly kitschly, you have to have somewhat hideous decor. Now, do not confuse dissonant, or incoherent, with what I mean by “hideous decor”. The kitsch room has as many surfaces to look at as possible, while also shying away from too many shelving units. Then you risk your room looking like a storage unit or something. When my mom renovated (re: paid someone to do it) our New York house so we could sell it, all our stuff was stacked up in a Cubesmart self storage. It was sort of horrifying, seeing my childhood home reduced to plastic storage tubs piled what felt like thirty feet high. Anyway. It’s just not an  inviting way to store things; I imagine it makes your room look like your stuff is all trapped in gelatin. The more fussy, tiny things you have out in the open, the better. Nail polish. Earring trees. Bowls full of rings and lighters and water color pans perched on your windowsill. A rack with the tackiest assortment of knits and bucket hats and baguette bags. And so forth.. Quickly surveying someone’s room is so telling. Bonus points if all your books are spine-in, except for your favorite ones, because you don’t want people to get the wrong idea. (that you read). 

[yaldabaothadeez]

A thing about elves, the lord-of-the-rings-style never-aging ones, not the D&D live-to-200 ones, is that most of them probably don’t live all that long.

To grab a random number off the internet: the death rate for 35-44 year old American men in 2018 was 249.5 per 10^5. Elves look healthier than 40ish Americans, but they live in a world with more balrogs and fewer antibiotics, so let’s say it’s a wash.

This gives elves a half-life of about 277 years.

Of course, exponential distributions being what they are, the expected lifespan of an elf will be significantly higher, but this is mostly due to a handful of thousand-year-old Alive Georgs dragging up the average.

Realistically, it would be even more extreme than this, as the elves inclined to practice acrobatic trick archery presumably get weeded out fairly soon compared to the ones who just sit at home declining* all day, so the death rate probably goes down with age.

*an elf’s favorite activity, narrowly beating out “being smug”

[jerzwriter]

The differences between the amount of times each pairing have sex or their sex life in general depends on the men as individuals and how do you write/perceive them?

Or does it have to do with Kaycee/Casey's personality? Their work? Free time? Kid/s?

Or you just hate Ethan so you don't want him to get laid 14 times a week? (LOL just kidding)

It is ABSOLUTELY because I hate Ethan. 100%. You're on to me! 😂🤣😂🤣😂

So I think K/E are in the 5-10x a week club, and T/C are in the 7/14x. BOTH are enjoying much healthier sex lives than like 99% of Americans (the average is about once a week - and I wonder why people are so freaking miserable here, but I digress....)

I gave this thought. I see Ethan and Kaycee as coming together because of a strong intellectual bond which turned into a strong physical/emotional bond and a deep, intimate love. I see Tobias and Casey as coming together due to an intense physical bond that turned into a deep emotional bond and deep, passionate love.

Kaycee and Ethan are getting busy A LOT and enjoying it. But Tobias and Casey would probably never put on clothes if they could manage it. :)

Thanks for the ask.

[thinkveganworld]

Is it possible for the human race to evolve beyond war, extreme income inequality, corporate money’s control of political systems, and other anti-democratic trends? Some people say even hoping for such evolution is too idealistic, even impossible. Others have said if humanity doesn’t evolve it will soon self-destruct. Martin Luther King once said society has to begin to either “love or perish.”

The U.S. today is rapidly becoming more an oligarchy than a democratic republic, and this oligarchy is polluting the environment, siphoning money from the poor and middle class, and dismantling civil liberties and democracy at an ever-accelerating pace. This trend won’t end well.

As our politicians hurtle downhill, the U.S. will experience many disasters and an eventual fatal crash. Many citizens feel their corrupt politicians of both major parties have taken so much power that the people can’t possibly play a significant role in improving the U.S. political system today.

Ordinary Americans often say we oppose our government’s perpetual wars, regressive tax system, extreme income inequality and other ills, but many say it would be impossible to reform the present system. I think meaningful change is possible based on what history has shown us.

The world has always included people who think it’s possible for the human race to evolve and others who say fundamental change isn’t possible. We’ve always had war and greedy politicians. Still, in some parts of the world at given moments in time, human beings have taken sudden leaps and left behind certain inhumane practices. If that weren’t true, we’d still have rampant blood sacrifices, witch burning and the same widespread use of slavery in the same areas of the world where they once existed.

Today some populations still practice those things, but many have evolved beyond them. The changes that happened started with a sort of “tipping point” where enough people acknowledged that a social ill such as slavery should end.

The more enlightened views, anti-slavery, anti witch-burning, etc., picked up speed, and the public took action to move beyond the old way. In a sense, the condoning of slavery, etc., became obsolete and unthinkably cruel. There is no reason to cling to the belief that the U.S. today can’t make perpetual illegal war and other egregious political abuses obsolete.

During the 1860s in the U.S. more and more people began to acknowledge slavery was unacceptable and started to challenge the power structure. Once the public conscience was awakened, people organized abolitionist groups, created the Underground Railroad, and spoke out publicly. Influential writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau spoke out often against slavery. A slave, Frederick Douglass, wrote prolifically and gave passionate speeches.

If those abolitionists and writers had not believed a big leap in human evolution was possible, they would never have made the effort to organize or speak out. Their action started with their confidence that abolishing slavery was possible, and it’s not that they didn’t know what they were up against.

In his May 11, 1847, speech before the American Anti-Slavery Society, “The Right to Criticize American Institutions,” Frederick Douglass talked about the country’s entrenched pro-slavery power structure. He acknowledged that the U.S. government was then so committed to maintaining the atrocities of slavery for financial reasons that he would need to appeal to authorities outside the government to help end slavery.

There are relevant parallels in America today. People who want to help end our country’s continual illegal wars and corporate money’s control of our political system are in a position similar to the one Douglass described.

Douglass said, “Where, pray, can we go to find moral power in this nation, sufficient to overthrow Slavery? To what institution, to what party shall we apply for aid? . . . [Slavery] is such a giant crime, so darkening to the soul, so blinding in its moral influence, so well calculated to blast and corrupt all the human principles of our nature . . . that the people among whom it exists have not the moral power to abolish it. Shall we go to the Church for this influence? We have heard its character described. Shall we go to politicians or political parties.”

He added that instead of helping end slavery, the church, politicians, press and political parties were “voting supplies for Slavery—voting supplies for the extension, the stability, the perpetuation of slavery in this land.”

Today, U.S. politicians, press, political parties and most spiritual leaders keep voting for (by supporting or passively tolerating) perpetual war, income inequality and other injustices. Average citizens who see we need to evolve beyond these maladies feel they have nowhere to turn, just as Douglass did.

However, in the same speech, Douglass also said that although the pro-slavery government was very powerful, there was one thing it couldn’t resist. He said, “Americans may tell of their ability, and I have no doubt they have it, to keep back the invader’s hosts . . . of its capacity to build its ramparts so high that no foe can hope to scale them . . . but, sir, there is one thing it cannot resist, come from what quarter it may. It cannot resist truth. You cannot build your forts so strong, nor your ramparts so high, nor arm yourself so powerfully, as to be able to withstand the overwhelming moral sentiment against slavery now flowing into this land.”

It turns out he was right. It wasn’t that public opinion alone ended slavery, but it was a game-changing factor, just as strong public sentiment against the Vietnam War played an important role in its resolution.

At various points in history, when the people reached a tipping point and became fed up with given injustices, they started to be vocal and organize to move humanity in a healthier direction. Their collective efforts did change things for the better. Humanity evolved.

Even though U.S. politicians have unprecedented power to do evil and squelch dissent, the public can step up its efforts to speak, write and organize to help us evolve beyond perpetual war, devastating income disparity, and the country’s anti-democratic drift. Writers and other public figures can help by clarifying what is going on and urging the few politicians with conscience to join us in finding solutions.

Throughout history the big evolutionary leaps, including moves away from slavery in certain parts of the world, started with the widespread public attitude that change was both imperative and possible. It is imperative and possible for the U.S. to change its war-for-profit paradigm and its condoning and allowing the other government corruption covered here.

A fitting excerpt from the Declaration of Independence says: “Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” People will put up with a large amount of abuse from their government before they make any effort to change it for the better.

It could be the U.S. public hasn’t yet reached a tipping point and will give in to a feeling of powerlessness. There is never a shortage of “can’t do” dialogue, and the pessimists have a point. We’re faced with daunting challenges.

However, as one of my favorite “lefties,” the late historian Howard Zinn once said, “To be hopeful in bad times is not being foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of competition and cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, it energizes us to act, and raises at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Can humanity evolve beyond continual war and rule by the worst among us? Yes and no. We can do it if enough of us begin to see we need this evolution in order for our species to survive, and if we start to believe change is doable and take action. We can’t evolve, and probably won’t survive, if most of us stay in denial about the need for change, give in to a sense of powerlessness and do nothing. Frederick Douglass’s idea that powerful evil political forces can be overcome via the truth and public moral sentiment, and Martin Luther King’s view that humanity must ultimately either love or perish, are keys to sorting out which path we should take.

[vardasvapors]

hey boss! just chiming in bouncing off of that anon. I've also spent time with disordered eating; I've never been officially anorexic but what with one thing and another, it wasn't a healthy time. I actually saw an old pic of myself back then recently, and even without being bony-underweight, I was visibly malnourished. learning how to have a healthier relationship with food has made me softer around the middle, yeah, as well as generally a happier and more energetic person. I'm thankful for every opportunity to enjoy food and enjoy life more, these days. So, all credit to you! it's not an easy project to have to handle, and I'm super happy and proud for you! bon appetit:D

I’m extremely glad to hear that!!! Food is good calories are good having fat on your body is good it is literally how most functioning bodies are calibrated to ensure at their healthiest etc etc!

I want to clarify that I am probably not a great source for literally any ED advice whatsoever bc my personal knowledge/awareness is uhhhh....significantly worse than the average person’s afaict. i have no eating disorders and have never like, restricted in even the lightest diet-y way in my life, in fact one of my #Enemies in the whole process of trying to gain weight is that the level of disordered eating/diet culture stuff that most ‘normal’ american girls are familiar with...i just passed over in complete ignorance bc i have always been slightly underweight without effort and therefore never even learned the slightest ability to count calories or have any awareness of how much of xyz i was eating or what was calorie dense or not, the only metric for health i was ever exposed to outside a single highschool health class semester was skinniness.

i don’t actually like, really ‘know how to eat’ and my knowledge of like, any kind of disordered eating is worse than the average person ‘s, bc the entire concept of food and weight was applied to me with basically the logic of ‘well your eyesight is fine so u don’t need to know anything about what glasses lenses you need, since you don’t need glasses!’ which is a super fucked up way to talk about food and weight lmao

[tornrose24]

A (very) brief examination on class and money in the CU world

AKA: I found out how much Krupp is possibly making per year.

I was thinking about the CU series when I realized something regarding class/socio-economic placement of the characters. I thought I’d take a look at a few things.

The rich and most successful (TetoCU)

Most of the characters who are rich or have a career that likely required a major education and possibly pays a lot of money are POC characters:

-Cash Networth: Has a noticeable tan skin tone. Rich enough to literally throw money away and is also one of the nicer adults.

-Jessica’s mom: We get a look at the Gordon’s house in the Christmas special and it looks like it belongs to someone who is able to make quite a bit.

-Cleveland: Well known action movie star. African American with a complexion darker than George’s.

-Grace Wain (AKA future!Erica): self made woman who becomes President of Earth in her timeline.

-Moxie Swaggerman: African American Astronaut.

-And if the series keeps to canon, we know that George will become a famous comic book writer and will make quite a lot of money.

For traditional white rich folk I suppose there’s the actor Lee Dingman (though we don’t get to personally know him) and the Sneedlys (they work for the government and their house looks pretty pricy). But the point is that I think its cool that most of the rich and successful adults are POC characters.

Farming (The Krupp family vs. the Peets family in TetoCU)

There’s an interesting contrast between the families. We know both families are able to make enough money to support themselves, but I can’t help but think back on something:

-I’m not sure how many people are needed to handle a cattle farm, but Bernice was expecting Benny to watch cows and milk them. Isn’t watching cows more of an adult job, not to mention how potentially dangerous a cattle farm can be? Was she not wanting to hire someone more capable just to make more money? I feel that would have been in character.

-Meanwhile you have Stanley’s family–farming and produce is such a part of their identity that their genetic habit of sweating a lot lets them grow produce of their own bodies. Given the rise of agriculture and how Ohio apparently has a lot of agriculture in some parts, its possible that Stanley’s family has quite a bit of money. (And unlike Krupp, Stanley seems to enjoy growing produce alongside his family and it seems his own family is a lot happier with healthier relationships compared to Krupp’s family). EDIT: It’s also possible that Stanley’s parents would hire actual help around the farm, even if their children seem to enjoy agriculture. They don’t strike me as someone who’d force their kids to spend too much time working like Bernice did).

Class within the school staff (AKA here’s some fan fiction fuel)

-So first off, we have Krupp. Given that is highly likely he has a Masters degree, he should be making the most... right? Then I remembered ‘Oh yeah, he’s likely paying off student debts and house and car loans’ in addition to taxes, and suddenly the emptiness of his house makes sense. He likely did so between getting his Masters and at the time of the film, but we don’t know if everything was finally paid off or not. (Plus, without a significant other to help out, he possibly always has to spend the bare minimum).

Also, this adds to him getting rightfully pissed off during the carnival scene. Not only would there be a great financial cost for repairs, but some of that money would likely be taken from his paycheck.

We don’t know how much financial help he got as a teenager/young adult in the books/film, but its safe to say that Bernice likely didn’t help him out with paying for college in the series. Yet not only was he so easily willing to throw away much needed money for a trip to Ecuador for a pointless quest, but he would easily spend one million dollars for a chance to put a stop to the boys rather than keep it to support himself. (Not to mention him wanting to marry someone who’d be willing to share a joint bank account).

(According to statistics, an Ohio Principal would be making around $75,000 a year. That seems like a lot, but again keep in mind what Krupp likely has to pay for and how much it probably costs in real life Piqua Ohio.)

-So I’m not sure what the salary is for a teacher in Ohio, but we know that most of the teachers have made enough to live in their own houses (Anthrope, Meaner, Ribble, etc.)  In movie!Fyde’s case, Krupp mentions a family and if movie!Fyde is married, he is likely the most financially well off. Maybe not as much as Krupp, but given how most of them don’t have a family and probably didn’t go on to get a masters, they are likely able to keep more money than him, if not the same amount.

(I just checked and Ohio teachers can make between $35,000 to $75,000 depending on  percentiles and locations).

-Ironically the staff who possibly gets paid less than Krupp or the teachers are the nicest of the adults. First off, Edith. I did a quick look and it says that if you worked in a place like Columbus Ohio, you’d make $23,628 dollars (or you could make close to $27,000) as a lunch lady... which is a LOT less than what a teacher makes. And that adds weight to what Edith said about being in ‘It’s a Amore’ and thinking it fancy–she probably came from a poor/lower class background (especially if she’s NOT an alien).

Then there is Ree. We don’t know how much he made working from the government, but a janitor would make... well the average says $30,201. Again, not as much as a teacher or Krupp, but it’s likely he has more stashed away from his government days.