Americans Throw Away Almost As Much Food As They Eat Because Of A “cult Of Perfection”, Deepening

Today we learned that conches, the sea-dwelling mollusks who live inside those big, beautiful conch seashells in warm tropical waters, peer out at the world with cartoonish eyes on tiny eyestalks. They see you. They see everything. And what’s more, they can regenerate their peepers should they happen to lose one or both of them.

“One 1976 paper dug into the specific behind these animals’ alien eyestalks. Sitting at the tips of long stalks, they contain retinas with both sensory cells and colored pigment cells. But the story gets weirder because obviously, it gets weirder. After amputating the conchs’ eyes, a fully-formed replacement took its place 14 days later. Humans, we really are losing this evolutionary game.”

But wait, that’s hardly the only surprising set of eyes under the sea. Scallops have eyes too, LOTS of them:

Conch photos by Redditor buterbetterbater and via @shingworks.

[via /r/pics and Gizmodo]

[ID Photos of a small painted clay sculpture of a horse with simplified features with short pointed legs, small rounded tail, and in a standing pose with an arched neck. It is painted to look like prehistoric cave art. Each photo shows a different angle. End ID]

Russia is trying to ban legal transition for trans people

Elena Mizulina put forward a bill, that basically bans legal transition. It includes:

Adding the “sex” graph to the birth certificate. That graph cannot be changed in any way, and you also can’t get a new passport because of that.

banning (again) same-sex marriage, but now it is made based on the birth certificate so trans people cannot marry their loved ones.

banning the right to adopt children for the trans people

and WORSE, ALL THE CHANGES MADE IN THE PAST WILL BE DECLINED. People will get their old birth certificates back. the existing marriages will be no longer legal. And I don’t even want to think what will happen to the already adopted children of transgender parents

People are scared as fuck. I see lots of panic in russian social media and also on Twitter. They made a hashtag #ProtectRussianTransLives, so you can check it out for more info. And yeah, people started protesting. 

The protest hasn’t even started properly. The police detained all of them, called them slurs, misgendered them, asked about genitals. Those pigs arrested two women - Mila Zemtsova and Polina Symonenko

Mila is a journalist who came there with a license. The police immediately arrested her for the organization (!) of the protest which is absolute nonsense. They kept her in the police department for more than 48 hours and took away her phone. She got a fine for nothing.

(translation: I want to not be afraid to show my passport)

Polina’s case is worse. She was arrested for repeated violation of the procedure for holding a public action (hope I wrote it right). Polina was also kept in the department for 48+ hours (it is illegal), misgendered and deadnamed. She was beaten in the court for taking a legal break. They gave her 14 days in a men’s prison. 

This is hell. Please spread this post. People must know about this.

If you are from Russia, you can write a letter to the government. Here’s the link for the instruction:

Medium

Обращения в Госдуму по поводу трансфобных законопроектов

Петицию против законопроектов, нарушающих права трансгендерных, гомосексуальных и интерсекс людей за сутки подписали почти 20 тыс. человек…

Sign the petition:

Change.org

Sign the Petition

Отклоните законопроект о запрете трансгендерным людям на брак и усыновление детей!

SHARE!

Just to be clear:

My advocacy for the preservation of minority languages has nothing to do with the fact that they are interesting/fascinating/any other adjective of that nature

Minority languages deserve protection because they are important, and they are valuable

The worth of a minority language is not determined by the entertainment it can provide to outsiders

While I believe that all languages are beautiful and unique, it shouldn't matter that a language is ugly, or boring or "useless"

Yes, Celtic folk music is beautiful, but that is not the reason for preserving Celtic languages

.

To the tune of Intoxicated Under the Shadow of Flowers

The Double Ninth Festival

Light mists and heavy clouds, melancholy the long dreay day, In the golden cencer the burning incense is dying away. It is again time for the lovely Double-Nith Festival; The coolness of midnight penetrates my screen of sheer silk and chills my pillow of jade. After drinking wine at twilight under the chrysanthemum hedge, My sleeves are perfumed by the faint fragrance of the plants. Oh, I cannot say it is not enchanting, Only, when the west wind stirs the curtain, I see that I am more gracile than the yellow flowers.

 Li Qingzhao

.

             .

A remarkable female poet of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Li Qingzhao (1084-1155) made great achievements in prose as well as poetry, but most of all in the field of lyrics. Born into a literary family in present-day Jinan of Shandong Province, she established herself early as a major talent. In 1101 she married Zhao Mingcheng, who shared her artistic and academic interests. The style of Li Qingzhao’s lyrics changed sharply after she fled to the south after the invasion of the Kin Kingdom in north China. Before she went south, her lyrics mainly recounted the lives of girls and women in their boudoirs. For example, Like a Dream and Complaint of the Prince describes the airy life of cheer the poetess enjoyed at home. Tipsy in the Flower’s Shadow expresses a girl’s loneliness and longing for love, as also expressed in the Flute on Phoenix Terrace, and A Twig of Plum Blossoms. After fleeing south, she endured great hardships in life and the style of her lyric poetry turned deep and pithy. Buddhist Dancers Charm of a Maiden Singer and Slow, Slow Song explore the author’s feelings about life in exile. Joy of Eternal Union is one of the classic Li Qingzhao’s lyric poems composed in the south, presenting a scene during the Lantern Festival in which the poet, avoiding the company of friends, meditates on the bitterness consigned her by the war. In this lyric poem, Li Qingzhao rises above self-pity and expresses her fears for the whole nation. In Pride of Fishermen, the poet not only spilled out the distress caused by homelessness but also expressed a strong desire for an unfettered freedom. Li Qingzhao’s lyrics are woven with a “delicate restraint” in the following ways: first, merging intense passion with literary images, creating an artistic conception in which feelings and scenery are well blended; second, using simple but original language, which in Li Qingzhao’s lyrics is very natural and expressive. Not many literary quotations sprinkle her lyrics but with much spoken language and common sayings, Li Qingzhao’s lyrics have the beauty of music and are easy to recite. Bio and photos via:  absolutechinatours.com and cctv.com

Lindy Pollard Oregon, 2022

Princess Latifa Is Missing!

Princess Latifa of Duba (in the UAE) has recently gone missing, but not before posting a chilling video of herself, stating that “if you are watching this video, then I’m either dead, or in a really really bad situation.” 

Latifa is a member of the Dubai royal family, and recently decided to defect from the authoritarian regime, in which she had previously lived as a prisoner under her own father. 

She recently tried to escape on a yacht. However the yacht was apprehended by Emirates forces and Princess Latifa was taken. She has since been missing. Her fate is unclear. 

Human rights groups are counting on applying pressure on the UAE government to clarify her current location. The Dubai government has responded by accusing those who have reported her missing as criminals. The validity of this statement is highly questioned.

Princess Latifa is likely in grave, life threatening danger. Every reblog can contribute to the mounting pressure on the UAE government to reveal her location. Please reblog, we might save someone’s life. 

hey everyone - this is a post from my twitter.

i know i rarely post anything serious on my social media but this is an issue that affects me directly and it would mean a lot if people who support my artwork could also support... well, my human rights.

here’s a link which explains most of it:

https://twitter.com/prfctomlinsn/status/1319657551584256000?s=21

please spread the awereness if you can. thank you.

Twitter

wiczka IS GOLDEN on Twitter

“what is happening in Poland? for the Polish government, women's rights don't exist, women cannot decide about themselves and their bodies.

you should always be careful when you fall back asleep again after waking up because sometimes you will just have a pleasant little snooze but sometimes you'll get trapped in TIME PRISON. unfortunately there is no way to predict this.