Thousand Mile Long Shadows

Reasons to be Cheerful

Bison Are Bringing Back Biodiversity to Britain

In just a few years, the only free-roaming bison herd in the U.K. has already made a tangible difference in the surrounding ecosystem.

European bison released in England’s ancient woodland have doubled in number since 2022, and the woodland has gotten healthier since, reviving previously extinct beetle species and increasing sightings of dormice and reptiles. And England isn’t the only European nation getting bison back in business: In the 1920s, there were just 54 European bison after intense hunting over millennia, but thanks to re-wilding efforts there are now around 10,000, mostly in Russia and Belarus. RTBC

Better Future Program’s 3,000 free resources have all been officially moved to Notion and not only are much easier to read on BOTH desktop and mobile, but have fully functional search and sorting options! Go check out our Liberation Library to support a Black-, queer-, and woman-owned nonprofit!

Noticed something a little funky in the world around you and want to figure out what's up? Especially if there might be something you ought to be doing about it? Not sure what information sources to trust these days? If you're in the US, federal agencies like NOAA, USGS, EPA and more collect massive amounts of scientific data every day, much of which is publicly available online - if you know where to look.

A PDF version with clickable links is available for free on my itchio page (quakeandquiver); I'll add a direct link in a reblog.

sorry but i’m gonna post a rant that i wrote, please filter ‘harassment tw‘ if you don’t want it on your dash

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I thought it was fairly normal to feel empathy for bad people.

I thought it was common, even.

But after my Elon/Grimes post... now I'm wondering if I was mistaken about that.

I wrote a post about Trump being traumatized after his assassination attempt and a post about his poor adaptation to aging. I expressed sympathy for him in both cases. But I still maintain my white hot hatred of him and wish for him to face consequences.

Elon was abused by his father. Some of the stories are incredibly tragic. Hearing those stories triggers an involuntary response in my emotional systems that I can't stop no matter how much I despise present-day Elon. I also wonder if that abuse never occurred maybe we wouldn't be dealing with this current clusterfuck.

I have never held so much anger towards a single person as I do my brother. But I also see him as a victim of abuse. I know he was once a really good person and he was slowly corrupted. I feel sorry for him. I mourn the amazing person he used to be. And I still love him.

But that doesn't make me any less angry.

A note to all college kids, So Microsoft word has default settings for papers.

If you search MLA, or APA you can get an entire paper template.

REPEAT: Microsoft word will Format your entire paper!

You never have to spend hours lining everything up again.

March 8, 2021 - Feminists on International Working Women’s day in Mexico City attacked riot police at the national palace, in protest against the high rates of violence against women in Mexico and the police’s inaction against it. [video]/[video]/[video]

Vultures are holy creatures.

Tending the dead.

Bowing low.

Bared head.

Whispers to cold flesh,

“Your old name is not your king.

I rename you ‘Everything.’”

Comrade I picked a bad time to get radicalized when it comes to safe organization. I’ve already linked up with my local DSA chapter but there’s really not much I can do except for attend zoom meetings and kind of just sit around with my dick in my hand. Besides sending money and going to more outdoor protests, do you have any suggestions on what to do about direct action while a meet up with my local groups is pretty much impossible?

First of all, welcome to the insurrection, friend! We’re glad to have you on!

I don’t think you’re alone in this boat. Material conditions are such that lots of people are getting radicalized-- they’re being evicted, they’re fleeing climate apocalypse, they’re seeing their loved ones die from cops and coronavirus and they’re helpless to stop it. They’re getting deported and fired and laid off and atomized and can’t even afford to subscribe to shitty streaming services as a palliative force.

Your first instinct-- to find others-- is fundamentally correct. We can only effect real meaningful change in large numbers. We don’t have the cash, but we have the people and we got the guillotine.

Do you have a job? Do you have a union? If the answers are yes and no, respectively, now is the time when you can organize more easily with your co-workers outside the control of your boss. Test the waters in friendly conversation with people you can trust not to snitch, and consider organizing your workplace. The IWW has a very useful guide on how to do so.

Do you rent? Consider forming a tenants’ union. Organizing one of these is less dangerous than organizing your workplace, as you don’t report to your landlord regularly. If your landlord tries to kick one of you out, all of you can strike.

Many mutual aid efforts are still ongoing in the face of lockdown. Now more than ever, we need to care for each other. Food Not Bombs probably has a chapter near you, and the ones around where I’ve lived continue to operate (albeit with precautions like gloves). Join one of those efforts. I’d focus on housing and food-related mutual aid.

Finally, use this time to learn a useful revolutionary skill. You can grow a tiny garden even if you’re in an apartment, you can learn to brew cider, mead, beer, and wine. You can learn to sew and mend, build structures, forage, survive in the woods, read revolutionary lit, and shoot with/care for a gun. Get comfortable carrying heavy things on your back, and expand your cardio abilities (lots and lots of running). Not everyone can run, of course, but do whatever you can to make it easier to escape or throw a punch (when we get back into contact with each other, take up a self-defense art). Once you know the basics, teach them to someone else.

If anybody else has ideas, please put them here!

And again, welcome, comrade, and good luck.