violetmadder

appassionato , 21 hours ago to palestine group

The US is expected to soon release approximately 1,700 500-pound bombs from the shipment that has been suspended since May following worries about harm to Palestinian civilians should the Israeli military use such explosives in its attack on Rafah city.

The consignment will be released when Israel’s operation in Rafah ends in about two weeks, Axios reports.

Biden administration is still reviewing the shipment’s consignment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs.

@palestine
#Gaza
#Israel
#US
#munitions

violetmadder , 15 hours ago

@appassionato @palestine

And how many bombs have already been sent, total?

futurebird , 12 days ago to random

Exciting ant queen collecting trip in AZ. Why does it feel like all the coolest ants are in the South and South West. It's not fair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV1CkkkKbOM

violetmadder , 12 days ago

@futurebird @dotsandlines

Wow! How do you relocate a whole colony when the queen is (presumably?) deep inside the woodwork??

violetmadder , 12 days ago

@futurebird @kechpaja

Ooh, Pica?

As in, the rodent? Or, you are compulsively eating the pest roaches? Or is Pica the name of a different roach-preying friend? 🤔

futurebird , 12 days ago to random

I decided to find out if any progress had been made on the science behind why some ants are attracted to electrical fields. After filtering out exterminators (it's so demoralizing to search for information on creatures you love and find nothing but people who know nothing about them boasting about how they will kill them all) I found what looked like a blog. But, who the heck is "James Brown"? Never heard of the dude. Maybe he could be my new friend if he likes ants enough to blog about them!

violetmadder , 12 days ago

@wa7iut @futurebird @wmd @alexwild

Google doesn't care about burning down their brand. They have so much power and such a large monopoly they don't need to care about appeal anymore.

They're burning down facts, communication, news and learning.

The people who built this botshit want us all floundering and disconnected.

I keep wondering when they'll try rolling out some kind of Ministry of Truth to "save" us and tell us what's real.

PacificNic , 16 days ago to random

For years they said fascism was coming, but it was here all along. You couldn't have stopped it with voting.

You never could have.

The state was never going to tell you when it became fascist.

violetmadder , 16 days ago

@lawas @wallamidyl @PacificNic

From an indigenous perspective, basically the Nazis won and we're all speaking German right now.

But the VBNMW crowd wants to split hairs, how dare you say this is fascism actually fascism is VERY different there are such important distinctions and you're making the term meaningless look at all these freedoms we still have, it doesn't officially count as fascism until there's one obvious dictator and nobody even pretends to have elections anymore and we're lined up in neat rows getting systematically shot-- by Republicans, mind you, Democrats could get away with anything, oppression doesn't count when they do it-- THEN and only then do we get to blow that whistle.

...When it's too late.

glencoe , 19 days ago to random

sick of the press doing the 'how can the far right be surging when all we've done is platform them without cease, without interruption and let them openly lie and incite with very little pushback on every channel for the last ~20 years' kayfabe.

They're surging because you fucking marketed them non-stop, you are their biggest cheerleaders and you deserve nothing but scorn and misery for it.

violetmadder , 18 days ago

@peachfront @pete @BeAware @glencoe

It first occurred to me when I realized that Trump's trials were turning into just one more horrible Reality TV show. TUNE IN NEXT SEASON FOR THE SENTENCING!! dramatic music, closeups of shocked faces, oh the suspense

And kayfabe is the perfect term because I swear Vince McMahon must be writing our political storylines right now, that's how absurd and grotesque the whole mess is.

violetmadder , 18 days ago

@peachfront @pete @BeAware @glencoe

And the other reason kayfabe fits perfectly, is how resistant people often are to believing it.

What do you MEAN wrestling's "not real"?? Look how much they hate each other! Look at the fighting! The blood!

What do you mean they actually drink together after the show and collect their paychecks from the same oligarchs?? That's ridiculous!

When the rumors really started to break through into common knowledge in wrestling fandom, some people were highly pissed off-- and some people probably STILL don't realize the big match outcomes are scripted.

violetmadder , 17 days ago

@BeAware @peachfront @pete @glencoe

Sure, and it takes a tremendous amount of athletic skill to be able to put on a show that looks so spectacularly violent WITHOUT frequently maiming everybody.

futurebird , 19 days ago to random

Square cube law? Square shumb law!

Arthropods can get humongous. The main reason they don't is they are far too tempting targets for warm-blooded vertebrates.

But about that? Why couldn't an arthropod also be warm-blooded? Maybe some were.

And that thing you heard about "giant insects needed higher O2 levels" also questionable. Arthroplura was still around after the levels crashed... something else ended the golden age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZoJyWxGi1A

violetmadder , 18 days ago

@tuban_muzuru @futurebird @Ruth_Mottram

I would shriek in wonder and delight. And hold it and pet it and care for it and name it George.

paninid , 21 days ago to random

If you think of “AI” as a purpose-built Big Lie force multiplier, things start to track.

#sensemaking

violetmadder , 21 days ago

@trochee @GGMcBG @paninid

People look like ants to them. That's how far gone they are.

Nonilex , 22 days ago to random

FYI
I’ve decided not to report much on #HunterBiden’s trial. It is evident that he, Beau’s widow, & the #Biden family were in deep #grief.
In that grief, Hunter & Hallie self-medicated w/a highly addictive drug. Hunter already had a predisposition to #addiction, & he did what people addicted to drugs & alcohol do — made terrible decisions.
He admitted it & admitted to committing crimes during his addiction.
Detailing that painful time for the purpose of humiliating his family is cruel.

#law

violetmadder , 21 days ago

@Nonilex

That's a good choice.

It's ironic, though, after the 1994 crime bill Biden helped write with NO SUCH MERCY for millions of other people struggling with their own traumas and substance abuse over the decades.

poligraf , 22 days ago to palestine group

« Children are starving in Gaza because of Netanyahu’s policies. »⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
🔗 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFGHawrqnYI
⁣⁣⁣
#Palestine #ceasefire #FreePalestine @palestine⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
🕊️ 🇵🇸 🍉 🙏🏻 ✌️ ☮️ ⁣🇺🇸

violetmadder , 21 days ago

@LightFIAR @poligraf @palestine

I'd be down.

moss , 25 days ago to random

One of the buddhist priests where I practice, an elderly white man, saw my rainbow water bottle, smiled, and said, "Avalokiteśvara is trans." :ablobcatcry:

Infinite compassion is trans.

I love them. I love this. Especially since the bare minimum of compassion is what transphobes lack. Infinite compassion is part of how we keep making society kinder.

Happy pride. 🧱

violetmadder , 25 days ago

@moss @tea

Oh that's marvelous! Warmfuzzies.

oatmeal , 1 month ago to palestine group

#Rafah / Haaretz v Ynet

This is roughly how mainstream Israel media whitewashes IDF’s war crimes. If you start with Hamas militants targeted, every atrocity is acceptable to the Israeli ear

Haaretz: dozens dead in an Israeli strike at a camp; IDF: we attacked Hamas militants

Ynet: IDF eliminated senior Hamas commanders; Palestinians (claim): tents set a blaze (nothing to do with the attack on a densely populated refugee camp, presumably), 28 dead

@palestine
@israel

Nighttime scene of a massive fire in a refugee compound, with silhouettes of people in the foreground. Hebrew text overlay details the event.

violetmadder , 25 days ago

@oatmeal @palestine @israel

Ouch. Some angles I hadn't thought of, there.

futurebird , 26 days ago to random

Thom Hartmann is disturbed by a field of wildflowers... but not an insect in sight...

https://hartmannreport.com/p/is-the-loss-of-insects-a-desperate-7fe/comments

It's hard to quantify the loss of insects since we have never kept great track of them to begin with.

violetmadder , 25 days ago

@stevenbodzin @futurebird

The trouble is it's really difficult to fully grasp the scale and complexity of the issue, and the usual level of education people have on science and biology falls woefully short.

There's always something more we can do, something to save, reasons to fight. It's strange how many people go from "oh it's not a problem" directly to "oh well nothing we can do" without much problem-solving in between.

I'm volunteering at local nurseries and gardens, and propagating native plants. Hopefully more word will get out about what people can do in their own yards (or neighbors' yards or even road verges) to help.