Random Mansion Generator

My doctor when I was diagnosed with type 2 was surprised that I "hadn't managed to damage my kidneys yet," couldn't be bothered to give me any information about how to stay healthy except for "don't eat such huge servings of junk food," (at the time, I ate a high-fiber vegan diet with only complex carbs), and infomed me that my diabetes was the result of having too much belly fat.

I've had strangers give me crap when they see me testing my bg levels.

My dad, who went to the gym every single day and was in better shape than anyone I knew, was also diagnosed with type 2. My body type is very much like his and his mom's. I seriously doubt that my college-era froot loops binges are the reason I developed diabetes.

News flash: willpower is not actually a metabolic influence, food isn't bad for you, and fat people actually tend to physically cope better with t2d than thin people do.

Also, unlike diabetes, lack of critical thinking skills, empathy, and basic decency are NOT genetically influenced, and respond well to (mental) exercise as an intervention.

Like this is a whole different rant but the way people talk about diabetes in general makes me so pissed off. Diabetes isn't a moral failing. Diabetes isn't something people can "deserve to have". No you can't say only people with type 1 deserve sympathy, what the fuck is wrong with you etc. No you can't get diabetes from eating too much sugar. Stop implying people with type 2 should die

i gotta remember this

Everything is interconnected in ways that are unimaginably complex. I see this in my reading and in my observations of nature. Because of this I am starting to think that plant sameness both contributes to and is contributed to by animal sameness, especially birds.

Lots of invasive plant species in my area are spread by birds. But which kinds of birds? I'm not sure if we know.

But the species of birds which feed upon the berries of the invasive species, are likely to be highly abundant in the areas overtaken by the invasive species, spreading a larger number of seeds of invasive species into the other areas those birds go. When the high density of invasive plants excludes other birds, it causes even greater density and exclusionary capacity of the invasive species, and even more favorable conditions to the birds that feed upon them.

So basically, when plant sameness reduces the number of animal species (and fungus species) that can survive, and when this plant sameness is repeatedly reinforced through management of the landscape, it can start to perpetuate itself through the animal sameness that was created

What this suggests to me, is that there may be a critical threshold of fragmentation and destruction of habitat where invasive species removal by itself is pointless or worse, because the larger-scale landscape has too much plant sameness and animal sameness for native species to come back.

What to do...? Maybe choose plantings for the restored area specifically for vigorous dispersal and high seed and fruit production?

Native, quasi-native and cultivated food plants could all be appropriate, because the goal is to attract the dispersers that cannot survive in the invasive species monoculture environment and redirect dispersers that previously relied on invasive species for food.

This facilitates dispersal of plants between the newly planted restoration and other habitat fragments that can support non-monocultured wildlife.

This is fucking awesome LMAOOOO

article link

I found a hand sanitizer bottle that came with a built-in loop and a carabiner. Emptied out the hand sanitizer and refilled with liquid soap, and just keep it clipped to my belt-loop. Easy to use, don't even have to unclip it, no need to set the container anywhere, and I've been using and refilling the same little bottle since 2020. Since I'm pretty much universally allergic to soap in public dispensers, it's made hygeine much easier. As a bonus, with the liquid soap and a water bottle, hand washing doesn't require a bathroom or sink at all.

I've noticed more and more in public bathrooms that people skip the handwash and just take a squirt of hand sanitizer from wall dispensers on the way out. hand sanitizer is NOT effective against most things that come out of your ass. i cannot stress this enough. i'm begging y'all. please. please please please please please use the soap.

i'm out here immunosupressed fighting for my life to not get naturally selected while people around me touch a public toilet handles and walk back to their tables to immediately eat a burger

Wanted to motivate myself to do more in my map and patterns sketchbook (I really fell out of doing big maps so I just started putting my ideas here)

Any interesting heraldry/patterns/land formations get logged in here for future reference (also the warp map of Custodia from Blasphemous)

The last sentence is everything.

What I was taught growing up: Wild edible plants and animals were just so naturally abundant that the indigenous people of my area, namely western Washington state, didn't have to develop agriculture and could just easily forage/hunt for all their needs.

The first pebble in what would become a landslide: Native peoples practiced intentional fire, which kept the trees from growing over the camas praire.

The next: PNW native peoples intentionally planted and cultivated forest gardens, and we can still see the increase in biodiversity where these gardens were today.

The next: We have an oak prairie savanna ecosystem that was intentionally maintained via intentional fire (which they were banned from doing for like, 100 years and we're just now starting to do again), and this ecosystem is disappearing as Douglas firs spread, invasive species take over, and land is turned into European-style agricultural systems.

The Land Slide: Actually, the native peoples had a complex agricultural and food processing system that allowed them to meet all their needs throughout the year, including storing food for the long, wet, dark winter. They collected a wide variety of plant foods (along with the salmon, deer, and other animals they hunted), from seaweeds to roots to berries, and they also managed these food systems via not only burning, but pruning, weeding, planting, digging/tilling, selectively harvesting root crops so that smaller ones were left behind to grow and the biggest were left to reseed, and careful harvesting at particular times for each species that both ensured their perennial (!) crops would continue thriving and that harvest occurred at the best time for the best quality food. American settlers were willfully ignorant of the complex agricultural system, because being thus allowed them to claim the land wasn't being used. Native peoples were actively managing the ecosystem to produce their food, in a sustainable manner that increased biodiversity, thus benefiting not only themselves but other species as well.

So that's cool. If you want to read more, I suggest "Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America" by Nancy J. Turner

Petitions - UK Government and Parliament

Petition: Legally enshrine the right of adults to physically transition using NHS services

Introduce a law to legally protect the right of those aged 18 and over to transition using NHS services. This should specifically cover phys

Uk peeps!! Let’s get this going! 🏳️‍⚧️🇬🇧

I love this.

I've seen this before, but it's been years and it just came across my Twitter in its dying days. The words are from a favorite author of mine, Maggie Stiefvater, and they are the words I most need to hear when it comes to dealing with chronic pain and illness. I didn't need this the first time I saw it, six years ago. I need it now. Maybe you do, too.