James Rogers

I don’t usually make posts like this, but I’ve been seeing a lot of anti-intellectual junk lately, and I really think we need to put the word “pretentious” up on a shelf until people learn what it actually means.

It doesn’t describe someone who likes artsy-fartsy deep meaning media. People who are pretentious are fake. They’re posers trying to be sophisticated and unique, not like other girls. They pretend to only like stuff they think will make them sound cool when they talk about it. They want to act like they know something you don’t, and they want attention for it.

By definition, if you genuinely enjoy something, you can’t be pretentious. If it resonates with you, and you analyze it, and you don’t care what people think, that’s the polar opposite, actually. If you love obscure experimental prog music, if you watch underground high concept indie films through English teacher eyes, if you spend hours in a modern art museum reading each piece as a vessel for storytelling, if your backpack’s full of poetry books that inspire you, if you play underrated games that were someone’s passion project, if you have an interest in studying the classics or the masters, you are not pretentious.

Of course, some people just don’t like some stuff, and that’s fine, but that’s not what this is about. Don’t let anti-intellectuals shame you for enjoying things just because your interests are inaccessible to them, because they refuse to be brave and put effort into critical thinking. You’re not stuck up for refusing to overlook the craft of artists.

REDREW THE BEST YURI I COULDVE THOUGHT OF FROM LIKE 4 YEARS AGO

Good News Network

Century of Tree Planting Stalls the Warming Effects in the Eastern United States, Says Study

By the 1930s, forest cover loss in the eastern states like the Carolinas and Mississippi had stopped, and massive reforestation took place.

"A century of gradual reforestation across the American East and Southeast has kept the region cooler than it otherwise would have become, a new study shows.

The pioneering study of progress shows how the last 25 years of accelerated reforestation around the world might significantly pay off in the second half of the 21st century.

Using a variety of calculative methods and estimations based on satellite and temperature data from weather stations, the authors determined that forests in the eastern United States cool the land surface by 1.8 – 3.6°F annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest effect seen in summer, when cooling amounts to 3.6 – 9°F.

The younger the forest, the more this cooling effect was detected, with forest trees between 20 and 40 years old offering the coolest temperatures underneath.

“The reforestation has been remarkable and we have shown this has translated into the surrounding air temperature,” Mallory Barnes, an environmental scientist at Indiana University who led the research, told The Guardian.

“Moving forward, we need to think about tree planting not just as a way to absorb carbon dioxide but also the cooling effects in adapting for climate change, to help cities be resilient against these very hot temperatures.”

The cooling of the land surface affected the air near ground level as well, with a stepwise reduction in heat linked to reductions in near-surface air temps.

“Analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape,” the authors write. “Locations surrounded by reforestation were up to 1.8°F cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the Eastern United States.”

By the 1930s, forest cover loss in the eastern states like the Carolinas and Mississippi had stopped, as the descendants of European settlers moved in greater and greater numbers into cities and marginal agricultural land was abandoned.

The Civilian Conservation Corps undertook large replanting efforts of forests that had been cleared, and this is believed to be what is causing the lower average temperatures observed in the study data.

However, the authors note that other causes, like more sophisticated crop irrigation and increases in airborne pollutants that block incoming sunlight, may have also contributed to the lowering of temperatures over time. They also note that tree planting might not always produce this effect, such as in the boreal zone where increases in trees are linked with increases in humidity that way raise average temperatures."

-via Good News Network, February 20, 2024

self care for when you hit rock bottom

i fucking hate self care posts made by neurotypicals so here’s one from someone who Actually Gets It

-can’t shower or take a bath? me either. dry shampoo can make your hair look and feel cleaner, and baby wipes or makeup wipes work great to get the top layer of grime off your skin.

-can’t wash your sheets and make your bed? i feel you. push your blankets out of the way and shake the crumbs off your sheet. it will at least be a bit more comfortable.

-can’t even change out of your dirty pajamas? been there. hit yourself with some febreeze and a lint roller. if you can, brush your hair. if you can’t, hair ties and bobby pins are fantastic.

-can’t make anything to eat? same. if you can, there’s no shame in ordering food. in fact, it’s probably better you eat something rather than go hungry. if you can’t, try and find something that comes pre-made or takes minimal effort to make. at the very least, drink some water.

can’t respond to messages or reach out for help? yeah, i get that. set an alarm for a few hours from now and respond to any messages you need to once you’ve given yourself time to prepare. if they’re Important Messages that need Professional Responses, you can find fill-in-the-blank format rough drafts on google. as far as personal messages go, don’t feel bad for sending a mass “I’m sorry, I’m in a personal emergency right now. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” response to everyone.

-can’t even sleep because it’s so bad? asmr videos always knock me out, personally, but i also watch a lot of bob ross. just try to find something quiet and soothing to use as background noise and take your mind off it, or at least give you a more peaceful environment to think about it.

-can’t go for a walk/drive? try opening the blinds or curtains. you’re still exposing yourself to the outside world. baby steps. (i also play animal crossing or sims; it may be virtual but fuck it. i went on a walk.)

-can’t go into work/school? let people know. let your coworkers or classmates know it’s an emergency and you can’t make it. give yourself up to two days, but then you have to go back. ask to have your work emailed to you so you know what you missed.

-can’t brush your teeth and wash your face? makeup or baby wipes and gum or mouthwash. don’t let yourself physically rot bc you’re rotting emotionally.

-remember that you’ve been here before. if you survived then you can survive now. that’s what this is about- survival. you don’t have to be living your Best Life. right now, it’s more than enough that you’re alive.

So if Antonio annoys anyone, they can respond w/ "ok boomer"?

When u realise Antonio is literally a boomer

Honestly, I’m still so confused why D3 suddenly made it so that the villains as well suddenly deserved to be free from the Isle??? Like, it feels like we were on the right track off needing to take the kids off the Isle, but then suddenly by the end….its the adults as well???

The only reason I can see this happening is cause of what Hades said but honestly, if they wanted to have a villain say that….they chose the wrong character. Hades earned his imprisonment when he tried to kill Hercules as a baby, tried to kill him more times if you count the TV show, and basically freed the titans, potentially causing more deaths. And that’s ignoring that in this film, he also attacked Mal with the ember. Like, he was not the right character to do that bullshit line. 

But like, even then, why not see which adults are innocent and want to reform versus just…freeing all the villains, including ones who wanted revenge in the first film??? Like, this whole sudden free the villains thing makes zero sense in all areas and really wasn’t needed in the film, especially as it just leads to all the jokes about Auradon probably about to be a hellscape with the villains freed now. 

Elsabela: Perfect Song

CW: Drugs, Ice, Lana Del Rey, Plants

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to anyone reading my post! Thank you for taking the time out of your day or night to read my post.

While I was doing my homework, I was listening to Lana Del Rey. I would not consider myself a Lana stan, but I do enjoy quite a few of her songs, especially ones from her Ultraviolence album.

While I was listening to Lana Del Rey's 2014 song "Brooklyn Baby", I thought that it would be the perfect song for an Elsabela fanfiction. For textual evidence, I have quoted some lyrics below:

First, "They think I don't understand The freedom land of the seventies"

Both Elsa and Isabela wear costumes inspired by 1970s fashion movement, specifically punk and boho.

In addition, both of them crave freedom and self-expression.

Next, "I think I'm too cool to know ya You say I'm like the ice, I freeze"

Yes, I am stating the obvious.

Third, "They judge me like a picture book By the colors, like they forgot to read"

As they sing about in "Let it Go", "Show Yourself", and "What Else Can I Do", people have seen them solely as beautiful, perfect "proper ladies", when they are actually more than perfect princesses.

Fourth, "But I'm free, ooh-ooh I'm free"

Similar to my third point, both ladies crave freedom.

Fifth, "I'm talking about my generation Talking about that newer nation"

Both of them at least influence major social change in their respective hometowns.

Sixth, "And if you don't like it, you can beat it Beat it, baby You never liked the way I said it If you don't get it, then forget it 'Cause I don't have to f*ck*n' explain it"

While I don't think either of them would be that rude to someone, they both have dealt with people, especially parents/grandparents not understanding them or allowing them to express their true selves.

Second to last, "I've got [flowers] in my hair I get h*gh on hydroponic w**d"

After "What Else Can I Do", Isabela realizes that she can make more than decorative flowers, likely including "medicinal herbs". In addition, I am sure she is interested in learning new gardening techniques.

Last, "Yeah, my [girl]friend's pretty cool But [she]'s not as cool as me"(Lana Del Rey, Barrie-James O'Neill)

They are both cool ladies, especially in the eyes of their younger sisters.

Ironically, according to Matthew Jacobs for Huffington Post, Lana Del Rey's song "Brooklyn Baby" is a piece of satire about 2010s-era New York City hipsters and hipster culture. (Jacobs). To state the obvious, Isabela and Elsa are not 2010s-era NYC hipsters, at least in canon and the majority of fanfictions, as their stories are set in small towns in the 19th/20th century, and they are not pretentious or elitist about their personal tastes, which people think of hipsters being.

Overall, the song encapsulates their relationship and personal lives well.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day or night to read my post. Have a good day or night!

this is actually incredibly sweet

So true. But TBF, @hadeantaiga, Kim Jong Un was deinitely no saint, to understate.

I really think people have forgotten just how bad things were under the Trump Administration. Literally every day there was news about some service being cut or someone terrible appointed somewhere they shouldn't be or what have you. He constantly flirted with WW3 and military dictatorship. It was such a blur of badness that there aren't big standouts for people to point to to make him "the XYZ president." it was everything. all the time. Why do we not remember this.

Isabelsa x Married moodboard!