Day: December 17, 2017

OK, what I was trying to comment on that chat post like a dunce.

Have to add that I was in college relying hard on Pell grants and work study, when the Clinton administration expanded eligibility for all need-based federal aid to include higher income brackets.

Doesn’t sound like a bad thing, right? Yeah, if you also increase the funding to cover at least double the number of students suddenly eligible for what little non-loan aid exists. Including the number of work study jobs/hours available.

Fast forward 20+ years of further slashed educational funding and skyrocketing costs, and I can only imagine what it must be like by now.

The situation was rough enough then, and that was one of the reasons I ended up crashing out. Trying to make up the sudden gap by working my ass off even more. At a state university within commuting distance. (Where I ended up largely because it was almost doable with the aid I could get starting out.)

A long ugly slide from Reagan to here in so many ways, yeah.

federal government: alright we’re going to grant you this much money for student aid
federal government: but part of this student aid requires you getting a job
federal government: and we’re going to act like there absolutely is a job available for you
federal government: because there are enough student jobs for everyone right?

soih:

if you ever have the time, I recommend everyone reading up on “plains indian sign language” that existed from canada to mexico as a form of accessible lingua franca for all nations to be able to communicate with one another. when discussing native communities and activism, so many speak to the pain of losing our oral languages, but we so often forget about this vital thread that tied so many of us together

cellarspider:

mmmskulljuice:

This is apparently some sort of Chilean harvestman and it’s an incredible little monster with mighty bladed thighs and a xenomorph crest??

Pachyloidellus goliath! Its back legs are probably spiky to deter predators rather than attack. Its actual mouthparts (the little nubbins on the other end) are too small and weak to break skin. Its diet doesn’t get more ambitious than small insects and worms.

Source: mmmskulljuice

fleetwoodmac-andcheese:

scribblings-of-a-madcap:

thefuzzhead:

aspacelobster:

goddammitstacey:

I’ll be the first to admit I thoroughly enjoy all the “holy shit, Australia” posts that circulate around here but I feel like there’s a very important caveat when it comes to the discussion of swooping season that no one seems to mention.

For those not aware, swooping season is when the magpies start to nest and turn into mini dive-bombers comprised of talons, feathers and spite. It’s not fun. I bled heavily after a particularly vicious swoop when I was a kid, and I’m definitely not the only one.

But here’s the thing: swooping is not an innate behaviour. It’s a learned one. I realised this the moment I moved out of home and began my decade long (entirely unintentional) habit of moving to a different suburb every two years. 

I’ve met a lot of wildlife, walking everywhere as I do. And I’ve met a lot of magpies – hella intelligent creatures that are probably thinking “what the fuck is this chick doing” every time I say hi to them as I walk past.

When I first moved out of home, I automatically started taking notes on areas I saw magpies in preparation for swooping season. It was just the done thing. It wasn’t until September came and went and the magpies in my area continued their quizzical but otherwise completely non-aggressive behaviour that it started to twig with me.

The next few years of moving around solidified my suspicions.

Anytime I lived close to a school or in an area with a high concentration of families with young kids, the magpies would swoop. Any suburb (usually inner city) with a high concentration of childless households and/or share-houses: no swooping to be seen.

And it’s any goddamn wonder.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve yelled at kids for messing with wildlife. I grew up in the outer suburbs, so there was no shortage of mini-assholes with an empathy shortage. Australian kids will poke anything they can reach with a stick, and throw rocks at everything else. Including birds nests.

Magpies are intelligent as hell, and they remember shit for GENERATIONS. Some human-shaped fucker throwing rocks at them and their nests? That’s something that’d stick.

So anytime you read one of those “lol the birds try to kill us here” posts, remember: it’s not the birds that started that shit – it was the asshole humans.

country magpies don’t swoop

@enthusispastic

Adding on to the fact that magpies are super intelligent:

In primary school there were these really huge gum trees in which a family of magpies took up residence one year. 

(an important thing to note is that I grew up in the country with A LOT of magpies -that were basically like relatives for the amount of time they spent on the veranda- and never encountered any swooping)

So one morning walking in to school I noticed that all the kids ahead of me were giving the really huge gum trees a wide berth, with other kids shouting warnings from the buildings. Being an airy-headed little kid, I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were actually saying, so I just kept walking straight under the trees.

Nothing happened.

I got to the buildings and asked why everyone was making a big fuss about the trees, and one of my friends just pointed back the way I came and said “the birds!”

And sure enough, any of the other kids that tried to walk under the trees got immediately swooped and chased to what the magpies thought was a good distance from their nests.

Magpies not only remember humans that are mean to them, but they recognise humans that have been given the seal of approval by other magpies.

For the last 40+ years there’s been a rapidly growing family of magpies at my grandparents house.

The lady next door would feed them every morning and they would do that beautiful warble. After she died my grandad started feeding them. Everyday.

They come to the same place everyday and wait for him, he used to take my sister and I as kids to help him feed the magpies and it was honestly a highlight of our visits. He still does it with our younger cousins.

They’ve never swooped anyone in the family, they scare off cats that try and get in my grandmas garden and they sing for my grandparents everyday.

Last year my grandad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He sometimes forgets what he’s doing and what he was saying and repeats conversations over and over.

Sometimes he’s late to feed the magpies, and they wait. It’s kinda like they know. They’ll come right up to the house and gently tap on the window to remind him, and he’s so happy to see them and feed them.

Magpies are beautiful birds, and anyone that thinks otherwise is probably a dick to them.

ikkimikki:

philtippett:

ithelpstodream:

Once the children were asleep, Sajjad headed out on an urgent shopping mission. “We are Muslims and we’d never had a Christmas tree in our home. But these children were Christian and we wanted them to feel connected to their culture.”

The couple worked until the early hours putting the tree up and wrapping presents. The first thing the children saw the next morning was the tree.

“I had never seen that kind of extra happiness and excitement on a child’s face.“ The children were meant to stay for two weeks – seven years later two of the three siblings are still living with them.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/03/muslim-foster-parents-it-has-been-such-a-blessing?CMP=fb_gu

this is a beautiful article and i just want to include a few other highlights from the above family as well as another profiled:

…she focuses on the positives – in particular how fostering has given her and Sajjad an insight into a world that had been so unfamiliar. “We have learned so much about English culture and religion,” Sajjad says. Riffat would read Bible stories to the children at night and took the girls to church on Sundays. “When I read about Christianity, I don’t think there is much difference,” she says. “It all comes from God.”

The girls, 15 and 12, have also introduced Riffat and Sajjad to the world of after-school ballet, theatre classes and going to pop concerts. “I wouldn’t see many Asian parents at those places,” she says. “But I now tell my extended family you should involve your children in these activities because it is good for their confidence.” Having the girls in her life has also made Riffat reflect on her own childhood. “I had never spent even an hour outside my home without my siblings or parents until my wedding day,” she says.

Just as Riffat and Sajjad have learned about Christianity, the girls have come to look forward to Eid and the traditions of henna. “I’ve taught them how to make potato curry, pakoras and samosas,” Riffat says. “But their spice levels are not quite the same as ours yet.” The girls can also sing Bollywood songs and speak Urdu.

“I now look forward to going home. I have two girls and my wife waiting,” says Sajjad. “It’s been such a blessing for me,” adds Riffat. “It fulfilled the maternal gap.”

[…]

Shareen’s longest foster placement arrived three years ago: a boy from Syria. “He was 14 and had hidden inside a lorry all the way from Syria,” she says. The boy was deeply traumatised. They had to communicate via Google Translate; Shareen later learned Arabic and he picked up English within six months. She read up on Syria and the political situation there to get an insight into the conditions he had left.

“It took ages to gain his trust,” she says. “I got a picture dictionary that showed English and Arabic words and I remember one time when I pronounced an Arabic word wrong and he burst out laughing and told me I was saying it wrong – that was the breakthrough.”

The boy would run home from school and whenever they went shopping in town, he kept asking Shareen when they were going back home. She found out why: “He told me that one day he left his house in Syria and when he had come back, there was no house.” Now he’s 18, speaks English fluently and is applying for apprenticeships. He could move out of Shareen’s home, but has decided to stay. “He is a very different person to the boy who first came here,” she says, “and my relationship with him is that of a mother to her son.”

What a beautifully loving family.

Some more context to why this is an extra welcome story, for people outside the UK: https://moongalleon22.tumblr.com/post/168639722687/down-w-hate-ithelpstodream-once-the-children

Source: ithelpstodream

Lads, I just bought a new wheelchair and I have to tell the world about it because I’m so excited, I can’t wait for it to get here, everyone needs to see it!

kelpforestdweller:

marauders4evr:

marauders4evr:

Ahem.

It’s called the Zinger Chair.

Here’s a picture of it:

It’s an electric wheelchair that’s controlled by the levers on the sides (so yes, you do need two hands to operate it, just like a manual). It’s only 40 pounds and can be folded down to fit into any trunk. The creators/managers all seem to be wheelchair users. I personally talked to one on the phone who told me the features he uses.

You don’t understand, I’ve been in New York City for almost four months now and it’s been incredible and in that time, I’ve wheeled my manual chair about 300 miles (there are times I’m going up to 40 blocks a day) and I am so sore and so bruised and so tired and it’s going to s n o w soon and even though the city won’t get nearly as much snow as upstate, it’s still not going to be fun, but I’ve always been afraid to get a big, bulky, electric chair because I don’t want to:

A.) Completely give up my autonomy.

B.) Have a 500 pound electric chair run out of power and have to figure out how the heck I’m getting it and me home.

But this chair, this chair, lads…

This chair can get me all the way from my apartment down the island to Times Square and into Amorino for the world’s best waffles/gelato/hot chocolate before it even considers running out of power. And it only takes 3 hours to fully charge AND if for some reason, something happens, it can be folded up and put into any NYC cab and I’m just so, so, excited. NYC is filled with so many hills that I’ll now be able to go up/down without straining myself. I’ll be able to take the M5 down Riverside and still get to the center of the island without heaving and huffing and sweating. I just really, really, hope it all works out!

Note: Absolutely none of this is sponsored. I’m just really excited about this wheelchair. The Amorino part isn’t sponsored either but seriously, you should all go to Amorino at some point in your lives, I should stop going to Amorino because at this point, I go once a week and that is what we call Unhealthy. But I don’t care because life is short and Amorino is good. And so is this wheelchair (hopefully).

Whyyyy did this get 400+ notes?

Was it the Amorino? It was probably the Amorino.

In all seriousness, listen, I’m glad you’re all excited about this wheelchair too but I haven’t received it yet. I only just got the confirmation email. I mean I made this post like five seconds after I clicked ‘Submit Order’. It should be here by this weekend so I can tell you all how it is and if it’s worth it. And hey, I think you and I can both get money if I recommend you so just…if you’re looking at this for yourselves, that’s fantastic, but just give it a few days okay? Let me be the guinea pig for us all. The very…very broke guinea pig whose insurance wouldn’t cover this. (FYI: Yours probably won’t either.)

Hopefully this all works out but if it doesn’t, I’d hate for you all to spend the money as well. (But I’m really, really, hoping it does.)

I really hope this works out for you!

I can attest to a different but similar chair, the PW 1000-XL from Wheelchair88.

It weighs a little more, closer to 60 lbs than 40, but that comes with suspension, a conventional joystick, armrests, a speed of 7 mph, the ability to go 10 km on each of up to 3 batteries.

I’ve had it for several years, used it lots of places and love it unequivocally. The things that have gone wrong with it have been minor and easily fixed. The company are sometimes slow to respond but always help you in the end.

I hope you’ll let us know how it goes with your chair! It’s so important to let people know these things exist. My previous chair was the lightest available within a reasonable budget and weighed twice as much. I’m not affiliated with this company.