Image description: Screenshot of Bluesky post from Hank Green:
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Fred Hampton Jr visiting his father on Father’s Day…his grave is annually shot by local police
.Some context for this:
-Fred Hampton was a black activist from Chicago – an extraordinary speaker, youth organizer for the NAACP.
-He joined the Black Panthers and shone so brightly that he was made chair of the Chicago chapter when he was only 20.
-He founded the Rainbow Coalition, which brought together Black and Latino activists and radical anti-poverty Catholics. He forged an alliance among major Chicago street gangs to help them make peace and work for social change.
-In 1967, when he was just 19, Hampton was identified by the FBI as a “radical threat.” The FBI tried to subvert his activities in Chicago, sowing disinformation to get the groups he’d drawn together to distrust each other, and getting an FBI plant next to him as a bodyguard.
-(This is part of an illegal FBI program called COINTELPRO, which aimed to paint black civil rights activists (among others) as violent and threatening. If you’ve only seen pictures of the Black Panthers as armed and dangerous revolutionaries, and never heard of their children’s breakfast program, their community health clinics, or their “copwatch” patrols, this is why. It’s because COINTELPRO was a highly successful work of political propaganda.)
-On December 3, 1969, Hampton taught a political education course at a local church, and then several Panthers gathered at his apartment for a late dinner. One of them was the FBI plant bodyguard, who drugged Hampton.
-At 4:45 AM on December 4, a squad of Chicago Police officers and FBI agents with a warrant to search for weapons stormed the apartment. Investigations later showed they fired between 90 and 99 times. The Panther on security detail, Mark Clark, was holding a shotgun. He was shot, and the gun went off into the ceiling. This was the only shot fired by the Panthers.
-Fred Hampton, in another room, didn’t awaken. He was shot in his bed. Twice, in the head, at point-blank range. He was 21.
-Four weeks after witnessing Hampton’s death, his finance Deborah Johnson gave birth to their son, Fred Hampton Jr. That’s him in the photograph, visiting the grave of a father who died before he was born. A resting place riddled with bullets.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch German Ghosts in the US, but I love seeing it vicariously with all the info and pics and Lotti is my favorite and I love her. :)
Thanks so much for the tip! :) good thing that it seems the other European ghosts series are sticking close to the original I’ve seen a gazillion times. That should help with the no subs thing. I just want to see lotti and the others in action!
Yay, new ARD Ghosts viewers! :D fyi, there’s excellent fan made subtitles by @rovermcfly that you can easily add to the streams easily - this post explains how! have fun watching 😄
“tumblr ceo sucks too” oh mood my bad I honestly forget we even have a ceo I kind of just view this website as a self governed purgatory that runs on sulfur and spite alone
it is weird that celiac stuff has become part of the ‘culture war’. because it’s literally just a medical thing…. I get super anemic unless I cut a certain protein out of my diet, because it bulldozes the villi in my intestines. but if I post about it, right-wingers send me gore images. I guess you can’t expect shitty people to be logical, but I’ve even heard lefty people make fun of gluten stuff, and it’s like why are you mad about this??? why are you pissed off that I’m eating bread that doesn’t taste as good so that I can have blood in my body? it’s so morally neutral.
I’m sorry, I know you weren’t actually looking for an explanation but I always have a rant about this locked and loaded.
As far as I can tell the reasons that this happens are:
The interpretation of disability accommodation as wokeness - a lot of the same people who are shitty about food limitations are also shitty about sign language interpreters and ramp requirements (also building regulations relating to the latter) because they view any accommodation as capitulation to a group they think should “suck it up and deal with it” (quietly exist without named or obvious accommodations). The conversations around peanut-free or milk-free classrooms to accommodate children with allergies are similarly unhinged and possibly more horrifying.
Conflating specialty diets as a result of proximity in the popular consciousness - you’re a lot more likely to see something described as “vegan + gluten free” or to see vegan/vegetarian/g-free options grouped on menus than you are to see keto/vegan/gfree options so the “lefty” animal-free diets get grouped with gluten-free (it’s also interesting that there are right-wing diets, and I wonder how many of these people remember when you used to be able to find “atkins-friendly” symbols on casual dining restaurant menus)
Gluten free diets became a fad fifteen years ago; tons of people read “Wheat Belly” and stopped eating wheat as a weight loss hack and when they went back to eating wheat because it’s actually pretty difficult to get around a major staple grain they didn’t experience any negative consequences; people saw this and basically think that it’s a trend, that people are faking medically necessary diets as part of a fad. When questioned about this they always go “but, I mean, it’s okay if you REALLY need to skip the wheat because you have a condition but most people are doing it because it’s popular” when g-free diets haven’t been a major trend for quite a while now. TO BE QUITE FAIR, I think that things like “Gluten Aware” cookies and beer and such, which contain a little gluten but not NO gluten contribute to this perception (these have annoyed me forever for two reasons: 1. They make people without celiac think that a little gluten is fine for people with celiac, which it is not; 2. fucking commit, companies. *I* want the cookies and beer and it’s deeply annoying that these business will go to the lengths to create products with minimal gluten but won’t actually make g-free foods - this is often because of the risk of cross contamination, they won’t claim to make g-free things because they won’t work with a dedicated g-free facility)
Anyway, in conclusion: it sucks, I’m sorry.
The fun flipside of this is that I’ve seen people who are more right wing become aggressively pro regulation and pro accommodation when they or their family members have to suddenly take on the individual burden of making up for a society that doesn’t include them by default.
US specific:
Is your ham made with vinegar? Does your ham have the generic word “spices” on the ingredient list? Does your ham include “smoke flavoring”? Does your ham include caramel coloring?
Because malt vinegar has gluten in it. “Spices” may include wheat products in a mix. Smoke flavoring may be made with barley flour. Caramel coloring may be made with wheat or barley syrup.
If the label says “gluten free” that means that the “spices,” caramel coloring, vinegar, and smoke flavor are certified to contain 20ppm or less of gluten.
If the ham is cured in any way, it may include gluten. If the ham was marinated, it probably includes gluten. If the ham was prepared in a facility that processes wheat in any way, it might be cross contaminated with gluten.
There’s a company out there called “Gluten Free Water” that makes water in plastic bottles, poking fun at the idea that too many things have a gluten free label. I fucking hate that company. Because that company is functionally saying “lol, people are so sensitive and over the top about this, let’s be a little silly and laugh about how crazy people can be with their 'gluten free’ nonsense.”
Did you know that there are sustainable food containers and straws that contain wheat? And that you don’t have to label them? There are definitely people with celiac who have been sickened by biodegradable plastic straws in their “obviously water is gluten free there’s no risk here” water.
“It’s over-labeled so it looks trendy” just means you don’t know how foods are made or what foods contain gluten. Gluten is ridiculously common in foods in general, and also in packaged meats.
Your ham has to say gluten free because it distinguishes it from the hams that do contain gluten, which is a fucking lot of them. And you’re annoyed that your ham has to say gluten free and I’m annoyed that I’m standing in the grocery store calling a ham company to figure out where they source their caramel coloring so I can figure out if the damned ham is safe to eat.
“lol, oats don’t have wheat in them, are people so stupid that they have to be told what is and isn’t wheat? why does this oatmeal have a gluten free label?” Cross contamination; gluten free oats are not grown near wheat and are not processed in facilities that process wheat.
“lol, rice doesn’t have wheat in it, why is this rice labeled gluten free, all rice is gluten free” Cross contamination; the rice isn’t processed on equipment that processes wheat.
“lol why does this turkey breast say gluten free, it’s just fucking turkey” read the ingredients on your “just” turkey, lots of packaged meat is packed in broth, some of which contains modified food starch, which may contain wheat.
“lol why are these strawberries labeled gluten free? they’re fucking strawberries” WAX, BUDDY. SOME FRUITS ARE COATED IN PRESERVATIVE WAX FILMS BY THE MANUFACTURER AND SOME OF THOSE FUCKING FILMS CONTAIN GLUTEN.
I think that part of the reason that people are so irritated by g-free labels is because it exposes them to just how vast and alienating their food systems are.
“Ham should just be meat from a pig, maybe with sugar and salt; what on earth is happening that there might be wheat in that process? Nothing in that process should involve wheat.” And then you might have to think about it for a second, might have to wonder what “sugar” and “salt” mean when someone is producing a million hams to be delivered thousands of miles away. It’s not just sugar and salt; it’s preservatives and nitrates and batch cooking and getting corn syrup instead of sugar and getting smoke flavoring instead of smoking the ham and turning your “whole food” into all the ingredients that make up the ingredients that make up the ingredients.
A “gluten free” label says “you can eat this” to somebody with celiac disease, who has already pounded their skull against the shittiness of the medical system and the food system.
But to someone who doesn’t have to worry that their food is going to disable them, a “gluten free” sticker on ham takes a known quantity and turns their sandwich into a hyperobject that contains animal agriculture and industrial additive production and shipping pollution and the ongoing assault on regulation.
If it doesn’t have the label, you can just eat your lunch. If it does have the label, you are haunted by the specter of RFK junior imploding the FDA.
Turns out that everyone in the US with celiac is already constantly haunted by the possible implosion of the FDA because food regulation is an up-close and personal part of our daily lives that most people would rather not think about.
Hey, people with actual celiac who are seeing this in the notes, this is a great way to make yourself incredibly sick. There are no enzyme treatments currently on the market that will make it safe for you to eat gluten. There are a couple of treatments that are in trials but the otc jar of glutimase in the drugstore is not like taking lactase for lactose intolerance, and consuming gluten while taking otc enzyme treatments will increase your risk of malnutrition and intestinal damage and will add to your long-term colon cancer risk.
This isn’t like lactose intolerance where your body gets mad at you because it can’t break down and process a protein or sugar so you get gassy, this is an autoimmune condition that is triggered by tiny trace amounts of gluten and can cause vomiting, diarrhea, anemia, malnutrition, and intestinal damage that takes literal years to recover from and permanently increases your cancer risk.
Do not trust *your ability to absorb vitamin c* to an otc enzyme.
It can also be an anaphylaxis risk depending on the severity of your mast cell symptoms.
Which is also why having cosmetics labeled as gluten free is helpful because some of us react to skin exposure to gluten, even if we test negative for wheat allergies because mast cell diseases are a fucking nightmare.
Gluten free labels aren’t marketing scams to raise the price on things, they are a vital necessity for people with complex medical needs.
Also because not everyone knows this, gluten can stick to things like cast iron and non-stick surfaces so just in case you’re wondering why you don’t feel better after cutting out gluten, it could be your utensils. We had to replace Everything in our kitchen when I got my MCAS diagnosis to avoid remnant contamination. It sucks.
Literally anything porous can carry gluten contamination: plastic, wood, silicone, non-stick pans, cast iron, badly scratched glass or stainless steel, colanders, mesh… And that’s not counting toasters, dirty microwaves, and other appliances with their various crevices. I had to give away my KitchenAid mixer bc it just can’t be cleaned thoroughly enough.
You cannot decontaminate colanders, mesh, non-stick pans, silicone, or plastic which has been contaminated. While you can theoretically decontaminate a toaster or mixer, it isn’t really possible in practice in 99% of home kitchens.
However, you CAN decontaminate cast iron. It’s a huge pain in the ass, though, and no, you can’t “burn off” gluten, that’s a myth.
Like, okay, I love Taco Bell nachos. I love them so much. At time of filming, those cost a little under $3. If someone asked me if they were worth it, I would say, “Yes, certainly!” If tomorrow, they suddenly cost $20, I would immediately be able to say, “Oh, mm-mm, no. No, they’re not worth that.” I wouldn’t say, “Well, I really like them, so I suppose if you can afford it, they’re worth it.” I would say no, they’re worth around $3. Maybe up to five, if I was desperate.
This segment from jenny nicholsons star wars hotel video keeps playing in my head whenever people talk about the cost of video games these days so i’m clipping it because it’s relatable to me.
Final result: the majority of voters have NEVER HEARD OF this film.
This film is a documentary about Chechen activists smuggling LGBTQ people out of the country in order to prevent them from being killed by the Russian government. A lot of the people who appear in the film had their appearance altered using deep fake technology, in order to protect their real identities. Editing had to be done in a dark windowless room for the same reason.
i love the phrase “which could mean nothing” i think its my favorite thing to come out of the internet ever i love saying it. it could mean nothing but we all know better. we know the truth.
never forget the universal rule of the order of things: People Will Not Read It
signs at stores? émail? menu ?? instruction ? post online ? caption with andswer to question ? group hand outs ??? street sign ??? no. The Written Word Is The Enemy
The ability to occasionally Read A Thing will make you a hero in your workplace, especially if it is for example an error message that tells you what you need to do differently, or instructions on unjamming a printer.
Hey Science side of tumblr folks, if you were working on an NIH grant that was canceled, ProPublica is looking to hear from you to amplify your story and put it in the perspective of the ongoing assault on our commitment to care for each other.
Multiple relatives of mine donated their bodies to science. That donation was in each case an awe inspiring act of kindness and love, an effort to help create a world in which the thing that was at the time actively killing them would not do so to others if they could help it.
Huge swaths of disease research is based on similarly beautiful commitments to humanity, and the NIH represents our societal commitment to make those sacrifices matter.
So I am taking these bastards pulverizing it extremely personally and am incandescent about it. I am personally committed to making everyone involved in this suffer as much as I personally can. Which is to say I would appreciate if you took the time to help ProPublica shine a light on this atrocity if you have a story to tell them.
ProPublica is reputable af and extremely hardcore in their investigations. They’ve also got a pretty good track record of embarrassing politicians enough to get good shit done.
I support them financially because we NEED them, and I encourage anyone who fits the profile to get in touch with them.
I’m neurodivergent as well as disabled and “10 minute blocking” has changed my life.
I find completing tasks really challenging because I either get super overwhelmed, distracted, or my pain/fatigue levels rise too much and I get defeated.
So I recently introduced the 10 Minute Block rule. It’s super simple. I simply pick one thing I need to do, set a timer usually for 10 mins (+/- 5 mins depending on fatigue/pain levels) and then go go go! And I try and do as much of that one thing as I can within the time limit. The rule is that I have to stop after 10 minutes.
If I feel spurred on after the 10 mins is up, then I’m free to start another 10 minute block (either to carry on with the same task or start a new one) and do this repeatedly for as long as I wish, but I absolutely must stop after each block and assess how my body is doing and finish blocking when my body tells me to.
If I am feeling defeated or tired or whatever after 10 mins, even if the task isn’t finished, I stop. I rest, congratulate myself on doing those 10 minutes, and then find something fun/restorative to do instead without feeling guilty.
It’s really improved my perception of productivity as well as taught me how to pace my body better.
I don’t know if this will be helpful to any of you, but it’s something that I wish I’d known about sooner and has helped me so I thought I’d share it.
I love fics where the Bats are confronted with the fact that they don’t really know each other as well as they may have thought. Not in an angsty way, but in the way you kinda know your sibling has hobbies and friends on a technical level but don’t realize the fact that he is a different person outside of the family (and in this case vigilante) setting. Some examples:
Steph always gets Damian drawing materials that he’s very excited for but has no idea the kid is a weeb until she catches him drawing Cheese Vikings fanart in a manga style. Damian doesn’t understand where the surprise is coming from, that’s how he’s always drawn. Steph shows him her cosplay pictures (she does love a good characterization) and they end up going to comicon together.
Jason at a club with some friends and he sees Tim across the room having the time of his life with his friends. They’re both equally shocked at the fact that the other has friends outside of their teams and Jason gets hit with the realization that Tim is just another teenager (kinda like him, he’s 20 tops) and they’re both underage drinking.
Duke having his mind blown away at the fact that Dick is actually amazing at fighting games. He kicks his ass in Mortal Combat and smash bros and he actually knows how to do combos. Dick is equally taken aback by Duke’s perfectly aesthetic and super organized Animal Crossing island and begs him to let him have some of his rare flowers for his own place.
Cass and Bruce making faces each time they’re reminded the other is a human being with human needs. It doesn’t help that they’re awake at really weird hours and have caught the other making the walk of shame into the manor one too many times. The painfully awkward eye contact, the vow to never talk about it.
Cass watching YouTube in one of the manor’s dens and Dick running into the room going “oh my god is that ___?! Did I put you into watching them???” Cass just sitting there so utterly confused because she’s been an og fan for the past 5-7 years and her brother is trying to take credit?
Bruce and Duke being secret Barbie life in the dream house fans, not in an obsessive way of course, but if they’re scrolling through Netflix, they WILL put it on. (They also blame it on Steph every time)
Tim and Damian both being fans of the same book/TV series and not realizing until they both show up at a con in cosplay or both show up to a book signing (they both have high level passes too)
Dick and Jason being cartoon show enthusiasts, when they were younger they used to watch them together. After Jason’s passing, both assumed the other had grown out of it. Jason catches Dick watching a childish cartoon series and immediately joins him
In my 23 years at EFF, I’ve been privileged to get a front-row seat for some of the most important legal battles over tech and human rights in history. There’ve been tremendous victories and heartbreaking losses, but win or lose, I am forever reminded that I’m privileged to work with some of the smartest, most committed, savviest cyberlawyers in the world.
These days, it’s more of a second-row seat – I work remotely, mostly on my own projects, and I rely on our Deeplinks blog as much as our internal message-boards to keep up with our cases. Yesterday, I happened on this fantastic explainer breaking down our most recent court victory, in our case against DOGE on behalf of federal workers whose privacy rights have been violated during DOGE’s raid on the Office of Personnel Management’s databases:
The post is by Adam Schwartz, EFF’s Privacy Litigation Director. I’ve been campaigning on privacy for my entire adult life, but I still learn something – something big and important – every time I talk about the subject with Adam. His breakdown on EFF’s latest court victory is no exception.
EFF was the first firm to bring a suit directly against DOGE, representing two federal workers’ unions: the AFGE and the AALJ, and our co-counsel are from Lex Lumina LLP, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and The Chandra Law Firm. At the heart of our case are the millions of personnel records that DOGE agents were given access to by OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell.
The OPM is like the US government’s HR department. It holds files on every federal employee and retiree, filled with sensitive, private data about that worker’s finances, health, and personal life. The OPM also holds background check data on federal workers, including the deep background checks that federal workers must undergo to attain security clearances. Many of us – including me – first became familiar with the OPM in 2015, after its records were breached by hackers believed to be working for the Chinese military:
That breach was catastrophic. Chinese spies stole the sensitive data of tens of millions of Americans. The DOGE breach implicates even more Americans’ private data, though, and while DOGE isn’t a foreign intelligence agency, that cuts both ways. It’s a good bet that a Chinese spy agency will not leak the records it stole, but with DOGE, it’s another matter entirely. I wouldn’t be surprised to find the OPM data sitting on a darknet server in a month or a year.
Or Miri. They/them. 25. Queer. please chat with me
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☆crochet blog: @wholesometropicalfluff☆
☆resources: @musingsofateenagesidekick☆
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