She’s a wonderful contribution to humanity!

Her name is Nzambi Matee!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ocean-pollution-kenya-plastic-bricks-eye-on-earth/  

“I get excited when I see waste,” the materials scientist told Patta, “because I know that’s life for us.”

The fact that plastic does not sink is precisely what intrigued Matee.

–

“It took us about nine months just to make one brick.”

One brick wasn’t enough, but that was no problem for a woman who likes to get her hands dirty. Next, she built a machine to mass produce the plastic bricks. First the waste is sorted to remove rubble and metal, and then the plastic is baked — just like “making cookies,” joked Matee — before the boiling mixture is molded into building blocks. Her setup can churn out as many as 2,000 per day, and they’re 35% cheaper than standard bricks, and up to seven-times stronger. 

–

Kenya’s fight against plastic pollution isn’t just a homegrown issue. It’s complicated by the fact that, two years ago, the U.S. exported more than one billion pounds of plastic waste to 96 nations, including Kenya. Now Washington wants to make the shipment of more plastic waste a condition of a proposed trade deal.

Greenpeace activist Amos Wemanya believes Kenya can barely manage its own waste, let alone recycle America’s.

Matee agrees that countries should keep their waste in their own backyards, and she intends to make good on what she calls her triple threat:

“The more we recycle the plastic, the more we produce affordable housing… the more we created more employment for the youth,” she said.

Like many young Kenyans, Matee is passionate about saving the environment, but it’s not just words. She’s hoping that through her actions, the mountain in Dandora will become a mere hill.

Click here to vote!

I’m so excited!!!

Please help me afford life-saving insulin and other meds!

hi everyone I know I haven’t been on here in a while, i’m so sorry if anyone was worried. I hate to have to ask for help again but it’s a serious health issue and I don’t know what else to do. I have type 1 diabetes that I’m prescribed human analog insulin in pen form for; there’s about 14 pens every month (one main dose of long-acting a day plus one dose of fast-acting per meal) and several medications. All these meds are extremely expensive and my parents told me the terrible insurance they receive thru work that barely covered them in part before wont cover them at all anymore. we’ve tried a patient assistance program but the application hasn’t been responded to yet and this state probably has a massive backlog of them. without actually saying they won’t, my parents are basically refusing to pay for them ‘right now’ because there are “more serious expenses that have to come first” since they affect the whole household and not just me even though I literally NEED these meds to survive and keep functioning well.

this is partly because I had to cry and beg my parents to let me start getting treatment in the first place. they still don’t like the fact that I’m even taking meds and think I don’t truly need them even though the improvement in me compared to before is so clear. they’re a little more understanding about my diabetes/insulin needs since they know it’s out of my control (I’m lucky I don’t have type 2 tbh) but they’ve still decided that it has to take a backseat. I can’t afford to wait until they feel like everything else that’s ‘more important’ than my wellbeing is taken care of, I’m really worried about the damage my MH could take if I’m off my medication for too long and missing insulin doses on top of that will just make it worse and actually puts my life in danger.

Trying to stagger my eating so I’m having less meals every day helps stretch my mealtime doses out a little longer. right now I only have enough doses left to last about 1 1/2 more weeks so if I can’t raise enough money to at least afford the insulin, I’ll probs have to start rationing them — and if I have to do that for too long it’s very likely to end up killing me. if anyone can spare anything AT ALL to help cover the cost of all my medications, any amount wld truly be so helpful and mean so much! even if you can’t support by d/nating, just reblogging this post to b00st it helps alot! please please share!

Edit: forgot to add my vėnmo (& pp)!

c*sh.app/$oblongsun

v*nmo.com/oblongsun

p*yp*l.me/gem7d

0/1749

⬇️important⬇️

Forcing schools to out students six weeks after learning about their sexual orientation puts LGBTQ+ youth in danger. Florida schools should be a place where kids feel supported, not scared. 

This bill already required schools to inform families that their children identify as LGBTQ+ upon coming out. Outing students was not a requirement when believed that doing so might lead to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. With this amendment, there is no longer a way around it.

This bill will force children to hide who they are in fear of being outed. Our youth will be at an even greater risk of abuse, neglect, and even homelessness. This bill is dangerous for LGBTQ+ students and harmful to education.

Florida’s Don’t Say Gay amendment is not okay. Do better, Ron DeSantis. 

Visit stopdesantis.org for more info.

Genshin Impact Fancomic 原神 同人漫画   

 This is what I see Shenhe’s Trailer look like. 这就是我觉得申鹤的预告片的过程。

I love to see everyone is fully accepting Shenhe as the over protective auntie she is, I'm here for it

totally normal and not deranged thing to say

For those who didnt realize it wasn't just a blanket statement, but actually made sense

A Painting Made From Pieces of Glass

that’s amazing

i just realized it’s not just pieces of glass

they’re shaped as paper planes

the piece can be complete and aesthetically pleasing even when there is no projection this is so good and it makes me so happy

THIS IS ALSO SCIENCE. SCIENCE ART. THE BEST KIND OF ART.

it kinda annoys me when people post these things and they don’t give credit to the artist. so the artist’s name is Rashad Alakbarov and he’s from Azerbaijan and he’s done several other pieces using shadows :

What is this resident evil 7

When people say they hate modern art I can’t help but look at things like this and ???

When people say they hate modern art it’s because they’ve been shown a Jackson Pollock and have rightly asertained that it’s pretensious crap. Where they go wrong is thinking that all modern art looks like that.

”The woman’s got to show up, [like], “We all done, sweetie? Okay. Out you go, I gotta make a story out of this mess.”

#me @ quentin tarantino fans

Mad Max: Fury Road and practically every film JJ Abrams has ever made including The Force Awakens.

Mad Max: Fury Road was edited by Margaret Sixel, who is married to George Miller and who he begged to edit the film because he said that if a man edited it, would be a totally different movie and not one he wanted to make.

Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey edited The Force Awakens. Maryann Brandon has worked on almost all of the shows and films Abrams has worked on and Mary Jo Markey is also a frequent collaborator.

Thelma Colbert Schoonmaker has edited all of Martin Scorcese’s films since Raging Bull and worked with him for around 40 years.

Sally Menke edited all of Quentin Tarantino’s films until her tragic death in 2010.

Julia Bloch is an editor gaining attention for her work on Blue Ruin and Green Room.

about 40% of Hollywood editors are women. when discussing how these women are underrepresented, you need to give their names.

Marcia Lucas (George Lucas’ now ex-wife) was one of the co-editors of A New Hope (and the rest of the trilogy) and is a huge part of the reason Star Wars actually worked in the first place. George’s original cut of the first film was a mess and she edited the shit out it to fix all the pacing and narrative issues, which earned her an Oscar, something George Lucas has never received.

never too early to start reblogging this

^^^ well, Halloween candy was on shelves like 7/31 so this is right on time.

The middle right girl in the Asian one looks ready to throw hands I’m in love

Please don’t wear sacred Native dress too

And please don’t wear those “Romani fortune teller” costumes as well.

I AM NOT A COSTUME. There are people out there that still appropriate BIPOC and it’s getting old. It may be “just a costume” to you but YOU aren’t the one walking around with a target on your back and you aren’t the one going through struggles that you’ll never understand

in light of the texas abortion ban here’s a reminder to stop debating what counts as a human, baby, or life with pro-lifers because that is not a debate you can win. you can not win a philosophical debate about what counts as a person, and you will not change their minds.

what can be proven is that in no situation under united states law is an individual legally obligated to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. 

4.5 million people each year are in need of blood transfusion, the entire process of donating blood takes a little over an hour, it’s free, and a single pint of blood can save up to 3 peoples lives, but there is no legal obligation or requirement to donate blood in place. 

it is illegal to take organs from deceased peoples’ bodies without permission. CORPSES. bodily integrity is prioritized by law, even after death.

it doesn’t fucking matter whether a fetus is a person, whether a fetus is alive, whether a fetus has a soul. it literally doesn’t matter. pro-lifers set up the argument through that lens (hence their name) to evoke empathy and pity and take the focus away from the actual process of pregnancy, which changes a person’s body FOREVER. that is not an exaggeration. whether the pregnancy is complicated and high-risk or totally smooth sailing, the birthing person will physically never be the same. if they’re lucky, they’ll come out of it with weight gain, differently shaped breasts, and changes to the cervix/vagina. if they aren’t, there’s a fucking laundry list of potential complications that could arise, that may eventually fix themselves, need surgical or therapeutic intervention, or never go away, like varicose veins, separation of the abdominal muscles, incontinence, prolapse, diabetes, postpartum depression, and chronic pain, just off the top of my head. and this makes no mention of the very real possibility of income disruption, as well as the financial cost of giving birth, and the chance of fucking death, which is even higher for underserved communities like black women.

there is no basis for a governing body forcing an individual to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. that is the argument. period the end.

Fwiw while you can flood the abortion snitch internet hotline with lorem ipsum and memes, it is probably way more effective to make credible but vague claims that take time to sift through. Put in a valid county and zip code. The goal isn't to scream "fuck you" even if it's how you feel, the goal is to waste their time and make it as miserable and difficult as possible for anyone who has to go through these claims to act on them

I think it's worth noting that if you ARE going to report something to the snitch line, yes you SHOULD use actual counties and zip codes, but...also try not to pick counties and places that are full of already marginalized people? I know it's tempting not to do that extra research but sending EXTRA government/police attention to BIPOC neighborhoods even in the name of trolling won't help.

So, here, let me help you with that pesky research. These are the ten most affluent neighborhoods in Texas. There are a LOT of politicians and celebrities that hail from these neighborhoods. Terrell Hills - Bexar County, 78209 Bellaire - Harris County, 77401 Highland Park - Dallas County, 75209 Melissa - Collin County, 75454 West University Place - Harris County, 77005 Trophy Club - Denton County, 76262 Willow Park - Parker County, 76087 Southlake - Tarrant County, 72096 Fair Oaks Ranch - Comal, Bexar, or Kendall Counties, 78015 Coppell - Dallas County, 75006 What a shame it would be if people were to report these places as hotbeds of flagrant law-breaking. Gosh.

Smart thinking!

This is great since I've been picking zip codes and hospitals at random around their biggest cities. This is much more effective.

big muscle lesbians you are so fucking valid

Kay Webb, Nicole Elizabeth *, Ashley Petro Lisa Lewis, P. Hawthorne, Steph Flores Dominique Neal, Gucci Di Paolo, Morgan McKie

T. Clow, Tori McKenzie, Hailey Smith Moe Hardy, Jaime Filer, Laurine Kulczycky Dorothy Morentin, Kayla Branco, Nikki Nguyen

Coach Kayy, Mandy Vega, Morgan Olson Missy Adams, Antoya Perkins, Taylar Stallings Asia Cochran, Franze, Jess Fowler

hello again everyone! the terfs keep finding this so let me make myself crystal fucking clear!

this post is about trans lesbians. this post is about butch trans lesbians. this post is about gender nonconforming lesbians. this post is about lesbians who do not fit cisnormative body standards. this post is about he/him lesbians. it was ALWAYS written with these people in mind.

this post is NOT about lesbians who are gender critical or radfem or whatever you fucking call yourselves these days. if you run in these circles you are not included in this post and you are certainly not included in our community.

trans and nonbinary and gnc and genderweird lesbians, I love you. lesbians with bodies that cisnormative society views as “masculine,” I love you. this post is a celebration of your beauty.

Despite every moment of life being indescribably precious and a wondrous mystery, I will spend it caring about dividends and how many rental properties I have.

Rich people are truly dead inside. 

I can't imagine caring this much about numbers that absolutely will never impact my life. This person is making more in passive income than I've ever made in my life and he's just like "but but I need more :(".

I mean, fuck that guy, but psychologically it's interesting.

Some desperate remnant of his soul knows what he needs. As soon as his debt is cleared, he goes on to live what many would call an utterly charmed life: working no more than 20 hours a week, travelling and spending time with friends (which he, at $150,000 a year and no mortgage, has ample money to do). He has a loving relationship also.

But his brain is so rotten that he cannot understand happiness anymore. He is incapable of conceptualising it other than in money.

A man who has everything except the ability to feel it.

How poetic.

But fuck that guy.

I want to hit this man.

I want to rob this man.

Meow appears beside Rogue, holding a sign: "Heist? Heist."

This man is so so so close to realizing a fundamental truth to how humans operate, but I genuinely don’t think he’s going to get there. Although I’m not sure he realizes it this man views the money he earns as a direct translation of his sense of personal achievement and engagement. 

Which means that when he says he regrets the months he didn’t pick up more hours to earn more money, what he’s describing here is boredom. He’s doing it in the crassest, shallowest, most income-obsessed and unattainable for most of us way possible, yes. But this man is expressing that once he achieved a certain financial goal he relaxed, enjoyed himself, got bored, realized on some level he was understimulated, and then started working more hours to meet whatever stimulated activity threshold he personally needs. 

This is infuriating because this man experienced the counter-argument to that nonsensical talking point that if we meet people’s financial needs with a universal basic income they’ll grow lazy and won't do anything. 

Anyone trying to develop $200,000 in passive annual income is not working three minimum-wage jobs to live paycheck-to-paycheck. This man’s basic financial needs were met. Working more hours to make more money is just his own personal code for ‘I still needed to use my mind to do things’ (using what might be the only metric of personal achievement he might actually have). This man lived the argument for universal basic income and I genuinely don’t think he realizes that. Once his basic income needs were met he still needed to do things to keep himself stimulated and engaged with his own life.

You see a version of this play out with retirees who leave their jobs, go home, and very quickly find themselves in need of new activities or friends or engagements to keep them present and stimulated in their lives. Ensuring someone’s basic financial needs are met doesn’t make them stop doing things, humans don’t work that way.

Reblogging for the psychology lessons

There is, I believe, a line in an Agatha Christie story about a man so desperately unhappy he doesn’t know he’s unhappy. “Ah, a rich man,” responds the nun.

The eyes are the best part 🔥

I feel sorry for the old man, but it was stealing.  There is no apparently about it. Water is not free, it’s not a right to have it, and people pay must pay for it.  If a government gives a thing to you like utilities, its still not free because they take it from somewhere else, like in taxes.  

my friend visiting my house: hey i’m thirsty can i get a glass of water

me:

Nestle isn’t gonna fuck you

Also water IS a human right, it’s classified as one by the UN the only country that really disagrees with this is the United States

There should be way more pictures of modern zoos so i just add some more

Seriously zoos do so much important conservation work as well I hate when people shit all over zoos as if the animals are locked up and not looked after

The SF Zoo has two sea lions. Now, if you know SF, you know that sea lions are a Thing. They’re all over Pier 39 and various other beaches in N California. In fact, the zoo is near the ocean, so there are sea lions not 200 yards from the zoo entrance. So having sea lions in the zoo seems sort of superfluous.

Except the sea lions are blind. One was found as an adult after suffering a gun shot wound to the face that destroyed his eyes. The other was found as an adolescent, weak and starving because it had been blinded and unable to hunt. So they were rescued and introduced and the zoo built them a nice pool where they can swim and sunbathe and people toss them fish. It’s not the biggest exhibit, or the fanciest. But it’s a home for them, where they’re safe and well fed. Sea lions aren’t the most romantic of animals, but they’re a part of SF culture and a lot of us have a soft spot for the loud, bulbous things. And because of zoos, these two get to live long, happy lives.

Whenever anyone complains about zoos, I think about Silent Knight and Henry. 

I think it’s St. Louis zoo that is saving big cats in Africa. Scientists couldn’t figure out what was killing off the local lion population. They were dying off from Canine Distemper. The local unvaccinated dogs of the towns would spread the disease to other animals or have it themselves. When the lions ate the infected animals they would catch it as well. You know what that Zoo is doing to stop this disease? They are going over to those towns and vaccinating the dogs for free. The community loves it and people from other villages comes for miles to get their dogs vaccinated as well.

They also do work with camel populations because the local human population use the camels for food sources the zoos help monitor the camels health.

Another zoo, I want to say it’s the Oregon zoo but don’t quote me on that, is helping female inmates. The zoo works with the female prisons by encouraging the inmates to assist in the breeding and raising of endangered species of butterflies. They plant the specific plants that the butterflies and catapillars need, raise them, and release them. These inmates get noted in any scientific journals that get published. They are giving these inmates a sense of accomplishment and validation.

Zoos not only save species but bring together and assist communities in an effort to save the environment. Zoos, good zoos, are essential to the future and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.

PS you don’t see PETA doing any of this.

One of the local zoos in my area at one point rescued a bald eagle that had been shot and kept it in the zoo to let it recuperate until they freed it again. Some of the zoos in my state will keep injured animals there until they heal again.

Helsinki Zoo is the world leader in snow leopard and Amur leopard conservation, in their care these endangered species have managed to breed more than anywhere else in captivity and this in turn has enabled the re-introduction of these animals back to their native habitats. https://www.korkeasaari.fi/helsinki-zoo/

I work at a zoo that is instrumental in the California Condor recovery program (among dozens of other conservation projects). We went from 42 surviving individuals left to over 400, over 200 of whom are in the wild. We’re part of the amur leopard species survival plan with two young animals who are eagerly attempting to make babies. We host one of North America’s only bachelor troops of western lowland gorillas, preserving the social structure of wild gorillas. All of our bald eagles are rescues who would not survive in the wild. All our keepers participate in field research and conservation work in addition to a full time team of conservationists. We host the most genetically valuable male Masai giraffe in North America, who has sired 5 offspring with 1 on the way, increasing the genetic diversity of his entire species. If you’re against zoos, you don’t know what zoos do.

Super, SUPER important thread.

Also zoos tend to do a lot of breeding and conservation work with smaller, less charismatic species like invertebrates and amphibians. Those species are extremely important in the ecosystem but don’t get the same notoriety as the charismatic megafauna.

Also zoos are the reason that the Przewalski’s horse, one of the last if not THE last wild horse subspecies in the world went from extinct in the wild to merely endangered.

I've reblogged this before because I volunteer at an Aquarium but I also now work at a Zoo and the ethos around Zoos (not terrible roadside attractions) has always been Education, Conservation and Research. We wouldn't have the animals we do have if there were no problems in the world. Take the Amur Tigers. They were once known as Siberian Tigers but their numbers are so small now that they're only accredited to the Amur region. If that wasn't the case, we wouldn't have a whole talk on how there are issues. Zoos are important.

You know what’s some crazy $hit?

This fabulous bitch

She makes a shit ton of poses (like 16,000 or some crazy nonsense).  I used this lovely lady to draw so much as a teen.  Whether it was some nerdy pose for my Mary Sue as fuck OCs

or for full on fight sequences

or for tragic deaths of my OCs in the arms of a totally OOC main protagonist.  

this bitch hooked me up.  

And with the wildest, craziest stuff that you could see in your head but had no way or resources to reasonably draw like

or this

or this

DUDE!  INASNE SHIT!!  So I was using her for a pose reference and decided, you know what, I owe this bitch some cash.  Lemme dole it out for her.  BUT then, I looked and saw she only has 286 fucking patrons!!  This chick gives out free shit and spends countless hours arranging these shoots and setting this stuff up.  

I’ll fork up the cash, SenshiStock.  You’re worth it.  

Check out this amazing woman’s stuff, and get knowledged:  https://www.deviantart.com/senshistock

I have been following her for years on deviantart.

Highly reccomend checking her out. She’s the best. If I had any money to throw I’d throw it at her for providing such a big help in my life.

This hero doesn’t wear capes, she instead wears (and looks utterly flawless) in tank tops(?)

Interrupting my regular Star Wars BS to reblog this because @senshistock is amazing and beyond worth the follow and support!  I first started using her refs gosh I want to say back in maybe 2008, and I’m happy to be a supporter of her over on Patreon.  If you’re an artist please go find her stuff on all the platforms, you will not regret it!

Yessss, she is so awesome! Been following her for years. My favorite stock artist is jademacalla, who is, incidentally, in the last two images above. He has a lot of great angles, costumes, gear, etc! I love his hands, too.

rb to save an artists life

Just so everyone knows, she recently stopped using the name SenshiStock and switched to AdorkaStock! All her links and socials have switched to that. Also she has a TikTok of her doing the poses live, which is stupid useful because you can pause it at any point in the pose for just the right reference.