I’ve texted their hotline before. It was super helpful and even if it hadn’t been the amount of time you’re there can be enough to let your urges fade and stay safe.
Despite their luminescent glow, lightning bugs have remained a conservation mystery until relatively recently. Now researchers are relying o
Excerpt from this story from Audubon:
“I can’t tell you how many people come that are like, ‘I grew up seeing fireflies, and I don’t see as many now,’ ” says Matt Johnson, the center’s director.
Candace Fallon, a conservation biologist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, had long heard similar concerns. But when she checked the literature in 2018, she found little to no information on firefly trends. In fact, there was no comprehensive population data for any of the 179 known firefly species in the United States.
Fallon and a team at the International Union for Conservation of Nature set out to determine how American fireflies are faring. In 2021 they published their findings, the first list of conservation statuses for U.S. fireflies. Of the 132 species they reviewed, more than half lacked enough data to conclude anything for certain. But among the species whose status was clear, the scientists found 20 to be threatened or near threatened.
Fireflies, which are actually bioluminescent beetles, face many of the same threats as birds. Habitat loss—especially of wetlands, given the insects' preference for moist areas—is a major issue. (Indeed, the most threatened fireflies are the species that depend on only one type of landscape, such as the critically endangered Bethany Beach firefly, which primarily occupies freshwater wetlands between sand dunes along a 20-mile stretch of the Delaware coast.) Rising seas and extreme weather events drown coastal birds' nests as well as firefly habitat, while pesticides kill insect prey that both fireflies and birds rely on—and likely fireflies themselves. Light pollution, which can disorient nocturnal migratory birds and contribute to fatal building collisions, also disrupts lightning bugs’ ability to communicate: Flashing in a brightly lit environment is like trying to yell across a crowd.
To help fill critical knowledge gaps, researchers are turning to community science. The Fireflyers International Network collects data on iNaturalist from all over the world, and in 2022 Fallon and the Xerces Society launched the Firefly Atlas, where U.S. participants can share incidental observations and even conduct field surveys. These crowdsourced records can illuminate how species are trending in the face of threats.
In some parts of the country, community scientists are logging the first records of fireflies. In the West, the flashing beetles are such a rare sight that some people believe they are imaginary. “It’s like: unicorns, dragons, fireflies,” says Christy Bills, an entomologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Western fireflies have always been harder to find: They appear late at night, in small numbers, and in marshy areas where people don’t often hang out. So Bills and her partners at Brigham Young University started the Western Firefly Project to focus attention on them. Today its participants have spotted fireflies in 27 of 29 counties in Utah, where previously there had been only a few documented sightings—and in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, so exciting to Bills that she likens the discoveries to finding gold.
caitlin doughty, better known as ask a mortician, is a member of the order of the good death, which is compiling a fairly comprehensive and easy to understand state by state guide for end-of-life planning for lgbtq people right here
Building a meaningful, eco-friendly, and equitable end of life.
If you're in the US military or National Guard, and are given an illegal or unconstitutional order, the GI Rights hotline (1-877-447-4487) is there to help give you the support you need to do the right thing by refusing it. It would be good to think about this now before it becomes a live issue for you and it would be smart of you to memorize that number.
I wanted to highlight that the above number is managed by a nonprofit NGO, not the government. (See below tangent on why that may be important). Calling that number puts you in contact with someone who can walk you through what to do from there and get help for you/your family.
Also email is [email protected] if that is something that is easier for you. However, recognize that it may be best to not have records that can be subpoenaed.
Are you in the military or thinking about joining? Are you unsure of where to get reliable answers? Call the GI Rights Hotline at 1-877-447-
Tangent: Trump has been firing people whose job is to provide oversight on government agencies including the military. Many hotlines will be basically unusable but still technically available since they are mandated by congress. However, if Trump fires most of the staff, it effectively is useless. The DoD inspector general’s office took a hit in his first term and earlier this year. Arguments have and will continue to be made on whether IG offices are useful, and how to make them better. However even the limited systems can be better than no systems if it makes someone willing to stand up against unconstitutional orders. (It also gives you better legal standing in a court case if you go public about the unconstitutional or illegal thing you’ve been asked to do in addition to refusing to do it.)
Trump's dismissal of DOD, VA inspectors general have caused alarm among watchdog groups but some hope it is a sign of reform.
They literally sail over the edge of it after passing through a hole in a wall of ice. They fall off. They get back to the other side by passing through the whole ocean.
But also there’s a globe on, like, everyone’s desk.
See, part of the conceit of the PotC trilogy is that all myths are true. Nearly every supernatural element in the franchise has a root in some real world mythology or pirate lore, although some of them are mashed together.
Another thing is that they take place at the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, and the more the map gets filled in, and the more the Royal Navy takes power, there less room there is for the mystical and supernatural in the world. This is explicitly called out in At World's End with the death of the kraken:
Barbossa: The world used to be a bigger place.
Jack: The world's still the same. There's just... less in it.
The only way to access the world of the supernatural is through the supernatural itself. You can only get to the Isla de Muerta with Jack's compass that points to whatever you desire, or if you already know where its is. You need Tia Dalma's map to find the edge of the world. To access the supernatural, you need to already be immersed in it.
The pirates world isn't flat, it's round - but because the edge of the world exists in myth, it therefore exists in reality. The pirates are able to find it through supernatural means, but if, say, someone like Norrington just sailed in the same general direction, he wouldn't end up in the same place.
What emotion is the most compelling to apply to The Characters
Rage
Guilt
Anxiety
Loneliness
Shame
Grief
Inferiority/insecurity
Fear
Jealousy
"OP, you forgot…" (share in the tags)
Voting ended onApr 16, 2025
(Note: the difference between guilt and shame is that ‘guilt’ focuses on specific acts or behaviors, while ‘shame’ involves the overall sense of self.)
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele heads to the White House to discuss further cooperation with the U.S., including the continued use of E
Haven't posted in a while but I hope this gets reblogged for others to see. This is crazy and people need to be aware. Trump wants to start sending American prisoners to an out of country maximum prison.
romaincrisis
areudirty
jacobvanloon
stormborns
dededos
gummygunk
izzy806
