[inaminadikaaa]

[spankerella]

@ goodgoodgoodco

[barkingbarghest]

One Wisconsin City Beat Back a Data Center. Now Residents Are Helping Others Do the Same.

When a secretive $1.6 billion data center proposal landed in Menomonie with almost no warning, residents had weeks to fight back. They won —

Residents had serious concerns about the project. While companies often win major tax breaks by promising jobs and economic stimulation, data centers bring few permanent jobs and can drain municipal water resources, drive up electric bills, rob cities of tax revenues, and cause damaging noise, light, and air pollution. Already, Wisconsin residents have seen some of these impacts at data center sites in Port Washington and Beaver Dam. Residents in Port Washington have complained about the disruption caused by around-the-clock construction at the new data center. Families near the construction in Beaver Dam have reported that their wells have run dry.

Although the Menomonie City Council voted to annex and rezone the land for the data center in early September [2025], pressure from local campaigners was so great that Mayor Randy Knaack announced at a Sept. 22 city council meeting that he had notified Balloonist that the city would not be moving forward with a development agreement. More good news came in January when the Menomonie City Council voted unanimously to place additional regulations on data center projects.

Menomonie City Council passes new definition for data center projects

This comes after the city experienced major push back from a proposed data center last year.

This new ordinance will reclassify data centers and other similar large businesses. Menomonie mayor Randy Knaack says it will allow the city to institute strict guidelines. He says it puts the city on an even playing field with big businesses. “The new zoning will have some perspective on certain issues. It might be water use, it could be height of the building, noise, electricity usage. Those kinds of parameters with the new zoning. So, the city of Menomonie will actually have a better opportunity to bargain, or make things better if things move forward,” said Knaack.

[everyday-cutephoto]

[ailithnight]

This is a worm? Or perhaps some sort of slug?

[marlynnofmany]

And it's gonna getcha

[undergroundwubwubmaster]

✨️ Twinkle twinkle little star, how the hell you draw an arm ✨️

[no-more-dead-dogs]

my beautiful wife, severe thunderstorm warning, is texting me 😌😚😍😍

[the-reblog-squad-deactivated202]

Reblog if you don't use Generative AI to write fanfics/original fics or to create fanart/original art.

[gentlewordsdaily]

Happy Pride Month.

And if this month feels more complicated than celebratory for you, I hope you know that you are not alone in that.

For some people, Pride is joy, community, and finally feeling seen. For others, it is a reminder of everything they still cannot say out loud, every part of themselves they have had to hide, every conversation they are not ready for, every place where safety and authenticity still feel impossible to have at the same time.

Maybe you are questioning. Maybe you know exactly who you are but do not have the freedom to express it. Maybe you are grieving years spent trying to become someone else. Maybe you are watching people celebrate openly while wondering when, or if, that will ever be possible for you.

Whatever your relationship with Pride is, I hope you are gentle with yourself this month. There is no deadline for self-discovery, no minimum amount of confidence required to belong, and no version of queerness that is more deserving of love, community, or acceptance than another.

And if all you can do right now is quietly exist, quietly learn about yourself, quietly hold onto the hope that one day life will feel bigger and safer than it does today, that is enough.

You do not have to be loud to belong here. You do not have to have everything figured out. You do not have to become more palatable, more certain, or more courageous before you deserve happiness.

I hope this month brings you moments that remind you there is nothing wrong with who you are, and that somewhere out there is a future where you do not have to choose between being yourself and being safe, where your identity is not something you have to defend, explain, or apologize for, but simply a part of you that is loved as naturally as the rest.

I am glad you are here.

[beardedmrbean]

[futurebird]

The "B" is *not* for "buses"

Via mastodon(aka the fediverse)

[yakkowakkodot]

Reminder as we approach Pride Season

[weird-val-yankovic]

soon...

[dailycatsblog]

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

Mother's Day can be a painful reminder, so here's a salute to all the kids and adult children who grew up with absent mothers, angry mothers, negligent mothers, abusive mothers, overly-critical mothers, codependent mothers, overwhelmed and struggling mothers, mothers who ignored your cries for help, mothers who sacrificed your happiness to placate others, mothers who tried to do better but failed, and mothers who didn't try quite hard enough.

And to every child and adult who has a complicated relationship with their mother or caretaker--it's okay to feel conflicted. It's okay to feel hurt and love and resentment and pain and sympathy and longing and guilt bundled up into one big tangled ball. It's okay to struggle to reconcile the bad memories with the good ones that simultaneously exist. It's okay to be angry about the ways your parent failed you, and also aware of their personal struggles, and the way their parents in turn failed them. It's okay to recognize that you were loved but also that you were treated unfairly, unkindly. Contradictions are the natural state of the world. Multiple truths coexist. It's okay to be conflicted.

Parents are humans. Human relationships are complicated, and cannot be summarized by a greeting card. Wherever you are coming from, I hope your future holds healing and love, love, love.

[sleepiestoken]

📸 andy ford

[hannbl]

[chrollo-tw]

me after I eliminated 21,042 people

[peppermintquartz]

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH 💕

You have inculcated in countless people a love for wildlife and for our lovely planet; we owe so much to you and your passion for Life and Nature. Thank you sir!

[dailycatsblog]

[ayin-me-yesh]

If anyone's looking for really gentle or disability friendly exercise...

Doctor Jo on YouTube is a physical therapist who offers lots of therapeutic stretching and exercise videos for specific conditions and pain relief. [x]

Leap Services is a Canadian physical therapy group that has a YouTube playlist of gentle exercise routines. All of these exercises are done in a chair (except for one which is done on the floor) and are intentionally adaptable to different bodies and needs. [x]

Yoga with Zelinda on YouTube has yoga that's adapted to a large number of conditions, for instance, providing a playlist of routines that don't require kneeling and another of chair yoga. She also offers yoga for specific health challenges, like fibromyalgia and mobility issues. There's a playlist of yoga routines for people with bigger bodies as well. [x]

Santosha Spirit on YouTube has yoga routines for people with chronic fatigue, chronic pain, POTS, and EDS. [x]

Yoga with Shaunneka on YouTube has a playlist of slow seated yoga, including chair yoga, as well as a playlist of gentle yoga. [x]

Qinergy on YouTube has tai chi sets broken down into easy tutorials. There is a seated version of her shibashi set. [x]

Perth Tai Chi Academy on YouTube is similar to Qinergy. It provides a seated version of daoyin yangshen qigong. [x]