Your humble comiXology Tumblr dude will be attending TCAF this year with my non-comiXology related work, but I’m also going to be making time to talk to creators and publishers about our small press/self-publishing platform (http://submit.comixology.com). If you’re interested in chatting, or already have a book up and want to check in, message me via Tumblr or just drop by table 237!
Doc, what are the top five items food banks LOVE to receive? I'm doing a collection soon and want to ask for specifics.
MONEY. WE WANT MONEY. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY. WE CAN DO SO MUCH WITH IT. WE HAVE ACCESS TO DEALS YOU COULD NEVER. MONEY
That aside.
I’m only going to talk about food items but if your food bank takes personal items, a lot of times diapers, feminine hygiene products, etc, are very very welcome.
1) Canned chicken and beef
looooooove this stuff. It’s expensive, it lasts forever, it tastes good and it can be used a variety of ways. This stuff is fucking catnip to food banks, it’s so hard for us to provide proteins.
2) Fancy nut butters
Peanut butter is a standby for food banks as a shelf-stable inexpensive protein, but if we have a family with a kid with a peanut allergy that’s not going to work. Non-peanut butters are expensive and it’s something we hardly ever see donated. (we also like peanut butter, but that’s easier for us to buy ourselves than non-peanut butters)
3) Canned or packaged tuna
You may notice a trend here in shelf-stable proteins. And yeah. That’s basically it, so I’m not going to keep harping on it. But this stuff is a godsend.
4) Easy breakfast things for kids (Granola bars, instant oatmeal, and the like)
Whatever Donald Trump tells you, most people who get food from food banks are actually working their asses off and so they have to leave Obama to raise their baby or whatever, and they don’t have a lot of time in the morning. Things like this that kids can make for themselves are expensive. (Another trend you may be noticing–donate shit that costs a lot of money. That helps us more than all the shitty green bean cans in the world) But they are so helpful for busy working families where the parents may not have a set schedule and sometimes little Amanda is making her own breakfast before she runs off to school. Don’t let kids go to school hungry.
5) Shelf-stable juice
This is one people never think of! But if you show up with a bunch of (preferably reduced sugar stuff) bottles of juice at my door, oh man, you are gonna get so many check mark and okay hand emoticons. This stuff is great for kids, and it doesn’t require refrigeration until it’s opened, so it works great for food drives.
FOR MY FELLOW EAGLE FUCKERS, THIS SATURDAY, MAY 14th, IS THE STAMP OUT HUNGER FOOD DRIVE
The postal service will come pick up food left by mailboxes and in post offices and deliver it to your local banks. This is a list of stuff we REALLY want and need, please take the time to read it and consider donating YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE
At the heart of this forest stood a colossal fig tree. The Forest Folk slept in its shadow. But now, the tree is dying; its branches are dry, its trunk old and twisted.
“Peter Grant is one of only two members of a very special branch of London’s Metropolitan Police. He is, in fact, pretty much a wizard and it’s his job to investigate those shadowy crimes that involve urban vampires, weird folk in the underground and, in this case, why cars are suddenly taking on lives of their own and killing innocent folk!”
Story Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel art Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero
The 33-4 vote diverges from legislatures around the nation voting to restrict transgender people’s access to restrooms.
The Massachusetts Senate voted 33-4 on Thursday to pass a bill that would protect transgender people in places of public accommodation — including in restrooms that match their gender identity.
In doing so, the lawmakers diverged from several legislatures in other states this year that have advanced bills to curtail transgender people’s restroom access.
Democrats argued the legislation advanced basic civil rights for transgender people, blocking several amendments from Republicans that would have weakened the legislation.
“It is our responsibility to advance these provisions when there is clearly evidence that transgender people can and are being discriminated against,” Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, a Democrat, told BuzzFeed News before the vote.
The bill appears poised to pass the House and reach the governor’s desk.
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo told reporters last week that he likes the bill as passed by a joint judiciary committee, suggesting he is prepared to bring the legislation to a floor vote. Unlike his counterpart in the Senate, DeLeo did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ question about whether he had the votes to pass the legislation.
What allows Massachusetts to zig while other legislatures zag?
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker appears to be warming up to the bill. Although he was booed off stage in April after expressing ambivalence about the measure, he seems increasingly amendable to, at least, not vetoing the legislation if it reaches his desk.
Lizzy Guyton, a spokesman for Baker, told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the governor “will carefully review a bill should the legislature act,” adding that he “believes no one should be discriminated against based on gender identity.” The governor also supports existing state laws banning transgender discrimination in housing and employment, Guyton added.
If the full legislature does indeed pass the bill, it will have also overcome fears that gripped some lawmakers in the capitol for years: specifically, a concern that banning transgender discrimination in places of public accommodation will allow transgender sex predators to prowl women’s restrooms.
Conservative critics of LGBT rights have suggested men could abuse legal protections by simply claiming to be transgender.
Those arguments provided the impetus for North Carolina’s legislature to pass a law in March banning transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity in public buildings and schools. A law passed this year in Mississippi allows transgender people to be banned from restrooms based on religious objections.
In North Dakota, the legislature passed a bill that restricted transgender people in schools this year, before the governor vetoed the bill, and in Tennessee, lawmakers advanced similar legislation.
So what allows Massachusetts to zig while others zag?
Massachusetts Senate Bill 735, along with its companion bill in the House, would add protections based on gender identity in places of public accommodation to existing state laws that ban discrimination based on a wide range of characteristics — including sexual orientation and race. It applies in all public businesses and venues, from transit facilities to restaurants.
Protecting trans people in these public places has been the missing tooth in the state’s otherwise full row of LGBT protections.
“It is a glaring omission right now,” Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, the bill’s prime senate sponsor, told BuzzFeed News. She said that unfounded fears about bathrooms had held back the protections from a 2011 bill to protect transgender people in housing and employment.
“Transgender advocates and individuals have come up, person by person, to tell their story to make this issue real for legislators who are not familiar with them.”
Chang-Díaz said lawmakers appear ready to fill in “the last gap” after “transgender advocates and individuals have come up, person by person, to tell their story to make this issue real for legislators who are not familiar with them.”
She said concerns about bathrooms are “red herring,” while violence and discrimination against transgender people is well studied.
In the 17 states and 225 cities with similar protections for gender identity in places of public accommodation, there are no documented examples of the laws being used by transgender people — or those posing as transgender — for nefarious purposes in restrooms or locker rooms.
In contrast, according to a 2013 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, “Seventy percent of survey respondents reported being denied access, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted in public restrooms.”
Meanwhile, research conducted by Massachusetts-based 2014 Fenway Health shows 65% of transgender people reported discrimination in public accommodation settings in the previous year.
The House version of the bill would require that the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination create rules to prevent abuse — essentially, ensuring that people do not claim to be transgender for unlawful purposes. The Attorney General’s Office, meanwhile, would need provide guidance for law enforcement dealing with anyone who “asserts gender identity for an improper purpose.”
The senate rejected similar amendments.
Before the vote, Senate President Rosenberg had said those regulations were “unnecessary,” but added that they “address a set of fears that are actually just that — they’re fears as opposed to evidence of problem.”
I just read this article about how RDJ pushed for more screentime and had Cap3 changed from a proper sequel to the Winter Soldier to Civil War. So, to quote the article “ The smart money was on a third film focusing on the Winter Soldier’s rehabilitation: a redemption arc for Bucky Barnes and closure for Steve Rogers. (…) So if Civil War turns out to be an unsatisfying conclusion to The Winter Soldier, fans have an all-too pragmatic explanation to blame: Robert Downey Jr.’s contract negotiations.”
I don’t thank you for being so close in character to Tony Stark that you don’t know when it’s time to take a step back and let the others shine, Mr Downey Jr. Iron Man is an interesting character, but he already has the most screen time in the MCU, between his own movies and his huge lead role in the Avengers movies. I’m mad that screen time had to be taken from characters who deserved a proper development.
Social Security is also critical to millennials during their working years. Before reaching their full retirement age, an estimated 1 in 4 of today’s 20-year-olds will become disabled, and 1 in 8 will die. Such events can be devastating at any age, but they are especially harmful to young workers and their families, who will have had fewer years to pay off educational debts and accumulate wealth. Many of these young workers and their families—especially those with low incomes—are also unlikely to be covered by private insurance, particularly in the case of disability.
Why Millennials Have the Greatest Stake in Social Security Expansion (via azspot)
Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed 'Creed,' is helming the comic book movie as well as writing the script.
“Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed Creed, is helming the comic book movie as well as writing the script.
Boseman and Black Panther were introduced in Captain America: Civil War, which crossed the $700 million worldwide mark in under a week and a half.
The character, whose name is T’Challa, is the warrior king of Wakanda, Marvel’s fictional African nation that is rich in an unbreakable alloy called vibranium.
N’yongo’s character has not been revealed although she will be the Panther’s love interest.
Panther has a February 2, 2018 release date with production aiming to start in early 2017.”
did you seriously just say we should let pandas go extinct to save other animals or am i misinterpreting because that is a very questionable judgement
ALRIGHT MY FRIEND I have received about six messages in this vein since yesterday, but I worked for thirteen hours today and I have no time for this nonsense. Short answer: YES.
I’m gonna summarize some salient points on why pandas are awful from a conservation standpoint:
PANDAS LITERALLY CANNOT MATE IN CAPTIVITY. IT’S UNBELIEVABLE
Artificial insemination and hand-rearing of cubs are basically standard practice, and still they usually die. At what point is it reasonable to give up because I think we hit it DECADES AGO
In 35 years, only 90 cubs have been born in captivity outside of China
Wild panda numbers have increased a bare (bear?) 200 individuals in 10 years, despite literal billions of dollars being poured into conservation
NO OTHER AREA OF ANIMAL CONSERVATION EVEN COMES CLOSE TO THE MONEY BEING POURED INTO PANDAS. NONE
And yet we’ve managed to literally rebuild populations of black-footed ferrets, oryx, and California condors with exponentially less money
Despite all of this, only 10 pandas have been released since the 80s, and all but two died
I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that it’s because their habitat is destroyed and fragmentary and barely protected!!!!!!
The only good thing about panda conservation is that protecting their range is also protecting tons of other species. Which would be great, if more of their range was being protected effectively.
There is way more money in keeping captive pandas captive than in releasing them!! surprise!!!!!!
Zoos pay a lot of money to get pandas on loan because people just LOVE looking at pandas and they can’t afford to house and care for their other animals without people coming to visit! Or do any kind of conservation whatsoever!! Panda-economics! (this is kind of a pro as opposed to a con but its the kind of pro that makes me feel like I need a shower)
Pandas are endangered and sort of have a role in spreading bamboo seeds around, so they get billions of dollars. Every shark ever is MORE endangered, and without them the entire ocean ecosystem would collapse, but that’s fine they don’t need money (I’m not bitter) ((I am bitter))
I’m gonna be frank with you. We are in the middle of a mass extinction event, caused by us. Not to be a downer (jk, I’m gonna) but we’re already driving so many species to extinction that we cannot afford to save them all with the money and interest that is in conservation right now.
Instead, we have to do some kind of awful extinction triage and assess which animals will do the most good to work to conserve - and getting into keystone species, ecosystem engineers, and other truly integral species is a whole other can of worms I’m not gonna touch on - but there are animals that are “more important” in a certain sense than others, in that they can support or affect a much wider range of other species than another.
People only care about big, cute, fluffy animals - a common lament heard from conservationists, but it’s so true. There are thousands, if not millions of species that don’t fit this mold that conservation work would benefit eons more than pandas. It’s like fixing a pretty, stained-glass window in a house whose foundations are collapsing and thinking you’re helping.
Pandas have always been the face of conservation, and they continue to be one of the biggest and most expensive ongoing failures.
[Sources/ stuff to read to make sense of my incoherent response!]
vaporwave
yousharknotpass
blakekathryn
titsay
