Ken

bi | he/him |free palestine | britney spears is a god

[girljeremystrong]

PLEASE watch this. i love chaotic sisters best dynamic in the world

[anais-ninja-bitch]

1. this should be required viewing for anyone writing young girls, especially sisters

2. she did a good job and totally saved their asses.

[sirfrogsworth]

I tried to find more information about Albert here. There is an article in The Mirror, but some of the reporting seems dubious. Which I believe is standard operating procedure for that particular news outlet.

But according to the article, "Fat Albert" lives in the very specific area of "Alaska, USA" and is believed to be the fattest polar bear in the world. And they claim he got fat because the townspeople of "Alaska, USA" are following an ancient tradition that dates back "thousands of years."

"The locals throw out large amounts of whale blubber to the bears as a sign of 'respect'. They would cut a large portion of the whale and blubber, and drag it four miles out of town for the bears to find. This stops the bears from travelling into town to harvest and disrupting the process. In other words, it's a way to stop a group of hungry bears coming towards you in a hurry."

From supplemental research there is precedent for folks in Russia and Alaska to leave whale carcasses for polar bears, but I could not find any corroborating evidence about Albert specifically.

So, I rate this myth...

In any case, when I saw this picture of Albert, it seemed like a good opportunity to practice my Photoshop skills. He has clearly been rolling around in some mud and his beautiful white coat has been obscured.

It is very easy to change the color of something to red, blue, or green and every color in between. Just hit that hue/saturation and check colorize and you've got Pride Albert in a jiffy.

However, it is much more challenging to change things to white or black. This is the bane of graphic designers who have to take the same picture of a t-shirt and digitally alter it to be every available color including black and white.

So I challenged myself to give Fat Albert a bath.

And then I challenged myself again to make him a distant relative.

I wish I could tell you the exact process for how to do this, but this is one of those things you have to trial and error your way through and I honestly don't remember everything I did.

One thing I can tell you is that I definitely, absolutely, positively named all my layers properly—as that is best practice and I am a good Photoshop boy.

[bending-sickle]

This Reddit post says Fat Albert lives near the village of Katovik and says he weight 1000 lbs.

This Facebook page has more photos from the above set.

This Facebook page confirms the village, the practice of leaving blubber outside of town so bears don’t disrupt the whaling harvest, and says he weight 679 kg (vs the usual 450 kg) and credits the photos to Ed Boudreau.

[sirfrogsworth]

I feel like I'm pretty good at research but sometimes you folks outdo my Google Fu and it is impressive.

Thank you for finding all of this wonderful info.

I do think I was right to be skeptical. The "thousands of years" seemed difficult to verify from an archeological perspective. But your links say it is only "hundreds of years" which sounds much more likely. And it's nice to be able to narrow it down to a city rather than a 660,000 square mile landmass.

Also, here is a bonus Pride Albert.

[64mpg]

it has always been a dream of mine to relax

[64mpg]

it’s just not possible

[catgirlwheels]

[rimonoroni2]

i think we should be talking about the semi-recent advancements in cystic fibrosis treatment like all the time every day. there hasn’t been a drug like this since AZT medications for HIV infection it is truly fucking miraculous and very important

[rimonoroni2]

basically: cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease which makes the mucous a person generates extra sticky. it used to kill people in infancy, then with advancements in medical tech it killed people in young childhood, and until very recently cystic fibrosis patients could expect to live until about thirty years old with consistent painful lung infections and complications.

in 2019 the FDA approved a drug called trikafta (which is really three drugs in one) for cystic fibrosis treatment. what it essentially does is patch up the malfunctioning proteins that cause the extra sticky mucus. trikafta is effective on about 90% of cystic fibrosis patients.

people who had spent their entire lives in and out of hospitals, on and off of ventilators, suffering from pneumonia and sometimes treated through painful procedures like intubation took this drug, got out of bed, coughed up an entire lifetimes worth of mucus out of their lungs over the course of a few hours, breathed clearly for perhaps the first time in their lives, and now go on to live well into their seventies.

like isn’t that insane. isn’t that amazing. doesn’t that give you hope for the future of medical advancements and treatment. fuck. i think about it all the time……

[kittydesade]

There’s a WHAT.

For WHAT.

[sweetdreamspootypie]

It's been amazing!

My ward is the respiratory ward - CF is one of the things we specialize in.

Since this med came out we haven't had a SINGLE CF admission to the ward

There used to always be a CF patient spending a couple of months with us at a time

There's a man who is 23 years old who I was sure would not survive his next admission (aim saturations 85% is end stage lung disease)

There's a set of the local frequent flyers that we all know so well

Except

No we don't

On the CF specialist ward (with reasonable staff turnover)

Half the staff have probably never even seen a CF patient

They are going to live

[anartificialsatellite]

For the people asking "well how do we know people are living that long if it's so new????" Here's a page from the CF foundation about life expectancy.

Additionally, it should be noted that metrics like life expectancy are in no way a guarantee of... Anything. There are significant outlier CF patients who are at an advanced age now despite the odds due to a variety of different factors, having lived the majority of their lives before the development of modulators.

But the fact remains that the odds are better now than they have ever ever been before, by leaps and bounds. It isn't cured, and many patients still need significant treatment in addition to Trikafta, but it is so much better than anyone could have dreamed of twenty years ago, and that is a triumph.

[kittyoverlord]

Yes! My sister has a serious form of cf and finally is living a more comfortable and active life. She was also part of many of the clinical trials leading to these breakthroughs due to the nature of her cf. It's been very exciting to see.

[naamahdarling]

That's absolutely incredible. Don't get me wrong. It's miraculous from a clinical standpoint. But, uhh. Not to be a downer but I need people to see this so they stay angry and stay real about what medical breakthroughs actually mean for patients. When I call something "survival gatekeeping", this is what I mean:

That is per month with the most common coupon people are likely to use.

But don't worry, there's grants and patient assistance programs you can apply for. 🤞🫠 Most people in high income countries like the USA can get it "covered" through insurance for fewer thousands of dollars. Or even less if your insurance is good or the manufacturer likes how poor and/or on Medicaid you are! A good social worker will help you with the process, and make sure your yearly reapplications and PAs are done a little early so they have time to think about it before you run out. Jesus Christ.

NEVER look at something like this and navigate away feeling better about things without asking how much it costs and who can get it. NEVER. It isn't revolutionary until poor people can access it without a struggle.

[the-neon-pineapple]

Vertex doesn't just charge a ton of money. They actively block generics and decline to make it available in developing nations.

Reshma Kewalramani, the current CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, makes $20.6 million a year. The prior CEO, Jeffrey Leiden, is still on the board and makes $8.6 million a year.

[dr-dendritic-trees]

The developing nations are fighting back though!

Tipranks Press Release.

[maureen2musings]

Postcards from Yellowstone

peekinourjournal

[dustintexas]

🙂‍↕️

[dustinyschild]

🙂‍↕️ 🙂‍↕️

[dingdongyouarewrong]

i'm getting the sense some of you are not actually forklift certified.

[averagejoey2000]

[dingdongyouarewrong]

well damn . egg on my face

[dingdongyouarewrong]

THE PLOT THICKENS @averagejoey2000 explain yourself

[averagejoey2000]

I can't believe this is how I'm finding out that I got a scam forklift cert.

I took the cargo ops class at school but my teacher explained that it doesn't give a certification and I'd only be okay for ship's crane and the school forklifts. she said I could take an online exam and get my cert. I paid 60 bucks.

I'm googling and I'm seeing a lot of resources saying that the online programs cover the classroom part of the exam but not the in person practical aspect.

29 CFR 1910.178 (l)(2)(ii)

but I did the in person practical shit at school.

[averagejoey2000]

the back of the card even had fancy numbers on it. I couldn't have known that this isn't the one. this website sounded more official than certifyme.net, and there wasn't one with a .gov address.

[averagejoey2000]

so, I emailed OSHA, and they said that so long as I live and work in California, there's no such thing as forklift certification. I have to be told how to do it every time I get the job.

[averagejoey2000]

Update: I took a certification class in shipboard Material Handling Equipment at my federal job. *now* I'm forklift certified, but only on ships and piers and only for this company, but also rated to forklift explosives and hazardous materials. Also I'm a woman now.

[i-am-the-egg]

[guerrillatech]

[mapsontheweb]

Lighthouses of the Great Lakes.

by researchremora

[queer-as-city-folk]

And people will say Chicago is not a coastal city

[bisthefairy]

Okay so, it took me a second to remember that the Great Lakes fucking massive, and I couldn’t help imagining

[queer-as-city-folk]

We could have this if we weren’t a nation of cowards

[birdsagainsthumanity]

Fish in the great lake being like

[official-michigan-posts]

obfficial michigan post

[unregistered-hypercam2-deactiva]

the evolution here is also a solid contender for meme of the year 2019

[ryan-sometimes]

Tumblr I need everyone to log in rn because the most important, quotable, instantly iconic celebrity post of the century just dropped

[ryan-sometimes]

A ship — a magnificent ship — full of gay men. And me.

I am furious, but I am sailing.

[thepanaculty]

And what is the charge?! A ship??? A magnificent ship full of gay men and me?!

[sabertoothwalrus]

shoutout to the person in my building that left their halloween skeleton on their balcony and proceeded to dress it up for other holidays

thanksgiving

christmas

not pictured: when I came back from the holidays and there’d been a huge storm while I was gone, so all that was left was a pelvis

but we persist. valentines

st patricks day

and the latest, easter

[sabertoothwalrus]

HAPPY PRIDE!!!!

[rrrick]

[hagiomoto]

British Museum colludes with pro-Israel lobby to erase Palestine from historical exhibits —— An investigation by Middle East Eye has exposed the British Museum for covertly removing the terms “Palestine,” “Palestinian,” and “Israeli occupation” from its historical displays following intensive lobbying by pro-Israel activists. Internal emails obtained via a freedom of information request reveal that the London institution rapidly altered descriptions of artifacts dating back to 7,500 BCE to appease political pressure groups, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and high-profile figures. While museum director Nick Cullinan publicly claimed the changes were part of a standard curation refresh and backed by audience testing, the newly released disclosures confirm that no visitor research regarding the term "Palestine" was ever conducted. The internal correspondence details a frantic effort by museum staff to pacify complaints lodged between October and December 2024, with one directive explicitly ordering curators to remain hyper-conscious of the anniversary of 7 October. In one instance, a panel describing ancient rulers of “Palestinian descent” was scrubbed and changed to “Canaanite origin” within five hours of receiving a complaint from the Board of Deputies. Middle East Eye cross-referenced the redacted emails to identify key lobbyists, including right-wing commentators and historians who weaponized access to the museum's leadership to argue that historical references to an ancient Israelite occupation would stoke modern antisemitism. The targeted erasure has sparked a severe diplomatic and cultural backlash, with Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zumlot accusing the public institution of betraying its historical integrity to serve political ends. Cultural figures and human rights defenders have condemned the museum for complicity in what the United Nations classifies as an ongoing genocide in Gaza, noting that the bureaucratic deletion of Palestinian history in London directly mirrors the physical destruction of heritage sites on the ground. Despite photographic evidence showing that references to "modern Palestine" were replaced with "Gaza and the West Bank" at gallery entrances, the British Museum has refused to answer specific inquiries, issuing a blanket denial to Middle East Eye that any erasure took place.

[coffeeandcigarettesv9]

[loveridden1999]

life is too fleeting for all this worrying

[livelovelaugh-777]