Sophie

A mix of cute animals and my battle with an eating disorder

[staticnoisesss]

how you can help palestine

*i regularly update this post with any new info i find so please always reblog the original post*

Donations

donations currently reaching gaza:

‼️ help buy e-sims for people in gaza

donate to get food packages to gaza - care for gaza

palestine children's relief fund

world food programme

donate direct aid to gaza - ehab rida (longtime activist and volunteer, has been carrying out donations and humanitarian projects in gaza since 2021)

donate to ahmed (@/90-ghost on tumblr)

he is born, raised and based in gaza. please help him reach his goal of $50K to get his family to safety across the rafah border into egypt. as of right now… it’s $7.5K per person to evacuate gaza.

help journalist yousef escape gaza to treat his cancer

help mohamed evacuate gaza to get treatment for himself and his daughter

mohammed is a friend of ahmed (90-ghost) and is a haemophilia patient. him and his family are currently living in a tent on the streets of rafah.

help gaza’s children

support palestinians: buy a keffiyeh from the last and only factory in palestine - hirbawi

secondary donations:

emergency relief for gaza - pious projects

palestine red crescent society

save palestine - islamic relief canada

send medical supplies to gaza - palestinian american medical association

click to donate - arab.org

help bring down israel's weapon trade - palaction

donate for the recovery of hisham awartani - gofundme

one of the three palestinian students shot by a racist in vermont for wearing kufiyas and speaking arabic. hisham’s injuries have left him paralysed from below the chest.

Petitions

international cultural workers to strike from german cultural institutions for their complicity in oppressing palestinians and promoting genocide - strike germany

petition to investigate war crimes committed by israeli military

demand ceasefire - amnesty international

open call for immediate ceasefire

american government call for immediate ceasefire

american government to stop funding israeli military

ceasefire and increase humanitarian assistance - oxfam au

petition to get canva to address their pro-israel stance

invoke the genocide convention to call for ceasefire in gaza - world beyond war

suspend israel from international sports - diem25

UK to expel israeli ambassador - change.org

gaza healthcare workers for nobel peace prize - change.org

teachers around the world demand ceasefire - teachers for palestine

president whitten: reinstate samia halaby retrospective NOW - action network

location specific petitions

gaza call for lasting ceasefire - oxfam (UK)

end israeli occupation - parliament uk (UK)

email your MP - medical aid for palestine (UK)

protect gaza civilians - islamic relief (UK)

stop fuelling genocide - action network (USA)

@ biden: call for ceasefire now - move on (USA)

ceasefirenow.com - jewishvoiceofpeace (USA)

call congress and demand a ceasefire - uscpr (USA - they provide a script of what you should say, so don't worry about it)

note: you can call everyday. they tally the number of calls per issue. so more calls = higher chance for them to take action. p.s. you mainly go to voicemail so don’t worry about phone call anxiety. fight through it just this once please.

australia call on israel to stop attacking palestinians - apan (AUS)

immediate ceasefire and increase in humanitarian aid in gaza - actionaid (AUS)

email your MPs - stand with palestine (AUS)

‼️ australian senate to investigate australian citizens in the IDF for war crimes allegations - fpm (AUS)

‼️ arms embargo on israel - cjpme (CANADA)

sign to send letter to MP for ceasefire - nccm (CANADA)

ceasefire now! - ijv (CANADA)

ceasefire and allow aid to enter gaza - oxfam (CANADA)

call on your local mayor and council to demand ceasefire - LeadNow (CANADA)

cessez-le-feu et un couloir humanitaire - le mouvement (FRANCE)

écrivez aux député-es et sénateurs-trices - association france palestine solidarité (FRANCE)

write to your député - assemblée nationale (FRANCE)

skydda civilbefolkningen i gaza! - mittskifte (SWEDEN)

singaporeans call for immediate ceasefire (SIN)

contact your elected reps and demand a ceasefire (GERMANY)

write to the EU demanding a ceasefire (EUROPE)

template of letters you can send (EU)

guide on how to contact your MPs in EU

p.s. if the template is outdated, just use it as a guide and add a few sentences here and there that reflect the current situation. i can’t find any recent templates so :/ at least this is something

multiple actions you can take to help palestine - plant een olifbloom (NETHERLANDS)

includes: links for donations, emails to MP, emails to media, links to petitions and demonstrations

den haag, maak nú werk van vrede in israël/Palestina - the right forum (NETHERLANDS)

māori call for palestine - ourActionStation (NZ)

special visa for palestinians in gaza with family in NZ - NZ parliament/pāremata aotearoa (NZ)

deem israeli actions as war crimes - NZ parliament/pāremata aotearoa (NZ)

basta ao genocídio em Gaza! - awaaz (BRAZIL)

globo e grande mídia, parem de desumanizar civis palestinos - the intercept (BRAZIL)

Campaigns

‼️ justice for palestine

reach out to countries to back up south africa’s invoke genocide convention at the ICJ

‼️ international criminal court

submit evidences of israeli war crimes

friends of al-aqsa

❥ UK-specific

urge your MP to speak up for palestine

hands off al-aqsa

stop administrative detention

petition for UK to stop arming israel

❥ International

boycott puma — email them to end their partnership with israel

boycott coca-cola

palestine action

join the resistance

islamic relief canada

urge your MP to rally for ceasefire

decolonise palestine

poster campaign to raise awareness on the war crimes being committed against palestinians

text/call campaign for people living in USA

text CEASEFIRE @ 51905 to call for a ceasefire

text RESIST @ 50409 to send a letter to your representatives to pass HR3103–a bill that prohibits tax dollars from going to israel

download 5Calls app to contact members of your congress | (more info)

fax campaign for people in the USA

go on this website to send 5 free faxes per day

here’s a link to a pre-written fax copy you can download to send (the first link on the linktree)

here’s a video that explains how to fax your senator (it’s very easy and all you need is a valid email address)

‼️ BDS movement

get involved in boycotting companies associated with israel

please let me know if you have any more links. i will add them in. and please reblog the original post!!

UPCOMING PROTESTS

PALESTINIAN LITERATURE READING LIST

[lifehacksthatwork]

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it'll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I'd recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn't read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can't for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You'll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It's genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[nakuru-beam]

#useful

[hunterinabrowncoat]

I feel like it’s time we talked about how there is no such thing as universal accessibility. One space cannot be accessible for every single person. And I don’t say that to suggest that we just shouldn’t try making spaces as accessible as possible, but rather to say how important it is that we have multiple, different spaces.

A place that is well-lit and has lots of natural light will help many visually impaired people, but it will be a nightmare for anyone with photo-sensitivity. A small, dimly lit, quiet space might be ideal for somebody with sensory overload, but not for somebody with claustrophobia. A solarpunk utopia where the cities are filled with plants and trees and green might massively help the population’s depression and general spirits, but it would be hell for anyone with autoimmune disorders and allergies.

At the LGBTQ+ Christian group I go to, there are some really flamboyant, loud, and excitable extroverts there, who love to sing their hearts out and clap and dance during worship. There are also people who have sensory issues and anxiety exacerbated by loud noise. It cannot be a safe-space for everyone to express themselves freely, if it’s also a safe space for those with anxiety.

In a learning environment, one child with ADHD may need to bounce their leg or fidget with something in order to concentrate, while another autistic child finds that incredibly distracting and makes them anxious.

A small, tight, cosy space that’s reminiscent of a village pub or small cottage might be ideal for making me feel comfortable, sheltered and reducing my anxiety and social exhaustion, but it wouldn’t be very accessible for a wheelchair user or someone with physical mobility issues. I am both of those people.

Nobody is doing anything wrong, nobody is being victimised by another person, there’s no right and wrong in these situations. It’s just that those people have opposing needs that can’t be accommodated in the same space at the same time. And we need to talk about that.

What’s important is that we create different spaces to cater to a multitude of needs, and that we listen to people’s needs. Most importantly we need to look at which groups of people and which needs are often ignored, and which people have very little access to spaces.

[13faeinapenguinsuit]

This is incredibly important.

[parkchanwoohoo]

I can’t stand… book culture. One time someone got me a canvas bag that was like “Books + Tea = Perfect Day” and I drove to goodwill with that shit so fast

[parkchanwoohoo]

Most books suck. Most books are goddamn awful or utterly extraneous. Don’t get me wrong, I think we’re deeply lucky to live in a world where most books can vanish without us losing anything culturally or intellectually, rather than a world where books are so scarce that a single person might own like twelve in a lifetime. But still. Books are easy to aestheticize as Magical Portals of Adventure and Whimsy if you only read maybe two genres

[girlintheglassboxx]

AH! Words for that whole… situation.

I work at a public library and book culture there is nauseating. Not really among the other employees (though we’ve had a few come through over the years), but the patrons?

Oh god the patrons. Most of the people who check out books are just regular people who like reading. I even have patrons who L O V E to read, and who spend a majority of their free time reading or discussing books, they’re part of multiple book clubs, they always bring a big bag and leave with it full. They aren’t the Book Culture People.

Book Culture People loudly announce that they’re so surprised that there are children who know what books are!

They act affronted when I mention our ebook service, and scoff at the idea that anyone could enjoy reading from a screen instead of off the page!

They are personally offended that publishers hire actors to read the books for audio versions, because they feel that “audio books cheapen the experience of reading” and “audio books are cheating”!

They have to proclaim their fetish for ‘real’ books, whether through tacky tote bags, weird quote filled pinterest boards and social media posts, or awkwardly shoehorning unimpressive humblebrags about all the classics that they’re reading into unrelated conversations with tired library assistants.

They’re terrible, and I resent them because I fear being grouped with them by the nature of my field.

[parkchanwoohoo]

I was literally just talking about a friend whose classmate in her library science program was bragging because she didn’t use any digital resources for her final paper because she “respected books too much.” It’s such a bizarre attitude for anyone, much less an aspiring librarian, to have

I’ve also been approached by people while I read in public who are like “Oh my GOSH it’s so GOOD to see other people who READ nowadays!! Honestly I just have NO hope for our generation” and it’s like, first of all if you’re a reader you should know the last thing anyone wants is to be interrupted by a stranger for unnecessary conversation, and second please shut up holy crap

[girlintheglassboxx]

Oh god, I’ve heard that one before.

Hating accessible books and shunning technology is basically the antithesis of modern librarianship.

I don’t get the ebook hate, ebooks are literally just books. You cite ebooks the same way, and depending on the format, you don’t even say they’re ebooks.

It’s a performative, self important approach to something that I genuinely enjoy, and I think it bothers me more than, say, fandom antics, just because it’s so much more common. People get offended when I tell them I don’t read a lot in my down time, that I genuinely prefer audio books, that I’ll skip their recommendations because I don’t share their tastes.

It’s so… boring.

[sigei-sinnoa]

Also as a visually impaired person who can only read through ebooks and audio books can these people stop telling me I’m not really reading?

These people love to brag to me about how they just prefer real books and they could never enjoy reading on a device or an audio book. Great! Good for you! I literally have no choice! Stop trying to convert me to a format I can not use! 

[addelburgh]

[floristgump]

That piñata seems alarmed to say the least

[kittehkats]

“Ok, I think I sees the problm.  You gots to take the wrappers offa the candies befor you eats them.”

[shymagnolia]

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

[shymagnolia]

okay so i just got my dream job??? a week after applying to it?? and now i’m thinking….maybe this is the good luck post

[flagellant]

…..not even six hours later i got an offer of a well paying full time long-term job with free room and board in queens in nyc, allowing me independence and a way to escape an abusive situation and an unhealthy environment

likes charge reblogs cast, folks, this is the good luck post

[brainstatic]

I realize I’m 2 years late to this, but I’m just now digging in and trying to understand the full effects of Brexit, and it’s truly astonishing. I knew it would have the usual protectionist effects like higher prices and whatnot, but there’s a not improbable chance Britain runs out of food. They’re scrambling to make sure planes will still have access to the country. Important scientific research is stalling because British scientists can’t secure funding. And I’m still not sure what the argument for it is except something about regulations and telling your Polish maid she’s not wanted.

[parentheticalaside]

[sigei-sinnoa]

She’s also explaining why eating several grenades is better than not eating anything.

[st-pam]

[kateordie]

Yeah c'mon

[kipplekipple]

When we talk about being fat-positive and we say, “weight is not an indication of health,” I will reblog it. But I want us to also say, “health is not an indication of value.”

I could be at any weight and I will never be healthy, because I am chronically ill. Someone might be chronically ill and fat, or they might be chronically ill and not fat, and it really doesn’t matter.

When you make it about health, you’re saying health is the pinnacle of human achievement, and you’re shitting on those of us for whom health will always be a pipe dream.

[rollerskatinglizard]

Oh Oh

[swanjolras-blog-archive-deactiv]

gosh but like we spent hundreds of years looking up at the stars and wondering “is there anybody out there” and hoping and guessing and imagining

because we as a species were so lonely and we wanted friends so bad, we wanted to meet other species and we wanted to talk to them and we wanted to learn from them and to stop being the only people in the universe

and we started realizing that things were maybe not going so good for us– we got scared that we were going to blow each other up, we got scared that we were going to break our planet permanently, we got scared that in a hundred years we were all going to be dead and gone and even if there were other people out there, we’d never get to meet them

and then

we built robots?

and we gave them names and we gave them brains made out of silicon and we pretended they were people and we told them hey you wanna go exploring, and of course they did, because we had made them in our own image

and maybe in a hundred years we won’t be around any more, maybe yeah the planet will be a mess and we’ll all be dead, and if other people come from the stars we won’t be around to meet them and say hi! how are you! we’re people, too! you’re not alone any more!, maybe we’ll be gone

but we built robots, who have beat-up hulls and metal brains, and who have names; and if the other people come and say, who were these people? what were they like?

the robots can say, when they made us, they called us discovery; they called us curiosity; they called us explorer; they called us spirit. they must have thought that was important.

and they told us to tell you hello.

[westbrookwestbooks]

So, I have to say something. 

This is my favorite post on this website. 

I’ve seen this post in screenshots before, and the first time I read it, I cried. Just sat there with tears running down my face. 

Because this, right here, is the best of us, we humans. That we hope, and dream of the stars, and we don’t want to be alone. That this is the best of our technology, not Terminators and Skynet, but our friends, our companions, our legacy. Our message to the stars. 

I’m flat out delighted, and maybe even a little honored, that I get to reblog this.

[sigei-sinnoa]

I thought I was fine now, but then I’m left alone and realise I’m still the same person I’ve been for years.

[sigei-sinnoa]

Why am I suddenly super anxious about ringing my work? I justneed to find out my rota but my brain is like ‘nope, don’t ring them, that would be a disaster’

[benepla-deactivated20180521]

male entitlement in academic spaces is so boring. can’t tell you how many times i’ve been in a class and a girl gives a short, insightful analysis, and then a dude raises his hand and says “jumping off of that…” then says literally the same thing she said but longer and worse.

[undeterr-ed-deactivated20161230]

Friendly reminder

“Doing your best” does not mean working yourself to the point of a mental breakdown.

[vastderp]

this one still smashes me in the face ten times a year. do not ignore pain, it’s no longer your best at that point

[halalcocaine]

Refugees Welcome

[otarsus]

[oh-glasgow]

No ban, no wall, no fascism.