Hey, I know it's not Giving Tuesday anymore (I am deep in the paper mines), but if you've ever wanted to help me out, please consider donating to keep PRI and Ithaca's Museum of the Earth open. They have until December 31 to raise 1M to prevent foreclosure.
https://priweb.donorsupport.co/page/FUNWALKCLGY
This is one of those extremely rare INDEPENDENT USA museum collections (not beholden to or funded by a university-corporation) and they work their teeny little budget off to do good science and educate the public. They also still care about COVID and still have designated days where masks are required inside, which is something I have literally not seen anywhere else. I think they deserve a shoutout just for that. PLEASE help them survive if you can, the world needs places like this more than ever right now.
Scientists in weather and climate are live streaming for 100 hours to make their case to the American public.
They are live streaming, but engagement is necessary for it to work. SHARE THIS WITH PEOPLE, RECORD THE STREAM, POST CLIPS OF IT THAT ARE FUNNY, if you can tune in, PLEASE DO!
This is something that has to be heard by as many people as possible. Put it on in the background! See if you can get other people to watch it! Do whatever you can do support those who are trying to be supported! Anything and everything helps!
the good news is you can donate to PBS directly yourself. When they say “made possible by viewers like you,” they mean it.
PBS is not one monolith out of DC or Los Angeles. It’s dozens of regional nonprofits working together as a network to produce content dedicated to telling meaningful stories about the communities you live in, made by people in your community, with the purpose of uplifting underrepresented communities in a respectful and nuanced way that isnt clickbait or rage bait-y. as intended by their national founding charter. And some of that programming, yes, just so happens to be nationally syndicated and distributed.
Watch PBS and donate. You can even stream it through your local channel on their national app that’s available on iOS, Android, Roku, and etc.
This sounds like an ad but I swear it’s not. I just fucking love PBS ok. And it doesn’t get nearly as much appreciation as it deserves.
there was a fire in the building that houses my studio on new year's eve. i'll probably elaborate on that more at some point idk but tldr
it wasn't a big fire, nobody lost any stuff, nobody was hurt. the electrical mains gave up the ghost (likely due to an ongoing leak the landlord wouldn't fix)
but because the landlords have already wanted us out for ages so they can "redevelop" (read: tear down a slightly run-down building from around 1900) the place into Yet More Soulless Shiny Flats Nobody Around Here Can Afford they decided the damage is uneconomical to repair, refused our offer to contribute to repair costs, and are kicking us all out
because there was an "accident" causing "irreparable damage" they're exempt from the usual 3-month waiting period and everyone has to vacate by Feb 1
this is a community space occupied by artists and musicians so now there are a couple dozen broke-ass bitches who have to relocate short notice. the landlord, spectrum properties, is refusing to extend the time any further
so! there will shortly be some form of gofundme type situation to raise money for the costs of doing that (like storage units if we can't find another studio space), and also to tide over any artists who relied on that space for income since they've not had anywhere to work for a couple of weeks and probably won't for several more
i'll reblog this with the link when that's up and running but uh. yeah. that's a thing. which is happening.
crowdfunder is now live if you have some pennies to contribute towards the artists, musicians, and charities who have been left without a space & in some cases without income with no warning & no real time to prepare
Help Dream Machine Productions C.I.C. reach their goal by donating or sharing with your friends.
my friend has been fucked over by gofundme multiple times and has had tens of thousands of dollars taken away from him. he can no longer support his family as they try to survive a genocide
i've posted about my friend @siraj2024 several times at this point, please check out these posts [1, 2]
tl;dr is that in november 2024, his gofundme campaign that he was using to pay rent, buy food and medical care for his family of 24 was terminated without warning. $27,000usd was lost, some of it was refunded and some is stuck somewhere in gofundme's bureaucracy. he quickly made another campaign and raised a few thousand dollars, mainly from people who had received refunds. yesterday, siraj's second campaign was deleted and thousands of dollars have been taken away again.
this situation has absolutely crushed him and caused him both mental and physical stress. though most of us cannot imagine what living in gaza is like, im sure we can all imagine how we'd react if we suddenly lost $27,000+. conditions in gaza continue to get worse as - on top of the constant bombardment from the idf and the constant threat of displacement and death - flooding, crime and all kinds of disease are on the rise. his family has 10 children and elderly people in it.
everyone who donated to his earlier campaigns [the one deleted in november, the one deleted in january] needs to request a refund using this link and once you have recieved that refund, please send it back via his new chuffed campaign.
gofundme has been increasing its restrictions on palestinian fundraising by deleting campaigns that mention gaza, even ones with several thousands of dollars raised and especially ones that aim to support families experiencing genocide. on the other hand, chuffed is generally considered a more reliable fundraising website by people involved in palestinian fundraising, but isn't widely used because donors don't recognize it and assume it is a scam. do not be put off by the new fundraiser host. this new campaign is being run by an associate of siraj who lives abroad, it is reliable.
siraj has also been vetted and personally promoted by nabulsi and el-shab-hussein (line 219). i also conducted an interview with him where he spoke about his experiences living in gaza and how important donations are to palestinians.
@magnus-rhymes-with-swagness is also running a raffle where you can win a necklace if you donate to this new campaign. last day to an 15th
Hi, my name is Osama Radwan and I’m raising these funds for Siraj and his family.
If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...
Start helping with citizen science projects
Public participation in science is increasing, and citizen science has a central part in this. It is a contribution by the public to researc
What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!
You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases
Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.
Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.
Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.
Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.
Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.
Oh, and btw, you don't have to worry about messing up, because several people see each image. Studies show that if you pool the opinions of however many regular people (different by field), it matches the accuracy rate of a trained scientist in the field.
--
I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.
Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help
Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.
Yup, these are actually *really* important. And a small bit of work helps, so it’s doable even if you’re snowed under with survival work or in too much pain to concentrate for longer periods.
It’s multiply-checked by more than one person, so don’t worry about fucking it up because your concentration is fucked. Your input is valuable but not the only input.
I find Zooniverse very good, and it does Citizen Historian work too - I spent time digitising concentration camp records because a) families still don’t know what happened to some of their loved ones b) this makes the records available for historians without travelling to archives in person, which I can testify is *invaluable* for disabled historians and helps cut the need for overseas travel to do vital historical work.
It unexpectedly helped me with learning how to decipher premodern handwriting too, which proved really useful in my academic stuff. You *will* pick up valuable skills doing this. Put it on your CV.
Other places you can go to do citizen science, from the notes
(Thanks to everyone who left these in the notes! If you know more, put them in the notes, and I might add them! And ty @enbycrip for the fantastic addition that covered a bunch of details I didn't get to)
MapSwipe (collaboration between several Red Cross organizations and Doctors Without Borders, update vital geospatial data)
Smithsonian archives (transcriptions, many subjects)
Cornell Bird Lab (birds)
FoldIt (folding proteins)
Fathomverse (sea animals)
Project Monarch (butterflies)
In person
Bioblitz (nature)
Species watch (species)
Audobon Society (birds)
Also:
Even if you don't have time to spend, but do have some processor cycles to spare, check out the projects available at BOINC's Compute for Science: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/
i love libby bc you might have seen my viral post about never returning library books when i was younger. even when i WORKED at a library I forget to bring them to work with me to return them. ADHD being disabling etc. etc. libby books return themselves!!!
Manal has arrived safely in Cairo and is awaiting life-saving treatment! As of writing this, the Al Manasra family is $5,250 away from covering Manal's scheduled blood transfusion.
None of this would have been possible without your compassion and generosity towards this family's campaign. I will be sharing frequent updates until this final stretch for the fundraiser is complete and the entire family is safe.
Manal's hysterectomy has been funded and she will be operated on tomorrow. After two days for recovery, the family will be expected to pay to remove infected blood that still threatens her life. Please help this family celebrate the ceasefire by ensuring the mother's survival.
the Al Manasra family is vetted #192 here by El-Shab Hussein and Nablusi.
mohamed’s Tumblr page is @save-mohamed-family, please share.
you can alternatively donate to Mohamed’s still-active GOFUNDME page if you have an issue with Chuffed (linked below!)
Hi, I'm a grad student in NYC who has been active in Palestine solidarity for a while and am absolutely horrified and heartbroken by the amo
NO MORE EXCUSES
YOU CAN NOW READ SO MANY WEBCOMICS WITH THIS TAGGED CATALOGUE!
YOU CAN ALSO SUBMIT YOUR COMIC IF YOU MAKE ONE
CHECK OUT THE WEBCOMIC TRAVELOGUE!!!
i am very proud of this project!!! My friends and I worked really hard to make it happen, so please check it out!
reposting a colleague's post with a link to the animation guild's fire relief gofundme spreadsheet because she put it better than i could. this sheet is getting updated hourly. fires are still burning, houses are still being destroyed. please share and donate if you can
Ignorance is not a sin -- don't be afraid to say "I don't know", despite what academia might have taught you
Engage in good-faith discussions with your fellow user, you might find a new friend
Ask questions. Most of the time, the worst case scenario the answer is "I don't know"
Reblog stuff you enjoy for others to enjoy. Likes don't mean much here on tumblr (think of them as bookmarks), but a reblog may make someone's day -- especially artists!
Cite your sources on images and try to tag things accurately where you can. Some folks will enjoy knowing where you found something so they can learn more. The breadcrumbs you drop may lead to someone else's inspiration
Forgive yourself
Take pictures of the mundane, like your house. You never know when you will need to look back on that again for posterity/prosperity or more likely utility
Friendships made beyond school are forged through showing up regularly to the same space
Wear your face mask. Yes. Still. You want a KN95 or better, make sure it's a good seal. And keep up to date with your covid boosters. Not only do you not want to get sick, you don't want to be the reason someone else gets sick. It sucks, but getting long covid sucks more. Each time you catch it, your chances of developing long covid increase because the damage is cumulative
Install an adblocker: ublock origin, pi-hole, whatever's new and beautiful
Don't feed the generative AI. Draw it shitty or hire an artist.
Go to a Vintage Computer Festival
Take the old batteries out of your vintage computers and electronics so you don't have to deal with a corrosion-fest. Varta meltdowns suck
Check if your headlights are on. DRLs are not enough, and some cars don't automatically turn them on. If you headlights are on, that will turn your tail lights on. Other drivers need to be able to see you on the road
Turn off "best stuff first" on your tumblr dashboard controls. It's your dashboard, curate it! Otherwise, you miss out on the really niche stuff
Remember that progress is not always linear
Take a moment to enjoy silence in your space. Mr. Rogers put it best, we live in a noisy world
Help your mom out with doing the dishes, or however that proverb best applies to you and your situation
Thank folks around you for things that they do that nobody thinks to show appreciation for. It goes a long way when people are seen for the effort they put in
Be good to each other
Snickerdoodles' Doodles @snickerdoodlesstuff - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
