Mongolians are cool because they’ve merged their traditional and modern ways of life so rather than having poverty due to losing all their important skills they just live in their yurts with their cows and 827474874mbs internet
sure their GDP in dollars is low but when you can survive like your anscestors did it doesn’t mean anything, nothing wrong with adding a motorcycle and wifi into the mix
Everyone should live like their ancestors did 1000 years ago but with the addition of wifi tbh
Adapt. Survive.
Mongolia will be the only functioning society after we descend into the Mad Max Era, they are already ready
Not to rain on everyone’s parade here, but despite how legitimately cool the intersection of modern and traditional life is in Mongolia, there is actually a major societal and economic crisis happening there right now.
The environment, which Mongolia’s largely nomadic population relies on, is being absolutely wrecked by a combination of global warming and overgrazing. Mongolia is currently stuck in a cycle of dry summers and extreme winters called a dzud. The cycle is unique to Mongolia and has happened in the past, but every year since 2015 has had a dzud. The result has been a complete environmental disaster for Mongolia’s nomads. Dry summers mean less food for starving herds and extreme winters mean the weakened herds freeze to death in temperatures reaching -40 degrees Fahrenheit. According to an article from national geographic, over 9.7 million heads of livestock were killed in 2017. 700,000 heads of livestock were killed in the first two months of 2018 alone.
The effect on Mongolia’s nomadic people has been severe. Here are some excerpts from interviews with local residents:
“We used to have four seasons, but now we only have three,” Batjargal told Nicholson. “Before, June, July, and August were warm and with rain. Different types of grass would grow, and the animals would get fat. Now, we have no rain and the wind dries up the grass. It is not what it used to be.”
– from an interview with a local governor by national geographic in 2018
“We are trying so hard to keep them alive,” 50-year-old herder Bayankhand Myagmar says, talking about her dead sheep and goats. “But nothing we do is working.”
Dogoonoo lives with 13 others in three small gers in Uvs Province. The 72-year-old started this winter with 230 livestock but 210 of those have died since January. "Watching the animals die is breaking us apart,“ she said. “But even if I have only one animal left, I will do everything in my power to keep it alive.“
– from a bbc article in 2016
About one fifth of Mongolia’s population has abandoned the nomadic lifestyle and moved to Ulaanbaatar, the capitol, where they live in ger (yurt) districts which make up two-thirds of the city. The districts have no running water and since there is no electrical grid families have to burn coal and wood to stay warm. This has resulted in some of the worst air quality in the world, causing a wide variety of respiratory health issues, especially in children.
So people literally can’t live like their ancestors did 1000 years ago.
For French people living in rural and peripheral areas of the country, people who depend on their car to live and work, this tax was the last straw in a series of fiscal policies seen as unjust and favoring the upper classes. In response, fed-up citizens organized blockades on roads, roundabouts and highway tolls around the country.
[…]
The protesters, who are of all ages, professions and political factions, don’t seem to want to back down. “I’m prepared to spend Christmas protesting at this roundabout,” one told The Guardian. They want a more equal political and fiscal system, including the reintroduction of the tax on the mega-rich (from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent, starting from incomes worth more than €800,000), which Macron abolished after his election. Crucially, they want Macron, also known as the “president of the rich,” gone.
Addressing the needs to combat climate change is great. Pretending that its the common citizen, and not mostly just 100 multibillion dollar companies contributing, who are the majority cause and thus should be the central focus of the tax burden? Not so great.
Every single Native culture is distinct and unique, though many share similarities, and lumping them together is ridiculous. And while some practices are pan-Indian, the vast majority are not.
Stop homogenizing our cultures. Every Native culture is beautiful and unique and deserves to be treated that way.
Don’t fall into the trope of “pan Indian”. Fucking teepees and totem poles never existed together. Totem poles are permanent structures, teepees are fucking tents for nomadic peoples. First Nations and indigenous cultures are all deep and uniquely complex, it would be like confusing England with Russia.
Rhythm, pattern, and sound matter more in writing than you may think, but it’s often overshadowed by stress on other elements that make a story pleasant to the mind.
Repetition. This is pretty self-explanatory.
Use of words that don’t fit the situation (Especially in dialogue. If a character is laid back and simple in their speech, they aren’t going to use a word like “demonstrably”).
She nodded. (We know it’s her head and we know a head nod signifies agreement.)”
Bad punctuation. Keep in mind that a period is a stop in speech, while a comma is more of a pause. This can make a massive difference in the way the story flows. Commas are your friends.
Breaks in story. Carefully choose where paragraphs start and end, as well as chapters or scenes. You want the end of each paragraph to hint at a transition into the next.
Pay attention to sentence length. This may not be a shock, but sentence length is one of the most important things to pay attention to when creating flow. Barbara Tuchman, winner of two Pulitzer prizes, has a tip for her readers, in terms of sentence length: 3 long sentences, two short “staccato” sentences. Sentences that are all the same length are boring!
A few highlights from the best article I found on flow which you can find HERE:
“
Action scenes contain few distractions, little description, and limited transitions. Omit or limit character thoughts, especially in the midst of danger or crisis, since during a crisis people focus solely on survival. To create poignancy, forgo long, descriptive passages and choose a few details that serve as emotionally charged props instead.
“ On Action Scenes
“ When the outcome of a scene or chapter is left hanging, the pace naturally picks up because the reader will turn the page to find out what happens next…
If your characters are in the midst of a conversation, end the scene with a revelation, threat, or challenge.
“ On Cliffhangers
“ Reactions, descriptions, and attributions are minimal. Don’t create dialogue exchanges where your characters discuss or ponder.“ On Dialogue
“ Suspense and, by extension, forward movement are created when you prolong outcomes.” On Prolonged Outcomes
“ Summary is a way of trimming your word count and reserving scenes for the major events. You can also summarize whole eras, descriptions, and backstory. Summaries work well when time passes but there is little to report, when an action is repeated or when a significant amount of time has passed.” On Summary
“ Think concrete words (like prodigy and iceberg), active voice (with potent verbs like zigzag and plunder), and sensory information that’s artfully embedded. If you write long, involved paragraphs, try breaking them up.” On Word Choice and Sentence Structure
Sources Used In This Post (A.K.A. where to learn more)
Former teacher for the upper classes and nobility.
Has authoritarian personality but consciously works to fight it. ( Some autobots joke she’s a self-aware Lugnut).
An experimenter in non-spark artificial intelligences, leading strike forces of drones ( who are not treated as expendable by narrative because even humans get attached to our bomb disposal robots)
I really like the idea of Arcee being someone predisposed to accepting an unjust status quo but consciously fighting that part of her because she knows it’s wrong. as a tutor to the upper class she has a link and connections that end up useful to the autobots in getting funding for their cause and even manages to prevent things in her area from getting too French Revolution.
(I prefer the idea of the autobots and decepticons being co-existing revolutionary groups on opposite sides of the globe that eventually collide).
This was my attempt to tie together the different G1 Arcee portrayals with a bit of Animated and Energon, if anyone wondering the thought process there.
The drone thing from Energon is because I prefer Transformer names to mean something in-universe. Arcee=RC=remote control =drone
It also allows taking in the “motherly” aspect from G1 cartoon and giving it a less cliche sci-fi twist. I doubt Arcee would consider herself worthy of being called a mother because she sends off her creations to fight.
Her authoritarian tendencies come from her G1 bio, where she would go ballistic on anyone who spoke ill of Rodimus or Ultra Magnus.
I think when Decepticons are trying to convince humans they aren’t evil they should call themselves “Destrons” as a fandom gag and put on a “proud warrior race” facade playing on human pop culture.
You remember that post about the homestuck t-shirt design contest collaborating with hot topic? And how Hot Topic are the biggest art thieves? This is recent. As you can see above, I stumbled upon Hot Topic’s website and they are selling a very popular fan art put on a t-shirt, and did not ask permission from the original artist (rismo).
This shows Hot Topic still continues their art thievery. Hot Topic are still taking art from artists without their permission. This is disrespectful and appalling.
EXCEPT YOU DID GIVE THEM YOUR PERMISSION.
BY AGREEING TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS ON DEVIANT ART.
6. Payment Unless otherwise agreed between Artist and deviantART in a writing from deviantART, the license granted to deviantART under this Agreement is royalty-free.
DeviantArt you literal piece of shit
Uh what
That’s not okay
yo okay this is REALLY FUCKING IMPORTANT and imma be deleting my DA very soon because of it.
are you fucking for real
Just a heads up for people hosting their designs on DA
Okay. I just read through the “agreement” that DA has implemented, and it is truly heinous. I will not be posting on DA anymore.
———
3. License To Use Artist Materials. As and when Artist Materials are uploaded to the DeviantArt Site(s), Artist grants to DeviantArt a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to do the following things during the Term:
a) to prepare and encode Artist Materials or any part of them for digital or analog transmission, manipulation and exhibition in any format and by any means now known or not yet known or invented; (DA can post them on their website and edit them in any way they see fit)
b) to display, copy, reproduce, exhibit, publicly perform, broadcast, rebroadcast, transmit, retransmit, distribute through any electronic means (including analog and digital) or other means, and electronically or otherwise publish any or all of the Artist Materials, including any part of them, and to include them in compilations for publication, by any and all means and media now known or not yet known or invented ; (They can publish your art in any media, use it to showcase their website or even promote certain groups without your knowledge. For all you know, your art could be promoting the KKK.)
c) to modify, adapt, change or otherwise alter the Artist Materials (e.g., change the size) and use the Artist Materials as described in Section 3(b); and
d) the right to sublicense to any other person or company any of the licensed rights in the Artist Materials, or any part of them, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement. (They can edit, change, or otherwise modify your artwork in any way they want, as well as sublicensing it to third parties, such as Hot Topic.)
e) Artist acknowledges that Artist will not have any right, title, or interest in any other materials with which Artist Materials may be combined or into which all or any portion of Artist Materials may be incorporated. (By posting on FA, you forfeit your right to dispute any third party profits or copyright infringements upon your art.)
f) During the Term, DeviantArt’s licenses under this Agreement include the right to use any part of the Artist Materials in the promotion, advertising or marketing of the DeviantART Sites. (DeviantArt can use your art to advertise anything they want.)
g) As used in this Agreement, the term “Artist Materials” means any content uploaded to the DeviantArt Site(s) which may include without limitation Artist’s name(s) (including professional names), trademarks, trade names, likenesses, photographs, biographical materials, audio-visual materials, artwork, liner notes, and other graphical, textual, video, film or audio materials and any and all “skins,” computer-generated images or other artwork or images that Artist submits to DeviantArt in any medium or format whatsoever. (ANYTHING you submit to DeviantArt belongs to DeviantArt now. Including your drawings, your photos, videos, your stock materials, your music/audio, your written stories, and your artist name.)
Yes. THEY CAN EVEN USE YOUR ACTUAL ARTIST NAME. THEY OWN IT NOW, IF YOU ARE PART OF DA.
Fuck DA.
Burn them to the ground
Pass it around
That’s why I deleted months ago.It’s a terrible website and I hate it
Passing on the PSA. I stopped using that site years ago. If you still use it, it’s not too late! Trash that shit.
You should water mark the shit out of your stuff dear! I’ve had my designs on shirts without permission quite a few times !
Yep. Deleted over 400 drawings and photos from DA over an year ago. I used the site for over 8 years not knowing these terms of service since they don’t actually show them to you when you make an account. Sure you can find them if you do some digging but they don’t shove it to your face. Also it doesn’t matter if your art has a watermark or whatever. Like it says above they have the right to edit and modify your pics so they can just remove your useless watermarks and signatures and then use your art freely and you can’t complain because you have agreed to all of this. There is no reason whatsoever to use Deviantart (maybe if you are a stockartist that gives their shit for free lol). Leave this piece of shit site before they use you like the arrogant asshats they are.
For anyone who still uses DA, please read this.
This is relevant now more then ever because I see alot of people debating going back to DA
Lolokaynevermind.
Ver important in the light of tumblr purge. Many of you wold like to move to the DA and here is why it isn’t a good idea.
FALSE geezus it was debunked, like, just go to those links:
People laugh at the skeleton lusting Undertale fangirls, but I’m pretty sure if Grim Fandango came out nowadays there would be a lot of guys declaring various skeleton women in it their waifus.
Especially Carla the security guard consideingr how enthusiastic she is about strip searches.
So my therapist has been helping me get to grips with my ADHD, and also the concept that I’m not shit at being an adult, I just can’t do things the way everyone has always told me to do them. Like every single “organize your life” books have always left me wanting to cry with frustration, and after I got hold of a copy of Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD
by Susan Pinsky I realized that was because they primarily focus on “aesthetic” over “function”. And the function of most standard “organize your life books” is to “make things look Show Home Perfect”.
So the standard “hide all your unsightly things by doing xyz” may look nice for the first week or so, but by the end of the week it’ll look like a tornado made of pure inhuman frustration ripped through the house as I try to find the fucking advil.
To give you an example of the kind of hell I’ve been fumbling my way through the last 20 odd years: dishes will be washed and left in the drying wrack but never put away. Which means I can’t wash more dishes, which means dishes pile up, which means I can’t make food, which means I don’t eat, which means my CFS gets worse, which means I don’t have the energy to put the dishes away, and so on so forth until I have a meltdown, cry to ETD (who also likely has ADHD but has never had it confirmed) about how I can’t cope with life, and then we fix it for a while, but inevitably end up back at square one within about a week.
Pinsky’s solution to this was “remove an obstacle between you and your goal, if that means taking all the doors off your kitchen cabinets to make things easier, so be it.”
And lemme tell you, fucking revolutionary.
Laundry never ends up in the hamper??? why???? is it a closed hamper??? Remove the lid. Throw it out the window. Clothes are now miraculously finding their way into the hamper??? Rejoice????
Mail ends up spread out over every available flat surface? Put a sorting station right where your mail arrives. Put a shredder or “junk” basket under it. Shred or dump the junk immediately. Realize you only actually have two real letters that need attention, feel less overwhelmed, pay your bills on time.
Like I’m not saying this book is miraculous, but it did help me realize that I was effectively torturing myself by trying to conform to certain ideals of “perfect house keeping”, and presenting a certain image rather than just allowing myself to live in my space as effectively as possible. And why? Why was I doing that? Cause people with different lives and capabilities are perceived as the norm? Fuck that. If this was a physical problem I wouldn’t be forcing myself to conform to an ableist standard, so why am I doing it with this?
My lived space will never look a certain way, and that’s okay. It will never look show home perfect, and that’s okay. It will likely always be cluttered and eclectic where nothing matches, and that’s okay. Sometimes I will have odd socks on because sorting them out required too much mental energy, and that’s okay. Actually fuck sorting socks, just buy all your socks in the same color. Problem solved. Boring sure, but also one less thing to do, which means more time to hyper fixate on fun things. Which really, what else is my life for if not to write screeds and screeds of vampire shit posts, I ask you.
Monsters and Stuff 