Pennant-winged Nightjar (Caprimulgus vexillarius), male, family Caprimulgidae, order Caprimulgiformes, South Africa

photographs by Manfred Suter

69’ Camaro

This is Andrey X, a Jewish Israeli pro-Palestine activist.

I don't know how to describe this video so I'll just write out what he's saying:

Wunk regains the land

Please look at little Hamoud, and his specimen of a cat in Al Zawaydah. Such floof.

Hamoud and many other Palestinian children like him benefit greatly from Gaza Soup Kitchen. Please consider sharing and donating to help the people of Palestine in northern Gaza!

(source)

The Gaza Soup Kitchen is run by Hani Almadhoun and his sisters, mother, father, and surviving brother. Hani is a Palestinian-American and the former director of philanthropy at UNRWA USA. Their work has recently been covered by NPR, PBS, NBC News, The Washington Post, CBC, and more news outlets. Beyond the soup kitchen serving thousands of people daily, the Almadhoun family has also organized the resources for a makeshift medical clinic and a makeshift school.

If you match my donation, then you could redeem your donation receipt (as low as $5!) for commissions and other rewards from volunteer artists (check this linked post to find out).

Whether or not you're in a position to donate, I really recommend boosting the Gaza Soup Kitchen and following gazasoupkitchen on Instagram (and you or your relatives could also follow Hani's Facebook page). Hani puts a lot of professional care into keeping the focus on the joy and resilience of Palestinian families even as they struggle—like little Hamoud and his cat! If you've had to step away from witnessing violent photos on social media for mental health reasons, then following gazasoupkitchen could be a good way to show your support.

#ShutDownNation: Global Divestment, Economic Strain, and the Accelerating “Collapse” of Israel’s Economy - 10/29/24

yall are still boycotting, right?

Boycotting alone is not enough. Stop using your protesting power to hold up signs that nobody reads and start using it strategically in the right time and place to pressure your local stores and companies to start boycotting and divesting.

Flora and Zephyr by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1875)

Why are British teenage girls so unhappy? Here’s the answer (Caitlin Moran, The Times, Sep 13 2024)

"The report, by the Children’s Society, found that British 15-year-old girls are the most unhappy in Europe.

British girls aged 10-15 are “significantly less happy” with their life, appearance, family and school than the average boy — and their happiness is still declining.

Boys’ life satisfaction, meanwhile, remains broadly stable. (…)

But I still didn’t have an “aha!” moment about why this so disproportionately affects girls until… I talked to some teenage girls.

It was at a party, and I went to vape with them on the patio. Because I take my nicotine like children do.

“Duh — it’s the boys,” one said when I brought it up, as all the others agreed.

“The boys?” I asked.

My last book, What About Men?, had been all about how much boys struggle these days: their loneliness; their suicide rates. I’d spent the past year feeling very sympathetic towards boys.

“Yeah, well, who do you think they’re taking out their unhappiness on? It’s us,” another girl said.

“One boy at school used to draw a picture every day of how ugly I was,” a third girl said. “Every day for two years.”

“They’ve all got ‘Rate The Girls’ polls on their WhatsApps,” the first said. “They mark you down for weight gain, haircuts, what you say.”

“But then, if you’re hot, it’s just as bad, in a different way, because they’ll be talking about how they want to f*** you.”

The girls discussed coping techniques. Bad news: none of them worked.

“The only way you can stop them is if you become ‘one of the boys’ and hang out with them. But then,” the second girl said with a sigh, “all the other girls call you a slut. Because you’ve gone over to the boys’ side.”

“Surely it’s not all the boys?” I said. “There must be some nice boys?”

“Oh, yeah,” one girl said. “But they keep their heads down. Because… well, look.”

She showed me the Instagram account of her friend. Under every picture she posted of herself — smiling in a new dress; with her dog — dozens of anonymous accounts had replied with the most rank abuse.

“Fat.” “Slut.” “You gonna try and kill yourself again, for attention?”

“They’re all boys from her school,” she said. “And look, this one boy tried to defend her.”

I saw a series of messages from a brave teenage boy, posting things like, “You’re all big men, leaving these replies under anonymous accounts.”

As I could see, this boy immediately became a target too. Mainly accusations that he was “white knighting” this girl: “You wanna f*** her, bro?”

“So,” I asked, “you don’t think it’s social media pressure to be beautiful, or the economy, that’s making girls so sad?”

“Well, yeah, them too,” the first girl said. “But, Monday-Friday, 9-3, I’m not on social media. I’m not… in the economy. I’m just with these boys. And no one talks about how horrible they are.”

I thought about another recent report, showing a 30 per cent ideological gap between Gen Z men, who are increasingly conservative, and Gen Z women, who are increasingly progressive.

I thought about Andrew Tate, who has nine million mostly young male followers — and faces human trafficking charges, which he denies.

And I thought: maybe these girls are on to something. Maybe more people need to vape with teenage girls and ask them for the school gossip."

slope point, the southernmost tip on new zealand’s south island, is hit with such persistently violent southern antarctic winds that trees grow in the leeward direction. (click pic or link for credit x, x, x, x, x, x)

南池子nanchizi garden, beijing in china