meow.other account is @abigsigh
369 posts
Chocolatefker - Im A Kitty Cat Cat - Tumblr Blog
verified ways to send aid to gaza directly
Help a Palestinian family directly:
gazafunds.com - Donate directly to a Palestinian family in urgent need of evacuation, medical attention, food, rebuilding homes/businesses etc. (Spotlights 1 verified gfm at a time so if you don't know who/where to donate to just go here and donate to the one they show you!)
Help provide tents (urgent):
@helpgazachildren: Currently helping Palestinians in a refugee camp in Rafah flee the Rafah invasion to Khan Younis. Funds will cover the cost of tents & transport fuel (emergency, Rafah is being burned as we speak) (gfm)
The Sameer Project: Currently providing tents for displaced families in Gaza (emergency bc tents in Rafah are being burned as we speak) (paypal) (gfm)
Food, cash & essentials:
Care for Gaza: Working on the ground in Gaza to distribute food, cash, medicine & other essentials to displaced families. (paypal) (gfm)
Direct Aid for Gaza: also working on the ground in Gaza to distribute food, cash & other daily essential suppliess to displaced families. (paypal) (gfm)
Water:
Gaza Municipality's water project: The official Municipality of Gaza needs help rebuilding the water infrastructure in Gaza City to restore access to clean water and waste management services for the people of Gaza. (This campaign only has a few weeks left but it's still only at 15%!)
eSIMs (urgent):
guide to buy & send esims for gaza
crips for esims for gaza: If you don't know how to buy esims or don't have the capacity to manage them (e.g. topping up regularly), this team of volunteers are collecting funds to buy & manage gaza esims regularly
Medical Aid
Palestine Red Crescent Society: Provides emergency medical and ambulance services and humanitarian relief on the ground in Gaza e.g. rescuing and treating the wounded.
i think that, if youre usamerican and any time someone calls out your lack of knowledge on global geography you start talking about how bad the usa education is and how its actually not your fault that you dont know what continent nigeria is on because you cant look at the google maps bc donald trump will personally shoot you, youre very annoying
Good morning! I have a question. When I look up info about vitamin D, I come across many claims that people generally don't get enough of it. In a recent episode of Maintenance Phase, however, the hosts called it a "scam" or overblown, at least (I don't remember the exact wording). So, like, what's the deal with vitamin D? Do Americans get enough of it?
Probably, mostly. At the very least, people should be tested before starting repletion. It probably has a role in osteoporosis treatment and prevention, BUT how much to take and what form and when is HOTLY debated and frequently conclusions are changing.
Just to take you on a spin through the most recent Cochrane reviews (THESE ARE NOT SINGLE STUDIES, in case any of the research-naive out there want to get pissy about them; look up what a Cochrane review actually is before trying to shit on it; also note that I did NOT say this will cover every fucking person and every hypothetical they can come up with, jesus CHRIST):
No role for vitamin D in asthma
Insufficient evidence to recommend it in sickle cell
Raising vitamin D levels in cystic fibrosis patients is not beneficial
No evidence of benefit of vitamin D in MS
Supplementing vitamin D in pregnancy may have small benefits but also risk of harms
No clinically significant benefit from vitamin D supplementation in chronic pain
Insufficient data on vitamin D in inflammatory bowel disease, but no evidence of benefit
No evidence of benefit of vitamin D supplementation in liver disease
Vitamin D does not appear to prevent cancer in general population
No evidence for benefit in supplementation of vitamin D in premenopausal women to prevent bone density loss
Possible small mortality benefit of D3, but not D2, in elderly patients, but also increased risk of kidney stones and hypercalcemia
Vitamin D alone ineffective, but combined with calcium may be effective, in preventing bone fractures in older adults
Insufficient evidence for vitamin D improving COVID-19 outcomes
Now, vitamin D plus calcium in people who have post-menopausal bone density loss does seem to prevent fractures. This is why doctors routinely recommend it. However, dosage and formulation are still debated as data are insufficient, and uncertainty still large.
So, do you need to supplement? Probably not. There is some fairly weak evidence that vitamin D supplementation may help with depression, but I would argue that it's going to be most relevant in people with pre-existing deficiencies, which Medicare is just hellbent on not letting me test for anymore. They've narrowed the coverage codes for testing so now even know vitamin D deficiency isn't considered a good enough reason to test. So Medicare has very clearly decided it's not relevant, for whatever that's worth, I spit on their graves, etc. Of course, then you get into the question of what counts as a deficiency, which we also really don't know.
And to be clear, I wasn't looking through the Cochrane review results with an angle--those are most of the first page of search results on their site, with the only one skipped being similar to another one I mentioned, and I stopped when I got bored. These should not be paywalled, as I am not logged into anything and I can read it all, so try clicking the side menu on the right if you have trouble getting into the weeds.
If anything, running through this little exercise has made me less likely to recommend vitamin D supplementation, so do with that what you will.
If any of y’all didn’t know, there’s a free online library, aka
https://openlibrary.org/
and I found like, twelve ebooks I’ve been wanting to read on there, and blasted through like three of them during the course of a boring-ass shift.
OPEN CULTURE has collected links for about 1,150 free movies (in A-Z order) available to watch online: world cinema, classics, indies, noir, westerns etc.
"Because of the geomagnetically induced current from the electromagnetic field, telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving their operators electric shocks. Telegraph pylons threw sparks. Some operators were able to continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies. The following conversation occurred between two operators of the American telegraph line between Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine, on the night of 2 September 1859 and reported in the Boston Evening Traveler:
Boston operator (to Portland operator): "Please cut off your battery [power source] entirely for fifteen minutes." Portland operator: "Will do so. It is now disconnected." Boston: "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?" Portland: "Better than with our batteries on. – Current comes and goes gradually." Boston: "My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without the batteries, as the aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble." Portland: "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?" Boston: "Yes. Go ahead."
The conversation was carried on for around two hours using no battery power at all and working solely with the current induced by the aurora, the first time on record that more than a word or two was transmitted in such manner.
the Wired article is a good article on that specific event, but also sometimes, humanity, you're great. "if we turn the batteries off it works fine. well fuck it. why not"
an angel on letterboxd just dropped a whole playlist of films free on youtube I was filled with so much love and light I had to share with you guys
any 'social contagion' logic presupposes (white, cis, tme, straight, abled, sane) ppl - especially those under 18, are 'pure' by default and thus in imminent danger of corruption, even possession, by unnamed forces of evil. (and, conversely, that those who cannot meet those criteria are vectors of sin –– i mean, symptoms. we can see this in very obvious ways re: discourses of trans contagion, sex ed as grooming, and the like, but it's definitely also worth considering the overlaps w/ Madness & neurodivergence:
before existing anti-trans moms had the main stage, discourses of "feminine contagion" were already being whipped up by many of these same moms, worried that their daughters' [sic] bodily autonomy was the 'evil' at the root of their disordered/disorderly eating, their self-injury, their suicide. fear of anorexia-as-contagion (and self-harm/injury more broadly) is rooted in this fear of bodily autonomy as a force of corruption, and as such, demands to "recover" in normative ways demands a kind of exorcism. it presumes that the Bad Part of us is unnatural and removable, because the person we are Ought To Be occupies the role prescribed to us already. cissexism, ableism, saneism, entangled once more.
one other interesting example of this - and by interesting i mean evil - is 00's A$ rhetoric around the "I Am Autism" video/campaign. Again, autism is a thing that comes in and "possesses" the hitherto "pure" child and must be cured - eradicated - battled. it's no coincidence that the most violent anti-trans bigots rest on the relationships between gender noncompliance and noncompliance with alimentary/behavioral norms, not because there is some magic genetic link between them, but because they are all expressions of willful & "impurifying" autonomy.
reading this deposition that just got dropped where someone sued musk and ohhhh my god it is this funniest thing ever . i can see why his lawyer tried to keep this confidential . they’re both maybe the biggest idiots . this is like ace attorney
Here’s a quick and comprehensive video of how I made paper 📝
I got a laptop with Windows 11 for an IT course so I can get certified, and doing the first time device set-up for it made me want to commit unspeakable violence
Windows 11 should not exist, no one should use it for any reason, it puts ads in the file explorer and has made it so file searches are also web searches and this cannot be turned off except through registry editing. Whoever is responsible for those decisions should be killed, full stop.
Switch to linux, it's free and it's good.
Stranger in the Village - From all available evidence no black man had ever set foot in this tiny Swiss village before I came…
Notes of a Native Son - On the 29th of July, in 1943, my father died. On the same day, a few hours later, his last child was born…
Letter from a Region in My Mind - I underwent, during the summer that I became fourteen, a prolonged religious crisis…
A Talk to Teachers - Let’s begin by saying that we are living through a very dangerous time…
If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? - The argument concerning the use, or the status, or the reality, of black English is rooted in American history and has absolutely nothing to do with the question the argument supposes itself to be posing…
Many Thousands Gone - It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story….
In Search of a Majority - I am supposed to speak this evening on the goals of American society as they involve minority rights, but what I am really going to do is to invite you to join me in a series of speculations….
A Letter to My Nephew - I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times…
Sonny’s Blues - I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on my way to work. I read it, and I couldn’t believe it, and I read it again…
Everybody’s Protest Novel - A rejection of the protest novel and call for complexity
RENTAL is now available for free on steam! this is an updated version from our previous itch.io one, under our new horror label LONELY HOUSE 🧸ྀི
if you want to support us you can buy the DLC for an exclusive zine, but the game itself is 100% free to play, hope you enjoy it~
becoming an adult cheat sheet!
learn to coupon
what to do when you can’t afford therapy
cleaning your bathroom
what to do when you can’t pay your bills
stress management
quick fix meals
find out if you’re paying too much for your cell phone bill
resume workshop
organize your closet
how to take care of yourself when you’re sick
what you should bring to a doctor’s appointment
what’s a mortgage?
how to pick a health insurance plan
hotlines list
your first gynecology appointment
what to do if the cops pull you over
things to have in your car in case of emergency
my moving out masterpost
how to make friends as an adult (video)
how to do taxes (video)
recommended reads for surviving adulthood (video)
change a flat tire (video)
how to do laundry (video)
opening a bank account (video)
laundry cheat sheet
recipes masterpost
tricks to help you sleep more
what the fuck should you make for dinner?
where should you go for drinks?
alcohol: know your limits
easy makeup tips
find seat maps for your flight
self-defense tips
prevent hangovers
workout masterpost
how to write a check
career builder
browse careers
birth control information
financial management software & app (free)
my mental health masterpost
my college applications masterpost
how to jumpstart a car
sex ed masterpost
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.
things i’ve watched, found interesting, and enjoyed on youtube lately (pt. 2!)
(part one) mostly all video essays, analysis videos, and people deep diving into niche topics! there are also a few silly and fun videos that aren't so serious at the end. enjoy!
POP CULTURE: music, art, fashion, television, film, and the like.
the kpop industry ruins lives, salari
the fashion industry hates older women, mina lee
when every album is a fight to keep the band alive (the paramore story), middle 8
why do musicians sell out?, the punk rock mba
scream: anatomy of a franchise, in praise of shadows
the untold story of drake and josh, deep dive
the tragedy of the "teen queen", ana isabel
the dark side of "the bad girls club", black femininity tv
sexyy red & the ratchet revolution, tee noir
is harry potter bad? (yes), hoots
reality TV's cruel & unethical working conditions | Internet Analysis, tiffany ferg
hollywood has a "musical" problem, ming lee
the pink nipple propaganda, tee noir
big brother: the dark reality, deep dive
eminem and the white rapper problem, f.d signifier
is pop music stuck in place?, popcast
LITERATURE: horror content, book reviews / critiques, tropes.
holy hell | the inextricable link between catholicism and horror, yhara zayd
the hunger games vs. every other teen dystopia copycat, itsdivya
the worst audiobooks i've ever read, jesse on youtube
the problem with "witch characters", the book leo
black trauma vs. black horror, princess weekes
i hate romantasy, sorry not sorry, a little bit mads
megan fox's poetry book made me genuinely angry, roughest drafts
the one woman who ruined poetry (it's not gabbie hanna), roughest drafts
what tiktok gets wrong about the history of publishing, abby cox
jordan peele's new horror book was trash, book tribe
the new hunger games book sucks, caleb joseph
SMARTS: education, learning, perspective, etc.
astrophobia - fear of space, cresendex
greek mythology family tree, useful charts
man in cave, internet historian, unknown
why animals get creepier the deeper you go, real science
fear of cold, jacob geller
why you wouldn't last 24 hours in the dark ages, medievalmadness
SELF: advice, reflection, travel, introspection, ted-talks
y'all don't like natural hair, saiuri diogé
are you actually ugly or are you on tiktok too much?, nk's wrld
I'm a 33 year old woman with no life. (my advice to young women), xoxo, akouto
normalizing plastic surgery was a scam, nappyheadedjojoba
influences ruined "soft life", nappedheadedjojoba
FUN / MISC: animals, music, plants, building, silly :)
i interviewed animals with a tiny mic (again!), maya
otters try sparkling water for the first time, kotsumet
turtles love watermelon, the fish whisperer
i trained in wii sports for 90 days, keelvin
ranking every final destination, papa meats
ranking all 7 paranormal activity movies, papa meats
ranking every saw movie, papa meats
i ate nothing but dollar tree food for 72 hours, sam reid
is the las vegas sphere worth it?, eddy burback
a classical mix for a king before battle, resonance reverie
i fact-checked the worst video essayist on youtube, todd in the shadows
people NEED to stop gatekeeping making music like ohhhh i don’t have an instrument ohhhhh i don’t know music theory ohhhhh i’m not gonna pay for some program. SHUT UP. take my hand.
you need NONE of that shit!!!!! there’s a website called beepbox.co. literally all you have to do is press things until it sounds a modicum of nice. it’s easy it’s free and it works on anything which has a browser because it’s a website.
if even ONE person starts making music bc of this post it will be worth it.
making bad music is just as important and okay as it is to write badly or draw badly or sing badly. you AREN’T BEHOLDEN TO MAKE GOOD MUSIC. making music is not utilitarian HAVE FUN. HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!
american leftists seem extremely focused on anti imperialism (good) but rarely- if at all- discuss decolonization in their own fucking country, despite acknowledging that it is a settler colonial state.
Did you know that there is fossil evidence of whale falls during the Ogliocene?
Free Palestine Reading List
Haymarket Books: Free Ebooks for a Free Palestine!
Verso Books: Solidarity with Palestine: Free Resources and Further Reading
OR Books: THE FREE PALESTINE READING LIST
City Lights Books: Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha
In all seriousness, here are a few resources I think are helpful with regards to understanding just how thoroughly Henry Kissinger screwed the world over:
Kissinger by Behind the Bastards. This is a 6 part series done by the podcast Behind the Bastards, with the hosts of The Dollop on as guests. It's super funny and a very accessible foothold into understanding the scope of Kissinger's vast career.
Kissinger's Shadow by Greg Grandin. This book provides an in-depth analysis of Kissinger's tenure in the white house, covering both how he got into office, the changes he made in office, the policies he put forth, and their repercussions on the world.
ETAN's category on Kissinger. The East Timor and Indonesia action network has long been an outspoken critic of Kissinger's, and they've aggregated a lot of helpful articles here.
The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchins. While Grandin's book focuses less on the specificities of Kissinger's crimes, Hitchins has no such qualms and details each of them in depth.
I truly think understanding Kissinger, the way he thought, and the things that he did, are all indispensable when it comes to understanding the modern political climate and how foreign policy works in America and therefore, by necessity, in the world at large. The sheer amount of damage he was responsible for should never be underestimated.
it's spotify wrapped season again and you know what that means! time to plug that wrapped playlist into hype machine's merch table tool and see if it turns up any bandcamp links where you can directly support your favorite artists of 2023! the tool is definitely not perfect or infallible, but it's a great start if you want to start compensating the artists whose music meant the most to you this year at a rate higher than the peanuts they got from your spotify streams!