The Shipping Lanes

🏚️ From Rubble to Renewal — Help Mohamed Rebuild a Home Full of Hope 🌿

In the blink of an eye, the life we knew disappeared.

My name is Mohamed, and I’m writing this with a heart full of sorrow—but also a quiet flame of hope. Our family home, a place that held generations of memories, was reduced to rubble in an instant. The rooms that once echoed with laughter, the walls that witnessed our stories, and the garden where we dreamed of better days—all of it is gone.

And yet, we are still here.

Still standing. Still believing. Still dreaming.

Before the war, our home wasn’t just a structure—it was everything. It was the heartbeat of our family. We shared countless dinners around a modest table, whispered goodnight to one another across quiet rooms, and celebrated the small joys that made life meaningful. It was a place of love, of safety, of tradition.

Losing it has left a deep wound in our lives. But what we haven’t lost is our will to rebuild.

We are determined not to let destruction be the end of our story. We want to rebuild our home not just with bricks and wood, but with faith, with dignity, and with your support.

I know there are countless stories in the world that deserve to be heard, and I humbly ask that you take a moment to hear ours. We are turning to this community, to the kindness of strangers, because we believe in the power of people coming together to lift one another out of despair.

Your support—whether it’s a donation, a share, or even just a moment of your time—can help lay the first stone of our new beginning.

💛 Every dollar brings us one step closer to safety. 🧱 Every share gives our story a voice. 🌱 Every gesture, no matter how small, is a reminder that compassion can grow even in the harshest soil.

We are not asking for charity. We are asking for a chance. A chance to rebuild our lives, to give our children a roof under which they can dream again, and to find peace after so much pain.

Please, if you feel moved by our story, consider helping us build something new from what’s been lost. Your kindness will be felt not just in concrete and wood—but in every smile, every warm night, and every future moment of joy that your support helps make possible.

From the deepest part of my heart—thank you. For your time, your love, and your belief in us. We will never forget it.

With all my gratitude, – Mohamed

things that happened to me when i was a woman in STEM:

things that have happened to me since becoming a man in STEM:

like. yes some PI's will still be assholes regardless of the gender of their subordinates but, I've lived this transition. misogyny in STEM is killing women's careers, and trans men can and do experience male privilege.

I feel like "trump wants to throw away literal dinosaur fossils" would really turn heads if we actually had a functional opposition party in this country to get messages out, but I guess I'll just have to get a paint pen and write it on my car. fine, I'll do it.

Trump and friends are trying to get rid of IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Science, USA Federal agency). Everyone is on leave/in admin limbo while the DOGE kids do whatever and lock people out of their emails. Already-awarded federal grants (that's how I get paid) for museums and libraries are now being terminated early via executive order. Museums are already closing (to be fair it has been bad for decades) and a lot of large and delicate fossil material will need new homes with space and funding, which almost no one has. It's bad. I don't know what to do except to keep working and occasionally scream into the internet.

Not trying to be a bummer, but this is pretty much the only thing anyone at my job can think about right now. I can only speak for museums, but specimens need periodical tending or they will decay or get lost. Grant funding is how we do everything: it's how temporary workers get paid, how we get access to subscription-based software, and it's how we buy new label paper for cripes' sake. We are still fighting, but everyone is honestly loopy with stress all the time now. People should know what they are destroying.

Happy Easter! Here's a quick Fluttershy (and Angel) 🐇🪺🦋

why is this post completely broken in every way imaginable

Broken notes… deactivated account… removed image….

Finally, we have them all.

In addition: OP’s name is just… gone. No “[insert username]-deactivated[insert a bunch of numbers]” as is the standard for deactivated blogs.

Just the world “deactivated.” Look upon their post, ye mighty, and despair.

It’ll be almost impossible to find this post unless it wanders across your dash.

So, in Brazilian, USAmerican, and LGBT+ politics news, transgender Brazilian congresswoman Erika Hilton has received from the USA a visa marking her gender as male.

Hilton canceled a trip she was going to make to the US this month, where she was going to participate on Saturday (12) in a panel at the Brazil Conference, and says she will take action against US President Donald Trump at the UN (United Nations) because she considers the case to be transphobic and disrespectful of her Brazilian civil records.

(x)

UPDATE: fellow transgender Brazilian congresswoman Duda Salabert has been informed her visa will also register her as male.

"More than transphobia, there is a question of national sovereignty involved: it is not up to the US government to disagree with and refute Brazil's documents," she said.

(x)

Distinct from fine art, it’s also about avoiding developing the skill of written composition (forget vocab, spelling, grammar, appropriate word choice, proof-reading), it’s about avoiding developing any ability to express yourself, and failing to develop reading comprehension (if you plug something into it, asking for a summary). It’s just about being lazy and incompetent, and insisting that laziness and incompetence is fine, actually.

They're wanting to change the definition of water to see which water would qualify under the Clean Water Act...I wish I was making this up.

What this means, in layman's terms, is that not all water or wetlands would be under environmental protections, so some could legally be dumped in, scraped out of, or otherwise harmed.

The comment period for this is pretty short (just a few days left!) so please submit comments asking for ALL water to be protected.

I talked a lot about wetlands in my comment, because I live in an area with a lot of small ones and each one has unique conditions, and also because I live in an area prone to flooding and wetlands are key in mitigating flooding. If you feel passionately about the water near you, that's the sort of thing lawmakers need to hear.

This is one that really needs comments, guys. It only has 33.

Try starting with something like "I am commenting to oppose the proposed change." and then explain why you think protecting water is important.

A Future Beyond War Starts With You 💙

My name is Naser. War took everything from me—

my mother, my sister, my home, and the life I once knew.

In a single moment, my world was shattered,

leaving behind only memories and the weight of loss.

But even in the darkest moments,

I refuse to give up. ✊

Because I still have something worth fighting for—

my three younger brothers.

🔹 One dreams of becoming a doctor 🩺—to heal others so they don’t have to suffer like we did.

🔹 Another wants to be an engineer 🏗️—to rebuild what war has destroyed.

🔹 And the youngest? He just wants to be a kid again 🧸—

to wake up in a safe home 🏠,

to laugh, to play, to feel peace.

🏡 We need a home. We need education. We need hope.

Right now, we are not just fighting for survival—

we are fighting for the chance to live, to grow, to dream again.

We are fighting for a future where my brothers

can become the doctor, the engineer,

and the child who gets to have a childhood.

💙 This is where you come in.

I’m not asking for much—just a chance.

A chance to rebuild.

A chance to give my brothers a future beyond war.

Your support—whether through a donation or simply sharing our story—can make all the difference.

Even the smallest act of kindness can create ripples of change. ✨

🙏 Will you help us rebuild?

Together, we can prove that war doesn’t get the final word—

hope does.

Thank you for standing with us. 💙✨

On April 16th 2025 the US federal government has proposed to change the interpretation of the endangered species act so that it no longer protects habitat.

This is open for public comment until the end of May 19th. Please comment and make your voice heard.

Wildlife need their habitat. If the ESA redefines harm so that habitat is no longer protected, the implications for wildlife would be catastrophic.

GET EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well fucks? Get to it!

41.7k notes and as of 7th April, the signatures are only 14,817.

The deadline is 9 July 2025.

Trans rights are always wavering in safety and are not stable and well protected in the UK. Please sign.

Trans rights in the UK is my rights.

Please share widely so more UK folks can find and sign this petition.

The note inside a bullet.

B-17 bomber is riddled with German anti-aircraft fire but miraculously survives. Later they discover the explosive shells were all inert; sabotaged by Nazi slaves working in armament factories.

Inside one empty shell is a written note: it's all we can do for you now.

The most important part of all this is that these small acts of bravery and noncompliance cannot be known as long as the enemy still stands, and might never be known. Just because it doesn’t seem like anyone is doing anything doesn’t mean it’s true. The best malicious compliance or subtle sabotage is the one that’s never detected, but makes ravages nonetheless.

watch PearlMania500's response, that guy gets supply chain. I work in supply chain and that is exactly what everyone should be thinking about

But no, most people don't even know how their food gets to the grocery store

'Let me look to your pistols,' said Jack, as the trees came closer to the road. 'You have no notion of hammering your flints.'

'They are very well,' said Stephen, unwilling to open his holsters (a teratoma in one, a bottled Arabian dormouse in the other). 'Do you apprehend any danger?'

'This is an ugly stretch of road, with all these disbanded soldiers turned loose. They made an attempt upon the mail not far from Aker's Cross. Come, let me have your pistols. I thought as much: what is this?'

'A teratoma,' said Stephen sulkily.

'What is a teratoma?' asked Jack, holding the object in his hand. 'A kind of grenado?'

'It is an inward wen, a tumour we find them, occasionally, in the abdominal cavity. Sometimes they contain long black hair, sometimes a set of teeth: this has both hair and teeth. It belonged to a Mr Elkins of the City, an eminent cheese-monger. I prize it much.'

'By God,' cried Jack, thrusting it back into the holster and wiping his hand vehemently upon the horse, 'I do wish you would leave people's bellies alone. So you have no pistols at all, I collect?'

'If you wish to be so absolute, no, I have not.'

'You will never make old bones, brother,' said Jack.

--Post Captain

the night will last FOREVER 🌙

Nightmare Moon illustrated in my old style. New print for last BABSCon :)