idk, that ea-nāṣir shade looks like it’s poor quality 🤔

an excellent loaf, may he always enjoy & admire his new surroundings whenever he is magically transported there! 🙂‍↕️🙌

congrats for finishing, it looks amazing & like it’s a good fit even before blocking! 🥳

the flowers being taller than her! her clambering up the big steps! you go, little my, intimidate them into giving planning permission 🥹🙌

gross, there should definitely be a rule against stealing people’s work & reposting it without credit so no one can find or support the artists 😮‍💨

amazing, thank you! 🙌

i’m assuming these are so closely cropped because you’ve cut out the title & artist attribution, hence the request to repost them uncropped.

can these be reposted with attributions to their artist(s)?

these days, people want to be sure whether what they’re looking at was actually made by a human or not

i hope it didn’t come across as harsh! really both problems 1 & 2 that you’ve outlined are the same things that everyone is dealing with. a lot of systems of oppression like patriarchy, european colonialism, capitalism, ableism, etc push people into isolation by design, & then tell people to heal from that in isolation, rather than in community.

(i suspect it’s designed that way to make people feel that these are individual problems & not collective problems, because if we realise that we’re all suffering from the same systems of oppression, we might do something to end those systems!)

we humans are a social species, and we’ve lived & learned & healed in community with one another for hundreds of thousands of years. just being open & communicating with the friends you already have about those issues is a great first step, then seeking out hobby groups etc is a way that you might expand your social circle beyond other men.

for the dating side of things, dating apps can be great, because boundaries are lot clearer there (over what is a date, what people are looking for etc) & that way, you can avoid the potential messiness of dating within your friend group.

tl;dr: i don’t think the formality of classes/training would be needed for this, but talking to your friends about this & going out of your way to make friends with mixed company would help a lot. (also, gathering with your friends, new & old, to dismantle the systems of oppression that are causing all these problems will solve things for future generations too 😎)

oof, it sounds like claw caps and a cat exercise wheel might be really helpful, so!

it sounds like you’re in a pretty tough situation, i wish you & your cat the best of luck ❤️‍🩹

the outdoor area sounds great! and it’s sweet that your cat brings toys to you, even if they’re very insistent 😅

if the damage from their claws is the main problem, there are a few brands of claw caps (“soft paws” & “soft claws” are the main brands i know) that will stay on for a few weeks at a time until their claw sheds, then you replace any caps that have fallen off. they’ve been a lifesaver for me in rented places, and they’re fairly cheap to order from ebay or wherever.

if having the zoomies at all is the main problem, then i would recommend getting them a cat exercise wheel & training them to use it; so along with the claw caps, they’ll have somewhere to zoom around indoors without doing any damage.

i don’t really know any cats that don’t get the zoomies around the mornings and evenings, other than fairly sedate elderly cats, so if you’re rehoming your cat to get a new one, i’d suggest looking for the oldest cats you can find, to avoid setting yourself up for disappointment & ending up back at square one.

what are you doing for enrichment for the cat you currently have?

maybe you didn’t mention it in your post, but it sounds like your cat potentially doesn’t have enough enrichment. the issue could be solved by making sure that your cat gets tired out during the day, fulfilling their hunting instinct, being able to climb & hide in cat furniture, etc.

indoor cats need things like:

• high furniture they can climb up onto & perch on,
• hiding places to “pounce” from,
• scratching posts & cat barrels in strategic places to mark with their scent (and so they don’t scratch couches etc),
• lots of toys to satisfy their hunting instincts (even some cheaper fishing rod toys can go a long way to tiring out energetic cats),
• places they can look outdoors & birdwatch etc

a lot of young indoor cats would also really benefit from a cat exercise wheel, because young cats have so much energy to burn! if your cat’s climbing the walls with energy, i’d highly recommend one, it can be a game-changer.

adorable! TIL that there’s a creature called a jerusalem cricket, and that they’re not from jerusalem, and that they’re not crickets! :D

i hope this li’l friend can moult and get their second antenna back 🤞

in my opinion, no. an artist’s worldview informs their art, so things like racism/misogyny/ableism etc etc seep into the works they create. consuming media like that uncritically can be harmful by reinforcing biases, conscious or unconscious.

there’s also the more direct harm that can be done by financially supporting certain artists. jk rowling, for example, is funnelling any wealth she gets from the harry potter franchise into funding anti-trans organisations.

in my experience, people who want to separate art from the artist just want to continue uncritically consuming everything, without feeling guilt over the harm they could be doing by “voting with their dollar”.

i’d advise going in with the expectation of his anxiety never getting better. of course in the best case scenario, he wouldn’t be anxious at all after settling into his new home & with your dog whom he gets along with, but there’s also the possibility of him having some lifelong behavioural issues from that anxiety.

if you’re prepared for the possibility of that, and can handle a dog who can pull strongly on a lead, i don’t see why you couldn’t give him his forever home!

fuck yeah, congratulations! 🥳

it’s such a relief to find out when healthcare professionals work under an informed consent model, and you don’t need to fight them just to access healthcare ✌️

so now that israel believes that targeting civilians is wrong, that means they’ll stop targeting civilians themselves, right? …right? 🫠

and a beautiful robin at that! 🫶

the centralised big websites all seem intent on shoving gen ai into everything, which is far worse for the environment & climate than using smaller self-hosted networks that don’t use gen ai.

things could be re-assessed & done differently post-capitalism, but we’ve got to get to that stage first!

this was behind a paywall if i refused cookies, so i just want to add in an archived link as well: https://archive.is/riGOX