Funny posts, food, and my latest obsessions

darkpurpledawn:

The most potent blorbos are the not the hottest or the most pathetic, they’re the ones who share your particular neuroses but in their world those neuroses are significantly more justifed

emblematik:

metamatar:

chelonates:

chelonates:

btw most universities to my knowledge keep their reading lists behind access barriers (ie. only students enrolled at the institution on the course in question can see them) so i thought i’d just let you all know that durham university has all of its reading lists available online for free without needing student access. do with this information what you will.

the lists are downloadable btw - i haven’t gone through and checked every single one but the ones i’ve looked at seem to be at least

MIT’s courseware is available using OpenCourse Ware, completely downloadable without registration and can be remixed under very permissive licenses. some courses have full videos of lectures, notes, slides and problem sets, others may have only have syllabi, reading lists and exams. before edx and coursera were the big names in for profit online education we had khan academy and ocw.

these are unfortunately a little hit and miss when it comes to degree of organization and level of detail, so they all require a little patience and willingness to poke around:

Tau Beta Pi UC Berkeley syllabus archive

UC San Diego syllabus archive

San Jose State University department of english and comparative literature syllabus archive

San Diego State University syllabus archive

University of Colorado Boulder syllabus archive

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill history department syllabus archive

University of North Carolina Greensboro history department syllabus archive

Florida Gulf Coast University course/syllabus archive

University of Wisconsin-Madison sociology department syllabus archive

Pratt Institute school of information syllabus archive

West Virginia University english department syllabus archive

tho tbh it terms of finding pure reading lists i’ve had much better luck just searching “[topic] + phd reading list” have founds lots and lots of juicy juicy reading lists that way. too many to post 😈

pdxjenni:

femmeboyant:

sparkletindi:

vaspider:

laughingcatwrites:

unpretty:

jcrewguy:

Quick shoutout to the good people at @UniversalPics for trimming the trees that gave our picket line shade right before a 90+ degree week. pic.twitter.com/aZvvPYQ23i  — Chris Stephens (@ChrisStephensMD) July 17, 2023ALT
OH SHIT SON  THOSE TREES ARE CITY PROPERTY  IT MIGHT BE TREE LAW TIME https://t.co/oaoFWQQaNv  — Nome (@NomeDaBarbarian) July 17, 2023ALT
image

In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for NBCUniversal claimed the tree work is simply an annual ritual at this time of year. “We understand that the safety tree trimming of the Ficus trees we did on Barham Blvd. has created unintended challenges for demonstrators, that was not our intention. In partnership with licensed arborists, we have pruned these trees annually at this time of year to ensure that the canopies are light ahead of the high wind season,” they wrote. “We support the WGA and SAG’s right to demonstrate and are working to provide some shade coverage. We continue to openly communicate with the labor leaders on-site to work together during this time.”

Here is the weeping fig at Plummer Park that has been left alone because it is in weho. The photo embedded in the tweet is of an absolutely enormous tree with a huge lush shade canopy planted between a sidewalk and parking lot.  — lauren (@aptkr_) July 17, 2023ALT

If those trees were pollarded annually, the cut areas would NOT look like that. There would be big knobs of old growth at the trimming sites. Not seeing any of that here. The way those trees were topped (not pollarded, which is a very careful process that has to begin when the tree is immature) is excellent way to kill them due to loss of hydration, open sites to infection and parasitism during the best time of year for both, lack of nutrition due to so little greenery and new budding growth being left, sunburn and other exposure damage, and a myriad of other possibilities. Plus, if they were topped annually, they would not have the lovely drooping branches seen in the other picture but would have tons of vertical suckers instead.

This is what an annually pollarded mature tree should look like:

image

If this was done by the city, the public works arborists should be protesting in front of city hall and screaming their heads off right now. I’m not hearing about that, so… Tree law!

The Studios: *speak*

Botanists and other Tree Experts:


lying cat says "lying"ALT

Update and confirmation of Imminent Tree Law:

Our Office is investigating the tree trimming that occurred outside Universal Studios where workers, writers, and actors are exercising their right to picket.  The trimmed trees are LA City managed street trees.  (Before and after photos below) pic.twitter.com/xczw0bTdh9  — LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia (@lacontroller) July 19, 2023ALT

He mentions later in the thread that not only do they not trim the trees annually, they’re trimmed at best once every 18 years. Supposed to be every five, and only in dormancy, which even my layman’s ass knows about tree trimming.

And yes, Universal can probably eat the fine. But it’s gonna be a whopper even if the trees survive (which is as mentioned kinda unlikely), California is a triple damage state for tree law, and it may increase dramatically if there were nesting birds in the trees.

All this to be a Captain Planet filler villain to some writers. And yes, it’s currently just the writers officially picketing there; SAG-AFTRA recommended against it for petty bullshit like this and the suddenly necessary sidewalk construction.

I asked my dad— a retired arborist—about TREE LAW and he just kinda blinked and said (i paraphrase because Dad Tangents, amirite?):

“Worst and best case I ever saw was a guy who was caught in the act of cutting down a C&C tree by two Department of Urban Forestry supervisors while they were randomly driving around on a Saturday. Not only did he have to deal with the cops showing up and months of paperwork and bureaucracy, but he also had to pay the fines AND cover the cost of the tree removal + stumping + buying a new tree + planting the new tree + wages for the regular crew plus the extra workers they needed to get the jobs done. That tree ended up costing him upwards of $35K, and that was over 20 years ago.”

So yeah, respect Tree Law or pay out the bootyhole.

To the point about nesting birds in the trees: You think Tree Law is hostile? Wait until you get to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 & the Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act of 2004. Universal done gone and fucked with federal law. https://www.fws.gov/law/migratory-bird-treaty-act-1918 If they weren’t selling the birds, it’s a misdemeanor, but still. Not a good look. https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/criminal-provisions-us-criminal-code-title-18-and-other-statutes#bird

Also, Universal’s claim that they do this every year? And the city looking up permits & saying “no permits issued for the last three years, bro.” Means that Universal, in their infinite wisdom, has made an admission of guilt. Even if it isn’t true (and the appearance of the trees would indicate it isn’t), they have claimed, out loud, in public, with their entire chests, to have repeatedly and for years violated both Tree Law™ and Bird Law™. 

Smart people. Very wise. Wow.

catgirlanarchist:

starblaster:

“but if you’re pro-union, why are you anti-cop-union?” because cops are not laborers. what cops do is not labor. they are enforcers of the laws that oppress laborers and exist solely to protect capital. don’t bother me with stupid questions.

who keeps killing striking workers???

the cops

how come it’s virtually impossible to hold killer cops accountable for their murder???

the cop unions