Is That,,,, The Evolved Version Of The Pixar Lamp?

So apparently some Swiss company found out that Brazilian blood has more immunoglobulin (which is used in some medications made by pharma companies) than European blood, and now international pharma companies are lobbying to change Brazilian law to allow them to use our blood as a resource

There is no current evidence that those things are related, but it just so happens that at the same time there is also another law being discussed that would get rid of "bureaucracy" when it comes to ethics analyses of trials on humans. It would also remove the right, which all brazilians currently have, to access to the medication resulting from the trials they participated in

Both sources are in Portuguese because both news have been recently broke by a Brazilian investigative news agency, but if you don't speak it, you can always use automatic translation

I know there's a lot of fucked up shit happening in the world right now, but please pay attention to medical rights in Brasil right now. Especially if you're European, because virtually every company related to this is from your continent and plans to benefit you above all

ETA: using blood as a resource for these medications is not new; however, current law in brasil only allows that use to come from donated blood (because it comes from the plasma and apparently not all of it is used in blood transfusion; I'm not a doctor so I'm not clear on the details but that's the gist of it) and to be processed and used by Hemobrás, the State-owned company that handles this type of medical technology. The new law would allow for private companies to buy our blood from blood banks for their use. It is worth noting that at least one company has already explicitly stated that they won't be making the resulting medication available in the Brazilian market, so, essentially, they will be taking blood Brazilians donated to help other Brazilians and using it to treat immunocompromised Europeans, to the detriment of immunocompromised Brazilians that need the medicine. In the process, they will be making it harder for our State-owned company to use that same blood, forcing us to import from them and therefore making the medication more expensive. They also want to make it possible for Brazilians to sell their own blood - a deeply ethically questionable practice that is discouraged by the WHO and that has led to HIV outbreaks in Brasil in the past

Kerala Miku! Everyone is making such amazing art of Miku in their culture so I had to partake and wanted to rep my Malyali side UwU. Also happy birthday princess Hatsune Miku!!!!

Ik lijk op een mens maar alleen als je niet kijkt.

I had a colleague ask a few days ago about how I felt living in the US and being trans considering all of everything - and I had to explain that right now has been the weirdest time to be transfem because so many people in my personal and day-to-day life are so much more educated on trans issues, and are active and good allies of trans people, than I have ever seen before. My bible-belt grandma can handle the singular 'they' now, which she wasn't for the six years I was out as an enby. Strangers in public compliment my hair and my makeup even when I'm not at all passing. Politicians are becoming much more actively hostile while even the rural areas I grew up in are growing kinder to trans folks.

It's such an intensely strange feeling. And it wasn't one I was able to effectively communicate to my colleague. I don't know that this change will be enough or quick enough. But there is a change happening in the communities I live in.

Yknow how people say they picture senshi and it helps them cook? I think I’m doing something wrong (DO NOT DO THIS)

Quietly losing my mind over the fact that Elon Musk has straight up orchestrated a coup of our executive branch and like....I don't even know what, if any, system we have in place to fix this. Like... He's just taken control of the money and locked out the actual appointed officials. What the fuck.

could you give a tutorial for the barbed wire stitching please? ^_^

Sure! I've never done a tutorial before, so I'm sorry if this is a little confusing 💀

The whole design is made of simple straight stitches, so it's pretty easy :)

1. Make a diagonal stitch, then make another one in the opposite direction to create an 'X', that is wider toward the end.

2. Make two more diagonal stitches to create another X attached to the end of the first one.

3. Make two more diagonal stitches that face outward, creating the 'barbs'

3. Create straight horizontal stitches between the barbs, I'd say about 3-5, depending on how far apart you make the stitches.

4. Create two diagonal stitches facing outward again, facing the opposite direction of the first two barbs, closing off the first shape.

5. Create another X between the barbs, and repeat the process again until you reach the end of whatever you're embroidering :)

I would suggest making the X's a bit longer and narrower than I did here, because I think it looks a bit better that way, but honestly it doesn't matter all that much :)

“While many people think fanfiction is about inserting sex into texts (like Tolkien’s) where it doesn’t belong, Brancher sees it differently: “I was desperate to read about sex that included great friendship; I was repurposing Tolkien’s text in order to do that. It wasn’t that friendship needed to be sexualized, it was that erotica needed to be … friendship-ized.” Many fanfiction writers write about sex in conjunction with beloved texts and characters not because they think those texts are incomplete, but because they’re looking for stories where sex is profound and meaningful. This is part of what makes fan fiction different from pornography: unlike pornography, fanfic features characters we already care deeply about, and who tend to already have long-standing and complex relationships with each other. It’s a genre of sexual subjectification: the very opposite of objectification. It’s benefits with friendship.”

— Francesca Coppa, “Introduction to The Dwarf’s Tale,” The Fanfiction Reader (via francescacoppa)

Someone put it into words. I gotta sit down

I've seen several sites mention this, it's real.

Do not make the MISTAKE of thinking you need to put your side forward. The Guardian is transphobic as fuck, and will twist your words. DO NOT ENGAGE.

By the way, this is in the aftermath of the Cass Report, and the goal will be to make Trans DIY something that needs to be regulated or stamped out. DO NOT ENGAGE.