The transfer of wealth from employees to shareholders and the squeeze on employeesâ pocketbooks has left many employees homeless and many more in debt and struggling.
A ballot initiative in the City of Anaheim would force companies that
received municipal subsidies to pay a $15 minimum wage with an annual
raise of $1/hour until wages reach $18/hour, with inflation-adjusted
raises every year thereafter.
Disney is fighting the proposal tooth-and-nail. Bernie Sanders headlined
a rally in Anaheim in support of the measure yesterday, saying âI want
to hear the moral defense of a company that makes $9 billion in profits,
$400 million for their CEOs and have a 30-year worker going hungry.â He
was joined by veteran Disney employees who shamed the company with
statement like âDisney prides itself on making dreams come true..
Disney, where is my dream?â
why is broccoli seen as this universally hated vegetable. broccoli is delicious
bc suburban families all over the world literally just steam/microwave their vegetables and serve them plain to their kids. No wonder kids hate vegetables. Theyâre taught that veggies are supposed to taste bad. but imagine: veggies with spices. Veggies in curry. veggies that are broiled, soaked, sautĂŠed. aghhhh veggies are so good
Veggies of color (VOC)
People post good veggie recipes!!! Go!
iâm a vegan/vegetarian chef and yeah people generally donât⌠season or⌠actually think about their vegetables at all? like if you treat your meal like âMEAT + unfortunate side dish i donât want to eat + dessertâ no fucking wonder youâre going to be unhappy with your results?? literally everyone should know how to cook vegetables WELL, because they can be fucking DELICIOUS?Â
itâs not surprising to me that most people donât actually⌠KNOW how to cook vegetables, which is really, really sad. so imma help yâall out.Â
– grill your fucking vegetables? if you have a grill, or even a little dinky george foremanâgrill those bitches. brush them with olive oilâor a mix of olive oil and balsalmic vinegar if youâre fancy, grill, salt, pepper, fresh herbs if you want, BAM. delicious. if you donât, roasting is your next best option. you can also (if you have a gas stove and are ambitious)Â âgrillâ on the stove top. many a time iâve stuck a sweet pepper on the stove and lit that bitch up!Â
– braise those bitches??? good for leafy greens and vegetables like turnips and radishes. finely chop some garlic, onion, or scallion (or all three if youâre bold) and sautee them in a little oil. once theyâre almost cooked, add your veg. keep it moving, donât let anything burn, and add a capful of white wine, or cooking wine. DELICIOUS.Â
– FRESH. HERBS. ARE. YOUR. FRIENDS? if you cannot get fresh (admittedly, i live on a farm, so iâm never short on things like dill, parsley, thyme, scallion, or cilantro) but theyâre amazing on fresh veggies. sauteed in them in a pan? add some herbs. roasted them in the oven? add some herbs (and brown sugar if you want a savory sweet vibe)
– roast them in the oven if you donât have time (or spoons) to stand up next to a hot ass stove for 5-20 minutes! vegetables that are good for roasting are typically ones that take a long time to cook, eggplants, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, etc. of course, you can roast any veggie you like!
– MARINATE THOSE BITCHES??? literally you can make delicious marinades out of items most of you already have in your homes: honey/brown sugar, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, etc.Â
– FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK STOP ADDING EVERYTHING TO THE PAN AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME. time out your veggies when sauteeing them for anything. if youâre doing a bunch of different ones, add the veggies to the pan first that take the longest. Making stir fry? put those motherfucking carrots in first, because they take FOREVER. onions, carrots, potatoes? put those in first. corn, broccoli, sweet pepper, zucchini? closer to the end, my dude, because they cook FAST.Â
– ginger and scallion go excellently in stir fry btw. if when you make your stir fry it tastes like itâs âmissing somethingâ, thatâs what youâre missing. add that shit.Â
– you do NOT FUCKING NEED CHICKEN/BEEF STOCK FOR YOUR GODDAMN SOUP IF IT DOESNâT HAVE MEAT IN IT! sautee your veggies first, and you can use either powdered or canned coconut milk as the body. it makes for deliciously creamy soup. donât worry about the coconut tasteâitâs pretty much gone by the time your soup/stew is done cooking. coconut milk (especially powdered, and soy milk works for this too, no vanilla flavoring obviously) makes an excellent base for sauces for veggies, even if you eat meat!Â
lastly, give it the olâ ratatouille. smell your herbs and spices together. if they seem like they go well, odds are, theyâll taste banginâ once you combine them. experiment. everything you make will not be good, but youâll get more comfortable cooking. iâve been a chef for like two years and i burned some bread today, so itâs okay. youâll make mistakes. thatâs how you learn. donât be afraid to cut or burn yourselfâthe more afraid you are, the more likely it is to happen.Â
youâre welcome, signed your local angry vegetarian chef who wants people to eat more vegetables
This is all very good advice for if you want/need to get more vegetables in your diet but havenât cared for them in the past. A couple extra pointers form my expirience:
-If youâre subbing coconut milk for a meat-based stock youâll probably want to add more salt than the original recipe calls for. And some garlic
-Actually, everything needs more garlic.
-The Ratatouille Method Works. It works best when youâre feeling indescisive about what to make for dinner, so you go snack on whatever herbs/veg/sauce you have around and think about the flavors.
-Donât be afraid to do this with fruit too! Even if youâre a meat person like me, fruit goes great with lots of things and can benefit from many of the above cooking methods. The main difference is that fruit tends to cook REALLY SUPER FAST so add it in at the last minute, or even last second.
-Looking Up Traditional Recipies. Not eating enough plants is a very recent problem, and nearly every culture on earth has got some great veg recipies. Look up basic things like âFrench Carrots and Leeks Recipesâ or find multicultural food blogs or heck, Actually Call Your Grandma* and ask what she did for vegetables.
*Caveat: If your grandma is like mine and all her recipies are from Her Grandmother from Industrial Liverpool and she lived through the Great Depression you might get a very detailed example of What Not To Do, which will at least be informative if also slightly terrifying.
guess what, itâs time for an all-new exciting episode of Weird Biology! today weâre investigating this lovely flower that I just found. it was just sitting innocently on a tree branch and itâs a lovely shade of pink, so I-
hang on, it just moved.Â
what the fuck. lemme justâŚ
aaand it just stabbed me in the finger. sorry folks, turns out we arenât dealing with a flower at all! itâs the frilly, fashionable master of disguise,
AHA! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG! STAB!
the first westerner to describe the Orchid Mantis in 1879 (a journalist from Australia) thought he was seeing a moving, carnivorous flower! obviously he was wrong, as flowers absolutely donât do that! ha ha! (the point is, itâs an easy mistake to make. especially if youâre a journalist from 1879.)
the Orchid Mantis is a perfect flower mimic, with a dazzlingly sinister sense of fashion.
SO sinister.
the Orchid Mantis is found in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, from Malaysia to Thailand. they are small and delicate, covered with High Femme pastel frills that conceal their deadly mantid forelegs. (mostly. itâs like seeing the outline of a switchblade under a fancy skirt.)Â
females grow to be about 3 inches long, while males barely reach half that. they range in color from delicate pinks to lacy purples to eggshell white to that obnoxious pale yellow you only see in Easter decorations.
and except for the giant alarming eyeballs, they look exactly like, well. orchids.
THE BETTER TO SEE YOU WITH, MY DEAR.
like all praying mantids, the Orchid Mantis is a carnivore who feasts on the flesh and possibly souls of lesser insects. but with their fantastically flamboyant fashions, how are they supposed to hunt? well, the answer probably wonât surprise you!Â
because the Orchid Mantis looks so much like a flower, the pollinators come to it. butterflies, bees, moths, you name it. they buzz in, thinking theyâll get a mouthful of nectar and some pollen like good buggy citizens. and what does the Mantis do when these well-meaning helpful friends show up?
why, they prey.
THE BETTER TO STAB YOU WITH, MY DEAR.
also like all praying mantids, the Orchid Mantis worships the silent gods of Slice nâ Dice. when a delicious butterfly or bee bumbles too close, the Mantis promptly stabs the fuck out of it with a lightning-fast strike, and chows down.
in other words, theyâre three inches of Death Metal contained under a thin veneer of tea party.
maybe a tea party where the hostess stabs you in the chest.
when they arenât victimizing kind and helpful insects who only wanted to see a cool flower, the Orchid Mantis goes about the business of continuing the species. since adults only live about 8 months in the wild, this is more of an urgent matter than you would expect.
because Orchid Mantises are pretty rare and not studied often, weâre not actually sure how the deed is done in the wild. (IâM FINE WITH THAT.) if itâs anything like captive breeding programs, most of the dudes just get straight-up eaten. the Orchid Mantis lady is in complete and terrifying control of the situation, and often prefers a snack to the gentle embrace of a lover.
mantids are just kind of like that.
role model?
if the dude mantis is successful in his efforts, the lady mantis will then go off and lay 50-100 eggs clustered on a stem surrounded by a gross protective foam. in 5 to 6 weeks, the baby mantises will emerge and begin eating each other immediately.
(mantises are HARDCORE.)
seriously though, the babies (which look like itty-bitty adults) are red and black when they hatch. they disperse rapidly into the underbrush, at least the ones who donât get cannibalized by a sibling. (that was real. did you think that wasnât real?)
in a few weeks, the babies will molt and grow out of their Goth phase, emerging in the true High Femme style of their parents.
WE WILL NEVER SLEEP! âCAUSE SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!
because Orchid Mantises are so rarely seen, weâre not actually sure how theyâre doing in the wild. it is believed that they are under threat from habitat destruction, as many of the rain forests they live in are plowed over. these frilly creatures need protection and support if we want them to still lurk stabbily in the wild.
however, the Orchid Mantis is extensively bred in captivity for the pet trade. it is the most popular kind of Mantis in the pet trade (for very good reasons), and its beauty and stabby nature will likely be around for a long time yet.
whether you like it or not.
â
thanks for reading! you can find the rest of the Weird Biology series here.
if you enjoy my work, maybe buy me a coffee or check out my Patreon to see extra content and support Weird Biology.
– Go in at the end of the month
– Buy the model of the year right before the model for the next year comes out (dealers get desperate to sell the old models)
– Refuse to put any money down. Say that if they ask you to put down money, youâll leave
– Seriously. If they ask you to put down money say you need to go and walk out
– If thereâs another dealership nearby, tell them that youâre walking there right after you leave
– If a deal seems unfair but you really like the car, tell them youâre going to another dealership and leave. Chances are, theyâll call back the next day with a better deal
– If possible, after the first call wait till the last few days of the month and theyâll likely call again with an even better deal
– Look around for family and friends that need a car. If you buy more than one car from the same dealership youâll get a much better deal
– If a family member/friend is looking for a used car while youâre looking for a new car or vice versa, still get the used car from the same dealership
– If you decide to buy a new car after a few years, trade in the old car and buy a new one from the same dealership. Companies appreciate loyalty and will likely offer you a lower price
UPDATED
(My dad went to college for finance, more specifically he looked a lot at stocks and how to sell things for a maximum profit. He learned it from the perspective of the company but it also works in his advantage)
– When you walk into a dealership, the salesperson will immediately âbe your friendâ. Theyâll act like itâs you and them against dealership – Sometimes a salesperson will offer to talk to the manager. This does not mean anything. Chances are, theyâre going to have small talk for a few minutes and come back out – Carefully consider the usefulness of an extended warranty. Youâre losing money unless thereâs an accident or issue soon after you buy the car – This wasnât so clear before, but youâre still going to have to pay a down payment. What you should refuse is a securing payment – The securing payment is a psychological trick. You feel more tied to the company so youâre more likely to buy from them – Youâre extremely more likely to buy at the last place you go, but with the securing payment youâre less likely to go to another dealership due to a sense of commitment – A salesperson may say itâs a limited time deal. Most times, unless this is the last of that years model, or itâs a special event, the deal is not going away and will still be there if you decide to go back. Itâs not necessarily a deal breaker, but you should be suspicious if itâs said to you – Save money by asking to buy the floor model. Thereâs no mileage on it, but itâs worth less because people have sat in it – Or, ask to buy the demo if youâre willing to buy a car with some mileage. The depreciation of the price is usually worth it – Each can get you a few thousand dollars off due to the fact that it is technically not a ânewâ car anymore – Always look at the websites and play around with the build a car, payment calculators, or anything other offered features. Make sure when youâre using it you look at the down payment and the number of months that you will be paying for the car over – Try to not buy a really obscure model because the trade in value will be lower – Get the maximum down payment you can afford to lower the interest cost – Look for a crash rating test. A 5 is going to get good trade in value, and is much safer
(This was written in NY so there might be exceptions in other states or countries)
Youâd think that bats and birds fly in similar waysâin fact, many scientists used to consider bat flight a minor variation of bird flight. But, with the aid of high-speed video, researchers have discovered that bat flight is much more complex than initially thought.
How exactly does bat flight differ from bird flight?For one, bats have way more flexibility and control over their wingsâbats have a whole hand in theirs, and are made of muscle and skin. Bird wings, by comparison, are a ârelatively stiff airfoil,â says Sharon Swartz, a professor of biology at Brown University who studies bat flight and the structure of their wings.Â
Learn more in this stunningvideo about how bats take flight.Â
thatâs really cool but I absolutely canât get over the bat face in the last picture
So I had the strangest dream this weekend and nobody understands me so I need to share it with you because you might. Press J to skip this post if you canât deal, I will accept this.
In my dream I was standing on the back deck of a rural cabin that overlooked a beautiful Vermont/Scottish Highlands landscape of unspoiled wilderness. It was a crisp, perfect autumn morning. I held a cup of cooling coffee in my hands as I leaned against the railing and scanned the perfect rolling hills in the midground, behind which the great patterned mountains with their snowcaps marched on until they blended with the horizon: #aesthetic
As I gazed at a distant meadow clearing in the trees, a pair of brightly coloured humanoid creatures emerged from the woods and began to dance for each other. It was an esoteric, beautiful mating dance, a strange combination of instinct and choreography. I felt awe washing over me. I marvelled. I felt a deep sense of wonder and peace as I observed this vanishingly rare encounter that I had never thought to observe in person. These animals were instantly recognisable but had never been studied in the wild. I felt incredibly humbled and privileged to witness this behaviour – I knew that I was the first human witness to observe this behaviour – and I reached for my phone, wondering if I should film it, so it could join the scholarly record, where it NEEDED to be. This could change everything. But then I held back – something told me âno,â to let the creatures have their privacy.
Ok, I canât go any further without telling you that they were Teletubbies.
A red one and a yellow one. I know. I know. Stay with me here.
The cryptids melted back into the woods. My subconscious drew a discreet veil over the rest of their mating ritual, but I knew instinctively that this had been a dance of courtship. I was busy pondering the implications, because they were critical. You see, although the creatures were instantly recognisable as Teletubbies, as I had studied them, even at a distance, I had an incredible realisation.
They were adult Teletubbies.
This realisation dawned on me and in my dream I understood it fully. The ones that we know of – the captive ones that we have seen on television – are juveniles. In fact, they are the equivalent of toddlers. When you see the adults this becomes obvious. The garbled speech and silly movements of the four captive Teletubbies we know are the babbles of babyhood, a private primal toddler-language brewed up between sentient beings who have never encountered an adult of their own kind.
The adult Teletubbies have more branching, complex antlers and shaggy coats. They are less brightly coloured. They are terrifyingly large. Their strangely human faces, emerging from the thick fur, are unquestionably adult; remote, serene, reproachful. Their television screens are glitchy, esoteric and unknowable. They are cryptids whose public exploitation has undermined their rarity and their strange, alien dignity.
In my dream my feelings of awe and peace turned to great sadness at the fate of the captive toddler Teletubbies. I realised that I had to be the scientist who brought this discovery to the world and raised awareness of their plight. And I also questioned: are Teletubbies like axolotls? Do they exhibit neoteny? (Axolotls, the cute aquarium pets with flaring gills, are actually juveniles of an amphibious species – if given the right conditions theyâll grow up into land-dwelling black newts. But they can breed in their aquatic juvenile form, and most spend their whole lives in this form. Deprived of their wild potential, will the Teletubbies ever mature? Or are they merely experiencing a long childhood, natural for a species that is unimaginably long-lived?)
So in my dream my husband came out onto the back deck and I began to share these discoveries with him and before I could even bring up the axolotls he just said âwhat the fucking fuckâ and went away again.
I woke up disgruntled and unable to capture the feeling of peace and sadness. I then tried to explain this to my husband in the waking world, and he said âwhat the fucking fuckâ and walked away before I even got to the explanation of the Teletubbies being toddlers, which just goes to show that you never know someone as well as you think you do.
Anyway Iâm sure you guys will join me in this knowledge. And also Iâve googled it and apparently the Teletubbies reboot features infant Teletubbies, so clearly they are getting more from somewhere and the time to question this is NOW
I have a personal theory that how a dream makes you feel is more meaningful than the content.
What I got from your dream was a sense of wonder and privilege (the good kind), followed by the need to bear witness and advocate for the cryptids. Topped off with a disturbingly accurate example of the attitudes youâd face.
(staring nobly into the distance) yes. yes, you understand. you understand.
Iâm so sorry but this is what came to mind and so this is what I drew
Holy
Thank you so much for sharing that dream, it was EXACTLY what I needed to stop feeling like shit. Now I, too, am honored by the knowledge of adult teletubbies.
Hereâs my take on this lovely cryptid.
WHOA Iâm sorry I missed this. this is magnificent. the feet and hands are really spooky. it definitely fills me with the Fear.
