Please share the podcast name! That sounds like something I’d enjoy.

Network Effect by Martha Wells, read by Kevin R Free.

It’s a great book, and the reading/delivery is really entertaining. I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of science fiction!

Short answer: racism. Long answer, racism and colonialism.

Yes, it’s definitely a problem. Folks are working on it. Lots of great new authors out there to read if you look hard enough. Ask your local librarian or bookseller for a hand finding stuff, they are great at this sort of thing. When I was looking for stuff for my kid a local bookstore turned me on to Rick Riordan Presents. The author of the Percy Jackson series made a publishing imprint that solely focuses on underrepresented mythologies and so far everything I’ve read from it has been great.

If you want something a bit more adult, Nnedi Okorafor has some really fantastic adult and YA novels that are based around Nigerian mythologies.

There’s lots more out there, this is just what’s at the top of my brain. I’ll try to edit if I remember any other authors or series. I’ve been on more of a sci-fi kick lately so that’s what’s in my brain right now (ps go read Murderbot Diaries if you haven’t already).

Well, shoot. Here I was going to say it wasn’t such a bad one to get wrong but the world goes and proves me wrong. That’s just heinous.

It’s entirely possible her baby died due to Chernobyl-related pollution from her inhaling radioactive dust after the blast, but it sure as hell wasn’t made worse by her caring for her husband. She was probably safer inside whatever isolation unit they had him in than outside, since it was cleaner. I can forgive the nurses in 1980s Ukraine for not knowing that but a TV series written in the 2020s should really not be furthering that misunderstanding.

It’s a shame because plenty of the other radiation-related stuff in the show was fine but that one was just so off base and clearly has had extremely negative real-world consequences.

I hate to say it because so much of this show was actually really excellent and accurate but in the Chernobyl miniseries they totally did the “radiation is contagious” thing and it is just not true.

Things and people that are irradiated/hit by radiation in a situation like a reactor failure or contact with radioactive waste do not become radioactive. They can have radioactive particles on their clothing/skin or inside their body if they have ingested/inhaled radioactive material, but they are not emitting radiation themselves. Furthermore, a thin sheet of paper or cloth will stop the kind of radioactivity that would be emitted by such material, if it is on the outside of a person’s body.

Anyways the point is that the woman whose husband was dying of radiation poisoning and then she went in and spent time with him did not lose her baby because she spent time with him. That’s just not how it works.

Lots of environmental contamination-related stuff in movies is inaccurate but that one is the most recent I can think of.

Letting kids (and kids at heart) go wild with their imagination and dress up.

Meeting/seeing neighbors.

Eating candy.

I feel really sad for all the folks on lemmy having a bad/frustrating Halloween. I think it doesn’t have to be that way, but it does definitely take neighborhood-level effort. We’re really lucky to live in a big Halloween neighborhood in a walkable area. We saw all our favorite neighbors and met some new ones, and enjoyed all the creative decorations and costumes we saw while we were out.

But the best part of the night is always getting to see people light up when you recognize their costume. Every time I see a kid dressed as Batman and go “whoa there’s Batman!” or compliment a princess on their beautiful dress, you can just see them stand up straighter or strike a pose and it’s awesome to see everyone dressing up and enjoying themselves. I probably saw a dozen Marios tonight from age 2 to age 20 and every single one of them was over the moon when I complimented their costume.

Generally, yes, but in the case of trees there is also negative pressure (vacuum) exerted from transpiration when water leaves the top of the tree and “pulls” other water up behind it.

What you are describing is not osmosis, it is capillary action. Capillary action is caused by the forces between the water molecules and the molecules of the tube overcoming the force of gravity. You can read more here: https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Supplemental_Modules_(Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry)/Physical_Properties_of_Matter/States_of_Matter/Properties_of_Liquids/Capillary_Action

Briefly, the water molecules are attracted to the molecules of the tube by adhesive force. The liquid molecules are also attracted to each other by cohesive force. The interplay of these forces causes capillary action.

However, it seems that tree sap moves by more than just capillary action. If you scroll down part way in this book they talk about it a bit: https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/phy2053bc/chapter/cohesion-and-adhesion-in-liquids-surface-tension-and-capillary-action/

Yeah. 😢 If anyone feels like donating, here are a few orgs that could use the cash:

South Toe VFD: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-south-toe-fire-depts-hurricane-efforts

Mountain Community Health Partnership: https://www.mchp.care/

Yancey County Helene recovery venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/YanceyCountyGovt-HeleneRelief?catchAll=u&catchAll=YanceyCountyGovt-HeleneRelief

Western North Carolina 😭

Hoping to get back there soon and bring my tourism $$ with me when they are ready. The mountains are my happy place and make me feel like a kid again.

Also, bike riding (when I’m not in a conflict with cars) is giving me a lot of joy. Especially when there are other bikers about.

Nazis get worse if you don’t actively oppose them. That can look like punching them, but it can also look like actively ostracizing them by taking away their jobs, denying them participation in community events, or just straight up shaming them in public.

Pacifism only works if the other side isn’t willing to kill you. These jackasses fantasize about genociding people as a hobby, so if you think pacifism is going to work for you then go right ahead but I’ll be over here working on my defensive skills.

In many situations nazi-punching is not your best tactical decision, especially in the presence of cops. Using your words to hurt the poor Nazi snowflakes feelings works just as well and has the added benefit of potentially provoking them into getting themselves arrested if there are cops watching.