This Should Be A Reminder That Outside Of (possible) Cases Of Indian Religious Scriptures, Specialised

This should be a reminder that outside of (possible) cases of Indian religious scriptures, specialised eating (vegetarianism, veganism, etc) is a first world luxury many take for granted. As such, like your beliefs (whether in spiritual paths or group forms), it should be done for your own needs instead of for the groups because you’d be fulfilling your own needs, as opposed to any kind of peer pressure you may face (even you’re from the majority group). In my homelands, neither vegetarianism nor (especially) veganism would at all be easy outside the capital UB, especially during the winter months because that’s when the meat seasons predominate (in contrast to spring & summer being dairy leaning with very little meat).

If you do make the changes to your eating, let it be gradual so as not to shock your system & minimise any problems that may come up (learned that firsthand before). I support ye who do go through with it if ye do so for something other than for trends or other superficial reasons. Especially so if it’s for cost and/or health reasons, or if you’re saving the chosen ingredients for certain times.

Alright.

I was a vegetarian for 7 years, from the September after my 15th birthday to the October after my 22nd. I purposely and knowingly ate meat for the first time in 7 years last Friday.

Now, with that being said.

The vegan, vegetarian, and animal activist communities are BUILT on lies. They’re built on blatant lies, propaganda, misinformation, and faulty studies. A lot of these communities and groups are scarily cult-like, encouraging isolation and discouraging questioning.

Children like me are preyed on at young ages, when we’re most vulnerable and trying to figure out who we are and what we stand for, using scare tactics like slaughterhouse videos (many of which were staged) and edited photos of supposedly “tortured” livestock. 

We’re discouraged from doubting or questioning what we’re told, guilted for every rethinking our decision, and encouraged to join incredibly isolated groups of other vegans and vegetarians. A deep sense of guilt and self hate and disgust is instilled in us; logically, I know that there’s nothing wrong with eating meat. But it still terrifies me after years of telling myself I was disgusting for even craving meat.

People who started eating animal products for any reason are viciously attacked, often by former friends from the community. 

People with medical issues are told that they didn’t try hard enough and that they just needed to fix their diet. 

People with eating disorders are mocked, told that our experiences are wrong because obviously eating disorders should be fixed by being vegan or vegetarian. 

People who can’t afford that lifestyle anymore are told that they don’t know their own income and restrictions, that a vegan/vegetarian diet is affordable across the board and that if it isn’t, then they can survive off of things like rice, potatoes, bananas, and nothing else. 

People of color and non-white people who miss their cultural foods and food practices are viciously attacked with racist comments about how “tradition isn’t an excuse to be barbaric” and that “cultures that depend on killing animals to stay alive should be left to die”. We’re also compared to other non-white vegans and vegetarians, even attacked by vegans and vegetarians from our own cultures and communities just because our experiences and needs are different.

People who feel isolated by their diet face…  a lot of scary things tbh. The thing no one ever tells you about being vegan or vegetarian is how isolated it makes you from your friends and family and community. Most of us don’t have family with similar diets, so family events rarely have food that we can eat and it’s usually nothing filling. A lot of non-vegan and vegetarians don’t think to plan get-togethers and events with their friends’ diets in mind. A huge majority of restaurants and community events have no options for vegans and vegetarians. We end up missing out on so much, and when we get upset about it, other people in the community tell us that we’re better off, that our family and friends aren’t worth it, that something without vegan or vegetarian options isn’t worth going to anyway. We’re encouraged to isolate ourselves further from the “disgusting carnists” in our lives.

And people like me, who are just tired, are the worst in the eyes of militants. We’re the ones who could keep being vegetarian or vegan for years, possibly for the rest of our lives, but we just don’t want to anymore, for a variety of reasons. We’re deeply hated for our supposed lack of compassion and selfishness.

And then, when we start eating meat again, our states are taken advantage of! So much information from vegans about eating meat again depends on the idea that the initial reactions are because meat is terrible and evil. Over the last few days, I’ve been feeling nauseous and tired and I’ve been suffering from terrible mood swings and emotional instability. According to information from militants, that’s because meat is unhealthy and evil and I’ve completely lost the ability to process it. In reality, my body just needs time to adjust to a sudden and extreme diet change.

Over the last 7 years, I went from being a militant vegetarian who had plans to be vegan to a militant vegetarian who had decided against veganism to a vegetarian who was becoming more jaded about the propaganda and misinformation to a jaded vegetarian who was just tired of it all. Now I’m not a vegetarian at all and I don’t regret that.

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, do NOT depend on ARA groups for your information and opinions because I promise that when you start to dig into it, the vast majority of that information is going to be proven false. Do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

The above brings up some very interesting points to look into, but two forgotten efforts that haven't been covered is replanting kelp by growing some of our own in tanks for such a purpose before release as well as finding ways to make ecological threats into food. I would be especially happy if more cleanup efforts are made towards mitigating some horrible air pollution problems in places like UB in my home country, which affects far more than just one's lungs.

Polygon

Breakout tabletop RPG by Native designers imagines an uncolonized North America

Connor Alexander says his new world is for Native and non-Native audiences alike

Here's another promising effort to liven up the RPG gardens. Glad to see my editor gave me this one, as some updates on archaeological findings could definitely be used alongside the game-making especially in TTRPG in a helpful way. Some points inside could use some elaboration, like how Cahokia was likely one of the city-states in the Mississippian cultural complex & predecessors in a way not too unlike those of the Maya Civilisation, or how it was likely mainly ruled by those living closest to its range such as the Ofo people or others.

Maybe this would be a truly universal place to start (the peaceful kind of universal), perhaps with other planets in this case. It may’ve even come along with folkwanderings (migrations) to all spots.

The world's oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about 'seven sisters' stars may reach back 100,000 years https://phys.org/news/2020-12-world-oldest-story-astronomers-global.html

phys.org

The world's oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about 'seven sisters' stars may reach back 100,000 years

In the northern sky in December is a beautiful cluster of stars known as the Pleiades, or the "seven sisters." Look carefully and you will p

Holy shit, this is cool!

So many cultures call the Pleiades some variation of the "seven sisters" despite only having six visible stars. There only appear to be six because two of the stars are so close together as to appear as one.

The myths also mention one sister leaving or hiding to explain why there's only six. And based off observations and measurements, those two that are so close together used to be visibly separate. One literally has moved to hide.

And based off the similarities between the more commonly known Greek myth and the Aboriginal Australian myth, plus some other stuff, this myth could possibly even date back to when humanity still all resided in Africa!

This kind of plant care will be real handy in the long run, especially if used alongside such programs as Ecosia & #TeamTrees. Now if such was to be used alongside a version for kelp & coral, imagine how handy versions of the Diasugi technique could end up being if usable for such.

The Japanese have been producing wood for 700 years without cutting down trees. In the 14th century, the extraordinary daisugi technique was born in Japan. Indeed, the daisugi provide that these trees will be planted for future generations and not be cut down but pruned as if they were giant bonsai trees; by applying this technique to cedars, the wood that can be obtained is uniform, straight and without knots, practically perfect for construction. A pruning as a rule of art that allows the tree to grow and germinate while using its wood, without ever cutting it down.

Extraordinary technique. ''.

Sir David Attenborough.

Goes to show ye that the places in the US (& is likely the case with Canada too) that are apparently the middle of nowhere like the Midwest & the Great Plains is shown to be anything but (especially shown by archaeological findings) & is likely to have connections either to be home to greater civilisations or ties to such. Considering how large the Mississippian network was (even as far north as the Canadian side of the Laurentian Great Lakes), it seems pretty likely that stickball & lacrosse (from the Haudenosaunee Confederacies & nearby ones) share the same roots & date back at least to the times of the early networks spanning such a large amount of land. Even the Algonkian (Algonquin) Confederacy likely had ties to the Mississippian timeline via trade or direct locale.

No offence but you know what's really weird about America? You've got hardly any history past a couple of centuries. No medieval castles, no Roman walls, no bronze age settlement sites. Is there even anything for archeologists to dig for?

People have been here for quite some time, they’ve only been white for 500 years