Alright So @staff, You’ve Wrongly Terminated @serumsteve, @dailymarvelposts and @endlessmarvel –

Coronavirus

The world right now seems to be in a very precarious situation. The SARS-COV-2 (nCOV/Covid-19) outbreak has been labelled a pandemic. The NBA has suspended its season after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus. As has Juventus player Daniele Rugani. Some sports games are being played without spectators whereas others have been delayed or outright cancelled. Coachella has been postponed and so has the new James Bond film. Donald Trump has issued a severely confusing travel ban or maybe not. The UK is moving past phase 1 and into phase 2 of dealing with the outbreak following an emergency COBRA meeting set to take place later today. Numerous high level officials are being tested and diagnosed. The UK’s health minister, in a shocking twist of irony, has the virus. Schools are being cancelled and millions of people are being quarantined. Stock markets are crashing, tourism is falling, airlines are failing, and we’re standing on the brink of a new world recession. And perhaps most heartbreakingly, actor Tom Hanks has also tested positive for the virus.

If you think all of that sounds scary, then I agree with you. It does sound scary. If you look at the numbers, they also look scary.

But it’s important now, more than ever, not to panic. Because panic buying is how we start accidentally buying too much toilet paper, for example. That’s not something we need. But getting hand sanitisers and toilet roll from a claw machine might be. As long as the joystick and buttons are wiped down between turns.

The reason this is happening is because there is a lot of misinformation being spread on the internet. And the media are not adhering to the oath they’ve taken to only provide people with the truth. This is not helping anyone and if anything, is only causing further spread of the virus. When I was a journalism student, I took this oath and now I’m going to give you some Coronavirus facts.

Those who are more likely to be infected with Covid-19 and suffer more severe cases are those with preexisting conditions such as diabetes, asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, HIV/AIDS, cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease or otherwise compromised immune systems as well as those over the age of 70. If none of this applies to you, please still be wary.

Over 80% of all reported cases are mild.

It’s important to practice good hygiene, not touch your face and wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water or a high alcohol content hand sanitiser to protect not just yourself, but your parents, grandparents and those around you with preexisting conditions.

Other ways to prevent catching or spreading the virus include coughing or sneezing into a tissue and discarding it, and coughing or sneezing into your elbow.

And an interesting fact, if you joke morbidly like me, that you have the Coronavirus when you have a cold, then you might not be lying because coronaviruses are one of a few different viruses that cause the common cold.

And now for some good Coronavirus news. It’s looking like life is ever so slowly returning to normal in China, where the virus is believed to have peaked and the number of cases is dropping off. South Korea also believe their cases of the virus has peaked. Also, after a nearly two month closure, Shanghai Disneyland is finally beginning to operate again. Just the shops and restaurants for now, but the park is likely not to be too far behind.

If we all do the right things, this could peak soon for the rest of us. But until then, it’s going to get worse before it gets better so please do not panic, but instead be wary. We at YFHA$ will still be right here.

-Mod Rowlf

(Who is reposting this because there is no need at all to mention racism in the comments, come on people)

breaking away from sleeping at 1am's harder than I thought. even when I go to bed at 10pm, I end up still awake for the next two hours.

my brain just keeps thinking of ideas to write and explore and I want to write but I'm too tired to write so it's just me tossing and turning and thinking of ideas 8D

guess the next step is to talk about what I have in store for the future! the answer is

absolutely nothing.

for the moment, at least. I'm working on the outline for a King of the Squirrels and Author friendship story, the plot of which got referred to in A Small, Pleasant Thing. I'm not sure how long this one will take...maybe a couple of weeks? might be chaptered, might be a oneshot, it's too soon to tell.

even if my fics don't shoot up in kudos or reviews, I think that's still okay. if anything, it's an exercise in keeping to deadlines and properly planning my stories for once heheh

that's all I've got for now! ciao.

Thinking about that guy that created a cleanroom in his local makerspace and built an entire gene therapy from scratch, making a virus that supposedly delivered the ability to digest lactose and then SWALLOWED IT LIKE A MAD SCIENTIST AND CURED HIMSELF OF LACTOSE INTOLERANCE, EATING TWO CHEESE PIZZAS TO PROVE IT

Yeah, this squirrel really doesn’t like nuts.

Scammer Targeting Tumblr Artists

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers. For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of “Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune. Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected. Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action. Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately. So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated? Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people. We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care?

It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post. I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them. Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect. Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse. Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars. Reblog & Share

So I'm pretty much top tier terrified because the Amazon Rainforest is on fire. Like, that's seriously bad, isn't it??? How are we supposed to bounce back from this...?

Hey Anon! I’ve gotten a lot of asks about the Amazon forest fire situation so I’m going to address them all here.

The most concerning thing about the Amazon fires isn’t necessarily the fires themselves, but the reason that there are so many this year: This is almost certainly because Brazil’s current president is very anti-environmentalist, which has led to more clearing of the forest (which involves setting fires).

The fires themselves aren’t actually a new threat. People have been practicing slash-and-burn agriculture in the Amazon for a long time. What’s different this year is that there seem to be more fires than usual and they are impacting densely populated locations.

Something that I think is being glossed over by many of the images and headlines being passed around is that it’s very normal for there to be forest fires in and around the Amazon at this time of year.

Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research says that this is a record year for forest fires in Brazil since they started monitoring fires via satellite in 2013. 

However, NASA says that the overall fire activity in the Amazon basin as a whole is actually slightly below average compared to the last 15 years; fire activity has increased in Amazonas and Rondonia but has decreased in Mato Grosso and Pará.

A manager for Global Forest Watch has said that the fires this year are roughly equivalent to what they saw in 2016 (according to satellite images). Now, 2016 was also a bad year for forest fires, but it goes to show that this level of fire is not unheard of.

So, why are we only hearing about the fires this year if they’ve been this bad before? Probaby because ash clouds darkened the sky over the most populated city in Brazil, which is a big, dramatic, apocalyptic thing that tends to get people’s attention.

Although some meteorologists think the ash over Sao Paulo may have been caused by fires in Paraguay, not even in the Amazon, the air quality in populated areas has been so strongly affected that Amazonas has declared a state of emergency.

To be clear, it is still definitely bad that parts of the Amazon are burning and the fact that the fires are impacting air quality in populated cities poses very real human health risks. We should be speaking out about this, drawing attention to it, and donating to organizations that are working to protect the Amazon. But this is not necessarily an apocalyptic scenario.

And the good news? #PrayforAmazonia went viral on Twitter. Tons and tons of news sources are covering these fires in a way that Amazon forest fires have not been covered in the past. People are talking about Amazon deforestation and its potential impact on climate change.

This whole debacle is generating a lot of outrage towards Brazil’s presidential administration. Hopefully, this will lead to more international support for those who are fighting his damaging policies towards the Amazon and the indigenous communities that rely on it. By the way, I think it bears mentioning that last week an indigenous women’s march occupied a Brazilian health ministry building in protest of their president’s harmful policies.

Do you want to help? Donate! I really cannot stress how much small amounts of money can go a long way in situations like this.

Donate to SOS Amazonia, a Brazilian NGO working to preserve the Amazon (I can’t find any third party information on how reputable this NGO is, but I think this may largely be because of the language barrier-they’ve been operating since the 1980s)

Donate to Rainforest Trust which buys and protects rainforest land all around the world (4/4 stars on Charity Navigator)

And don’t forget to vote for politicians that prioritize environmental protection and can put pressure on Brazil’s government to clean up its act!

Photo Source: X X

!!ATTENTION!!

ART THIEF WARNING!!!

Turns out, there’s an ENTIRE website making money off of stolen art. It’s called CopyCover, and even the fucking name implies that it steals art for phone covers (which it does exactly that).

SPREAD THIS MESSAGE LIKE THE PLAGUE

Here’s some screenshots of phone cases that could include stolen art!(YOUTUBE-RELATED. There may be other fandoms involved in this too!!) I found my art in this!!! If you recognize an artist, PLEASE inform them! 

(Take note that there IS a slight possibility that some of these are not stolen, and are the actual artists selling their stuff, but this website stole MY art, so I’m assuming it’s stealing everyone’s. I follow a lot of these artists shown here, and none of them have EVER promoted this website)

AND BEFORE YOU SAY: “Oh! They credited the artists, so it’s okay!”

NO. IT’S NOT OKAY. THIS WEBSITE IS MAKING MONEY OFF OF OTHERS’ ART WITHOUT PERMISSION. THAT IS STEALING. IT DOESNT MATTER IF CREDIT IS GIVEN. PERMISSION FROM THE ARTIST NEEDS TO BE GRANTED. (That’s like if you stole money from a bank, and “credited’ them by saying which bank you stole from).

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THIS MESSAGE! THANK YOU.

(I will tag artists shown in the examples above, and I will tag people that can help spread this around!)

@puppyrelp

@shuploc

@irdeadite

@simpleagle

@cartoonjunkie

@cinnamon-grump

@markiplier

@therealjacksepticeye​

@crankgameplays

@mayor-damien-protection-squad

@colonel-william-protection-army

Source For more facts follow Ultrafacts

Scotland has created an official tartan for Scottish Muslims: blue for the Scottish flag, green for Islam, w/ five white lines representing the five pillars of Islam, six gold lines representing the six articles of faith, and a black square representing the Holy Kabah. 

If you’re not Scottish, you might not know how big of a deal this is. Quoting Attire’s Mind: “This is a signal that they are not only just a full part of Scotland now, but family. Clans, as defined by tartans, are large scale families, and the totality of them encompass the family of the Scottish people. “