Cleaning chemicals have labels that require reading. Janitors tend to use those often.
Hard to pick a favourite. Maybe it was Maria Sibylla Merian who sailed to today's Suriname numerous times (a woman in the 16-17th century) to catalogue butterflies and popuralize the idea that metamorphosis among insects is a thing. Her illustrations are really aesthetic and revolutionary.
The tree I stitched in the end is also tied for the first place. It's called the dynamite tree. Its fruits explode when ripe with seeds flying with speeds up to 300km/h, it's covered in spikes, and it's sap is deadly poisonous.
Due to my occupation I was familiar with the plants in the "these plants can kill" section. The effects of their poisonous alkaloids are very common in pharmaceuticals, and are used to treat certain conditions but I've always found them really cool!
That's so cool! Is the pattern self-drafted or did you get it from somewhere?
Oh wow this is beautiful! I should try embroidery too. It seems really practical and I want to customise my clothes. Looking forward to the video! That's a nice teaser.
My guess is some kind of llama pattern?
It's a really good guess. That's an alpaca. I'm surprised people figured it out at this stage. It's an adorable pattern that got me started with cross stitching...but I didn't start it until now because I was intimidated by backstitching.
On the 16ct fabric I used, it's 35x25cm or 13.6" x 10"
My personal belief system is that no animal, regardless of how simple of a nervous system it possesses, deserves exploitation and suffering. It's not so much about the animal's feelings, which definitely also plays a role when we talk about the more "sentient" beings, but the effect that has on the rock we live on.
Keeping animals in captivity because "it's cool" or for public amusement is not something I agree with. Keeping them in a sanctuary is one thing, capturing them from the wild, breeding them, and displaying them in enclosures far smaller than their natural territory is another thing. Animal breeding for profit is also something I have a problem with. Keeping them in cages is not ok. You do not have a reason to keep a living being enclosed because "it's cool". Invasive animal species often came to be because the said species are "cool", not to mention the way they got into the breeding system in the first place.
The problem with consuming less sentient animals isn't about the kill count or the pain they suffer. It's about the way they're "harvested" and the effects on the environment. A much larger portion of our agricultural output goes for the tier 2 animals than for feeding humans. (using your tier system for simplicity, I don't want to lump animals into tiers myself). The emissions coming out of these animals amounts to at least 25% of our greenhouse gas output.
Farming insects is part of the above problem. You use more plant food for less calories. It's much more efficient than beef, yes, but correct me if I'm wrong, I might be talking out of my ass here, escaped population can wreak absolute havoc on the local ecosystems.
And for clams and mussels, they might only be able to react to stimuli but trawling for them is an absurdly destructive practice that also needs to stop.
I second the Penguin audiobooks! Peter Serafinowicz's impression of death is just amazing. I finished the 6th Rincewind book and every time he popped up throughout the series, he got me so excited!
Now that's a gamble I wouldn't risk! Glad to see it all worked out in the end. Looks great!
Oh wow that's a lot of useful info. Thanks so much! The cherries we grew this year were actually from a granny farmer from the farmer's market. Her veggies are always the tastiest there and she seems to know her stuff, bless her. Thanks a lot for the link! 🍅
Since I see a lot about second generation peppers not being as good as first, does that go for tomatoes too? There are those really tasty grocery store cherry tomatoes that come in different varieties in one box. They cost like 4x the others but I get them when they're discounted before they throw them away. Can I save the seeds and grow them in my containers?
We grew some cherries in containers this year before they got invaded by stinkbugs. But those that survived were the tastiest tomatoes I've had in my life.