The list of businesses dropping the NRA is growing
No, no, no; Dick’s take is so much bigger than that. Dick’s did not aim at the NRA, Dick’s took DIRECT ACTION, changing their own gun sale policies and calling on politicians to change the laws. (That’s the TL;DR.)
Dick’s Sporting Goods has said:
“We at DICK’S Sporting Goods are deeply disturbed and saddened by the
tragic events in Parkland. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the
victims and their loved ones.
But thoughts and prayers are not enough.
We have tremendous respect and admiration for the students organizing
and making their voices heard regarding gun violence in schools and
elsewhere in our country.
We have heard you. The nation has heard you.
We support and respect the Second Amendment, and we recognize and
appreciate that the vast majority of gun owners in this country are
responsible, law-abiding citizens. But we have to help solve the problem
that’s in front of us. Gun violence is an epidemic that’s taking the
lives of too many people, including the brightest hope for the future of
America – our kids.
Following all of the rules and laws, we sold a shotgun to the
Parkland shooter in November of 2017. It was not the gun, nor type of
gun, he used in the shooting. But it could have been. Clearly this indicates on so many levels that the systems in place are not effective to protect our kids and our citizens. We believe it’s time to do something about it.
Beginning today, DICK’S Sporting Goods is committed to the following:
We will no longer sell assault-style rifles, also referred to as
modern sporting rifles. We had already removed them from all DICK’S
stores after the Sandy Hook massacre, but we will now remove them from
sale at all 35 Field & Stream stores.
We will no longer sell firearms to anyone under 21 years of age.
We will no longer sell high capacity magazines.
We never have and never will sell bump stocks that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly.
At the same time, we implore our elected officials to enact common sense gun reform and pass the following regulations:
Ban assault-style firearms
Raise the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21
Ban high capacity magazines and bump stocks
Require universal background checks that include relevant mental health information and previous interactions with the law
Ensure a complete universal database of those banned from buying firearms
Close the private sale and gun show loophole that waives the necessity of background checks
We hope others join us in this effort to let our kids know that their pleas are being taken seriously.Some will say these steps can’t guarantee tragedies like Parkland
will never happen again. They may be correct – but if common sense
reform is enacted and even one life is saved, it will have been worth
it.
We deeply believe that this country’s most precious gift is our children. They are our future. We must keep them safe.
Sincerely,
Edward W. Stack
Chairman & CEO
DICK’S Sporting Goods”
Following all of the rules and laws, we sold a shotgun to the Parkland shooter in November of 2017. It was not the gun, nor type of gun, he used in the shooting. But it could have been. Clearly this indicates on so many levels that the systems in place are not effective to protect our kids and our citizens. We believe it’s time to do something about it.
My buddy read an article about octopus intelligence. It was feeding time, and the handler dumped some shrimp into an octopus’ tank. Then he went into another room and sat at his desk.
A while later, a shrimp was tossed onto his desk.
The octopus, upon finding one bad shrimp in the lot, had grabbed it, escaped its tank, crossed the hall, and threw the expired shrimp at its caretaker. Not only does this showcase their problem-solving capabilities, but also that it could have escaped at any time. It just broke out this time to chuck an off shrimp in indignation at its handler. That’s not just intelligence, that’s a human-like reaction. Kinda make you wonder exactly how smart these guys can be…
OH MY GOD
I went to the aquarium once and we had a tour and we walked past the octopus tank and it was duct taped shut so I asked why and the guy was like. “Well, we had a problem before because these fish were disappearing randomly at night and we had no idea why. Turns out the octopus had memorised the night guards rounds and would creep out of its tank, crawl across the floor to the fish tank, have a little snack and be back in its own tank with the lid shut before the guard came back.” they are super smart
I love octopuses so, so much.
@_@
I am both delighted and FUCKING TERRIFIED.
Once I went to the aquarium where they had a baby pacific red octopus in a tank. I had gone there to work on a few real life sketches, obviously I wanted to do one of an octopus. So I kinda just kneeled in front of the tank, and started sketching. The octopus didn’t mind, he sat happily. Then, 5 minutes later, he started moving to the front of the tank, where I was. This tiny octopus faces me directly and starts posing. I don’t know how other to explain it but he started curlung his tentacles in this really graceful way then wouldn’t move for a few minutes. Then again, a new pose. That tiny cute motherfucker knew I was drawing him.
The Marauder’s Map is lasting testimony to the advanced magical ability of the four friends who included Harry Potter’s father, godfather and favourite teacher. excerpt: Pottermore
Americans throw away almost as much food as they eat because of a “cult of perfection”, deepening hunger and poverty, and inflicting a heavy toll on the environment. By one government tally, about 60m tonnes of produce worth about $160bn (£119bn), is wasted by retailers and consumers every year - one third of all foodstuffs.
But that is just a “downstream” measure. In more than two dozen interviews, farmers, packers, wholesalers, truckers, food academics and campaigners described the waste that occurs “upstream”: scarred vegetables regularly abandoned in the field to save the expense and labour involved in harvest. Or left to rot in a warehouse because of minor blemishes that do not necessarily affect freshness or quality.
When added to the retail waste, it takes the amount of food lost close to half of all produce grown, experts say.
Retail giants argue that they are operating in consumers’ best interests, according to food experts. “A lot of the waste is happening further up the food chain and often on behalf of consumers, based on the perception of what those consumers want,” said Roni Neff, the director of the food system environmental sustainability and public health programme at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future in Baltimore.
“Fruit and vegetables are often culled out because they think nobody would buy them,” she said.
But Roger Gordon, who founded the Food Cowboy startup to rescue and re-route rejected produce, believes that the waste is built into the economics of food production. Fresh produce accounts for 15% of supermarket profits, he argued.
“If you and I reduced fresh produce waste by 50% like [the US agriculture secretary] Vilsack wants us to do, then supermarkets would go from [a] 1.5% profit margin to 0.7%,” he said. “And if we were to lose 50% of consumer waste, then we would lose about $250bn in economic activity that would go away.”
The farmers and truckers interviewed said they had seen their produce rejected on flimsy grounds, but decided against challenging the ruling with the US department of agriculture’s dispute mechanism for fear of being boycotted by powerful supermarket giants. They also asked that their names not be used.
“I can tell you for a fact that I have delivered products to supermarkets that was [sic] absolutely gorgeous and because their sales were slow, the last two days they didn’t take my product and they sent it back to me,” said the owner of a mid-size east coast trucking company.
“They will dig through 50 cases to find one bad head of lettuce and say: ‘I am not taking your lettuce when that lettuce would pass a USDA inspection.’ But as the farmer told you, there is nothing you can do, because if you use the Paca [Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act of 1930] on them, they are never going to buy from you again. “Are you going to jeopardise $5m in sales over an $8,000 load?”
Massive food waste is based into capitalist agriculture. If the vast majority of the food produced in America’s farms was brought to market, it would drive prices down rapidly, threatening the profits of retailers. Less than 1% of this surplus food ever reaches the mouths of the hungry.
Just wrote an article about food waste and reusing some of this food as construction material if they won’t be sold (for literally no reason). I’ll share it here once it’s published. Between throwing away ugly produce and the meat/dairy industry can we please stop mass producing food for not human consumption and wondering why so many of us had sleep (or death… if you’ve not had food in too long) for dinner?
I feel like an important message is trying to be communicated to me but I have no idea what it is
Our forests are being cut down 3x faster than they can grow! One acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees!!! This is super useful for so many things, especially paper production! In addition, hemp takes in carbon dioxide 4x as fast as trees do, which makes it especially valuable in the act of reducing CO2 emissions/greenhouse gases! 🌲🌲🌲 source
Important reminder that industrial hemp can’t be used as a recreational drug, so if anyone tries to pull that card you can just stop them then and there. There are no real arguments against using industrial hemp, even if you’re rigidly against the legalization of any recreational drugs.
AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY I never see pro-hemp on my dash, woo!
Usually the argument on why you can’t have hemp is because then people will hide marijuana in it.
yeah, sure…. if they want shitty, shitty marijuana.
It would be like growing sweet corn and dent corn together. Yeah, they look similar at a distance and they’re closely related, but you don’t want them next to each other as they’ll cross pollinate and you’ll end up with bad versions of both.
Same deal here. a patch of marijuana grown in an open field of hemp IS going to get contaminated and it’ll lower quality of BOTH crops. Your hemp farmer doesn’t want that and if likely going rip out any patches trespassers try to add for same reason.
and the big issue is not even the THC content. Because most quality marijuana is intended to be grown indoors or greenhouses, its a dwarf variety. Short. Fiber hemp is bred for height so as to maximize fiber production. super tall. It’s going to be really obvious, really fast if you’ve got both in the same field even before you get to the point of pollination. what’s this runty bullshit doing in my field?
They also have different growing needs with regards to spacing, harvest time, etc. so the argument that you can hide marijuana in industrial hemp fields are basically bullshit.
anyway… aside from paper, hemp fiber can also be used to make earthquake resistant concrete that’s actually LIGHTER than conventional concrete while being stronger. It’s better at resisting flexing or warping, so ideal for stuff like bridges and highway supports as it’ll better resist large temperature swings and vibration. (”hempcrete” is slightly different, but makes great fire resistant insulation)
You can also use the waste after fiber harvest for animal fodder, including silage. Comparable to corn. and remember, that’s the waste after you’ve harvested for fiber!
Just to add, it can be used for paper, concrete, insulation, cloth and rope (both rough like sack cloth and smooth like cotton), bio degradable plastics (oddly same for banana trees I believe) and then of course for things like fishing lines and nets etc.
It’s a very versatile and useful plant that has been used for hundreds or maybe even thousands of years for material uses, and with modern advances is becoming even more useful thanks to chemical engineering and similar.
Anonymous ASKED: Can you name a few planets where it rains things? I was telling my little sister how it rains neon on Jupiter and she wants to know more.
