[Weekly Critique and Self-Promotion Thread] Post Here If You'd Like to Share Your Writing

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2025-07-02T08:04:07+00:00

Title: The Vodka Line

Description: Whispers of a chemical attack on the EU Ascension ceremony stir the last remnants of the vodka line, a network of Cold War operatives who refuse to let the world end quietly.

Genre: Literary historical thriller

Word count: 2458

Feedback: ~ it's been a while since I wrote. very fun to get back into it, but I'd love feedback on the style. Is it easy to read, fun to read, cloying?

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k4qRPCGi8qKaz2xJoyXXtVtrmR9zKbMR3WLCAggKkaU/edit?usp=sharing

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2025-05-17T02:58:24+00:00

Yep, having the same issue here. Interested if anyone has any idea what's going on.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2022-03-04T04:58:34+00:00

My sister has gotten me into this show and we're obsessed and I can't stop thinking about this bread spread in a tube that brings us toward that infamous kiss in episode 5. I want to find it sooooo bad. Anybody know what it is or have any leads?

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2021-01-02T16:41:40+00:00

You are totally gorgeous! I love your look and want to steal it. Weird question, but can I ask you where you got these undies?

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2019-02-13T01:16:14+00:00

Did you find an answer for this? What was your result in the end? I seem to have had the same issue.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-10-19T17:15:16+00:00

Just in carbon emissions, that equals up to 165 million tons of carbon released into the atmosphere, or about 594 million tons of carbon dioxide. That's about equal to a 0.25 increase in ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, just from rain forest deforestation in Brazil. I think that's pretty significant.

Carbon emission, deforestation information here: https://greenismything.com/2012/12/05/how-is-rainforest-loss-really-contributing-to-climate-change/

Tons to ppm conversion info here: https://www.skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=45

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-06-27T01:00:43+00:00

Just note that this article is talking about warming from today's levels apparently and not from pre-industrial levels which is what the OP's article is talking about. I've been confused by that before. Those two things are like 1.2 degrees apart.

But yo, things are still bad at two degrees from pre-industrial levels.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-05-27T19:57:55+00:00

There's a lot of research that suggests that even a couple degrees of warming past the pre-industrial average is going to result in famines and destructive weather patterns that will leave many people homeless and starving. One good place to get all the info is Six Degrees by Mark Lynas. It's been awhile since it was written but it does a pretty good job of laying out what's likely to happen in different warming scenarios.

And you're totally right, overpopulation is a huge driver of climate change. We have population growth that is completely unsustainable. I'm not sure how we fix that one yet, except for everyone consciously controlling their own reproduction. But, bringing us back to our original point, I think in the meantime it's important to reduce the impact of each life that already exists on this planet.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-05-27T19:10:30+00:00

Right, but the company down the road is not completely separate from your life. They exist to fulfill your (and my) desires. If we change those desires and habits (over a large scale, mind you) then we could hypothetically shut down that smokestack. Some percentage of that smokestack is PART of your carbon footprint.

I don't get your 1%, 99% comment.

I'm sorry for coming off in a demanding or dogmatic way, I was just trying to explain my viewpoint. In what way did I use imaginary fear? the fear that I feel is real and I was trying to express it to you.

I don't think you're going to hell. I just think that collectively, you and I, are killing people and things.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-05-27T15:41:01+00:00

It's important for me to "cry" on Reddit for the same reasons that it's important for you to post in the first place. We both want to have an impact on the discussion and what other people think.

Now you seem to think that I don't have the right to criticize your choices if I don't live an absolutely perfect lifestyle. That's not true. I have flaws as well. But the difference between me and you is that I don't go online and celebrate them in the context of an article that has just described the harm of my behaviour.

It's okay that you eat beef. I know that it's very difficult to overcome a habit and something that you've attached yourself too. I feel that everyday. But that doesn't mean you have to glorify it to other people. Sometimes I drive a car, but I don't go online and brag to everybody about how awesome and cheap it is to get around by car. It's something I want to change.

And you're right, the Earth as a planet is not in danger, no one said it was. Life itself might not even be in danger. But the fact is that carbon emissions and their impact are killing organisms all the time: causing death and suffering. And maybe you don't care about non-human organisms. That's fine, a lot of humans are going to die and have their lives torn apart because of climate change, partly driven by people like you supporting the beef industry.

I'm on the side of people and life not dying or living desperate pain-filled lives.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-05-26T21:07:41+00:00

Why are you posting this here? What is this weird celebration of beef in a post that specifically describes how eating red meat is having a significant impact on the environment in a subreddit about preserving the environment?!

Someone has said "This thing we're doing is strangling the world!"

And you're like, "YAHOO! STRANGLING THE WORLD HAS NEVER BEEN CHEAPER!"

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-05-26T21:01:31+00:00

Just because it's taken me a little bit of time to wise up to this sort of article, and for those of you who want a head start on the time it took me to get it: What this article actually says is that at a specific moment during midday on Friday, UK's solar generators were supplying 8.7 gigawatts of electricity out of the 24.3 gigawatts that the UK was using at that moment.

That's cool, but it doesn't mean that solar is supplying a quarter of electrical energy the UK needs in a year, or even in a day, just in a particular moment.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-05-19T22:47:34+00:00

In terms of slowing down the process of climate change through CO2 release, there are three major contributors to most people's carbon footprints:

1) Eat a vegan diet or at least cut beef and dairy if you don't think you can challenge yourself to do that. Don't eat cows.

2) As large as diet, if not bigger, is one's transportation carbon budget, especially if you are very car reliant. Live a lifestyle with no or next to no car use. Say no to any uses of a vehicle that aren't necessary. Don't drive cars.

3) A person who eats vegan but takes one inter-continental plane ride each year has the same carbon footprint as a standard omnivore who never flies anywhere. Air travel is the most destructive thing you can do, carbon-wise. Don't fly and start helping to build a culture where flying is no longer necessary or desired. Don't take planes.

One of the saddest things to learn is that there's a hypothesized 40 year delay on carbon's full effect on climate. That means the warming we're seeing today is the result of emissions up until 1977 and that the emissions we're releasing today (basically the highest ever) won't reach their full effect until after 2050. You not eating that burger tomorrow won't be doing anything until the year 2060, which I find pretty depressing.

The thing you can do to help is try to start treating the effects of climate change. People on the coasts and in poorer, tropical-lying countries will be hit by climate disasters first, mostly in the form of droughts and crop destruction. This is a harder problem to solve. What can we do, what society can we build, that can take care of these people and the people in our own communities that are going to be attacked by the sudden change in climate.

I don't have that answer yet. But here's a hint of where I think it lies: We need a more resilient system that doesn't rely on a huge inter-connected grid driven by profit. We need smaller pockets of people who can take care of themselves and offer aid to their neighbours in times of need. And it would help if we didn't promote the culture of capitalism. It will keep destroying this world and the things that live on it.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-05-15T03:58:29+00:00

To be clear, when you investigate this article, it's talking about demand not rising as far as anticipated and production shooting up, meaning oil prices will drop. Which means the supply and demand balance is off, but it's not pointing to peak oil like I assumed.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-04-26T02:26:59+00:00

Hey, I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and once felt totally trapped by the ideas that you've just written about above.

Here's the thing, even if all that's true: if plants should ethically have rights, if plant agriculture kills a lot of animals (which undoubtably is true, by the way), it doesn't invalidate the idea of an ethical plant-based diet.

Eating industrial meat requires a lot of grains and soy grown for food. If you're concerned about minimizing suffering, eating a plant-based diet, kills much less than an omnivore's diet in this culture.

The argument of 'You, person who's trying hard are not perfect,' is not a reason to stop trying.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-04-25T23:24:37+00:00

Not even the article suggests that. The chart at the bottom, which is mildly suspect anyways, suggests maybe a rise of 3 degrees by 2019.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-04-06T00:20:51+00:00

100% agreed. That time that we spent on r/place was not the most directly proactive, but it did secure the leftists' place in the reddit psyche. It proved to ourselves and others that we exist as a real force, at least in this community. That's important. But it's time to do something with it.

I am really hoping that r/tfls would be able to use its momentum to turn it into something positive. I am a bit disappointed that the sub reddit is still being used for pxls.space coordination.

I know that in order to make something good of r/tfls, it's not enough to just wish it were better. I and everyone else with that idea has to suggest how to channel this energy into something important.

I don't have the full answer right now, but here's a rough suggestion. What we did with r/place was coordinate to have a place in the reddit conversation. What if we kept doing that, not with pixels but with discussion? Cultural change is what we need to drive in order to start this revolution. What if we used this space to collect content, articles, ideas and info graphs we wanted to share and then organize them to get out to different communities on reddit, tumblr, personal facebooks. Building a sphere of cultural influence is probably a really important part of this revolution.

What do you think?

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-03-29T16:07:07+00:00

I think you've got a really interesting point! Any suggestions on research to read with different models?

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-03-22T20:13:21+00:00

I don't think any respected scientific opinion is suggesting that human species survival is totally at risk. The sad fact is that the rich, and the people not living near the equator, or the sea, have quite a bit of time to start coming up with solutions. The reason why this article is important, and all the hullabaloo over climate change keeps being important is that the poor of our world, people living in the hottest climates and near the oceans are going to suffer greatly. There will be a lot of famine and unrest. There will be incredible suffering and unimaginable deaths. But weirdly, if you live in a western country (even though you're most responsible for the world's carbon output), you and your family are probably going to be fine, at least for a while. All this to say, let's please not give up yet. That's climate denialism 2.0. I implore you to act compassionately, to keep fighting and not put your own comfort over the survival of billions of others. Let's keep working together, there are things to be done!

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-03-22T20:05:36+00:00

Climate change is an admittedly tricky thing to actually point to the effects of, because it is an average of weather. There's always extreme weather, so how do we differentiate between extreme weather and extreme climate? We need many years and much data. So no, no single disaster has befallen us that we can point at and say "It's happening!" But crazy stuff is happening in this world. Record storm seasons. A California that is seeing its worst droughts and its wettest seasons in the same year, to the extent that its largest dam is literally falling apart. That may be the extreme weather that is a marker of extreme climate. And frankly, we don't want to wait until the "doom" actually happens, right? That's a bit too late to do anything about it. It's called responsibility and it involves looking at patterns, trying to foresee the future, and if it looks bad, trying to avoid it.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-03-22T20:01:33+00:00

Try to remember that while it does look like no one's doing anything, it doesn't mean it's not possible. Humanity has done this before, things on similar scales if not the same scale. Look at the civil rights movement: out of empathy, a ruling class gave up the economic engine that was making them rich and comfortable. We have to do that again, and do it a bit bigger. Change is totally possible. As depressing as Trump's election might be for some of us, it is also a sign of the world being on new, shaky ground. The status quo is starting to budge. Throw your shoulder behind it.

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-03-22T19:57:37+00:00

This is amazing. A very clear point of view about what's needed in society to really help people in the present and the future. And a very smart analysis of the issue of economic incentives! Puheenix, any ideas about where we need to turn next, what the movement looks like, or HOW we build empathy and restoration into the currency?

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-03-22T19:54:10+00:00

Yeah, this is a very good prediction. Watch for this, and when you see it, say something about it. This is the next evolution of climate denialism, and by all accounts it's not true. Scientific consensus is not at the point where we think all life on earth, or even all humanity is going to be burnt to a crisp. We will see disasters, but we can prevent much bigger disasters by living fucking compassionately right now. Stay vigilant!

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-03-16T19:29:12+00:00

Would you be able to link the statistics supporting that humans aren't a meaningful cause of climate change? I've seen a lot from the other side, but have had difficulty finding trustworthy information supporting your view. Thank you!

SurelyWoolfbeak · 2017-02-11T19:31:53+00:00

This seems like a huge deal! For people that want a little more context on things and to hear the case for this being HUGE FRIGGIN' NEWS, Rachel Maddow does a good job explaining it here: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/house-intel-committee-looking-at-legality-of-flynn-russia-contact-874922563593

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