Hey it's Izzy

From the story “Fountain pen gone wrong” by izzysnarroad. Read it on Backspaces.

From the story “#somethingspecial” by izzysnarroad. Read it on Backspaces.

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Got me there.
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(via rehab-for-the-soul)

From the story “Why carry on” by izzysnarroad. Read it on Backspaces.

Rainy day… Good for writing Haikus (at Shanghai High School International School 上海中学国际部)

Anthems of Rebellion

 Yes, that is the album name of this cover. 

 

Unfortunately, I was born into this world, into this oppressive system, with seemingly no way of escaping (maybe except for suicide). High School, Universities, SAT tests, marking schemes—are all ways of ‘standardization’, making everyone either the same, burnished products, or end up being ‘defects’ of the production line, failing the ‘examination’.

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From the story “We only gain happiness from others” by izzysnarroad. Read it on Backspaces.

climateadaptation:

Disgusting, shocking expose by Agence France-Presse. Hong-Kong. After people complained, tens of thousands of shark fins were brought to the roof tops to dry. The article says they did this to hide the fins from the public because of increased awareness of animal cruelty. 

Shark fin traders in Hong Kong have taken to drying freshly sliced fins on rooftops since a public outcry over them drying the fins on public sidewalks forced them to move the trade out of sight. 

Activists have raised concerns that the over-harvesting of fins is causing an environmental calamity. Although sales have fallen in recent years Hong Kong remains one of the world’s biggest markets for shark fins, which are used to make soup that is an expensive staple at Chinese banquets. NBC

I can’t stomach watching the process of shark finning (more videos here). Basically, they catch the shark, cut off its fins, and throw the shark back into the ocean - alive and awake. The sharks bleed to death and/or suffocate since they can’t swim.

Absolutely repulsive.

But saying “gross” or “I’m sad” is not enough. There are a variety of ways you can help stop finning.

Sharks are threatened by climate change. Increased temperatures are affecting their habitat and food supplies around the globe. Changes to their habitat threaten their survival.

Last year, Discovery reported the world’s first hybrid shark and speculated it had adapted to climate change. They speculated that two separate shark species paired as a result of climate change. It was the first time a shark hybrid has been found and scientists speculated they were evolving, e.g., they adapted to increased temperatures.

The Australian black-tip is slightly smaller than its common cousin and can only live in tropical waters, but its hybrid offspring have been found 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) down the coast, in cooler seas.

It means the Australian black-tip could be adapting to ensure its survival as sea temperatures change because of global warming.

“If it hybridizes with the common species it can effectively shift its range further south into cooler waters, so the effect of this hybridizing is a range expansion,” Morgan said.

“It’s enabled a species restricted to the tropics to move into temperate waters.” Via Discovery

Adaptation is not fast enough. Habitat and food supplies are quickly being destroyed, not to mention ocean currents are shifting, adding additional pressure on marine life. Most importantly, the incredible increases wealth in China and Asia generally has increased demand for shark fin soup, which is considered a delicacy.

Gordan Ramsay, an A-list celebrity chef, was doused with gasoline and held at gun-point while exposing shark finning on his TV show last year. He tried the soup and deemed it unremarkable and bland, comparing the soup to eating salted potatoes.

He was horrified and sickened at the process (warning: very tough to watch. Several sharks are hacked live). Chef Ramsay subsequently advocated for the finning of these amazing animals to stop. He helped contribute to the passage of a bill banning shark fin soup in the U.S.

There are several ways to stop finning: Pressuring grocery stores and Asian markets, writing congress (it works, I swear), contributing cash and volunteer time to anti-finning campaigns, passing the word around to educate others, and signing petitions.

- And thanks for reading my post. m

(via shang-hi)

So I heard it’s a new year

haven’t posted anything for over a month now. Sorry to any who has been…’expecting’ me to …keep up? Yeh…the school work is tremendous and luckily we have this 3 day break for New Years and I may finally have a time to catch my breath (at the same time trying to do hw…)

Anyways, things are…looking better. Some girl gave me a belated Christmas gift with a letter on it, which was super sweet. Oh, not that the stuff she wrote was 

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woke up yesterday, had to go to Gubei at eight, took a mock SAT test at the academy I used to go to, ultimately failed the reading section, and started walking back to the Metro. I forgot that I moved and the muscle memory of walking from the academy to go back to the *old house just took over (I was so brain dead

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