Lemdro.id

Dammit Mimi stop being so relatable. Literally me yesterday. Was wanting to work on inktober at work, and when going back home I was too tired to do anything https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/150543090

Transcription: 4-panel comic, featuring a smiling Jack-o-lantern saying "Look at me", "I'm a human", "Smiling outside, empty inside". The fourth panel shows just the pumpkin smiling, setting next to a man glaring at it.

Source: @thesquarecomics

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52822552

Dammit Mimi stop being so relatable. Literally me yesterday. Was wanting to work on inktober at work, and when going back home I was too tired to do anything https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/150543090

Which makes me silly

Russian drones violating Moldova's airspace are "planned actions" by Russia, said Ukrainian Air Force Deputy Commander Yurii Cherevashenko.

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"These are planned actions. Perhaps 2–3% were affected by electronic warfare, but in the Black Sea they can organize good coverage with repeaters, so these are planned actions," Cherevashenko stressed.

As previously reported, on the morning of October 3, Moldova's Defense Ministry reported that three missiles and two drones exploded in the country. Another object flew through Moldovan airspace toward Palanca a minute later.

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That day, authorities found drone debris in four districts of Moldova. Police recorded five separate aircraft-crash incidents.

In one case, an explosion damaged a building's windows. Dry grass also caught fire after a drone crashed.

Earlier, on September 30, a drone crossed Moldovan airspace, crashed, and exploded near the village of Hîrbovăț and the city of Bender.

In addition, on September 19, authorities found several drones that violated Moldovan airspace in the Ștefan Vodă district.

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Rabbi Dov Lando, leader of Israel’s Lithuanian Haredi community, made controversial remarks on Monday about Zionism and the establishment of Israel state, saying that “it would have been good if Arabs ruled here”.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Monday evening that Lando said it would have been possible to live peacefully with Arabs without a state.

The channel said it had obtained rare footage of Lando during the war, although it did not specify when it was recorded. The footage was filmed at his home in Bnei Brak, central Israel, during a discussion with a small group of rabbis about the crisis over the military conscription of Haredi Jews.

“I don’t know what would have happened if there had not been a state in the first place. If a government under the United Nations had been established here, the situation would have been excellent,” he said.

“It would have been possible to live peacefully with the Arabs without a state, and it would have been good if Arabs ruled here as well,” he added.

On Zionism’s hostility towards the Arab world, Lando said: “They made the Arabs hate us and brought material disasters, not just spiritual ones, upon the people of Israel. Never in history have the Arabs hated [us] this much.”

Regarding the conscription of Haredi Jews into the Israeli military, Lando said: “The fighters are killed because their rabbis teach them a distorted Torah. They also carry out many acts not for salvation, but for the honour of the state.”

Haredi Jews make up about 13 per cent of Israel’s population of more than 10 million. They oppose military service on the grounds that they should devote themselves to studying the Torah, arguing that integration into secular society threatens their religious identity.

Crossposted from https://fedia.io/m/humanrights@crazypeople.online/t/4433054

Belgium plans to do away with paper cheques. Apparently no one is fighting this. The eagerness to do away with paper cheques can only be attributed to addiction to convenience without regard to the consequences.

Once paper cheques are gone, there will be no way to survive without banks. Even if you walk away from your job and go on social aid, the social aid has no way to reach you without a bank account. Paper cheques are the sole means having personal autonomy from banks.

Some pensioners still receive their pension payment as a paper cheque, which they can cash without having a bank account. Belgium is taking this away.

An international study published on Monday by France’s largest food aid charity, Restos du Cœur, shows the number of people living in extreme poverty in France and other wealthy countries increased by 37 percent between 2018 and 2025.

The analysis, carried out by an international team in Europe and the United States, found that 5.5 million of the charity's beneficiaries have fallen into extremely precarious situations.

It warns that one in 10 people risks needing food aid over the next decade.

It also found that public policies have little effect in helping people who have already fallen into extreme poverty.

"The longer someone has been receiving assistance from Les Restos, the harder it is for them to break free from that situation," Yves Mérillon, a member of the national board of Les Restos du Cœur, told public broadcaster Franceinfo.

He believes that "prevention remains the most powerful tool, and public policies have a role to play" through more targeted measures.

On the tables at a Restos du Cœur branch in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, there are tins of food, packets of pasta and biscuits. In the next room, there are fresh fruit and vegetables. This is also where yoghurts and other chilled dairy products are available.

In her shopping trolley, Mariam tells RFI she has collected "some milk. I’ve also got some prawns. I’ve got potatoes. Pasta. I’ve got fruit. Peaches. And a packet of madeleines for my children’s snacks".

For her, this is a matter of survival. "We’re struggling. Thank goodness the Restos du Cœur help us a lot."

Like many of the women who come here, Mariam is a single mum who is undocumented. What upsets her most is not being able to make her seven-year-old daughter happy.

"Sometimes she finds €0.02 or €0.01 and says to me: 'Mum, we’ve got loads of money, why don’t we go to a restaurant?' I tell her no, that’s not enough money to go to a restaurant – you need at least €10."

For Jacques Bagge, who has been volunteering for six years at this branch, his view of extreme poverty is "people who are unable to meet their basic needs for food and housing".

"In other words, most of the people we see here and to whom we distribute food are staying in emergency accommodation centres, social housing or even on the streets," he explains. "We’re in Paris, where housing conditions are difficult because rents are very high."

The study by Restos du Cœur reveals that difficulties in securing accommodation have soared by 62 per cent between 2018 and 2025. One in every 200 people in France is homeless, living on the streets or without their own home.

"Inflation is responsible for 52 percent of the rise in homelessness since 2018," it notes.

Students as well as families are affected.

"There are many students who, in order to be able to pay for their room or accommodation – sometimes in a shared flat, or a flat shared by several people – are forced to rely on outside help to feed themselves," says Bagge.

Patrice, a 25-year-old student with multiple degrees, lives in a shared flat on a very low income.

"I’d say I’m on less than €600 [per month]. Once the rent’s paid, I’m left with less than €200 a month. The food aid we’re given here really helps; it takes the pressure off. And on top of that, I’ve just finished my studies, so I’m looking for a job and it’s awful. You get up in the morning, send out loads of applications and nothing – no replies at all."

But there are also the working poor. Sam, 30, cannot get by without food aid.

"I’ve been coming here for a few years now, so it’s become a bit like going to the shops," he says.

Among those most at risk of poverty, children aged up to nine years old account for nearly 25 percent of people experiencing housing insecurity. The majority come from single-parent families headed by single mothers.

In 2024-2025, one in two people receiving aid at the Restos du coeur was under 25, and 23 percent of the families receiving aid were single-parent households.

Francine Rivaud, a volunteer, confirms what the study shows: it is very difficult to escape extreme poverty.

"Firstly, because it’s generally women we see here who are unable to work. They don’t have the right papers, but they have children, and those children go to school. It’s absolutely essential that we help these children so that the next generation doesn’t end up in this poverty," she warns.

It’s midday and the soup kitchen is about to close. Amira has come with her little boy. She says it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t always get enough to eat – what matters to her is that her child is never denied a meal.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Laurence Théault.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52817815

The reported death of a 28-year-old laboratory technician in eastern Siberia has triggered regional quarantines and international attention over fears of the cause of death and a lack of transparency. According to local media reports, Darya Shipilova, a technician employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, died on Oct. 2 at a regional hospital in the nearby town of Shelekhov. She had been diagnosed with pneumonia of “unknown” origin, according to Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health agency. Local Russian media reported that Shipilova told medical staff she had accidentally dropped a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples. Rospotrebnadzor refuted claims of a biosafety reach, maintaining that tests detected no professional pathogens and there had been no complaints from other staff at the institute regarding infectious diseases in the past 10 days, Russian newspaper Kommersant reports. Russian authorities have reportedly quarantined the hospital and anyone who came into contact with the employee, according to the Associated Press (AP). AP also reports that Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, flew to Irkutsk for an emergency anti-epidemic meeting with the region’s Governor Igor Kobzev, who called the case a “particularly dangerous infection”. Local media have reported that more than 60 staff members at the Anti-Plague Institute were isolated inside their workplace. Unofficial reports, including those from the independent Russian media outlet Liudi Baikala, said that nearly 200 people were placed under medical observation or isolation. “Attention must be paid to the reported illness and death of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas also stressed the importance of deterrence, saying politicians should provide the country with every available tool to ensure its security.

Kaunas said Lithuania is surrounded by countries with strategic weapons, pointing to Russia’s Kaliningrad region and Belarus. He described the proposed constitutional change as a response to Moscow’s actions.

“We are responding to Russia’s aggression,” Kaunas said. “If Russia had not started the war in Ukraine, we probably would not be having the discussions we are having today.”

Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution currently states that weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases may not be stationed on Lithuanian territory. The proposed amendment would remove that provision.

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Sometimes I become hyper-aware of the area around my collarbone and it gets very distracting. It is most noticeable when reading and sometimes when trying to sleep. It can get to a point where I have to stop reading because of how distracting it is, and also makes it harder fall asleep.

Has anyone had anything like this and/or know of any ways to alleviate it?

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/11744200

[Original in Polish. Automated and paraphrased translation.]

Poland is massively expanding military formations across the Ukrainian borders, including deploying Patriot air defense systems, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has confirmed.

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“The number of air operations over Ukraine has increased more than 15 times,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

"This decision and the development of a Patriot battery deployment with the commanders to give a sense of security, so that the air traffic that takes place here, often interrupted by alerts, is as secure as possible."

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Kosiniak-Kamysz also added that ...military investments for defense systems in Lublin and Podkarpacie would have the highest priority next year. This is needed for the inhabitants of Lublin and Podkarpacie.

"It is about their daily lives, not about the future, but about their daily lives."

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Meanhwile, the European Union has approved $7.1 billion for Ukraine to spend on air defense, drones and missiles under the Ukraine Support Loan, EU Commissioner Andrius Kubilius announced.

The decision was reported by a correspondent for the Ukrainian outlet Babel on September 11. The approval also clears the way for Ukraine to purchase American PAC-3 missiles for its Patriot systems.

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Drax’s planned datacentre could produce nearly double the emissions of all flights out of Gatwick airport each year by burning 4.9m tonnes of wood annually, an analysis has shown.

Campaigners say this would make it “one of the dirtiest datacentres out there”.

Last year, the energy company Drax unveiled plans to convert part of its biomass power plant in North Yorkshire into a datacentre in response to the increase in demand for AI capability.