Right, so there's a YouTube channel I like called Overly Sarcastic Productions. I'm sure many of you are familiar with them - they do a few different series, including History Summarized, a show which goes through the history of countries, empires, cities, etc.

The other day, they put up a video about Kyiv. The video was unusually jingoistic and anti-Russian; they don't normally pick sides in their content (but then, I guess most of the time they aren't talking about current events). On top of this, they spent quite a while equating the people of the Kievan Rus with the modern State of Ukraine, which some more historically-minded people in the comments section had a problem with. A few other people called them out for the petty anti-Russia stuff, but most either agreed with it or didn't seem to mind.

Anyway, I saw it on my subscription feed earlier, and noticed that it had a fundraiser. I found the links in pic rel in the bio.

Long story short, it turns out they the video was literally a piece of Ukrainian-government-sponsored propaganda. BraveVoices is some sort of content hub which encourages people to repost their pre-prepared videos about Ukraine or use their stock footage in original content. From their website:

Ukraine's bravery and resilience in defending against the Russian invasion continue to impress.

However, global attention to the war is waning, and fatigue from Ukrainian news growing. New media and formats are crucial to keep Ukraine on the agenda and maintain global support for its fight for freedom and democratic values.

Their Content page ends with the following:

Promote the UNITED24.MEDIA on YouTube

1.Encourage your audience to subscribe our channel using the handle @United24.media

2.Mention the United24.media channel in your Instagram story or YouTube video and tag it in the description

3.Promote specific content from the United24.Media channel in descriptions to your videos.

4.Add videos from United24.Media to end screens of your videos.

But what is UNITED24? UNITED24 is "the fundraising platform of Ukraine", according to its website.

The video ends with a call for people to donate to UNITED24 and subscribe to BraveVoices, as requested on the BraveVoices website.

They also offer to bring people to Ukraine, which... yeah, I'm happy not getting hit by a kalibr, thanks. I think it's to make content about Ukraine, but I'm not sure who would take them up on that offer (who am I kidding? There are influencers who would jump at the chance).

Oh yeah, the other link is just some kind of charity established in 2014 and based in the US, which isn't suspicious at all. Probably just a money making venture, but who knows.

Either way, this has actually quite upset me. I really liked that channel, and now they've literally just become a propaganda outlet, lying to people en masse.

This is definitely me when I'm not parroting state propaganda!

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When I first look at the above picture of Pyongyang, it looks like any other city. However, something about looking at it makes me feel relaxed. Upon closer inspection, you'll find that it is completely devoid of adverts. No signs, posters, billboards, or logos of any kind. Some photos from street-level are similarly devoid of advertising, or only use it in a limited fasion.

This means that there is nothing to draw your eye, which, counterintuitively, allows you to really see what's going on around you, (like the architecture, for example) or just lets you relax, as there are fewer distractions. This photo of Belorusskaya Metro station has a similar thing going on. Now, on the other hand, imagine if I were in a room with you, and you were trying to read a book, and I kept on saying "hey, look at me! over here! hey! look at me! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! I'M OVER HERE! FUCKING LOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" (pic rel)

I think I have ADHD (never diagnosed because I never knew how things were supposed to be, so I only realised recently that something was up lol), and that's kind of what going through any public space is like for me. Sometimes it's actually just draining, as anything which draws my attention also tires me out to an extent. I never really realised this until recently, as I have grown up in ad-heavy environments, but the contrast is absolutely night and day. Maybe it's just because I'm a commie now and I hate consumerism, but I think there's more to it than that.

The same is true of online environments. I highly suggest using an ad blocker, and, if you use Firefox, the Unhook YouTube browser extension. You can use it to hide end cards and recommendations (amongst other things), which has helped to stop me from going on huge YT binges. I didn't make that add on or anything, I just find it useful.

So yeah, fuck adverts.

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Mahogany is a tropical hardwood used in the manufacture of furniture and musical instruments.

Mahogany in its truest sense comes from trees from the genus Swietenia, itself containing three species which are all native to the Americas. Of these, the most commonly used for timber is the South American Swietenia macrophylla, or Big Leaf Mahogany, although the other two species in this genus (S. humilis from Central America and S. mahogani from the Southern United States and Caribbean) are sometimes considered to be genetically indistinct, readily hybridising with one another and being defined mostly by geographical distribution.

Mahogany is especially well suited to musical instrument manufacturing due to its pleasing deep red finish, its pronounced low and low-mid frequencies, and its tendency to sound better with age. Of the large scale guitar manufacturers using mahogany, perhaps the most famous is Gibson, whose Les Paul and SG models have been made from mahogany since the 1950s.

Along with its use as a timber tree, mahogany also has a history of medicinal use. Its seeds (known as Sky Fruits) are reported as having antimutagenic, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory traits, and have been used to treat hypertension, diabetes, and malaria by people across its introduced range.

All three true mahoganies are threatened in their native ranges by habitat degradation caused by agriculture, and commercial overharvesting; this has led to the international trade of American-grown mahogany being heavily restricted (in theory) by CITES, and has led to large scale planting in South-East Asia. However, due to the low ages of most planted specimens, illegal harvesting of old-growth stands continues unabated.

Despite being threatened in its native range, it has proved hardy in the Philippines where it is planted for timber. It is facing calls for its control and removal from native habitats there due to its ability to spread quickly and suppress the growth of native vegetation; this is exacerbated by its allelopathic leaf litter, which along with blanketing the forest floor with shade, secretes chemicals that supress the growth of other plants, much like the leaf litter of the European Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus).

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