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Nerdgate Hobbit

@nerdgatehobbit

Hi! I'm an adult multifandom nerd (she/her).

You ever see something innocuous, minding its own business on the clearance shelf at Michael’s and before you know it, it takes over your life for a few weeks?

So it was with this desktop greenhouse.

I took it home and after taking an appropriate time to “season” my idea in my mind (read: a month or two) I set to make my vision of a mini botanical garden a reality.

I started by removing the heavy glass panels and building a raised floor above the latch. I wanted to use the base as a foundation on the building.

I wrapped the foundation in plastic stone textured flooring (meant for Christmas villages) and built a pond at one end of the same. I then gave it a more realistic paint job and designed a rough layout for my plants and displays.

I also knew I wanted to make the ironwork significantly more intricate, but I wasn’t sure how just yet…

Up next - PLANTS! I went wild making all kinds of plants. Some were specific species and some were more conceptual.

I made several trees with polymer clay and moss, cacti out of beads and flocking, cattails out of raffia, hot glue and coffee grounds, and giant monstera leaves out of paper and wire.

This part should have taken me a long time, but it really came together fast. I loved finding ways to replicate natural shapes and patterns using bits of this and that.

I did make adjustments to my plans as I went like eliminating benches in favor of a simpler overall design.

Then I needed to fill my pond with water. For this I used resin. Lily pads were added to the top layer, and I wired in simple LED fairy lights. The batteries are kept in the box under the foundation.

In a weekend frenzy I added more plants, metal (paper) steps, new (plexi)glass windows, a roof, wrought-iron vines (paper again), doors that open, and a hose reel disguising the latch. Suddenly, a project I thought would take months was finished…

I love my desktop botanical garden. Right now it sits on a simple lazy Susan in my office. But I’d love to get it a proper display box to protect from dust.

Thank you for coming on this little journey with me. This piece packs a lot of joy into a tiny space. I always love building miniatures, and I’ll be doing more in the future I’m sure.

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  1. click on the link and then on the big "click to help" red button. wait for the page to reload, it should read "your click has been counted" and you should see confetti
  2. if you have time, click on the buttons for the website's other causes as well ("click to help" on the navbar)
  3. if you want to click more than once, you can use different browsers or devices, or open incognito mode, it seems to work (at least on the client side of the website)

it’s genuinely so awesome how ds9 stops halfway through its oceans eleven themed holosuite episode to let sisko explain why he’s uncomfortable roleplaying in an era that in reality he wouldnt have been accepted in. hard to imagine a show nowadays that would play this so straight.

even though he does eventually join in, and kasidy presents a different perspective, his opinion isn’t treated as invalid by the narrative or anything. it’s perfectly understandable & in character for him to feel like he does, and also in character for him to put aside his feelings to support his friends. just great stuff

Most people I talk with assume that the only way to stop corporate and dark money in American politics is either to wait for the Supreme Court to undo Citizens United (we could wait a very long time) or amend the U.S. Constitution (this is extraordinarily difficult). But there’s another way! It will be on the ballot next November in Montana. Maybe you can get it on the ballot in your state, too. Here’s the thing: Individual states have the authority to limit corporate political activity and dark money spending, because they determine what powers corporations have. In American law, corporations are creatures of state laws. For more than two centuries, the power to define their form, limits, and privilege has belonged only to the states. States don’t have to grant corporations the power to spend in politics. In fact, they could decide not to give corporations that power. This isn’t about corporate rights, as the Supreme Court determined in Citizens United. It’s about corporate powers. When a state exercises its authority to define corporations as entities without the power to spend in politics, it will no longer be relevant whether corporations have a right to spend in politics — because without the power to do so, the right to do so has no meaning. Delaware’s corporation code already declines to grant private foundations the power to spend in elections. Importantly, a state that no longer grants its corporations the power to spend in elections also denies that power to corporations chartered in the other 49 states, if they wish to do business in that state. All a state would need to do is enact a law with a provision something like this: “Every corporation operating under the laws of this state has all the corporate powers it held previously, except that nothing in this statute grants or recognizes any power to engage in election activity or ballot-issue activity.” Sound farfetched? Not at all. In Montana, local organizers have drafted and submitted a constitutional initiative for voters to consider in 2026 — the first step in a movement built to spread nationwide. It would decline to grant to all corporations the power to spend in elections.

A definite Reblog! Kill Citizens United.

I Like REICH!

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