Many cities have banned e-scooter short-hire vehicles and are impounding them, and in other cities, repo men have been busily seizing scooters left on private property, and the e-scooter companies, who already lose money on every scooter (they’re making it up in volume!) just abandon their scooters to rust away in impound lots and turn into e-waste.
Which means that you can pick up scooters for pocket-change in municipal auctions! There’s only one problem: the control units of these scooters only take orders from companies like Bird and Lime, so even after you own one of these things, you can’t ride it without paying an overcapitalized bezzle for the privilege.
That is…not unless you swap out the control unit! For $30 or less, you can get a conversion kit that swaps in with just a few screws’ worth of fiddling. Once you do that, that city impound scooter becomes your scooter, at a price so cheap you can buy two!
This strategy is totally legal, and totally toxic to Bird and Lime’s business model, and boy do they know it: last year, Bird threatened to sue me for writing about this in a bid to keep the news from spreading. Luckily, we recognized the hollowness of their threat and, with help from our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, we were able to force them to back down and issue an apology (albeit not a very good one).
The Chinese giant salamander is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world. It is fully aquatic and is endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in the Yangtze river basin of central China. It is considered critically endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, pollution, and overcollection, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine.
On farms in central China, it is extensively farmed and sometimes bred,
although many of the salamanders on the farms are caught in the wild. The average adult salamander weighs 25–30 kg and is 115 cm in length. It can reach up to 50 kg in weight and 180 cm in length. The giant salamander is known to vocalize, making barking, whining, hissing, or crying sounds. Some of these vocalizations bear a striking resemblance to the crying of a young human child, and as such, it is known in the Chinese language as the “infant fish”. The Chinese giant salamander has been recorded feeding on insects, millipedes, horsehair worms, amphibians, freshwater crabs, shrimp, fish and Asiatic water shrew. Cannibalism is frequent. Both sexes maintain a territory, averaging 40 m2 for males and 30 m2 for females. The reproductive cycle is initiated when the water temperature reaches 20 °C and mating occurs between July and September.
The female lays 400–500 eggs in an underwater breeding cavity, which is
guarded by the male until the eggs hatch after 50–60 days.The Chinese giant salamander is entirely aquatic and lives in rocky hill streams and lakes with clear water. It typically lives in dark muddy or rocky crevices along the banks.
“I just spent the last 24 hours in Tempe and Phoenix police custody for spraying ‘Penis Man,’” Shomer wrote. “They raided my condo and vehicle and swarmed my entire complex in west Phoenix with 25 heavily armed SWAT officers, and pointed a silenced assault rifle in my face.
“Anyone with any doubt who the bad guys are here … be certain it is the City of Tempe, City of Phoenix, and police forces valleywide. There is no excuse for pointing an AR-15 in the face of a non-violent offender.”
Shomer added in further posts that he spent a night at Maricopa County’s Fourth Avenue Jail following more than five hours in Tempe police custody, during which time he was giving “nothing to eat.”
He wrote that he was “told I wouldn’t receive medical attention after requesting it, even though it was posted on the wall to ask if desired. I was having a panic attack, cause they put a fucking assault rifle in my face (that’s illegal, both denying medical attn, and excessive force).”
Shomer also wrote in his post-arrest screed, “For the record, I hate the institution of the police. But, I do not think every single cop is a bastard. To say they all are, is imo, stooping to their level of profiling. Some of the detectives I met seemed to be genuine penis man fans.”
[Wonder what tumblr’s filtration system will think.]
I’ve read lots of good college tips posts on Tumblr, I loved every one of them and I saw how similar college students are. Even though there are similarities, we all tend to get different lessons from our experiences. As a 3rd grade English Literature Student -5th semester hooooraaay!- I’ve collected my own experiences and I want to share some of them with you. You should accept that you cannot be a productive student all the time. You can have your ups and downs and it is all okay. Sometimes we fall and we get our lesson from it, we get stronger with each mistake. You have to move on to be better, to be more brave. This is my first post because I am thinking about doing this “How to Survive in College?” thing as a series. This one is all about grades and studying. Special thank you to @noorastudy for letting me use her cute graphic icons to make my banner. I wish I knew how to make cool a f icons but oh well.
I tend to talk way too much so shall we start?
I know, I know. Success in your college life is important. It’s so important because your future depends on these years. However you have to be aware of one thing: your health –both physical and mental- is more important than your grades.I do not care if your grades are perfect but you’re feeling dead inside. It does not matter. If you do not have the energy to celebrate an A or the ending of a project, that grade means nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. You have to appreciate yourself, your hard work, your success in a way that you do not get stressed and worried about numbers all the time. This is college, you’re a grown up, you have to be able to take care of yourself because on the road awaits after college, you’ll be alone. People will expect you to be an adult. Real adult. Enjoy your moments as a student. Enjoy every single breath you have, feel the sunshine and winter cold on your skin, cry when you’re sad and laugh when you’re happy. Screw up but also get up and keep walking. Take care of yourself. Nothing is more important than you.
Have a studying routine. This may sound a little boring to some but let me tell you on thing: studying regularly is the key. I am not talking about studying 24/7, no. I am talking about using your time wisely when it comes to study. For example, let’s talk about my studying habits. I woke up at 5-6 a.m. everyday. I immediately leave my bed and open my window because I need fresh air to wake up. Then I spend half an hour to myself (brushing my teeth and havin juice or tea or coffee, getting dressed etc.) and then I start studying around 7-6 a.m. I always study in periods, one hour and fifteen minutes break usually. I tried small periods and shorter breaks but I can’t make it because it is very hard for me to focus between breaks. Sometimes I sit and I don’t give a break for two hours. Totally depends on my subject. Long story short, have a routine. Do the same thing every morning and night, adjust your time and studying periods. I will make a master post about studying techniques but I’ve created mine eventually since my brain tends to think about many things at the same time. Know yourself and create your studying routine. First few weeks will be hard but after a month you will get used to it.
Do not procrastinate. Understand that what you do today in college will be rewarded in your future. Procrastination is the thief of time. It is also very dangerous because by doing it, you start making a mount of unfinished work which is your responsibility. Over time all the work you’ve been procratinating will need to be finished. Every assignment has a deadline. Do your assignments on time, study to your lectures regularly, spend time with your notes and lectures. Don’t say tomorrow, start doing it now. Get up, take a deep breath and you are ready my friend!
Listen to your teacher and take notes in every class. You don’t need fancy notes to be a good student. Personally I do it because it motivates me. Also I’m a writer/writing learner, which means I can understand better if I write the subject or even vocabulary. I have one notebook to each semester which I bring with me to university. I take notes and listen my professors carefully, when I get back to home, after a short break I start writing all notes again with my text-book and articles. Important points, terms and summary of the subject. I also make my researches before class so it helps me a lot to understand the subject.
Find your motivating study space. This is so important. If you want to study productively, you have to find the right study space. Maybe your room, school library, a cafe which is close to your dorm/home etc. For me it’s my room and school library. I don’t like studying in a cafe because I can lose my focus so easily but when I am alone and the place is all silent I can study very well. Try to create the right place. You don’t need a desk or anything for that. You can use anywhere, just have a good light and silence, that’s all.
Share your notes and help other people. But please don’t let them use you. This is very important to me. Usually in university people tend to be very selfish about their notes etc. I don’t see any reason for that. Sharing, helping and teaching people is one of the most amazing things you can do to a friend or to a loved one. I am not talking about giving your notes and your hard work to everyone of course. Just understand one thing. If they don’t study regularly, reading your notes the day before the exam will not help them very much. If the person is not passionate about his/her school and future, one page will not change anything. Maybe they will gain few points but do you really think that will help them to pass the class or get an A? I don’t think so. Also by helping the others you can motivate yourself as well. For example I have many friends that I care about and I want them to get good grades so I genuinely love sharing my work with them. It creates trusting and intimate relationship with my friends.
So this is the end of my How to Survive in College Series Part 1! I hope it will help someone who is struggling and need help. I love you all so so so so so much. Here is some other posts for you to read by other studyblrs. They are all very helpful!
Also, Studyblr really helped me about my college life. It did honestly. It still does. I’m very new, like I do not know few months? Since then, I’ve been working my best and pushing my limits in a non-stressful way. Here some of my motivation Studyblrs:
